Prayer for Our Nation

God’s Command to Pray for our Nation

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1 Timothy 2:1–3 KJV 1900

1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;

Pray

Pray because God Establishes Government

Romans 13:1–5 KJV 1900

1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: 4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. 5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.

Read the ESV version of this second.

Daniel Prays for his nation

Daniel Chapter 9

Daniel 9:3–6 KJV 1900

3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: 4 And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; 5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: 6 Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

Daniel 9:8–10 KJV 1900

8 O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him; 10 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.

Daniel 9:16 KJV 1900

16 O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.

Daniel 9:19 KJV 1900

19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.

7 Steps on Praying for the Nation

Let the Word of God inspire your prayer.

When you pray according to Scriptures, you know God will answer your prayer.

John 15:7 KJV 1900

7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

2. Set your face to seek the Lord

Daniel 9:3 KJV 1900

3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:

Matthew 7:7 KJV 1900

7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

Deuteronomy 4:29 KJV 1900

29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

Matthew

When is the last time you prayed to the point of tears? When is the last time you allowed your prayer to move deep in your heart so that all of your brokenness is offered up to God?

3. Sacrifice anything that gets in the way of prayer.

What gets in the way of Keith’s prayer?

Back in it says he fasted. He sacrificed something.

a. When Samuel and the army faced the Philistines, Israel fasted ().

b. When Israel faced a holocaust at the hand of Haman, prime minister of Persia, Esther and the nation fasted for three days ().

c. When King Saul was killed in battle, and the nation expected an invasion from the Philistines, Israel fasted for seven days ().

d. When Ezra and 4,400 Jews returning from Babylon across the desert were afraid of being attacked by Bedouin tribes, they fasted for 3 days ().

e. When Nehemiah heard about the destruction of Jerusalem and its walls, he fasted ().

f. Savonarola led the city of Florence, Italy, to fast when faced with the invasion from the King of France.

g. All England fasted when they faced the coming invasion by the Spanish Armada. God answered and sent a storm to destroy the Spanish fleet, and England became the dominant force in the world. We speak English today and not Spanish because the English Church fasted for God to intervene.

h. The Continental Congress called for a day of national fasting and prayer when George Washington was facing the British in the Revolutionary War.

i. Abraham Lincoln called for a national day of prayer and fasting during the Civil War.

4. BEGIN PRAYER BY RECOGNIZING GOD’S GREAT ABILITY TO INTERVENE IN NATIONAL CRISES.

Colossians 1:16–17 KJV 1900

16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

5. CONFESS YOUR PERSONAL SINS AND THE SINS OF YOUR NATION.

Listen to Daniel in

WE have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments.

Notice Daniel didn’t say, they have sinned. He said we have sinned. There is no scripture stating that Daniel sinned but we see his prayer stated as WE!!!

We must confess for the Church. Before we point a finger at the world and tell them to confess drunkenness, drugs, cursing, and vile sexual pleasures; we need to look inward. The Church is guilty of complacency, pride, compromise, negligence in witnessing and tithing, and we constantly flirt with the world, the flesh and the Devil. We must confess the Church’s sins before we confess the world’s sins.

6. ASK GOD TO TURN AWAY PUNISHMENT AND PROTECT US

Daniel knew that the nation deserved punishment. Yet Daniel had the boldness to ask, “O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem” (). Daniel prayed constantly for God to turn away the punishment of Israel. This was his constant prayer. In a later chapter he says, “I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth . . . till three whole weeks were fulfilled” ().

Don’t pray that America won’t have difficulties,

Pray America will overcome difficulties.

Don’t pray for God to eliminate the terrorists,

Pray for wisdom and strength for us to eliminate the terrorists.

7. WE MUST ASK GOD TO AGAIN BLESS AMERICA

Daniel 9:19 KJV 1900

19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.

Don’t just pray for God to bless America,

But for you to be a blessing to Americans.

Don’t just pray for revival in America,

Pray for God to revive you.