Week Two - 21 Days of Prayer

This is week two of 21 Days of Prayer for Revival. Below you will find days 8 through 14. You will find a passage, an encouragement, and a prayer for each day. This week we will be focusing on our immediate surroundings: our family, our church, and our community. We will be pleading for the hearts of those closest to us and for the revival within us to catch fire and spread.

---

Day Eight

“The only reason we don’t have revival is because we are willing to live without it.”
Leonard Ravenhill

Are you willing to live without revival? I’m not. I want to see it in myself and in the people around me. I want it for my family, for my children, for my neighbors, for my community, and for my church. I want it for you. Revival starts with us through the work of the Holy Spirit. It also spreads with us. We speak it, we live it, we carry it.
​
Today we start spreading the Gospel revival with songs of praise to our Lord. We must delight in Him in brokenness and in healing, with lips eager to speak of His glory.

“O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
Psalm 51:15-17

Pray this with me…

Heavenly Father,
I am giving you all I have, all of myself, and all of my family. I don’t want to settle for less than revival in my heart and I don’t want to settle for less than revival in others. Open my lips so that I will praise you and give you the only sacrifice you require of me – a broken and contrite heart. May my broken heart lead to bowed knees and a crouched surrendered spirit.

Do not cast us away. See me and my family. Let the praise of our lips and our lives pour like sweet fragrance from my home to you, O Lord.
Amen

---

Day Nine

“In revival God is not concerned about filling empty churches; He is concerned about filling empty hearts.” Leonard Ravenhill

We need not look far to find a heart in need of filling, a hand in need of holding, a fellow in need of blessing. Sometimes they are as near as the other seat at the table. Why does it feel so hard to offer such love to the ones the closest to us? Perhaps it is that their flaws are bigger due to our close examination. Perhaps it is because our grievances are deeper because of our close proximity. Whatever the reason, revival will not spread beyond the rooftops of our homes or our churches if we do not offer the kind of Jesus love that we are called to. 

“Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called…” 1 Peter 3:8-9

Pray this with me…
​
Heavenly Father,
We have sinned greatly by withholding the love we were so freely given from the ones who are in need of it within arm’s reach. Forgive us for our arrogance, our self-centeredness, and our greed. In the midst of great neglect for our nearest kin, break our hearts. And then grant us the courage to reach across the table, across the aisle, or across the street. May we strive for unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, tender hearts, and humble minds; empower us to cast of evil and reviling. May this revival rain down on our closest relationships that we may bear the mark of Children of God.
Amen

---

Day Ten

“You will never know the fullness of Christ until you know the emptiness of everything else.” Charles Spurgeon

Emptiness is the only thing this world is capable of giving. But so many would rather be empty than feel the conviction of sin and the surrender to the Savior. However, this is exactly where freedom and fullness is found. And it is our job to tell them. 
​
We are to speak truth – The Truth – to the world. And the Holy Spirit will cut to the heart. How shall hear without a preacher?

“Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’” Acts 2:37

Pray this with me…
​
Heavenly Father,
I am not satisfied with the things of this world. I ask that you create a hunger in the people around me – a hunger this world can not satisfy – that can only be fulfilled in you. Bend their hearts to your will so that they will cry out, “What should I do?” And then may I be there to tell them, to help them come humbly to the foot of the cross by the power of your Spirit.
Amen

---

Day Eleven

“A whole new generation of Christians has come up believing that it is possible to ‘accept’ Christ without forsaking the world.” A.W. Tozer

Flee. Run. Cast off. These are all words used to describe what should be our reaction to the sin of the world; however we have all become way to comfortable with the title of Christian and not with the desperate shaking off of sin that it requires and that God desires.
​
We come to Christ just as we are, but we can not leave His presence in the same condition. He is in the business of changing and shaping and sanctifying. Not just us but those around us. We are changed by fanning this flame of the Holy Spirit in ourselves and each other. Then we live in courage and obedience in the world.

“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:6-7

Pray this with me…
​
Heavenly Father,
A flame is burning. Fan it and feed it so that it grows. And by my interactions with the family, friends, neighbors and others closest to me, help me to stand by them as their flame grows as well. Lord grant us all the courage to speak truth even when consequences of doing so may be hardship. Help me to speak in control of my tongue and act accordingly. Finally, help me to speak and act in love, being your hands and feet to my community.
Amen

---

Day Twelve

“If you really long to save men’s souls, you must tell them a great deal of disagreeable truth.” Charles Spurgeon

The Gospel is the power of God. It is not our power, the good news is not that we are strong enough to save ourselves, and it is not a cumulative action of good works. We aren’t casting goodness or treasure on scales hoping to outweigh the balance. We are casting ourselves empty handed at the mercy of the Almighty, Holy God. It is this thing that we need to remember and the world needs to know.
​
The Good News is that Jesus came to save. He did save – once for all. And we have been called to a holy calling through his grace simply because He chose to love us. There is nothing in His nature that needs us – He is complete and without need. However, He chose to redeem us and offer His son as payment for our penalty. This is not news we keep to ourselves. Speak it. Shout it. Write it. Be it.

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began…” 2 Timothy 1:8-9

Pray this with me…
​
Heavenly Father,
My feet has been lazy, my lips dry, and my hands rough. I have relented of my duty to be living your Good News. Work through me and beyond me to accomplish your will. May I remember my holy calling filled with purpose and grace in the plan and fulfillment of Jesus Christ. May the truth and the gift of the Gospel break open hard hearts by the power of God, and loosen the chains of sin and death that bind many in my immediate circle of influence. And use me, O Lord.
Amen

---

Day Thirteen

“Lord, keep me eternity conscious.” Leonard Ravenhill

In a world where hope is believed to only come by politicians and policies we have reason to hope in something so much greater. But hope held onto behind tight lips and closed fists isn’t hope but arrogance. Hope, when truly held, is confession by default, for we cannot help but let is speak and give generously. 

 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:23-25

Pray this with me…

Heavenly Father,
Forgive me for standing on soap boxes more often than I fill bread boxes. Help me to remember, with each breaking day, that hope is mine to confess with my lips. I praise you for your faithfulness to and to my community. May we become a people who desire love, good works, fellowship, encouragement, and hope for the day coming when you will come again.
​
You are a blessed hope, you have given a blessed hope, and may we offer a blessed hope to our community today. Shape your church, locally, to be a beacon calling out and going out.
Amen

---

Day Fourteen

“My goal is God himself. Not joy, not peace, not even blessing, but himself…my God.” Leonard Ravenhill

I don’t want to overcomplicate this. There is only need of one thing: God. God Himself and all of Him. We need a filling of Him. Our families need a filling of Him. Our churches need a filling of Him. Our communities need a filling of Him. When we are filled with Him, revival is the natural by product. We will be children of light casting rays of life changing light onto the world around us. When we are filled with Him we won’t be able to keep ourselves from revival and from fellowship. 

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7

Pray this with me…
​
Heavenly Father,
Your Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. May you fill us through a meaningful appetite of your Word, an unquenched relationship with the Holy Spirit, and a heart of prayer that shapes our minds to be like yours.
As a result of your light, may the world look at us and see sweet fellowship, harmony, grace, and love. When they look at our families, may they see peace that rises above the circumstances in which we find ourselves. And above all else and if nothing else, fill our homes, our churches, and our communities with you, My God.
Amen

---