How to prayer intercessory prayer for self, country, etc.

One of the great benefits of coming together as one race - the human race - is that we can learn to intercede for each other and for our country better by talking and understanding each other better.

What is intercessory prayer? It is standing in the gap between God and a situation and pleading with Him for an outcome that will draw people to Him and glorify God's love, mercy, justice, or some other attribute of God. Like all prayer, it is in Jesus' name because we need to remember it is only through the blood of Jesus we can approach His throne. That is how we experience the love, mercy, and grace of God, it is how He showed that He loved each of us.

Why is intercessory prayer needed? Remember, we are in a spiritual war. The devil and his minions have their goal int he spiritual realm, to disrupt everything and thwart the love of God. Think of a coach asking in a pregame talk, how much do you want this? What will you give for that sweet taste of victory?  Don't you love it when someone leaves all their emotion out there on the field or the court? Or, if you're not a sports fan, picture some other time when a person gives everything they have for a cause.

Remember, God know it all, but like that coach inspiring players, He needs to see how much you want it. ANd, it has to be heartfelt becasue the devil is going to be fighting tooth and nail against you.

Don't get me wrong, it's not always that hard. But, consider how many things are needed in something as simple as seeing an ambulance. You can play for the person's health in the ambulance, of course. You can pray that everyone pull over so they can get to the hospital quickly. You can pray for the family members of that person who might be very scared, or maybe haven't been contacted yet. Or, maybe the person has no family nearby and needs God's comfort at this time. Then, you can play for the doctors who will be treating that person soon. Pray the day and the nurses have great skill, that they find what is wrong quickly, and that they can fix what is wrong. There are more things that I didn't think about it, but you might.

That's where intercessory prayer comes in. It isn't necessarily about the length. It's about the depth. All those things are involved to pray for when you see an ambulance. It's talking with God about your situation. He'll even put in your mind things to pray for when you trust Him, because if you have trusted in Jesus Christ as your Saviour, he lives in you through the Holy Spirit.

This brings us to the future.

Interceding in prayer

I've discussed repentance elsewhere,  but in brief, it is turning from sin and agreeing with God about it. There may be sins God brings to your mind which you can forsake just as He may put in your mind when praying for that ambulance that there may be someone whose mother has been praying for them for a long time, or that you can pray the ER not be too crowded and the person get seen right away. (Which i forgot when typing that earlier list.)

You don't have to know every sin, but let the Holy Spirit bring them to your mind. For instance, a lust for money(it is the love of money, a lust for it, which is the root of so much evil, not just money(1 Tim.6:10)) on our part needs to be confessed and forsaken before we can ask God to remove that lust in others, otherwise the Spirit will be like, "Okay, but what you're asking, you need to forsake that lust first." This is true whether it's a lust for money, power, s*x (The marriage bed is undefiled(Heb.13:4); God has a perfect plan for it that is most beneficial for all of us), whatever.

When we trust God to help us control those lusts, and place Him first on the throne of our heart, that is when we can easily confess and pray for forgiveness of this country's sins over the last 400 years.

Once that is done, intercede for the people of this country.

 A few possible scenarios - ones like Ferguson, etc.

How to pray can be different in different places. For natural disasters like the tragedies in Nepal it's fairly self-explanatory, for isntance.

Now, say there's another situation comes like in Baltimore or Ferguson, then that intercession must be four peace, for God's spirit of calm to cover the people. It should be for God's people to band together, recalling we are all one race, and for innocent lives to be protected, along with for justice being done. We must also pray for the devil to be defeated, and - because they have been at the others - for ISIS to be barred from the place, as the devil has used them to help stir up the chaos. Prayer should be made for God's protection over each individual if possible, and over the whole area.

When that is not the problem, but you are simply interceding for this nation otherwise - although, we should all be praying that ISIS be stopped - then it is a matter of seeking God more fervently for Him to change hearts.

Effecting change for the better - it starts with you

From the above, we see that repentance is clearly part of intercessory prayer. God calls us to come to Him as His people for repentance before he can heal our land. Revival must begin with the saved of every culture in this country coming together with the cross uniting us. Because, it is in those who have trusted Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour where the Holy Spirit lives. The Bible warns us not to quench the Holy Spirit, because when we do that we are ignoring God. He loves us so much as to give us free will, because He wants us to love him because we want to, not because we have to. Thankfully, when we do stray from Him, He still loves us. No matter what. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.(1 John 1:9)

You may say, "My church is dead, or at least dying." Well, you hold the key. You can either start to pray and - if God leads - fast just as for this country and try to wake it up, or start your own house church. Just remember, God wants sound doctrine above all things. As I say at takethespirituallead.blogspot.com, the most important thing is that salvation comes by faith alone in Christ alone.

Get together with fellow believers, no matter who it is, and pray., whether it's in your church or just in your home, school, whatever. Use Twitter, Facebook, etc., to announce impromptu prayer meetings to pray for repentance revival. Hold prayer meetings, prayer rallies, ask God for His Spirit to come down and change hearts and lives. Then, pray for individual situation that you know about, too - if someone has a sick loved one or wayward child(or wayward parents and needs to be the adult for their younger siblings). Jesus promises whenever two or three or more are gathered together he is in the midst of them. Of course, you as an individual can pray, but this is just reminding us how powerful several people praying together can be.

As you pray for this country, you can pray especially for souls to be saved, since as His people repent and pray, and start to live and be Christlike unto sanctification only, not for salvation, The Spirit will move - there will be opposition, it'll be like going from the regular season tot he playoffs in a sport, but God will bring about change. People will be less vulgar and see humor, joy, happienss, laughter, and so on in more innocent things. Sensual sins will become less and less. A spirit of peace united under Jesus Christ will be seen, and people will come to know Jesus Christ as Sviour and turn from their sins.

Some things, like sensual sins, drugs, and alcohol, are addictive and are brain issues, not just moral issues; for those, God can change, but a great ministry like Reformer's Unanimous is crucial, too, becasue they still need responded to with the Gospel, since only God can truly change a person.

God's Holy Spirit is in this world to convict of sin. Yes, the Holy Spirit is dwelling inside each believer, but we see and John 16 that He has other purposes too. One of the main ones is to work in others' hearts. This is how God can influence those who do not know him. That is why when He that letteth - the restrainer - is taken out of the way, if that is the Holy Spirit, it explains how things will be so awful during the Tribulation.

Yes, the Bible says things will get awful. We are in the age of Laodicea right now. But, Jesus calls that church in Revelation to realize its problem and repent and turn to Him. And, there is no reason why we can't have a great repentance revival in this age.

God is calling for intercessory prayer warriors to make it work. Will you join in praying for our nation, please?