PRAYING

. . . for restoration!

Those from among you shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Streets to Dwell In (Isa. 58:12).

God, you never give up. Your mercy endures through generations. You search among the great-grandchildren of saints now gone. We admit to leaving churches and saying, “This place is dead. It will never live.” We are simultaneously grateful for those more tenacious than us, more resolved to hang on for revival – and equally shamed that we often choose the easier route. How can we ever consider a church abandoned by You? Give us faith to hope again. Fill empty Sunday school rooms with eager children ready to learn. Make it difficult to find a seat in churches that are now more empty than full. Restore Your people. May our faces glow again.. put fire in our bellies and a gleam in our eyes. Make men mighty in prayer and women intercessory warriors. Make apostles of our sons and prophetesses of our daughters. In olden days, neighbors heard the sounds of joy breaking forth from our sanctuaries and they were drawn into radical life change. Infect us again with contagious joy. Let whole neighborhoods catch. It. Let no immunity system resist Your grace. Out of little churches ablaze in prayerful devotion have come world changers. Do it again, God. We refuse to have the funeral. We refuse to close the doors. You raise the dead. Resurrect whole churches. Wake up sleeping saints. Let them exclaim, “It is happening again! Revival is here!” Amen.