The focus of this week’s prayers is on Praise as a spiritual weapon. Psalm 100:4-5, is the basis for these prayers, CSB, ‘Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and bless His name. For the Lord is good, and His faithful love endures forever; His faithfulness, through all generations.’ The prayers are written by Pastor Leslie

June 13 – Father, as we pray into this topic this week – we also pray for our Praise Unlimited team in church. Will You bless each one of them, particularly Pastor Alisha, as pastor with responsibility for praise and worship in church, and Nina Brazier and Steve Higgins as they lead the team.

Holy Spirit, anoint, guide and empower them to lead the church in thanksgiving and praise into the throne room of heaven so we all can worship in Spirit and truth before the Father and Son. That each team member will live being filled with Your power, presence and life, singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs – giving thanks in every setting and circumstance to Father through Christ.

That each time the team come together to practice and lead us in praise – You will be at the heart of everything guiding about song choices, how to fit the praise into the season the church is in, and to inspire us all to step out in thanksgiving and praise in our lives beyond church.

Lord, at times it can appear that evil and worldliness are overwhelming Your Church. We thank You that You have given Praise as a mighty weapon both to laud You, and to bring about Christ-honouring transformations of the circumstances we face.

I choose to praise You today, Lord. Teach us as a church, and me as part of it, how to use Praise as a spiritual weapon. Guide us in adding it properly to our spiritual armoury so that Your Spirit directs us how, when, and where, to use it as a spiritual weapon. In Jesus’ name. Amen

June 14 – 1 Peter 2:4-5, CSB, ‘As you come to Christ, a living stone — rejected by people but chosen and honoured by God — you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.’

Father, the spiritual house You are building me into in Telford Elim, is a house from which I can proclaim Your praises to the world around me with confidence and boldness. Forgive me when I have been timid and have not praised You before others. Also, when I have followed the pattern of the world and saw praise only as another form of singing, I have missed the life-giving power of praise.

May Your Spirit enable me to praise You so that my life is spiritually set more on fire – the fire of the Spirit birthed deep within me. As I praise You, I know that You will inhabit my praise thus making my witness for Christ much more real and effective.

Even when, like Paul and Silas (Acts 16:25-34), I am chained and locked up by the world around me, those shackles and bars can be broken and I set free as I praise, and sing hymns and spiritual songs to You.

I pray that our church will be especially anointed to praise and exalt You. In Jesus’ name. Amen

June 15 – Father, as we give thanks and praise, and worship Your Son, the true God and only Saviour, Jesus Christ, it sets us on a redemptive pathway bringing the grace and power of Your Spirit to our aid. I give praise for the power of Your redemption in and through Christ to deliver from sin’s power, bondage and corruption.

I pray that through the ministry of praise of Telford Elim, in person and online, some of those sin strongholds which people struggle with in their lives and communities will be overcome. Praise even draws to the surface some of those deep imbedded sins and areas of disobedience which have been so much a part of people’s lives as they are confronted with Your holy presence.

We pray today for those trapped by sin; sometimes people do not even know the power and hold of their sin – hidden from their perception. Deliver them from hidden sins and weaknesses, from hard hearts and spiritual death through Christ the Saviour.

As Your Spirit within me helps me to praise You, I am released into the freedom Christ promised. Thank You also for the way that Your Spirit imparts Jesus’ righteousness into my life so I become godlier, and thus, Christ is more fully formed at every level of my life.

2 Corinthians 3:18, LB, ‘And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him.’ Hallelujah. I give You praise for how Your Spirit is at work in my life, and in our church. In Jesus’ name. Amen

June 16 – Father, as people praise You, then heaviness of soul and the darkness that sometimes overshadows all of us is dispelled. You begin to replace those wet, cold, heavy blankets, that can swallow us up, and which hold so many bound in despair – with a new, beautiful garment of praise.

I proclaim and declare that praise is good for my soul, good for my mind, and good for my mental well-being. I pray today for any people that I know who are living at this moment with heaviness of soul and mind – sitting like that wet, cold, heavy blanket on their lives. Set them free, Lord as they give thanks and praise to You.

As we come into Your courts with praise, we gain revelation of Your majesty and goodness, and are drawn out of the mire that can seek to cause us to get stuck in a place of barrenness and unfruitfulness. In Your courts we find Your truth, covenant love, mercy and Your amazing grace.

I pray that Your Spirit may inspire songs of praise to begin to break the heaviness and darkness’s hold on them. I ask that as they sing such songs of the Spirit, You will replace the darkness with a new, beautiful, fully functional, wonderful, heavenly covering of praise. In Jesus’ name. Amen

June 17 – Ps 8:2 NIV, ‘From the lips of children and infants You have ordained praise because of Your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.’

Father, hallelujah, You have designed praise, coming from the strong in faith who have a simple trust in Christ, and are obedient to His word and will, to become mighty spiritual warriors. As we praise You it closes the mouth and silences the accuser of the brethren – the one who loudly roars at Your people.

Instead of the enemy’s voice being heard by the world around us, as we as a church praise – strength arises adding depth to our faith, and drawing us to fully trust and obey You. As we praise together, and on our own, we pray that You will create, through Telford Elim’s ministries, in person and online, and it’s people, a new space for the still, small voice of Your Spirit to be heard by the last, least and lost in our communities – drawing many to Christ the Saviour and Lord.

We confess that many times we have despaired because it seems that no-one is able to hear the Gospel, and the prophetic utterances of Your Spirit through Your people today. It seems that because of the noise of the enemy and the world around us – Your Church struggles to be heard.

Forgive us that we have not appreciated the power and strength of praise. Aid us in developing praise as a spiritual weapon within our church. Equip our church praise team, and many of us in church, to be those who give such praise to Your Son so that His Shekinah glory manifests among us. In Jesus’ name and for His glory. Amen

June 18 – Ps 22:3, ‘But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel.’

Father, as we praise Your Son, it establishes His Kingdom reign where it has not yet been. As we praise You, Your Kingdom comes and Your will is done in areas where it had not been reigning previously.

As we praise You, even those impossible barriers and great obstacles to the advance of Your Kingdom here in Telford start to be dismantled and overcome. What seemed as impossible starts to be transformed before our eyes as we praise You.

May Jesus be enthroned in our communities, redeeming them, sanctifying them, and filling them with Your Spirit’s presence and glory. Develop a great company in our church who will truly praise You here in Spirit and truth. In Jesus’ name. Amen

June 19 – Father, on this Father’s Day – we pray for all the dad’s in our church, Will You bless, strengthen and equip them to be the best dad’s possible. We pray for those who are remembering dads who are no longer alive, or who live in other parts, comfort and help them to remember with thanksgiving.

We pray for those with mixed emotions today – whose fathers are or were not everything they should have been, but are or were still loved, may they have clarity about the relationship, and Your grace to forgive where needed, and to give thanks.

We pray especially for those whose experience of fathers has been terrible – abusive, negligent, absent or hard hearted – we pray for the beginning of the release of healing and wholeness in their lives. May each one come to see the beauty, purity and love of Your Fatherhood, and may Your Fatherhood heal their broken hearts as they learn to trust in You and Your care and truth.

I will sing spiritual songs, with music and the assistance of others – Ps 150:3-5, ‘Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; praise Him with the lute and harp! Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes! Praise Him with loud cymbals; praise Him with clashing cymbals!’

Lord, we thank You that we all can praise You – Ps 47:1, ‘Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph!’ And with our whole lives and beings, praise You – 1 Corinthians 10:31, ‘Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.’

Hallelujah! As we give this type of Spirit-inspired praise to You in church, and when we are alone with You, You change us, and me, and we grow in our understanding of how, and when, to use praise as a mighty spiritual weapon.

Today we proclaim praise as a mighty spiritual weapon over the nature of the fatherhood in our nation. Redeem fatherhood from the corruption of sin and the world, and transform it into a Christ-honouring reflection of Your Father heart. Thank You in Jesus’ name and for His glory. Amen