As we have gone through this week, an uneasy, unsettled feeling has been growing in me. Not fear, but just unsettled. The enemy of God’s Kingdom is fighting hard to negate the love, hope, trust, and openness of heart that the Lord has for us during this difficult season.
When I sense this unsettledness, I am at first, in my own strength, tempted to fight against it with thought, strategy, philosophical argument, rationalization, will, you name it – anything to overcome the unsettledness and return to peace.
One thing I have learned, though, is that always, the best place to turn in unsettledness is to a trusted friend. I’m not talking about any friend. In this case, it happens to be the One who actually understands all things. I’m talking about God almighty, who is our Heavenly Father, who knows all things and is interested in every aspect of our lives. In fact, He should always be our first “Phone a Friend” lifeline.
So – today, as I write this late in the weekend instead of early, I thought I would simply write a prayer, that I will pray over all of us, the church, our city, our country, and the world. Not that I have any power in myself, because anything that is worth anything and has any real transforming power is actually from Him. But, I ask that the Holy Spirit will help me pray. I pray that this prayer would be a blessing to you, and I challenge you yourselves to pray at this time.
Prayer:
Father, you alone are the one who understands all things. We acknowledge that you, Father, with Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit, created everything, and have an understanding of everything, and even know the why behind everything. You alone are worthy to be praised. We go through life and perceive with our own eyes and evaluate with an incomplete perspective. That incomplete perspective causes us to act sometimes poorly. At other times, it causes us to not act when we should. We ask your forgiveness for acting and not acting out of our incomplete perceptions. But you, oh God, You know all things. So it is because we acknowledge that we are incomplete and You are complete, that we come to You today and ask for You to move in our lives, our church, our communities, our country, and the world.
Father, I ask that you would move in our hearts. Move in our hearts to orient us to be a people who first seek You. Help us to, when we wake up, as we go through our days, and as we rest and sleep, to be completely oriented in relationship to You. Father, may we navigate ALL of life, using You as our North Star, with the Spirit as our Compass. We ask that You would do in our lives whatever is necessary to bring us to a willingness to follow You with all our being. Father, we need You to lead us. We need You to show us the way. Holy Spirit, we ask that You would empower us to be able to follow the way the Father shows us. We give up to You our own plans, schemes, strategies, and evaluations of our situation. We ask that You would show us Your plans, Your strategies, Your evaluation of our situations. Please, Father, come and show us what You are doing, so we may follow and be a part of that. Father, speak to us and tell us of our identity. We for way too long, in our own attempt to be somebody, have allowed all sorts of other things to give us identity. We have not taken the identity You have for us. Instead, Father, we acknowledge that we for way too long, have lived in so many other identities that are imperfect, or even evil. We acknowledge that You alone have a family that we should identify with. Father, only you can tell us who we really are. Please, Father, we give you permission, first to squelch and suppress the identities that we have acquired, adopted, and lived in. Secondly, Father, once you suppress the voices of those false identities, speak, please speak, and tell us of our true identity. Father, we need to know who we are in Your family. We desire to hear the adoption hearing once again, but this time, help us understand the name that we are taking in our adoption. Father, speak to us. Tell us who we are. Give us the identity that You saw for us when You created us before we were even aware of anything.
Lord Jesus, we ask that You would come and sit on the meager, rickety, imperfect, throne in our hearts. Please, Jesus, You are the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You alone have the authority and right to rule our lives. We have tried ourselves to rule, we have invited all sorts of other, powerless little kings to try and rule our lives. You are the only One who is capable of ruling us with truth, grace, understanding, compassion, insight, power, and hope. Come, sit on the throne of our own hearts and begin Your rule and reign in us. We worship you, Jesus, as King. Be the King of our hearts now. Lord, as You rule, we submit to Your authority. We give up our right to be Lord of our life. Instead, we give that to You. Have Your way in us. Whatever You will, and want, and work, for us is what we will receive. You are the King, and we bow down to your Kingship now.
Holy Spirit, we have for too long, only seen You as some sort of power, maybe even as a side-show. We have not acknowledged you as the Paraclete, the One that comes alongside from within to lead and bring us into truth. Come show us into the truth now. We need You, to fill us. Fill us so much that Your presence floods us. Flood us with Yourself in such a way that the hidden debris and crevices’ of our lives are brought up and cleaned out by Your power. Stir up the silt and dirty lower parts of our lives and take away those things that are not good. Fill us Holy Spirit, so that we may be made to be like Jesus. We don’t want to run our lives in our own strength. Doing that, Holy Spirit, only gets us either temporary glory or damaging shame. Neither of those is good, Holy Spirit, so fill us with You, so that everything that comes out of us and is seen by others brings eternal glory to God. If there is anything in us that does not produce Your fruit, Holy Spirit, we ask that You, in your power, would purge it out of us, and make us a tree, rooted in the love that only produces good fruit. We are utterly helpless to do this in our own strength, and we ask that You, Holy Spirit, in Your power, would fill us so we can live life abundantly, and for You.
God, we ask that You would show us where You are working during this tumultuous time. Show us, God, where You are in the COVID-19 pandemic. Show us where You are working, so we might be a part of the work that You are doing. Show us, also, Lord God, where you are working in this social, racial, and economic unrest. Lord, we give up our incomplete perspectives and ask that You would fill us with understanding and wisdom. God, show us the work that needs to take place in our hearts. Show us where we are full of ourselves, or our fears, or our preconceived notions. God, take those things in us that are NOT of You, and take them out of us and replace them with You. Replace our hearts with Your heart. Replace our eyes with Your eyes. Replace our imperfect ears with Your ears. Replace our hands that fight and cause harm, and replace them with Your hands that heal and rescue and lift up.
God help us to be able to bring Your truth to every situation. Help us not ride any wave of human philosophy or passion. Instead, Lord, make us a people who uniquely bring You into every situation. Help us take You to the party. Help us take You to the protest. Help us take You to the prayer meeting. Do whatever You need to do, to get us out of the way, and instead, simply be a vessel taking You, pouring You out onto conversations, pouring You onto conflict, pouring You onto competitions, and pouring You into the midst of the world’s way of connecting. Get us out of the way, Lord, and make us instead, an aqueduct of Your truth, Your insight, Your hope, and Your love.
Lord God, I ask that you would provide for us at this time. Many of us have less money than we had, either in income, or investment. We acknowledge that many times, You have provided for us, and we have taken that and used it in ways that didn’t take into consideration, Your will. Lord, give us provision, so that we may live, and guide us, to take that provision, and share it with others. Lord, we want to be a conduit of Your provision for others, so that they may know You care. Lord, help us, to trust You in such a greater way, that we may see the needs of others as leading from You to let us participate in Your Kingdom expansion. Lord, don’t let us have true peace until we have fully given all of our lives to you. Provide for us, and lead us into understanding the power and desire you have to use that provision as an explosion of God’s grace into other lives. Lord, as people navigate back to new jobs, new ways of working, new realities in this changing economy, help all of us and all of the world to depend on You for every provision. Show us how to work, as unto You, and bless us financially, so we may bless others.
Lord, we pray for this community, that it would be changed. We want You to bring transformation to the values and the priorities of our entire area, our cities, our school districts, our neighborhoods, our governments. God, please move now, in the hearts of all the people in this metropolitan area, to draw them unto Yourself, and re-orient them away from anything that is not of You. Make us instruments of Your will, as we go into our neighborhoods, to love our neighbors. Lord, may this city change, in such a way that the world would see a city, sold out to following You. Lord, make Kansas City and this region Yours. You have Your way throughout this region. You have Your way in the hearts of all of us, our neighbors, and those in other parts of the city. May we all worship You as King, Father, and Spirit. Do so much work in our own hearts that we infect others not with a virus, but with love. Make us symptomatic in Your love. May others see us, and know that we are totally infected with You and Your love. Lord, make it different though, so others are not running from us in fear, thinking they may be harmed with our infectiousness, but instead, draw them to Yourself, through the love that You infect us with. Lord, change this city, into a city of love. Lord, protect the unprotected in our communities. Protect and provide for those who need it. Provide hope to those who are hopeless. Provide food for the hungry. Lord, make this city, a different place.
Lord, You establish kingdoms, and governments, and authorities. There is no authority on Earth that you have not allowed being established. So now, oh Lord, move in the hearts and minds and wills of those in positions of authority. Turn them, oh Lord, to Yourself. Make our elected leaders, our military and police, our appointed bureaucrats, our first responders, and anyone representing any authority that You have allowed to be established, to be followers first of You. Lord, may they all wake up seeking You. May they meet in their meetings with You on their minds. May they do their work with You and Your will as their first thought. Change our leaders in such a way that we can see that they are following You. Lord, use our systems, our governments, our structures, as instruments of Your will. Make truth and justice and freedom reign to Your glory. We know, Lord, that there are those that use power to further their own agendas and selfish ambitions. Lord, expose those things and lead all of us in this nation to orient ourselves toward Your will, Your truth, Your Word. May our laws and our practices reflect Your heart. May you make us a nation that understands authority, and humbly applies that authority. Make us a nation that respects one another, that protects one another, that blesses one another. Make us a nation that first seeks You, then, in that seeking of You, takes what You say to the rest of the world. Make us a nation of justice, a nation of mercy, and a nation of love. Make the United States, united. Make the land of the free, free in You. Make the home of the brave, courageous in Your Spirit. Come, Lord, and change the hearts of our nation.
Lord God, this pandemic has brought out all sorts of pain and suffering throughout the world. Father, please, in Your mercy, have mercy on the world. Lord, take away any self-serving, or evil intent in the hearts of leaders or dictators anywhere in the world. The people are suffering under evil systems and corrupt selfishness. Lord, set the people of this world free. Undo the work of the enemy in oppressing those all over the world. Father, make your will done here on Earth, as it is in Heaven. Turn the hearts of people all over the world to you. Make us aware of how people are hurting and how we can be instruments of Your peace, and Your love, beyond our borders, all over wherever You take us. Bless the churches and ministries that You have brought to us and we support. From Alaska to Ecuador, to Ethiopia, and to the Middle East, Lord, protect those who are serving You. Go before them and prepare hearts for the Gospel.
Finally, Lord, we thank You for the chance and the privilege of being included in Your plans. Thank you that we can be in Your family. Thank you that You are knitting our hearts together, in love, in peace, and in following You. Help us know that Your way is the best way. Bring Your Kingdom here on Earth, in our hearts, in our church, and in this city.
In Jesus’ name, Amen!
