A Prayer for The Salvation Army

Lord, you raised us up once with the dream that we could win the world for Jesus. We caught a glimpse of your heart, we had daredevil faith that would lay down it’s life to see the whole world have opportunity to respond to you.

But we’ve let disappointment and discouragement kill the dream, we took up weapons of carnal warfare, we’ve been convinced that we were imperialistic and naïve. We turned to other saviours, to respectability and reputation, to perfectionism, to structures. We’ve bought in workers, rather than laying down our lives.

You’ve allowed us to die, we’ve realised we can’t sustain ourselves, we’re desperate for you to move, for you to show up, to transform.

And so, Holy Spirit, would you raise us up once again to be dreamers, people who will sell all we have to come and get a glimpse of your heart. Would you make us a people who believe that you are who you say you are, a people compelled by the power of the gospel to transform lives, a people who will throw our lives on the line to dream and imagine a different reality than all we’ve ever known, because you’ve captivated our hearts.

We pray with the apostles, ‘stretch out your hand and give us courage to speak your word with boldness, to heal the sick and perform signs and wonders.’

Give us hearts of fire that are unafraid to fail, unashamed to invite and call and proclaim, convinced that the world is desperately hungry for what only you can offer. Make us alive again, a people who are not afraid to fail, a people who live in the light of eternity, living out heaven’s reality until it transforms earth.

Amen.