A few days ago I wrote how God put it on my heart last year to pray for revival and to call others to pray as well.

I've been rereading some of the prayers posted here at tent of meeting, both the guest prayers posted here as well as many of the other prayers (comments) offered up here for revival. And with all those I know there have been countless other prayers offered up that have not been posted here.

I have to stand amazed at what God has been doing here. I thank God for each of you and for the prayers you have offered up for revival in the Church. Let us consider that when we pray we are speaking with the living God, the God of all flesh, the God who sits enthroned above the earth!

Though we may not be many, let us not despise the day of small things. Our God is mighty and He continues to work immeasurably above all we can ask or imagine to the praise of His glory for all eternity.

I have been so blessed by those whom God has brought together to this "tent of meeting" and by the many prayers you have offered up for revival. I know some of you, but there are some of you I don't really know well, and there are others I don't really know at all.  But I do know that God knows you all. He sees us and welcomes us all as we seek His face in prayer and for Jesus' sake, He hears our prayers as we pray according to His will.

As I thought about this I couldn't help but wonder: If I have been blessed so much by what is happening here, how much more is our Lord blessed when we all come to Him in prayer? The Lord Jesus Christ died for us so we might seek our Father's face in prayer, to enter into His glorious presence with boldness and confidence, so we might not to be anxious about anything, but that we might instead cast our cares on Him, including our cares about His Church. Many of us have great cares about the Church because God has opened our eyes to see the ruins in the Church, including those in our own lives. As children of God when we avail ourselves of the high privilege of prayer purchased for us at Calvary, is not our God blessed and glorified beyond what we can imagine? Christ died in order that dead, lifeless sinners like us might be made alive and holy and sanctified and able to enter into loving fellowship with God the Father without fear. How He must rejoice that we are coming to commune with Him in the most holy place and intercede for His Church! (Please see my post about treasuring the blood-bought privilege of prayer.)

In the past few days it's struck me how truly wonderful the work is God is doing among us. I've come to see in a greater way the privilege (and responsibility) we have in coming together in prayer. We have had brothers and sisters in Christ coming to this website from all around the world, from all across the Body of Christ, seeking God's face in prayer. The grace of God, the love of God and the Spirit of God have been compelling us, working in us do will and do to His good pleasure, so we might come together into the presence of God with one mind and one heart and seek Him. We come with one plea, the blood of Jesus. We all admit we are poor and needy, yet we come with with a holy boldness to ask Him to revive us again for we know His desire for His people is that we be alive and bright and shining forth His glory and praise throughout the earth. We are in desperate need of revival through His sovereign Spirit.

As I've been reading in Nehemiah, I think I may have felt like Nehemiah as he looked out and saw the wall being rebuilt and the gates being repaired, as he saw everyone working and doing repairs on his specific area on the wall. It is an amazing thing to stand back and see any group of people being like-minded about anything. And how much more glorious it is when the people of God come together, in this case to seek God's face in unified prayer, with one mind. By the grace of God at work in us, we are attempting to put aside our own interests to seek that the glory of God be restored to the Church once again as we pray for the restoration, renewal and revival of His Church, starting with ourselves. How wonderful it is that the one God and Father of us all has been calling some members of His Body to be watchmen, to seek His face in prayer on behalf of His Church for the sake of His holy Name.

Like Paul, I have great joy and rejoicing (yes, my eyes are tear-filled now) to think of all of you coming together in His Name to seek His face on behalf of His Bride. Certainly it gives our Father joy to see His children unified for the sake of His Name, for the sake of His Gospel, for the purpose of unified prayer for His Church. My continuing prayer for us is that our Lord would keep us of the same mind, having the same love and remaining in full accord and of one mind. May our good Shepherd protect, guard and guide us as we continue to seek His face in prayer for revival.

Prior to these verses about our having the same mind and the same love, Paul wrote:

Let's make no mistake about it: Prayer is striving. Though we are not striving physically side by side like the Israelites who repaired the wall in Jerusalem, we are striving spiritually side by side. Paul wrote that we ought to be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit. As we come together to the throne of grace as one Body we are maintaining that God-imparted unity. Truly we are showing that

Though we are not physically repairing, prayer is work. Isn't it sometimes harder to lift a prayer than to lift a brick or hammer a nail? We are laboring against powers and principalities in the heavenly realms. The other day I wrote here about some of the opposition Nehemiah and Israel met in rebuilding the wall and how we should not be surprised when we meet with similar opposition.

We must remember that anytime we seek the welfare and well-being of the children of God (see Neh. 1:10), we know there will eventually be opposition and we will be tempted to be frightened. I am praying God would keep the vision clear and the passion fiery in the hearts of those of us He has called to this ministry of intercession. I am also praying God's Holy Spirit would continue to implant that calling even more deeply in our hearts, so it might bear abounding fruit of persevering and zealous prayer for revival. From time to time we all have our vision dim and our passion flicker, yet our God is gracious and merciful to us and never fails to call us back to Him so we might walk in all the works He has ordained for us.

One of the devil's favorite tactics is to bring about dissension and division within the Church of God. May we never divide over nonessentials to our faith, yet may we never compromise on the essentials. And may our God give us love in all things. (For more on that, please see my post here.)

I am praying our heavenly Father would continue to call and raise up more watchmen to join us on the walls. His eyes run to and fro across the earth. There are people from all around the world who have come to visit this website. I am praying God might use our prayers to spur those He is calling on to concerted prayer, either here or elsewhere. May He put a desire to pray in their hearts as He has ours, and may all of us continue to seek His face together in prayer side by side striving on the walls...being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

May Almighty God strengthen us and sustain us so we might labor in our particular places on the wall and pray without ceasing. The Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest, intercedes for us without ceasing at the right hand of the Father. Our God neither sleeps nor slumbers. May Christ's eternal Spirit help us and work in us so we take no rest and give Him no rest. May He strengthen us mightily to persevere in prayer. Though we will work and labor hard, may we gain our needed strength from remaining in Christ's easy yoke and then work out what He is working in us. Our God will never fail to provide all we need. May we all be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Lord God, complete in each of us the work You have begun. We long to see ourselves and Your Church revived. Please establish Your Church once again and make us a praise in the earth to Your glory alone.

Continuing on with another prayer based on Nehemiah...(You can find the previous prayers here, here, here, here and here. You may also appreciate reading, "Do you see the trouble we are in? A call to prayer for revival," a post I put up on my other blog earlier this week.

Nehemiah 2:9  Then I went to the governors in the region beyond the River, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. 10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard of it, they were deeply disturbed that a man had come to seek the well-being of the children of Israel. (NKJV™)

Philippians 1:6  And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Throughout the book of Nehemiah we see opposition arising to God's good plan to have the Jerusalem walls rebuilt and the gates repaired.

For example...

In spite of all the opposition, the wall was finished. "It was done by our God" (Nehemiah 6:16).

Some of our greatest opposition also comes from within us, from a lack of zeal, a loss of vision, mental, emotional and physical weakness, weariness and doubt. May God strengthen those of us He is raising up so we might stay strong in the work He has called us to do, the work of intercession on behalf of His Church.

May we be ever-mindful of God's faithfulness to equip us so we might be strengthened with His might and stand strong in His grace so we might complete the work He has called us to do in spite of continuing opposition. His heavenly supplies for us to walk in the works He has ordained for us will never fail. Will our Lord Christ ever fail? No, never!

Let us look forward with faith to the day we can look back and testify to the praise of His glory, power and might: "It was done by our God!"

Father, Son and Spirit,

You put it in the heart of Nehemiah to seek the well-being of the children of Israel.
As soon as that word got out, opposition arose in the hearts of all who were opposed to You and the well-being of Your children.
Yes, we know our enemy the devil has always been opposed to You and Your servants, including Your Servant the Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise You that You always equip all Your servants to complete the works You have ordained for them to walk in.
Even as we see opposition arising we can be sure Your work in and through us will be completed.
Praise You that Your good hand continues to be on us in spite of opposition.

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."
By faith we anticipate the day we can sing Your praises, "It was done by You, O God!"
Keep us faithful to obey the word You have put in our hearts.
We weren't looking to pray, but Your Spirit has captivated us to do so.
Be gracious to us, complete the work You have begun in and through us, O Lord!
Yes, we will work hard, but only as Your grace works in us.
May it be done by You, O God, all to Your glory alone!


You have put it in our hearts to seek the well-being of all who are Your children by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
As soon as that word gets out, opposition arises in the hearts of all who are opposed to You and the well-being of Your Church.
Yes, we know our enemy the devil has always been opposed to You and Your servants, including Your Servant the Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise You that You always equip Your servants to complete the works You have ordained for them to walk in.
Even as we see opposition arising we can be sure Your work in and through us will be completed.
Praise You that Your good hand continues to be on us in spite of opposition.

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."
By faith we anticipate the day we can sing Your praises, "It was done by You, O God!"
Keep us faithful to obey the word You have put in our hearts.
We weren't looking to pray, but Your Spirit has captivated us to do so.
Be gracious to us, complete the work You have begun in and through us, O Lord!
Yes, we will work hard, but only as Your grace works in us.
May it be done by You, O God, all to Your glory alone!

You have put it in our hearts to seek the well-being of all who are Your children by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
Your have put it in our hearts to seek Your face in prayer on behalf of the well-being of Your children, Your Church.
Yes, we know our enemy the devil has always been opposed to You and Your children, Your Church.
Strengthen us to labor fervently without ceasing in prayer at Your throne of grace for every moment is a time of need for Your Church.
Equip us to persevere in this hidden work of rebuilding Your Church on our knees in our closets.
Praise You that Your good hand continues to be on us in spite of opposition.

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."
By faith we anticipate the day we can sing Your praises, "It was done by You, O God!"
Keep us faithful to obey the word You have put in our hearts.
We weren't looking to pray, but Your Spirit has captivated us to do so.
Be gracious to us, complete the work You have begun in and through us, O Lord!
Yes, we will work hard, but only as Your grace works in us.
May it be done by You, O God, all to Your glory alone!

Your good hand was on Nehemiah to lead him to Jerusalem.
Your good hand continued to be on Nehemiah to finish the work of rebuilding of the walls and the gates.
Your good hand continued to be on Nehemiah and Your children in spite of the opposition.
Praise You that You always equip Your servants to complete the works You have ordained for them to walk in.
Even as we see opposition arising we can be sure Your hand will be on us and Your work in and through us will be completed.
Praise You that Your good hand continues to be on us in spite of opposition.

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."
By faith we anticipate the day we can sing Your praises, "It was done by You, O God!"
Keep us faithful to obey the word You have put in our hearts.
We weren't looking to pray, but Your Spirit has captivated us to do so.
Be gracious to us, complete the work You have begun in and through us, O Lord!
Yes, we will work hard, but only as Your grace works in us.
May it be done by You, O God, all to Your glory alone!

Your good hand was on us when You put it into our hearts to begin to intercede for Your children.
Your good hand continues to be on us now as we continue to pray to You to revive Your Church.
Your good hand continues to be on us now as we pray in spite of the opposition, both external and internal..
Praise You that You always equip Your servants to complete the works You have ordained for them to walk in.
Even as we see visible opposition arising keep our eyes fixed on You who are invisible and trust by faith Your good hand is on us even when we may not feel it is.
Praise You that Your good hand continues to be on us in spite of opposition.

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."
By faith we anticipate the day we can sing Your praises, "It was done by You, O God!"
Keep us faithful to obey the word You have put in our hearts.
We weren't looking to pray, but Your Spirit has captivated us to do so.
Be gracious to us, complete the work You have begun in and through us, O Lord!
Yes, we will work hard, but only as Your grace works in us.
May it be done by You, O God, all to Your glory alone!

Continuing on with some reflections on prayer which I'm titling "Lord, teach us to pray once again."  (I would encourage you to read/pray through my post "May we learn to value the blood bought privilege of prayer" in addition to this post.)

Lord God,

You taught us through your servant Elijah, a man like us, who prayed fervently, who was not slothful, but served you in that behind the scenes ministry of prayer.

O, may we not be slothful in zeal, but fervent in Spirit.
Lord, teach us to pray.
May Your Spirit burn in us so we might pray with the fervency of Elijah, so we might serve You in the ministry of prayer.
May we go to Your throne of grace and may we keep going again and again.

Lord God, You have already taught us to pray...
Yet we are so slow to learn...
Father, have mercy on us.
Forgive us, for Jesus' sake.
Though we are slow to learn, we come to You and ask us to teach us again...

O, may we not be slothful in zeal, but fervent in Spirit.
Lord, teach us to pray.
May Your Spirit burn in us so we might pray with the fervency of Elijah, so we might serve You in the ministry of prayer.
May we go to Your throne of grace and may we keep going again and again.

Lord God, we confess have a hard time waiting on You.
We can pray regularly for a time, but then we pray less and less often.
We start out praying with urgency but soon we become lackadaisical.
And soon we sometimes stop praying altogether.
Forgive us, O Lord.

O, may we not be slothful in zeal, but fervent in Spirit.
Lord, teach us to pray.
May Your Spirit burn in us so we might pray with the fervency of Elijah, so we might serve You in the ministry of prayer.
May we go to Your throne of grace and may we keep going again and again.

We boil up and become fervent about so many other things, worldly concerns,
but how often do we boil over with a passion to meet with You in prayer?
We take time to meet with other people, but how much zeal do we have to meet with You in prayer?
How often are we really fervent in prayer?
How often are our prayers just lip service wrought out of our dead flesh rather than a fruit of Your living Spirit?
Have we ever really prayed fervently like Elijah?

O, may we not be slothful in zeal, but fervent in Spirit.
Lord, teach us to pray.
May Your Spirit burn in us so we might pray with the fervency of Elijah, so we might serve You in the ministry of prayer.
May we go to Your throne of grace and may we keep going again and again.

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.
He was weak, yet strengthened through Your Spirit.
He was tempted to be apathetic, yet he was made fervent by Your Spirit.
He was tempted to be slothful, yet he was made zealous by Your Spirit.
O, how much more can we be strengthened through Your Spirit who has come to dwell in us!

O, may we not be slothful in zeal, but fervent in Spirit.
Lord, teach us to pray.
May Your Spirit burn in us so we might pray with the fervency of Elijah, so we might serve You in the ministry of prayer.
May we go to Your throne of grace and may we keep going again and again.

Lord God, our spirits are willing but our flesh is weak.
We saw how Your mighty Spirit strengthened Elijah.
We are weak, strengthen us through Your Spirit to pray with fervency and zeal.
We are apathetic, make us fervent by Your Spirit to pray with fervency and zeal.
We are slothful, make us zealous by Your Spirit to pray with fervency and zeal.
O living Spirit of God, send Your fire and Your passion, fill us with Yourself, make us zealous to pray!
O Spirit of truth, put into our minds and hearts Your holy thoughts, desires and words to speak to our Father.

O, may we not be slothful in zeal, but fervent in Spirit.
Lord, teach us to pray.
May Your Spirit burn in us so we might pray with the fervency of Elijah, so we might serve You in the ministry of prayer.
May we go to Your throne of grace and may we keep going again and again.

O, Lord God, we confess we so often get busy doing lots of things, granted they are good things.
We too easily forget serving You includes spending time in prayer with You.
May we be zealous for our times of prayer.
Remind us of the blood You shed for the privilege of prayer, the price You paid so we could freely commune with You at Your throne.
Keep us ever-mindful of this service of prayer, this ministry of prayer, to which You call each of Your children,
particularly Your pastors.
We lift them up to You and ask You would renew their zeal and passion for prayer again.
Protect their time. Help them be good stewards of their time.
Help their people to understand the importance of prayer.

O, may we not be slothful in zeal, but fervent in Spirit.
Lord, teach us to pray.
May Your Spirit burn in us so we might pray with the fervency of Elijah, so we might serve You in the ministry of prayer.
May we go to Your throne of grace and may we keep going again and again.

O, Lord God, look upon Your Church now.
You know we are in a wilderness time.
We walk by the flesh rather than Your Spirit.
We are bearing little fruit or bad fruit right now.
Forgive us, O Lord.
Have mercy on us!
Though there is not an exact parallel here with the account of Elijah...
Yet we see we are now in desperate need of rain.
The Church is indeed dry and barren in so many ways.
There is a form of godliness but a denial of the power.
There is an outward conformity but not an inward fire.
There is creedal confession without regeneration.
Send Your rain upon us, Lord God.
Refresh, revive and renew us with Your Holy Spirit for the sake of Your Holy Name.
We have no hope apart from You.

O, may we not be slothful in zeal, but fervent in Spirit.
Lord, teach us to pray.
May Your Spirit burn in us so we might pray with the fervency of Elijah, so we might serve You in the ministry of prayer.
May we go to Your throne of grace and may we keep going again and again.