PRAYING

......For God's grace in our marriage!

Husbands, likewise, dwell with them. . . giving honor to the wife, . . and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers may not be hindered. (1 Peter 3:7)

Lord, may each husband honor his wife. Men often feel so inadequate spiritually. Lift them to a new level. May each couple recognize the spiritual heritage to be apprehended only as one. Forgive us for seeing faith only as individuals. You have a godly reward for Christian families. No praying church can claim it. Only two lovers bound together in faith can lay hold of such grace. Heirs together! The prize can’t be claimed separately. It is a joint blessing. Such life, though by grace, is only appropriated in joint prayer. May couples live in sensitive and caring ways. Forgive us, husbands and wives, if we treat one another in less than Christ-honoring ways. We acknowledge that praying with our partners is sometimes our greatest challenge. The way we have lived together, insensitive things said or done, sometimes hinder our prayers. Now we see that the blessing to be gained, the inheritance to be claimed, only comes by altering the way we live together and by praying together. Give grace to husbands to embrace their wives and pray! Enable husbands and wives to begin the experience of regular prayer. Send fire to their hearts. Renew marriages. Open possibilities long forgotten. It isn’t too late. It wasn’t for Abraham and Sarah. It isn’t for couples in our congregation. You joined them for a spiritual purpose. Lead them into abundance of grace. Amen.

Today’s Quote

A dynamic praying church must be built from the inside out, employing all four levels of prayer: the secret closet, the family altar, small group praying and finally, the congregational setting.

INTERCEDE

Prayer Exercise:

Have a special dinner or ceremony. Honor your wife, in front of your children. Pray a prayer of blessing. Embrace. Ask God to reveal the spiritual heritage he has for you as a couple.

PRAYING

......For God's favor!

Peoples shall yet come, inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying,”Let us continue to go and pray before the Lord, and seek the Lord of hosts” (Zech. 8:20-21)

Almighty God, already mayors and politicians are whispering about cities out of control, problems that defy solutions, spiraling crime, and endless lists of unsolved crimes. Secretly, they seek out intercessors. Some tragically turn to witches and psychics. We have failed our cities, Lord. We have seen faith as such a narrow and private thing. The Great Awakenings took captive whole cities. They turned back waves of crime. They empowered your church. Shut down critics. Would You send us another Great Awakening? Let block after block come under the influence of Your convicting grace. Hush the liberalism of our campuses. Halt the polluting influence of Hollywood. Claim another generation for Your glory. May they raise the cross. Invade our prisons with a renewal that turns back alternative religious movements and turns convicts into bold Christians. Let the courts rule justly. Send a revival into the ranks of liberal judges who continue to lead the judicial revolution that is destroying the nation. Save them. Let congressmen and senators weep in Your presence. Bring the nation to a place of repentance. Raise up new leaders who will sustain the changes that a great awakening brings. Amen.

Today’s Quote

When we ask of the Lord coolly, and not Fervently, we do as it were, stop His hand, and restrain Him from giving us the very blessing we “pretend” that we are seeking.

INTERCEDE

Prayer Exercise:

Go to a courtroom. Watch and listen. Sit and intercede.

PRAYING

......glorify Your name!

“Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice from heaven, saying,”I have both glorified it and will glorify it again”. (John 12:28).

Yahweh! There is a war against Your name and that of the name of Your holy Son, Jesus! You said You would glorify Your name. Jesus promised power in and through His name, special access to heaven through prayer in His name. Intimidating cultural pressures seek to enforce the notion that the name of one god is as good as the name of another. We refuse to believe that general delivery prayers end up in the same place as those prayed by godly, Christ-honoring, bloodstained, Spirit-filled believers. We believe that prayer, in His name, has special power. We seek only to glorify Your name, God. Therefore, we ask for a new boldness to openly identify with Your name. And we ask that You reveal Your glory around Your name. Give us the courage to refuse generic descriptions for our Savior, Jesus. There is no other name. Glorify it. Be anonymous no more. Reveal to unbelievers and skeptics alike, that You are not dead. You are alive. When your name is called, you answer. When Your name is raised, You respond. When children whisper Your name, call them, like young Samuel, to generational mission. Will say Your name. We will glorify it. Praise Yahweh! Thank you, Jesus! We ask You to do what we can’t do, wake up the dead by the sound of Your name. Calm the seas. Heal the sick. Deliver the captives. Loose the bound. Do it for Your glory. Do it to declare the sanctity of Your name. Amen.

Today’s Quote

This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other, name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John…… they realized that they had been with Jesus.

INTERCEDE

Prayer Exercise:

Go to a secular bookstore. Walk the aisles. Pray!