Praying For Our Nation October 23, 2012

• According to 2 Chron. 7:14, repent for our sins and the sins of nation in turning away from the living God and His standards of righteousness.
For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. (1 Peter 4:17)
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. (James 4:8-10)
• Pray for deep conviction of sin, fervent prayer and true revival to sweep Christ’s church. “Now, therefore, says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So rend your heart, and not your garments. Return to the Lord you God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. (Joel 2:12-13)
• Plead for God’s mercy and grace on the church and our nation.
O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name. (Dan. 9:18-19)
• Pray that He would restrain His righteous judgment and turn us to Himself in fervent love and deep repentance.
Restore us O God of our salvation, and cause Your anger toward us to cease. Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations? Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your mercy, Lord, and grant us Your salvation. (Ps. 85:4-7)
Pray against the “leaven” in the church:
• Come against the spirit of complacency in the church.
• Come against the spirit of compromise in the church -- among leaders and individual believers.
• Come against the worldliness that has crept into the church.
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life – is not of the Father but of the world. (1 John 2:15-16)
Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4)
Pray for believers to fully humble themselves, placing their primary trust in God,
not in political parties, economic systems or governments:
No king is saved by the multitude of an army; a mighty man is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain hope for safety; neither shall it deliver any by its great strength. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield ... Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, just as we hope in You. (Ps. 33:16-20, 22)
Pray that believers would not commit the idolatry of placing economics or politics above God and biblical truths.
“You shall have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20:3)