Wednesday, February 8, 2012

LOVING OUR CITY THROUGH PRAYER

--> 1 Corinthians 13:13: "Now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."   Faith is our belief system. It's that place of absolute confidence, conviction and trust that God is who He says He is and He will do what He says He will do. When we are praying for our city, we must be absolutely persuaded in how big God is. If we have a big, big God by default it makes the evil one an itty-bitty devil. And who is he is and what he does is so miniscule in comparison to our BIG, BIG Daddy God. When I am absolutely persuaded of God's bigness and I pray from that revelation of majesty, fear will never enter the equation. 

Hope is the confident expectation of good. When I bring hope to my prayers, I come with a revelation of how good God is. It is in that confident place that I can boldly declare, "Lord, overwhelm my city with Your goodness. Draw them to change their mind for the better (repentance) by pursuing them with Your goodness." When I understand that God is good and that He is in a good mood, my prayers become devoid of judgment. 

Agape love is good will, charity, fondness, benevolence. I John 4:8 says it best, "God is love." When I bring love to my prayers, I bring God. I bring the full expression of who He is. When I bring God into my prayers, I enter into a partnership with Him. I get to ask what is on His heart for my city. I get to see the areas of my city that break His heart. I get to ask what His good intention and His purpose and plan is for my city. When I bring God to my prayers, I am afforded an opportunity to have a Philippians 3:10 experience," that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection of the dead." In those moments, God shows me where the injustices are over my city and then He shows me His good intention towards my city and I get to be the bridge that prays His heart, His desire, His perfect plan for my city back to Him. I willingly join Him in the fellowship of His sufferings, because like Jesus who endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him (Hebrews 12:2), I know that God is big and He is good. In my belief and confident expectation, love shows up in my prayers. As does patience, kindness, endurance, hope, belief; because love covers (see 1 Corinthians 13). So, I blanket my city in love who is God. And that's the safest place to be in the whole wide world. This is what I bring when I come to pray for my city. 

Listening further, I was directed to Matthew 6:9-13. Yes, we all know it, the Lord's prayer. I felt like I heard Holy Spirit say and this is what you pray for and then He began to dissect this passage in my heart.

Our Father - Pray for identity. Pray that the people in your city would come to know God as Father. God as a loving, perfect, holy Father who is drawing them to Himself. Pray that they will learn to live fully accepted, fully loved, and completely safe. 

Holy is your name - Pray for sanctification. Pray that your city would be a city unto God. Pray for a revelation in the hearts of the people to know how jealous I am for them. How I long for them to come to me. Pray that they would know that I have set them apart for myself, to be loved by me, to live in my family. My Son's blood has purified them that they might come and be with Me.
Your Kingdom come. Your will be done. On earth as it is in heaven. - Assignment. Your job as my Kingdom ambassador is to bring My Kingdom to any place in your city where my Kingdom rule does not exist. And any place in your city that does not look like heaven, release heaven. Any place in your city where injustice prevails, release the Kingdom. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of my throne. Lovingkindess and truth go before you (Ps. 89:14).

Give us this day our daily bread. - Pray for provision. 
 
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors - Pray for forgiveness. Stand in the gap with identificational repentance for sins that have been committed in your city. John 20:23," If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained. Forgiveness restores the standard. Forgiveness leads to restoration and reconciliation. Is not this the ministry God has given us (2 Corinthians 5:18)?

Lead us not into temptation - Pray for guidance. Pray for a revelation of Holy Spirit in the lives of the people in your city. Pray that the Spirit of truth would guide people into all truth (John 16:13). Pray that Holy Spirit would guide them into a revelation of Jesus as Lord and Savior and God as their Heavenly Father. Pray for divine appointments and God encounters. 

Deliver us from evil - Pray for protection over your city.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. - Dominion. Pray Revelation 11:15,"that the kingdom of this world (the kingdom/governmental office of your city) would become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. Pray that our city would be known for making the name of the Lord famous. 

I bless you today to love your city through prayer. May you be the one to pray for your city with an understanding of who you are and what you carry. Pray for your city with love and compassion. Pray from heaven, praying God's heart, His blueprint, His strategies, His good intentions for your city. Agree with God. Grab a hold of His heart for your city and then pray it back to Him.

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