A prayer based on Revelation 20

<aside> 🙏🏻 Our hearts rejoice, gracious God, that your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, came to destroy the work of the Devil. We thank you that He is the One who enters the strong man’s house, ties him up, and plunders his possessions. That He has bound Satan, restraining what he can do. We thank you that because of this, people all over the world, who were being kept in spiritual darkness, can be brought into the kingdom of Christ. We praise you that as this happens, as disciples of all nations are made, the promise you made to Abraham that through his offspring all peoples on the earth will be blessed is being kept. Lord Jesus, we thank you that you are building your church, saving all whose names are written in the book of life, including us. How grateful we are that you have. For we know a day is coming when we will stand before your throne and face you as judge. And when we do, the book of our lives will be opened, and all our actions, words, thoughts, and motives will be judged. This should be a fearful day for us because all our sin, our rebellion, our immorality, our unfaithfulness and unbelief will be laid bare, and the penalty we deserve for this is eternal punishment in hell. Yet because our faith is in Jesus, who died for our sins, we do not need to be afraid to stand before you, because there is no condemnation for us to face because He has already been on our behalf. What a gracious and merciful God you are. We give you all the glory due to your name our great Saviour.

And we pray for your help now. Your help to faithfully follow you. Especially as Satan, though restrained and on a chain, is still active and prowling around like a roaring lion, looking to devour your people. To tempt them to give up or compromise their faith in you. To make them fearful so that they stay silent about the wonderful news that you save sinners. By your Holy Spirit, give us the strength we need to resist his wicked schemes. Keep us in your love. Protect us with your mighty hand. Especially as the day of your return approaches, and the intensity of his opposition towards your people increases. Thank you that he is a defeated foe, and that one day his defeat will be complete.

Lord, as we are living in this wonderful time of opportunity, where people from all nations are hearing the good news of the Lord Jesus and calling on Him for salvation. We pray that we would be used by you to help people hear about what Christ has done by always being ready and prepared to share about the hope we have. Forgive us for when we are ashamed to be known as one of your people or afraid to speak of Him when opportunities arise. Assure us afresh that it is through the proclamation of the gospel to those who are lost in their sins, that Jesus seeks and saves His people, and may we believe that among the people we come into contact with there are many He wants to find. May we not get weary in sharing what Christ will do for all who repent of their sins and trust in Him.

We remember that for some our brothers and sisters around the world, to tell people that salvation is found in Jesus alone is dangerous. In fact, being a Christian, worshipping God, openly, is not something that is safe to do. There are many who are in prison, who are marginalised, who are attacked and have seen friends and family killed because of their faith. For whom real suffering for Jesus’ sake is a daily experience. Support them and uphold them in every trials and hardship they go through, even when it feels for them like they are in the valley of the shadow of death. May you the God of hope, fill them with hope, the hope that their suffering will end and because their names are written in the Lamb’s book of life the second death has no power over them, and they will take their place in the new heaven and earth. We praise you that the devil will not be able to damage this new creation, like he has done this present one, because when Jesus returns, his fate is the lake of fire. As it will be for everything that opposes your rule and rejects your rescue. We praise you that nothing can and will spoil the place Jesus is preparing for His people.

All this we pray, longing for the day when Jesus returns to judge this world with righteousness and justice, gathering His people to be with Him for eternity, and to get rid of His enemies.

Amen.

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