The Prayer Emphasis Begins Today: Suggested Daily Prayers for Two Weeks of Prayer for the United States

A 6-week Prayer Emphasis

We have just finished four weeks of the 6-week Prayer Emphasis, having prayed two weeks for our Country, followed by two weeks for Our Churches.  I would urge you to continue to emphasize these prayer targets when you come before the Lord.  The Suggested Prayer Requests for both these two-week periods are included here, if you wish to refer back to them, or perhaps are just now able to begin--I know that God will honor your prayers, and we do need to continue to pray for these areas.

Suggested Prayer Requests

for the Two Weeks' Emphasis on

Prayer for Our Families

April

10:  That Godly leaders would be raised up in our nation.

11:  That husbands would love and cherish their wives as Christ loves the Church.

12:  That wives would reverence, admire and praise their husbands, submitting to them.

13:  That children would honor and obey their parents and that they would be responsible, diligent and hard-working.

14:  That God would strengthen and unify one-man, one-woman marriages, and that each partner would show faithfulness, love and devotion towards the other, honoring their vows before God.

15:  For Christian fathers to lovingly lead their homes and families and that God would give them wisdom and discernment, that they may lead with Godly purpose.

16:  That wives and daughters would be committed to modesty, and truly know how to please God in their dress.  That women's hearts would desire to please God, and not men, and that they would be complete in His love and trusting Him with their future.

17:  That God would provide for each family's needs by providing employment for the father.

18:  That Christian marriages would produce Godly seed (children who would believe in Him), and that pregnant mothers would experience safe, healthy, normal pregnancies and delivery of their unborn children.  For peace, comfort and contentment for those who desire to have children, but have not yet born, or are unable to bear, children.  That all Christians would surrender control of their lives completely to God, including submitting to Him the decision of how many children (or gifts) He will give to them. (Psalm 127)  That mothers would be nurturing to their children.

19:  That all Christian parents would "raise their children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

20:  That we might care for widows and orphans in their affliction, and keep ourselves unstained from the world, thus fulfilling the definition of "true religion."  James 1

21:  For Christian families to establish a "family altar," and a daily time for studying the Word of God and praying together.

22:  That families would be discerning and hate evil, and that they would be doers of the Word, and the will of God, not just hearers only.  That the fruit of the Spirit would be abundantly evident in the lives of Christians.

23:  That families would fear God and love His Word, and that any idols would be recognized, repented of, and cast out of the lives, hearts and homes of true believers.

24:  That family members would be willing to die to themselves and their fleshly desires, and live sacrificially, for righteousness' sake.  That families would be salt in our culture.

A 6-week Prayer Emphasis

We have just finished the two-week emphasis on Prayer for your Country, (scroll down to see the Specific Requests).  I would urge you to continue to pray fervently for your country.

Here are the promised "Suggested Prayer Requests for the two week emphasis on Prayer for Our Churches" which begins today, March 27 and goes through April 10.  Pray for your own local church, and also the Church which is the Body of Christ around the world:

These are merely suggestions.  There are Scripture references at the end of many.  I encourage you to look these up in your Bible and study them.  Don't forget the encouragement to fast and pray either Monday or Friday, and optionally to meet with others to pray.

You may pray for these requests on each day March 27-April 10, or pray all of them each day, or whatever the Lord lays on your heart.

Pray for Our Churches:

First and foremost, that we would repent of our sins, fall on our faces before a Holy God and ask forgiveness, turning from our wicked ways, and seek righteousness, that revival may begin with the House of God.

March:

27.  That we may have a fear of the Lord and a greater reverence for God. Proverbs 1:1-7; Psalm 111; Psalm 34:9

28.  For churches to return to their "first love" and receive God's grace to obey Jesus' commandment to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and to love one's neighbor as oneself. Revelation 2:1-4; Mark 12:30-31

29.  For professing Christians to truly possess eternal life by faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ alone, and surrender to His Lordship, and not be those to whom the Lord will say, "I never knew you." Matthew 7:21-23

30.  To depend completely and entirely on the Lord Jesus Christ.

31.  To be led by the Holy Spirit, living after the Spirit, not in the flesh. Romans 8:5-6

April

1.  To abide in Him and His Word to abide in us, that we may bear much fruit. John 15:1-8

2.  For greater love and encouragement of one another and to put love into action, that they may know we are Christians by our love. John 13:34-35

3.  For boldness to share the gospel, and to be a faithful and true witness of the gospel to unbelievers.

4.  To be willing to gladly suffer affliction and persecution for the sake of Christ and for God to give strength, encouragement and perseverance to those who are suffering persecution for their faith around the world.

5.  That we might know His Word, believe His Word, love His Word, obey His Word, being not only hearers of the Word, but doers of the Word, and hide it in our hearts that we might not sin against Him. Psalm 119:11; Matthew 7:24-25

6.  For unity in doctrine.

7.  For God to help Pastors, Elders and Leaders in their leading, granting them wisdom and discernment, energy to put their convictions into action, knowledge and understanding, and for them and their families, blessing/reward and encouragement.

8.  For false teachers and teaching to be discerned and put out of the church. Matthew 7:15-20; Revelation 2:2-3

9.  For Christians to forgive those who have offended them, even as Christ has forgiven us and for healing and oneness in relationships within the Body of Christ, putting aside all bitterness, wrath, and malice.

10.  Healing for those who are sick.

As I write this post for the beginning of a special time of prayer for our country, I cannot help but think of the Japanese people, and lift up my prayers for all those who are suffering after the devastating earthquake which took place just days ago.


My husband's sister and her family lived in Sendai for many years, as missionaries there, (they now live further north, and we have heard that they are safe).  Over the years we have enjoyed getting to know many Japanese people--a number who still live in the Sendai area.  They have spent time in our home, eaten at our table, laughed with us, loved us, and we have found it easy to love them.

We are waiting to hear of the safety of those that we, and my husband's family, know--and we are praying.


For those in Japan who have lost loved ones, homes, and possessions, and those who do not even know for certain where their loved ones are or if they are safe, we want you to know that we are praying for you, and we extend to you our deepest sympathy and our love.

A Time of Special Prayer 

Click above to see more details and your invitation to 6-weeks of prayer for Our Country, Our Churches, and Our Families:  Today we begin 2 weeks of prayer for Our Country.

Though you do not need direction as to how to pray, and those of you around the world will be praying for your own countries, these suggested prayer requests for the United States were included with the invitation, for lifting up prayers together, if you would like, on a theme each day.

Suggestions for Prayer for Our Country

March 13-26, 2011:

March:

13:  Pray that Biblical marriage will be strengthened, defended, and upheld.  President Obama has decided he doesn't want to defend the Defense of Marriage Act any more.

14:  Pray that Planned Parenthood will be defunded, and abortion abolished.

15:  Pray our country will repent and turn back to God and the foundations of faith upon which our country was founded.

16:  Pray for Godly leaders to be elected to the highest positions of leadership and decision-making in our land.

17:  Pray for laws to be made and upheld which are Biblical and Constitutional.

18:  Pray for the salvation of our country's, states' and cities' leaders.

19:  Pray for the worship of the One True God and Jesus Christ in the United States:  for America to truly be a Christian nation, and for the overthrow of any false religions and their influence in our nation.

20:  Pray for the safety of our nation from attack and for our security.

21:  Pray for our military:  for safety and salvation.

22:  Pray for wisdom, integrity, honesty and discernment in our leaders at every level of government.

23:  Pray for the educational system of our nation.

24:  Pray that all those who are righteous will speak up and boldly stand for what is right.  Pray for revival in our land and for a hunger and thirst for righteousness.

25:  Pray for the strengthening of the marriages and families of those in leadership and authority over us.

26:  Pray for Godly laws to be enacted.

Thankful Thursday: Prayer for Our Country, Our Churches, and Our Families

It's Thankful Thursday (To participate and read other thankful hearts, visit Iris, at Grace Alone; thank you, Iris, for hosting this month!)


I am so, so grateful that I have the freedom to not only pray, but ask you to pray, and talk about prayer, and so on and on and on!  Prayer changes things, doesn't it.  I do not want to take this for granted.  I'm grateful for the promises regarding prayer, that God listens, that He invites us to pour out our hearts to Him, that the example throughout Scripture is of His children being overwhelmed, but finding help, comfort and relief when they cried out to the Lord.  The Lord has never let me down, though I often feel overwhelmed.  He is always faithful and loving.


  I have felt a deep yearning to pray (fervently), and I am asking you to join me.  This week I sent out an invitation to many friends, and I want to extend it to all of you dear blogging friends around the world, too!  Though one of the prayer targets is my own country, of course you should feel free to pray for the country you live in, or the whole world, if  you feel so led!  


Here are the words directly from the invitation:

An invitation to Join in Fervent Prayer.

You are invited to participate

in a Special Prayer Emphasis

for our Country,

our Churches,

and our Families...

The effectual fervent prayer of a

righteous man availeth much.

James 5:16

...from your own homes, offices or wherever you pray, for

the six weeks leading up to Resurrection Sunday,

beginning this Sunday, March 13, 2011.

Two weeks of prayer for our country, followed by

two weeks of prayer for our churches, followed by

two weeks of prayer for our families.

(Optional:  fast a day or meal on Monday or Friday.

You may choose to pray alone or organize to pray with others.)

Prior to each two week period, a list of suggestions to pray for related to each theme will be available to you, if you so desire.

(I will be posting a list of suggestions by Sunday,

March 26th for the theme of our Churches,

and by Sunday, April 10th for the theme of our Families.)

Please invite many others to participate~

Won't you Join me in A Time of Fervent Prayer?

(Click on this link for The Specific Suggested Prayer Requests for the first two weeks of prayer for our country.)

"Do You Pray?" Part 11, The End

Asking for very specific requests from God is sometimes uncomfortable for me.  I don't want to seem like I'm telling Him what to do.  I don't want to seem like I think I'm in charge.  "Do this, or else!"  In my mind, a demanding posture is the antithesis to humbly presenting my requests to God.  I want to give God room to get the result I want, but in His way.  Hmmm.  That sounded kind of manipulative, didn't it.  And yet, God says in His Word, "Ye have not because ye ask not."  Of course, He also says we ask only to "consume it upon our own lusts."

With these thoughts rumbling around in my brain, I took the time to reread the last part of "Do You Pray?"  God used these words to really help me get over my hesitancy to "open up" and talk to Him about what's on my heart, and say it in my own words.  Amazingly, after 35 years as a Christian, that doesn't happen as automatically as it should. It felt really good.  Telling Him how I feel and what I would like, as though I'm talking to my loving earthly father is a habit I want to perfect !

For 6 weeks, every Monday and Wednesday, I have been posting an excerpt from the work entitled, "Do You Pray?" by J. C. Ryle.

God can change the world
through our prayers!!

How has this affected your relationship with the Lord?  Has it changed anything?  Are you praying differently?  Do you find you have more faith?  Are you seeing answers to your prayers?  It has changed me.  My faith has become stronger.

I recommend you go back and copy all the parts into a Word file, so you can read a little or a lot at a time, and underline what the Lord causes to jump off the page at you.

___________________________----------------____________

Read:

 Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5,
 Part 6, Part 7, Part 8--1st Half, 

 Part 8--2nd Half, Part 9, Part 10

_________________________________-----------_________

And now, we come to the last and final part of

"Do You Pray?" by J. C. Ryle,

Part 11:
"Asking, But Not Amiss"

I commend to you the importance of particularity in prayer.  We ought not to be content with great general petitions.  We ought to specify our wants before the throne of grace.  It should not be enough to confess we are sinners:  we should name the sins of which our conscience tells us we are most guilty.  It should not be enough to ask for holiness; we should name the graces in which we feel most deficient.  It should not be enough to tell the Lord we are in trouble; we should describe our trouble and all its peculiarities.

This is what Jacob did when he feared his brother Esau.  He tells God exactly what it is that he fears (Genesis 32:11).  This is what Eliezer did, when he sought a wife for his master's son.  He spreads before God precisely what he wants (Genesis 24:12).  This is what Paul did when he had a thorn in the flesh.  He besought the Lord (2 Corinthians 12:8).  This is true faith and confidence.  We should believe that nothing is too small to be named before God.  What should we think of the patient who told his doctor he was ill, but never went into particulars?  What should we think of the wife who told her husband she was unhappy, but did not specify the cause?  What should we think of the child who told his father he was in trouble, but nothing more?  Christ is the true bridegroom of the soul, the true physician of the heart, the real father of all his people.  Let us show that we feel this by being unreserved in our communications with him.  Let us hide no secrets from him.  Let us tell him all our hearts.

I commend to you the importance of intercession in our prayers.  We are all selfish by nature, and our selfishness is very apt to stick to us, even when we are converted.  There is a tendency in us to think only of our own souls, our own spiritual conflicts, our own progress in religion, and to forget others.  Against this tendency we all have need to watch and strive, and not least in our prayers.  We should study to be of a public spirit.  We should stir ourselves up to name other names besides our own before the throne of grace.  We should try to bear in our hearts the whole world, the heathen, the Jews, the Roman Catholics, the body of true believers, the professing Protestant churches, the country in which we live, the congregation to which we belong, the household in which we sojourn, the friends and relations we are connected with.  For each and all of these we should plead.  This is the highest charity.  He loves me best who loves me in his prayers.  This is for our soul's health.  It enlarges our sympathies and expands our hearts.  This is for the benefit of the church.  The wheels of all machinery for extending the gospel are moved by prayer.  They do as much for the Lord's cause who intercede like Moses on the mount, as they do who fight like Joshua in the thick of the battle.  This is to be like Christ.  He bears the names of his people, as their High Priest, before the Father.  Oh, the privilege of being like Jesus!  This is to be a true helper to ministers.  If I must choose a congregation, give me a people that pray.

I commend to you the importance of thankfulness in prayer.  I know well that asking God is one thing and praising God is another.  But I see so close a connection between prayer and praise in the Bible, that I dare not call that true prayer in which thankfulness has no part.  It is not for nothing that Paul says, "By prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God" (Philippians 4:6).  "Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving" (Colossians 4:2).  It is of mercy that we are not in hell.  It is of mercy that we have the hope of heaven.  It is of mercy that we live in a land of spiritual light.  It is of mercy that we have been Called by the Spirit, and not left to reap the fruit of our own ways.  It is of mercy that we still live and have opportunities of glorifying God actively or passively.  Surely the thoughts should crowd on our minds whenever we speak with God.  Surely we should never open our lips in prayer without blessing God for that free grace by which we live, and for that loving kindness which endureth forever.

Never was there an eminent saint who was not full of thankfulness.  St. Paul hardly ever writes an epistle without beginning with thankfulness.  Men like Whitefield in the last century, and Bickersteth in our time abounded in thankfulness.  Oh, reader, if we would be bright and shining lights in our day, we must cherish a spirit of praise.  Let our prayers be thankful prayers.

I commend to you the importance of watchfulness over your prayers.  Prayer is that point in religion at which you must be most of all on your guard.  Here it is that true religion begins:  here it flourishes, and here it decays.  Tell me what a man's prayers are, and I will soon tell you the state of his soul.  Prayer is the spiritual pulse.  By this the spiritual health may be tested.  Prayer is the spiritual weatherglass.  By this we may know whether it is fair or foul with our hearts.  Oh, let us keep an eye continually upon our private devotions.  Here is the pith and marrow of our practical Christianity.  Sermons and books and tracts, and committee meetings and the company of good men, are all good in their way, but they will never make up for the neglect of private prayer.  Mark well the places and society and companions that unhinge your hearts for the communion with God and make your prayers drive heavily.  There be on your guard. Observe narrowly what friends and what employments leave your soul in the most spiritual frame, and most ready to speak with God.  To these cleave and stick fast.  If you will take care of your prayers, nothing shall go very wrong with your soul.

I offer these points for your private consideration.  I do it in all humility.  I know no one who needs to be reminded of them more than I do myself.  But I believe them to be God's own truth, and I desire myself and all I love to feel them more.

I want the times we live in to be praying times.  I want the Christians of our day to be praying Christians.  I want the church to be a praying church.  My heart's desire and prayer in sending forth this tract is to promote a spirit of prayerfulness.  I want those who never prayed yet, to arise and call upon God, and I want those who do pray, to see that they are not praying amiss.

THE END

J.C. Ryle  -  (1816-1900), first Anglican bishop of Liverpool
J.C. Ryle was a prolific writer, vigorous preacher, faithful pastor, husband of three wives (widowed three times) and the father to five children. He was thoroughly evangelical in his doctrine and uncompromising in his Biblical principles. After being in Pastoral ministry in England for 38 years, in 1880 (at age 64) Ryle became the first bishop of Liverpool, England and remained there for 20 years. He retired in 1900 (at age 83) and died later that same year at age 84.