Revival Prayer Pointers

151 through 160

Week 151: The psalmists spoke often of revival; they knew when they needed it.  They know where it came from.  In Psalm 119:88, one of the psalmists prayed Revive me according to your lovingkindness, so that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth.  He knew that revival comes from the gracious hand of God.  He also knew that the result of revival is a desire to follow God’s Word in all of life.  May the psalmist’s prayer be our prayer this week!

Week 152: We don’t think about it often enough, but revival isn’t really about us.  It’s about God.  When we are the people God designed us to be, God is glorified in our world.  When we aren’t living in revival mode, we tend to detract from His glory.  That’s why the psalmist prayed “Revive me, O Lord, for Your name’s sake!” (Ps. 143:11).  Let’s pray this week that God’s glory is our primary motivation in our hunger for revival.

Week 153: Have you ever been grieved by someone’s words or conduct?  Most of us have experienced that emotion.  Does it ever cross our minds that our words and conduct might grieve God and hinder revival in our souls and in our church?  It must be possible to do that.  Why else would God have inspired Paul’s words in Ephesians 4:30?  Read them and think about them before praying for revival this week.

Week 154: Praying for revival isn’t an easy; it takes great faith.  The Apostle James talked about praying with faith.  He described people who pray without faith as being like a wave driven by the wind. (James 1:6-8)  We don’t know when God will bring revival our way, but we dare not doubt that He will.  To doubt is to negate the power of prayer!  So, let’s keep praying each week for an outpouring of God’s power and grace on our church body!

Week 155: We’re coming near to the end of our third year of praying for revival and renewal in our lives and in our church.  Next Sunday you’ll get a request to “re-up” for another year of prayer.  Please pray this week about committing to praying at least 15 minutes once a week for revival and renewal.  We don’t know when or how God will choose to do His work in our church, but we do know prayer is critical!  Pray for yourself and others to choose to engage in this prayer ministry.

Week 156: Today is the third anniversary of the Revival Prayer Initiative.  This is the 156th consecutive week that we have had a “Prayer Pointer” in the bulletin, and many in The First Family have prayed.  It’s too soon to stop!  You will have opportunity today to commit to pray for another year.  You can begin that year by praying with the psalmist: Revive us, and we will call upon Your name. (Ps. 80:18b) 

Week 157: We begin our fourth year of the Revival Prayer Initiative today.  So many in The First Family have been faithful during the previous three years.  You are to be commended!  At the beginning of the fourth year, please pray this week for an openness in our church family to the work of God’s Spirit.  Pray He will have freedom to do as He pleases in our lives . . . that He will have freedom to create an environment in our church conducive to revival. 

Week 158: Three times in Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer” (John 17) He prayed that His followers would know unity.  He clearly wants us living together in the unity of the Spirit.  Let’s examine our hearts before we pray: do our words, thoughts and actions contribute to unity or disunity?  As we listen for God’s Spirit, He will let us know how to pray for unity in our church body. 

Week 159: Consider a verse from Psalm 39 as you pray for revival/renewal this week.  It is a verse that reminds us where our hope for revival should be focused and of the one on whom we wait to bring that revival.  Read Psalm 39:7 several times before you pray.  Let it settle down in your soul.  Then, ask God to strengthen your hope, your confidence in Him and His timing for revival in our church in in our lives.  

Week 160: We begin our He Is Worthy! emphasis today with a theme of surrender.  That theme resonates with our ongoing prayer for revival in our church.  As you pray this week, consider the words of the songwriter: All to Jesus I surrender, Make me, Savior, wholly Thine: May Thy Holy spirit fill me, May I know Thy power divine.  Surrender to God is always the beginning place of revival.  Perhaps we should ask Him this week to show us what we need to surrender to Him.