Day 21

Forty Days of Prayer for Our Country- Day 21

This week I received this message by email from Billy Graham.  Let these words challenge us and lead us today.

Thought for the day:

"The legacy we leave behind for our children, grandchildren, and this great nation is crucial. As I approach my 94th birthday, I realize this election could be my last. I believe it is vitally important that we cast our ballots for candidates who base their decisions on biblical principles and support the nation of Israel. I urge you to vote for those who protect the sanctity of life and support the biblical definition of marriage between a man and a woman. Vote for biblical values this November 6, and pray with me that America will remain one nation under God."       Billy Graham

Scripture:
"Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name - the name you gave me - so that they may be one as we are one."  John 17:11b

Prayer: 

Father, Your Son prayed that we, His followers would be one.  We confess, Lord, we do not always follow that very well.  Teach us how to follow Jesus as He makes the oneness He prayed for real in us.  We pledge often about being one nation under God, but Father we are far from that oneness too.  Help us to understand what it would take to be one nation under You.  Forgive us where we have missed the mark but guide us to the place where we can become one by your design.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Prayer Points for Today:

- Is there a broken relationship with another Christian in your life?  Would you pray for reconciliation and the oneness that Jesus prayed we would know.
- Pray that God would work unity back into our divided country.
- Ask God to show you and all His people how to vote for those who will follow biblical principles. 

Memory Verse for the Week:

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.  Psalm 33:12

Challenge for Today:
Share this weeks memory verse with someone today.  You can even include it in a prayer.

Day 20

Forty Days of Prayer for Our Country- Day 20

Scripture:

"If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.  This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."  John 15:7-8

Thought for the day:

"Prayer is a very dangerous business.  For all the benefits it offers of growing closer to God, it carries with it one great  element of risk:  the possibility of change."  Emilie Griffin

Today we reach the half way mark in praying for our country.  You may have thought ahead and observed we will not finish 40 days before the election.  That is right.  We are praying for our country in an important election time but we will be praying a few days past the election to pray for those that we have elected.  I felt convicted that praying for these new officials was a vital part of what we needed to begin to do.

So what kind of experience has this been for you in praying for our country?  Would you do something really different with me today?  Would you meditate on your praying over these last 20 days?  Here are just a few questions to ponder:
-What truth has God most clearly shown you so far in this process?
-What sin have you felt most convicted about?
-What area of prayer for our country have you become most burdened about?
-What would you ask the Father to accomplish in you over these next 20 days of prayer?

                                                                                                                                                                 Tim
Prayer: 

Father, help me change as I pray for my nation to change; knowing that one cannot happen without the other.  Amen

Prayer Points for Today:

- Pray that God would make the changes in you that He purposes.
- Ask that He would change our country - the people as well as the leaders.
- Ask for the blessing of mercy to be upon God's people as we worship tomorrow.

Memory Verse for the Week:

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.  Psalm 33:12

Challenge for Today:
Pray that God would prepare your heart and all those who gather tomorrow for worship at Northside as we partake in the Lord's Supper.

Day 19

Forty Days of Prayer for Our Country- Day 19

Here is a final prayer guide entry prepared by Dave Butts, chair of the National Prayer Committee and author of "If My People 2012" prayer guide.

Scripture:
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will."  --Romans 12:2

 

Thought for the day:

Our nation doesn't know it, but America needs the church. Not just as a bunch of good-deed doers, but as those who give direction for the future and preserve and protect in the present. We've not done this well, but that is the place in which God has put us. We are to be light, helping people (and nations) avoid the pitfalls of darkness. We are salt, both as seasoning and protection for a society.

The nation cannot afford a sidelined church, taken out by worldliness and confusion. The Apostle Paul commands believers to allow ourselves no longer to be conformed by worldly patterns, but rather to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Only then we will understand the will of God, not just for our own lives, but so that we can be a prophetic voice to our nation. Sometimes the best way to pray for our nation is to pray for revival in the church!

Prayer: 

Lord, forgive us, Your people for our timidity, worldliness, and failure to be the light and salt that our nation desperately needs. Transform us! May Your Word bring lasting change to our minds and lifestyles. Help us then to speak with boldness as we understand more and more of Your will. Help us not so much to seek political power as to seek to speak Your wisdom into political situations.

Prayer Points for Today:

- Repent of the church's failure to be light and salt in our society.

- Pray for a transformation in the church through a renewing of our mind through the Word of God.

- Ask the Lord for the church to rise up with a strong prophetic voice for America.

Memory Verse for the Week:

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.  Psalm 33:12

Challenge for Today:
Pray for our church as we come together Sunday to observe the Lord's Supper.

Day 18

Forty Days of Prayer for Our Country- Day 18

Here is another day's entry from Dave Butts and "If My People."

Scripture:

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." --Proverbs 1:7

Thought for the day:

This well-known passage of scripture is typically used for individuals, and rightly so. The principle, however, can be applied to a whole nation. If a nation is characterized by the fear of the Lord in its dealings, both internally and internationally, it will be a nation known for wisdom and not foolishness.

 A wise nation takes into account the Word of God as it makes laws. Even a cursory reading of the history of the founding of the United States demonstrates that our founding fathers seriously endeavored to base our nations' laws on their strong Judeo-Christian beliefs. Secularists today often counter that many of those men were, in fact, Deists, and not strong Christians. Their own beliefs aside, our Founders, almost to a man, insisted that laws were based on divine revelation and not on human wisdom alone. Even as strong a secularist as Thomas Jefferson said powerfully, "And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever." (Paul Leicester Ford, ed., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, 10 vols., Notes on the State of Virginia (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1892-99), Query XVIII, 4:232.)

A significant shift has taken place in American political and cultural thought over the past fifty years, replacing God's Word as the source of morality, ethics, and law, with the rule of polls and surveys. This is exactly what Proverbs warns us against. A nation that rejects the Word of God as the basis for right and wrong has become a foolish nation that despises wisdom and rejects discipline.

Prayer:  by Dave Butts

"Father, I give You thanks for the godly foundation of my nation. Thank You for instilling the fear of the Lord into our Founders, so that our laws were based on your Word. Imperfect though they were, the original documents of government for the United States made a real effort to reflect Your will and Your truth.

Forgive us for drifting from Your ways. We have turned from the fear of God to the fear of man. Our laws change with the shifting winds of human opinion. We have embraced foolishness and rejected Your discipline.

We confess our desperate need for Your truth to become the basis once again for our country. Pour out a hunger for truth and righteousness on everyone from preachers to professors to presidents. Raise up a standard of righteousness across this nation that honors Your Word and exalts Your name!" 

Prayer Points for Today:

- Pray that the United States will repent of its corporate rejection of the Word of God.

- Pray that a holy fear of God will sweep across our nation, leading us back to a place of wisdom.

- Pray that courage born of wisdom will be given to Christians in places of leadership in government, the courts, and law schools across the nation so that they will stand for a godly basis for law.

 

 Memory Verse for the Week:

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.  Psalm 33:12

Challenge for Today:

You can see more of Dave Butts' prayer guide at  http://www.ifmypeople2012.org/  You can also subscribe to his daily pray guide there as well.

Day 17

Forty Days of Prayer for Our Country- Day 17

Here is another prayer guide entry prepared by Dave Butts, chair of the National Prayer Committee and author of "If My People 2012" prayer guide.

Scripture:

"When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy who is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by the LORD your God and rescued from your enemies."

 --Numbers 10:9

Thought for the day:

The shock of September 11, 2001 was magnified by the fact that as a nation, we have not been attacked in our land for a very long time. At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was not yet a state. For an actual invasion we have to go back to the War of 1812. Of course, there was the Civil War, fought within our land, but by our own people. We are historically not used to living on a battlefield.

Today's scripture speaks of fighting battles within our own land. Though written to Israel, there is certainly a spiritual principle for us today. And we need to hear it because we are indeed in a war in our own land. It is not melodramatic at all to declare that there is a war in the spirit realm for the soul of America. Years ago, someone once reportedly said, " America has the soul of a church ." Is that how you would describe the soul of America today?

Scripture always portrays Satan as attempting to maneuver nations against the kingdom of God, and he is often successful. For many years, the godly foundation and prayers of the faithful kept our nation at least somewhat close to the purposes of God. This spiritual war, though, has intensified through the years, and we certainly find ourselves in battle in our own land against an enemy who desires to oppress us.

The command of God is to sound a blast on the trumpets. Trumpet blasts typically called the Lord's people together for battle. But the blowing of trumpets (shofars) was also a call to prayer. In our day, I believe the two are merged into one. The trumpet is being blown to fight this battle on our knees. Our enemy is not flesh and blood, and we do not wage war with carnal weapons. This trumpet call is to intense prayer that glorifies Jesus, resists the devil, and releases the power of God. Then we can have every expectation of the promise of God to be remembered and rescued.

Prayer:  by Dave Butts

Father, forgive me for not always being aware of the war that is going on in our nation. Wake me and all of Your people up to the reality of what the Enemy is doing to destroy our foundations. Teach us to pray as You taught us to pray, so that we would be delivered from the Evil One. Help us, Lord, to heed the call of the trumpet to pray as never before. Show us the extent of the battles and help us not to wage war in the flesh but in the Spirit. Thank You, Lord, for Your promise to remember us and to rescue us!

Prayer Points for Today:

- Thank the Lord for His promise of remembering us and of rescuing us from our enemies.

- Ask the Lord to help strengthen the trumpet call to intensive prayer, so that it is heard throughout the church in the United States.

- Commit in prayer to stand against the attacks of the enemy on our nation.

 

Memory Verse for the Week:

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.  Psalm 33:12

Challenge for Today:

Pray that last night’s Presidential Debate, would be properly analyzed by the American media, the voters and God’s people.

Day 16

Forty Days of Prayer for Our Country- Day 16

Here is another prayer guide entry prepared by Dave Butts, chair of the National Prayer Committee and author of "If My People 2012" prayer guide.

Scripture:

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." --John 16:33

Thought for the day:

Jesus often used words in ways that no one else would use them. For instance, in today's passage He puts together "peace" and "trouble." We would never put the two together. If we are having trouble, we think that our peace was gone. But Jesus has a much clearer perspective than our typical frantic thought process.

Jesus knew that as long as we live in this world, there will always be trouble. It might on an individual basis: our illnesses, relationships, finances, and so forth. Or it might be on a national platform: war, economic crisis, natural disasters, and so forth. It doesn't matter who you are or in what nation you live, you will have trouble.

The good news is that peace is possible in the midst of this trouble. This peace is not found in avoiding trouble, but in embracing the Prince of Peace. The peace Jesus speaks of is found in Him and is literally a commodity given to those who follow Him. It is intended to mark His followers. His disciples will be those who have experienced His peace in their own lives and who seek to bring that to the nation in which they live.  

Prayer:  by Dave Butts

Forgive me, Lord, when I walk in anxiety and stress, failing to allow Your peace to rule in my life. Breathe Your peace into my heart. Help me to bring that peace with me into every situation I face. Lord, may Your peace so pervade Your church in America that it begins to mark us a nation. We understand that we live in a time of troubles. You told us it would be that way. Help us in a miraculous way to experience Your peace in the midst of trouble.

Prayer Points for Today:

 

- Ask the Lord to fill you with His peace.

- Pray that you will be a person who brings the peace of Christ into the lives of others.

- Pray that the church in America will live in such a way that the peace of Christ comes into the councils of our nation.  

Memory Verse for the Week:

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.  Psalm 33:12

Challenge for Today:
Pray for this evening's Presidential Debate, that truth would be seen and heard and that the American public would be guided in discernment.

Day 15

Forty Days of Prayer for Our Country- Day 15

Today we will again be using some of the prayer guide prepared by Dave Butts, chair of the National Prayer Committee and author of "If My People 2012" prayer guide.

Scripture:

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." --Matthew 6:21

Thought for the day:

Years ago I heard a famous preacher tell about a conversation he had with the president of a South American nation. The president of that nation told the preacher that he had discovered the roots of the difference between the United States and his own nation: "Our ancestors came to these shores looking for gold, but your ancestors came looking for God." That's a profound difference. And probably a little distorted in that certainly there were some early settlers in America who came looking for gold, too. But that leader was right in understanding that there was a solid segment of those who came to the American colonies with a sincere desire to seek God and religious freedom.

What are we seeking now as a nation? God or gold? All too often we have been known as a nation that is interested more in money and things than in God and people. That's an attitude that has infected the church as well as the nation. There is no doubt that the love of money is one of the key idols in our nation, and is standing in the way of another great move of God in our midst. Where is your heart today? It's where your treasure is.  

Prayer:  by Dave Butts

Lord Jesus, You spoke so often about money and the danger it can represent to us. Yet, You also used the wealth of rich people around You to accomplish Your mission. Help us to walk in that biblical understanding of both the danger and blessing of money. Forgive us for making an idol out of money or material things. Especially, Lord, forgive us when that happens in Your church. Help us to live lives that are free from greed and coveting, that we might be a prophetic voice to our nation. May we become a nation that treasures You far more than we treasure gold.

Prayer Points for Today:

- Ask the Lord to reveal clearly to you where your treasure is.

- Pray for your heart to be clearly focused on the Lord.

- In Jesus' name, tear down the idol of Mammon (money) that has taken up residence in America today. 

 

Memory Verse for the Week:

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.  Psalm 33:12