A shift in prayer direction
From Australia a call has come for believers worldwide to fast and pray for America from April 30th through May 6th.
Because of that, I want to recycle several blog entries I wrote last year. At that time, God prompted me to shift my focus as I prayed for the nation. In short, I believe God showed me these four things for which to pray:
- Pray for people to know what to do.
- Pray for people to receive wisdom along with their knowledge.
- Pray for those people to receive the boldness to step out in what they know to do.
- Pray for those people to be filled with boldness to carry out their tasks to completion.
Written last year (second in series):
When I wrote my book First of All, Pray: Prescription for a Nation in Crisis, I had been engaged in praying for the United States for over twenty years, often about elections, the president, and national security. During those two decades, I experienced some vivid dreams in which I interacted with each of three presidents—our current one and the last two. The dreams were all instructive as far as praying for each particular man and from those dreams, I got glimpses into each man’s thinking, motives, and behaviors at the time. Along with that, I gained some understanding of the spiritual obstacles surrounding the office which affected the ability of each Chief Executive to make sound decisions.
In February of 2008, I had been praying every week with a friend over the phone for the presidential election in November of that year. We had been praying together on this topic since the beginning of that year, and on the second Saturday of February, the Lord gave clear direction concerning how to pray for one of the candidates. I shared it with my prayer partner, and she agreed. However, the Lord neglected that evening to indicate to me which candidate to whom He was referring; at that point in time, three viable candidates were still running—one Republican and two Democrats. Of the three, one of them I was not fond of; one of them I didn’t trust at all; and the third I really knew nothing about, so I had no feelings one way or the other about that person.
All that next week, I prayed over the instruction God had given me. Then, when unbecoming information came out about one candidate in the middle of the week (the one of whom I was not fond), I asked the Lord, “Is this the candidate You were talking about?” Crickets. Nothing…except a sense of the Lord rolling His eyes at me. I deduced from this that the candidate of whom I was not fond was not the one the Lord had indicated.
Before I prayed with my prayer partner the next week, I realized that the Lord was referring to the candidate about whom I had no opinion. My friend confirmed that she sensed the same thing, so with that, we prayed according to instructions about the little-known candidate throughout the rest of 2008 until the election and even up to the inauguration. (Suffice it to say that ever since the second week of February, 2008, I had prayed according to Mark 4:22 and Luke 12:2.) That candidate became president; but although the outcome did not turn out as we had hoped, the directive still stood and continued to influence my prayer for the President as he took on the duties of office.
Early in April last year the Lord dropped a “shift” into my heart concerning the way I was to pray for America. He showed me that quite a bit of the original prayer direction He had given had taken place. More would unfold as well, but now was the time to shift focus when I prayed for the nation.
Now my assignment was to simply pray for people to know what to do with the insight and revelation He was giving. The Lord wants to prepare men and women for appropriate action, and He intends for all of that action to be covered by prayer—preferably before the actions take place so His will can be more perfectly accomplished.
Simple enough, right? Well, we are in the age of which Daniel prophesied—the age in which knowledge has increased and is continuing to expand exponentially (see Daniel 12:4). Therefore, although the charge to pray for humans to know what to do is easy enough, the Lord desires that His people not only pray big general prayers along this line, but He also wants us to be able to key in on specific groups and individuals by the Holy Spirit, according to the need, according to the moment, according to His will, and according to His prompting. And there are so many key individuals and groups in so many areas and walks of life, and the time is so critical that I believe the Lord wants all hands on deck, each one ready to pray whenever the Spirit of God drops His leading into their heart.
And I believe with all my heart that this shift in focus from God is not merely a have-to directive; it’s also a get-to directive. You and I get to participate with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit in these outlandishly amazing times.
More tomorrow,
Dorothy
…for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:13
Read MorePraying for the US
A call has gone out for believers worldwide to pray and fast for America. Those who have called for the fast have set apart April 30 this week through May 6. And the most fascinating thing about the call is this: it comes from Australia. Wise men and women across the globe realize that if the US fails in its unique global leadership role, the rest of the world will likely fall as well.
A year ago, in early April, I was minding my own business, just enjoying fellowship with the Lord, when He spoke something very clearly to my heart.
I posted what He showed me in a series last year, and I think it’s a good time to rerun it in preparation for the fast and during the time of prayer.
Before I do, however, I want to address an obstacle most of us face, not only when we reach out to the hurting people we meet every day, but also in living our day to day lives freely and unfiltered as generations of Americans have before us. This obstacle is the climate of “political correctness” in which we live. Another name for it would be “the fear of man.” It is that intense pressure that compels you to conform to the status quo, to not rock the boat, to avoid making anyone uncomfortable at all costs—especially if you long to inject Jesus or His Word into the conversation. The J.B. Phillips paraphrase of the New Testament describes this pressure from our “culture of correctness” as “the world around you squeezing you into its own mould” (see Romans 12:2, JBP). And, as the Apostle Paul urged, “Don’t let the world do that” (ibid).
The majority of believers are considerate and respectful to those around them; but due to our current climate, so many of us have become extremely cautious about what we say when it comes to our love for Jesus, morals, or biblical truth because we have been trained—steeped—in the consciousness of the new “right and wrong” in today’s culture. My witness might be “marred” if someone thought I had anything but acceptance toward societal standards and current trends, we may worry. Heaven forbid that someone would think I’m intolerant!
So here we are, in an age in which the power and wisdom of God are so desperately needed but are so defiantly “barricaded” or squelched. And since it is to this generation that we have been sent, we have a job to do—to boldly minister the power, wisdom, salt, and light of the gospel to all of them and to address the forces that seek to prevent this from happening.
All of us are called to be ministers of reconciliation (see 2 Corinthians 5:18), and all of us are called to stand firm against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (see Ephesians 6:12), praying for all men, for kings and all who are in authority (see 1 Timothy 2:1-2). Without prayer for all men, kings, and all who are in authority in conjunction with standing firm against all the strategies of the enemy, the ministry of winning men and women to God through Jesus Christ gets squeezed into a bland worldly mould, becoming a mere shadow of its original power.
I believe this is why God is leading so many of you to cry out to Him on behalf of the United States now. This nation has been wonderfully instrumental in sending out hope, help, and the gospel to people all around the globe throughout her history, and Satan hasn’t liked it one bit. Therefore, the enemy has planted a big bull’s eye on America as he strategizes how to squeeze this nation economically, culturally, politically, educationally, and militarily. His goal is to silence her spiritually, morally, and ethically, in order to render any ministry of reconciliation—whether a large operation or small—weak, fearful, tepid, ineffective, and eventually extinct.
And so, I asked God last year if I could share the prayer directive He gave me then, and I received the go-ahead. His instruction is simple and allows you the lee-way to proceed as you feel led. This is not a “V-line of geese” type of prayer where one leads and everyone else follows; such prayer has its place, but our current situation in this nation requires all hands on deck and around-the-clock readiness, each one alert to pray about whatever drops into his or her heart at any given moment. (It’s that critical—a small blip on your “radar” prompting you to pray as you go through your daily routine may change the course of history: it may thwart a massive attack; it may save millions of lives; it may correct a huge error of judgment on the part of national or world leaders in the nick of time.) Your prayer can be private, quiet, short and sweet; it can be corporate, impassioned, and of long duration. Whatever, God wants to use all of us to affect the United States of America in prayer, and He’s ready for us to pray those prayers on her behalf.
If God has an assignment for you and me in prayer for this nation, then doesn’t that signify that He wants to answer that prayer as well? It is my hope that you will be encouraged to pray bold prayers for the United States of America. I believe that He is not through with us yet. Obviously, the Australians don’t think He is. 🙂
Stay tuned,
Dorothy
“For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 29:11-14a
Read MoreA prayer for American leadership
I recently found this prayer I wrote four or five years ago. It’s even more timely now than it was when I first prayed it.
Father,
In Jesus’ name I lift up my government’s leadership. Lord, it is Your will that we, the people of the United States of America, have shepherds—president, senators, representatives, governors, and all other elected and appointed officials—who serve according to Your will. I believe that even as those who are teachers will be judged by a higher standard and with greater severity [than others] (see James 3:1, Amplified Bible), those who lead cities, states, and nations will receive a stricter judgment and condemnation from You as well.
Therefore, Father, in Jesus’ name, I request that You pour out and surround the president, his staff, cabinet, and advisors with a profound and ever-increasing sense of accountability for decisions already made, for decisions being formed now, and for decisions yet to be conceived. I ask that the conviction of the Holy Ghost would overshadow the entire White House staff from the top down and the bottom up, gripping each one with an overwhelming sense of right and wrong, good and evil, so that every individual involved in decisions—past, present, or future—will be sobered and held accountable for each act, motive, choice, decision, direction, and initiative that does not please You or align with Your will. I pray that rest, satisfaction, pleasure, and enjoyment will escape them until they repent and make the changes necessary to conform to Your will.
Father, likewise, I ask that You move in the same way in the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Supreme Court, all governors, and in each state and city government. Pour out the strong conviction of Your Spirit upon every man and woman in leadership as they seek to implement their agendas. I ask that You shake those who are in violation of Your will and confront them by Your Spirit, gripping them with the reality of the sinister outcome of their decisions. May such profound conviction of sin be upon and within them that they cannot turn in any direction without being confronted by the evil implications of their decisions. Father, may they find no pleasure, satisfaction, or enjoyment in their favorite escape mechanisms until they yield to the holy pressure upon them to make adjustments, changes, revisions—and if necessary—to repeal past decisions and laws to which You are opposed.
Visit all these men and women in leadership, Father, in an abiding way—despite their present relationship with You or lack thereof—so that the consistent pressure and light of Your presence would be tangible upon them and around them at all times. Visit them with dreams and visions—custom-made for each one—to correct, direct, shake, shape, or tear down, to mend, repair, build up, or rebuild according to Your wisdom and purpose for each one in his or her position.
May no dark place be left unvisited or unaffected by Your convicting presence, Father—in the White House, the Capitol, in state capitols, and in city governments, both large and small.
May all men and women at the helm of leadership at all levels in this nation be held more accountable than they’ve ever been for their actions, decisions, and words—and may Your divine intentions and purposes take hold once again in this nation’s governance at all levels. May massive shaking, rearranging, and reshaping be accomplished throughout this nation according to Your purposes at all levels of government to bring about Your will and the original intent of this nation’s founders. May those who persist in defiance to that purpose be removed and replaced by men and women who love this nation and long to serve wisely with a humble heart.
Father, may the gripping conviction of truth so shake and increase than no one, whether leader or citizen, will be left unconvicted, unmoved, or undealt with. Bring all men, women, boys, and girls to the clear, face-to-face, wide-awake knowledge of Jesus Christ and His powerful and complete sacrificial redemption for each one, and may they come to know and embrace Him as their personal Savior, Deliverer, and Lover of their soul.
Bring forth the shaking and awakening, God, at all levels of this nation, and penetrate into every dark region and corner with Your unfailing presence and grace.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
Tomorrow: Beginning a walk through the Book of James
Read MoreWhy I pray for America
I have been fortunate in my life to be surrounded by believers who take the call to pray very seriously. When I got saved in college, my first church was a Tuesday/Thursday night dorm Bible study led by young Christians who had a deep relationship with Jesus. These firebrands freely and openly spilled out their hearts in prayer and worship to God every time we gathered together.
The church I attended as a young career woman was birthed in prayer, and they even held regular 10 pm to 3 am prayer meetings on Friday nights for a while. Those meetings added fuel to the fire that burned within me and nothing less than seeking God fully satisfied me.
After I left that church, I attended another church while I sought God for direction. I even traveled to the Soviet Union with 6 other folks from that church to preach and win souls. What a time we had, praying in Red Square by the direction of the Holy Spirit the words of Psalm 2, “Why are the nations in an uproar? Why do the peoples devise a vain thing?” Little did we know when we flew out of Moscow on Saturday to return to the US, that on Monday morning tanks would roll into Red Square and the Soviet Union would quickly become the former Soviet Union, within days. Indeed, the nations were in an uproar, and we were in on the secret before it hit the press.
Then God planted me in my current church, one which was also birthed in prayer. The leadership and people surrounding me in this church value prayer, pray readily and regularly, and have amazing testimonies bearing witness to the fruitfulness of prayer.
Therefore, as I look at my nation, I must pray. It’s in my DNA; it is built into the very fabric of my relationship with God. When I see obstacles in my nation, I am challenged by my rich heritage to stand my ground and trust God. I feel I owe it to the Founders who pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to guard, nurture, protect, and defend the fledgling nation. I owe it to Charles Finney, D. L. Moody, William J. Seymour, Billy Sunday, Aimee Semple McPherson, and all the rest, both known and unknown, who took advantage of their American liberty to pour out their lives for the cause of Christ. I owe it to my dad, who although he never claimed to know God intimately, was willing as a young man to risk his life in the service of a country which guaranteed that his daughter, yet to be born, would bear the sacred right to lead her own life, speak openly, and worship God freely without fear.
I must pray. I must pray the Word of God over my nation. I must seek her deliverance when evil threatens her. I must stand my ground even if it takes the rest of my life. I can do no less, so help me God.
Dorothy
Read MorePraying for America on her birthday
A decade or so ago, I started a personal tradition—every 4th of July I put aside some time to pray for America.
Each year is different. Some years I pray about issues. Other years I pray for various government leaders. One year, I was joined by a group of ladies and we interceded primarily for the American church.
With so many different national concerns clamoring for attention, you may wonder where to begin. A good place to start is to just ask God. I’ve noticed that as I spend time thanking, praising, or worshiping Him, a direction typically bubbles up from my spirit, and I pray over that however I sense the Lord is leading.
On the morning of July 4th, 2009, something a little different happened. I began like I usually do by praising God and seeking Him about how He wanted me to pray; I expected to pray for the president or one of the many issues facing the country.
Instead, I couldn’t get the Scripture I had read earlier that morning out of my mind. It was Luke 2:41-51, about Jesus’ adventure in Jerusalem when He was twelve. Verse 43 haunted me. “…the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. But His parents were unaware of it.” I noticed a sense of panic gripping me—evidently I was relating on a very deep level to what Mary and Joseph must have felt when it dawned on them that their Son had been missing for an entire day.
I reread verses 44-46. “[They] went a day’s journey; and they began looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances. When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for Him. Then, after three days they found Him...” I was fixated upon the horror of discovering that your child was missing and not knowing whether he was alive or dead. Since I could not shake the sense of heaviness, I yielded to it as I began praying for the children and teens of the nation.
July 4th was on a Saturday that year. I found myself praying for every one of the nation’s children to be safe in their activities for the entire holiday weekend. I prayed against two main scenarios—little ones getting separated from their parents and teens losing their friends in a crowd. I also prayed in the name of Jesus against abduction attempts of all sorts—that they would be thwarted and for adults in charge of kids to be on high alert.
When I realized that I had prayed along this line for most of the morning, I honestly felt disappointed. I had wanted to pray for the nation, not kids, but I ran out of time and needed to leave for a barbeque. In my spirit, however, I sensed God correcting me: “You did pray for the nation.”
Monday evening, July 6th, I was in the kitchen making dinner as one of the local TV newscasts started. I could hear the teasers opening the broadcast from the set in the living room. “Tonight we will take you to a local church where an alert volunteer stopped a child abduction Sunday morning.” I dropped what I was doing and raced to the living room, waiting for the opening story. And this is what I learned:
A 10-year old girl was attending children’s church Sunday morning at the church I used to attend. A registered sex offender—a pedophile—had been skulking outside her classroom, unobserved. He caught her attention and motioned for her to step outside. When she walked into the hall to see what he wanted, he put his arm around her and started escorting her out of the building. However, just in time an alert volunteer noticed what was going on, and he abruptly demanded the man to stop. The girl was led to safety by another volunteer and the would-be abductor was arrested.
I sat in awe, taking it all in, and wept as I recalled my intense time of prayer two days earlier on the 4th, interceding against child abductions that holiday weekend. And I thought about how disappointed I had been with the prayer direction God had given me that morning—and how grateful I was that I had obeyed His prompting.
God’s desire is for every one of us to yield to His leading—however He prompts—resulting in prayers that hit the target. As more and more of us make ourselves available for Him to lead us as we pray, more and more bull’s eyes will be hit.
How can America be saved? First of all, PRAY—and that by the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Have a happy and safe Fourth of July!
Dorothy
Read MoreA message from Anne Graham-Lotz
I am posting this message from Billy Graham’s daughter. I received a copy of it on June 23rd, and I believe that it is an important one involving prayer for the nation for the first seven days of July 2014. Here is the email I received:
URGENT PRAYER REQUEST FROM ANNE GRAHAM-LOTZ:
Blow the trumpet…sound the alarm…for the day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand– Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God… Joel 2:1, 13
As you may know, my husband is in declining health. I am no longer traveling and speaking as much as I have for the last 26 years since I am staying home to care for him. As a result, I have had time to be quiet and listen more to the whispers of the Spirit. He has revealed things to me in the stillness that I’m not sure I would have heard in my former busyness.
One of the things He has impressed on me is that we are living at the end of human history as we know it. In light of this, He has given me some practical assignments. One was to be the Honorary Chair for the National Day of Prayer 2014 this past May. He gave me the message I was to deliver, which was from Joel 1…the Day of the Lord is at hand. It was a message warning that judgment is coming.
Just recently, He has given me another assignment, which is to call His people in our nation to prayer. This assignment came indirectly from a Syrian pastor through a National Day of Prayer attendee. In obedience, I am blowing the trumpet…sounding the alarm…issuing a national prayer initiative entitled
7 7 7: An Urgent Call to Prayer.
The Call is for God’s people to pray for each of the first seven days in the seventh month-July 1-7. Then on the 7th day, July 7, we are to pray and fast for 7 hours. The purpose is…
-For God the Father to restrain, protect, and deliver His people from the evil that has come into our world.
-For God the Son to be exalted, magnified, and glorified in His church, in our nation, and in our lives.
-For God the Holy Spirit to fall on us in a fresh way, compelling the church to repent of sin and our nation to return to faith in the living God, resulting in a great national spiritual awakening.
I intend to join in and pray with Mrs. Lotz and others around the nation. Hope you will be able to as well!
Dorothy
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