Continuing on with prayers based on Jesus' words to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3...

O God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

The promised land was abundant in fruit and flowing with milk and honey...twelve spies went in, yet only two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, exhorted and insisted Israel go in and take possession of the land. And when they did the congregation rose up to stone them. O Lord God, these two men saw You had so much more for them and were not content unless they had claimed all the inheritance You had for them...

21 So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness...23 And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the Valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there.

25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land.

26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.

30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.

31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are. 32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.

O God, rescue us. We have been bound up. We have been blinded. Give us a renewed vision and desire for You and only You and all You have for us. Let us not rest and remain content in our lukewarm, powerless and fruitless Christianity.

We confess how much we are like the other ten spies today. We've been happy to sit in the wilderness and wander and not enjoy the possession You want to give us – no, the possession You have already given us. The problem is that we have wandered around in the wilderness, settling for less than Your best for us. We have not claimed it the inheritance You want to give us. We have become lukewarm like the Laodicean chuch in Revelation 3:

We confess we are lukewarm. We got saved and then coasted. We are not desiring all You have for us. We are content to sit back and go through the motions, week in and week out. We are not on fire for you. We have abandoned You, our first Love. We have lost sight of the promised land, of the glorious possibilities You have for us. So many of us don't have eyes to see the land of fruit, milk and honey. We think these are not for us. We think these are only for certain Christians or only for Bible times. We think they are a dream. They are not a dream. They are a promise for us as children of God. You have called us out to bear fruit for You, abundant fruit. To shine as lights in dark places. To burn with passion. To pant after You, O Lord. Whom have we in heaven but You? Yet we have sat contented here, fat, dumb and happy, lukewarm, despicable in Your eyes. We have wandered in the wilderness and not tasted and seen that You are good. O, no more of this lukewarmness! If we claim to know You, if we claim to serve You, let us serve You with all our heart, all our soul, all our strength and all our mind. You have given all for us. You expect all from us. No more lukewarmness. O, ignite us, Holy Spirit. You must rend the heavens and come down into our dry and dead bones and breathe life and fire there. Too long we have had an appearance of life but are really dead. We are lukewarm. O, rescue us from ourselves. Give us a vision of the life You have for us. Joshua and Caleb had that spirit, the spirit that followed You fully. That is the spirit of Jesus Christ. Let us see Jesus and how He lived before you. Never lukewarm. Always on fire. Always passionate for Your glory. Not expecting to be served but looking to serve. Obedient unto death. Not seeking His own will but Yours. We have His Spirit in us. How can we remain lukewarm? How can we remain unconcerned about Your glory? How can we remain ashamed of Your Gospel? If we are Yours, if we have been born of Your Spirit, we cannot remain lukewarm. Make us on fire for You. Bring us out of our apathy and disinterest. Make us wholehearted for You once again. We cannot toe the line here; it's You or mammon. It's Your Kingdom or ours...There's no other way.

O, we see ourselves as rich... We may be rich in the world's eyes but are we rich in Your eyes? We may be building bigger church buildings, making our budgets bigger and expanding the scope of our programming, but are we concerned about building up the Body, making disciples and expanding the scope of Your Kingdom?

Can we be truly happy wandering in the wilderness? No, never. Let us not remain content here, O Lord. We are truly wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked as we settle for the wilderness wanderings. Do You not want us to enter the promised land? Do You not have a land of fruitfulness, a land flowing with milk and honey? Do You not have for us joy and peace in believing? Do You not want us to rejoice in You and to enjoy You and Your love for us and obey with gladness of heart rather than making Christianity a tedious religion of duty and obligation? How long we have been like the older son who never enjoyed the feast, never entered into that promised land. Do You not want us to live as Your Son did, always seeking first You and Your Kingdom, always seeking to do Your will and not His, always obedient, never shrinking back from all You had for Him. O, let us enjoy our sonship. Make us like Your Son. That is to Your glory. That is why You bought us and purchased us with His precious blood, so we might become like Him. Let us enjoy all You have for us as children of God. We cannot be happy in the wilderness. Take us to the promised land. We want to be happy in Jesus, we can only be happy in the promised land. You have so much more for us, O Father.

O, blessed Holy Spirit, show us our wretchedness, our pitiableness, our poverty, our blindness, our nakedness. We cannot see ourselves for who we are apart from Your kindness and mercy to us. Shine Your light into the thoughts and intents of our hearts. Let us not continue to live as we have been. We cannot go on like this. We need to get out of this wilderness. We no longer want to wander here. We want to get into the promised land.We need Your fire to ignite us and shine and burn in us. Have mercy on us, O Lord, we are pitiable. We are not bright, we are not fiery. The Church is lukewarm. How can we impact a dark and cold world if Christ does not shine and burn in our hearts.

Give us ears to hear, so we might heed and obey our Lord's words to us, so we might not seek earthly riches, award and acclaim but to seek You. We keep listening to the world's teachings rather than sitting at Your feet. We scurry about like Marthas. We look for the newest program. Let us go back to You and Your Word. You alone have the words of life. Let us sit at Your feet like Mary and listen...listen...listen and then listen again...may we have ears to hear what Your Spirit has to say to the churches, to each one of us, so we might hear what You have to say to each one of us and to repent...

How pitied we are to exchange earthly things for heavenly ones, to seek to build up our earthly kingdoms rather than seeking first You and Your Kingdom. How pitied we are that we are happy to wander in the wilderness when we've seen the fruit You have for us in the promised land.

How poor we are when we rely on our own devices and strength rather than relying on Your Holy Spirit wisdom and power.

How blind we are when we close our eyes to glorious possibilities of the Christian life, when we make Christianity a religion rather than a relationship with You, the living God. We are Your children, come into Your house to celebrate and to no longer fear. We are Your children. You have come to dwell in us and bear fruit, so we might flow with milk and honey. So we might bring glory to You and be a praise in the earth. How much we have made our relationship with You a stale, dry and dull religion. We continue to wander in the wilderness. Forgive us, Lord Jesus, for making Your life into anything but a life. You have come to bring us life and life abundantly, to have intimate fellowship with our Father in heaven. We have made it a dull, cold, lifeless religion, just a belief system. You have come to dwell in our souls, but we have so quenched You. We have not allowed You to work in us, to fill us. Forgive us, O Lord, for quenching, grieving and limiting You.

How naked we are. We keep trying to put on our own good works to please You rather than accepting the gift of Christ's righteousness by faith. We keep trying to bear fruit apart from abiding in the vine. We keep resorting to self-help programs rather than relying on the power of the Holy Spirit to transform and change hearts and minds from within. Outer fixes will never reform the heart and renew the mind. We need Your gold. We need You to open our eyes to see these things. We keep trying to fix things in our own power but we will continue to be poor and naked.

Give us hearts to repent, so we might heed and obey our Lord's words to us, so we might not seek earthly riches, award and acclaim but to seek You.

Give us a ears to hear Your voice and a will to open the door to You:

O, You long to eat with us again. Too long we have settled for eating in the wilderness. Let us go in and eat of You. To eat of Your living bread and drink of Your living water. To eat and drink of You. We are lukewarm, wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked because we have neglected to eat with You and let You eat with us.

O, You desire that we be conquerors, that we live no longer according to our ways or the world's ways, but according to Your ways.

Give us ears to hear that we might hear what Your Spirit has to say to each of us today.

Be gracious to us, O God, we are Yours. We want to enter the promised land. We don't want to continue to wander in the wilderness.

May we no longer be lukewarm but ask You to baptize us afresh and anew with Your Spirit.

May we no longer be wretched but confess our sins, confess our lukewarmness and receive Your forgiveness and cleansing.

May we no longer be pitiable but seek to receive all You have for us as children of God

May we no longer be poor but open the door to eat with You and partake of all the riches You died to give us.

May we no longer be blind but clearly see our current state and the life You have given us in Jesus Christ.

May we no longer be naked but put on Your power to live the life You have intended for us.

 
As way of background, we've been looking at the account of Israel going to war against Benjamin because some Benjamites had sexually abused a Levite's concubine who later died as a result of their abuse. You can read the complete story in Judges 19:22-20:48 and see the previous prayers related to this passage of Scripture here.

We have been considering and reflecting upon the perseverance of the Israelites in battle and what we can learn from their example, and then turn those things into prayers for perseverance for ourselves, so we might keep God's command to us to persevere (Revelation 3:10).

Prayers for continuing obedience. We can see that despite defeat, the children of Israel continued to seek and prepare themselves to do God's will and followed through in obedience. So too we ought to be praying God would keep us seeking His face, that we might be diligent and vigilant and follow through in obedience to His revealed will for us.

Please read Judges 19:22-20:48.

This is a more personal prayer, so I'm posting it under my other screen name, naphtali_deer. I've been writing a lot about joy on my other site and have found it difficult once again today to run the race set before me with joy, yet I know that is God's will for us, to be able to rejoice in Him always and even to rejoice in our sufferings and to joy in tribulation. I've looked at this story in Judges 20 and see myself here, how I continue to experience defeat, and I often allow it to steal my joy. Our joy cannot be based on our circumstances but on our relationship to Christ alone. We must continue to go back to God and ask Him to fill us with His joy. His desire is for us to rejoice in Him always...no matter how many defeats we might face...

This prayer is a little rough around the edges but it's the prayer of my heart today. I continue to trust my God will continue to rejoice my soul always, even in the battle, even in sufferings, even in disappointment for the Lord continues to battle with me, He suffered for me and He will never disappoint.

O, Lord our God,

We see how You had the Israelites go into battle three different times until they obtained victory.

After two defeats, Israel goes once again to ask You what to do. You tell them to go into battle once more and not to cease.

After even one defeat, we become discouraged. We need you to continue to help us to find our joy in You and rejoice in You always.

In Romans 5 Paul comforts us with these words when we are tempted to feel hopeless:

We can rejoice knowing we are Yours forever. When we feel all is against us, we can rejoice in You, in hope of the glory of God. But Paul tells us something else that we do not understand: We can rejoice in our sufferings, even those continuing losses and disappointments in the battle for we know that You are in those sufferings. We don't understand that. We cry and weep for Your Kingdom to come, we experience loss, hurt, pain and hardship. We know Your Kingdom has come (for Your Kingdom is within us and has come to us), yet part of Your Kingdom in our lives on this earth is suffering. It is the fire that refines and purifies our faith, so our faith might be found to Your praise, honor and glory at the time of Jesus' appearing.

Was not suffering the way Christ has brought us to glory? Did He not have to be made perfect through suffering? So too we will be made like Him through our suffering. Yet let us trust You for we know that You have ordained our sufferings, all of them. You ordained these defeats on the battlefield in Gibeah. Your ordain the defeats we face each day. Every loss of life in the battle was ordained by You. Peter tells us that our trials are only allowed by you as are necessary, if need be, and we should not be surprised at such trials. O, yet, we confess we are surprised at times and disappointed, yet Paul tells us we should not be disappointed since we have a hope in You which will never disappoint. Help us to be ready and prepared to experience suffering and loss. It is part of our life here. It is part of Your plan and Your will for us. Yet help us to have the full assurance of hope: that You will be with us through it all. You see each tear that falls. You collect them all in a bottle. You know how our hearts break. You are near to the broken-hearted. You will never leave us or forsake us.

We can rejoice in You because we know You are faithful. Rejoice our souls. Gladden our souls, O Lord. We cannot work up this joy. It is truly a gift from You to be able to rejoice in time of suffering. Would You graciously speak to our souls through Your Holy Spirit? We want to be able to continue to rejoice in You always, not just in the good times. You have told us to rejoice in You always. You are good all the time, are You not? What kind of faith do we have if we only rejoice in the good times. Your mercies and steadfast love to us are unfailing. Do we not have reason to rejoice in You always? We want to shine as lights even in the dark times, we want to flourish and not wither in the time of drought. How can we do so if You do not fill us up with Your joy?

We know that You are using sufferings and trials and defeats to conform us to the image of Your Son. He did not shrink back from suffering but took it all for us. He obeyed to the point of death, death on the cross. He drank the cup to the dregs. He did not refuse Your will for Him, even when it meant suffering. May we never shrink back from Your will for us, no matter what it might entail for us. We can trust You in this. We can also trust You will not allow more than we can bear. We have a great High Priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses. Your grace will be sufficient for us. Help us to rest in Your unfailing love for us. To remember we have nothing to fear. You have set Your love on us and given us the spirit of adoption, not to fear. We need not fear even in the worst trial, we know You are with us. Let us be calm and sit and be quieted by Your everlasting love for us in Jesus Christ. Nothing can separate us from Your love, the darkest night, the hottest fires, the deepest anguish, the lowest valley, nothing! You are there with us forever! O, let us rejoice, even in that battle as we are hurting and wounded, as we suffer another defeat.

O, Lord, give us eyes of faith to see that the suffering You have ordained for us produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. O, we confess we do need endurance so we might not be disqualified but that You would find us working when You return. We want to be found faithful. O, we need character, character that will endure all for the Kingdom, until the Day Your return. Character that will not cut and run but stay in the battle until the end. Christ did not come down from the cross. We are in need of perseverance and patient endurance. You did not call us into battle only so we might desert You and go AWOL. Christ finished all the work You had given to Him. And we not only want to finish the race and fight the good fight but we want to do so with joy and great rejoicing! You are our King who reigns and battles alongside us! We pray with Paul that you might strengthen us with all Your might, according to Your glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy! With joy! We need joy today. Rejoice our souls. Delight us with Your presence.

O, strengthen us, rejoice our souls today,  fill us with Your hope so we can look ahead to the joy set before us and finish our course with joy. The hope You give us never disappoints. You are not a liar. You will never leave us or forsake us. You will continue to be with us. The hope we have in You is a sure hope because Christ is our sure hope, our Anchor in the veil, the resurrected Son of God who is seated at the right hand of His Father in glory. We know one Day You will return in glory and set up Your Kingdom. We know that our labor in You will not have been in vain, regardless of how many losses we may endure, no matter how many battles we may have lost, we will reign with You one Day. May we continue to work while we can and make the most of our days. We are tempted to be weary. Keep us strong in battle. Give us oil of joy for the spirit of heaviness. Fill us with Your hope so we might rejoice in the battle day in, day out until the Day You return or the Day you call us home to be with You.

O Lord, Rejoice the souls of your servants today in the midst of battle so we might be a praise in the earth – to a people who so need to see glad and shining faces in the midst of pain and sorrow and suffering.

Amen.

And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword. 13 I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. 15 So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. 17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.

Lord Jesus, You who have the sharp two-edged sword. Though You do commend us today in some things, we ask that You give us ears to hear what the Your Spirit is saying to each one of us today regarding our sin. May Your kindness lead us to repentance.

Where are we holding to the teaching of Balaam?
How are we worshiping other gods?
How are we not making Your Lord of all?
How are we trying to serve two masters?
How are we holding to the teaching of the Nicolaitans?
How are we taking the liberty we have in Christ turning it into licentiousness?

By Your Word, O God, show us these things. We are deaf to our sin apart from Your opening our ears. We are blind to our sin apart from Your opening our eyes.

Your Word, O God, is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from Your sight, but all of us are naked and exposed to the eyes of You to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:14-16, adapted)

We know we must give account to You.
We confess that we often hold to the teaching of Balaam.
We confess we worship other gods.
Your Body was torn so we might eat of You alone.
Forgive us, O God of gods, when we go to eat elsewhere,
Though we have tested and provoked You,
Be full of compassion and merciful to us for Jesus' sake.
Cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Create a new heart in us.

We confess we lust after and gorge ourselves with earthly food rather than feeding upon the angels' food You provide, Your heavenly manna.
We confess we don't see Your food as sufficient for us.
We confess we don't see Your food as good, so we covet and crave lesser, carnal things.
We confess we are not content with Your provision for us.
We confess we eat food sacrificed to idols.
Forgive us our iniquity, O Bread of Life,
Though we have tested and provoked You,
Be full of compassion and merciful to us for Jesus' sake.
Cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Create a new heart in us.

We know we must give account to You.
We confess we do not make You Lord of all.
We make ourselves lords of our lives.
Forgive us our iniquity, O Lord of lords,
Though we have tested and provoked You,
Be full of compassion and merciful to us for Jesus' sake.
Cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Create a new heart in us.

We know we must give account to You.
We confess we try to serve two masters.
We try to serve our lusts and serve You.
Forgive us our iniquity, O Master of our souls,
Though we have tested and provoked You,
Be full of compassion and merciful to us for Jesus' sake.
Cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Create a new heart in us.

We know we must give account to You.
We confess we hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
We confess we worship our own lusts.
You loved us and freed us so we might worship You and You alone.
Forgive us our iniquity, O Lover of our souls, when we play the harlot,
Though we have tested and provoked You,
Be full of compassion and merciful to us for Jesus' sake.
Cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Create a new heart in us.

We confess we lust after and covet after earthly joys rather than being satisfied with the pleasures forevermore available to us in Your presence.
We confess we don't see Your presence as sufficient for us.
We confess we don't see Your presence as good, so we covet and crave lesser, carnal things.
We confess we are not content with Your provision for us.
We confess we follow after our own lusts.
Forgive us our iniquity, O Lover of our souls,
Though we have tested and provoked You,
Be full of compassion and merciful to us for Jesus' sake.
Cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Create a new heart in us.

Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust. 2 O my soul , thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee; 3 But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight. 4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. 5 The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. 6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. 7 I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons. 8 I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. 10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

(Please also read Psalm 78.)

Turn us back to You so we might abide in You. As we dwell in Your presence, as we follow Your path of life, You will provide fullness of joy to us and satisfaction abounding. No earthly joys can compare to You. Lead us to back to You once more and taste and see that You are good. We confess we are prone to wander. Guard us and keep us in Your care, O Good Shepherd. Amen.