Father God,
As we remember our nation’s birth, we lift our country up to you.
We celebrate our freedoms and remember that true freedom is found only in you.
We are thankful for our heritage and remember we are citizens of a greater kingdom that both is and is yet to come.
And today, we pray for our nation.
We pray for our national, state, and local elected leaders. We pray for wisdom and discernment. We pray you will give them hearts that seek after peace. We pray you would lift up men and women who love you and serve knowing that they are ultimately accountable to you.
We pray for prophets like Nathan and Samuel who are not afraid to speak truth to power. Raise up voices like Daniel and Joseph who are able to recognize the times and know how to navigate them. May our leaders have ears to hear the messengers you send.
We pray you will give our judges wisdom. We pray they would desire wisdom above wealth and knowledge of you above power, like Solomon in his finest hour. Lord, give them discernment and insight into the hearts of those who stand before them. May justice trump ideology and let them recognize true justice is found in you.
We pray for the men and women in our armed forces. Lord, we long for peace even as we live in a world at war. We pray for protection for our soldiers. We pray for healing for those who bear the mental and physical price of our freedom. We long for the day when swords are beaten into plowshares and our sons and daughters no longer prepare themselves for war.
As believers we pray for our own hearts. For you have said “if my people humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.”
If my people. Your people. Not the politicians. Not Hollywood. Not the media. Not business. But your people. Those who belong to you, who have claimed your name.
Us. Me.
God, I confess that we have failed you. That too often we have retreated to the safety of our church walls, forgetting that you called us to a lost and broken world. We trade the passion of mission for the pettiness of our disputes and act as if worship is more about our desires than your delight. We exchange your banquet for seats at an earthly table. We look at those who are not like us and treat them as enemies and others rather than neighbors and friends. Lord, forgive us for failing to live as your people.
Father, I pray that you will restore our hearts. Renew our hunger for you. Rekindle in us the passion to see the nations worship. Restore our love for our neighbor. Show us what how it looks when we live like the gospel is really true.
Pour out your Spirit on us again, O Lord. Heal our land. Restore our hearts.
Send revival, Lord.
And let it begin with me.
Mail chimp form