Matthew Henry’s “Method For Prayer”

Pray for the Nations of the World and for your Own Nation

Intercession 5.8 | NASB

For surrounding nations and all the countries of the world.

You, LORD, rule over the nations: Psalm 22:28(NASB) Who will not fear You, O King of the nations? Jeremiah 10:7(NASB) You sit on the throne judging righteously; Psalm 9:4(NASB) judge the world therefore in righteousness, and execute judgment for the peoples with equity. Psalm 9:8(NASB)

Lord, hasten the time when You will make wars to cease to the end of the earth; Psalm 46:9(NASB) when nation will no more lift up sword against nation, nor kingdom against kingdom, but swords will be hammered into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks, and they will never again learn war. Isaiah 2:4(NASB)

Make kings guardians, and their princesses nurses, to the Israel of God. Isaiah 49:23(NASB)

And in the days of these kings, let the God of heaven set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, even the kingdom of the Redeemer. Daniel 2:44(NASB) And whatever counsels there are in men’s hearts, Lord, let Your counsels stand, Proverbs 19:21(NASB) and fulfill the plans of Your heart from generation to generation. Psalm 33:11(NASB)

For my own land and nation, which I ought in a special manner to seek the welfare of, that in its peace, your church in this land may have peace.

I must be thankful to God for His mercies to my land.

I bless You that You have planted me on a fertile hill, Isaiah 5:1(NASB) and have not given the wilderness for my home or the salt land for my dwelling place, Job 39:6(NASB) but the land I inhabit yields its produce. Psalm 85:12(NASB)

Lord, You have shown favor to my land. Psalm 85:1(NASB) I have heard with my ears, and my fathers have told me, the work that You did for Your church in their days, and in the times of old, Psalm 44:1(NASB) and as I have heard, so have I seen; for I have thought on Your lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of Your temple. Psalm 48:8-9(NASB)

You have given Your church a pleasant land, Jeremiah 3:19(NASB) it is Immanuel’s land, Isaiah 8:8(NASB) it is a valley of vision; Isaiah 22:1(NASB) You have set up Your dwelling place among us, and Your sanctuary is in the midst of us. Ezekiel 37:26-27(NASB)

We live in safety under our own vine and fig tree, 1 Kings 4:25(NASB) and there is peace to him who goes out and to him who comes in. 2 Chronicles 15:5(NASB)

And because the Lord loved my people, therefore He has set a good government over us, to do justice and righteousness, 1 Kings 10:9(NASB) to be a terror to evildoers, and a protection and praise to those who do what is good. Romans 13:3(NASB)

I must be humbled before God for my nation’s sins and provocations.

But my nation is a sinful people, a people weighed down with iniquity, the offspring of evildoers; Isaiah 1:4(NASB) and we have a great deal of reason to sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in our midst. Ezekiel 9:4(NASB)

Lawlessness has increased among us, and most people’s love has grown cold. Matthew 24:12(NASB)

We have not been forsaken nor forgotten of our God, though our land is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel. Jeremiah 51:5(NASB)

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