Prayer

Prayer 5

A Prayer to our Good Shepherd for His Lost Sheep

Father, we thank you that Jesus is our good shepherd. We come to You in His name and ask that. Jesus would go out and search for these lost sheep who have gone astray. They are distressed and dispirited, wandering in this world without the guidance and protection of their good shepherd. May He seek them and find them and have compassion for them.

We pray that Jesus would call them by name and that they would hear His voice and would follow Him as He leads them out of darkness and into the light. May they recognize His voice and stop following the voices of the strangers in our culture. These strangers are thieves and robbers. They are hirelings who have no concern for them, but who have left them to be scattered away from the flock and snatched by the evil one who comes only to steal their hope, kill their faith, and destroy their lives. 

May Jesus be their good shepherd. Open the ears of our prodigals and take the blinders taken off their eyes that they may see Him, hear His voice, and follow His call. In love He laid down His life for these sheep.  May they come to know Him and be swallowed up in His love for them. 

Father, give them a desire to follow You. Make them lie down in the green pastures of Your commandments and precepts. Cause them to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning and to know the way in which they should walk.  

Lead them beside quiet waters where they may drink deeply of the living water of Your Word. Restore their souls, for the enemy has persecuted their souls and crushed their spirits. For Your righteousness’ sake bring their souls out of trouble and destroy all those who afflict them. May their souls long for You like a dry and thirsty land. Bring them to the place where they will lift up their souls to You then guide them in the paths of righteousness for Your name’s sake.

The enemy has made them to dwell in darkness and they walk in the valley of the shadow of death. Calm their fears and comfort them with Your Presence and with the guidance and protection of your rod and staff. 

Prepare a table for them in the presence of their enemies: this whole wicked culture and those who have lied to them and deceived them. Anoint their heads with oil that their minds and hearts can be renewed and transformed by Your Word. Help them learn to be quiet and still in Your Presence. Fill their cup to overflowing with the blessings of Your goodness and mercy all the days of their lives. Any may they dwell with all other believers in the house of the LORD forever.

John 10, Psalm 23, Psalm 143, Matthew 9:36

Prayer 4

Hudson Taylor – It is possible to move the hearts of men through God, by prayer alone. 

More now than ever, we cling to You, O Lord. It was our desire that our prodigals would be like the sons of Issachar; that they would understand the times and know what to do and how to live, but they have been taken captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. 

I pray that they would be crucified with Christ. May Christ live in them and the life which they live now in the flesh, may they live by faith in the Son of God, who loved them and gave Himself up for them. May this be the year that they receive Christ Jesus as Lord and walk in Him. May they be firmly rooted and built up in Him and established in their faith. 

May a revival take place in their hearts by the power of Your living and active Word. May it pierce their souls and spirits and judge the thoughts and intentions of their hearts. Open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Christ Jesus. 

I pray that they would not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of their minds, so that they may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

I pray that you would take the blinders from their eyes that they may have eyes to see clearly and be able to judge rightly. Give them a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. May the eyes of their hearts be enlightened, so that they will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.

I ask that You would search them and know their hearts and their anxious thoughts; see if there is any hurtful sinful way in them and lead them in the everlasting way. 

1 Chronicles 12:20, Colossians 2:7 & 8, Galatians 2:20, Hebrews 4:12, Acts 26:18, Romans 12:2, Ephesians 1:17-19, Psalm 139:23-24

I pray for those of us who are crying out for our prodigals and hope that one day this will be a cry from their lips also:   My soul weeps because of grief and cleaves to the dust. Strengthen me according to Your Word. I have confessed my sin and You have answered me with forgiveness and gracious lovingkindness. Teach me Your statutes and make me understand Your precepts. Remove every false way from me and graciously grant me the ability to walk in Your ways. I cling to You and Your testimonies; O Lord, do not put me to shame! Enlarge my heart so that I may observe Your Law and keep it with my whole heart. Remember Your Word to Your servant in which You have made me hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your Word has revived me. 

Psalm 119:25-34, 49 & 50

Prayer 3

Father, We come to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the name that is above all other names. We offer up our grateful praise for the hope we have in Him and the power of His resurrection that now works in us. We have nothing and are nothing apart from Christ. Not many of us are wise, not many powerful, or of noble birth. We are the weak, lowly, and despised of this world. We do not boast in ourselves, but in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We are not adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God. We do not even know how to pray as we should, but we thank you that the Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God, and Jesus, who is at the right hand of God, also intercedes for us.

We want desperately to know Him and the power of His resurrection. We ask that His power would work through us to empower us to live righteously. Help us today and every day to be crucified with Christ so that it is no longer we who live, Christ living in us and through us. We have been made alive in Christ, may His life flow through us and work through us to His glory and for His purposes. Give us words to speak to those we love and any others whom You put in our path. May what we say be a demonstration of the Spirit of and power. May we speak in words taught by the Spirit combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. Open the hearts and minds of our loved ones to receive Truth. Give us boldness in our speech that we may proclaim the mystery of the gospel. 

Lead us in triumph in Christ and manifest through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Christ in every place. May we be the fragrance of Christ to our loved ones that they would be drawn to the treasure of Christ within us. We give thanks to You with grateful hearts for all that You have done and will do! 

Philippians 3:10, 1 Corinthians 1:18-30, 2 Corinthians 3:5, Romans 8:26, Galatians 2:20, 1 Corinthians 2:4, 13, 2 Corinthians 2:14

Prayer 2

Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You! But our mistake is that we don’t believe the scriptures and don’t know the power of God. We stand before Your throne of grace and cry out to you in our grief and concern for our loved ones. May You hear and save. We are powerless against the enemy who has come against us and our prodigals. We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you! 

“O LORD, the God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? And are You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can stand against You.” We ask that You would fight this battle for us. We are determined to stand firm, hold our position in faith and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish on behalf of all these prodigals. 

The word of the cross is foolishness to these who are perishing, but those of us who are being saved know it is the very power of God. We pray that our prodigals would hear the report about you and tremble. Revive your work in their midst and make it known to them. In wrath remember mercy.  According to Your great mercy cause them to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Protect them by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 

You are a shield around us, our glory, and the One who lifts our head. We have called out to You today and we know that You hear us and will answer from Your holy mountain. May we all overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit and with fullness of joy for having been in Your Presence.

2 Chronicles 20:12, Matthew 22:29, Jeremiah 32:17-20, 2 Chronicles 20:6, 1 Corinthians 1:18

Exodus 14:13, Habakkuk 3:2, 1 Peter 1:3-5, Psalm 3:3

Prayer 1

We pray for those we love, our prodigals. Some who call themselves by the name of Christ but are not walking in His ways and some who were raised in the church but have rejected Him. Our prodigals have been taken captive through worldly philosophies and empty deceptions. They have believed in the traditions of men and the elemental principles of this world and have been deceived by persuasive arguments. Although they are alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet we ask that God would rescue them from the domain of darkness and transfer them to the kingdom of His beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. May Jesus reconcile them through His death and present them before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach. May they be established in faith and continue steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that was heard and which was proclaimed to them and in all creation under heaven. Colossians 2:8, 1:13, 21-23

We will not cease to pray for our prodigals and ask that they may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that they will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience. We hope to one day joyously give thanks to the Father, because He has heard our cry and qualified our prodigals to share with us in the inheritance of the saints in light. Colossians 1:9-12