Category: ESV First Person

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Pray for the Ministers of God’s Holy Word and Sacraments

Intercession 5.17 | ESV

For all the ministers of God’s holy word and sacraments, the masters of assemblies.

Teach your ministers how they ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, 1 Timothy 3:15(ESV) that they may not preach themselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, 2 Corinthians 4:5(ESV) and may do their best to present themselves approved to God, workmen who have no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15(ESV)

Make them competent in the Scriptures, Acts 18:24(ESV) that from them they may be equipped for every good work, 2 Timothy 3:17(ESV) in teaching showing integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned. Titus 2:7-8(ESV)

Enable them to give attendance to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching; 1 Timothy 4:13(ESV) to practice these things; 1 Timothy 4:15(ESV) to devote themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word; Acts 6:4(ESV) to immerse themselves in them and to persist in them, that they may save both themselves and their hearers. 1 Timothy 4:15-16(ESV)

Let words be given to them in opening their mouths boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, that they may speak as they ought to speak, Ephesians 6:19-20(ESV) as competent ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; 2 Corinthians 3:6(ESV) and let them by the Lord’s mercy be trustworthy. 1 Corinthians 7:25(ESV)

Let the arms of their hands be made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob; Genesis 49:24(ESV) and let them be full of power by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts, Micah 3:8(ESV) to show your people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins. Isaiah 58:1(ESV)

Make them sound in the faith, Titus 1:13(ESV) and enable them always to teach what accords with sound doctrine, Titus 2:1(ESV) correcting their opponents with gentleness; and let not the Lord’s servants be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach. 2 Timothy 2:24-25(ESV)

Make them good examples to the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity; 1 Timothy 4:12(ESV) and let them purify themselves who bear the vessels of the Lord, Isaiah 52:11(ESV) and let HOLY TO THE LORD be written upon their foreheads. Exodus 28:36(ESV)

Lord, grant that they may not labor in vain or spend their strength for nothing and vanity, Isaiah 49:4(ESV) but let the hand of the Lord be with them, that many may believe and turn to the Lord. Acts 11:21(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Pray for your Judges and Judicial Rulers

Intercession 5.16 | ESV

For the magistrates, the judges, and justices of peace in the several counties and corporations.

Make those who rule over my nation just, ruling in the fear of God; 2 Samuel 23:3(ESV) and let those who judge remember that they judge not for man but for the LORD, who is with them in giving judgment, that therefore the fear of the Lord may be upon them. 2 Chronicles 19:6-7(ESV)

Make them able men and trustworthy, men who fear God and hate a bribe, Exodus 18:21(ESV) that justice may run down like a river, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos 5:24(ESV)

Enable my nation’s magistrates to defend the weak and fatherless, to maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute, to rescue the weak and the needy, and to deliver them from the hand of the wicked; Psalm 82:3-4(ESV) and let governors never be a terror to good works, but to the evil. Romans 3:14(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Pray for all who are Employed in the Conduct of Public Affairs

Intercession 5.15 | ESV

For the advisers, cabinet members, members of Congress or Parliament, the ambassadors and envoys abroad, and all who are employed in the conduct of public affairs.

Counsel my nation’s counselors, and teach its elders wisdom: Psalm 105:22(ESV) O give them a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and might, a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD, to make them delight in the fear of the LORD. Isaiah 11:2-3(ESV)

O do not deprive of speech those who are trusted nor take away the discernment of the elders, Job 12:20(ESV) nor ever let the things that belong to the nation’s peace be hidden from the eyes of those who are instructed with the nation’s counsels. Luke 19:42(ESV)

Make it to appear that you have taken your place in the divine council and hold judgment in the midst of the gods, Psalm 82:1(ESV) and that when the princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham, the God of Abraham himself is among them; and let the shields of the earth belong to the Lord, that he may be highly exalted. Psalm 47:9(ESV)

Let there be those among my nation who rebuild its ancient ruins and raise up the foundations of many generations, that they may be called the repairers of the breaches and restorers of streets to dwell in. Isaiah 58:12(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Pray for the Safe and Righteous Continuation of your Civil Government

Intercession 5.14 | ESV

For the safe and righteous continuation of our civil government, that a blessing may attend it, that peace and truth may be established in our days and secured to posterity, and that the hopes of our adversaries and all their aiders and abettors may be extinguished.

Lord, preserve to us the lamp that you have prepared for your Anointed, Psalm 132:17(ESV) that the next generation may know you, even the children yet unborn, that they may set their hope in God and keep his commandments. Psalm 78:6-7(ESV)

Let the gospel-believing church abide before God forever: Appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over it, so we will ever sing praises to your name. Psalm 61:7-8(ESV) Thus, let the Lord save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and the offspring of your servants shall inherit it, and those who love your name shall dwell in it. Psalm 69:35-36(ESV)

Let their design who would choose a leader to go back to Egypt, Numbers 14:4(ESV) be again defeated; and let not the mortal wound that has been given to the beast be healed anymore. Revelation 13:11-12(ESV)

Let our eyes see Jerusalem, the city of our appointed feasts, an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent: Let none of its stakes be plucked up, nor any of its cords be broken, but let the LORD in majesty be for us a place of broad rivers and streams; for the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king, he will save us. Isaiah 33:20-22(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Pray for your Head of State

Intercession 5.13 | ESV

For all orders and degrees of men among us, and all we stand in any relation to.

For our Head of State, that God will protect his person, preserve his health, and continue his life and government long a public blessing.

Give our ruler your justice, O God, and your righteousness, Psalm 72:1(ESV) that he may defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor. Psalm 72:4(ESV)

Let his rule be established with righteousness, Proverbs 25:5(ESV) and upheld with steadfast love. Proverbs 20:28(ESV) Give him long life and length of days forever and ever, and let his glory be great through your salvation. Make him glad with the joy of your presence: through the steadfast love of the Most High let him not be moved. Psalm 21:4-7(ESV)

Clothe his enemies with shame, but let him shine; Psalm 132:18(ESV) and continue him long, very long, as a foster father to your Israel. Isaiah 49:23(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Pray for the Healing of your Nation’s Unhappy Divisions and Success Against your Nation’s Enemies

Intercession 5.12 | ESV

For the healing of our unhappy divisions and the making up of our breaches.

For the divisions that are among us, there are great searchings of heart; Judges 5:16(ESV) for there are three against two and two against three in a house. Luke 12:52(ESV) But is the breach as vast as the sea, which cannot be healed? Lamentations 2:13(ESV) Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored? Jeremiah 8:22(ESV) Lord, repair the breaches of our land, for because of them it totters. Psalm 60:2(ESV)

I beg in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that there may be no divisions among us, but that we be united in the same mind and the same judgment. 1 Corinthians 1:10(ESV)

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant us to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together we may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 15:5-6(ESV) and promote the common salvation. Jude 1:3(ESV)

Lord, keep us from judging one another and despising one another, Romans 14:10(ESV) and give us to pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding; Romans 14:19(ESV) that living in love and peace, the God of love and peace may be with us. 2 Corinthians 13:11(ESV)

Let nothing be done from rivalry or conceit, but in humility let me count others more significant than myself; Philippians 2:3(ESV) and grant that my reasonableness may be known to everyone, because the Lord is at hand. Philippians 4:5(ESV)

For victory and success against our enemies abroad who seek our ruin.

Arise, O LORD, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you, but return, O LORD, to the ten thousand thousands of your Israel. Numbers 10:35-36(ESV)

Grant us help against the foe, for vain is the salvation of man. With God let our forces do valiantly; yes, let God himself tread down our foes, Psalm 60:11-12(ESV) and make them like dust with your sword and like driven stubble with your bow. Isaiah 41:2(ESV)

Let us be a people saved by the LORD, as the shield of our help and the sword of our triumph; Deuteronomy 33:29(ESV) and make our enemies sensible that the LORD fights for us against them. Exodus 14:25(ESV)

Those who risk their lives to the death for us on the heights of the field, Judges 5:18(ESV) train their hands for war and their fingers for battle; Psalm 144:1(ESV) give them the shield of your salvation, and let your right hand support them, Psalm 18:35(ESV) and cover their heads in the day of battle. Psalm 140:7(ESV)

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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)