Prayers written and offered to God @ National Conversation on Revival

HEART CRIES
From The Glen

Prayers written and offered to God

at the close of the

“National Conversation on Revival”

convened by the National Revival Network

Glen Eyrie Conference Center, Colorado Springs

August 30-September 1, 2006

This past August, in the final hour of a 48 hour retreat involving 32 Christian leaders from across the nation, each convinced of the urgency for corporate revival in the Church and a nationwide Christ-awakening movement, the participants were invited to compose a one paragraph prayer. Each prayer was to be designed to express the core burden of one’s heart, summarizing what we would each want to say to the Father if we stood before His Throne in the presence of the Lamb and under the reign of His Spirit.

After about 15 minutes in private, with prayers written on cards, we knelt while each leader read his prayer, one after the other, with the whole group expressing agreement with each prayer by a united “Amen”. At the conclusion of this experiment many remarked that it was one of the most profound prayer experiences they had ever witnessed.

But there was more. Next we placed a huge sofa in the middle of the room, to represent the Throne in Revelation 5. Then we gathered around the chair on our knees, laid our written prayers on its seat, placed our hands on the chair and on each other, as we joined in prayers and hymns of consecration. We offered ourselves to be an answer to these prayers whatever it would cost us.

To our amazement, we discovered when we stood up that, due to a number of our group who had to leave earlier that morning, there were exactly 24 in the circle, recalling the 24 elders around the Throne in Revelation 4-5. Quickly we concluded this was not coincidence. We saw it as a sign of God’s favor on our prayers of passion for the glory of His Son and for the revival of His people.

Below are the prayers of the “24”. Remember, these prayers represent the overflow of a 48-hour “conversation”. They are the heart-cries of Christian leaders who have given their whole beings to foster and serve whatever God desires to do in this hour to deliver His people from our spiritual disobedience, darkness and paralysis, to revive us again and to bring the Church into a fresh revelation of the greatness and glory of His Son – who He is, where He’s headed, what He’s doing and what He deserves.

[You may read further on the vision behind this “National Conversation” by ordering a copy of the NRN foundational document: AN URGENT APPEAL – To Christian Leaders In America For Consensus and Collaboration On The Nature and Hope of Corporate Revival (published by NavPress).]

THE PRAYERS

• Father: Fulfill ALL you have purposed for your Son in this nation, in my city, region and in the church you have called me to serve. Restore your glory in the earth and in our nation. Manifest your glory! Glorify your Son! Magnify your Son! Make His name known among us. Come Holy Spirit and fully fulfill the purpose for which you have been sent! For Jesus’ sake. AMEN

• Holy Father: In your love, grace and mercy, your sovereignty and power, please pour out your Spirit on the deserts of the churches in this nation. Reveal yourself in all your glory and splendor and beauty so that the world may see who You really are and long for You as never before. Make our churches into the Church you want them to be. Enthrone Yourself in our lives, our churches, our nation and the nations. Do all this for the glory of the cross and the glory of your Holy name. In Jesus’ precious name we ask. AMEN.

• Father: I trust you to give us a greater vision of what our communities would look like if you came in power, visiting us with the blessing of your manifest presence. I believe it is your desire to meet with us, revealing our great need, igniting a passion for the lost and giving us an obsession for your glory. We desire more tongues to give Jesus glory. Give us the desire and strength to prepare for such a visitation. We invite you to come. In Jesus’ exalted name, AMEN.

• Father: Break the hearts of all the Christian leaders in all the churches and ministries, and renew those hearts in such a manner that they seek to be one. Let the Scripture that expresses Jesus’ prayer to you about our being one (Jn. 17) stand as a command in each ministry’s mission statement. Lord, calm our fears of each other and unite the streams of preferences and distinctives in such a way that the unbelieving world is drawn into salvation. For Jesus’ glory. AMEN

• Father: Your Son is so glorious and worthy of complete surrender and worship. Would you please pour out the Spirit of Christ upon your disillusioned, rebellious, prideful, wounded and depressed people in order that we might behold the promised land of intimately knowing Jesus. Then help us to embrace this exchanged life doing whatever it takes, at whatever cost, to know Christ as the Lion and the Lamb. Please lead us into a season of repentance and enable us to humble ourselves before you and tremble at your Word, that your incomparable face might radiate upon us for our ultimate joy, as well as for the renown of your supreme Name among us and all the peoples. In Jesus’ name and authority. AMEN

• My Father: I ask of you that you would pour out your Spirit on the pastors of this land That once again they would love Jesus with passion; that once more they would seek the authority of the Holy Spirit for their preaching; that once more they would be pure in their living and secure in their dying. O my God, create a brotherhood of the flaming heart that spreads throughout out country and leads the Church into revival, awakening and transformation. AMEN

• Lord: Our land is in desperate need and we see many forces arrayed against you and your righteousness. But you are the Lord of history. You are Lord of the forces working against you – who do so in vain! Now, Lord, consider the threats your people face and enable your servants to proclaim your Word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus. Shake your church, fill us afresh with your spirit, and send us forth to speak your word boldly (Acts 4). AMEN

• Dear Lord: We thank you for your promises. We hold dear in our hearts your love for us. We come now with thanksgiving and supreme gratitude for your mercy that endures forever. Lord, pleases intensify our hunger for you. Allow our cities and nation to become desperate for your presence. May we become Christ like in every way possible. Open the doors of blessings upon us and transform us into people of holiness. Disrupt our comfort zones and bring total surrender into our lives. I pray now, believing revival and repentance will come, beginning with me. In Jesus’ mighty name we pray. AMEN

• Heavenly Father: I pray that you would pour out a desire upon your people to pray – that your Church would once again be a House of Prayer. Father, I pray that your people would humble themselves before you; surrender their lives unto you and seek your will in their lives and for this generation. I pray that your glory would be more manifest in your Church such that the whole nation would be gathered unto you! AMEN

• Father: Awaken the dream of Kingdom-life within us. Quicken our passion to seek you and to serve you. Empower us with a confidence that you can take a glowing ember and turn it into a raging fire. Draw our hearts to desire the pleasure of obedience to your Word. Create in us clean hearts and renew right spirits with in us. AMEN

• Father: In the days of Elijah you bought fire to show you alone were the true God. Your fire displayed your glory, then you opened Heaven and rain brought life to the land once again. Lord God: Your Church, the bride of Your Son, needs again the cleansing and purifying work of your fire as well as the refreshing work of your rain. We are desperate for it. When the time was right, you sent both in an instant. I humbly ask that both would fall today in another one of your “suddenlies”. We can’t wait much longer, Lord. Show your fire and rain and Glory in your Church again. AMEN

• Lord: Please give us the brutal honesty to stop calling the “death valley” of our religious experience a “rock garden”. Dis-illusion us fully regarding the propaganda of the false hopes of our own making. Turn us profoundly and simply to Christ that we may experience “resurrection”! Saturate us so that the genuine faith, love and power of Christ’s life will triumph over death and evil – for our joy and your glory. AMEN

• Lord Jesus: We have shamefully broken covenant with You. We have resisted You, and many on our campuses and throughout our country have greatly rebelled again you and renounced you. But even so, aware that we do not deserve anything but judgment, we humbly submit ourselves to you to ask you, in your mercy, to pour out your Spirit on our land. Awaken us, save us, renew our first love. Save your people. AMEN.

• Oh, God my Father: I know you love your Church and the world very, very much. Please pour out your love and grace upon both. Have mercy and continue to show your love to both. Change hearts and place your hand upon us all. AMEN

• Oh, Lord God of all nations: We, your Bride, have rejected you, your Word and your ways. We have fallen in love with other gods – money, sex, and pleasure. Our sins have hurt you, grieved you and even angered you – resulting in a withdrawal of your presence; leaving us to ourselves and self-destruction. O, Lord, on behalf of your people I repent and turn from my wicked ways, Please, oh please, extend your mercy. Turns us again unto You. Cause your face to shine upon us and we will be delivered. Fill your surrendered, broken servants with the fullness of your Spirit. And may the nations tremble at your presence. May your glory fill the earth and may the whole world worship you alone. AMEN

• Father: Though we have all deserted you for our idols, you have said: “I will capture the hearts of the people of God (Ezek. 14:3). We bless you for this promise. It is our hope for a Christ-honoring revival that produces by your Holy Spirit the fruit of repentance, reconciliation, restitution, renewal and reformation. Recapture the hearts of your people in the cities and communities of our nation. Soon, Lord. Even today! AMEN

• Lord: You promised that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. I fully expect and believe that we are on the verge of its completion. Before this great company of witnesses, pour out your Spirit and fill the earth. Bring forth rivers of grace in the wastelands; life where there is now death; and praises, like golden bowls of incense – so that Christ is rightly adored and humankind redeemed. AMEN.

• Father: In Jesus’ name and by Him alone, I ask that You would draw your Church, your Bride in America, to your Word. Then reveal your living Word, bringing repentance, salvation and perpetual holy surrender. Do this in all who are alive in this generation, including within every ethnic group. I pray that people’s motivations would become like Yours – love. I pray that your people would worship You in spirit and truth, thus becoming intimate laborers among all the nations. I pray that we would be a people driven and consumed by the passion of YOUR heart, not our own, that YOUR NAME would be glorified in all the earth. Lastly I ask that people everywhere would fear you once again. AMEN.

• Father: Glorify your Son in the midst of His people. Awaken your Church to see and experience Jesus in all of His glory. May your Holy Spirit be poured out upon us – turning us from sin and self-centeredness. Give life and breath to dry bones. Would you so fill us with your life, light and power, that your transforming Spirit would forever change our communities? Lord Jesus: Live out your life in us in a way that attracts unbelievers, convicts of sin, brings us to holiness and sends your word in power to the very ends of the earth. AMEN

• Lord Jesus: We long for your presence more than we value even our own lives. We want your Lordship, comfort, grace, healing, life, light, beauty, creativity, resurrection and everlasting love. Whatever the cost this means for us, we willingly embrace you yourself. We embrace the ultimate cost to give us this awakening, and we will pay the price gladly. Come, Lord Jesus. AMEN

• Father in Heaven: I hunger for your holiness to be known by all who live in this land. My Lord, this is your land, the United States. May all know that you are set apart, above and beyond anything our minds can grasp. May your rule be absolute over every heart and habit. Capture every heart with your love, every habit with your holiness. Find more than lip-service from those who know you, find “life-service”. And bring every lost sheep home. Feed, clothe and provide for every one. Bring to repentance very sinner, so that you can forgive and restore. Remove all temptation, destroy all evil. And, hasten the day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess the Lordship of Jesus, here and everywhere. AMEN

• Oh, Lord: Move the Church, your people, your house, from being self-focused to being truly focused on the pleasures and joys of Jesus Christ. AMEN

• God: I ask that you graciously reveal yourself through a dramatic and transforming manifestation of your holiness, love, power and majesty. Through that manifestation of who you are, renew and deepen the devotion and faithfulness of your people, and expand even further the reach of your Kingdom by bringing multitudes into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. I ask this through the wonderful name of Jesus. AMEN

• Our precious Father: I appeal to you for the re-conversion of your people back to your Son for ALL that he is. I appeal to you to raise up a host of leaders to become “messengers of hope” all through the Body of Christ, saturating your people with a message of the supremacy of your Son that will lead them into large hope and deep repentance. Restore to us a spiritual passion for the cause of Christ everywhere. Especially, I appeal to you to manifest the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus and the power of his Gospel in the life of this nation. Do so with such transforming impact that this gracious revival will strengthen afresh the work of Christ among your people in every part of the earth. Hear and answer. The time has come. Truly, this ordained Christ-awakening is at hand. We are undone without it. Do not delay. For Jesus’ sake alone. AMEN.