Repentance For Church

Prayer for the Church 01

  • But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession,that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9)
  • Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2)

The advancement of technology and the Internet in the recent century has not enriched our lives or reduced our workload. It has brought more pressures and challenges to both life and family. We have neglected building our families and underestimated the impact of the changing social atmosphere on our surroundings. This has given the enemy free entrance into culture and families, hurting our children and causing divorces. Thus, without strong family units, the church has become weak, powerless and indifferent, unable to have a godly impact on our next generations.

Lord, this is because we have departed from your commandments and turned to our own ways. We have become followers of our own desires and the values of this world. We have failed to be a positive influence on society. We are apathetic towards our communities, indifferent towards injustice and unrighteousness. Our behavior is no different from unbelievers. The church is secularized. We fear men but have no fear of God. We compromise with evil things.

Lord, on behalf of the church, I fall on my face before you. May you forgive us. Give us broken and contrite hearts and tears of repentance. May we come before you as one, repenting, asking that the blood of the Lord Jesus will cleanse us from all sins and unrighteousness. Restore our first love so that we can honor the Lord above everything else. In critical times such as this, raise us up again through the power of your Holy Spirit to break every chain and yoke, to destroy the dividing walls within the church. I pray that we will no longer be divided or powerless; instead, we will build up the Body of Christ with one heart and one mind. I pray that the church will take back her authority and be the salt and light in our cities and nations, so that the world may see our good deeds, and give all glory to God!

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen!


Prayer for the Church 02

  • My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:20-23 (NKJV))
  • As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1-3)

Lord Jesus, you are the head of the church, and we are your Body. The Body is one with many members, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ. Lord, we admit that we often insist on our own opinion and only care about our own affairs. There is competition, pride, strife, division and conflict among us. Please forgive us of our sins that divide your Body.

We declare in the name of the Lord Jesus that all the sources of disunity in the church be completely stopped. Let us have the mind of Christ and remove our divisions so that the church can be healed. Lord, give us a humble spirit and teachable heart. Help us to see others better than ourselves, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Lord, may the Holy Spirit lead us to connect the churches for the furtherance of the gospel. Though the darkness covers the earth and deep darkness covers the people, we ask you to extend our territories. We ask the Holy Spirit to give church leaders spiritual insight to watch and pray unitedly for our nation, cities and churches. We ask that you build fire wall of 24/7 intercessory to defend against the works of the devil and to bring revival and transformation to our nations and cities. We pray that the sound of worship and praise would be heard everywhere, that everyone will speak of the power and marvelous deeds of God, and that the Word of the Lord will be preached with signs and wonders.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen!


Pray for the Church 03

(Secularization of the Church)

    • Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.  (1 John 2:15-16 (NKJV))
  • But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;  (1 Peter 3:15 (NKJV))

Lord, we are grateful for your salvation on the cross that you saved us from the darkness to God’s Kingdom of light. Thank you for cleansing all our sins and unrighteousness with the blood of the Lamb, making us your holy vessels, clothing us with the robes of priesthood, and leading us into eternal life!

(If you did not commit the following sins, you can skip this part)

Lord, please forgive us our love for the world and the things of the world. There is no true love for the Father in us. We draw near you with our mouths, honor you with our lips but have removed our hearts far from you. We are not mindful of what you care. Instead, we are lured by selfish desires, pursuing the vanity of the world such as power, wealth, pleasure, and indulgence. In us are found partiality, self-centeredness, self-righteousness, indifference, carelessness, fear of men but no fear for God. We have deviated from the Truth, being of no difference from secular people. We plead for your mercy and forgiveness.

Lord, cleanse us, cover us, deliver us, and renew us by your blood. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we renounce the desires of the flesh and all sins and bondage. Holy Spirit, refresh our hunger for God’s Word, empower us to live the divine virtues, and release Kingdom values in us. Help us to be obedient to the Holy Spirit, to grow spiritually in love for the Lord and for one another, and to take up our cross to follow Jesus. When the world sees the power of the gospel, they will believe also, and give praise and glory to God!

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen!

 


Pray for the Church 04

    • Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.(2 Timothy 4:2-4 (NKJV))
  • Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25 (NKJV))

Lord, forgive us for not completely allowing you to take the Throne in our lives. With itching ears, we cannot endure sound doctrine. We resent warning messages of repentance, self-denial, and the cross. We choose to close our ears and hearts to such teachings and willfully follow our rebellious desires. We have heaped up for us teachers of grace theology and success theology. We lack the mind of Christ to bear sufferings; we do not want to leave the comfort zone or to let go of the wealth, position and relationships. We are just like the young official in the Bible. We only want to satisfy our own desires and fulfill our wishes. We grieve the Holy Spirit because we do not want to sacrifice or pay the price.

Lord, have mercy on us. Forgive our weakness and divided hearts. Forgive us for turning our ears away from the truth and aside to fables. Lord, we want to turn back to you by renouncing false teachings. We ask that you fill us with your resurrection power to love you with all our hearts, all our souls, all our strengths, and all our minds, as well as the power to love our neighbor. Breathe unto us, Lord, and awaken our inner most being. Take our whole being and everything of us. Draw me close to you so that I am willing to take up my cross daily and run after you, to share your gospel with those poor, needy, and hopeless. Lead us in the way of eternal life till the day I see you face to face.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen!


Prayer for Churches 05

  • So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1:27-28 (NIV)) 
  • “You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven.” (Matthew 5:13-16 (NIV))

Abba Father, You give human being a mandate to subdue all the earth, thus we have responsibility to be good stewards over all the earth including governance in human society. Father, we are sorry that we, the church has forsaken the authority as king and priest. Because of our ignorance, indifference and disregard, the rulership falls into the hands of injustice politicians. One after another, the bills and acts abhorred by You are passed and executed and cause the social morality bankrupting. Lord, please forgive us of not caring about the issues of our countries and feel indifferent regarding the suffering and sins in our society. Please forgive us of our avoiding our responsibility, not standing in the gap to intercede for our nation, to raise up voice of justice for Christ. Lord, please forgive us of not knowing Your heart and Your redemptive will toward this broken world; please forgive us of not taking responsibility as citizens to lead the world to walk on the godly way of the Lord by resisting the demonic forces and; prevent our society from corruption.

In the holy name of Lord Christ Jesus, we renounce all lies from the enemy. We break the prejudices on political issues off churches,no longer weak. We declare that we will wake up, obey God, not obey man, having a heart of power, of love and of soundness of minds. We will continually pay the price of intercession and prayer for our nations; And we will boldly stand out to vote at the elections, speak out against any ungodly acts and bills in a gentle and peaceful way. We will be salt and light of this world and live out the lifestyle of the kingdom of God and to be a powerful witness to give testimony for the truth, authority, grace and judgement of the Kingdom of Heaven.

In the name of Lord Jesus Christ, Amen!


Prayer for Churches 06

  • Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.  (Psalm 127:3-5 (NIV))
  • Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives be rescued from the fierce? But this is what the LORD says: “Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you, your children I will save.  (Isaiah 49:24-25 (NIV))

O LORD, children are rewards from You and blessings granted unto us by You like arrows in the hands of a warrior. We should teach our children to know the truth of Holy Bible; we should equip them with God’s word for them to stand firm and fight for the Truth of the Lord. However, half of the youth who grew up in churches and whose parents are Christians will never attend church meetings when they graduate from colleges and even some of them give up their faith in Christ.

O LORD, we are living in the times of greatly shifting from old era into new era. The enemy is launching fierce spiritual battles against our young people. O Lord, please forgive us of our overprotecting our children from thinking independently and hindering them from learning to make right decisions and to establish right relationships while they grew up. O Lord, please forgive us of more focusing their study performance than character cultivation.  We ever fail to help our children to know their true identity in faith. We restraint our kids with religious thoughts and events. The children see the inconsistent of the words of their parents or even church leaders with their deeds. Furthermore, our children are impacted by the public education system, internet culture and the massive media, thus our children become the lost generation.

O LORD, we humble ourselves to come before You to ask You to forgive all of our transgressions. We admit that it’s our ignorance, cowardice incompetence that cause our children are lack of firm foundation in their faith and immature in their minds. O Lord, I ask You to grand us second chance to stand in the gaps and unceasingly intercede for our children. Dear Holy Spirit, please teach us as parents how to establish proper spiritual relationships with our children and how to be their spirit mentors. We also ask You to raise up spiritual fathers and mothers in churches to help the young people in need. O Lord, may You grand churches and parents sincere and humble hearts, not ruling over them, not advoiding sensitive issues, instead we will tolerate the difference, convince our next generation with biblical truth. O Lord may You bless our elder generation to turn their belief into practice aligning what they do with what they say and accompany the next generation in their faith journey. Lord, we deeply believe that You are our victorious commander, the victory belongs to You, You will set our captive children free and save them. Lord, we strongly believe that You will restore spiritual destiny of our children in order for them to spread the Gospel of Grace with all their hearts and strengths.

In the name of Lord Jesus Christ,Amen!


Prayer for Churches 07

  • Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the Shadow of Your wings from the wicked who are out to destroy me, from my mortal enemies who surround me. (Psalm 17:8-9 (NIV))
  • “Because he loves Me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges My name; He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. (Psalm 91:14-15 (NIV))

O LORD, keep our pastors as the apple of Your eye; Hide them in the shadow of Your wings from all perilous situations. They shall not be ashamed in the trouble time. Hear their cry O God, preserve their lives from fear of the enemy. (Ref. Psalm 64:1). LORD, please remove all distractions such as business, compromise, unnecessary internet surfing, telephone call, meetings, chores, weariness, desires, TV programs and movies, etc. that keep them from praying. Break down the wall that separate them from You. LORD, I ask You to bless our pastors to seek You daily, pray with other pastors together and build up prayerful lives. LORD, I also ask You to bless our pastors to be sensitive to Your leading and guidance; Bless them with open hearts to be willing to obey You. LORD, draw them close to You and bless them to be renewed of their strengths while having quiet time with You. Bless them to receive the mighty power of Lord’s resurrection and Your specific instruction and teaching of the vision and direction of their individual ministries.

Lord Jesus, I ask You to take full charge of the ministries of our pastors, to bless them with Your anointing and power in their teachings. Bless their lives. Bless them to be not only preachers but also doers of thy words. Bless them to live out Christ-like lives and become role models before theirsheep. I also ask You to bless our pastors to be alert to sins and their behavioral morality can reflect thy holiness. I ask You to enable our pastors to stand firm on Your truth without compromise, to preach Your truth in love and truthfully influence the lives of people. LORD, I ask You to grant our pastors the gift of spiritual discernment, anointing of prayer, in order for them to lead the brethren to be armed with the full armor of God and stand in the gap to intercede for this generation in one heart, to build up a mighty army of the LORD resisting all evil schemes of the enemy and quenching all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

LORD, I ask You to bless our pastors to trust You whole-heartedly and acknowledge You in their ways; And You shall direct them to walk on Your way of everlasting life.

In the holy name of Lord Jesus Christ,Amen!


Prayer for Churches 08

  • Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”  (Psalm 91:1-2 (NIV))
  • Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.  (Hebrews 12:14, 28 (NIV))

Abba Father, I ask You to set up the firewall of protection surrounding the pastors. No weapons formed against them shall prosper. They will always dwell in the secret place of the Most High and abide under the shadow of the Almighty. In the process of turning visions into actions, they won’t become the prey of the “roaring lion”, they won’t be overwhelmed by the negative emotions such as frustration, discouragement and faint-heartedness, etc. Oh Lord, I ask You to make pastors bridges of peace over various congregations, to make them blessings for the unity of churches.

Oh Lord, I ask You to guard our pastors in holiness, to protect them even when they are weary and under pressure. I ask You to prepare for them supportive friends and caring co-workers to share their pressure and burdens. Abba Father, Your words say “when you draw nigh to God, God will draw nigh unto you.” Oh Lord, I ask You to attract our pastors to spend time with You and be close to You. Grant them longing hearts like King David who always desired of You. Bless them to always dwell in Your Holy of Holies to look upon Your beauty, to seek Your face. And they will love You with all their hearts, all their minds, all their wills, all their strengths and love people as themselves. Lord, let Your eyes are always upon our pastors and You will listen to them and answer their prayers; increase Your anointing upon our pastors and make them Your glorious witnesses.

Oh Lord, please bless our pastor to become a godly man/woman loving You, and he/she will continually walk on Your path of ministry. Bless our pastors to seek first the Kingdom of God and Your righteousness and receive Your joy because of doing so (ref. Matthew 6:33); Bless them to have clean hands and discernment to know if the offering they receive are from the reward of the Lord or not. Bless our pastors to be able to enjoy the richness of the Lord added no sorrow. My Father in Glory, I ask You to grant our pastors the spirit of wisdom and revelation in order for them to truly know You, to receive Your revelation, to build up the glorious church with the body of Christ together and to pave the way for Your coming back soon. (Ref. Revelation 19:7)

In the name of Lord Jesus Christ,Amen!