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.

Haggai 1:12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared the LORD.

13 Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke to the people with the LORD's message, I am with you, declares the LORD.

14 And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

O LORD our God, our only hope is for You to stir up the spirits of all the remnant of the people so they might come & work on Your house.

Holy Father, Your Church is ruins and needs to be rebuilt, just as the temple needed to be rebuilt in the time of Haggai. We know You will never totally forsake us, for You have birthed us into Your Kingdom family, but we ask You, Lord for Jesus' sake to look upon us with mercy and forgive our sins. You always have a remnant. We know we are wholly unworthy and we can only come into Your presence through Jesus' precious blood shed for us. We acknowledge we have so often not acted like Your people and have brought reproach to Your holy Name. Forgive us, O Lord, for not acting like Your children. Stir up our spirits, Lord God, so we see the ruins, hear Your voice and walk in trusting and complete obedience to Your voice. We acknowledge these are serious times, we acknowledge there is no hope for Your Church, or the world apart from You. We acknowledge there can be no true and genuine rebuilding of the Church apart from Your Spirit stirring our spirits. Send Your wind, Your fire, Your rain upon us, so we might be bold and have Your authority to preach Your Gospel, so we might be salt and light in this tasteless and dark world.

O LORD our God, our only hope is for You to stir up the spirits of all the remnant of the people so they might come & work on Your house.

There are the Zerubbabels, the Joshuas, the Haggais You are sending ahead to prepare the way. You have been stirring spirits already. Thank You, LORD God for the work You have been doing. O LORD God, we are humbled because You have been stirring our spirits, by Your gracious sovereign Spirit. We were not looking to be stirred, or expecting to be stirred. We had no interest whatsoever and yet Your Spirit was hovering and then suddenly moved when we least expected Him. And here we are. We admit we do not know what we are doing all the time, but walking in faith to Your commandments. We also admit this has not been easy for us at times, our flesh fights the working of Your Spirit, but in the end we cannot resist You, for You are the Lord our God. You turn the hearts of Your children to turn toward You and to desire and delight in Your will for us. You keep calling us back to intercede for Your Church. We cannot keep away. You circumcise our uncircumcised hearts. You soften our hard hearts. O, Lord, we have felt Your constraining love and Holy Spirit pulling us and holding us in Your wonderful yoke for us, this yoke of prayer, the same wonderful ministry to which Your Son has been called to continue in so we might be saved to the uttermost. Jesus Christ our great high priest ever lives to intercede for us. His priesthood is permanent and certainly His very life is indwelling us by faith and is giving us a greater desire and strength to persevere in prayer. We have no desire apart from that which You give us. But yet we know our desire is not as great as the Lord Jesus, who ever lives to make intercession for us. He never ceases to pray for us. What a wonderful Savior we have! O, our spirits are willing but our flesh is weak, o, so weak. May You strengthen us and help us to persevere in prayer so we will not faint, so Your Church might be revived again, so Your house might be a praise in the earth as You have intended. Help us to remain as watchmen on the wall, ever vigilant, not ever holding our peace, but coming to Your throne continually since our need is constant, o, we must come to You at all times for mercy and grace for all times are times of need for Your Church.

O LORD our God, our only hope is for You to stir up the spirits of all the remnant of the people so they might come & work on Your house.

We know it is Your Spirit Who has been at work in us giving us a greater love and passion and desire for You and Your glory. You have been giving us a greater love for Your people, Your Church. You have given us a deeper burden and desire to pray for the Church. You have taken us and shown us Your holiness in greater measure and shown us that You are the God who is holy, holy, holy and how we are so falling short of that today. We have been humbled. Our hearts have been made contrite. We bow before You, Lord God. You have shown us our insufficiency and inability.  You have shown us that You are the God who sits enthroned high and lifted up above the earth. You are Lord and King, we are not. But thanks be to God, You are near to and come to dwell with those who have humble and contrite hearts. O, sovereign Lord, You are also our Father, we are Your children, we are the sheep of Your pasture, we are helpless and hopeless here and apart from You we are poor and needy. Look on us with compassion and mercy and favor. How we need You to move in a way we have not yet seen, to stir our hearts even further. We know our devotion to pray must be increased even more now. We ask these things for the sake of Your Name. Your Church has become a reproach to Your holy Name. You have shown us the ruins Your house is in. We confess we have not been devoted wholeheartedly to You in our practice and in our doctrine. We confess we have so often made a mockery of the name Christian and therefore we have shown contempt for Your blessed Son, our Savior, the Lamb who was willingly slain in our place, Who became sin so we might become the righteousness of God. O, forgive us, Lord God, for Jesus' sake. We come and ask for Your to be merciful to us. We can only pleading His blood. We have no other plea. We are wholly unworthy. Have mercy on us, Lord, we are sinners through and through. We are totally undeserving but we ask You to be gracious to us.

O LORD our God, our only hope is for You to stir up the spirits of all the remnant of the people so they might come & work on Your house.

May we not grieve, quench or limit Your stirring in our lives. Make us willing and obedient to do all Your will for us, never to hold back or to doubt Your will for us, even when it is hard, even when it makes no sense, even when it may be daunting, even when men may mock us, even when we may be tempted to be afraid, even when we may be fatigued, even when we may doubt. Increase our faith. We love You and want to do Your will. Have Your way with us. With You we know we can do all things You stir our hearts to do. Your commandments are not burdensome. You have stirred our spirits with Your Spirit and we know now You will not leave us on our own, but You will provide all we need to fulfill the work You have called us to do. You will continue the work You have begun in us and through us. You will equip us with all we need to do the work on Your house, O Lord. You have not left us as orphans. We can trust You to send daily manna for us. We can trust You will be there just at the break of dawn. We can trust You will never leave us or forsake us. We can trust You will complete the work You have begun in us and give us all we need to help us to walk in the works You have ordained for us.

O LORD our God, our only hope is for You to stir up the spirits of all the remnant of the people so they might come & work on Your house.

O, Lord God, we so long to have Your temple, Your Church, rebuilt by Your Spirit's power and life. We have tried and tried earthly means, but earthly means can never accomplish Your work. We are dealing with the supernatural realm, with powers and principalities for which we are no match. Your work can never be done with and through human means alone. Yes, You work through us, but we so often work and try and spin our wheels to no avail because we are not availing ourselves of Your power and Your resources. Most of us are tyros in these matters, but we know we have experienced the opposition of the evil one. Whenever we make even a small move toward seeking Your face and Your Kingdom, whenever we seek to pray more, whenever we seek to mortify sin and put on Christ, we feel the tug of the devil and the opposition arise against us. Strengthen us. Stir our spirits so we might persevere and stand strong in the grace You provide. Help us to remember to put on Your whole armor so we might be able to stand. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us but let us not become prideful or presumptuous. Let us be ever mindful that apart from Him we can do nothing. Help us to encourage one another so we might persevere and provoke one another unto love and good deeds.

O LORD our God, our only hope is for You to stir up the spirits of all the remnant of the people so they might come & work on Your house.

Forgive us, O LORD God, how often we have been stirred to work on our own houses but not so often on Your own house. We have not been zealous for You and Your house as we ought to. Give us a holy passion and an flaming zeal to build Your house through Your eternal Spirit, for that is the work that will endure and never be burned up. Give us a greater love for You, Your Gospel and Your Church. May we seek first Your Kingdom and Your righteousness and step out in faith to Your commandments to us and then trust You to provide all we need as we do so.

O LORD our God, our only hope is for You to stir up the spirits of all the remnant of the people so they might come & work on Your house.

Almighty God, use our words, our prayers and our lives to stir up the remnant for Your Kingdom & for Your glory. The city, the temple, the walls, O LORD, we see them, we see the ruins, we see these things and we are grieved and burdened. We are weeping. We know there is no hope for us, for Your Church, for Your people, for Your temple, for Your city, for the walls, apart from You. You alone can restore, renew & revive us. Have mercy on us. We are Your people. Do not forsake the work of Your hands. Amen. Stir up more of Your children to come and work on the house of the LORD of hosts, so You might be glorified in and through Your Church once again, that Your glory might be seen in us throughout the earth and You and Your Son the Lord Jesus Christ might receive all the praise, honor and glory due Your holy Name. Amen.

O LORD our God, our only hope is for You to stir up the spirits of all the remnant of the people so they might come & work on Your house.

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.