When Jesus walked the earth, his disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray, and He responded by giving them the Lord’s Prayer.

Today, God still shows us how to pray, and such direction may occur in many ways; it may be a still small voice, an impression, a thought, a dream or vision–whatever way He chooses to speak to us.

This morning, I got up pondering a dream I’d just had in which it was obvious that someone was plotting against me.  As I prayed about what it meant, the Lord quickly showed me who it is and what is happening.  I asked Him how I should pray because He is the only one who could possibly intervene in the situation, and I remembered that in my dream there had been a reference to Psalms.  I knew then, that I was to pray as David prayed, and was led to Psalm 35 and 59. I wrote the prayer in my journal:

Lord, I choose to bless this person who is coming against me, for You have told us to bless our enemies.  But Lord, I now pray your scriptures:

Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me! Psalm 35:1

Kill them not, lest my people forget;
make them totter by your power and bring them down,
O Lord, our shield!
For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips,
let them be trapped in their pride.
For the cursing and lies that they utter,
consume them in wrath;
consume them till they are no more,
that they may know that God rules over Jacob
to the ends of the earth.  Psalm 59:11-13

As soon as I finished writing, The Lord impressed me to go back and pray out loud the entire text of the two chapters.  I did, and almost immediately I heard these slightly re-arranged words from Psalm 23 :

Your rod and your staff,
they comfort me in the presence of my enemies
 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

As I pondered what had just happened, the Lord also impressed me that these are the prayers I am to offer for our country tomorrow, the National Day of Prayer.  It is a welcome instruction, because to say that our nation needs God’s intervention ranks right up there with the biggest understatements ever made, and I’ve about run out of the words to pray.

Please consider how the Lord wants you to pray, and join with others across the nation and around the world to pray for the USA.  We need Him desperately!