There are many ways to plan and organize a Day of Prayer. The following points will help any group, whether large or small, plan an effective day of prayer.
Waiting on God
This is an opportunity to focus on God and it helps us leave the cares and pressures of the day behind. Begin by reading Psalm 139 prayerfully, noting what you see about God's abilities and character.
Write down what you observe and then silently respond in prayer, praising God for who He is.
Allow God to use verses 23, 24 to shine His spotlight on your life. As He reminds you of areas and actions that have grieved Him, confess each one as sin and repent (never intending to intentionally carry out that sin in the future). Request God's cleansing. After you express your gratitude for God's cleansing, ask Him to fill you with the Holy Spirit in the cleansed area.
Purity Vital to Answered Prayer
He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, even his prayer is an abomination.(Proverbs 28:9).
In commenting on that scripture, Dwight L. Moody responded,
Think of that! It may shock some of us to think that our prayers are an abomination to God, yet if any are living in known sin, this is what God's Word says about them. If we are not willing to turn from sin and obey God's law, we have no right to expect that He will answer our prayers. Unconfessed sin is unforgiven sin, and unforgiven sin is the darkest, foulest thing on this sin-cursed earth. You cannot find a case in the Bible where a man has been honest in dealing with sin, but God has been honest with him and blessed him. The prayer of the humble and the contrite heart is a delight to God. There is no sound that goes up from this sin-cursed earth so sweet to His ear as the prayer of the man who is walking uprightly.
How much better that we deliberately and regularly ask God to search our hearts. When He points out something that has grieved Him, we need to respond in gratitude. He is showing us mercy by revealing our sin. Repent of that sin and invite the empowering of the Holy Spirit to so fill that the area is full of God's holiness. Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD ? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart (Psalm 24:3-4).
If I regard [to see, look at, inspect, perceive, consider] wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear (Ps. 66:18). This is a warning that we need to take seriously.
Biblical Waiting
Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD (Psalm 27:14). The word for wait can also mean look for, hope, expect. The writer encourages himself that he can depend on God, since He has always been faithful. We, too, can wait with prayerful expectation that God will meet us.
The following scriptures give a fuller understanding to how and why we wait for God. We can wait on God for:
1. Guidance on how to live a life that honours Him.
a. Ps 25:5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all the day.
b. Ps 119:147 I rise before dawn and cry for help; I wait for Your words.
c. Ps 130:5 I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, And in His word do I hope.
d. Ps 39:7 And now, Lord, for what do I wait ? My hope is in You.
2. His provision
a. Ps 37:9 For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD, they will inherit the land.
b. Ps 104:27 They all wait for You to give them their food in due season.
c. Ps 147:11 The LORD favors those who fear Him, those who wait for His lovingkindness.
d. Ps 119:114 You are my hiding place and my shield; I wait for Your word.
e. Isaiah 40:31 Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.
f. Lamentations 3:25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him.
While we wait, we are encouraged to be:
1. Peaceful - Ps 37:7 Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him.
2. Courageous - Ps 27:14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD.
3. Thankful - Ps 52:9 I will give You thanks forever, because You have done it, and I will wait on Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your godly ones.
4. A good example to others:
a. Ps 119:74 May those who fear You see me and be glad, because I wait for Your word.
b. Proverbs 20:22 Do not say, 'I will repay evil'; wait for the LORD, and He will save you.
The encouragement from Hosea is a challenge we need to heed: Therefore, return to your God, observe kindness and justice, and wait for your God continually (Hosea 12:6).
May the response of Micah be ours as well, But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me (Micah 7:7).
Praising God
Praising God is a God-appointed calling. . . [He has] predestined the church to the praise of his [God's] glorious grace (Eph 1:6; cf. Matt 5:16; Eph 1:14; Phil. 1:11; 1 Peter 2:9). The future vocation of the redeemed in glory is to sing praise to God and the Lamb (Rev 4:11; 5:12-14; 7:12) . . . In the light of this calling to praise God, the oft-declared intention, I will praise you, O God, and the exhortations for others to praise God take on additional meaning. In giving oneself to praise, the worshipper declares his or her total alignment with God's purposes. The environment of those gathering for worship, judged by such admonitions, was one of lavish praise to God. Since God is holy and fully good, God is not to be faulted, as some do, for requiring praise of himself. Praise is fitting for what is the highest good, God himself. Praise is both a duty and a delight (Psalm 63:3-8). - Elmer A. Martens, Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology
Since we have been called by God to be praising Him while on this earth and because our future vocation will be one of praise, we should be deliberately making praise a regular part of our Christian discipline.
Words like "bless," "exalt," "extol," "glorify," "magnify," "thank," and "confess" reveal varied facets of praise. Learn how to express your praise to God.
Whether praise is a new form of communicating with God and about God or if you regularly express your praise to God, use scripture often. Psalms 103, 111, and 145 are wonderful portions that praise the Lord for the greatness of His power. The following scriptures can be read aloud as praise to God: Ps. 113:1-3; 146:1-2; Heb. 13:15; Rev. 4:11. As you read through the scriptures, you will find other praise passages and verses. Here is a list of passages you can use to glorify God.
Praise addressed to God |
Praise about God |
Thanking God
A time of praise will lead you naturally into thanksgiving. You will be reminded of the many things that God has done for you, the ways in which He has answered your prayers. Have you expressed your gratitude? Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4 :6- 7). Two important words often overlooked are with thanksgiving.
When we come to God with the intent to ask for His intervention, we must begin by expressing our gratitude for those things that He has already provided for us. Dr. R. A. Torrey wrote:
Doubtless one reason why so many of our prayers lack power is because we have neglected to thank God for blessings already received. If anyone were to constantly ask us for help and never say, "Thank you" for the help given, we would soon get tired of helping one so ungrateful. Indeed, our respect for the one we were helping would stop us from encouraging such rank ingratitude. Doubtless our heavenly Father, out of wise regard for our highest welfare, often refuses to answer our prayers in order to bring us to a sense of our ingratitude. We must be taught to be thankful. - (p. 59-60, How to Pray, Whitaker House, 1983)
Reflecting on the wonderful things God has done for you gives you faith to trust God for the things that you currently ask Him for.
Thanksgiving to God
* I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders. I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High . . . For You have maintained my just cause; You have sat on the throne judging righteously (Ps. 9:1-2, 4).
* I shall wash my hands in innocence, and I will go about Your altar, O LORD, that I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving and declare all Your wonders (Ps. 26:6-7).
* Blessed be the LORD, Because He has heard the voice of my supplication. The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him. The LORD is their strength, And He is a saving defence to His anointed (Ps. 28:6-8).
* I will give You thanks in the great congregation; I will praise You among a mighty throng (Ps. 35:18).
* So we Your people and the sheep of Your pasture will give thanks to You forever; to all generations we will tell of Your praise (Ps. 79:13).
* But as for me, I will hope continually, and will praise You yet more and more. My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness and of Your salvation all day long; For I do not know the sum of them. I will come with the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD; I will make mention of Your righteousness, Yours alone. O God, You have taught me from my youth, and I still declare Your wondrous deeds. And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to all who are to come. For Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens, You who have done great things; O God, who is like You? You who have shown me many troubles and distresses will revive me again, and will bring me up again from the depths of the earth. May You increase my greatness And turn to comfort me. I will also praise You with a harp, even Your truth, O my God; to You I will sing praises with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel. My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to You; And my soul, which You have redeemed (Ps. 71:14-23).
* It is good to give thanks to the LORD and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your lovingkindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night, with the ten-stringed lute and with the harp, with resounding music upon the lyre. For You, O LORD, have made me glad by what You have done, I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands. How great are Your works, O LORD ! Your thoughts are very deep (Ps. 92:1-5).
* To You I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, And call upon the name of the LORD (Ps. 116:17).
Passages of Thanksgiving
Ps 30, 136
Encouraging Thanksgiving
* Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms (Ps. 95:2).
* Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name (Ps. 100:4).
* and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks (Eph 5:4).
* . . . be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father (Eph 5:18b-20).
* Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father (Col 3:15-17).
* Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving (Col 4:2).
* Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus (I Thess. 5:16-18).
* First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity (I Tim 2:1-2).
* Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name (Heb 13:15).
This is a time to express gratitude to God for what He has done. Write out a list of the things that God has done for you, then offer thanksgiving to God for the personal things He has done.
End your time of prayer with a time of praise to God. You may want to use scripture to express your gratitude to Him for hearing and answering your requests.(Phil 4:6-7).