On July 9, I started this series as a call for others to join me in praying for an extraordinary work of God.

In the last three posts on this subject (July 26, August 6, and August 22), I identified three characteristics that were present during the season of revival recorded in Nehemiah 8-10. The public proclamation of God’s Word preceded His work. A sense of overwhelming grief over of their sin prepared the people for life change. And the invitation to worship God by recounting His faithfulness in the past led the people toward the resolve to life differently.

Ultimately, however, this and other great works of God are entirely dependent on the Holy Spirit. So I close this series with a prayer and I plead with you to continue praying with me for God’s extraordinary movement in our lives and churches.

God, in the Name of Your Son Jesus and by the power of Your Holy Spirit, breathe afresh in our hearts…

Send men to Your churches.

• Men who love Your bride, the church…
• Men who want to serve her…
• Men who won’t beat her with words…
• Men who won’t abandon her when she looks ugly…
• Men who embrace her as an instrument for Your glory in the world…
• Men who hold firmly to Your word…
• Men who love Your word…
• Men who feed on Your word…
• Men who know Your word better than they know sports…
• Men who trust Your word more than creativity…
• Men who study Your word more than they watch television…
• Men who will quote Your word more than movies…
• Men who labor at preaching and teaching…
• Men who preach Your word with humility and courage…
• Men who obey Your word with zeal…
• Men who won’t listen to the applause of the crowd…
• Men who hate their lives enough to lose them…
• Men who will lead us to rebirth and renewal…

Show me the depth of my sin.

• Show me how much I love myself…
• Show me when I mistake the freedom of Your boundaries for captivity…
• Show me when I trust my intuition more than Your word…
• Show me how I crave earthly pleasure…
• Show me when my pursuit of You is marked by laziness…
• Show me how I fear the future…
• Show me when I measure security in terms of money in the bank…
• Show me how badly I yearn for worldly recognition…
• Show me the depth of my rebellion…

Remind us of Your faithfulness…

• Remind us of how You rescued us from sin…
• Remind us of how You healed our wounded hearts…
• Remind us of how You pursued us while we fled from You…
• Remind us of how You died for us before we loved You…
• Remind us of how You freed us from the bondage of sin…
• Remind us of how You delivered us from our slavery to sin…
• Remind us of how You protected us from ourselves…
• Remind us of how You have sustained us from day-to-day…
• Remind us that without You we have no hope…

God, change our lives for the sake of Your Name, Amen.