Topic: Prayer
Today is the Global Day of Prayer.(Here is their Purpose and statement of faith.) It is Pentecost, the feast of first fruits….and now a celebration of the day that God sent His Holy Spirit to indwell every believer. Our church had a very special service. We read parts of the following prayer, which was put together by the organizers of this day of prayer. In between the readings and responses, we sang prayers, we celebrated the baptism of several new believers (hearing the testimony of one of our youth who was being baptized), we had a chorus of 8 different languages spoken in our congregation saying the Lord’s Prayer in their language all together (a picture of what happened on the first Christian Pentecost), we shared communion and we prayed for each other.
As a united worldwide body of believers, we are gathered today
To honor and glorify Your Name.
We bow before Your throne of grace
And acknowledge that You are the Creator of heaven and earth.
You have existed through all eternity and in You all things hold together.
There is no one like You, holy and righteous in all Your ways.
We submit to Your authority and sovereignty as the King of the universe
And pray with one voice to enthrone You in our hearts
And to honor You before the world.
Congregation: Lord God, You alone are worthy Of our praise and adoration. We worship You.
*Our Father in heaven,
Thank You for loving the world so greatly
That You gave Your only Son, Jesus Christ,
To die on the cross for our sins,
so that we could be reconciled to You.
Thank You for giving us the right to call You Father,
Because of our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior.
Nothing, not even principalities and powers,
Is able to separate us from Your love which you demonstrated in Your Son, Jesus Christ.
Congregation:Thank You Father, for adopting us into Your family. We now cry, Abba Father!
*Lord Jesus Christ, You alone are worthy to open the scrolls of history,
For You were slain and have redeemed us to the Father by Your blood.
Thank You for interceding for us as our High Priest.
As we stand before You from many tribes and nations,
we confess that You are Head of the Church
and Lord of every created thing in heaven and on earth.
Come and draw followers to serve Your from every tribe and language.
May these become Your inheritance in all the earth.
Let Your kingdom be established in every nation of the world,
So that governments will rule with righteousness and justice.
May Your gospel be made known to every person on earth.
May Your blessing bring transformation among every people.
And may Your Name be great, from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Congregation: Jesus Christ, You are the Savior of the world and the Lord of all.
*Father of mercy and grace
We acknowledge that we have sinned and that our world is gripped by the power of sin.
Our hearts are grieved by injustice, hatred, anger and violence.
We are shamed by the oppression, racism and bloodshed in our land.
We weep because of the loss of innocent life in war and terrorism, abortion, persecution and senseless murders.
Our hearts are broken by every rejection of Christ as Lord and Savior.
As we stand before You, we know that Your gaze beholds all things.
Our homes are broken by selfishness and immortality.
Our lives are polluted by greed, idolatry and sexual sin.
Our churches are divided by rebellious pride.
All the sins that we may find in our world, You have found among Your people.
We have grieved Your heart and brought shame to Your Name.
We approach Your throne of grace in this hour of need.
We ask for Your mercy and Your help to repent sincerely.
Congregation: God of mercy, pour out Your grace. Forgive our sins. Heal our land.
*Spirit of the living God, we confess that we can do nothing apart from You.
Living God, on this Pentecost, pour out Your Spirit upon all flesh.
Empower the Church to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.
Release Your power to bring healing to the sick, freedom to the possessed, comfort to those who mourn and release for those who are oppressed.
Come and melt the hearts of people to love again.
Answer the call of the homeless, the hungry, the helpless and the dying.
Enfold orphans, widows and the elderly in Your arms.
Display Your mercy and provide for our needs.
Give us wisdom and insight in every sphere of life so that we will find solutions to the complex problems of the world.
Help us to use the resources of the earth for the well-being of all.
Pour Your love into our hearts and fill us with compassion and let the power of the Holy Spirit characterize our lives.
Congregation: Holy Spirit, we need Your comfort and guidance. Come and transform our hearts.
*Lord Jesus Christ, because You were dead, but are now risen; and because the Father has given You a Name above all names, You will defeat all powers of evil.
You have declared that the gates of hell will not prevail against Your Church. We pray for deliverance from demonic oppression.
We pray for the tearing down of the strongholds and ideologies that hinder and resist the spreading of the knowledge of God.
We resist the plan of the enemy to keep nations in darkness and pray that Your will remove the veil that covers the peoples.
We ask for open doors so that the gospel can enter every nation.
Restrain the evil that promotes violence and death.
Break the hold of slavery, tyranny and disease.
Fill us with courage to preach Your word fearlessly and faithfully.
Give us a spirit of intercession to cry out on behalf of the lost.
Congregation: Almighty God, deliver us from evil and the evil one.
*King of Glory, come to the nations of the world.
You have promised long ago that You would come to restore all things.
We welcome You to finish Your work in our cities, our peoples and our nations.
We now lift our voices in unison with believers from across the face of the earth – from Africa, from the Middle East, from North and South America, from Asia, from Europe, from Australia, and from the Pacific Islands – together we cry:
Congregation: Lift up your heads, O you gates! Be lifted up ancient doors so that the King of glory may come in!
As Your deeds increase throughout the earth, and as Your blessings abound to all the nations, they will seek You, asking, “Who is this King of Glory?”
Together we will answer:
Congregation: He is the Lord Almighty!
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!
Come fill the earth with Your glory as the waters cover the sea.
The Spirit and the Bride say:
Congregation: Amen! Come Lord Jesus!
Now is the season of blessing….reaching out and watching God bless our communities and nations through us as we’ve prepared to be His instruments.
Read about how the Dallas area is preparing for The 90 days of blessing. And I encourage you to look for the ways that God wants you to be a blessing to your neighborhood, community, city and nation. Think of one thing….and do it for God’s glory, because He loves your community….and you are His hands and feet…..
