40 Days of Prayer

Saturday, September 26, marks the first of Forty Days of Prayer for our Grace Family.

While there are many things for which we can be praying, we want to especially pray for revival – revival of our love for the Lord, one another, and the nations.

The Scripture passages below (one for each day) are intended to assist you in your praying. A suggested way to approach each Bible portion is as follows:

• Read the passage twice
• Read the passage out loud two more times
• Read the passage phrase by phrase, prayerfully responding to each one as it’s read
• Read the passage one final time

May the Lord richly bless us as we prayerfully engage him over the next forty days!

Saturday, September 26

Psalm 5:1-2; Psalm 51:10

Give ear to my words, O Lord;
consider my groaning.
Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you do I pray.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Sunday, September 27

Psalm 139:23-24

Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!

Monday, September 28

Psalm 19:7

The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;

Tuesday, September 29

Ephesians 4:22-24

… put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Wednesday, September 30

Psalm 103:8-14

The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

Thursday, October 1

Isaiah 40:28-31

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

Friday, October 2

James 4:7-10

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

In September 1857, a prayer revival was ignited in New York City.

Over that autumn, the revival spread up and down the Eastern seaboard. By springtime, it reached the Midwest. Soon after that, men and women were praying all over the British Isles. It has been posited that the Revival of 1857 buoyed up the U.S. during a great economic downturn. It is also believed that the enduring effects of the revival contributed to thousands of conversions throughout the Civil War. The Revival of 1857 began with one man, Jeremiah Lanphier, and a sign that he posted outside the door of his church announcing a noon-hour prayer gathering. God brought great things from that small beginning. No doubt, he can do the same today.

The following Scripture portions are suggested for daily meditation, reflection, and prayer.

Saturday, October 3

Revelation 2:3-5

I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.

Sunday, October 4

Proverbs 6:16-19

There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers.

Monday, October 5

1 John 2:15-17

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Tuesday, October 6

Colossians 3:5

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Wednesday, October 7

Romans 2:4-5

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

Thursday, October 8

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Friday, October 9

2 Peter 3:9-10

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

The poem Self-Knowledge was recently recommended for our Forty Days of Prayer

by a longtime member of our Grace Family. During a quiet moment, click the hyperlinked title and thoughtfully reflect on the words before you as we continue asking God to revive our love for Christ, one another, and the nations.

Saturday, October 10

Revelation 1:5b-6

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Sunday, October 11

Deuteronomy 6:4-6

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.”

Monday, October 12

Psalm 66:16-19

Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
I cried to him with my mouth,
and high praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
But truly God has listened;
he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

Tuesday, October 13

Luke 6:12

In these days (Jesus) went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.

Wednesday, October 14

Matthew 11:28-30

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Thursday, October 15

Lamentations 3:22-24

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”

Friday, October 16

Lamentations 3:25-27

The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for a man that he bear
the yoke in his youth.

As we continue on in our Forty Days of Prayer, let’s remember

that our overriding prayer is for revival – a revival of our love for Christ, for one another, and for the nations. “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10).

Saturday, October 17

Psalm 19:7

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;

Sunday, October 18

2 Timothy 4:3-4

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

Monday, October 19

Psalm 22:27

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.

Tuesday, October 20

2 Timothy 2:24-26

“And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.”

Wednesday, October 21

James 4:6

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Thursday, October 22

Psalm 119:25

My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!

Friday, October 23

1 Peter 3:15

But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect…

Monday, October 26

Daniel 9:9

To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him…

Tuesday, October 27

Romans 15:13

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Wednesday, October 28

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Thursday, October 29

Psalm 34:17-18

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.

Friday, October 30

Isaiah 40:30-31

Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

Saturday, October 31

1 Thessalonians 5:23

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sunday, November 1

Colossians 1:21-23

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard…

Monday, November 2

Hebrews 7:25

Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

Tuesday, November 3

Revelation 22:17

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.