This is from my June newsletter. If you have trouble seeing it, go to my web site and click on 'recent newsletter' on the home page.
July 4th Prayer Time
By Lowell Snow – www.leadingprayer.com
Celebrate our nation's declaration of independence by declaring our dependence on God.
Guiding the prayer time:
- As you lead the prayer time - [Don’t read the instructions in brackets out loud]
- As printed, the prayer time takes a little over nine minutes. One minute can be saved by removing the visualization.
- Click here for suggestions on making the prayer time more effective.
[Introduction]
“As followers of Christ we’ve come together today to worship God.
“As Americans, on this fourth day of July, we celebrate our declaration of independence as a nation. Sadly, America seems to be declaring independence from God as well. Consider our nation’s independent attitude toward God’s Ten Commandments upon which the very fabric of our nation was built.
[Meditation:]
"Commandment one: You shall have no other gods before Me. – Yet America has declared independence from God by systematically removing Him from our schools, media, and government institutions.
“Commandment two: You shall not make for yourself a carved image...(to) bow down to them nor serve them. – Yet today, Americans declare their independence from God by ‘idolizing’ everything from rock starts to new cars.
“Commandment three: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. - Yet today Americans declare their independence from God by using His name in vain constantly.
“Commandment four: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. – Yet today Americans declare their independence from God by working and doing commerce on Sunday like any other day.
“Commandment five: Honor your father and your mother. – Yet today America has declared its independence from God by allowing a child to have two parents of the same sex and neither honorable.
“Commandment six: You shall not murder. – Yet today America has declared its independence from God by making it legal to murder a fully developed child as it is being born.
“Commandment seven: You shall not commit adultery. – Yet today Americans declare their independence from God by accepting adultery as a ‘mistake’ rather than a sin.
“Commandment eight: You shall not steal. – Yet today America has declared its independence from God by granting state governments a license to steal through the age old con called the lottery.
“Commandment nine: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. – Yet today Americans declare their independence from God by lying habitually. Ask any policeman, insurance agent, or tax collector.
“Commandment ten: You shall not covet. - Yet today America has declared its independence from God by accepting greed as a virtue that fuels success.” [Exodus20: 1-17 NKJV]
[wait one second]
“Please bow your heads and close your eyes as we pray for our nation’s return to dependence on God and obedience to His commandments.
[wait 3 seconds]
[Visualization: can be left out to save one minute]
“In the sixth century BC the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and carried its inhabitants away as slaves. With your eyes closed; imagine yourself standing outside Jerusalem watching those people being led away into slavery. As they walk by, they look back one last time. Look at their eyes. They can’t believe what they see – The great city of God is in flames.
“God had warned them over and over that ignoring His law would bring judgment, but they didn’t believe it.
“Are Americans just as misguided? Do we think Almighty God doesn’t hold us to the same standards He’s held every nation in history?
“America is blessed by God because it was built on the foundation of the Ten Commandments. Today those foundations are crumbling and our nation needs revival.
[wait one second]
[Guided silent prayer]
“Lets begin our prayer by giving praise and thanksgiving to God who has so richly blessed us. With your heads bowed and eyes closed; pray silently and praise God for the blessings He’s given this nation. Whatever you can think of that is good and wonderful about America, praise God for it silently.
[wait one second]
“The natural wonders – liberty – the Constitution – the founding fathers – whatever comes to mind.
[wait five seconds]
“Now thank Him for the good things in your life.
[wait two seconds]
“Your family, possessions, job – whatever comes to mind. Thank Him silently.
[wait five seconds]
“Before we ask God to bless our nation, we need to confess our sin to Him, both for ourselves and our nation.
“First, is there anything in your life that you need to apologize to God for? Something you’ve said, done, or thought which was not pleasing to Him.
[wait two seconds]
“Be humble before Him now. Don’t make excuses or blame someone else. Silently confess it to Him and humbly ask His forgiveness.
[wait five seconds]
“As followers of Christ; we are the salt and light for this nation so let’s intercede in prayer for the sins of our country.
[wait two seconds]
“Praying silently, apologize to God for the way Americans constantly use His name in vane – in conversation – on TV and radio.
[wait five seconds]
“Apologize for the way our nation ignores Him on Sunday.
[wait five seconds]
“Apologize to Him for the millions of abortions that have taken place here. Tell him your feelings and grief over the torturous deaths of these unborn children.
[wait five seconds]
“Apologize to Him for the epidemic of adultery and divorce in our society.
[wait five seconds]
“Apologize to Him for the pornography produced in our nation and dispersed around the world.
[wait five seconds]
“Now let’s ask for His help.
[wait two seconds]
“First, let’s pray silently and ask Him to raise up preachers of great intellect and character to communicate the Word of God with clarity and power to this generation.
[wait three seconds]
“Pray that our nation will realize how sinful our actions have become.
[wait three seconds]
“Pray for a revival of prayer and righteousness in the churches of America.
[wait three seconds]
“Now we’ll pray for God’s help with the great challenges our country is facing. Please pray silently the words I pray out loud.
“Father, our country is facing great challenges. The recession, the oil spill, the the war in Afghanistan, and the list goes on and on. We need your help. We are prideful people, but in our hearts; we know that every step we take - every breath we breathe - is a gift from you.
“We pray for those who’ve lost their jobs.
[wait one second]
“We pray for those who’ve lost their homes and life savings.
[wait one second]
“We pray for those along the gulf who's way of life is being destroyed.
[wait one second]
“We pray for those who are fighting the oil spill.
[wait one second]
“We pray for the soldiers fighting the war on terrorism, especially in Afghanistan.
[wait one second]
“Father, help us be good Americans. Help us be salt and light to this great land. Help us have the courage to stand up for the right and live for you even if everyone around us does not.
[wait one second]
“Help us be people of faith and right living. To put character before popularity – family before fame – faith before success - and grace before winning.
[wait three seconds]
[Benediction:]
“Praise be to the Lord God...
who alone does marvelous deeds.
Praise be to his glorious name forever;
may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
In Jesus name, Amen and Amen.”
[Ps. 72:18-19 NIV]
More help guiding the prayer time:
If this is the first time you’ve led a guided prayer time; read over sections 1 and 3 in Prayer Guide – A Manual for Leading Prayer; listen to a guided prayer time on my web site, DVD, or CD; and then practice reading this one out loud. Feel free to copy it into your word processor and edit it however you want.
If you’ve led this type of prayer time before, use your own words and just follow the outline.
If you’re leading a worship service; you might ask for instrumental music to be played very softly in the background. This background music should not have a recognizable melody. Some musicians can play beautiful chord progressions that work well. Others will find it easier to play the chords of an unfamiliar hymn or song.
The prayer time should come at the heart of worship with at least one song before and after. Try to eliminate ‘dead time’ before and after the prayer time. Click here for more help or see Appendix 2 in the back of the Prayer Guide book.
As you lead the prayer time - [Don’t read the instructions in brackets out loud]
Don't read too fast. As printed, the prayer time takes a little over nine minutes. One minute can be saved by removing the visualization.
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