Pray Around the World

How many prayers begin and end with "I" and "me"? Ideal intercessory prayer is certainly concerned with the needs of the one praying, but must not terminate there; rather move beyond petitions for oneself in concentric circles, as it were. "Is there none, O man, that needs the mercy of God besides thyself?" (William Gurnall) Begin at home, with the needs of family, and move outward in your petitions to God. We have neighbors with needs -- are you cognizant of the needs of your neighbors? What of the town in which you live? What of those in authority over you in your county, state or federal government? What of the poor, the sick, the homeless, the aged, the lonely, the downcast, those in prison, those who are destitute? What of the congregation you attend, the denomination of which you are a member, the international church of Jesus Christ? What of the Jews and the Gentiles who must be gathered in, and the kingdoms which must be brought in to God's kingdom? We are not all missionaries, and many of us will not travel around the world, but we can, in contemporary parlance, "pray globally, and act locally." William Gurnall gives us a guide and a motive for praying around the world (The Christian in Complete Armour, Vol. 2, p. 525):

[L]et not the sea that divides thee and the other parts of the earth make thee think thou art not concerned in their happiness or misery. Let thy prayers walk over the vast ocean, and bring matters for thy devotions, like the merchant's ship her freight from afar. Visit the churches of Christ abroad; yea, the poor Indians and other ruins of mankind that lie where Adam's sin threw them with us, without any attempt made as yet upon them by the gospel for their recovery, and carry their deplored condition before the Lord. Our [Sir Francis] Drake is famous for compassing the earth with his ship in a few years; thou mayst by thy prayers every day, and make a more gainful voyage of it too than he did.