Prayer Vigil 2020
Not sure what to pray about? Here are some suggestions of how to go about your prayer hour. In the case of a half hour, cut all times in half! Times are approximate, this is just a means of getting started.
Preparation (1 min): Ask God to help you spend this time profitably with him. Give yourself to him for this hour. Confession (4 min): Spend a moment going over with him recent sins that weigh on you, but don’t dredge up old ones. Read 1 John 1:9. Ask for his cleansing, and then accept it by faith and thank him for it.
Praise and thanksgiving (9 min): Sing or read your adoration to the Lord using a hymnal or choruses you know. Now start to thank him for his goodness to you and your friends. There’s a special sense in which God “inhabits” the praises of his people (Ps. 22:3).
Petition (9 min): Pray about life’s difficulties. Use this time to talk over with the Lord your own struggles. Discuss with him your relationship with your loved one or spouse, your family, your financial needs, your studies or job.
Intercession (9 min): Pray for friends, loved ones, relatives, neighbors, fellow workers. Don’t just read a list of names to God, but talk to him about their lives and needs. You can boldly ask him for their salvation. Ask God to bring Christians into their lives, to alter circumstances, and to give you opportunities for witness.
Prayer for the church (12 min): Call on God for a deep renewal of love for him. Pray for your pastor and church leaders. Intercede for the Sunday school children and the youth, the families, the singles, the widows, the sick and those unable to leave their homes. Call on God for an increase in giving so the church can accomplish its work. Pray for the Christian organizations working with the college students, children, military personnel, and the homeless in your community.
Prayer for the nation (8 min): Pray that God will guide our president and legislators, our justices and judges, our governors and mayors, our police and firefighters. Pray for righteousness in government and a public policy sensitive to the needs of the oppressed both here and abroad.
Prayer for other nations (8 min): Pray for the work of Christ throughout the world. Intercede for unreached peoples. Pray for missionaries, for Third World pastors and churches, for the people of God who are suffering persecution. Pray for peace. Ask God to give food, shelter, and hope to the hungry.