Prayer | Colossians 2

A few weeks ago, Scott led a prayer based on Colossians 2:13-15 specifically. Here it is:
Tonight, Lord Jesus, we proclaim your forgiveness. We thank you that while we were fleeing from you, you nailed to the cross all of the wrongs we had committed against you. We thank you that in the power of the resurrection we stand free to love and serve you because you have disarmed every person and power that once ruled over us.


Yet, Lord, we know so many who are still in chains, trapped. Tonight, we pray for these people, our friends, our family, our neighbours, our fellow citizens, our brothers and sisters in humanity, and in some respects still, ourselves.

We pray for those trapped in a pattern of addiction to a habit, a drug, a person, whatever it might be.
We proclaim your victory of any and every addiction. Lord Jesus, you have disarmed anyone or anything that attempts to be the lord over a person’s life. We proclaim freedom for those oppressed by addiction.

We pray for those trapped under the rigours of religion and religious institutions, duty-bound, serving a law rather than the Living God.
We proclaim your victory over the powers of human-made religion. Lord Jesus, you have disarmed all attempts to create a god other than the one Triune God. We proclaim freedom for those oppressed by any and every religion.

We pray for those trapped in a cycle of poverty, so often beholden by a system which seduces them to remain as they are.
We proclaim your victory over poverty. Lord Jesus, you came to preach good news to the poor and proclaimed the great reversal – that the last would be first. We proclaim freedom for all of those oppressed by poverty of any kind.

We pray for those trapped by their belief that their worth is somehow tied up in what the world deems it to be – whether it be in their appearance, their popularity, their abilities.
We proclaim your victory over every thing that tries to steal our identity and value away from you. Lord Jesus, you have disarmed every power that attempts to drag us down and dehumanize us. We proclaim freedom for all those oppressed by the lies of this world about who they are.

We pray for those trapped by pain and hurt they have experienced, trapped by the scars of the hurtful actions of others towards them.
We proclaim your healing for all who are brokenhearted. Lord Jesus, you have disarmed every power that attempts to wound and harm us. We proclaim freedom for all those oppressed by pain and hurt.