November 9, 2009

• a prayer for power (we have but little power - Revelation 3:8)

  Continuing on with prayers based on Jesus' words to the seven churches in Revelation. May we have ears to hear what His Spirit has to say to us...

  Revelation 3:7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.
  
  8 “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
  
  9 Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet and they will learn that I have loved you. 10 Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.
  11 I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. 12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
  
  13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

  Father, Son and Spirit,

  The Church today is all but dead. We can do nothing about it except by Your mighty power at work in and through us.

  You continue to choose the weak things of this world to confound the strong and mighty, all so You alone will receive all the praise, honor and glory for the work You accomplish in and through us.

  We freely acknowledge we have but little power, little strength. No, let us say it: we have no power, we have no strength. We have seen what has happened when we have relied on our own power and not Yours. The Church is a shadow of what You have intended. We are a mere shell. We are that pile of dry and dead bones Ezekiel saw.

  But You, O Lord, You are God almighty. The maker of heaven and earth, the creator and sustainer of all things. You uphold all things with the word of Your power. Who can compare? Who is a god like unto You, O God! You have all power and You wish to give us power. You have promised to do so. You have already given us Your Spirit and You long to continue to baptize us afresh once more.

  We confess how often we live as misers. We already have the same resurrection power dwelling in us which raised Christ from the dead. But how seldom do we avail ourselves of Your power. How little do we know of our rich inheritance in Christ. We keep trying to work in our own power. We also confess that we often forget to ask for that power. Forgive us, O Lord, You so want to equip us and strengthen us, yet we continue to try to work in our own power which will avail nothing in battle against powers and principalities.

  
  For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.
  

  –2 Corinthians 13:4

  Almighty God, show us the resurrection power we have already been given and help us to continue to ask for Your Holy Spirit. Let us not doubt. Let us not quench or grieve Your Holy Spirit. Let us not limit the work You want to do by our unbelief. Baptize us afresh. Shake us, fill us, revive us so we might speak Your word with boldness. You have promised to give us Your Spirit not so we might have a warm, fun and fuzzy experience but so we might take Your message of salvation through Jesus Christ with boldness and confidence to the ends of the earth. O Father, there is a battle going on for souls in this world. We cannot fulfill the commission You have given us apart from Your power. We come to You and ask for the gift You have promised to give us: Your Holy Spirit. How can the Church be revived apart from Him and His power at work in us? We ask these things not so we might become great (O, keep us humble, Lord), but rather so Your Name might become great and Your Gospel might be published to the ends of the earth. There are so many who have not heard. So many even in our own churches who have not really heard. Wherever there are souls who have not heard, send us out, fill us with Your Spirit, so we might speak forth Your Gospel message to a dead world, to a dead church. We know Your Gospel is the only power to save. The only power that can bring dead souls to life.

  O, we so long for the day that Your Church might truly be the city on a hill, bright and shining there, bringing glory to You. May Your message might be sprinkled out as salt to the world, so the world might thirst for the fountain of life. May peoples of all nations, every tongue, every tribe, every people come streaming to You to worship Jesus Christ as Lord so You might receive all the praise, honor and glory You alone deserve. O, that the lost might come to Jesus Christ and find rest for their souls, eat of the bread from heaven which will satisfy and drink of the living water and never thirst again. How can we keep the wonder of Your love to ourselves? How can we eat and drink and not want to share this heavenly feast with the lost? May You bring many into Your Kingdom to come alongside us and sing the song of the Redeemed and praise to our God. Do You not long to rejoice with them in heaven? We are looking to the harvest and we know we are powerless apart from Your Spirit. Send the fire, Lord! Burn in our hearts once again.

  O, fill lost souls with Your love, by Your mercy and grace grant them repentance and remission of sins through Jesus Christ and eternal life, that they might know You and they would be filled with all Your fullness and joy unspeakable and full of glory! O how wonderful it is when we all gather around Your throne and sing praises to the Lamb who was slain: by His wounds and His blood we are saved. How our joy is multiplied when more and more of the flock join us in praise to You, O God, our Redeemer! How Your joy is multiplied!

  O, we long for Jesus Christ to have His place restored in the Church. O, God, grant us boldness, send Your Spirit down upon us and into us, so we can work the works You have ordained for us and bring You glory. We are in this world so we might be sent out to proclaim Your Gospel and shine the light in dark places. May You use us to open blind eyes and turn them from darkness to light. O Lord, we know we can do nothing apart from Your indwelling Spirit giving us boldness and wisdom and power as we go. We have little power, we have no power, apart from You. Restore us. Revive us. Send Your fire upon us and into us. We can do nothing apart from You. We love You, Lord God. We so want to see Your glory restored to the Church. We confess we have become a laughingstock and a reproach. Forgive us for making a vital love relationship with You, the living God, into a cold, dry orthodoxy, a mere intellectual assent to doctrine.

  O, build us up and send us out, so we might rebuild the ruins. Too long, too long this has gone on. How abominable. How despicably we have acted. Forgive us, O Lord. Thank You for opening our eyes now. We could not see but now we see we had but a form of life but were really dead. A form of godliness but denied the power. O, now You have begun to revive us, let us never be content until Your glory goes through the whole earth. Let us continue to come back again and again to You like the importunate widow did to the judge. Will You not hear us? Do You not love us? Do You not long for Your Church to be revived and the Gospel to go out clearly and with power and bold assurance throughout the earth? Is it not to Your glory to rend the heavens and come down? O, Lord God, we have tasted of Your pleasures forevermore and we want nothing more than others to taste of You and to see that You are good. That they may know You are Abba, Father, that You are filled with love for us. You are a God who gave all so we might have everlasting life forever with You. You gave Your Son Jesus Christ to be sin for us, so we might be reconciled to You. You did it all so we might know You and love You and have fellowship with You! That is how much You loved us. O, that the world might know Your love!

  For Your Glory, O Lord, please return again to us. We long to see Your glory again. We cannot travel on apart from Your presence. We are being bold here like Moses was. We know that apart from You we have no hope. Come to us. Dwell in us and with us. Awaken us. Revive us. Breathe life into these dead bones. May Your Kingdom come into us afresh and anew and may we take Your Gospel to the rest of the Church and to the world. All the praise, honor, glory goes to You alone. You have done great things. O, may we see You do greater things, O Lord God. For Your Name's sake we ask these things. Amen.

  The least one shall become a clan,
  and the smallest one a mighty nation;
  I am the LORD;
  in its time I will hasten it.
  Isaiah 60:22

  5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
  in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
  6 As they go through the Valley of Baca
  they make it a place of springs;
  the early rain also covers it with pools.
  7 They go from strength to strength;
  each one appears before God in Zion.
  Psalm 84:5-7

  Please add your prayers below as the Holy Spirit leads you.

  • 1:38 PM
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