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Ideas for Engaging Prayer

Acros2cs: Pray a word or topic for each le1er for each le1er of the word.

1. Topics/words can be wri1en out ahead of:me to go with each le1er, or the le1ers can be wri1en out on a board or piece of paper and each person praying can listen to the Lord and write down what comes to mind for each le1er (or simply speak them out as they pray).

Example: Use the HEARTS acros:c to lead groups to pray biblically and specifically for the lost (1 Timothy 2:1-4). It is best to break the par:cipants into triplets or quads. Ask the par:cipants to share two or three names of lost people with their group. Then lead them to pray through the acros:c. It is helpful to read the scripture verses for each le1er before the groups pray. • Hearts – Pray for recep:ve hearts (Luke 8:5-15) • Eyes and ears – Pray for their spiritual eyes and ears to be opened (Ma1hew 13:15; 2 Corinthians 4:3-4) • AYtude – Pray for unbelievers to have and understand God’s aYtude toward sin (John 16:8) • Released –Pray for the lost to be released from barriers and strongholds that hinder faith (2 Timothy 2:25-26) • Transforming – Pray for unbelievers to experience a transforming life in Christ (Romans 12:1-2) • Sent – Pray for Chris:an witnesses to be sent to share Christ with the lost (Ma1hew 9:35-38)

The HEARTS acros:c is adapted and taken from Praying Your Friends to Christ (Alphare1a, GA: North American Mission Board, SBC, 1997), 16-18.

2. A country or ethnic group’s name may also be used as the acros:c: e.g. AFGHANISTAN: Begin by worshipping the Lord for His a1ributes, calling out ones that begin with each le1er from the country’s name (e.g. A – God is almighty, amazing, awesome in wonders; F – He is Faithful, a Firm Founda:on, etc. ). Then move to praying for the country’s unreached people’s (e.g. A – Pray that All people in Afghanistan will have the chance to hear the gospel; F – pray that they would be Found by Him, etc.).

Scripture Passages 1. Use a specific passage of scripture to pray for one or more U/UPGs. a. Read the en:re passage as a group and then begin praying over a country/UPG by using what is said in the passage. For example: Ma1hew 6:9-13 • Pray for believers to exercise the privilege of prayer (vs. 9a) • Praise and adore the Father in prayer (vs. 9b)

• Pray for God’s rule in lost people’s lives through salva:on in Christ (vs. 10a) • Pray for believers to be about God’s will in the world (i.e., evangeliza:on, vs. 10b) • Pray for God’s daily provision (vs. 11) • Pray toward personal repentance, confession and healing of broken rela:onships (vs. 12) • Pray for spiritual protec:on from Satan’s tempta:ons and ways (13a) • Pray for the Father to be exalted and glorified as He answers these prayers in His power and might (vs. 13b) Acts 4:23-33 • Unite together and praise God as Creator and sustainer of all things (vs. 23-26) • Thank God for His providen:al and sovereign work of salva:on in your life and in your world (vs. 27-28) • Pray for Chris:an witnesses to have a holy boldness as they share their faith with the lost (vs. 29) • Pray for Christ to validate His work of salva:on with changed hearts and lives (vs. 30) • Pray for Chris:ans to be filled with the Holy Spirit (vs. 31) • Pray for a unified congrega:on where the focus is on powerful proclama:on of the resurrected Christ (vs. 32-33) • Pray for God to pour out His abundant grace upon your church today (vs. 33)

b. Read the en:re passage as a group. Then begin praying over a U/UPG, using the content in the passage. For example:

Isaiah 12 • Each person in the group slowly reads one verse. Pause for a few seconds between each verse. • Each person reads the same verse again emphasizing ONE WORD in the verse. That word will be their prayer emphasis for the U/UPG. • Repeat the above step. Aier each person reads their verse (with word emphasis) they pray a 1-2 sentence prayer for the U/UPG. Then others in the group pray 1-2 sentence prayers of agreement.

Psalm 67 • Read Psalm 67, then listen silently for a few minutes. Ask God: – What is He saying about the U/UPG? – What is in His heart to bless this U/UPG? – What hindrances to His Kingdom exist now in this U/UPG? – What Kingdom opposites does He want to plant in this U/UPG? • Aier a few minutes, each person share briefly what they sensed God saying to them, then others pray short prayers of agreement.

Psalm 118 • In groups of 3 or 4 read through Psalm 118 in the following divisions: 1-4, 5-7. 8-9, 10-13, 14-

16, 17-18, 19-21, 22-24, 25, 26-27, 28-29.

• Read through the Psalm again, sec:on by sec:on, and pray a brief prayer aier each sec:on.

• Pray concerning anything (specific or in general) that jumped out to anyone in the group.

• Use Psalm 118 to pray over the U/UPG’s of your country/region.

2. Worship using Psalms.

3. Spend 10 minutes searching the Psalms for verses that magnify the greatness of God then speak these out in prayer in small groups, and people in group can agree!

4. Use these scriptures (and others like them) • Prayers for growing in rela:onship with Christ: Read these prayers Paul prayed: Ephesians 1: 17-20, Ephesians 3: 16-21, Philippians 1: 9-11, Colossians 1: 9-14 • Prayers of praise and thanksgiving: Psalm 103, Revela:on 4: 9-11, Revela:on 15: 3-4, Daniel 2: 20-23 • Prayers of pe::on: Jeremiah 32: 16-20, 26-27, Philippians 4: 6-7 • Prayers for guidance: Proverbs 3: 5-6, 1 John 5:14-15, James 1: 5-8

5. Find Psalms to use to pray for persecuted Chris:ans (e.g. Psalm 91, 62, 63).

6. See Ideas for Praying Scripture for more ideas.

Personal tes2monies: Each person considers what the Lord has done in their life. Then each person asks God to do the same thing in the lives of people in the U/UPG for whom they are praying.

People from the Bible: • Each person considers what God has done in the lives of various people in the Bible, then chooses one (e.g. Saul becoming Paul; Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt; the woman at the well bringing her en:re village to hear Jesus; Mary Magdalene having demons cast out and becoming a passionate follower of Jesus; the woman who extravagantly washed Jesus’ feet with perfume). • Each person asks God to raise up that same kind of person within the U/UPG.

Praying Kingdom Opposites: Keep prayer posi:ve: instead of “praying against” something, posi:vely “pray the Kingdom opposite.” Someone writes hindrances to the gospel or other troubles concerning the U/UPG on the lei side of a flip chart or white board. Opposite each of these, write a Kingdom opposite and scripture reference. For example: • Family tensions! Unity (Psalm 133)

•! Prejudice/caste system Honor (James 2:1-13)

Spend:me as a group “praying in” the things listed in the right-hand column.

See Praying Kingdom Opposites for more ideas.

Videos: Watch a video of news or a tes:mony from a U/UPG. If watching a tes:mony, pray that God would do more of that in a par:cular U/UPG. If watching news or a documentary about a U/UPG, pray for specific points brought up in the video.

Praise as a Weapon: The devil desires praise for himself (Ma1hew 4:9). Secondarily he wants to rob God of praise (Genesis 3:4-5). Have someone read 2 Chronicles 20:1-30. Then the en:re group speaks blessings to the name of the Lord and praises Him. This can lead to reading Psalms, singing, etc. Praying Prophe2cally Circle prayers • Make a circle with people praying. • One person at a:me stands in the middle of the group and names a person in a U/UPG. • Everyone else surrounds the person and prays out loud together for that person. • The person to the right of the person who went into the middle ends the prayer, then enters the circle. • Con:nue un:l all those in the circle have been in the middle.

Audacious visions for people • Provide small pieces of paper and pens for each person praying. • Each person write down the name of a person with whom they are sharing or doing a DBS, then write below the name what they would like to see happen in this person’s life. Think big! • On the other side of the paper, the person writes their own name. • Fold the papers and put them in a bowl. Then each person draws one. Groups pray together (Korean-style) for the person and vision on the paper, as well as for the person who wrote it.

Prayer Themes Listening and Reflec:ng Pause, listen to God, and write overarching themes of prayers you have been praying for U/UPGs in your individual prayer:mes concerning the following: • Scripture

• Topics

• Themes

Sharing and Praying Take some:me to ask the Lord what themes He might have for you to pray in this next month. If you don’t hear any direc:on from the Spirit, count it as freedom to come up with something. Then, 1. For 15 minutes in small groups of 3-4, take turns pray-sharing these requests within the group: Each person prays their own request. Then the person on their lei prays in agreement before praying their own request.

2. For 10 minutes in the same small groups, determine if there were any themes or topics that rose to the surface or merged together to form a theme. Decide together on a common theme and write it down. Pick a person in the group to share this theme with the larger group..

3. For 5 minutes, one person from each group shares their theme with the larger group, then prays over it as others agree. As they share, one person writes the themes on a white board or flip chart.

4. For 5 minutes: Ask God to reveal themes that have resonated with the whole group.

Onsite Prayer Sta2ons • Arrange several sta:ons around a room or area. Pray individually or in small groups at each sta:on for a designated amount of:me. (A facilitator keeps:me in order to move groups on to different sta:ons so that every person/group has the opportunity to pray at each sta:on.) • When praying in small groups, these can be designated in advance, or each par:cipant can simply go to a different sta:on during each:me segment, then join others at that sta:on. • Play worship music soily in the background (closest to a couch sta:on, if you have one).

Examples of Prayer Sta:ons: • Map with Scrabble le1ers – use Scrabble le1ers to spell out words being spoken and prayed over for various U/UPGs; place the words on the map • Sand – pray for good soil in U/UPGs • Couch – rest in and soak up the Lord’s presence • Band-Aids – pray for healing for sick people in the U/UPGs • Paper and trashcan – have small pieces of paper and pens available with a trash can; write strongholds in U/UPGs on a piece of paper; then tear the paper up and throw it away s you pray the Kingdom opposite for the U/UPG • Legos (or other objects) of different colors and star s:ckers: each color represents a different U/UPG. Write down the color code; choose one color and pray for that U/UPG, then add a star s:cker to that object. • Bread – pray for those in the U/UPG who are physically hungry to be fed; pray for those in the U/UPG who are spiritually hungry to meet God; pray for people in the U/UPG to have spiritual hunger. • Water – pray that people in the U/UPG would thirst for God and cry out to Him; pray for those in the U/UPG who do not have clean water – that this need would be met and also provide a good access point for the gospel.

Other Prayer Resources: • Hearing God and Listening Prayer Resources • Prayer Tips Adapted from Fellowship of Prayer Strategists • Verses to Pray for CPMs – Using Heart and Field CPM Cycle • Fellowship of Prayer Strategists Prayer Resources

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