April 7 (6pm) to April 8 (7pm), 2020 – 25 hours
“At times I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or command grasshoppers to devour your crops, or send plagues among you. Then if my people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:13-14 (NLT)
Sadly, we have grown desensitized to the above passage. In recent days it has been used again and again as themes for conferences, sermons and events. But it is exactly what we need now, at such a time as this. Verse 13, which provides the context, is often neglected when we quote 1 Chronicles 7:14, which says that when God sends plagues… Yikes, so whether we say God sent this Coronavirus plague or not, He is still sovereign and He is able to use it for His purposes. He can and does use such moments as this as a warning or wake up call, or even as a judgement. Many believe that we are at a crossroads. What “we” do next matters. By we, I mean His people, who are called by His name. If we respond, we can turn this around. In fact, we are truly the only ones who can turn it around. If we don’t engage, if we don’t rise up as His holy priesthood, who else can come into His presence on behalf of our city, nation and world? If we don’t respond in prayer, the outcome is bleak! As His child, throw yourself down at His feet and cry out for mercy!
Please use this prayer guide as a launch pad to go wherever the Holy Spirit would have you pray. I understand that there is more prayer fuel here than you could possibly burn in an hour, so invite the Holy Spirit to speak to you and through you, to partner with you and to lead you during this season of Pre-Passover prayer. Whether you are praying for 15 minutes or without ceasing over this 25-hour period, allow the Spirit to reveal things in you and even re-align your heart with His purposes for this generation. We are not simply praying for “them” but for us as His people. And that starts with you, personally!
From Tuesday at 6pm through till Wednesday at 6pm join us in prayer and fasting for God to intervene. Then during our 25th hour, join us in proclaiming that we have been heard and that God is about to move.
As you pray your way through this guide, don’t get stuck or distracted. Probably the main section to focus on is repentance. All the rest builds on that.
Acknowledge God
Take some time to focus your attention on Him. He says to you: In the midst of all this coronavirus stuff, choose to be still and know I am God. Proclaim He is your God and that you completely put your trust in Him and in Him alone! Acknowledge that He is sovereign, that He is holy, that He is good, that He is wise, that He is faithful… Fix your eyes on Him as you begin this prayer quest. Choose to have a holy fear of Him instead of the coronavirus or the loss of income, or whatever else may plague you.
Scriptures: Psalm 46:10 & 111:10, Proverbs 3:5-6, 8:13, 14:27 & 19:23, Haggai 1:12, Luke 12:4-5, 1 Corinthians 4:16-18
My people
Take some time to thank Him that you are not alone. You are a part of the family of God. You are a part of a people who can enter into His presence and make bold requests. Though He is the King of Kings, Ruler of everything, you can enter in through the blood of Jesus as a redeemed child of God. Thank Him for this truth! Thank Him for adopting you into His family, not because of what you did or would do, but because of His great grace. Thank Him for your brothers and sisters in Christ. Thank Him for your church, and for the church in our city. Speak this out loud. Today as you pray, your voice is one of many who are crying out to the One on the Throne of Grace. Praise Him for allowing you to be a part of this historic moment!
Scriptures: Ephesians 3:12, 1 John 5:14
Humble yourself
Take some time to contemplate and confess pride in your own life. We are told that God opposes pride, He hates it. Pride repulses Him, it repels Him. Pride says
“I don’t need you.” Pride says “I can figure this out on my own.” Pride is at the heart of rebellion. And God says rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft! Tell God how desperate you are for Him, not just for His rescue, but for His presence. Proclaim your absolute trust in Him over your own understanding of things. Admit to God that you can do nothing without Him. Confess your sins, both known and hidden. Tell God you will obey Him no matter what He says or where He leads.
Scriptures: 1 Samuel 15:23, Psalm 51:17, James 4:6&10, John 15:5
Pray
Take some time to pray about the things that are resonating in your heart right now. While you’re at it, ask God to meet every person who is fasting and praying during these 25 hours; to lead them, to bless them, to hear and respond to them! Ask God to stir up a powerful nonstop prayer movement in Athens, to awaken prayer in every church in our city. Ask God to release a new level of intercession in you and across Athens. Now begin crying out for God to move and change these issues. This may be a little more intense than you usually pray, but please do not be afraid to fight in this battle. Come in the authority and power of the Name of Jesus Christ.
Let the Holy Spirit stir, unpack and lead you through the following bullet points.
- Ask God to break curses and release blessings over our city and nation
- Demolish strongholds, arguments, lies, deception, which includes the leftist agenda.
- Expose rebellion and witchcraft!
- Expose fake news, fake journalists, fake narrative, and fake history.
- For pastors to lead without fear of men.
- For there to be a realignment to God’s ways, will and purposes, starting in your church, the churches in our city and across our nation.
- For God to expose false unity. Are we keeping peace with compromise or are we making peace with speaking the truth in love? Ask God to lead us to true unity that is raw, authentic and life giving.
Now pray the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God over your house, your neighborhoods house, and all the way to the White House.
- Instead of criticizing, complaining about or cursing President Trump, pray for him!
- Pray for Trump, Pence and those around them to be filled with heavenly wisdom that confounds the wisdom of the world.
- Pray that the accusers be silenced and exposed for what they are.
- Pray for discernment regarding the voices they should listen to.
- Pray for Trump to completely and radically surrender to Christ.
Now pray for God to stop this plague called the Coronavirus.
- Ask God to bind up the spirits that are operating to cause destruction and chaos in our world, and are driving this pandemic and wave of fear across the globe.
- Ask God to turn this evil into good, for His kingdom, for His glory.
- Ask Him to set the stage for what’s to come and that His church would be prepared for it!
- Pray that the captives would be released and the Egyptians would be plundered.
Now please pray for those on the front line dealing with the Coronavirus and are being directly impacted by this crisis
- Ask God to protect, sustain and heal every health care worker, police officer, EMT, and essential service provider.
- Ask God to provide for those who have lost their businesses, their jobs and their hope.
- Ask God to bring hope to the hopeless, and peace to the anxious/fearful. Ask Him to bring comfort to those who have lost family or friends because of this crisis.
Now pray for the Church to rise up.
- Pray that the Church would have eyes to see the big thing that God is doing not just the crisis.
- Pray for your pastor, and the pastors in our city.
- Pray for your church’s alignment, and that every and anything that is not of God would be exposed and removed!
- Pray for revival of both God’s power and His truth! Ask for miracles to accompany the preaching of the word of God!
- Pray for boldness to be released among Christ followers.
- Pray for intercessors to mature and rise into a new level of ministry.
- Pray for prayer to become a top priority of your church.
- Pray for new models of disciple making.
- Pray for new strategies and models on how to do church, post-pandemic.
- Pray for awakening and transformation of the spiritual fiber of our city and nation.
- Ask God to raise up a generation under the Billy Graham mantle.
- Ask God to prepare His people for the persecution that is coming. That we would come out from the ways of the world and look, live and behave differently. That the church would become radiant and look like Jesus!
Keep praying as the Lord leads you!!!
Scriptures: Exodus 12:36, Habakkuk 3:2, Matthew 7:7-8, 2 Corinthians 10:3-6, Philippians 4:5-6, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Revelation 12:11
Seek God’s face
Take a few moments right now and seek God’s face. In times like this, when the world seems to be crashing in, it is easy to seek God’s hand to rescue. But what God is saying, “Seek My face!” He says that if we seek Him with our whole heart He will be found. God has provided you a season of separation from normal social activities to seek Him. Please don’t waste it worrying or filling your time with the world (i.e. Netflix), or with fake news.
Tell God that you’re sorry for seeking His hand more than His face. Ask God to stir within you a passionate desire for Him. Ask Him to do the same across our city and nation. Ask Him to raise up a people who will seek His face and follow Him wherever He leads. His greatest desire for you and His people is to love Him with all our hearts, minds, soul and strength.
Scripture: Jeremiah 29:13, Matthew 6:33-34, 22:35-40, Hebrews 11:6
Repent
Now, please allow the Lord to lead you through this time of “bone deep” repentance. Many people have a problem with Identificational Repentance – that is repenting for things we personally did not do, though we are guilty by association, or by relationship. Daniel prayed “forgive us for we have sinned.” It is very unlikely that Daniel had sinned this way, but he personally associated himself with the sins of his people. As you take these moments to repent, understand it is both personal and corporate. I believe this is the most important part of our fasting and praying today. Our nation has turned its back on God, and if there is not a repentance, starting in the Church, that is a turning back to Him, we are heading down a slippery slope. Your repentance releases God’s grace to work in these areas.
- That the Church has been embarrassed to live wholeheartedly for God, that we have allowed the ways of the world to slip into the way we do Church.
- For losing our first love of Jesus.
- For not honoring the whole word of God.
- For allowing the religious spirit and its religious system to intimidate us and keep us under the law, instead of being free to operate in the Spirit and grace.
- For fearing men more than we fear God. We are afraid to speak the truth because we might offend people or lose “donors” or our “tax exempt” status.
- Though we are probably the most blessed nation on the planet, we are also the most ungrateful. We have raised a generation who feel entitled, rebel against authority, who hate America, who are deceived by the lies of media and education.
- That we have tolerated abortion. We have been silent and have allowed our nation to murder millions of innocent lives. That blood is on our hands! We have allowed the sacrifice of Moloch to continue.
- For confusion of gender, and our silence over it!
- For confusion over marriage between men and women.
- For pornography and its grip even in the church!
- For prostitution and child sex trafficking.
- For speaking evil of our leaders. When we criticize and complain against our leaders, whether spiritual or governmental, we are actually standing with the accuser of the brothers!
Keep repenting as the Lord brings topics and issues to your heart!
Scriptures: Numbers 16:41-50, Daniel 9:4-19, 2 Timothy 3:1-5, Revelation 2:4-5, 12:10
The 25th Hour
God said that if we, His people, would do this…, He’d hear, forgive and heal our land! In this last hour we are going to celebrate that He has heard us, He has forgiven us and He is healing our land!!!
“Thank You, Heavenly Father, for doing exceedingly abundant beyond what we could ever ask or imagine!!!”
Just because we may not see the answer in the physical right this second, it is here! Daniel prayed and though the answer was released when he first asked, it did not arrive until 21 days later. We have sown into the Spirit and now we will reap a spiritual harvest. Jesus cursed a fig tree and on the surface nothing appeared to happen, but the next morning it was withered up, from the roots outward. God applied the poison to the sinful roots in the church and our nation. Over the weeks to come, we will see the answers.
During this hour turn up the worship. Go out on your front porch or back deck and shout victory is the Lord’s! Anoint the door posts of your home with oil. And proclaim the blood of Jesus over your house.
Play this beautifully, powerful song loudly. Open the doors and let the sound out into your neighborhood. The Blessing with Kari Jobe & Cody Carnes – Live from Elevation… https://youtu.be/Zp6aygmvzM4
Other Songs: The Blessing (Elevation), Do It Again (Elevation), Goodness of God (Bethel), Never Lost (Bethel), See the Victory (Elevation), Way Maker (Leeland), Another in the Fire (Hillsong United), Raise a Hallelujah (Bethel), Good Grace (Hillsong United)
Looking forward
Once the Israelites came out the Egypt, God needed to get Egypt out of His people. Over the coming weeks and months, God is calling us to climb the holy hill into a deeper relationship with Him. Business won’t be as usual for a while. In the meantime, keep asking God to take us into a whole new level of holiness and humility. Ask God to inspire a new model of church. Ask Him for bolder preaching of the whole word of God. Ask Him for pastors and leaders to fear God more than men. The next several months will be a challenge, as we emerge into a new world. Please do not step back into old fleshly ways. Ask the Lord to establish a new, healthy and holy rhythm in your life! Ask Him for courage to live passionately and wholeheartedly after Jesus, no matter what it costs you. Invite God to get the world out of you!
Like Daniel, keep praying until the answer that He has released arrives. Thanks for joining us in praying!!!
May God bless you and your home this Passover!
Scriptures: Daniel 10:12-13, Psalm 24:3-6, 27:4, 139:23-24
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