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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Pray for the Moral Decency and Civility of your Nation

Intercession 5.11 | ESV

For the success of all endeavors for the reformation of manners, the suppression of vice and profaneness, the support of religion and virtue, and the bringing of them into reputation.

O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and establish the righteous – you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God. Psalm 7:9(ESV) Spirit many to rise up for you against the wicked and to stand up for you against evildoers. Psalm 94:16(ESV)

Let the Deliverer come to Zion and banish ungodliness from Jacob; Romans 11:26(ESV) and let the filth of Jerusalem be cleansed from its midst by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning. Isaiah 4:4(ESV)

Let all wickedness shut its mouth; Psalm 107:42(ESV) and let the infection of that plague be stayed by intervening judgment. Psalm 106:30(ESV)

Let those who are struggling against sin never grow weary or fainthearted. Hebrews 12:3-4(ESV)

Remove the spirit of uncleanness from the land, Zechariah 13:2(ESV) and change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that they may call upon the name of the LORD. Zephaniah 3:9(ESV)

Set your people high above all nations in praise and in fame and in honor by making us a people holy to the LORD our God. Deuteronomy 26:19(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Pray for the Continuance of your Nation’s Outward Peace and Tranquility

Intercession 5.10 | ESV

For the continuance of our outward peace and tranquility, our liberty and plenty, for the prosperity of our trade, and a blessing upon the fruits of the earth.

Let God himself be a wall of fire all around us and the glory in the midst of us; Zechariah 2:5(ESV) yes, let his gospel be our glory, and upon all that glory let there be a defense; and create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. Isaiah 4:5(ESV)

Peace be within our borders and security within our towers, Psalm 122:7(ESV) the prosperity both of merchandise and husbandry, that Zebulun may rejoice in his going out and Issachar in his tents. Deuteronomy 33:18(ESV)

Set up salvation for us as walls and bulwarks; and, to that end, let the gates be opened, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. Isaiah 26:1-2(ESV)

Make our overseers peace and our taskmasters righteousness; let violence never be heard in our gates, devastation or destruction in our borders, but let our walls be called Salvation and our gates Praise: Isaiah 60:17-18(ESV) Never let our land be termed Forsaken and Desolate, but let the Lord delight in us, and let our land be married to him. Isaiah 62:4(ESV)

Let our peace be like a river and, to that end, our righteousness like the waves of the sea. Isaiah 48:18(ESV) Let that righteousness abound among us which exalts a nation, and deliver us from sin, which is a reproach to any people. Proverbs 14:34(ESV)

Never make our heavens as bronze and our earth as iron, Deuteronomy 28:23(ESV) nor take back your grain in its time and your wine in its season; Hosea 2:9(ESV) but give us rain moderately, the early and the latter rains in their seasons, Joel 2:23(ESV) and keep for us the weeks appointed for the harvest, Jeremiah 5:24(ESV) giving us fair weather also in its season. Let our land yield its increase and the trees their fruit, that we may eat our bread to the full and dwell in our land securely. Leviticus 26:4-5(ESV)

Abundantly bless our provisions and satisfy our poor with bread, Psalm 132:15(ESV) that those who garner it may eat it and praise the LORD. Isaiah 62:9(ESV) Do not blow it away, for then when we look for much, it will come to little; Haggai 1:9(ESV) but bless our blessings, that all nations may call us blessed and a land of delight. Malachi 3:10-12(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Pray Earnestly for National Mercies and the Blessing of the Gospel Ministry in your Nation

Intercession 5.9 | ESV

We must pray earnestly for national mercies.

For the favors of God to us and the tokens of his presence among us, as that in which the happiness of our nation is bound up.

O you hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, be not like a stranger in the land or like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night; but be always in the midst of your people: We are called by your name, O do not leave us. Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O LORD, for your name’s sake; though our backslidings are many, and we have sinned against you. Jeremiah 14:7-9(ESV)

Restore us to yourself, O Lord GOD of hosts, and let your face shine, that we may be saved! O stir up your might and come to save us! Psalm 80:2-3(ESV)

Show us your steadfast love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation; Psalm 85:7(ESV) yes, let your salvation be near to those who fear you, that glory may dwell in our land. Let steadfast love and faithfulness meet, righteousness and peace kiss each other: Let faithfulness spring up from the ground and righteousness look down from the sky; yes, let the LORD give what is good: Let righteousness go before him and make his footsteps a way. Psalm 85:9-13(ESV)

For the continuance of the gospel among us and the means of grace, and a national profession of Christ’s holy religion.

O let the throne of Christ endure forever among us, Psalm 45:6(ESV) even the place of your sanctuary, that glorious throne set on high from the beginning. Jeremiah 17:12(ESV)

Let our lampstand never be removed from its place, though that is what we deserve, because we have abandoned the love we had at first. Revelation 2:4-5(ESV) Never do to us as you did to your place that was in Shiloh, where you made your name dwell at first. Jeremiah 7:12(ESV)

Let us never know what a famine of the word means; nor ever be forced to wander from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth, to seek the word of God. Amos 8:11-12(ESV)

O Lord, be the stability of our times, our abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; and let the fear of the LORD be our treasure: Isaiah 33:6(ESV) Let the righteous flourish among us, and let there be those who fear you in our land, while the sun endures, and as long as the moon, throughout all generations; Psalm 72:5(ESV) that peace may abound, Psalm 72:7(ESV) and the children yet to be created may praise the LORD. Psalm 102:18(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

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

Intercession 5.8 | ESV

For the nations around us and all the countries of the world.

You, LORD, rule over the nations: Psalm 22:28(ESV) Who will not fear you, O King of the nations? Jeremiah 10:7(ESV) You sit on the throne, giving righteous judgment; Psalm 9:4(ESV) judge the world therefore with righteousness, and judge the peoples with uprightness. Psalm 9:8(ESV)

Lord, hasten the time when you will make wars cease to the end of the earth; Psalm 46:9(ESV) when nation shall no more lift up sword against nation, nor kingdom against kingdom, but swords shall be beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks, and they shall not learn war anymore. Isaiah 2:4(ESV)

Make kings foster fathers, and their queens nursing mothers, to the Israel of God. Isaiah 49:23(ESV)

And in the days of these kings, let the God of heaven set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, Daniel 2:44(ESV) even the kingdom of the Redeemer. And whatever purposes there are in men’s minds, Lord, let your purposes stand, Proverbs 19:21(ESV) and fulfill the plans of your heart to all generations. Psalm 33:11(ESV)

For our own land and nation, which we ought in a special manner to seek the welfare of, that in its peace we may have peace.

We must be thankful to God for his mercies to our land.

I bless you that you have planted me on a very fertile hill, Isaiah 5:1(ESV) and have not given the arid plain for my home or the salt land for my dwelling place, Job 39:6(ESV) but the land I inhabit yields her increase. Psalm 85:12(ESV)

Lord, you have been favorable to my land. Psalm 85:1(ESV) I have heard with my ears, and my fathers in the faith have told me, what deeds you performed for your church in their days, and in the times of old; Psalm 44:1(ESV) and as I have heard, so have I seen, for I have thought on your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple. Psalm 48:8-9(ESV)

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

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

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

We must be humbled before God for our national sins and provocations.

But my nation is a sinful people, a people laden with iniquity, an offspring of evildoers; Isaiah 1:4(ESV) and we have a great deal of reason to sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed among us. Ezekiel 9:4(ESV)

Iniquity abounds among us, and the love of many has grown cold. Matthew 24:12(ESV)

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