⁷ “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

⁹ “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? ¹⁰ Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! ¹¹ So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.

Matthew 7:7-11

Dear God, I normally look to other sources to bring verses to pray about to me such as Bible Gateway’s verse of the day or the daily readings from different denominations such as the Catholic or Presbyterian Churches. But today, I want to focus on some intercessory prayer. There are four things, in particular, that are on my heart this morning. I want to ask you for these things. I want to knock on your door. I want to be your child and pray for good gifts for your children that I know. I want your best for my friends, family, and me.

For the mother I know who is having “spontaneous” (not through artificial methods) triplets today at 32.5 weeks, I pray your protection. I pray for your mercy. I pray for your power. I pray that your angels will be standing in that room, guarding, protecting, and guiding. I pray that you will bless this mother and father. I pray that you will guide all of them closer to yourself. For the mother, I pray that you will protect not only over her body, which is a given, but her spirit, mind, and heart. Love her well. Fill her with a sense of yourself. Care for her. Help her to feel loved by you, by her husband, by her 8-year-old daughter, her parents, and her friends. This is obviously a unique experience. Be there for every bit of it. As Nancy French put it when she described her in-laws praying for their son who spent time in the NICU in her book Ghosted: An American Story, I would like to put in a personnel request to your heavens and ask that you make some special assignments to that hospital room today. Holy Spirit, there is so much to pray for for them. Please fill in my pitiful prayer with your own groanings that are too deep for words.

For the friend whose wife is going through cancer treatment, I ask for your protection over her. For her healing. For her hope. For her energy. For her strength. For her spirit. For her mind. Help her to feel you and your presence. Again, I ask for some special angel attention over her. Love her. Guide her. Support her husband and her family. Give them strength. Give them hope. Give them a sense of who you are in this. I know they can’t see what you are doing in real-time or what is going on, but I pray that they will be at peace and really know what it means to rest in you.

For the friend who had a bone marrow biopsy yesterday, I ask that you will bring back a good report. He is a cancer survivor from several years ago. I pray that you will touch his body and keep it whole. Speak to him and his wife through this process. Help them to feel your love and support. Help them to feel your Holy Spirit speaking to them. Of the people I’ve prayed for this morning, I know this man and his wife the best. I pray that you will show my wife and me how to love them. Minister to them, Holy Spirit. Cover them. Help them to find you in an even deeper way through this concern.

Finally, there is a funeral in our family this weekend. People will come together over thousands of miles. Family who haven’t seen each other in a while. Some have broken relationships. Some won’t be there because of the broken relationships. I pray that this good woman’s death will count for your and your glory. Protect over each heart there. Make us vulnerable, gentle, and humble. Help us to submit to one another. Help my wife and me to carry your with us, and let the fruits of your Spirit that grow in us abound for such a time as this. And help those there be drawn closer to you through the death of this great lover of you.

Father, I pray for my normal concerns as well. My relative who is recovering from cancer. My coworker who is pregnant. My own relationships that are sources of sorrow for me. Protection for my wife and me as we travel, love each other, and support each other. That I might be exactly who you need me to be. And if personnel can spare an angel or two our way, we won’t turn them away. 🙂 We love you. I love you.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen