Praying for 2018

In our postmodern world marked by:

• Selfish individualism that has led to conflict, family decomposition, riots, and neglect
• Narcissistic hedonism that has produced 300,000 babies born each year with their mother's drug addiction, family entertainment filled with raunch and violence, an abortion epidemic
• Deconstructive morality based on what each individual believes is right or wrong
• Political correctness, a form of coercion, that has depersonalized humans and leads to the loss of human freedom

---we need an anchor, a true-north compass, a ruddered ship, a "why" to live a life rich in good deeds.  We need God, a God we can depend on.

Why do we pray:

• To express our trust and reliance on God who desires the best for us and from us. 
• Prayer acknowledges our dependence on God as a loving and wise Father who controls the universe in his unsearchable and inscrutable ways.
• To have fellowship with God, a stable, dependable, caring, and loving friend with whom we can reveal our most intimate fears, concerns, desires, and conflicts without condemnation. 
• God loves and delights in our fellowship with him.
• To express our genuine conviction of God's wisdom, love, goodness, and power.
• To increase our faith, the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
• To have a firm foundation upon which to build our lives filled with unselfish love and productive work.
• To produce good fruit that advances his kingdom within us and beyond us. 
• For encouragement to contribute to those activities that are eternally important.
• To offer thanks for the blessings bestowed upon us.