PRAYER FOR WEEKS 8-11 – RESTORATION OF DIVINE ORDER IN THE CHURCH

(19 April – 16 May)

Praise (Col 1:17-18)

Lord Jesus, You are worthy of praise for You existed before everything and You hold everything together. Lord, You are also the head of the church, which is Your body. You are the beginning, the first to come back to life so that You would have first place in everything. Indeed Lord, take Your rightful place and bring life to Your body, the church.

¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many (1 Cor 12:12-14).

Restoration of Vision

Father God, anoint our eyes with eye salve so that we may see clearly that the Church is the Body of Christ of which our Lord Jesus is the Head. Give us sight, O Lord, and a fresh understanding of how Your body is to work. Show us how much we need You and need each other too! May Your love draw us, the different parts of Your body, each part so unique and yet so valuable, to work and serve together for Your Name’s sake and for Your glory.

Restoration of Fellowship

Lord, in Your supreme wisdom You have likened Your Church to a human body that has so many parts and organs. Forgive us Lord we pray, for failing You so many times because we have functioned independently of Your Lordship and thus have become fragmented. But now, O Lord Jesus, as Head of Your Body, heal us and realign us,Your many members into Your divine order! Forgive us Lord, let no one say that we have no need of each other (1 Cor 12:14-26). Holy Spirit, restore us into oneness to have true fellowship with one another – a life-giving fellowship that flows out of a dynamic relationship with You.

(Consider and repent on behalf of the Church over situations of broken fellowship that you are aware of. Pray for full restoration of fellowship according to John 17:20 -23).

Restoration of Servanthood

Restore unto us the ‘heart of a servant’, that we will show sincere care and have respect for one another even when we disagree. Help us to remember that we need each other, for if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honoured, all the members rejoice with it so that there is no division in the body (1 Cor 12:25-26).

Father, we believe that as we are realigned to Your divine order, the fullness of Christ will fill Your Church and we will all bear forth fruit, fruits that last to the glory of Your Name (John 15:8-17).

In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.