Strategic, intercessory prayer is asking the Holy Spirit for insight in how to pray for a loved one. It’s quite different than prayer based on what *we* think is best!
Month: October 2022
Day 7 of 40 Days of Prayer for America
Bible verse:
“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” Psalm 103:8
God is love incarnate. He is powerful and mighty, but He is also gracious and merciful, slow to anger, quick to forgive, abounding in steadfast love. Throughout the ages God has shown Himself faithful even when we have been faithless. God’s story is one of remarkable patience, incredible love, and even when judgment comes it comes in a last ditch effort to call people back to Himself.
It is a joy to share good news and here is the best news of all. God loved us so much He did not hold back at all, but instead He broke into our world taking on human flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. The living God came down to earth from heaven and in His life of steadfast obedience, faithful service, gracious mercy, and determination even to the point of the cross, our Savior paid in full the price for our sin and rebellion.
America has fallen short of God’s gracious expectation and wandered from His will. We desperately need what only He can provide. His provision is forgiveness and new life in Jesus Christ, and that’s revival! And that’s what I pray for. That’s what we pray for! Awake US now in Jesus’ name!
Prayer: Pour out your heart in confession for ourselves, the church, our leaders, and our country, admitting sin, wandering from His will and that we desperately need the forgiveness that only He can provide. Ask for God’s mercy, and gracious love to cover America and that people would hear His call to repentance and return to Him.
By Pastor Chris Dodge
Day 6 of 40 Days of Prayer for America
Bible verses:
Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Peace refers to everything being right and in harmony with God. It speaks about a comfort and an assurance that transforms life. The Reader’s Digest condensed version of what the apostle Paul is saying in Romans 5:1-2 is that until you have peace with God, you will never have the peace of God. Until you are at peace with the living God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ you will never experience the genuine peace of God that passes all human understanding. It’s just that simple. The peace that God gives, comes through the cross of the Lord Jesus. It comes from knowing Him as Savior.
In our house we’ve had this little framed picture hanging up in our dining room for more than three decades. It has these words from Philippians 4:6, “Don’t worry about anything, pray about everything.” If we translate Paul’s original writing from its original Greek, it reads like this, “Don’t keep on worrying.” You don’t have to live this way anymore. As an act of faith set aside worry, as an act of faith stop worrying, and replace worry and anxiety with something far far better. And that something is prayer.
Prayer is talking to God. He says to us, “Don’t keep on worrying, instead in every situation pray.” In other words, “Talk to Me. Just bring your concerns to Me.” You can be perfectly open and honest with Him, you don’t have to hold back. When we by faith know the peace that God gives, He brings peace into our very souls as we converse with Him.
Philippians 4:7 says, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding.” Don’t you love that? The original text basically says the following, “He will stand guard over your emotions, your feelings, your concerns, your thoughts, your everything.” He gives peace that guards us and protects us so that no matter what may be going on in your life today, no matter what is going on in the world, He is saying it clearly, “Don’t continue worrying, replace it with prayer, and just watch what I will do.” Because through faith in Jesus we are at peace with God, and we can come to Him and know that He will hear our prayers. He will minister to us even in the most difficult of times. Come to Him and watch what He can do, better yet, come to Him watch what He WILL do!
Prayer: Share your heart with the Lord, today. Lay your concerns and worries at His feet and trust Him to bring you His deep abiding peace. Pray for peace for America, pray that He will bring America into harmony with His heart by touching the hearts of His people. Pray that He will help us share peace, by sharing our faith in Christ.
By Pastor Chris Dodge
Hebrews: Soul Anchor – Week 3
As our soul anchor, Jesus is to be the most important person in our lives. It is He we want to be following, and this study will encourage us to place Him first before anything else in our lives.
Day 5 of 40 Days of Prayer for America
Bible Text: Ephesians 3:16-20
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
What have we done in the last 40 years? We have driven God out of our schools. We have removed His commandments from our courts. We have taken the mention of His name out of the public square. We have banned Him from our morals. We have engaged in the worship of Moloch, the idol of the old testament era, and the people of Israel. Moloch, before whom people sacrificed their children. In the last 40 years, I have watched as we have sacrificed over 50 million of our children. The Israelites killed thousands, we’ve killed millions. And we boast about it. We have seen in our time how a nation can turn its back on what is true and abandon that which our ancestors paid for with their lives. We have seen a land that has rewritten the law of God even as we’ve rewritten our constitution. We have changed what for millennia God has decreed as one man, one woman committed together for life. And, we say we have the right to rewrite that. Can anyone do those things without consequences? There will be a day of reckoning. It will come. And at that point it’s very easy for us to get up on our high horses and say, ‘Amen, brother you preach it, Chris. At least the church is moving in the way God would have us move!”
But, here’s what I’ve seen in the last 40 years in the church. I’ve watched mainline Christianity abandon the truths of the Bible and simply adopt self-help and entertainment as their gods. We have institutionalized the Holy Spirit, and I use that word, that verb, in the very real sense of the term. We have institutionalized Him, we have put Him away, and we have said, “Well, He comes to you when you get baptized, now sit back and enjoy your life and don’t think about this anymore.” And God says, “Unless you live by the Spirit you are living in the flesh. Unless you walk in the Spirit, you are walking in the flesh. Unless you walk in the Spirit, you do not know the Living God, and you do not know His Messiah.” Because you are worshiping a false God, two-thirds of the Trinity at best, one-third at worst, and none in many instances. Is God pleased? What is He saying? His heart is breaking, and He’s calling His people back to Him!
God says, “Humble yourselves before Me.” We desperately need what only He can give. What God desires for you and me is not comfortable religion, not a little bit of Jesus flavoring on our lives so we can go back to doing what we please. God desires that we know Him, that we experience a living relationship with Him, that we understand the depth of His love, a love so great that He did not spare His son. God cares for you and for me so desperately that the Lord Jesus Christ was willing to experience hell on a cross so that we might never have to fear the judgment. If God paid that price, what is our response to be? Certainly not half-hearted nodding of the heads, but rather wholehearted commitment of the life, of the heart, of the soul. God is a good, merciful, and gracious God, but He will not be trifled with. He’s calling His people to come back to Him, to take seriously what He has done and what He desires to do.
Prayer: Have mercy on us Father! You have stood by as America has abandoned the truths of the Bible, as the church as abandoned Your truth and I, too, have done this. Lord, I ask for forgiveness for my part in this. I have not always stood strong for you, forgive the church and forgive America. Give me strength to walk in Your will, give the church that same strength, that America would once again walk in Your way, and in Your will. Amen
By Pastor Chris Dodge
Rekindle… Discipleship
To know Jesus in all His goodness, faithfulness and love is to be transformed. When we know Him, we are His disciples and as such He commands us to “make disciples…” not church goers, not Christians, not believers, but DISCIPLES! Why did Jesus use this particular word? It’s the word He most frequently used to describe His followers.
Day 4 of 40 Days of Prayer for America
Bible Text
Isaiah 28:23 (NLT) “Listen to Me; listen, and pay close attention.”
Hebrews 3:15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden our hearts as in the rebellion.”
Matthew 7:24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
Jeremiah 29:11-14a (NLT) For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the Lord.
God says that it is not enough to just hear Him. We need to listen to Him. I can remember when our kids were growing up, and there were times when you would say something to them and you could tell it just went in one ear and out the other. You could not only sense it, you could see it, the eyes glazed over. Now don’t get me wrong. I love my kids. They are good kids, but there were times that you had to get in their face and look them in the eye and say, “Listen to me. It’s not enough to hear, listen. Listen to my voice. Listen to what I’m saying.”
And that is what God says to us. He says, “Listen to Me. Don’t simply go through the motions and go through the actions, but do what I tell you. Because faith shows itself in obedience.” As we listen and seek Him with all our heart, He responds in incredible ways
Our God is a God who does not operate the way the world does. The world loves pomp and ceremony. It loves titles and it enjoys being honored, but God chooses the things that the world often laughs at to accomplish His plan and purpose. And do you realize what a powerful promise that is for you and me? God uses people like us to accomplish His purpose. And when we listen to His voice, it doesn’t mean it will be easy. Usually what He asks is not easy, but He calls us to follow Him no matter what.
The purpose and plan of the Living God is worth suffering for it. It is worth risking for it. It is worth losing for it. It is worth being ridiculed for it. It is worth being called crazy for it, because what He says is true. And throughout the ages the truth that God speaks has often been ignored, because people can hear without listening, and understand without obeying.
He says to His children, “If you hear My word, and you listen to My voice, I will do everything I’ve said. I will keep my promise. I will bless and I will be honored.” That is the word of the Living God for us, and it’s a word that we need to take to heart.
Prayer: Lord, move in power over America and her people and do a mighty thing. Bring her to her knees in humility before You. Bring forth a revival in this nation. Lord, let now be the time when people will listen to Your voice, hear You and return to You. This is the prayer of my heart. Amen
By Pastor Chris Dodge
Day 3 of 40 Days of Prayer for America
Bible Text Isaiah 6:5 (NLT)
Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
“I’m sure glad I’m not like THAT guy”… “he’s got real problems”… “I’ve got troubles, but that guy’s a MESS…!” How natural it is for us to compare ourselves to others and come out smelling sweet! We can always find someone “worse off” and think that by that standard, we are “good” with God. But the prophet Isaiah had no such illusions. He saw a vision God showed him. In it, angelic beings were worshipping the living God with the words, “Holy, holy holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” Isaiah instantly recognized he’s in the presence of a holy God, and he is undone!
What convicts Isaiah? His mouth. He says, ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.’ He recognizes just how serious the problem is, both for himself and his people!
Are we any different in America? Are we even shocked anymore when someone uses Jesus Christ’s name, God’s most precious name, as a swear word? Or when we joke about sexual things, describing private, intimate things that belong in couples’ bedrooms? Has it become perfectly acceptable to tear apart a person’s reputation by gossip, by calling it ‘being honest?’ When we carelessly get sarcastic or insult a person, are those meaningless words, or have we done real damage? Do words actually have the power to kill, or give life?
We, too, need to confess our personal and national sin of “unclean lips” before our Father in heaven. As Isaiah came clean before God, look what God did. One of God’s angelic beings brought a live coal and touched Isaiah’s lips, and declared Isaiah forgiven! We are forgiven, too!
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I confess that I have used my lips, my mouth, my words to destroy, to lie, to mock, to …. And I am sorry. Forgive me, forgive us, through Jesus and the awful price he paid on the cross! Forgive America’s people, Lord, for the careless, even destructive words out of our mouths. Touch our lips with a coal and cleanse our words, that they speak only life and honor You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Additional Bible passages: Ephesians 4:29; Proverbs 12:18, James 3:5b-8
Pastor Kevin Schuessler
Day 2 of 40 Days of Prayer for America
Bible Text 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
Our land, our country, the U.S.A. needs healing, do you agree? There is a brokenness that goes beyond the political, the economic, the social; do you sense it, too? Will the right candidate, another law, more funding, etc., heal our brokenness? Throughout history when God’s people recognized their country going down a destructive path, they called on God, their Father for help. They recognized their profound need and cried out to God out of desperation.
God, out of his deep love for US(A), who has called us to be His own, spoke these words of promise. He said, “If we will humble ourselves before Him, and pray, and seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways…” (stop!). Can we do that right now? Wherever you are, would you pause, pull over, stop for a minute, and tell God you are sorry for the things we have done, for turning away from Him and for making decisions and pursuing paths that were and are not good….
Can we take time now to confess our waywardness on behalf of our country?….
We are a land that desperately needs healing and our God desires to pour that out in abundance. God says in 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV), “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
Prayer: Lord, we recognize we’ve made a mess of things. We need your help. We have turned from You and even pursued evil. We are sorry. I am sorry. Thank You for Your promise that You HEAR US, that You FORGIVE US, and that You desire to HEAL OUR LAND! We stand on that promise. Thank You for Your Son, Jesus, who took on Himself the punishment of humanity when He went to the cross. Thank You for the hope we have in His resurrection. Heal our marriages, heal our schools, heal our business, heal our government, heal our country, through Jesus! We believe You can and will, through Jesus! Amen
By Pastor Kevin Schuessler
Awake Us Now 