3 Prayers for a Nation in Crisis
During these days of division, anger, and uncertainty, most of us aren’t quite sure how to respond. What we must not forget is that we are not powerless. Our voices are heard in heaven! We can and need to ask God to intervene and to give us insight for ways we can respond with the love of Christ.
Here are some simple prayer points that we can pray together on behalf of our hurting neighbors and our nation.
- Protection
“Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him. You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance” (Ps. 32:6-7).
It seems that the waters across our land are rising quickly and threatening to consume our cities.
Father, we ask for Your hand of protection to be upon our nation during these days of unrest and anger. Protect the lives of the angry as well as the officers and military personnel who are trying to restore order. Calm hearts and minds and bring restoration through justice and acts of repentance, humility and extraordinary love. Sing Your song of deliverance over our hurting nation, Lord.
- Presence.
“I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people” (Lev. 26:11-12).
The Presence of God changes lives and meets the deepest needs—not just those of individuals, but also the needs of a culture. Welcoming the Presence of the Lord into our nation should be an essential part of our prayers.
Make Your Presence known Lord! In the midst of darkness, confusion and despair, may the light of Your glory shine. We welcome You and ask You to walk among us. Change lives, bring unity and stir Your people to be the image bearers of Jesus in this troubling hour! We long for Your presence to permeate our culture and transform our nation.
- Peace.
“Peace, peace to them, both near and far, for I will heal them all” (Isaiah 57:19).
In the midst of a badly divided nation from top to bottom, we desperately need God’s peace. He has placed His Church in a position of godly authority to stand for righteousness and justice…and to be instruments of His healing in our world.
Prince of Peace, come and walk through the streets of our cities. Rest upon the hurting, the angry and those who are bent on destruction. Awaken Your Church! Give us courage and kindness in order to be the peacemakers You designed us to be! Help us to demonstrate justice for all people and the unity of a people who is one in You, because You created us equally. We long for Your peace to come to our nation, Lord!
Dave Butts Biography
David is a much sought after conference speaker both nationally and internationally. He serves on several Boards of Directors and committees focused on prayer, revival and evangelism including:
- President, Gospel Revivals, Inc. (Herald of His Coming)
- Chairman, America's National Prayer Committee
- Treasurer, Denominational Prayer Leaders' Network
- Chairman, Pioneer Bible Translators Board of Directors
- Board Member, America Prays/World Prays
- Executive Committee - Awakening America Alliance
- President 2014 - International Conference on Missions (ICOM)
Some of Dave's Books
Prayer in a Season of Waiting
Prayer in a Season of Waiting
We are in a season of waiting. In the physical we are waiting to see what develops with the Covid-19 virus as the process of re-opening our country takes place. It is a waiting time filled with hope, but also uncertainty and perhaps even danger for some.
One of the perils for the Church is potential division over the timing and ways in which we again begin to meet together in buildings. Great wisdom is required for leaders, and only deep humility will cause us to lay down our preferences in honor of one another. Physical waiting causes angst, anger and frustration for many; however, to those of us who love Jesus, it is a time to listen, and to pay attention to what the Father wants to teach us in this curious and complex moment in time. It is a time to demonstrate the life of Christ as we offer hope through faith to others and as we intercede for the world.
This is also a season of spiritual waiting. For Jews this was the period following Passover and leading up to Shavuot. Christians also embrace this time of waiting from Easter to Pentecost. After the Resurrection of Jesus, He spent 40 days with the disciples. He ate with them, taught them, and demonstrated His resurrected life. But after 40 days, He ascended to the Father and told them to wait in Jerusalem for the promised Spirit.
It’s rare to find someone who likes to wait. Perhaps though, that is an attribute for which we should strive. We are certainly commanded often in scripture to wait on and for the Lord. Waiting paid off for those first disciples. Ten days of prayer, worship, and waiting on the Lord led them to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. They would never be the same as they received the promise of the Father.
We are in a season of waiting. Press into that. Make it a time of prayer and anticipation. What is God about to do? Our waiting upon the Lord is an active time that places everything in the hands of the Lord. Though we live post-Pentecost and the Spirit has come to us, we still wait on the Lord and fresh fillings of His Spirit. The timing of the Lord’s work and purposes are still in His hands and we pray with increased passion and anticipation during these days of waiting. Look up, your redemption draws near!
How to Pray in a Time of Waiting
- Lord, in my waiting, help me to be strong and filled with courage.
“Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14).
- Lord Jesus, in my waiting, lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation.
“Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day” (Psalm 25:5).
- God Almighty, in my waiting, help me to have patience as Your return is near.
“Now as for you, dear brothers who are waiting for the Lord’s return, be patient, like a farmer who waits until the autumn for his precious harvest to ripen” (James 5:7).
- Holy One, in my waiting, may Your integrity and uprightness preserve me.
“Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You” (Psalm 25:21).
- Father, Your word says that if I will wait for You I will gain new strength, mount up with wings like eagles, run and not get tired and walk without becoming weary! Help me to trust You for these promises.
“Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary” (Isaiah 40:31).
(c) Harvest Prayer Ministries
Dave Butts Biography
David is a much sought after conference speaker both nationally and internationally. He serves on several Boards of Directors and committees focused on prayer, revival and evangelism including:
- President, Gospel Revivals, Inc. (Herald of His Coming)
- Chairman, America's National Prayer Committee
- Treasurer, Denominational Prayer Leaders' Network
- Chairman, Pioneer Bible Translators Board of Directors
- Board Member, America Prays/World Prays
- Executive Committee - Awakening America Alliance
- President 2014 - International Conference on Missions (ICOM)
Some of Dave's Books
Dwell, Gaze, Seek: Finding God’s Presence in His Word
Dwell, Gaze, Seek: Finding God’s Presence in His Word
For many years now, I have found myself daily praying to dwell in God’s house. Based on David’s great prayer in Psalm 27, I regularly ask to be able to gaze on the Father’s beauty and to always seek Him wherever He might be found. It is with some embarrassment that I confess a lack of faith in my own prayers, and even more so, in the power of God’s word to let me know of His will for me. For a long time it seemed like I was always waiting for something big to happen to answer this powerful prayer. Therein was my lack of faith. I was looking for something I imagined would happen and in the process missed much of what was already happening.
I was praying based on what was clearly God’s will for me. He desires my presence even more than I desire His Presence. He has opened His house to me as an eternal dwelling place…not just someday in heaven, but right now. I certainly was praying His will based on His word, believing He would answer. My problem was that I wasn’t paying attention to how He was already answering that prayer. When we begin to pray God’s word, we must also remember to begin looking for His answers.
With fresh realization today, I see that I have been receiving the answers to my prayers for many years now. Dwelling in God’s house is a mindful awareness to experience His presence moment by moment, day by day. Today, in the midst of the Covid-19 shutdown, I find myself on my back porch, listening to English composer Vaughn Williams’s Fifth Symphony based on Milton’s Pilgrims Progress. I am very happy. But I think back three years when I was in the hospital receiving intense chemo for stage four lymphoma. I was very happy then, too. God was present in that hospital room.
God’s house is a place of His Presence and in His presence there is the happiness that the Bible calls “the fullness of joy”. You might be going through tough times. You might be going through times of great abundance. Regardless of your circumstances, what brings joy and peace is the awareness of the presence of God. When you are experiencing His presence you are dwelling in His house.
I still pray every day that I might dwell in the Father’s house all the days of my life, gazing on His beauty and seeking Him wherever He might be found. But I also thank Him for opening up His house to His people through Jesus. The last phrase of Ps.27:4 keeps me praying. We are to continually seek Him. We always press in – praying for more of His presence. But I’m now learning to look daily for the answers to my prayers as I bring God’s Word back to His throne.
(c) Harvest Prayer Ministries
Dave Butts Biography
David is a much sought after conference speaker both nationally and internationally. He serves on several Boards of Directors and committees focused on prayer, revival and evangelism including:
- President, Gospel Revivals, Inc. (Herald of His Coming)
- Chairman, America's National Prayer Committee
- Treasurer, Denominational Prayer Leaders' Network
- Chairman, Pioneer Bible Translators Board of Directors
- Board Member, America Prays/World Prays
- Executive Committee - Awakening America Alliance
- President 2014 - International Conference on Missions (ICOM)
Some of Dave's Books
The Power of Silence
The Power of Silence
The health crisis that has marked 2020 has brought about an amazing silence across the earth. Sports events are silenced and concerts have gone away. The shouts of children at playgrounds have grown quiet. I watched the news in amazement the other day as it showed the streets of downtown New York City almost empty and quiet.
I know it’s temporary. We are by nature a noisy species. Even in this lockdown, we eagerly attempt to escape to our former activities and all the noise that would bring. I’m afraid the noise will return.
I’m enjoying the quiet. It’s really very biblical. Stillness brings with it the opportunity to quiet our souls before our Maker. You can certainly do that with noise all around you, but it is so much easier when your environment has grown quiet. It is in stillness that we sense more of the Presence of God and are better able to discern His quiet voice.
Quiet yourself for a minute and pay attention to what God’s Word is saying about silence. Here are four powerful admonitions from the Lord:
“The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him” (Hab.2:20).
“Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling” (Zech. 2:13).
“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him” (Ps.37:7).
“Be still and know that I am God” (Ps.46:10).
Here are some simple ways to use your “holy imagination” or your “mind’s eye” to experience these scriptures as you spend time in silence before Him:
- As you pray, imagine you can see the Lord in heaven.
There are crowds of angels before Him in complete silence. You feel a deep need not to break into that silence with any noise. “But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him” (Habakkuk 2:20).
- Picture the Lord sitting on His throne.
You carefully watch and then, to your amazement, He begins to arise from His throne. He is getting up and that means something is about to happen. Imagine what that might be right now! “Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because He has roused Himself from His holy dwelling” (Zecharaiah 2:13).
- Wait on the Lord in prayer.
Place yourself in a position of waiting on the Lord. It would be like being in a class where the teacher said, “Now pay careful attention to what I’m going to say next,” and then paused. You would be leaning forward, waiting to hear what comes next. “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him” (Psalm 37:7).
- Draw near to the Lord in prayer.
Imagine sitting close to Jesus, or even on His lap, as a child would do. Does the immensity and grandeur of the One to whom you are speaking overwhelm you and bring you to absolute silence before Him? What does the peace of His presence feel like? You are coming to know your God. “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).
National shutdown or not, it is very clear that God places a high value on silence. Will we?
(c) Harvest Prayer Ministries
Dave Butts Biography
David is a much sought after conference speaker both nationally and internationally. He serves on several Boards of Directors and committees focused on prayer, revival and evangelism including:
- President, Gospel Revivals, Inc. (Herald of His Coming)
- Chairman, America's National Prayer Committee
- Treasurer, Denominational Prayer Leaders' Network
- Chairman, Pioneer Bible Translators Board of Directors
- Board Member, America Prays/World Prays
- Executive Committee - Awakening America Alliance
- President 2014 - International Conference on Missions (ICOM)
Some of Dave's Books
4 Prayers to Line Up with God’s Purposes
4 Prayers to Line Up with God’s Purposes
Then Job answered the LORD and said, “I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:1-2).
Studying Job during this difficult season has been very enlightening and convicting! Job kept saying that he trusted God, all the while whining and complaining about his circumstances…until God reminded Job that ultimately, He was the Almighty Creator of all things and the Overseer of all of our situations, good or bad. Job, with a repentant heart, confessed his lack of understanding and renewed his belief in God’s complete power and supremacy. For Job, the choice was easy after his eyes were opened – God’s purposes could not be thwarted – even if it meant physical and emotional suffering for him. He just needed to be reminded.
J. Vernon McGee has a quote I love that can help us to relate to Job’s (and our own) situations: “This is God’s universe, and He is doing things His way. You may think you have a better way, but you don’t have a universe.”
It’s amazing how little we, the people of God, trust His purposes to be accomplished in the midst of uncertain times. We try to do everything in our own strength to “fix” our circumstances. We have difficulty resting in His promises and having faith that He is in control of our situations, finances, jobs, schooling, celebrations, relationships and everything else that concerns our minds and hearts.
God is grieving with those who are grieving, just as He was very present in the midst of Job’s suffering. If we are His, we should also be grieving with and for those who have lost loved ones, friends, coworkers, classmates and neighbors, for those who have lost jobs, for kids who can’t go to school, for healthcare workers who are afraid to bring sickness home with them, for those who can’t see and hug their loved ones…and so much more. If we are only mourning for ourselves and our inconveniences, we are lost in our selfishness rather than coming alongside of the Living Jesus to be His hands, feet and heart to others. And, to lift one another up in deep, heartfelt prayer!
God is watching us…His eye is upon His Church. Are we asking Him to search us and cleanse us? Are we a repentant people, allowing the Father to make us holy as He is holy? Or, are we wishing we could go where we want to go and do what we want to do? Are we filled with anger and frustration against our leaders, our families, the grocery store who can’t deliver our orders fast enough, and the people who bought up all of the sanitizer and toilet paper?
If His eye is upon us, what is He expecting? He is looking for those who will know that God can do all things and that His purposes will not be thwarted. Perhaps this season is more about watching to see what God will do with a people who keeps their eyes focused upon Him, trusting Him to accomplish something so big and deep and powerful in His Church that the world will never be the same. He has stripped away all of the traditional patterns of our gatherings and moved us to engage in new ways and to look at people we haven’t spent much time with before…to meet needs and to think outside the box creatively about how to care for the least of these and the lost. Can we have great faith to believe that God is at work in and through us?
Jason Meyer said, “Faith doesn’t just bring your soul to heaven; it brings heaven to your soul.” So – how do we pray in such a way that we are changed by God and not by our circumstances? Prayer that brings heaven to our souls? Here are four simple prayers to help our hearts shift toward remembering that God can do all things and that His plans cannot be thwarted:
- The Prayer of Confession: Father, I confess my lack of faith in Your ability to work in the midst of everything I am facing. I confess that I haven’t trusted You for _____________. I confess that I have depended upon my own ability to _____________ rather than release it into Your care. Thank You, Father, that You are faithful and righteous to forgive my sins and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness when I confess those sins to You (1 John 1:9).
- The Prayer of Repentance: Lord, I have confessed to You those sins that separate my heart from Yours. I am Your child, called by Your name. Your word declares that if I humble myself in repentance and seek Your face and turn away from my sinful ways, that You will hear from heaven, forgive my sin and heal my land (2 Chronicles 7:14). Now I declare that I will turn away from these things, and turn toward You once again! Your word says that if I do this, my sins will be wiped out and that times of refreshing will come from You once again (Acts 3:19). And, Lord Jesus, please help me to produce fruit in keeping with repentance (Matthew 3:8)…fruit that will last (John 15:16), not only in this season, but throughout the rest of my days. May I emerge from these days changed in ways that will bring glory to You alone!
- The Prayer of Submission: Lord Jesus, when the outcomes of life are hidden, uncertain, or unclear, give me the humility and the strength to simply submit to Your purposes and plans. Help me to remember that You humbled Yourself before the Father and submitted Yourself to death on a cross (Philippians 2:8) for me! That humbles me and creates a deep desire in me to be obedient to Your will forever. Your word says that these troubles and sufferings of mine are small and won’t last very long, and You promise that this short time of distress will result in God’s richest blessings forever and ever (2 Corinthians 4:17 TLB). Surely, I can submit myself to inconveniences and troubles without whining and complaining!
- The Prayer of Acknowledgment: Almighty God, I acknowledge that my adequacy comes not from myself or my own abilities, but only from You (2 Corinthians 3:5). I acknowledge that I can do all things through You, because You are the One who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13). And, Lord, in all of my ways I will acknowledge You, for You have promised that if I will do this, You will make my paths straight (Proverbs 3:6).
May the God who is everywhere, and who created everything, be very present in your life in this season, and from this moment forward! May your faith swell to heights you never imagined as you dwell with Him in the midst of hard times, but also allow Him to lead you to a much deeper understanding of His ability to create calm in your storm, peace in your uncertainties and joy along your journey of life with a Father who, as Job acknowledged, is not only the Creator of the Universe, but the One who can do ALL things…and whose plans can never be thwarted!
©2020, Harvest Prayer Ministries
Biography
Kim’s passion is to see God’s people recognize that prayer is a creative, continual moment by moment lifestyle with God as we align our hearts with His plans and purposes for His glory and for the sake of His kingdom. Her ministry involves writing, teaching and consulting. She also compiles and edits HPM’s free daily devotional, Connection! and blogs regularly on the HPM website). Kim is a member of America's National Prayer Committee, VP of Gospel Revivals, Inc. and on the Advisory Board for America Prays.
Kim has a BA in Psychology and a Masters degree in Spiritual Formation and Leadership.
Some of Kim's Books
