7 Prayer Points to Pray for Your City

Many churches throughout the nation are adopting monthly days of prayer to pray for their communities. These churches unite by praying toward a common seven point prayer focus. Pastors and prayer coordinators can obviously create their own prayer guides, but we believe there is power in uniting the praying Church citywide, countywide, statewide, and nationwide. We recommend putting the new prayer guide Praying God’s Word Over Your City by Trey and Mary Anne Kent into the hands of your intercessors.

Here are the seven major prayer focuses of America Prays:

  1. Pray for Unbelievers to Be Saved. Pray that people’s hearts will be opened to repent of their sins and confess Jesus as Savior. Pray that every person in the world will be able to hear the gospel and the Word of God in their native language (Matt. 9:37–38, 24:14; Rom. 10:1; 2 Peter 3:9; Acts 26:18).
  2. Pray for a National Spiritual Awakening. Pray that Jesus will revive the Church and awaken our nation to His greatness and supremacy. Pray that God will pour out His Spirit on America, forgive our sin, and heal our land. Pray that millions of Americans will be convicted by the Holy Spirit, repent of their sins, and turn to God with all their hearts (2 Chron. 7:14; Dan. 9:18–19; Ps. 85:6; Hab. 3:2; Acts 2:37–41).
  3. Pray for Unity between Pastors and Churches. Pray that denominational, theological, and ethnic walls will come down so that pastors will love each other, pray together, and serve each other (John 17:20–23; Ps. 133:1; Eph. 4:3–6).
  4. Pray for Families. Pray that Jesus will heal, restore, and strengthen every marriage and family. Pray that husbands will love their wives like Christ loves the Church and that wives will respect and submit to their husbands. Pray that the hearts of parents will be turned toward their children to love them and raise them in a God-honoring way. Pray that children will respect and obey their parents (Gen. 2:24; Josh. 24:15; Ps. 127:3–5; Mal. 4:6; Eph. 5:22-33, 6:1–4).
  5. Pray for Racial Reconciliation. Pray that God will heal our nation of racism and that God will use the Church to stand against racial conflict, violence, and prejudice. The Church must lead the way in racial reconciliation by modeling love and respect for every person regardless of the color of their skin or their ethnic background (Rom. 10:12–13, Gal. 3:28, Acts 10:28, 34–35, John 7:24, 1 John 2:9, James 2:9, Rev. 7:9).
  6. Pray for Life to Be Valued and Protected through All Stages of Life, Beginning at Conception. Pray for God to break the culture of death in America and restore a culture of life. Pray for legalized abortion to come to an end (Ps. 139:13–16; Jer. 1:5; Prov. 24:11; Deut. 21:8–9).
  7. Pray for Local and National Government Leaders. Pray that God will give them wisdom to make wise decisionsand to govern with integrity, justice, and mercy (1 Tim. 2:1–2; Rom. 13:1; 1 Peter 2:17; Titus 3:1–2; Micah 6:8).

Once the basic prayer strategy of 31 or more churches adopting a day of prayer in the city takes root, the churches can begin to mobilize teams to pray and work toward God’s miraculous intervention in one of the seven main areas. As area prayer meetings are organized, these themes can be a key focus of the prayers.

Recently hundreds gathered from dozens of churches in Austin, Texas, at Hyde Park Baptist Church to pray for the first prayer point (Pray for Unbelievers to Be Saved) and later, another gathering focused on point seven (Pray for Local and National Government Leaders).

The dream is that teams will emerge to focus on working out these prayers into practical steps and connect with those inside and outside the “church-world” to see our cities changed for God’s glory. This was in God’s heart when He inspired Jeremiah to write: “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and prayto the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jer. 29:7).

–Rev. Trey Kent pastors Northwest Fellowship in Austin, Texas, and is the co-author of City of Prayer (PrayerShop Publishing 2019), from which this guide is adapted. Click here for more information on City of Prayer, which tells the story of the amazing citywide prayer movement in Austin and shows how this can happen in any city.

If you are just considering joining the city prayer movement, we highly recommend purchasing the City Prayer Pack, which includes City of Prayer, Praying God’s Word Over Your City and the issue of Prayer Connect, “Cities at Prayer,” which provided information on the growing movement in cites across the nation.