Day 17 (March 17)

Pray for the crime in our city

Daily Direction

• Corona/Riverside, like many areas in our country, is a diverse community of both the rich and the poor. In certain geographical areas of our city crime has become a real issue. As economic situations force more people into tight positions, as more children are being forced to spend more time on their own as parents are looking for work; these become circumstances that can add to crime in an area.
• But we know that our God is a God of justice, and he loves every person. Let’s pray today for those involved in the crime scene in our city that the Lord would radically speak to their hearts. Let’s pray that God would bless the law enforcement in our area and give our officers His heart for justice in our hometown. Cry out for peace today, a peace that goes beyond understanding, a kingdom peace that can radically change a neighborhood! People commit crime because of some kind of fear; so let’s join together and pray against the fear in our city and pray that God replaces the fear with hope!

Daily Devotion

• “Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.” (Isaiah 56.1)

Day 16 (March 16)

Pray for Families

Daily Direction

• Statistically, over 50% of marriages end in divorce these days, which means that there are many broken families here in our city. Today we are praying that the Lord come into homes and heal the brokenness in our families. Whether a family has two parents, four parents, or one parent; all of our families are in need of more of the Lord’s presence within their home.
• All prayer is an act of warfare against the kingdom of darkness; we are called to pray with authority and claim back in the name of Jesus what the enemy has stolen (Mark 3). The enemy is out to destroy families and so today we are praying against the enemy’s plan and we are praying that the Lord’s presence invades households.
• The generation gap between parents and youth is growing every year, and so pray that the Lord would restore and strengthen relationships between youth and parents. Pray for the parents of our city that the Lord would fill them with his Spirit; in all the wisdom and guidance of heaven as they raise their children. Pray for the young people that the Lord would meet them where they are at and show them where their true identity lies.

Daily Devotion

• “They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.” (Isaiah 49.10)

Day 15 (March 15)

Pray for Education in our area

Daily Direction

• We have so many schools in our area; from the many pre-schools all the way to the colleges and universities. These schools do more than simply educate people in the subjects of the classes they are taking, but these institutions truly help to shape the lives of those who attend.
• Let’s pray for all the teachers/professors who are teaching in our schools. Let’s pray that the Lord truly impacts the leaders in the schools and that these places of education are led with the values of the Kingdom. Many teachers/professors have lost their jobs in recent months because of the economy; so let’s pray that God would provide the finances for our education system that no teacher/professor would be left unemployed!
• Let’s pray for the power of God to truly invade the campuses in our area. Pray that Jesus manifests his presence on each campus in such real and tangible ways; that the lost would be forced to ask who this God is. Pray that our young people would be filled with the Spirit to reach their campuses for Christ and be the love of Jesus to everyone they come in contact with at school.

Daily Devotion

• “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” (Matthew 21.42)

Day 14 (March 14)

Pray for the poor in our community

Daily Direction

• In our area, Corona/Riverside, there are more and more everyday people coming under the umbrella of ‘the poor.’ Within our current economic circumstance more people everyday are forced into dire economic situations. The unemployment rate is high and many who once had ‘secure’ jobs are now waiting in the unemployment line. Many have gone from being the ‘rich’ to the being the ‘poor’; and for many it has happened overnight.
• We have many in our community, and many in our church body here at Inland, who are homeless. Let’s pray that Jesus intervenes into their situation and draws them closer and closer to Him. Pray that jobs become available, and that our families on the streets would have food in their stomachs and a roof over their head.
• With where we are at economically, the category of ‘poor’ in our population has skyrocketed. Let’s pray for all those who have lost their houses, their jobs, and possibly their hope. Pray that God meets them where they’re at and they come to know Him through whatever storm they are facing.
• Our God is Provider! And so let’s join together as a community and pray that He would break into our city and show Himself to the poor and downtrodden of our city.

Daily Devotion

• “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4.18-19)

Day 13 (March 13)

Pray for our city’s leaders

Daily Direction

• God is sovereign over our government on the federal, state, and city levels. Today we are praying for the leaders of our city. The Mayor, Steve Nolan, and the City Council have a lot of decisions that they are called to make on a daily basis that dictate what happens in the city that we live.
• Pray that God would grant wisdom to all of our leaders and that He would guide their decisions. Pray that our leaders would come to know Christ, if they don’t already, and that He would truly reign in the hearts of the men and women in power.
• Let’s pray that God puts Kingdom people in the lives of our leaders who might influence them in the ways of Jesus. Pray that each leader has people in their lives to support them and to encourage them in their position. Pray that God forms more and more everyday our Council into men and women of incredible integrity!

Daily Devotion

• “Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation. The law will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations.” (Isaiah 51.4)

Day 12 (March 12)

"Lord, give us your heart for Corona/Riverside."

Daily Direction

• We are called as the Church to be the Church for the world. We are joining with other local churches in our area to reach this city for Christ. But, in order to do that we have to have the Lord’s heart to reach our city. We are blessed as the people of God, but we have been commissioned to take that blessing to the world. As God’s people, his army of love warriors, we were never created to sit still and be comfortable in our community. We have been called to go out!
• Let’s pray that every person in our church gets stirred up to go into their world and proclaim the kingdom! Ask the Lord to give you his heart for the lost and the broken of our city; He is faithful to do that! May we as a people feel his heartbeat for this city that we might join with the other churches in our area to be the light in our hometown.
  
• Pray for divine appointments! Every day God is bringing people across our path that are searching for Him, whether they know it or not. Pray that He shows you who those people are during your day, and pray when they come along that He would use you to show them the Father’s love!

Daily Devotion

• “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore GO and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28.18-20)

Day 11 (March 11)

"Lord, let your kingdom break in to Corona/Riverside"

Daily Direction

• Let us pray that the kingdom of God breaks in to our city in a radical way. We are asking for more of the Lord’s presence in our local community. The Lord is the one who saves, He is the one who comforts; and so we are crying out to the Lord to come show Himself in our city in powerful ways. There are a lot of lost people in our city; we go to work with them, to school with them, and for some of us we live with them under the same roof with them. We are praying that the Lord comes and shows himself to the lost that we come in contact with every day.
  
• Lord pour out your Spirit in our city. We want to see you move in ways we’ve never seen before. Would you open up the heavens and show your face in our local community!
• During this 10-day period we will be focusing on more specific areas of prayer for our city, but today we are simply crying out for an outpouring of the Spirit in the place that we call home!

Daily Devotion

• "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world..." (John 3.19)