A Prayer for this Next Generation

A meaningful prayer from Nathan D. that was shared with me through missioncatalyst.org's weekly update:

Father of Jesus,

Before whom angels bow and archangels veil their faces,

I commend to You this next generation of Kingdom warriors. Designed to rule, each carries extraordinary potential to influence this world for good. So much uncharted passion, so much life, either it will labor for Your glory or lapse into selfishness in this myopic culture. I want You to receive glory from these priceless image bearers. You have made young men and women in Your likeness, designed...



...to reflect Your glory and make You look good with all that they are, have, and accomplish.

But Savior, Your church has offered them few battles to fight, fewer challenges to answer, and no mission great enough to arouse them from their spiritual apathy. You called us to leave the numbing trivialities of this world, to come carry crosses You have graced us to bear, to swear allegiance to a King and fight battles for His Kingdom, to sell all, give all, come follow You ... and always marvel how much we gained for having given so little. But oh, Your timid church has saddled this next generation with little more than the drudgery of mere church attendance, sitting still through another "talk," one more retreat, another spiritual experience. Savior, my heart cries out, "Your ways are far more tantalizing than this!"  

We have sold You too cheaply. Arouse this generation, numbed by endless dead-end entertainment, to follow the way of the cross with its adventure, joy, and suffering!

And so I come to You, remorseful but also restless; remorseful for having asked so little, restless with anticipation of the way things could be ... if we asked what You ask - a singular holy passion for God!

In the words of George Whitfield,

"God give us a deep humility, a well-guided zeal, a burning love, and a single eye, and then let men and devils do their worst."

As one yoked to Jesus, allow me to co-labor with You to inflame young hearts with this same passionate cry: "Give us a deep humility, a well-guided zeal, a burning love, and a single eye, and then let men and devils do their worst."

But, Savior, before the devils have their chance, capture these young men and women preparing for their journey of life. Take them to Yourself. Take them for Yourself. They belong to You, not to this world. Take them as Your inheritance, Your beloved, Your battle-ready bride, Your ambassadors of justice to an unjust world. Grant me a part in calling out and readying this generation with such holy passion, devils flee before they ever take up sword to fight.

Lord and Liege, launch a missional army of goodness. Draw millions to worship, to prepare, to grow, and then to rule in Your Kingdom together. Savior, I earnestly knock at Heaven's door begging that millions of young men and women would chose the way of the cross. And then send down the Holy Ghost and shake us as You did long ago. We will see Your face or we won't see anything at all! Breathe and blow over this generation until millions commit to a lifelong mission, a single passion, an obsession ... for God and God alone!

O Father, I yearn that this one holy passion includes a hunger for You, a deep, satisfying treasuring of You. Multiply spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting, silence, whatever will inflame their hearts. May they all enjoy apprenticeship to Jesus - becoming obedient to Your words, work, and ways. Give them to gossip - to gossip about Jesus as though sharing about a Treasure from delight, not duty. May numbers of them be blessed to see healings in the Name of Jesus; commission them as Your arms to hold a hurting world.  

Oh, that many would have the profound privilege of launching reproducing Jesus communities, Kingdom communities, here and worldwide.

And Lord, accomplish all this in a spirit of humble brokenness. We Your people are terribly damaged by sin. We are a poor showcase of Your glory, but we long to be healed and whole. And so I ask that a spirit of brokenness over sin permeate this generation. Christ-like disciples - that's what we need and You desire. Make us like Jesus. Make us one, dear Father. Make us peacemakers, brokers of peace. Make us as gracious with others' confessed sin as You are, as un-accepting of our own un-confessed sin as You are, and give us the wisdom to know the difference.

I won't deny that I would take great joy in seeing millions of young men and women labor together under the downpour of Holy Spirit, answering the joyful call to a lifelong single holy passion for God and God alone! But I know this would give You much greater joy. And so I am bold to ask:

Arouse the passion of this generation to give You all they have of heart, soul, mind, and strength. Enlist these young warriors as helpers to the hurting worldwide. Thrust forth laborers into the harvest to bring the Kingdom's goodness to single parents and at-risk kids, the neglected elderly and the abject poor, the militant and the resulting migrant, the religious fanatic and the fleeing refugee, the prostitute and the prisoner, the AIDS patient and the pregnant in crisis. Wherever Satan has sown in darkness, may this generation bring light.  

Take back Your army, the one our culture has absconded for its own deadly and boring ends. Take back Your warriors, created in Your image to fight for their King.  

Take back the hearts of those You have created passionate beings. Take back the energy, the life, the zeal, the bravery, the wisdom, the strength, and the endurance of this generation, the one You designed to be Your front line troops in the battle for Your Bride.  

Take them for Your glory and fill them with Your joy as they enter a life of mission, purpose, passion, and joy unspeakable.

And in so doing, hasten the day when ... the end shall come! Even so, come Lord Jesus!