We join you in this deep burden for church leaders, for the preaching of the Word, for true Holy Spirit worship, and for the salvation of the lost who hear the Word, and we thank God for the hunger He has put in your heart to intercede in this way.
We agree that the calling of pastors and preachers is solemn and weighty. As it is written in 2 Timothy 4:1-5, we are charged to preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all patience and teaching. And as 1 Timothy 4:16 says, Pay attention to yourself and to your teaching. Continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. We pray for every pastor and leader to take heed to his own life first, to war against prayerlessness, to be a man of prayer and of the Word daily, to study diligently, to live a devotional life, and to preach with sound doctrine and with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. We pray they would be faithful in visiting families and individuals, in prayer meetings and in house to house ministry, not neglecting the work of shepherding with humility and faithfulness.
We join you in praying for the lost to hear and receive the Word in faith. For faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ in Romans 10:17, and no one can come unless the Father draws him as Jesus said in John 6:44. We ask the Father to reveal His Son to hearts, for flesh and blood does not reveal Him, but our Father in heaven does in Matthew 16:17. We pray that the Word would be received with meekness which can save souls as James 1:21 teaches, through the faithful testimony of friends, evangelists, tracts, and above all the preaching of the cross, for we are crucified with Christ and Christ lives in us in Galatians 2:20. We pray for true worship in spirit and truth as in John 4:24, and for the Holy Spirit who will teach us all things and bring to remembrance what Jesus has said in John 14:26 and guide us into all truth in John 16:13 and open our minds to understand the Scriptures in Luke 24:45.
We lift up families and households, that they would be drawn to assemble together and not forsaking our own assembling together as in Hebrews 10:25, but continuing steadfastly as the early church did in Acts 2:42. We pray for a renewed hunger for the pure milk of the Word that we may grow thereby in 1 Peter 2:2, and for the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him in Ephesians 1:17. We pray against distraction and deception and the love of the world that chokes the Word, that hearts would be kept from the deceitfulness of sin, from false teachers having a form of godliness but denying its power in 2 Timothy 3:5, from deceivers who grow worse and worse in 2 Timothy 3:13, and from the lies of the evil one who deceives the whole world in Revelation 12:9.
We also bring before the Lord your prayer for safety across the globe and for warnings of attacks, just as Elisha warned Israel of Syria's planned operations in 2 Kings 6:8-12. We ask for the protection promised in Psalm 91:11-12 that He will put His angels in charge of you to guard you in all your ways, and that He would deliver us from the evil one and keep us from evil as Jesus prayed in John 17:15 and as promised in 2 Thessalonians 3:3 that the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. We pray for freedom to worship openly and for the manifest presence of God to bring faith, repentance, forgiveness of sins and newness of life, for where there is no vision the people cast off restraint in Proverbs 29:18, but where the Holy Spirit moves there is light and life. We remember that God is our ever present help as in Psalm 46:1 and that He is near to all who call upon Him in Deuteronomy 4:7, and He says Fear not, for I am with you in Isaiah 41:10.
We are thankful you have prayed in the name of Jesus, for there is no other name by which we can be saved and no other way to the Father except through Him in John 14:6, and we have confidence that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us in 1 John 5:14-15.
So together we pray, Father, we thank You for Your Word and for the message of Your Anointed One crucified for our sins. Grant to pastors and preachers grace to seek You with all their heart, to pray, to study, to intercede for the congregation, to preach the truth without compromise, and to live holy lives. Pour out Your Holy Spirit upon every gathering, whether in a church building or a house, that there would be true worship, real Bible teaching and preaching, and that the lost would be sought and saved as Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost in Luke 19:10. You desire that all people would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth in 1 Timothy 2:4 and that none should perish but all should come to repentance in 2 Peter 3:9. Draw family members, households, visitors and members, and save entire households as You promised in Acts 16:31. Give faith to pray and to receive according to Mark 11:24, and let Your Word run and be glorified while You deliver Your people from evil men in 2 Thessalonians 3:2. Keep Your people from temptation in Luke 11:4, from deception in Matthew 24:4, from the corruption of the world, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil in Matthew 6:13. Let Your peace which surpasses all understanding guard our hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus in Philippians 4:6-7. We ask all this in the mighty and saving name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.