Today's prayer includes a bit of a reflection on some of what led to the start of tent of meeting. If you have never done so, you may wish to read more of that story here (please see section II.- Prayer). (I would also encourage you to read more about tent of meeting here and here.)

I am praying our Lord would continue to keep all of us He has called to prayer steadfast, immovable, always abounding in His work knowing that our labor in Him is not in vain.

Seeking His face with great joy and assurance,
Karen

Nehemiah 2:9  Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. 10  But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah, the Ammonite servant, heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.

11  So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days. 12  Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode. 13  I went out by night by the Valley Gate to the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire. 14  Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King's Pool, but there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass. 15  Then I went up in the night by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. 16  And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.

Holy Father,

A year ago today, You put it in my heart
Though You were already putting it on my heart
That day a year ago I heard Your voice through Your Word

Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you...I Samuel 12:23

You put a desire to pray in my heart
You put a desire to pray for Your people in my heart
A year ago today, You put it in my heart
I am trusting You to keep it in my heart
You who began this good work in my heart will complete it
To Your glory alone

Just when I forget or lose heart
Your grace flows down from on high
Your fire descends
To light the cooling coals
Your Spirit thunders
To shake lukewarm complacency
Your Word speaks
To awaken dormant passion

Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray...

A year ago today, You put it in my heart
You alone can keep it in my heart
Lord God, keep in my heart what You have put in my heart
I can't even keep my own heart apart from Your grace

You put a desire to pray in my heart
You put a desire to pray for Your people in my heart
A year ago today, You put it in my heart
I am trusting You to keep it in my heart
You who began this good work in my heart will complete it
To Your glory alone

Holy Father,

You have put a desire to pray in others' hearts
You have put a desire to pray for Your people in their hearts
You have put it in their hearts like You put it in my heart
I am trusting You to keep it in our hearts
You who have begun this good work in our hearts will complete it
To Your glory alone

Just when we forget or lose heart
Grace, flow down from on high
Holy Fire, descend
Light our cooling coals
Holy Spirit, thunder
Shake our lukewarm complacency
Holy Word, speak
Awaken our dormant passion

Moreover, as for us, far be it from us that we should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray...

You put it in our hearts
You alone can keep it in our hearts
Lord God, keep in our hearts what You have put in our hearts
We can't even keep our own hearts apart from Your grace
You who began this good work in our hearts will complete it
To Your glory alone

You put a desire to pray in our hearts.
You put a desire to pray for Your people in our hearts.
You put it in all our hearts.
I am trusting You to keep it in our heart.
You who began this good work in our hearts will complete it
To Your glory alone

Moreover, as for us, far be it from us that we should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray...

Holy Father,

You put a desire to pray in our hearts
You put a desire to pray for Your people in our hearts
You put it in all our hearts
Now I am trusting You to put that desire in more hearts
Send forth more intercessors to join us to pray for the harvest
Complete the work You have begun here on earth
That Your Gospel would be proclaimed to all nations
To Your glory alone

Moreover, as for us, far be it from us that we should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for laborers...

Gracious and loving Father,

There are so many people out there who need to know you, but they don't even know how to find you. They don't even know You need to You. We see them pouring out their hearts to you right here in their blogs. There are others we don't even see. They are pouring out their hearts sometimes behind their pictures and their words; they hide their pain. They hide away in their bedrooms and in the dark places. They hide behind their addictions and destructive behaviors. There are so many whose hearts and souls are screaming and groaning. They are so poor and needy. (O, yes, Lord, we have to say it too about ourselves. We are always poor, always needy, we are nothing, we have nothing apart what You have given to us in Yourself through Your Son Jesus Christ. You are are all in all. You have richly blessed us for His sake. We are totally unworthy of Your blessing. Where would we be without You and Your gracious love and tender mercies showered on us in Christ?)

But You, O Lord God, You cannot be found by seeking. We know this. We know You opened our eyes to the light of Your glorious Gospel. Once we were blind, but now we see. Not because of our own ability or our own will but because of Your gracious mercies. We have been in the place these many souls are today. They have cried and cried and they sought and sought and they have tried and tried to find You ... but they continue to try but they continue to come up empty. Be gracious to them. Illumine their hearts and minds. O, they are blind to Your goodness and grace, apart from Your Spirit breathing on them. Breathe life into them. Open their blind eyes, may the scales fall off. Lead them to Your house and Your presence. May Your kindness lead them to repentance. They keep seeking joy and peace and life and happiness any and everywhere but You. There is no true joy, no true peace, no true life, no true happiness apart from You, O Lord. (O, we know, there are times we wander, we continue to pursue happiness everywhere else, then Your kindness leads us back to repentance. You draw us back to Yourself again and bring us to our senses when we forget You alone are our life and when we seek anywhere else we are headed on the road to death.) You have created us to know You and to worship You. Apart from knowing You and apart from worshiping You, we are empty and lifeless, and life is hopeless and meaningless.

Help us to continue to lift these souls to You in prayer. Open our eyes so we might see them. Open our ears so we might hear them. Open our hearts to love them. Give us Your wisdom and discernment to know when to speak and to know when to listen. Impart to us Your words of life by Your living Spirit so men and women who are seeking might come to seek You. We agonize with their cries. We know You do as well. We know these are matters for which we are incapable apart from Your power and strength. We have no resources but what You provide us. We have no life to show them or to tell them of but the life of Christ in us. Keep us abiding in You, so we might bear fruits of grace and truth, so our offering of our lips might bear fruit in their lives. We have no food to give them but the true Bread. We have no drink to give them but the living Water. We ask You to keep us eating and drinking of You and provide for us so we might provide for these hungry and thirsty souls. Give them a hunger and thirst for You so they might come and eat and drink of You and be satisfied. May You fill us to the uttermost with Your Spirit so we might bubble up and overflow with rivers of living water here in this dry and thirsty land, where many dry and thirsty people are lost and wandering and seeking now.

Chief Shepherd, Your eyes are looking with compassion on the sheep scattered, weary and helpless without a Shepherd here. There are many false shepherds, but they will never lead to abundant life and true and lasting joy and peace that passes understanding. O, Good Shepherd, draw them to Yourself. Help us to be ready and willing to be used in the process of gathering and feeding and nurturing and nourishing here. You have promised not one of Your sheep will be lost. Help us to have Your shepherd heart as we look at the sheep here. Help us to have harvesters' hearts as we look at the fields here. It is too easy for us to become complacent and lukewarm. We get wound up and absorbed in ourselves and do not have eyes to see the fields white for harvest. Stir our hearts with a passion for You and Your Name and a compassionate and deep love for lost souls. How will they come to know You if they have not heard of You? May we speak with boldness and assurance as Your Holy Spirit carries us along. May You open stopped ears to hear Your words of eternal life and may many come to repentance and life in Jesus Christ, who alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

You know we often sin and often wander, but in the end You turn us back to You. We humbly bow before You and say thank You. That is not our doing but Your grace. We cannot imagine life without You; it would be unlivable and unbearable and intolerable. We pray you might bear these souls on Your eagles' wings now and give them Your new life. They are dying on the vine here. They are tired of eating in the pig sty, but they do not yet have a hunger for You. They are desperate. They have nowhere to turn. Have mercy on them. Be gracious to them. Turn them to You. Carry those who have fallen and are homeless. Lift up the heads of those today who are desperate and have nowhere else to turn. Help them to come to their senses and turn them and cause them to run home to Your house so they might seek You and find mercy, grace, love and goodness in Your arms. Help them to come and see, to taste and see that You are good.

Show them the Christ they have mocked and cursed is their only means of salvation. Show them His beauty and glory. Show them His love that sent Him to the cross to die for helpless sinners. Show them that You will not cast out any who come to You. May we be faithful to lift up Christ and Him crucified, for there is no other salvation, no other way to be saved but through Your Son. There is no other hope we have to offer to hopeless souls but the sure hope we have in Jesus Christ. There is no other life we have to offer to dead souls but His life.

We ask these things in the name of Jesus. It is by His blood we come to You now, knowing we were not deserving and not even seeking You, but You sought us, bought us with Your blood and sealed us with Your Spirit and made us Your children. May You use us to bring many souls to You right here in this place for Your glory. May Your Kingdom come here in a greater way now through us. Use us as You wish. May we be consumed with Your Kingdom and Your will in our lives. Keep us seeking hard after You. Fill us so with Your Spirit so we cannot help but speak of Jesus Christ, our Savior. May we never quench, grieve or limit Him. Unloose our tongues to speak and animate our fingers to type of You. May You alone get the glory, honor and praise.

Amen.

John 2:13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he [Jesus] found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade. 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for your house will consume me.

Luke 19:45 And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, 46 saying to them, It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers.

Isaiah 56:7
I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.

Holy Father, Son and Spirit,

We confess we are often zealous for all sorts of things but You and Your house.
We are Your house, we are Your people, built together by You and for You to inhabit us for Your glory.
How absurd we are not zealous for You and Your house!

We confess our lukewarmness and indifference toward You and Your house.
Forgive us, O Lord, that we are not zealous for You and Your house.
By the working of Your Holy Spirit who dwells in us, give us a consuming zeal for You and Your house.
Make us zealous for You and Your house like the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, our chief cornerstone.

Holy Father, Son and Spirit,

We confess we are often zealous for all sorts of things but You and Your house.
We are Your house, we are Your people, built together by You and for You to inhabit us for Your glory.
How absurd we are not zealous for You and Your house!

We confess our lukewarmness and indifference toward You and Your house.
Forgive us, O Lord, that we are not zealous for You and Your house.
By the working of Your Holy Spirit Who dwells in us, give us a consuming zeal for You and Your house.
Make us zealous for You and Your house like the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, our chief cornerstone.

Holy Father, Son and Spirit,

We confess we are often zealous for all sorts of things but You and Your house.
We are Your house, we are Your people, built together by You and for You to inhabit us for Your glory.
How absurd we are not zealous for You and Your house!

We confess our lukewarmness and indifference toward You and Your house.
Forgive us, O Lord, that we are not zealous for You and Your house.
By the working of Your Holy Spirit Who dwells in us, give us a consuming zeal for You and Your house.
Make us zealous for You and Your house like the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, our chief cornerstone.

Holy Father, Son and Spirit,

We confess we are often zealous for all sorts of things but You and Your house.
We are Your house, we are Your people, built together by You and for You to inhabit us for Your glory.
How absurd we are not zealous for You and Your house!

We confess our lukewarmness and indifference toward You and Your house.
Forgive us, O Lord, that we are not zealous for You and Your house.
By the working of Your Holy Spirit Who dwells in us, give us a consuming zeal for You and Your house.
Make us zealous for You and Your house like the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, our chief cornerstone.

Holy Father, Son and Spirit,

We confess we are often zealous for all sorts of things but You and Your house.
We are Your house, we are Your people, built together by You and for You to inhabit us for Your glory.
How absurd we are not zealous for You and Your house!

We confess our lukewarmness and indifference toward You and Your house.
Forgive us, O Lord, that we are not zealous for You and Your house.
By the working of Your Holy Spirit Who dwells in us, give us a consuming zeal for You and Your house.
Make us zealous for You and Your house like the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, our chief cornerstone.