Praying for Revival

Leslie Basham: What does it mean to pray earnestly? Crawford Loritts gives us an example.

Crawford Loritts: Father, we ask that You would do something so great in this country that it would take our collective spiritual breath away. Oh God, do something unimaginable—beyond anything that we’ve ever seen.

We don’t seek for an experience, just the transformation of lives so that all will stand back and say, “Look at God!”

Leslie: It’s Friday, September 14, and you’re listening to Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

Nancy started a new series this week called Seeking Him. Women across the country have copies of Nancy’s workbook, also called Seeking Him, and they’re studying the daily lessons while listening every day on the radio.

It’s not too late to visit ReviveOurHearts.com, make a donation of any amount, and receive a copy! Every Saturday during the series something very special is happening.

Nancy’s here to tell you about it:

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: I’m so glad that you’ve joined us as we’re starting out on this pilgrimage of Seeking Him in this 12-week series that we’ve begun this week.

An important component of this Seeking Him series is a National Prayer Meeting for Revival that will be taking place every Saturday morning, starting tomorrow morning. Check to see if your local station will be airing this broadcast, or listen via Internet.

Each Saturday morning for the next 12 weeks, I’ll be joined by a number of other Christian leaders and lay people who have a burden for revival and we’ll be coming together for a one hour National Prayer Meeting for Revival.

Some of you may remember that two and half years ago when we first launched Seeking Him, we conducted a similar series of 12 Saturday morning prayer meetings. I have to say that those were some of the richest, sweetest times I have ever experienced in the presence of the Lord.

As my schedule would have it, I was in different cities on many of those different weeks—sometimes in my home, sometimes in a hotel room, sometimes in an office—in different places.

Honestly, I have to tell you that sometimes going into those calls, I wasn’t real eager about spending my Saturday morning that way.  But each time as I would get up off my knees at the end of that call, I would be so encouraged and so thankful that we had taken the time to seek the Lord in that way.

Those were some very moving experiences. In order to give you a taste for what you can experience through this National Prayer Meeting for Revival, we’re going to take several Friday broadcasts during this Seeking Him series to play for you portions of the National Prayer Meetings for Revival that took place on Saturday mornings two and half years ago.

At the outset of today’s program, you’ll hear Pastor Crawford Loritts sharing his heart about the need for revival. After Crawford shares, we’ll move right into the prayers that were lifted up to the Lord on that first National Prayer Meeting for Revival in 2005.

Joining Crawford and me on this call are Byron Paulus—who is the executive director of Life Action Ministries, the parent ministry of Revive Our Hearts—and revival historians, Kevin Adams and Richard Owen Roberts.

I don’t know where you may be listening to today’s program. You may be at work, or you may be in a vehicle, but if at all possible, as we move into that prayer time, I want to encourage you to stop what you’re doing and to actually participate with us in this prayer time. Please do not be a spectator, but lift your heart up to the Lord and participate with us as we join together in seeking Him.

Here is Crawford Loritts to start our time together.

Crawford Loritts: I want to engage all of you who are listening to join us in prayer. We’re going to express our prayers to God in three areas.

First, we need to desperately seek the nearness of God, and then to plead with Him to show up and to listen to us and to demonstrate His glory, because revival is a season for God to demonstrate all these things, and that revival is a call to repentance concerning root sin, to meet God’s requirements.

Let’s just pray, focusing on us as individuals responding accurately and adequately to God, and then also in our homes and in our families.

Let’s pray together.

Kevin Adams: We don’t come to You as people who are worthy. We don’t come to You with great prayer. We don’t come to You as people who have made it, but Lord, we come to You as people who need to turn away from various things in our own lives.

Oh God, we come to You confessing our inadequacy, confessing our sins—confessing our sins to a great God who is able to work in us, both as individuals and families.

Hear us, Oh God! Turn to us, we pray. Hear our pleadings, Oh God. We turn and call on You. Touch us, Oh Lord. Show us where You need us to turn to You and away from the things that offend You.

Hear us and speak to us as we speak to You, Oh God. Amen, Lord.

Richard Owen Roberts: Holy Father, we pray that You will reveal to us the root sins that have manifested in our own personal lives. Oh God, may we not run from them or camouflage them or make excuses for them or sanitize them.

May we see our pride, our stubbornness, our self-centeredness, through Your eyes. Oh God, help us not to be hypocritical and disingenuous in our walk with You.

God, we want to live right, to carry with us the strength and the power and the honor and the glory of God.

Prayer Leader: Father, Your Word says that the wicked strut about on every side when vileness is exalted among the sons of men. Father, I am weary of seeing wicked men strut, and yet we know that there’s not a sin we are seeing in the world that we are not seeing in the Church right now.

God, I pray that You would raise up holiness among Your people; that You would raise up some of those listening here today; that You would cultivate a heart and a passion to walk in purity and holiness. I pray that when we go to our knees that we would have Your heart and Your passion.

Father, raise up these kind of warriors in prayer, for Your name’s sake because You are worthy of the glory. God, would You for forgive us for the arrogance of our nation, America, to somehow think that You need us.

God, would You root out the pride, the stubbornness, the rebellion, the immorality, the materialism that has choked out Your Word and drawn our hearts away from You. Would You draw us back to a place where we recognize our utter dependency on You.

Father, bring revival into our homes, into our families. May we not be hypocrites, Lord, preaching and proclaiming renewal and revival to others and yet living less than what we ought to live behind closed doors.

Help us to be sincere and genuine, open-hearted, transparent before You and before others. Oh God, do a work within our families, we pray.

Crawford Loritts: Let us pray, let us concentrate our prayers now on spiritual vibrancy, spiritual health and wholeness among God’s people.

Richard Owen Roberts: Lord, you have made it clear that You dwell in only two places—in the high and the lofty places, and in the heart and the spirit of the broken and the contrite in heart. Oh God, grant us more knowledge of true brokenness and contrition than ever before in our lives.

Help us, Lord, to be able to lead others to true humility so that indeed You may again renew us through Your constant indwelling.

Byron Paulus: Lord, just as I was praying for the Church this morning and yesterday—God, I pray that You would deal with the coldness and the callousness and the carnality and the comfort zones we find ourselves in, within the midst of our buildings and budgets and plans and programs.

God, I pray that as Mr. Roberts just prayed, that there would be an infusion of humility and honestly and a hunger after You and thirsting after You. God, I pray that You would give many in the Church hope who are feeling defeated or who are feeling as if Your presence and Your power is no longer available.

God, would You give us the hope of anticipation that You do long to make Yourself known in Your Church today. Lord, would You create urgency and a unity—how blessed and good it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. You command Your blessing in unity.

Give us a fresh understanding of Your ways, and God, I pray for repentance and brokenness and reconciliation, especially in churches. Lord, I pray that conflicts will be resolved and regeneration would be a reality and that conversions by the many would take place and consciences would be cleared and conflicts resolved and the Great Commission embraced.

God, would Your Holy Spirit descend and give Your Church a heavenly-mindedness today. God, I pray that Your Church would swim in holiness, that You would be exalted because Your holiness is demonstrated through the lives of Your Church.

Lord, I pray for a great harvest of souls.

Kevin Adams: Father, I pray for the leaders of churches here in the states. Oh Heavenly Father, I pray that You might instill new hope, a new vision, and a fresh faith—Oh Lord—in what You are able to do, once again, through Your Church.

Lord, Your Church is Your plan. Oh Lord, forgive us, those of us who have led it and have put other plans in it instead of Yours. Father, forgive us. Sometimes we get entangled in the organization and forget the very essence of what we’re told to do—to worship You, to be Your people, and to be an expression of Your Kingdom on this planet.

Oh Lord, I pray this morning. I pray for each and every minister, every pastor, who is praying right now. Oh God, touch us and speak through us. We ask You to infuse us again. Deliver us from an average ministry.

Touch us first before, even before our people. May we come to where we should be before You, Oh God.

Richard Owen Roberts: Lord, we need You to move in a very special way. Help us not to define ourselves based upon numbers and dollars and response, although that’s part of the work of the Spirit, too. But help us, Oh God, to be clear, simple, and profoundly simple in our attitude and approach to what You call us to do—that it is God and God alone—He is the center of attention. Oh God, do a deep work among those of us who are giving leadership to Your Church.

Kevin Adams: We thank You, Lord, that the gates of Hell will not prevail against Your Church. Thank You that You love Your Church and I want to praise You for Your plan for the Church.

Oh Lord, we ask You, to let us be a part of what You’re doing now in Your Church. Lord, we thank You for the history of the Church, for what You’ve done in the past.

But Lord, now help us not to just dwell on the history, but Lord, to be history-makers with You at this specific time. Oh Lord, what do You want us to do? Show us as individuals, as we pray, Lord—hundreds of people. Show us what You want us to do so we might fit into Your plan.

We rest on You, Oh God.

Crawford Loritts: With that in mind, let’s turn our attention to the Nation. God has placed His body in this world, and He has placed us here. He wants us to make an impact on the Nation.

Let us take a few minutes and pray for the Nation. Pray for this country. Pray for the impact of revival and awakening on the land in which we live.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Lord, we see in our land the intensifying battle between good and evil—between Heaven and Hell. Oh God, as we see the flood of evil coming in through the values and lifestyles and the anti-Christian efforts made on the part of a dedicated handful, we pray that You would raise up a standard of righteousness against the enemy. We pray that You would so move in and through Your people to raise up in this land a God-consciousness—a fear of the Lord.

Even as the ACLU and the others are seeking to eradicate every reference to You throughout the land, would You demonstrate Your power? Demonstrate that You are God, that You’re not silent, that You do exist, that You are on Your throne, that You are the Lord and the King and the Ruler of this universe.

Lord, if our nation cannot see it in us, how will they believe it? May they see the risen, reigning Christ in His Church, and then may there be, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14, that when the unbelievers would walk in and see us worshiping and exalting Christ, that they would fall on their faces and would say of the Truth, “God is among you.”

We pray for the awesome sense of Your presence to fall on this land, to overcome and overpower the forces of evil. Lord, may Your Kingdom, may Your will be done here on Earth and in this nation, as it is this day in Heaven (Matthew 6:10).

Prayer Leader: Lord, the Psalmist cried out, “Turn us again, Lord God, and cause Thy face to shine” (Psalm 80:3). Our hope lies in You, to turning us again. We understand that we’re called upon to repent, and yet You’ve taught us that repentance and faith are both gifts that You give.

I pray that You will gift the peoples of this nation with incredible resources of repentance, and even those who give no indication of any religious awareness—that You are able to gift them with repentance.

We plead that You will pour out these two wondrous gifts in vast measure in these days before us.

Kevin Adams: Lord, we pray that You might take away the blindness that seems to be apparent in regards to righteousness in various parts of the nation. Lord, I just pray that You might give a fresh vision of what is right.

I pray that there might be a sense of righteousness as Christians begin to explain various truths to those who aren’t yet believers would begin to see the sense in it. That they would see that this is right—that absolutes would become something again which are desired, Lord, in an age which is moving and so unstable.

Oh God, I pray as certain people push things to extremes, that You might open the eyes of the nation to see this and that they would come back to the Living God who has the best intentions towards people and towards humanity. I pray that they would see that Your way is the best way; that a nation that loves righteousness is a better nation as a result and a better part of this world.

Lord, I pray for a renewed feeling, that You would blow on this land and open minds to understand anew—Father—Yourself. Oh Lord, take away the blindness, please. Take it away we pray, again in Jesus’ name.

Richard Owen Roberts: Father, I pray that You will help us as Your body in this world and this nation, that when we have to denounce sin and when we have to speak up concerning the unrighteousness and evil and wickedness that’s in our culture, that we will not do it as if we are incapable of the same sin and mess that the world is exhibiting.

May we do it with a tear in our eye and a sense of compassion. May they see the reality of what Christ can do through people who are authentic and who demonstrate the love of Jesus.

Forgive us for our self-righteousness. Forgive us for our arrogant spiritual posturing that has resurrected barriers. We have so often come across as if we are better than others.

Oh God, help us to stand for Truth, but to also be enveloped in the love of Jesus Christ. May that love and that compelling sense of compassionate holiness draw people to the Savior, we pray.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Lord, we cry out to You for mercy, mercy on our own lives, mercy on Your Church, and mercy on this nation—that has so shaken its fist in Your face after You have been so gracious and kind and generous to us.

Oh Lord, thank You that mercy triumphs over judgment, and yet we know that You are also a righteous and holy and righteous-judging God. Lord, we can only pray.

Thank You that You have given time—a space for repentance—that You are not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Lord, as You look upon this prodigal planet, thank You for extending mercy. Would You continue to grant a sense of Your calling and giving opportunity for us to repent as a nation and as a people before it is eternally too late?

Byron Paulus: Lord, with Isaiah we cry that You would render Heavens today—that You would come down, that mountains and obstacles might fall down at Your presence (chapter 64).

So that, as Isaiah said, the nations might tremble at Your presence (64:2). God, we need to see the nations of the world tremble at what You can do in other nations, and Lord, as Isaiah said, “No eye has seen nor ear heard,” neither have entered into our imagination what You could do (64:4).

On behalf of those who would steadfastly trust you, God we want to be a people who are trusting You—not our affluence, or our military might, or our government, or our tradition, but God, we need to seek You and trust You.

Lord, even with all of our imaginations together, still we could not imagine what it is You could do on behalf of those whose hearts are perfect at trusting You. Lord, help us to walk by faith—enlarge our vision.

Crawford Loritts: Oh God, we ask that You would do something so great in this country that it would take our collective spiritual breath away. Oh God, Lord, do something unimaginable—beyond anything that we’ve ever seen.

We don’t seek for an experience, just the transformation of lives so that all will stand back and say, “Look at God!”

Kevin Adams: Lord, we confess You are able to do this. You are able and You respond to Your people’s faith.

Lord, we come believing that You are able. Work again in this nation. Transform again as You did in the 18th century, Lord! Transform again as you did in the mid-19th century, Lord!

Transform again as You did in the beginning of the 20th century, Oh God!  Transform again in the 21st century, Lord! You are a contemporary God. You are a God not stuck in any historical work, but You’re living now, and we call to You, Living God, come again. Living God, come again to Your world!

Richard Owen Roberts: Father, thank You for Your Word. I was moved this morning, by Isaiah 44 that says in verse three, “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground.”

“I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams. This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s.’ Another will call on the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord,’ and name himself by the name of Israel” (verses 4-5).

Oh God, thank You that You know how to preserve Your people and impact our world. Thank You for calling us to pray today. We pray that this prayer time will be a habit that we will continue to seek Your face.

How we love You, Lord Jesus, and thank You for what You’ve done.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Well, these have been some holy moments in the Lord’s presence, and I know my own heart has been so blessed and challenged as I’ve heard these servants of the Lord lift up their prayers for revival.

I want to encourage you to join us tomorrow morning for the first 2007 National Prayer Meeting for Revival. It will be for one hour. Check to see if your local station will be carrying this program. 

If you go to ReviveOurHearts.com, you can find out how you can join us in this prayer meeting. If the station you’re listening to is not carrying the prayer meeting, then you can join us through the Internet.

Get the word out to others, and join us for the National Prayer Meeting for Revival as we seek Him together.

Leslie Basham: Nancy Leigh DeMoss will continue the series, Seeking Him, next week. We will discover that one of the first marks of genuine revival is genuine humility. Please be in your church Sunday praying for revival, and then please be back with us Monday for Seeking Him on Revive Our Hearts.

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss is an outreach of Life Action Ministries.

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