Category: Blog Posts

Feb. 9-12, 2018, gathered this time at Park Avenue Retreat Center, Titusville, FL USA

Our Vision: Prayer is the indispensable key to the unfinished task. Every movement of Christ is founded on extraordinary prayer. We encourage every disciple to seek God for their “metron” or assignment from the Lord—their “field”, their “vineyard”. God is calling every leader to model and assist others in cultivating a conversational relationship with God both individually and corporately, which is prayer. God can speak to us corporately what He cannot speak to any single individual. As every disciple learns to abide in this position of intimacy, God changes us in His Presence to be change agents in the world. He downloads to us His strategies and then empowers us to join Him and others in executing them. We listen, then obey. This abiding results in fruitfulness for His glory and put us in position to exercise His authority to ignite movements to Christ among our neighbors and the nations. Isaiah 60 speaks of the call to “arise, shine, for our Light has come” and “darkness, deep darkness being over the peoples”—it is the season of the both/and the more of Ephesians 3:20. We must labor as they did in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem alongside Nehemiah and labor with our tool in one hand and our sword in the other. Surely this is the kairos moment to press forward into the ripe harvest fields with urgency. Our Bridegroom is coming for a Bride with whom He is equally yoked. He is inviting us to come up higher and prepare ourselves and His Kingdom for His soon return. His heart is that none should perish; we are committed to seeing that His heart’s desire is fulfilled in partnership with Him.

Fellowship of Prayer Strategists gathers, as God directs, that we may:

• grow in love for Him and one another,
• experience the iron sharpening iron as we learn from each other and His Spirit in an environment of intentional listening, and,
• encourage one another to discover best practices in every arena of prayer strategy which results in the greatest fruitfulness for His Kingdom’s sake.

This Gathering: Twenty-four from 5 regions participated full time, with another 3-5 joining for portions. Many work globally, some focused on regions, or specific ministries or people groups, and others joined who regularly serve in onsite prayer teams and with church prayer teams. This gathering focused primarily on prayer strategists serving networks, organizations, and partnerships such as the Ethnê Movement, 24:14 Coalition, International Orality Network, Wycliffe/SIL, AIM, AEA, Liberty Prayer Network, Evangelism Explosion International, Florida National Day of Prayer, Central Florida Prayer Network, Borderless, Global Diaspora Network, Lausanne Younger Leaders Gathering, International Partnering Associates, TransWorld Radio, Global Alliance for Church Multiplication (GACX), Asian Access, Deaf Bible Society and Ambassadors for Christ International. The Holy Spirit guided us to embrace and model the tension of the dance between being Mary and Martha, between seasons of intimacy and engagement, between worship and work. God invites us to join hands with Him and each other, to engage in the conversations and to ask better questions, listening for His responses. Intentional listening results in a high level of hearing His voice individually and corporately.

  Daily Worship Themes: Betsy Brown facilitated our worship throughout the gathering. Friday we focused on God’s call to “Come Up Here”, offering ourselves as living sacrifices (all I Am. Have. Do. Suffer.), and reminding ourselves to “Stop. Look. Listen to God” as we moved from colleagues coming together, to becoming friends in our time together. We spent time assessing our own expectations and then listening to God for His expectations for our time together. We incorporated times of Intentional Listening as a part of each day. Saturday, we began our day by looking at the value of being one of God’s nameless, faceless. God redirected the focus from what had been planned to jump in the river of His Spirit, lifting our toes from “gripping” to control and letting His Spirit carry us forward where He would. With the room-sized global floor map shared by International Orality Network, we engaged in interactive prayer in Worship Warfare over the nations, and in a time of prayer along the Old Silk Roads. During the communion time, Tom Adleta reminded us of the experience of the disciples on the Emmaus Road, that as they broke the bread, their eyes were opened to see Jesus. Sunday, the JointheBibleProject (www.jointhebibleproject.com ) video “Holiness” opened our time which included a season of prayer using Joshua Project unreached people prayer cards and Scripture prayer tools. 

The group gathered in the gazebo without their possessions for Prison Praise and Prayer, realizing that persecution may mean the only thing we have with which to survive is the Word of God and the song of the Lord in our hearts. Coming back into the building, God led us in times of identificational repentance including serving from a place of healing rather than from our woundedness, gender brokenness, elder/younger relationships, among other subjects.  Monday we opened the day with another video from JointheBibleProject.com, called “Heaven and Earth”, picturing the role we have as prayer strategists of seeing Heaven and Earth uniting in the same space as we carry His Presence throughout the earth. “The Kairos Moment is Now” video emphasized the urgency of this hour and our assignment to be prepared and work while it is still day. Linda Bemis shared “The Eye of the Needle” audio which invited us to go low, lower, even lower in order to pass through the small gate that leads to His Presence (echoing laying our Isaac’s down). Each day we shared communion together. Maureen Bravo journaled on poster panels throughout the sessions (available to view on the FPS Facebook page along with photos of the proceedings) which reveal even more detail of what God spoke to us.

Workshop Topics: Saturday the Discovery Bible Study prayer set was introduced and practiced by the group; this is one of the tools developed in November by the Ethnê Prayer Team using the typical format used in most movements to Christ. It is simple, easy to reproduce and translate, uses only the Word of God guided by a set of simple questions which allows the Holy Spirit to be the teacher. Prayer strategists need good prayer shields and we shared discussion on what this looks like and how to establish them, including introducing Colin Millar’s booklet, The PIT Crew on personal intercessory teams. A brief history of FPS led into a short presentation on what is a prayer strategist and what are prayer strategies (see www.prayerstrategists.net for this information). Melinda Lyons shared with the group principles for those serving networks, organizations, and partnerships to “Look Back”—understanding the history and existing practices as well as the present culture of prayer of the group you serve.

This included looking at the spiritual dynamics at play in the group, really seeing the field in which we work through God’s eyes. Linda Bemis introduced “Look Up” submitting all this before the Lord and listening to His perspective and strategies. A substantial time was devoted to discussing what a “culture of prayer” was and how to attain it; Katherine Lorance will be writing up a short piece collating the thoughts that were shared. Sunday morning was a substantial time of participating with the Holy Spirit as He guided us in prayer and ministry times. Russ Simons shared about the role of prayer and prayer strategists in partnerships and the challenges of staying connected with good communication and briefly on issues of security. Four regional groups wrestled with the VisionSynergy MENA prayer mobilization research that had been provided. In this research, three main groups were highlighted: prayer requestors, prayer producers, and prayer intercessors. Many questions remained and we felt this topic alone required an entire workshop. The research indicated, in the opinion of the researchers, these practices likely would enhance prayer mobilization:

• Don’t let security prevent mobilization.
• Increase sharing answers to prayer to encourage intercessors.
• Increase measurement and self-awareness for continuous improvement.
• Increase tech savvy and learn new tools.
• Focus more on email and Twitter.
• Diversify target audience, methods, and broadly mobilize.
• Replicate and distribute prayer requests in a variety of languages.
• Increase the link between ‘on the ground’ ministry and prayer networks.
• Link and share requests with other networks.

Everyone felt that we needed to better understand what we consider “success” in terms of prayer and prayer mobilization. And, we need greater clarity on what we mean even when we speak of ‘prayer’ and what exactly we are wanting to generate when we ‘mobilize prayer’.

Understanding that there are at least 3 types of intercessors: general intercessors, crisis intercessors, and personal intercessors, mobilization could be better targeted to the preferred styles of intercession. In addition, in today’s world, houses of prayer, 24/7 boiler rooms and strategic prayer equipping groups, are only 3 new styles of prayer that do not fit these other categories and would require specific mobilization geared to their new styles of prayer engagement. All of this touches on the idea of needing to expand mobilization in other languages but doesn’t address the various ways that Global South believers might prefer to receive prayer requests and pray together—usually not through the technological means lists in the research. The research did not take into account the idea that we must model what we hope to reproduce—an idea at the heart of movements to Christ. Nor did it take into account that movements to Christ must be founded on listening prayer which is integral to the strategy development and execution of those movements. FPS has identified at least 14 different ‘spheres of prayer’ (see www.prayerstrategists.net to see these under ‘Resources by Strategy’), which also reflect ways that prayer potentially can impact, undergird, support, and carry forward the work of the Kingdom that would likely NOT be included in the idea of ‘prayer mobilization’ included in this research project.

Katherine Lorance shared briefly about the challenges of diaspora peoples (representing the equivalent of the fifth largest nation on earth). Betsy briefly presented the challenge of being prepared for opportunities God is opening through the Matthew 24 ‘earthquakes, wars and rumors of wars, famines, plagues,’ etc. not only to respond but to include prayer strategists in the response and to be ready to be multiplying praying disciples as a result of our response. Again, these two topics would each be sufficient for an entire workshop on the subject.

Things We Didn’t Cover That We’d Like to See Covered at Some Point: Deeper on almost all topics. Developing Crisis Response prayer strategies and prayer strategists. Further work needed on developing the role of serving organizations, networks, and partnerships. Better understanding what is effective prayer engagement and how to measure it. Job’s description of a prayer strategist needs to be developed further. Worship warfare Discovery Bible Studies need to be developed in more depth.

Next Steps Recommended: Next steps proposed included:

• summarize all the sessions for distribution to the participants,
• continuing to raise up and mentor new prayer strategists,
• help prayer strategists set up prayer shields (coaching),
• attempt regular (monthly?) series of training calls for prayer strategists,
• establish a book swap to reduce costs for recommended resources,
• make the Body of Christ aware of the vision for prayer strategists and opportunities to include prayer strategists on their teams and in their organizations

Testimonies: Several mentioned the blessing of Betsy Brown’s facilitation of worship as a highlight as well as the variety of participants and the fellowship over the Word and worship. “It was a fantastic time to meet like-minded prayer strategists in so many different ways.” “I loved modeling and listening to God in a community.” “The flow of the Holy Spirit was so sweet and the sense of unity among us incredible.” “I appreciated the more experienced prayer strategists being so approachable and engaging with us all.” “I have loved and deeply benefited from this time, the content, the prayer pieces, the community building…” “

From Russ Simons of International Partnering Associates just shared: “Michael Kasper and I are part of a group called Global Network Leaders Forum and I reported on the FPS last week in LF. One thing that came out of the GNLF discussion was the desperate need for global networks and partnering groups to gather about this prayer strategy topic. Although the conveners of this FL gathering wanted to bring network prayer leader, we barely touched the surface of a very deep well of such people. This kind of process must grow!!! This may be the beginning. Prayer Strategists for UPGs around the world work mostly alone. We need to change that!”

Share It!!! Breakthrough Experiment in Social Media for Prayer Strategists

31-Day UPG Prayer Challenge

I’m starting with a confession: I’m a dummy when it comes to social media. I’m in my early 60’s and starting trying to use Facebook awhile back to keep up with my kids and their families when that was popular since they were posting. As I followed on Facebook, I discovered other missional folks using Facebook to share prayer needs, scriptures and so on and realized some used Twitter, so I made a stab at posting a bit myself here and there. I’m pretty much a novice. But, I’ve discovered from my 20-something kids that social media of one form or another is a popular way to communicate and relate to each other in their worlds.

Most of the prayer strategists we currently relate to are older, though likely not as old as I am. Few, if any, are in the 20-something range of age. In our discussions with other prayer strategists, the idea of using social media has been tossed about and I’m sure some of you do a great job already at appropriating it for mobilizing prayer. It occurred to us to do an experiment and see how effective we could be at breaking into these venues and encouraging especially younger folks to engage in prayer for unreached people groups. Thus, we came up with the idea of a 31-Day UPG Prayer Challenge. But, before I tell you the details of the challenge, let me tell you what I’m learning about social media as told to me by one of my daughters who is a graphic design specialist with a masters degree in marketing and by a friend, Duane Frasier, of Joshua Project.

I’m told, the best way to make use of Facebook and Instagram is through interactions. Not every post is seen my all your friends. The more “engagements” you have on a post the more it will be shown in your friend’s feeds. What I mean by engagements is people commenting on it, liking it, and sharing it. The more involved, the more it is shown to others to get involved too.

Another way to be found/connected in Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook is through hashtags (#). For example, you can include the hashtag #prayer and people who want to see what is being posted about prayer can search for the #prayer. They will see your post/image/video that includes the hashtag. One thing to note about hashtags is that you want to use a hashtag people are searching for, but also not use one that has millions+ of posts because you are likely to get lost in the shuffle of things.

Pinterest is basically a visual search engine. People can bookmark different websites on their boards to come back to at a later time. So, think Google but with images. The best descriptions to include in your Pinterest pin is something people will search for, i.e. grilled chicken recipes, or in our case, perhaps UPG prayer or missional prayer.

All that to say, for the prayer challenge, we want to be sharing and liking and commenting on the posts daily to increase the visibility and (hopefully) the engagement with new people. So, we will be posting the image along with a link to move info on the people group daily. Please look for those posts on our Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest pages. Pray for the people group and share it on your own page. Let’s see God work and break through this in a powerful way!

Ethnê usually focuses on Eastern Europe/Eurasia every March and we’ll go with that set of UPGs, which will parallel the Global Prayer Digest. We’ll give a meme (image with short caption) to Read – Pray – Repost which will also have a link to GPD if they want more information to pray deeper. At the end of each GPD item, there’s a further link to the Joshua Project profile for even more information and more prayer points. Even if your network uses text messages or only hard copies, we can help. Here are the basic instructions for the upcoming prayer challenge:

Share it!!! Take March’s 31-Day UPG Prayer Challenge.

Read – Pray – RePost

Step 1: Read

Read the image and follow the link in the copy, if desired, to read more from Global Prayer Digest. For even more information, click the link at the end of the GPD article leading to the Joshua Project profile on the people group and further prayer points.

Step 2: Pray

Pray for the people group and daily requests. This can be a quick “breath prayer” or go as deep as God leads you.

Step 3: RePost

Post it to your own social media accounts to build a collective group praying for the unreached people groups of the world.

Join the 31 Day Prayer Challenge! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & Pinterest to get the daily memes. Example below:

Facebook – 

@prayerstrategists

@ethneprayer

Twitter – 

@praystrategies

Pinterest –

http://pin.it/LRz_uEE

Instagram – 

@pryr_strategists

Whatsapp – (request to be added by emailing prayer@ethne.net or start your own UPG prayer group)
Group: Prayer 4 UnreachedPeoples

Hard Copies Also Available to Print and Use for those without access to electronic media:
Email prayer@ethne.net to request access on DropBox for .pdf copies or via your email box.

Let’s join hands and change the world through prayer!

Partnership and Prayer
by Liz Adleta

God calls us to join hands with Him and with one another in His work. The invitation to His Kingdom is an invitation into the community of saints. Jesus told His followers that the greatest commandments were to love God and to love one another; in other words, live in upward and outward relationship. Communication is the glue of relationship. Prayer is our ongoing communication with God and as we join in corporate prayer, we exercise that privilege together, deepening the bonds between us as well as with God Himself.

1 Cor. 3:9 says, “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.” 

Jesus modeled community, selecting twelve to be with Him, then sending His messengers out in teams of two. He promised to be with them—the third member of each team. Communicating the good news to those who were not as yet in the community is our joint venture with Father and with one another. That relational glue of communication and prayer is required for His purposes to be fulfilled.

Luke 10:1 “1After this the Lord appointed seventy-two[1] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.” 

Partnership must be founded on humility. We recognize that God is honored when we are like-minded and consider one another’s interests above our own. Most importantly, we seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness together.

As Phil. 2:1-11 says,“1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:     6Who, being in very nature[1] God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,  7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature[2] of a servant, being made in human likeness.  8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death–even death on a cross! 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place  and gave him the name that is above every name,  10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,  11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” 

Partnership convinces the unbelieving world that our message is genuine. The world takes notice of our genuine love for one another and the venue where that is displayed is as we work together and as we pray together. 

John 13:34-35, Jesus tells His disciples: 34“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” 

John 17:20-23 also says, 

20“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 

Partnership confirms that we ‘walk worthy of the call’ with which we have been called. Over 150 “one another” commands are given in the Bible. In order to obey, we must be working and living alongside each other. As we do, iron sharpens iron, and we have opportunity to grow in our ability to love unconditionally as God loves us. 

Ephesians 4:1-6 tells us “1As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit–just as you were called to one hope when you were called– 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”  

And in Ephesians 4:17-24, the Bible reads, 

17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.  
20You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Partnership concentrates our focus on the ‘main thing’—that is, the message of the cross, the preaching of the Gospel, and loving each other. 

Here in 1 Cor. 1:10-17, the Bible tells us, “10I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas[1] “; still another, “I follow Christ.”  
13Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into[2] the name of Paul? 14I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. 16(Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) 17For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel–not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” 

We have great power in this divine partnership. The Bible mentions that partnership yields a good return for their work, offers us help in times of need, companionship and encouragement, and protection in numbers. The power of agreement in prayer increases its potency and effectiveness.

Ecc. 4:9-12 “9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: 10 If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls  
and has no one to help him up! 11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.  
But how can one keep warm alone? 12 Though one may be overpowered,  
two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” 

There is multiplied power in partnership. The scriptures indicate that five can put 100 to flight and 100 can put 10,000 to flight as we are told in Lev. 26:7-8, when we serve and obey Him:  

Lev. 26:7-8 “ 7 You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. 8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.”

As we pray and work in partnership, breakthroughs result. The more closely we coordinate our prayer and our field efforts among the least-reached people groups, the more frequently we will see significant breakthroughs among those remaining with little access to the gospel. Barriers that remain are significant yet God has given us a way through this cooperative, focused prayer to see these barriers torn down.

Partnership is the place of commanded blessing from God. When sisters and brothers live and work together in unity, God’s pleasure and His blessing are assured. The fragrance of Christ radiates from their lives throughout their communities. Not only does the atmosphere begin to change among people groups far from the Lord, but communities begin to experience Kingdom living that expresses His righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 133 reads,“1 How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! 2 It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down upon the collar of his robes. 3 It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.” 

Ethnê’s Harvest-Linked Prayer Strategy Initiative offers an annual cycle whereby believers can join hearts and prayers with frontline field workers to P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Something Happens) among the remaining least-reached people groups for much-needed breathroughs. Would you join in praying along?

 

 

ALL KINDS OF PRAYERS

By Liz Adleta, Fellowship of Prayer Strategist

Ephesians 6:18 “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”

I love this verse! We are told to pray in the Spirit:

• On all occasions
• With all kinds of prayers and requests
• Always keep on praying
• For all the Lord’s people

Pray on all occasions for all the Lord’s people always with all kinds of prayers. Have you ever thought about what kinds of prayers this may be referring to?

When I was young, I was taught a simple acronym A.C.T.S. It stands for:

• Adoration
• Confession
• Thanksgiving
• Supplication

Four kinds of prayers. I believe there are several other kinds of prayer as well:

• Listening prayer
• Prophetic/apostolic prayer
• Intercessory prayer
• Prayers of agreement

Thanksgiving. Let’s take a quick look at these types of prayer. The Word tells us that we enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Thanksgiving simply means giving thanks to God for everything He so generously gives to us: life, breath, food, clothing, shelter, and so much more. In 1 Chronicles 16:7-36, we see how David models four elements included in true thanksgiving:

• Remembering what God has done for us.
• Telling others about it.
• Showing God’s glory to others.
• Offering gifts of ourselves, our time, and our resources.

A thankful heart is a joyful heart; this practice of entering His courts with thanksgiving prepares our hearts for an audience with the King and brings the added benefit of filling us with joy.

Adoration. As we fill our hearts with thoughts of God’s generosity and goodness, praise and adoration are a natural result. We find that intense admiration wells up, culminating in reverence and worship, including the outward acts and attitudes which accompany such. As we reverently and raptly contemplate the Divine perfections and prerogatives, our hearts are filled with praise. Out of the heart, the mouth speaks. We find ourselves speaking in words and song, exclaiming about God in His transcendent greatness, holiness and lovingkindness. The Word tells us that He inhabits the praises of His people—He literally is enthroned upon our praises as they rise to Him. We His people praise and we find God manifesting His presence near us and among us. It’s no wonder that as we fall more in love with our Savior and King in remembering His kindness to us, and we pour forth to Him our words and expressions of love and gratitude, He responds to us by drawing near as we draw near to Him. If we could only engage with God through thanksgiving and adoration, what a joy we would experience never the less! We turn our hearts and minds to Him and He wraps His Presence around us. We experience true intimacy with Him in this delightful place.

Listening Prayer. Having drawn near to God through thanksgiving and adoration, we find that we, like Esther, have the ear of the King, Our Beloved. In His Presence is fullness of joy; at His right hand are pleasures forevermore. This is the place where we can hear His heart. Because we love Him, our greatest desire is to know what pleases Him and to hear what things are on His heart. This is the time and place for listening prayer. We can be still in His presence and know He is indeed God Almighty, Sovereign Lord, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. As we linger here, we are changed in His Presence from glory to glory. We are becoming what we behold. Remember Moses whose face was transfigured after spending time before God.

Confession. As we listen in this place of intimacy, gently, so gently, the Holy Spirit may convict us of things in our lives and hearts not pleasing to God. Confession is simply acknowledgement, admission, profession, honesty, repentance and telling it forthrightly to all who should hear it. 1 John 1:9 tells us, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” As we admit our need of forgiveness, God freely offers not only pardon but cleansing as well. There are actually two distinct confessions in the gospel: the confession of sin and the confession of Christ. Both are necessary for salvation; one is pointless without the other. We are called to be honest about our faults as well as our faith. God may speak to us about confessions we need to make before men; obedience to His instructions should be born out of our love for Him and respect for His wisdom and love for us.

Supplication. In this place of listening and responding to His voice within us, a time comes for us to make our requests known to God. Supplication simply means petitions, entreaties or requests. Jesus told us to ask and we would receive that our joy would be full.

Intercession. To intercede simply means to plead or mediate on behalf of another person or group. Depending on the object of our prayers, we would be asking or interceding.

In the Disciples’ Prayer, several requests are listed:

• Your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as in heaven.
• Give us this day our daily bread.
• Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
• Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

God showed me that these phrases are spoken according to different roles that we hold as royal priests before Him:

• Your kingdom come and Your will be done are spoken by us in our role as ambassadors for the King of kings and  His Heavenly Kingdom.
• Give us this day our daily bread is spoken by us in our role as stewards of the Master’s Household.
• Forgive us as we forgive is spoken in our role as advocates before the Righteous Judge.
• Lead us not and deliver us are spoken in our roles as both soldiers of the Captain of Hosts and sheep of the Good Shepherd.

Envision yourself in these roles over any given circumstance and I think you’ll find it much easier to understand how to pray. In addition, I believe you’ll discover that you have much more faith-filled prayers, because we are called to such positions by God Himself who delights to give us what is needed according to His will and purposes in every situation. When we ask for things which advance His Kingdom and His glory, of course He will answer our requests. When we speak as stewards of the Household, as its Master, He delights to see that the Household is supplied appropriately. Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us and as our Advocate, He stands alongside us arguing in our defense. We freely forgive as He has freely forgiven us; in doing so, we are overcoming evil with good.

For me, it is a bit strange to think of myself both as a soldier and as a sheep, but we are both. Jesus, in Luke 10, warned the disciples that He was sending them out as sheep among wolves. When they returned to Him later in the chapter, He noted that He saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. We may be as vulnerable as sheep, but our Good Shepherd watches over us. We are told to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. In walking in dependence upon Him and abiding in the place of intimacy, we fight the good fight of faith on our knees. The battle is not ours, but the Lord’s. As we abide in Him, we do find that we bear much fruit for His glory.

Prophetic/Apostolic Prayer. Prophetic prayer involves speaking forth by the Holy Spirit the thoughts and intents of God. What is being spoken forth is God’s heart on the matter. When we operate from this place of deep intimacy, we often find ourselves sensing a power welling up within us beyond our natural selves. A “knowing” guides our words beyond what we can know in the natural. Prayer hits a deep place and it’s not surprising to see an emotional response such as tears welling up, or other physical manifestations. Prophetic prayer may seem more authoritative than other prayer and may come in the form of declarations and assurances from the Holy Spirit through us as we speak. The result of this type of prayer is an air of confidence that God has indeed spoken. Always we examine what is spoken by the plumb line of the Word of God and let God Himself confirm with two or three witnesses.

Apostolic prayer is birthed from that intimacy with God and His heart bubbling out from our spirits, yearning for the fulfillment of His purposes in the earth among all peoples. It seems similar to prophetic prayer but may be broader, covering regions, peoples, or situations. Apostles are the “sent ones” and often pray for the breaking open of new territories for the Kingdom of God and the binding of strongholds and demonic efforts restricting the progress of the gospel. In the Disciples’ Prayer, the phrase “For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever” would, in a sense, be an apostolic proclamation.

Prayer of Agreement. The prayer of agreement is simply when two or more people come together and agree with one another and with the Word of God that something specific be done. See Genesis 11:1-9; Matthew 18:19-20; Exodus 17:8-13; Psalm 133:1-3; Acts 4:23; and Hebrews 10:24-25 give some examples. Even unbelievers can stand in agreement and there is a certain amount of power released in this (Genesis 11:1-9). But, God has delegated through Jesus power and authority to His Bride, the Church, and as we stand together in unity, more of God’s power can be released. When we pronounce the “amen,” we are basically saying, “Yes, Lord, let it be so.” The Word tells us that all His promises to us are “yes and amen in Christ Jesus.”

I challenge you to walk through these different kinds of prayers as you engage with God, individually or corporately. Be intentional as you turn toward him, and draw near. Allow ample time so that you can practice the “alls’ listed in our scripture above, praying all the time for all the saints all kinds of prayers always. You’ll be part of changing the world when you do!

 

2 Peter 3:11-12 “…what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed it’s coming.”

Wow! This scripture seems to say that we have some ability to hasten the Day of God! As we see things around us seeming to spiral out of control in the natural, I’m eager to hasten the coming of the Lord and His rule of righteousness. I believe God actually has given us some keys to participate in that process and one of those things is prayer. Paul Billheimer in Destined for the Throne speaks about this life as being ‘on the job training’ for ruling and reigning with Christ Jesus in His Kingdom. As we pray, we are proclaiming and releasing His rule now on earth as in heaven. As I study the Bible, I notice that there are actually several things mentioned that seem to act as accelerants to our prayers.

An accelerant is: Any substance that can bond, mix, or disturb another substance and cause an increase in the speed of a natural or artificial chemical process. In the spiritual realm, there are accelerants which can increase the power or effect of our prayers toward achieving God’s purposes on the earth.

Agreement. Scriptures indicate in the Old Testament that one could put one thousand to flight, but two could put ten thousand to flight. “And if one person is vulnerable to attack, two can drive the attacker away. As the saying goes, “A rope made of three strands is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:12 And “If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you.” Matthew 18:19 The prayer of agreement is one such accelerant. Unity in prayer increases its power.

Alignment. 1 John 5:14-15 “We live in the bold confidence that God hears our voices when we ask for things that fit His plan.” When our prayers are aligned with His will, we can be very confident that He answers. He reveals His will in His Word. Praying prayers based in scripture is an accelerant that assures us of His response.

Faith. In Matthew 17:20 the disciples asked Jesus why they couldn’t cast out the demon. “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” Frequently, Jesus talked about those who He recognized to have faith, and He chided those with lack of faith. The prayer of faith, confident in God’s hearing and answering, brings results.

Fasting. The disciples had just failed at casting out a demon. In Mark 9:28-29 “After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer and fasting.” Fasting is another accelerant to prayer. The spiritual discipline and sacrifice involved in fasting with pure motives increases its effectiveness.

Fervency. James 5:16 “Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another, that he may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” George Otis, Jr. said, “Specificity fuels fervency and fervency yields results.” Praying specific prayers acts as an accelerant, energizing those prayers.

Purity. Psalm 24:3-4 “Who can possibly ascend the mountain of the Eternal? Who can stand before Him in sacred spaces? Only those whose hands have been washed and hearts made pure, men and women who are not given to lies or deception.” In prayer, we approach God through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, sins forgiven, hearts devoted to seeking and obeying Him. Purity positions us in His favor and acts as an accelerant to our prayers.

Worship. Isaiah 30:18 “Meanwhile, the Eternal One yearns to give you grace and boundless compassion; that’s why He waits. For the Eternal is a God of justice. Those inclined toward Him, waiting for His help, will find happiness.” We incline ourselves toward Him as we worship. Our abandoned devotion to Him attracts His attention and affection. Our prayers are His delight when birthed in the atmosphere of worship and adoration.

Quantity. Scriptures indicate that our prayers have a certain volume and are in the process of filling golden bowls in heaven.Revelation 5:8 “And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.”When those prayers have filled the bowls, the Bible indicates they are poured out on the earth resulting in tangible manifestations connected to their answers. So, the greater the quantity of our prayers, when prayed in according with God’s will and purposes, the sooner the answers seem to be manifested.

Prayer exercises the authority we have in Christ Jesus to override the forces of the Evil One attempting to kill, steal and destroy. Let’s make every possible use of this powerful key at every opportunity, as we look forward to and hasten the day of His appearing!

Article by Liz Adleta, Fellowship of Prayer Strategists

---

A Historical Story of Mountain Moving Faith

Can we really move mountains? Christine & Peter Darg of the Jerusalem Channel examine the remarkable story of a miracle in Cairo, Egypt, when Coptic Christians faced imminent destruction and persecution from an Islamic caliph. Their example in church history underscores the saying of Jesus that mountains can be moved–literally. Pray for the ongoing work of Revival in this Bible Land as promised in Isaiah 19:25 when God will declared, “Blessed be Egypt My People!” View the story here: https://vimeo.com/11186796

 

August 11th Next Ethne Prayer Call, 7am Central, on Zoom.com. Join us to hear a short briefing from a local expert on Unreached Buddhists in South Asia, to pray for God’s move among them, and to hear more about plans for birthing a ‘30 Days of Prayer for the Buddhist world’ (similar to the existing ‘30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim world’). Email prayer@ethne.net for the Zoom link.

 

Looking for 2 Champions! God is moving powerfully in response to many prayers for the Muslim world, including the past 23 years of prayer during Ramadan through 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim world! What would He do if we prayed in a similar fashion for the Buddhist world and the Hindu world! Many pieces are in place but we need a champion to organize and facilitate these efforts. Is God calling YOU to take that role? Contact prayer@ethne.net if you sense His call in that direction!

 

©2014 Freedom for the Captive Ministries. Permission is granted to copy this document for non-commercial use.

Wholeness prayer is a biblically-based interpersonal ministry – a powerful and easily multipliable tool for personal restoration and discipleship. Its focus is on bringing emotional and spiritual healing, freedom and perspective for those struggling with a particular area of concern or challenge. During wholeness prayer one person is typically receiving while the other is facilitating. Because the work of spoken prayer is largely carried out by the facilitator, the recipient is able to focus on listening and responding. Through such an arrangement God often breaks through and brings life-giving perspective. This prayer approach can be learned by believers in Christ and does not require a particular giftedness. Related types of prayer are inner-healing and listening prayer.

Five main steps involved in basic wholeness prayer are:

1. Recognize: Identify (take captive) your negative feelings, thoughts, and actions.
2. Recent: Bring these to God and ask Him to reveal a related recent memory.
3. Root: Ask God to reveal any root(s) – the first time (or pattern) when you thought, felt, and/or acted this way.
4. Receive: Receive His perspective – first at the root, if there is one.
5. Renew: Apply this perspective in everyday life.

Wholeness prayer helps strengthen movements and strategy teams by facilitating discipleship and leadership development. It is also a useful tool for evangelism and conflict resolution. Some representative examples follow:

• Ed, the leader of a strategy team, has a problem with insecurity and explosive anger. As he and Tom bring this to God using wholeness prayer principles, Ed realizes that underneath his anger is shame, hurt, and fear. He remembers a significant time in his childhood when he felt incompetent, hurt and alone.  God speaks truth and peace into this memory and heals his wounds.  Ed now knows experientially that God is with Him and for Him. He has a new pattern to walk out in discipleship. Over time his family and teammates notice that he has more patience and resilience. The team grows in unity and a long-standing conflict is resolved.
• Carl, a member of a DBS, struggles with shame. It’s hard for him to believe that God could love him. As he prays with Sam, Carl realizes that his struggle is generational.  God shows Carl how He would like to lift the burden of shame his father carries. Then Carl is able to receive God’s acceptance and have his own burden of shame lifted. His relationship with his wife improves.
• Theresa, a new believer, avoids spending time with God. She often falls asleep or hears disturbing voices when she reads the Bible. She prays with Joyce through Freedom from Generational Bondage and renounces the sin of her ancestors, including the sin of witchcraft. Afterwards she is able to read the Bible without interference.
• Nancy is a ‘cousin’ who recently lost her job. Her sister April, a new believer, listens compassionately to her story, then offers to pray for her. She uses modified wholeness prayer principles and Jesus lifts Nancy’s burden. Nancy then wants to learn more about Jesus.
• Tony, a leader of a growing movement, is struggling with post-traumatic stress after a factory explosion.  He prays through this trauma with Steve, and experiences God’s peace in each memory involved. Steve then asks God to show Tony where He will be the next time Tony hears a loud noise. Tony hears God saying that He will be Tony’s shield and that the trauma is over. Tony re-engages with normal life and is no longer haunted by his past trauma.

For more information, see www.freemin.org and http://ent.freemin.org/simplified-version/ .

By Linda Bemis, International Orality Network [ION]

The Workers Are Few: 

“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Matthew 9:35-38 

The fields ARE ripe unto harvest. God’s heart is for every and all peoples to have the opportunity to come to know Him and have the opportunity to receive the gift of salvation because of His Son.

Prayer brings us directly into the larger perspective of what God is doing!

Jesus’ solution was always prayer. Prayer changes things!

When we pray, we recognize that prayer…

• Ushers us into God’s presence
• Reveals God’s plans
• Obeys Jesus’ command to ask the Lord of the Harvest to send workers.
• Invites God’s presence
• Removes hindrances to the gospel
• Prepares hearts to hear and respond
• Releases resources
• Gives protection for all

• Releases spiritual power
• Exercises divine authority to change situations and people
• Prayer IS the battle, and prayer brings the victory                       

Praying Effectively: 

• Pray that believers will see the hearts among every least-reached people group that are ready to hear and respond to the Gospel.  John 4:35
• Pray that the Lord of the Harvest will send laborers into His Harvest fields.  Luke 10:2
• Pray that the Lord will help the Body of Christ to labor together in the unity of the Spirit to bring good news where it’s never been heard before.  1 Cor. 3:9
• Pray that God will supply and multiply the resources necessary to support His workers and their work.  2 Cor. 9:8-11
• Pray for 100-fold fruit that remains for God’s glory and transforms each group by its presence.  Matthew 4:20

See more at: http://www.globalprn.com/praying-for-the-unreached/

---

How to pray specifically for Oral and Oral Bibleless People: 

The remaining Unreached Unengaged People Groups are predominantly oral societies. We need to shift our understanding to include prayer for the Oral and Oral Bibleless peoples as well. Realizing that large portions of the globe still do not have access to Scripture, we need to learn to pray for those who communicate in oral ways or prefer oral methods. Let’s ask God to teach us to understand the needs of oral communicators, recognizing that they need to hear the gospel story in a different way or format in order to properly understand its message. Let’s pray for God to use technology to bring His story to the masses of this day so that soon there are  ZERO peoples left to hear the name of Jesus. Let’s pray for new gateways and new pathways for the gospel to every tongue, tribe and nation. 
We are asking for prayer in these specific ION Gateways:

• Research Innovations
• Education
• Media
• Art & Culture

• Development
• Focused Outreach
• Storying                                                    

See more at: https://orality.net/networks/gateways/

Technology is opening doors that previously have not been available. Repositories of Scripture are available through the internet like Bible.is and YouVersion. There are websites such as OneStory: Listen Now http://www.onestory-media.org/ that offer multiple language story sets and  Afghan Radio: The Sound of Life http://afghanradio.org/en/scripture/oral-bible-stories where God’s Word is available in the Dari language. God is making a way.

Over the past few years we have seen a shift in our network of ION to be given the opportunity to influence the Body of Christ to make disciples of oral learners in ways that go far beyond our original ideas of orality. For the past several summers, theological schools have been hosting ION Theological Consultations to discuss and bring awareness in the seminary world of the reality of oral learners in their classrooms. And discussions are wide open in regard to formal and non-formal theological education. Please continue to pray for more open doors such as this.

God the “WayMaker” of Isaiah 43 is making a way, where in the past it seemed as if there was no way. Isaiah 43:14-21

Prayer Mobilization:

The focus has shifted us from what “we are doing” to “what God is up to.” We are moving into a fuller appreciation and operation of being God-centered and Spirit-driven, remembering the 18 months in praying for the Unengaged Unreached People Groups (UUPG) listing, name by name. We linked it to the larger prayer initiative of Ethne/Harvest Prayer (see a sample from Dec. 2013 ION Prayer Focus). We did not give up, but we continued to press in calling others to join to pray for each people group to have SOMEONE who would be willing to reach toward them.  Pray for more workers in the area of prayer mobilization. The Body of Christ needs to be mobilized to pray in this area into the future.

Commitment to Pray in a different way: 

From that 18 months, we began to ask God, “How do we pray for the oral peoples of the globe?” In October 2014, we began to ask the intercessors and pray-ers to move into a different format of prayer: To listen to the Bible in 90 Days (https://orality.net/prayer/bible-in-90-days-prayer-initiative/) as a way of connecting to oral peoples and those peoples who do not yet have Scripture in their heart language or mother tongue. We were wondering what it might be like for Scripture engagement to involve listening and praying. Now we are asking more boldly for God to send the workers into His harvest fields in the area of Bible translation.

The reality of the need for a new strategy of prayer: 

How is it that after 2000 years, still not everyone has access or the ability to hear of Jesus Christ? How is it possible that those of us in the West have stacks of Bibles in our homes and there are still 1,778 peoples who do not have one verse? As we allowed God to open our ear gates to His Word, something different began to happen. God began to bring a greater reality to us of the 5.7 Billion people (with over half of those numbers being children) not having the same access to Scripture that we knew, it shifted us. It shifted our prayers.

God’s heart is for the every and all to have access to Him and to hear the name of Jesus.

He can and will bring a new awakening to the Body of Christ. We are believing that the Body is being reset this year of 2016, the year of REFRESH. Having finished a year of intentional listening, we acknowledge that as we shift into this second half of the year, we are allowing Him to recalibrate us.

We are asking God for some very big things. He is a very big God! The globalization of ION is upon us as a network. Praise God, we are seeing people all over the globe catch the vision of reaching the oral peoples.

Prayer and fasting is the key to moving into next levels. That reminds us of a story. After the experience of Transfiguration, the disciples had the opportunity to come to a new awareness of what would be needed. You remember the story in Mark 9. They tried unsuccessfully to deliver the young boy, but to no avail. “After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer and fasting.” And this same story back in Matthew 17, “Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.

”But this kind doesn’t come out except by prayer and fasting.”

Do you know how you fit into being a part of God’s Great Commission plan: 

Prayer is a part of His foundation, because of who we are as sons and daughters of God. We must help everyone feel able and needed to pray. We must “demystify” the call to prayer as being something more than what it is. . .

Prayer is simply part of our ordinary life as a believer. 

Have you thought of yourself as a prayer mobilizer or a prayer strategist? In the Scriptures, many times, those who led in prayer also mobilized prayer. They too, were the ones who brought the strategy of prayer to the people. We are in a very critical time in the history of the church. It will take everyone doing their part and being willing to link together in the area of prayer to pray in those who still wait.

We invite YOU to the conversationat: https://prayerstrategists.net/

Prayer is not a formality, but a responsibility of every believer.

Prayer is not a department or a small group who “takes care of our prayer requests.” In prayer we must allow ourselves to simply “be” with Him. To understand prayer as the foundation of everything we do is critical for every believer and every group involved in the work of God.

Prayer is essential to the work of God. It is His work.

Prayer is how we come into agreement with Him. That takes listening to Him and trusting Him fully.

Trusting the Holy Spirit for the power to accomplish, because we simply join the Son as He intercedes to the Father.

As a son of God we join in prayer for the Every and All.

Join in believing God is able to finish in and through His body what He has set before us.

In the ION network we have many working in prayer who are helping others to see how they can fit into God’s plan raising the level of awareness and advocacy for prayer.

We want to share two power point presentations that give a wonderful overview and share the need for prayer in two specific areas:

Lord, teach us to pray For Unengaged (UUPG), Oral Culture & Oral Bibleless Peoples around the world.

UUPG Prayer Adoption ppt.  Click Here to View.

Lord, teach us to pray Understanding the gift of intercession in Biblical Intercessors, God’s pray-ers. 

Prayer Powerpoint ppt. Click Here to View.

 

Persistently prevailing,

Linda Bemis

International Orality Network

Sr. Associate – Prayer

[International Council Member]

Email: IONPrayer@gmail.com Skype: ionprayer

ION Prayer Blog: IONPrayer.com

International Orality Network

– Influencing the body of Christ to make disciples of all oral learners

– 80% of the world (5.7 billion) are oral learners / 1/2 are children! ~Visit: Orality.net

Isaiah 42:16 “I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.”

Article by Walter Wink

Intercessory prayer is spiritual defiance of what is in the way of what God has promised. Intercession visualizes an alternative future to the one apparently fated by the momentum of current forces. Prayer infuses the air of a time yet to be into the suffocating atmosphere of the present. History belongs to the intercessors who believe the future into being. Even a small number of people, firmly committed to the new inevitability on which they have fixed their imaginations, can decisively affect the shape the future takes. These shapers of the future are the intercessors, who call out of the future the longed-for new present. In the New Testament, the name and texture and aura of that future is God’s domination-free order, the reign of God. No doubt our intercessions sometimes change us as we open ourselves to new possibilities we had not guessed. No doubt our prayers to God reflect back upon us as a divine command to become the answer to our prayer. But if we are to take the biblical understanding seriously, intercession is more than that. It changes the world and it changes what is possible. It creates an island of relative freedom in a world gripped by unholy necessity. A new force appears that hitherto was only potential. The entire configuration changes as the result of the change of a single part. A space opens in the praying person, permitting God to act without violating human freedom. All of Jesus’ teachings on prayer feature imperatives. (Ex. Lk 11:9 “Ask . . .search . . . knock.”) In prayer we are ordering God to bring the Kingdom near. It will not do to implore. We have been commanded to command. We are required by God to haggle with God for the sake of the sick, the obsessed, the weak, and to conform our lives to our intercessions. This is a God who invents history in interaction with those “who hunger and thirst to see right prevail” (Mat. 5:6, REB). How different this is from the static god of Greek philosophy that all these years has lulled so many into adoration without intercession! When we pray we are not sending a letter to a celestial White House, where it is sorted among piles of others.

We are engaged, rather, in an act of co-creation, in which one little sector of the universe rises up and becomes translucent, incandescent, a vibratory centre of power that radiates the power of the universe. History belongs to the intercessors, who believe the future into being. If this is so, then intercession, far from being an escape from action, is a means of focusing for action and of creating action. By means of our intercessions we veritably cast fire upon the earth and trumpet the future into being.

From: https://celectcdn.s3.amazonaws.com/files/0024/6892/2012.01.08.pastors_blog.pdf 6/17/16

They Fought the War on Their Knees
From: Family Research Council newsletter, 11/11/15

Rees Howells (1879-1950), born in Wales and a coal miner by age 12, traveled to America in quest of a better life. He met Christians whose vital witness moved him to yield his life to Christ in 1906. Howells and his wife, Lizzie, followed God’s call to Southern Africa, where they saw the power and fruit of extraordinary prayer: thousands saved, many healed and years of sustained revival.

Set on a life of intercessory prayer, they were led back to Great Britain to establish the College of Wales and to teach children and adults the principles of prayer and faith they had learned. In 1924, starting with only ten pennies, they trusted God for £millions to build and run the School. Yet Howells is best known today for his students and their bold, faithful stand against Nazi Germany and their day and night intercessions against Hitler and his Nazi Troop movements. These excerpts are from Norman Grubb’s biography, Rees Howells: Intercessor:

During the four years previous to the outbreak of World War II… the Lord was changing the burden on Mr. Howells from local concerns, centering on the development of the College, to national and international affairs. “We were led to be responsible to intercede for countries and nations.” The Lord was preparing in the company at the College a special instrument of intercession for the coming world crisis.

In March, 1936, Mr. Howells began to see clearly that Hitler was Satan’s agent for preventing the gospel going to every creature. As he said later, “In fighting Hitler… we were not up against man, but the devil… For several years Mr. Howells stressed the fact that God must destroy him [Hitler], if the vision of the Gospel to every creature was to be fulfilled…

On the day of the declaration of war, he published the following statement: “The Lord has made known to us that He is going to destroy Hitler and the Nazi regime… which is the Antichrist, and release Germany, the land of the Reformation…” The declaration… sent them more determined than ever to their knees. They were now called… to give their lives over “to fight the battles of the Kingdom, as really as if called to fight on the Western Front.” God [gave them] responsibility from which they could never come free, until the enemy that God was dealing with should be destroyed “We may,’ he wrote, “have many a set-back before He does… it may be that we, like the Israelites (Jdg 20), will have to cry out to God in our extremity for the help which will certainly come.”

Diaries of the daily College meetings reveal, not a fearful, not even chiefly a praying company, but rather… those already on victory ground… such clarity and assurance that theirs was the victory… If we say God was not with them, we may well ask ourselves this question: “Was there anywhere else in the whole of Britain or America or elsewhere among God’s people another such company, maybe a hundred strong, who were on their knees day by day, holding fast the victory by faith, while our soldiers across the water were retreating mile by mile, whole countries surrendering, and the enemy within sight of their goal?” Through all the years of the war, the whole College was in prayer every evening from seven o’clock to midnight, with only a brief interval for supper. They never missed a day… in addition to an hour’s prayer meeting every morning… very often at midday… and many special periods when every day was given to prayer and fasting (see Norman Grubb, Rees Howells: Intercessor, 1967)

Howell’s students closely followed the war news on radio and in print and prayed over every development. They literally fought the war on their knees. Are not such companies of prayer needed to withstand those who threaten the free world’s very existence today? Are not we called to be such warriors? And some to lead such a company or companies? Ought we not to read and reread this story and seek God as to our role in the spiritual battle?

Read the biography:
Grubb, Norman, Rees Howells Intercessor. 1952: Lutterworth Press, Fort Washington, PA.

 

PRAYER WALKING EVANGELISM STORY
BY Curtis Sergeant
Transcribed from YouTube 6/10/16 and Used by Permission https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH80rBz3tuk&feature=youtu.be

One day when I was prayer walking on the island off the south coast of China, I encountered a lady who was an acquaintance of our family. So, we started to talk when we saw one another and she mentioned a problem she was having at her work.

I asked her, “Would you mind if I prayed for you about that?” Now, this woman was unusual for that island in two ways: one, she was well educated and very few people go past fourth grade education on that island, and second, she was a Communist Party member and so she was an atheist and that was very rare on this island. So when I asked if I could pray for her,

I imagined she wouldn’t be very interested but she didn’t want to hurt my feelings, so she said, “Sure.” So, I started to pray for her and prayed for her about that issue at her workplace. I prayed for her, her husband, her daughter who was 6 or 7 years old, for their health, for their financial situation, for their relationships, for their spiritual life.

When I finished praying, she did something unusual. She reached out and grabbed my arm. Now that’s unusual for a woman to grab a man if she’s not related to you. But she grabbed my arm and said, “Thank you so much! That was very meaningful! It’s the strangest thing. The whole time you were praying, I felt this intense peace and love like I’ve never experienced before! Thank you!”

So I said, “You’re welcome.” We said our good byes and went our separate ways.

The next day, I was prayer walking on the same street about the same time and saw the same lady again. When I saw her, I went up and asked her for an update on the issue I had prayed for her about related to her workplace.

So she gave me an update and she said, “Would you please pray for me again?”

So I started to pray again. Now, when I’m praying for people out prayer walking like this, I’ll close my eyes and bow my head a little bit mainly so I can focus so I’m not distracted. But this day I acted like I was closing my eyes but I was actually peeking because I wanted to watch her body language as I was praying. So, I prayed a similar prayer to what I had prayed before.

Her body language was extremely positive so I decided to keep praying. After praying for her and her family, I prayed for her community, for her city, for the island, for the country of China and even for some international things she would be aware of. Her body language kept being super positive so I kept praying. Finally, I couldn’t think of another thing to pray for. I probably prayed twenty minutes. I finished praying.

And she said, “It happened again! The whole time you were praying, I just felt this intense peace and love like I’ve never experienced. It’s the strangest thing!” And she said another thing, “Does God really care about all those things you prayed for?”

And I said, “Yes. He’s the creator of everything. He’s intimately concerned with all of His creation. He knows every bird that falls from the sky. He knows the number of hairs on your head. He’s absolutely concerned about all those things.”

Then she said, “Can God really do something about all those things you prayed for?”

And I said, “Yes, He has all wisdom and all knowledge. He has all power and all authority. He is present everywhere. He is outside of time itself so He can see the end from the beginning. In Him, everything holds together.  He can absolutely do something about all those things I prayed for.”Then she said, “Can I pray?” not meaning right then, but just in general.

And I said, “Yes, you can pray any time and God will hear you. But, it won’t be the same as when I pray. You see I have a relationship with God. I’ve been adopted as His child. He doesn’t have that relationship with you. He has no obligation to you so it won’t be the same as when I pray. But the good news is you can have this kind of relationship with God. So, then, I explained the gospel to her starting in Genesis and going all the way to Revelation, telling her the history of God’s revelation of Himself and I did it from a relational perspective. Then I said, “Would you like to do this right now? You can have this kind of relationship with God.”

And she said, “No. If I were to do that, I would almost certainly lose my job. (She had a government job.) I would be kicked out of the Party and my husband would almost certainly leave me and take our daughter. I’m just not prepared to make those sacrifices. But, can I teach my daughter to pray?” Now this is a huge issue due to the one child policy in China. What happened to your one child was the most important thing in life. So this was a big issue she was asking about.  

“Yes,” I said, “you can teach your daughter to pray, but she also doesn’t have this kind of relationship with God either.”

She said, “I understand.” So we said our good byes and went our separate ways.

I then didn’t see her for some time, but the next time I saw her, she did something else unusual. She saw me off in the distance and ran up to me. Now, that island is well down into the tropics, and is hot and humid all the time. The people there are known for their laziness, so you never see an adult run for any reason, especially not somebody important like her.  She ran up to me and she said, “I, too, am a child of God.”

I said, “That’s wonderful! Please tell me about it.”

She said, “The last time after we talked, I went home and I taught my daughter to pray. We would pray together every day about everything that happened. It was wonderful. A couple of weeks ago, we were in town and standing in line to buy some raffle tickets. There was a government sponsored raffle where they were raffling off a television set and the money was to be used to care for handicapped children. We were standing in line and my daughter said ‘Mom, shouldn’t we pray about this first?’ and I said, ‘yes, we absolutely should.’  So, we prayed aloud standing in line, ‘Dear God, please help us to win this television set.’”

I wish I could have seen that! I can just hear the other people in line thinking, “What is she doing? Is that fair?” You’ve got this atheist lady praying, “Dear God, help us win this television set but even if we don’t win, it’s ok. But we thank you that you have blessed everyone in our family with good health and whole bodies. You’ve blessed us financially so we can afford to buy these tickets. We thank you that you love these handicapped children that no one else loves.” (In China, the handicapped are despised and resented. Everyone wants them to just die and go away. )But she said, “I know God loves them though no one else does.” She prayed, “Lord, please use the money that’s raised to give them full and happy lives.”

She told me they didn’t win the television set but she went on to say, “That night I went home and was laying on my bed and I was thinking about what I had prayed and I realized it was all true! God has blessed us with good health and whole bodies and with good finances! God does love those handicapped children no one else loves and I realized I want to know that God and serve that God and be his child. I remembered how you told me I could do that, so I chose to follow Jesus and led my daughter to do the same thing.”

So they became some of the first members of the first churches in this people group that became a movement that swept across that entire island! All I did was pray for her twice. Evangelism can be done through prayer, through prayer walking, and for me, I find that is the most effective way to share my faith.

Want more on how to share your faith, multiply disciples and fellowships that multiply?

Curtis Sergeant’s “Multiplication Concepts” course on multiplying disciples & churches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKxcWR58Jbg&list=PLtMNe_ry3iGBIE4fqiCyoZIu7-XU_gLh8

More from Curtis Sergeant: MetaCamp http://metacamp.org/  and Zume http://metacamp.org/zume/

How to share your faith with…(leer en español) from Dare2Share
Have friends or neighbors in your community who are atheists? Agnostics? Into Wicca? Check out these thirteen predominate worldviews for insights that will help you be effective in sharing your faith with others. Check out the video on thin page for a quick overview on how to share your faith. When you’re sharing your faith with someone who believes differently than you about Jesus, be sure to “ask, admire and admit.” http://www.dare2share.org/products-resources/worldviews/

 

Prayer as described and modeled in the Bible is a two-way conversation between the believer and God, guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ Our Mediator. Praying without ceasing practices the presence of God as we go through our days and nights aware of and in communion with Him. Extraordinary prayer is understood to be one of the foundational principles of church planting or disciple-making movements. At its heart is this continuous abiding in Jesus, the Vine, through whom we bear much fruit for His glory and to the extension of His kingdom on earth as in heaven. Just as Jesus Himself did nothing but what He saw the Father in Heaven doing, so we as His disciples also are called to be trustfully listening and obeying His instructions. In this way, we position ourselves to join Him as He is working, going where He is about to come, and announcing the advent of His kingdom. He confirms His Word with signs and wonders following.

Much is now being written about listening prayer at least at an individual level. As we spend time apart with God, we can hone our ability to hear Him as we sing and praise, read the Word, and quietly tune our ear to His voice, making space for Him to speak to us. The more intentional we are at listening to Him, the more clearly we are able to hear during the hustle bustle of our days and in times of greater pressure and distraction. Journaling helps us to develop greater confidence that we are hearing Him as we record what we believe He’s saying and then see Him confirm through events and circumstances as they unfold. Although some time back, the thought among believers was that only certain specially gifted people we referred to as prophets or preachers “heard God,” and we sought them out for “a word from the Lord,” in this hour believers are realizing that God is calling each one to listen, pay heed, and obey His voice continually. In fact, disciple-making movements or church planting movements are based on the importance of interacting with God’s Word, either orally through stories or the written Word, and obeying what God is speaking to us. The mature disciple is one who is obeying all that He is learning as he listens to God directing him day by day.

But, individual listening isn’t all we’re called to do as followers of Jesus Christ. We are called to be a Body, part of the family of God, interdependent on Him and one another. Over one hundred fifty “one another” commands are given in the New Testament, indicating the importance of the community aspect of our lives in Christ. We are being fitted together with every joint supplying by Him and growing up into the full measure of the stature of Christ. Something unique happens where two or three are gathered together in His Name: He is in their midst. Now, we know God is omnipresent—He is everywhere. So what does Jesus mean in telling us that He is among us when two or three are present together in His Name? I believe the Bible is teaching us that He manifests Himself in a unique way as we come together in community. When we do that, align ourselves with one another, tune our hearts together to focus on Him and His Presence among us, we experience Him in a heightened way that isn’t possible individually. The Bible indicates that every matter should be established in the mouth of two or three witnesses. In listening to God together in community, we offer God the opportunity to speak in stereo or even “surround sound” to us through confirmations and elaborations that come only in community. In fact, it seems that God will speak things to a group that He cannot or will not speak to a single individual.

Especially when we come together called by God to catalyze movements to Christ in areas with little access to the gospel, individual and corporate listening prayer are critical to the success of our efforts. John 15 is clear that unless we abide in the Vine, Jesus, we can do nothing. Abiding clearly indicates an intimacy of relationship where the connection is almost seamless. Obeying God’s commands to love Him and to love one another depend on this kind of intimacy with Him and one another. Fruitfulness therefore flows from intimacy much as in a marriage relationship, bearing children is impossible without intimacy. Since His is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, our ability to accomplish His will depends on the free release of both the determination and the enabling to do His will for His glory. Doing things our own way will certainly not result in God-glorifying ends. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, not only individually but corporately as well.

So what does corporate listening look like? How does it work? Coming together with others with the same heart and purpose is key. Psalm 133 indicates that the commanded blessing is where brothers (and sisters) dwell together in unity. The image of synchronized swimmers comes to mind in which a number of different athletes have trained themselves to move as one with each other following the rhythm of a single song. An orchestra would be another example of unity in diversity, many different instruments tuned to the same note and playing according to the rhythm set forth by the conductor. Each participant’s contribution is as valuable to the whole as any other. A single contribution may totally shift the understanding of the communication so it is important to wait until each person has contributed their piece to the picture. And, each contribution lends nuance and shade to the message. Since the Bible indicates that the mind of man plans his way but the Lord directs his steps, perhaps even the order in which the messages are shared is significant and should be considered. Good artists paint in such a way that we feel drawn into the picture and perceive depth and complexity near to that of the natural world. Perhaps God is desiring His Body, His Bride to learn to hear Him more deeply, more broadly, more widely, more complexly than we have ever perceived before for this hour. The Bible speaks of growing up into the fullness of the measure of Christ Jesus—Jesus is coming back for a Bride with whom He is equally yoked. Shall we not exercise ourselves to move on to maturity in the Spirit and cultivate our listening hearts to be instantly, joyfully responsive to His voice, moving as one with Him and one another?

By Liz Adleta, Fellowship of Prayer Strategists, www.prayerstrategists.net

(more…)