WORD & PRAYER FOR THE 2ND WEEK OF THE YEAR (JANUARY 8- 14)

As we come into the second week of the year, let us give thanks to God for His love and faithfulness in the first week.

Psalm 100:4-5 says, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations”.

As we pray into the second week of the year, here are four things we must keep in mind:

1. The second season is for thwarting evil monopolies and breaking controlling power and unleashing opportunities and freedom. Oppressive monopolies are very active in the second season. On the second day of creation, God created the firmament to destroy the monopoly of the waters that made it impossible for other things to exist. In the second book of the Bible Egypt (with her Pharaoh) was an oppressive monopoly.

2. The second season is for releasing help and helpers to make a way where there is none. The second chapters of the Bible illustrate this. God made woman to be man’s help in Genesis 2. Women saved and helped Moses in Exodus 2. God used Rahab to help the spies in Joshua 2. Ruth met Boaz in Ruth 2 where God began to make way for her. In First Samuel 2, Hannah sang of God making a way for the poor and the beggar to sit with princes. Bathsheba intervened to make way for her son, Solomon to become king in First Kings 2. Elijah and Elisha found a way across Jordan in Second Kings 2 before the prophet was transported out of this world. God made a way for Nehemiah before the King in Nehemiah 2. God made way for Esther to become queen in Esther 2. Mordecai and Esther helped save the king’s life in Esther 2. Daniel and his friends solved the king’s problem and escaped death in Daniel 2. Baby escaped death in Matthew 2. Jesus turned water into wine in John 2. The Helper (the Holy Spirit) came in Acts 2. It is interesting that women appear as key players in many second chapters of the Bible. They are important gatekeepers and watchers this season. Moses was a monopoly-breaker in the second book of the Bible but his mom, sister, Pharaoh’s daughter and Jethro’s daughters were there to help him in the second chapter of the book.

3. The second season is for miraculous Intervention in tough situations. It is a season of exploits through the wisdom and power of God. The Lord intervened for Elijah and Elisha in the crossing of the Jordan in Second Kings 2. In the same chapter, God used Elisha to heal a barren land. For those who believe in the supernatural, this is a week to pray for, and expect, miraculous intervention in certain matters.

4. The second season is for escape from death. The spirit of death goes to work in second seasons. God warned man about death in Genesis 2:15-17. That is the first mention of death in the Bible. Many second chapters of the Bible are about escape from death. Moses escaped death in Exodus 2. Elijah escaped death by departing the earth in Second Kings 2. Daniel and his friends escaped death in Daniel 2. King Ahasuerus escaped death in Esther 2. Jesus escaped death in Matthew 2. Epaphroditus escaped death in Philippians 2. The spirit of death visits nations going through the second 49 years (sometimes, second seven years). It may come through war, violence or other kinds of disaster.

PRAYER POINTS FOR THE SECOND WEEK

1. Pray that evil road-blocks will be dismantled as people return to work in the new year. Pray that the Lord will destroy evil monopolies oppressing people and working against God’s purposes in the nations.

2. Pray that the Lord will position helpers for His people in their different circumstances this week. Pray that the Lord will send help to His people in the nations – among the persecuted and oppressed.

3. Pray that the Helper, the Holy Spirit, will help God’s people in the nations this week. Pray that the spirit of revelation will work in us as it did in Daniel 2; and as it did for Joseph and Mary in Matthew 2. Let hidden things be revealed this week.

4. Pray that the second week will be a week of escapes from death for God’s people in the nations – as Moses escaped in Exodus 2, as the spies escaped in Joshua 2, as King Ahasuerus escaped in Esther 2, as Daniel and his friends escaped death in Daniel 2, as Jesus escaped in Matthew 2 and as Epaphroditus escaped in Philippians 2.

5. Pray for women (wives, mothers, grandmothers, daughters and sisters) to occupy their places in families, communities and nations this week. Pray also that the Lord will protect them.

BIBLE READING SUGGESTIONS

The second week of the year is a Book of Exodus week. You may read the second book of the Bible as follows or as the Holy Spirit leads you:

January 8: Exodus 1-6
January 9: Exodus 7-12
January 10: Exodus 13-18
January 11: Exodus 19-24
January 12: Exodus 25-30
January 13: Exodus 31-35
January 14: Exodus 36-40

You may also choose to read the (61) second chapters of the Bible. They are Way – Maker chapters and are applicable to the week.

VERSE FOR THE WEEK

1 Samuel 2:10: “The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken in pieces; From heaven He will thunder against them. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to His king, And exalt the horn of His anointed” (NKJV).