February 22, 2021 Prayer - Renew, Reform, Refresh, Revive Church Leaders

God of Reformation and Revival,

We praise you and thank you for the ways in which you have loved, blessed, and guided your people - especially when they have turned from your Truth and Righteous Way.  Thank you that you always provide a way for us to return to you in genuine repentance so the broken relationships between you and your People are restored.  Thank you that even though you see through our corruption, foolishness, misguided hearts, moral darkness, and idolatry, you are continually wooing us with your Voice of Love back to a place of purity, holiness, and joy in communion with you.  Today we pray for the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers you have set into place to equip your people for works of service.  We know your desire is for the Body of Christ to be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, becoming mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.  And we know that, in your wisdom, you have set people of very real human frailty into those positions of leadership and influence.  So, today we pray for Holy Spirit's renewal, revival, reformation, and refreshing to be poured out upon those who oversee your church.  May they be without blame before others. Guard their marriages and their parenting so they can be an example for others.  May they be sensible, well-behaved, hospitable, spiritual shepherds, and ones who are living a disciplined life.  Break any chains of addiction, anger, argumentativeness, lust for power or wealth, and pride. Where there has been darkness, despair, or dryness in the wilderness of their lives, we pray for streams of holy, living water to flow for their healing and refreshment.  God, prepare these overseers to lead their people well through these Last Days. You said that in the Last Days you would pour out your Spirit on all men and women - that we would prophesy, dream dreams, have visions, and see signs and wonders in the heavens and the earth.  You said that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, so we pray that these church leaders, first and foremost, would call upon you to be true, total, and irrefutably Lord in their lives.  May the men and women you have placed into places of leadership be people who guide those around them into deep and honorable relationships with you. God, prepare these church leaders for the Great Harvest that is coming. Prepare them to lead local churches where the Lost and Prodigals are coming to faith and salvation.  You are doing new things in our world; help the leaders you have set into place to have pure hearts before you so they can see your works and your ways.  By the power of Holy Spirit and in the strong and mighty name of Jesus we pray, Amen!

"Even now,” says the Lord, “Turn and come to Me with all your heart [in genuine repentance], With fasting and weeping and mourning [until every barrier is removed and the broken fellowship is restored]..." (Joel 2:12 AMP)

"Throughout human history the fingerprints of God were upon them, yet they refused to honor him as God or even be thankful for his kindness. Instead, they entertained corrupt and foolish thoughts about what God was like. This left them with nothing but misguided hearts, steeped in moral darkness. Although claiming to be super-intelligent, they were in fact shallow fools. For only a fool would trade the unfading splendor of the immortal God to worship the fading image of other humans, idols made to look like people, animals, birds, and even creeping reptiles!" (Romans 1:21-23 TPT)

"So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." (Ephesians 4:11-13 NIV)

"If any of you aspires to be an overseer in the church; you have set your heart toward a noble ambition, for the word is true! Yet an elder needs to be one who is without blame before others. He should be one whose heart is for his wife alone and not another woman. He should be recognized as one who is sensible, and well-behaved, and living a disciplined life. He should be a “spiritual shepherd” who has the gift of teaching, and is known for his hospitality. He cannot be a drunkard, or someone who lashes out at others, or argumentative, or someone who simply craves more money, but instead, recognized by his gentleness. His heart should be set on guiding his household with wisdom and dignity; bringing up his children to worship with devotion and purity. For if he’s unable to properly lead his own household well, how could he properly lead God’s household? He should not be a new disciple who would be vulnerable to living in the clouds of conceit and fall into pride, making him easy prey for Satan. He should be respected by those who are unbelievers, having a beautiful testimony among them so that he will not fall into the traps of Satan and be disgraced." (1 Timothy 3:1-7 TPT)

"It shall come about after this

That I shall pour out My Spirit on all mankind;

And your sons and your daughters will prophesy,

Your old men will dream dreams,

Your young men will see visions.

“Even on the male and female servants

I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

“I will show signs and wonders [displaying My power] in the heavens and on the earth,

Blood and fire and columns of smoke.

“The sun will be turned into darkness

And the moon into blood

Before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.

“And it shall come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord

Will be saved [from the coming judgment]."  (Joel 2:28-32 AMP)

"I looked and behold—I saw a white cloud, and sitting upon it was one like the Son of Man, wearing a golden crown and holding a sharp sickle. Another angel came out of the temple, shouting out to the one sitting upon the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, for the time of reaping the harvest has come and the harvest of the earth is ripe!” So the one sitting upon the white cloud gave his sickle a mighty swing over the earth and reaped its harvest." (Revelation 14:14-16 TPT)

"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." (Isaiah 43:19 NIV)

February 2, 2021 Prayer - Pour Out Righteousness and Justice

Righteous God of Justice,

Thank you for the Bible, your Word, which makes us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  Thank you that all Scripture is God-breathed, useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, and equipping your children for every good work.  Thank you for your patience and mercy in dealing with us, giving all time to come to repentance.  We know that, like the thief on the cross, even if we live a life completely filled with iniquity, your grace can meet that confessed sin and wipe it clean.  Thank you that you hear the earnest prayers of your righteous people and those prayers have great power.  Today we ask you to judge us as individuals, your Church, and this nation according to your principles of righteousness.  Where we have sinned, cause us to confess and repent of that sin.  Where we have been unfruitful, cause us to sink our spiritual roots deep in your rivers of living water.  Where we have lived in sin, wickedness, corruption, untruths or other sorts of darkness, bring us to a place of crying out to you for healing, forgiveness, and restoration.  Let us be like Nineveh in Jonah's time that repented; not the Nineveh of Nahum's time that was utterly destroyed.  May we not be stubborn and unrepentant, storing wrath up until your righteous judgement is revealed; may we not have itching ears that accumulate teachers that suit our own passions and turn away from your Truth.  You warn us that in the last days there will come times of difficulty as people become lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. May we avoid and not become such people. Restore us, O Lord God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved!  Rend the heavens and come down that we would quake and tremble at your presence!  No eye or ear has seen or perceived a God besides you who acts for those who wait for him.  We appeal to You for worldwide revival, the destruction of strongholds, and the uncovering of truth in our land and in other nations. We ask for grace and mercy, but we also appeal for justice.  Pour out Your Spirit in a great deluge of power and glory. Do this until we your People, your Church, and this nation are once again a Light to the world, a carrier of the life-giving Gospel, and a beacon of Truth.  In the powerful name of Christ we pray, Amen. 

"But the Lord sits enthroned forever;

    he has established his throne for justice,

and he judges the world with righteousness;

    he judges the peoples with uprightness." (Psalm 9:7-8 NIV)

"One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: 'Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!'  But the other criminal rebuked him. 'Don’t you fear God, he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.' Then he said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.' Jesus answered him, 'Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.'" (Luke 23:39-43 NIV)

"In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,  so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Tim. 3:12-17 NIV)

"The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results." (James 5:16 NLT)

"But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed." (Romans 2:5 NIV)

"For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." (2 Tim. 4:3-4 ESV)

"But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people." (2 Tim. 3:1-5 ESV)

"Restore us, O Lord God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved!" (Psalm 80:19 ESV)

"Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence— as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil— to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence! When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him." (Isaiah 64:1-4 ESV)

h/t https://www.givehim15.com/post/february-1-2021