247 Watch Prayer (28.04.2024-04.05.2024)
Dear Heavenly Father: Your child _____ (own name), by the blood of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, come to Your throne of grace, to receive You abundant grace and mercy. Lord Jesus, _____ (own name) acknowledge that You are the Lord of my life. I pray for the life-resurrection power of the Holy Spirit to saturate every part of my life. My soul body is completely surrendered to You. Now, I ask You to enlighten me and reveal to me of all my known or hidden sins, so that I may confess and repent before You. (Suggestion: Be quiet and let the Holy Spirit illuminate you)
I pray for the blood of the Lord Jesus to cleanse me again from all the filth from the world and cleanse me and my family from any unrighteousness. I also use my will to choose to forgive everyone who has sinned against and hurt me, releasing them into the freedom of my forgiveness and stop chasing the debts they owe me. I also unload all the burdens of my life to You, thank you for carrying my burdens every day. The burden You have given me is light, and the yoke is easy. I now also put on the full armour of God, the girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, the sword of the Holy Spirit, the shoes of the gospel of peace, so that I may trust in the power of Your might, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and I may be able to stand my ground, and after I have done everything, to stand. I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ! Amen!
(1) Prayer matters for the country
1. In order to enter destiny──gratitude and self-purification
(1) Give thanks:
You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst. For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen. (Nehemiah 9:20-21)
Give thanks to the Lord for His abundant grace and love. He has made rivers in the desert and a way in the wilderness. Just as He nurtured the Israelites back then, so He leads us today through the valley of the shadow of death. He loves us deeply and never gives up on us!
(2) Self-purification and repentance:
“But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in your sight. Then you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies so that they ruled over them. And when they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion you delivered them time after time.
“You warned them in order to turn them back to your law, but they became arrogant and disobeyed your commands. They sinned against your ordinances, of which you said, ‘The person who obeys them will live by them.’ Stubbornly they turned their backs on you, became stiff-necked and refused to listen. (Nehemiah 9:28-29)
Pray for the Lord to forgive us for our sins of disobedience and stubbornness. Whenever things are going smoothly for us, we tend to become proud and arrogant, forgetting God’s grace, and are unwilling to obey God’s teachings. Pray for the Holy Spirit to enlighten us, show us our arrogance, help us wash away the filth in our hearts, and truly be humble and obedient to God.
2. For kings and those in authority:
The God of Israel spoke,
the Rock of Israel said to me:
‘When one rules over people in righteousness,
when he rules in the fear of God,
he is like the light of morning at sunrise
on a cloudless morning,
like the brightness after rain
that brings grass from the earth.’ (2 Samuel 23:3-4)
New Zealand’s 48 public departments have planned to lay off more than 3,000 staff to reduce government spending.
Pray that the Lord will protect such measures and effectively help the government improve its financial health and improve its ability to execute official duties. Pray that the Lord will bless civil servants who have lost their jobs, that they can find new jobs as soon as possible and get through this crisis safely.
(2) Intercede for all the peoples of this land:
“When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance. (1 Kings 8:35-36)
Due to the economic recession and rising unemployment, incidence of crime in New Zealand have increased significantly.
Pray for the Lord to take away the anger in people’s hearts and have mercy on the people who are in trouble, so that they can seek the Lord in times of crisis, trust the Lord, and live a new life transformed by the Lord.
(3) Pray for the church
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)
May the Holy Spirit do good work in all churches and give them a united heart so that all churches can become one body and manifest the Lord’s resurrected life. May the Lord’s love fill every church, open up to accept all imperfect people to come to Christ to be saved by grace.
(4) Pray for Israel and all nations
1. For Israel
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)
Place the peace of Israel in the hands of the Lord, and ask the Lord to rule over this land with great power. Pray to the Lord to stop the evil plan of the enemy Satan to devour people’s lives through war. May our cry be heard by the Lord, may the war stop and let the people be saved from the threat of war.
2. Pray for the earthquake in Taiwan
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.” (Isaiah 12:2)
Hualien, Taiwan has experienced multiple aftershocks in recent days, causing an increased risk of damage to buildings and public facilities. Pray for the Lord to help the local government organise effective and orderly rescue work to protect people’s lives and property. Pray that the gospel of the Lord’s salvation will be spread widely during the disaster and become the reliance and hope of everyone.