DAWN INTERCESSION HANDBOOK

by Cathy Schaller Dawn Ministries

A CALL TO MEDITATION Come now, little man, turn aside for a while from your daily employment, escape for a moment from the tumult of your thoughts. Put aside your weighty cares, let your burdensome distractions wait, free yourself awhile for God and rest awhile in him. Enter the inner chamber of your soul, shut out everything except God and that which can help you in seeking him, and when you have shut the door, seek him. Now, my whole heart, say to God, 'I seek your face, Lord, it is your face I seek.'

Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury 1033-1109

This is a first draft. It may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes only. In no case may the selling price exceed the cost of production. As a courtesy to the author and the publisher, it is requested that two copies of any private edition or translation be sent to the address below. Please help us improve this tool by sending your comments, illustrations, observations and questions. Copyright (c) 1992 by Cathy Schaller Dawn Ministries, 7899 Lexington Dr. Suite 200-B, Colorado Springs, CO 80920 PHONE (719) 548-7460 FAX (719) 548-7475

INTRODUCTION

Cathy Schaller
I believe we are living in the most exciting age of all history the time just before the Lord returns to claim his bride. Before this can happen, however, the Lord says his gospel must be taken to all nations; the Great Commission must be completed. One of the movements the Lord has raised up in our time to work at this task is called DAWN, an acronym for Discipling A Whole Nation. The DAWN strategy takes literally the idea that the Lord wants nations to be discipled. To do this, DAWN seeks to mobilize the whole body of Christ in whole nations in an optimum strategy to saturate a country with evangelical congregations. DAWN works toward the goal of providing an evangelical congregation for every class, kind and condition of man in a nation. DAWN seeks to see a cell of believers that truly incarnates the Lord Jesus Christ in all his beauty, compassion, power and message in the midst of every small group of 500 to 1,000 people. To do this for every nation, it is estimated that seven million more churches are required over the face of the earth. Such a majestic undertaking surely calls for the power of God to fall as a result of the fervent prayer and intercession of his people. As Brian Mills of the DAWN-type "Challenge 2000" project in England says, "saturating a nation with churches is a task which must be born out of prayer, be preceded by prayer and be accompanied by prayer." With that in mind, Dawn Ministries has developed a prayer ministry to undergird the DAWN strategies that are developing in scores of nations around the world. This handbook is designed to take the reader to the heart of the nature and practice of the kind of prayer that will truly bring nations to the feet of the Saviour. We rejoice in the fact that God has been calling his people to prevail in this kind of prayer in more and more nations around the world. One example comes from the country of VENEZUELA. A few years ago, Armando Campos felt the Lord calling him to open a house of prayer. He rented a small home in a run-down neighborhood in his city and put up a sign saying that they would pray for any and all needs. As people began coming to the little house and his small group of intercessors prayed, God began saving, healing and delivering people, many in miraculous ways. The ministry grew to include a School of Prayer, prayer seminars and then eventually to become a national prayer movement. It was at this time that we at Dawn Ministries began seeking for national church leaders in South America that we could invite to a DAWN training conference. Armando's name was given to us. Though he could not come to the conference, he sent his wife in his place, believing that the Lord had something for them. At the conference, Yajaira told us with great joy that as she began to understand the principles of DAWN she recognized that this was the strategy that they had been praying for. This was the vehicle by which God was going to answer the many prayers that had been going up for their country. Armando Campos is now one of the members of the DAWN Committee in Venezuela and is responsible for the prayer arm of the strategy. In each of the states of the country there is a regional DAWN Committee which also includes an intercessor.

Prayer is still a major part of the life of the Venezuelan Church and an integral part of the DAWN strategy. Friends of the Bridegroom is what I call a network of intercessors around the world who, like Armando and his wife, seek the Lord on behalf of their nations. To me, they're like John the Baptist who stated, The Bride (the church) belongs to the Bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegrooms voice. That joy is mine, and is now complete. (John 3:29) Like John the Baptist, we want to be counted among those who wait and listen for the voice of the Lord to hear Him speak to us of His plans in every nation for revealing the glory of His Son through His Church. We desire to work, as did John the Baptist, to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord in each nation through the work of intercession. The final chapter of this handbook, Models of National Prayer Movements, is a compilation (still in progress) of actual prayer strategies that are effectively being used in various nations to not only saturate the nation with prayer but to establish a nationwide network of prayer groups for which saturation church planting is a major focus. Our hope is that you, as you read through this brief handbook, may benefit in such a way that you can encourage others to enter into the joy of being a Friend of the Bridegroom and in the process see your nation truly become a disciple of our risen Lord.

THE HEART OF INTERCESSION:

INTIMACY WITH GOD

Cathy Schaller

I. The Heart of Intercession is Relationship with God

A. A stereotype of prayer Ive heard the story of a godly missionary who had a deep commitment to pray for his nation. With a detailed map of the country on the floor, he would spend hours on his knees and finally on his face. Beginning in the south, he would pray earnestly for each province until he reached the northernmost part. He would pray for each city and then each town and village. He would pray for the pastors, missionaries and other Christian workers, weeping over them before the Lord. Perhaps this is your image of what it means to pray for nations: you need to get a map or at least a list of of all the geographical units of a country. You need long lists of prayer requests from those that are laboring for the Lord throughout the land. You need a good plan, a good techniqueand lots of time and emotional energy! These can be helpful. And I have no doubt that God heard the petitions of this intrepid missionary. In fact, many years later, revival did start to break out in various parts of his adopted land. But this is not the beginning point in developing a strategy of prayer for nations. We will present models of prayer movements in a later chapter. First, however, we must establish a basic understanding of what prayer is all about. B. Our confidence is in God I must start by saying I don't believe in prayer. Prayer is not what I put my trust in. Rather, I put my confidence in God to whom I pray. The difference is this: if prayer is my goal, it becomes a skill to be mastered; if knowing God is my goal, prayer becomes a relationship to be lived. Seen in this light, prayer is more a matter of knowing God than of mere sending up petitions. He is the one who is the focal point, not ourselves. True prayer and intercession can only be understood and experienced in the context of a vital, living relationship with God. Sometimes prayer is viewed as an almost magical ending which is supposed to bring forth the power and life of God into our already established plans and programs.

Sometimes it's seen as the key ingredient in our recipes which insures the outcome of our desires. Sometimes we see prayer as the oil that runs the machinea necessary lubricant in the assembly line of kingdom work. It seems to me that these approaches put our focus on the wrong thing. Prayer gets reduced to a tactic that may or may not work. Instead, prayer should be an outgrowth of our intimate relationship with the living God. C. The surpassing value of relationship Many scriptures emphasize the surpassing value of such an intimate relationship: One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. (Psalm 27:4) Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. (Psalm 84:10) I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. (Philippians 3:8) Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. (John 17:25, 26) When one has spent time gazing upon the beauty and surpassing greatness of the Lord and experiences the love of the Lord within, then a relationship has begun and he or she has entered the prayer process.

II. Developing This Relationship with God

How is this relationship to be developed with God? Through understanding is and then drawing close to Him. A. Understanding who God is To better understand who God is, we must first challenge our concept of God and then develop a true perception of God. 1. Challenging our concept of God who He

Our understanding of who God is and what He is like is marred by all of lifes circumstances. We thereby end up with a distorted view of God. This affects our ability to approach Him with boldness and confidence; it inhibits our ability to receive from Him and it keeps us from being able to reflect His love, mercy and power to a fallen world. Jesus came to reveal the Father to us, to show us what He is really like. As we experience Him as He really is, He will bring healing to us personally and help us to move into the place of intimacy that He has ordained for us. a. How we perceived our parents when we were children affects our perception of God today. Unless we specifically address the issue, our tendency will be to expect the same kind of relationship with God that we had with our parents. We will expect God to act and be the same as we perceived our parents to act and be. b. How we responded to our parents affects our response to God. If you perceived your parents to be critical, for example, your tendency would be to think of God as critical. Your response to both parents and God would likely be one of rebellion. As you go through the list below, remember you are dealing with perceptions your parents may not actually have been as you perceived them. The important thing to notice is how you understood them to be and what you came to believe about God through that relationship. If my father was ......................................I might be open and honest .....................................trusting like a policeman......................................like a prisoner abusive ...................................................fearful over-indulging .........................................spoiled a teacher.................................................a student macho.....................................................a wimp critical.....................................................rebellious absent.....................................................lonely over-controlling.......................................out-of-control unconditionally loving...............................loving, giving firm but reasonable..................................self-assured, secure superior ..................................................inferior servant-leader .........................................a willing follower supportive, trusting..................................secure, significant

If you tend to perceive God as absentfar away or uninvolved in your life when you needed Him most, you may ask yourself if that is how you perceived your earthly father. If your answer is yes, you may be responding to your father image rather than the truth of who God has revealed Himself to be. You can then ask your heavenly Father to illumine your heart and mind with the truth of His abiding presence. Likewise, if you tend to perceive God as a policeman looking over your shoulder to see if you are breaking any of His laws, you can analyze your relationship with your earthly father. Maybe you are projecting onto God something that doesnt correspond to who He really is. c. Church and society affect our image of God Though the home is the strongest influence on our lives, we also are impacted greatly by both our religious and secular experiences. The attitude of Sunday school teachers and pastors or what we picked up in the neighborhood or at public school can similarly shape our perceptions of God, and therefore our relationship with him. It can be helpful to analyze these influences on our lives to make sure they are not distorting our concept of God. 2. Developing a true perception of God. Learning to identify the expectations we put on God gives us opportunity to challenge and change our perceptions in light of the reality of the truth of God's word. We can thereby learn to know God as He really is. a. By asking God to enlighten our minds. We need to grow in the truth by asking God to enlighten our understanding of who He isand trust that He is ready, willing and able to do so. This is the process of renewing our minds so that we can have a relationship of intimacy with Him. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will ishis good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2 We can also ask the Lord to show us specifically how he is different from what we perceived our earthly fathers to be. b. By speaking the truth to ourselves.

The truth is always GOOD NEWS. Truth comes to bring God's perspective into a situation in a way that comforts, liberates and stabilizes us as we walk through life. I have found that it is important to speak the truth to myself! When I remind myself of the truth of God's provision, salvation, redemption, power, love, majesty and glory, I am dwelling in truth. This is so much better than allowing my mind to be filled with the lies and threats of the enemy or even the folly of my own misunderstanding. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Eph. 4:14-16 c. Praying scripture. One way to develop a true perception of God is to pray the scriptures. By taking texts of scripture, putting them in the first person and praying them to the Father, God illumines our minds to really see Him as He is. We have the opportunity to come face to face with the contrast between what we intellectually believe about God and who He would have us know Him to really be. We can begin to identify false perceptions of God, and ask Him to cause us to know Him in Truth. I have found a continuing prayer in my life to be: Lord, show me what I am really believing about you, your purposes, and about myself as I interpet this life situation. Cause me to believe that You are really the way you say you are, even when my feelings or my perception of events tell me the opposite. Interacting with the scriptures in prayer may look somewhat like this: Lord, you are the Good Shepherd. You know your sheep, and You tell me that Your sheep know You, and recognize Your voice, and would never follow the voice of a stranger. Father, enable me to experience the reality of these words. I long to know You in this way, to recognize each time You would speak to me, to follow Your voice and not the voice of my own emotions or of the enemy. Enable me to experience Your Shepherds heart, and to trust in Your protection and provision for my life. (based on John l0). B. Drawing Close to God

As we have a better understanding of God, we become ready to learn how to draw closer to Him. Among other things, this can happen through worship, through silence, and through submission. 1. Through worship. a. God is looking for worshippers. God values worship very highly. We read in John 4:23 that true worshipers worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking just such people as these as His worshipers. My understanding is that the Father is looking for those who will make relationship with Him their portion, their delight (Psalm l6). He is seeking those for whom relationship with Him is enough. He wants those who are not interested in building their own ministry or their own kingdom, but whose delight is to know and to follow Him. b. Singing love songs to the Father. True worship flows as we sing TO rather than just ABOUT God. Singing to the Father brings us face-to-face with Him. Just as intimate, face-to-face communication builds relationships on the human level, so it does with the Father. We do this through such simple songs as these: I want to know you, Lord, I must know you; You are the Vine, we are the branches; keep us abiding in you; I come to You on bended knee, with just one plea, give me more of Thee. c. Coming to the Father with childlike simplicity. God doesn't care about how eloquent our prayers are nor the perfection with which our voices can hit the high notes. Rather, He welcomes us as we give Him our hearts with the simplicity and totality of a child's affection. 2. Through silence. Spending time in silence before the throne of God is something 20th century Christians are often uncomfortable with. Sometimes we think we need to make something happen or do something in order to have value in God's sight. Practicing the discipline of silence can often enable us to hear the Lord speak to our hearts. This allows Him to give us impressions in our thoughts about Himself, about ourselves or about someone for whom He desires us to pray.

3. Through submission. There comes an intimacy with God through allowing Him to plant His life within us. Before the new seed of His life is sown, however, there is necessity for ploughing and uprooting of other things that are growing in the field of our thoughts and hearts. The person who is serious about being close to God will find Him pulling up all kinds of growing things that seemed to be life-producing but were really harmful. C.S. Lewis puts it well as we can see in this excerpt from his book Mere Christianity: Christ says, Give me All. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don't want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wickedthe whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours. The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole selfall your wishes and precautionsto Christ. But, it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do is to remain what we call ourselves, to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, and yet at the same time be good. We are all trying to let our mind and heart go their own waycentered on money or pleasure or ambition and hoping, in spite of all this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly. And that is exactly what Christ warned us you could not do. As He said, a thistle cannot produce figs. If I am a field that contains nothing but grassseed, I cannot produce wheat. Cutting the grass may keep it short: but I shall still produce grass and no wheat. If I want to produce wheat, the change must go deeper than the surface. I must be ploughed up and resown. (pp. 166-170)

III.

Our Prayer Life Reflecting our Relationship with God

As we develop our relationship with God through understanding who He is and by drawing close to Him, we find that His purposes become our purposes. His desires become our desires. His Spirit becomes more evident in us.

A. From legalism to freedom Even as a pregnant woman swells with the growth of a new life within, so we become increasingly filled with the lovely fruit of the Spirit. Our prayer life reflects this change as we shift from a basis of legalism (praying to get something from God, to impress Him or to satisfy Him) to a basis of freedom and joy. We no longer have confidence in our ability to be faithful in prayer, or to do it right, or better or longerbut our confidence is increasingly in Himin His faithfulness, His lovingkindness, His power. Our prayers radiate outward with the very nature and character of God when we let Jesus fill us with Himself and when we keep Him as our focus. This kind of prayer that is produced by the indwelling of the Spirit glorifies the Producer: Christ. As we focus on Jesus, we become like Him. Because He is the source of life, we need to be preoccupied with Him, letting His life overflow into our prayers and petitions. B. Our prayers rewarded in heaven This kind of prayer is not concerned with the applause and approval of man, but does things in secret which will be rewarded in heaven. We've all been in prayer meetings where the glory, the attention, the focus was being pulled towards a person. In such meetings, the usual fruit is cold hearts,judgmental spirits, bitterness, jealousy, unloving attitudes, and self-righteousness. It causes us to despise others or others to despise us. We find ourselves in the place of the Pharisee in Luke l8, who rejoiced in his commitment to prayer and fasting, yet was rejected by the Lord. C. Prayer flowing from the Spirit 1. Exhibits the fruit of the Spirit How different the prayer is that flows out of the very Spirit of God within us! That prayer is filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. When this kind of prayer is operating, everyone is drawn to Jesus. There is no sense of competition or strivingrather, participants get caught up in Him. Let us be wary that we would not pursue and rejoice in our external commitment to the Lordlet us instead pursue and rejoice in the Lord Himself!! 2. Rejects the lies of the enemy As we remain focused on Jesus in our prayer, He will woo us into prayer and intercession for His purposes. The Lord does not draw us into prayer with

condemnation. We need to recognize that it is the enemy who would tell us that whatever we do, it's not enough, or it's not good enough. Our enemy will attempt to get us to believe that we're not worthy to approach God, or to be forgiven or to have our prayers received. The blood of Jesus is truly adequate for all our sin and failure. We need to continually meditate on the truth of our standing with the Father as revealed in His Word to close this door to the enemy. 3. Avoids being overwhelmed When we allow our focus in prayer to be drawn away from the Person of Jesus, we can become overwhelmed with the sheer volume of need around us. I often wondered how Jesus could handle walking through the midst of crowds of lost, sick, helpless people without becoming discouraged or anxious. Some understanding in this area came to me as I began to perceive the meaning of John 5:l9 I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his father doing. Jesus walked in such intimacy with the Father that He was able to perceive the things that the Father has already initiated in heaven! Jesus spoke into being those things that He saw His Father doing. 4. Releases Gods answers to prayer When we couple the above with John l7:23 (which states that the Father loves us even as He loves Jesus) we can expect that the Father will also show us those things that He is about today. I used to envision intercession as this: my job was to tap a very busy God on the shoulder and point out to Him all of the needs of those around me so that He could do something about them. I often felt anxious and overwhelmed. Over the past years, however,God had given me a new picture of intercession: I now see my role as coming to the feet of my heavenly Father, who knows all and is exceedingly full of compassion for all that He has made. As I wait in quietness upon Him, he taps me on the shoulder, and says, Cathy, see what I desire to birth in this situation. Release healing (or salvation, etc.) through your prayers. D. His (prayer) burden is light The job of the Father is to know when and how to extend His kingly rule and reign in the earth; my job is to listen and obey. How freeing and fulfilling to partake of His work in His timing! Truly this yoke is easy and this burden light. God will not forget nor is He slow in performing His will. But my understanding is that He is looking for those who would quiet their hearts to hear Him and to pray forth that which He reveals.

IV.

Intimacy with God and Prayer for Nations

How does intimacy with God relate to prayer for nations? As we suggested from the beginning, the heart of all intercession is intimacy with God. This includes prayer for nations. As we really get to know God, we can learn more and more about how His Spirit is brooding over the affairs of nations to draw a people unto Himself. In seeing our nation more from Gods perspective, we are more able to pray into being those things that He wants to accomplish. Now our praying is more powerful as we learn to bind on earth what He has already bound in heaven and loose on earth what He has already loosed in heaven. Now we are praying for His will to be done in our nation and not just bringing our plans and desires to Him. Our prayer is now beginning to align with what God is already doing, the topic of the next chapter.

Father, I pray that you would grant us, out of the rich treasury of Your glory, to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in our inner person by Your Holy Spirit. We ask You to indwell us in our innermost being and personality. Father, would you cause Christ, through our faith, to dwell, to abide, to make His permanent home in our hearts! Cause us to be rooted deeply in love and founded securely in love, that we may have the power to apprehend, to grasp with all the saints the experience of Your love, the breadth and length and height and depth of it. Cause us, Father to really come to know practically, through the experience for ourselves, the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge, that we would be filled throughout our being unto all the fullness of God. Enable us to experience the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with Yourself.

Now unto You, Lord, Who, by Your power at work within us, are able to carry out His purpose and do superabundantly, far over and above all that we dare ask or think, unto You be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever.

THE WORK OF INTERCESSION: ALIGNING WITH GOD

Cathy Schaller

I. Prayer is partnership with God.

I view prayer as partnership with God. We have not chosen Him, but He has chosen us before the foundation of the world to know Him, to go and bear fruit in His name. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he well bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you., This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.You did not choose me, but I chose you to go and bear fruit fruit that will last. (John 15:5, 7, 16) God is more desirous to answer prayer than we are to ask, because He wants to involve us in His work. Prayer is the channel that He has determined for that partnership. Our Father prompts us to pray, drawing us to a place of intimacy where He can share His plans and purposes with us. He will accomplish His sovereign will and He allows us to be a part of that happening. This partnership involves a cycle of interaction with an enthroned God, with our need, and with faith. Just as God established cycles and rhythms that we can observe in the universe around us, so there is a cycle in prayer.

Much more than being a single event, prayer involves a process in which God makes us aware of our need for Him through circumstances; we seek Him because of that need; and then He is able to reveal to us His greater purposes that he wants accomplish in and through us. In this way prayer becomes a partnership in which God and each one of us has a role. God makes us aware of our need, draws us to Himself and reveals to us His heart. We, in turn, ask Him for help, believe that He will respond and listen to His voice in faith. This schematic drawing by Ralph Herring visualizes some of the ways in which that interaction takes place as we pray. Notes
Whatever there is in prayer that he can honor was put there by him in the first place. The meeting place of God and man. The Holy Spirit refining and redirecting petitions in line with Gods will. Understanding what God is doing and who he is in this situation. An impartation of knowledge where we know the answer is coming. Believing with assurance in our spirits that God will do his work and meet the need as he sees it. When the reality of his intervention dawns it brings joy unspeakable, whatever form it may take. 7. Prayer is never finished until God receives glory.

(Our prayers) have not advised or changed Gods mind that is, his overall purpose. But that purpose will be realized in different ways according to the actions, including the prayers of His creatures. For he seems to do nothing of himself which he can possibly delegate to his creatures. He commands us to do slowly and blunderingly what he could do perfectly and in the twinkling of an eye. We are not mere recipients or spectators. We are either privileged to share in the game or compelled to collaborate in the work....

(The Efficacy of Prayer from THE WORLDS LAST NIGHT AND OTHER ESSAYS, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, New York, 1960)

We learn of His concerns through His Word and by His Spirit. It comes from inclining our hearts and minds towards Him. Simone Weil, a French philosopher from the turn of the century, puts it this way, prayer consists of attention. It is the orientation of all the attention of which the soul is capable toward God. The quality of the attention counts for much in the quality of the prayer. Even warmth of heart cannot make up for it." We can be involved in Gods concerns at many different levels: internationally, locally, and personally. My desire is to encourage plain, main people like myself to be involved in the work of the Kingdom through prayer. As we ordinary folks learn to discern the concerns of God in the situations and circumstances of our lives, we will see and participate in the advancement of His kingdom. A. Involvement in International events. We can partner with God in a variety of ways that affect international events. Some of us will go and minister in various nations. Some of us will be involved with the people who do that. We will be significant prayer partners for them, sharing in the joys and struggles of their ministry. Something that all of us can do is to pray as we watch the news on television or read the papers. Its my habit to watch the News at Ten every evening. During the past years God has been teaching me to watch the news from the perspective of His kingdom. Instead of just acquiring knowledge, watching the news actually becomes a prayer time. My mind and heart are inclined towards seeking Gods purposes in each situation that comes forth. Many times God gives me His tears to cry for the pain and bondage that people experience. Sometimes He gives me petitions to pray for individuals or nations. Sometimes I find myself simply confessing truth that contradicts the impressions or reports of the media. Often I will ask God to forgive the sins and redeem the consequences of the blantant sins that are reported. Sometimes God enables me to see His glory in a situation, and I pray for the accomplishment of that. There are times when God tells me to speak against or to rebuke a

specific spirit or work of darkness that is controlling a situation. Most of this happens very ordinarily, very quietly as Im sitting in my living room. Usually, I dont even pray out loud. This is one way that I have found to be involved in the work of the kingdom internationally. B. Involvement in the Local church. As we see in the Book of Revelation, Chapters 2 and 3, it becomes evident that God has concerns for churches. He has ordained a purpose for each church. He may call and equip some to be sending churches, or healing churches, or teaching churches. Obviously, all churches will have elements of each of these and other giftings, but usually one focus will emerge as the primary call on that body. As people begin to understand that God has a purpose and concern for their particular body, and seek Him towards that end through prayer, tremendous potential can be tapped. As we pray, I believe that God brings forth both understanding and fulfillment of that call. C. Involvement with Individual people. I love what C. S. Lewis says about loving our neighbor. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or the other of these destinations (The Weight of Glory, p. l4-15). I believe that the most effective way that we can help or hinder one another to realize the destiny of God in our lives is to pray. This doesnt mean that we have to do something to make it happen or to become busybody advice-givers, but rather to walk through our lives with an awareness of the people around us, with an awareness that God is even now wanting to release or heal or equip or empower or protect or provide for them. I make it a practice to use the time waiting in parking lots for my children to finish sports activities to ask the Father to bring to my mind those He would wish for me to pray for. Lord, show me what Youre even now desiring to bring forth in them. It is a simple way of entering into the concerns of God in the context of everyday life.

II. Understanding God's Priorities.

All of our prayer should reflect not just perceived needs, but the priorities that God has established. Therefore, understanding the larger picture of Gods interaction with man is essential. If we study that big picture we find that Gods priorities include the following: A. Gods priority is to reveal His own character and glory. 1. God revealed his glory through Jesus. a. We see through Jesus life that the passion of the Father's heart is to glorify His Son and the passion of the Son is to glorify His Father. Jesus prayed: glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. . . glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. (John 17:1, 5) I believe that the Father delights in and longs to fulfill the prayer of Jesus. I can imagine the Father saying, "I'm in a hurry to give glory to my Son I want the magnificence of the glory that He already has in heaven to be known on the earth. He has shed His blood, been counted among men as a transgressor, and provided salvation. I long to give Him the reward of His sufferings. I long to give Him the place before all of creation that He deserves." b. We are invited into the relationship of love between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus prayed for our sins the night before He was nailed to a tree: I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. (John 17:22-24) Can you imagine what it will be like to enter into that pure, holy, passionate fire of love between the Father and the Son? To be caught up in the holy fire that pours

forth from their relationship to redeem mankind? Yet, that is exactly what God's desire is for us. 2. God promises to reveal his glory in a future, final revelation. a. This revelation of glory awaits an appointed time. The revelation began with the coming of the Lord Jesus, but we still await an unveiling in which the whole world will recognize Him. The Lord is not slow in giving this full revelation of His Son, but, for our benefit, tarries. For the revelation awaits an appointed time, it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and not delay. (Habakkuk 2:3) The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9-10) b. This future revelation will be characterized by the pervading knowledge of God. The time is coming, declares the LORD...no longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, "Know the LORD," because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 31:33-4) c. In that day there will be perfect communion with God. It shall come to pass that before they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear" (Isaiah 65:19, 24). and the city has no need of sun or moon to light it, for the glory of God and of the Lamb illuminate it. (Revelation 21:23)"

d. This glory will be pervasive, powerful and permanent.

The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. (Habakkuk 2:14) B. Gods priority is to establish His kingdom, bringing all things under the headship of Christ. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillmentto bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. (Ephesians 1:9,10) 1. The beginning point God wants to save us from hell. The "good news" that we proclaim is that, through the blood of Jesus, our sins can be forgiven, thus saving us from the eternal damnation that we deserve. It is no light matter to be "snatched from the fire" (Jude 23). My understanding, however, is that this is only a beginning point of realizing the plan that God has for our lives. 2. The culmination God wants to make us kings and priests to serve under Christs headship. We are being saved from hell but saved into a position of kingship and priesthood before our God. His purpose in our salvation is to make us rulers with Christ who will exercise kingly authority, And to make us priests with the high calling of ministering unto Him, offering the priestly sacrifice of praise. ...with your blood You purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:9-10)

III. Aligning with God's Priorities in Prayer.

God the Father is looking for those who would stand in the gap, who would so identify with His priorities and purposes and with His heart that they would be able to call out to Him in prayer with boldness. A. Praying forth the revelation of God's character and glory. Prayer must reflect God's priority of revealing His character: Jesus prayed, May Thy Name be hallowed (knowing the heart of God praying for a revelation of His nature and character to all mankind). It is toward this end that we pray that all will hear the gospel, that many will come to repentance, that the full number will be brought into the kingdom as priests to serve, and worship the Living God so that we, in Jesus, will be brought into the fullness of relationship with Him in glory that He intended from before the creation of the world. B. Praying forth the dynamic rule and reign of God. His purpose: May Thy kingdom come, and Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven (doing the work of God extending His reign into the circumstances of men). 1. The nature of Gods kingdom. God's kingdom is not a geographical location, but rather His kingly rule and reign. It is the exercise of His power that confronts and brings into submission the powers of darkness, the realm of nature, and even death. Jesus' exercise of His kingly authority resulted in demons being cast out, raging seas being stilled, the dead brought back to life, and sins forgiven. 2. Extending Gods kingdom through prayer. The blessings of the age to come, which characterize the kingdom of God, are present even in this "present evil age," but not yet in their fulness.

God uses us as His instruments as we pray according to His purpose to establish His rule and reign in our lives, our cities, our nations.

IV.

Letting God initiate.

It is foundational to understand that God is always the initiator: He initiates our relationship with Him. The Father has known us before the creation of the world. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6) He initiates in our sanctification. For He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. (Ephesians 1:4) He initiates love. He loves us before we even acknowledge Him. We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)" He initiates our salvation. He saves us while we are helpless. When we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly...God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8) "He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intercede; so his own arm worked salvation for him. (Isaiah 59:16) In the same way, God initiates prayer: we are dependent upon revelation from Him as to the focus of our prayer. A. Ask God to reveal to us His character. Then Moses said, Now show me your glory. And the LORD said, I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. . . Then the LORD said, There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.

So Moses...went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the LORD had commanded him. . . Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. (Exodus 33:18,19,21-23; 34:4-7) B. Ask God to reveal to us His plans. 1. He revealed His plans to His prophets. Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7) But which of them has stood in the council of the LORD to see or hear His word? Who has listened and heard his word? If they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds. (Jeremiah 23:18, 22) 2. He showed Jesus what He was doing. Jesus did only what He saw the Father doing. "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does." (John 5:l9-20) 3. He will direct our prayer. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. . . . "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. (1Corinthians 2:12, 16)

I find that some of the most important questions I can ask the Father when faced with a prayer request are similar to these: Father, what are you doing in this situation right now? What is the next step that you desire to bring to pass? Would you direct the gaze of my eyes to that which you have already initiated? As we pray, we too can "learn to see what the Father is doing." As we develop a relationship with Him of intimacy, we can grow to perceive the moving of His Spirit, and pray in accordance with His heart and His power at work in the affairs of men. C. Ask God to make us sensitive to His timing. My understanding is that Gods plans are perfect, and nothing is left out or forgotten. Yet we find that throughout the scriptures, there is a repetition of the phrase in the fulness of time. God has an appointed time, a kyros, for all His designs. The incarnation, the indwelling of God in man, came about at the kyros ordained by the Father. As we pray, we can ask the Father to sensitize us to His timing so that we neither: l) take a stance of "demanding" blessings to materialize in accordance with our time schedule; nor 2) lose heart as we wait for the "birthing" of an answer to our prayer.

Father, we thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit, through whom you continue to make your truth known to us. Touch our eyes that we may see, and our ears that we may hear all that You would speak to us. Enable us, Father, to be one in Youunited in Your love, thinking Your thoughts, and doing Your kingdom work as we are aligned in Your will, in Jesus name, Amen.

PRAYING FOR CHRISTIAN LEADERS

Cathy Schaller

I. Why leaders need prayer.

A. Leaders are key to the growth and health of the church. They have a role of greater responsibility and accountability for the work of the kingdom than others. we who teach will be judged more strictly. (James 3:1) Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God which he bought with His own blood. (Acts 20:28) Be shepherds of God's flock which is under your care, serving as overseers not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being an example to the flock. (1Peter 5:2, 3) B. Power is released when people pray for leaders. Increasingly we hear reports of leaders who have experienced unusual protection and empowerment in key situations as others have been led to intercede for them. One evening as I was attending a Christian concert, I became aware of an increasingly intense presence of evil. I

experienced sharp pain in my back, and the words I have come to kill, to steal, and to destroy came strongly and clearly to my mind. I knew that God was enabling me to see that a significant person in my life was caught in a deep struggle with the enemy. I began to intercede, relying on scriptural prayer and rebuking this work of the enemy. After about 20 minutes, I sensed the evil resistance being overcome, and then it suddenly stopped. The Lord gave me a deep peace that He had accomplished His purposes in the spiritual realm. The pain left my back and we went home from the concert. Later that evening, I received a phone call informing me that a prominent Christian leader had, at the very time I had been praying, taken a bad fall off of a ladder onto a concrete slab, landing on his neck and back. Although shaken and bruised, he sustained no permanent injury from what could easily have been a fatal accident. I suspect that I was one of several people whom God tapped on the shoulder and called to pray, allowing us to be used in the release of His power for His kingdom purposes. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. (2 Corinthians 1:10-11) So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. The night before Herod was to bring him to trialan angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the celland the chains fell off Peter's wrists. (Acts 12:2-7) C. Leaders may be specifically targeted by the enemy. While travelling on an airplane recently, a minister noted someone seated near him engaging in what appeared to be deep prayer. At an appropriate time later in the flight, the minister spoke to the young man, saying I noticed you praying earlier. Are you a Christian? To his surprise, the young man replied, Oh no. Actually, Im a Satanist, and one

day a week we fast and pray for the breakup of marriages of Christian leaders. Leaders are targeted by the enemy as focal points for his destructive work. Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter is still a strategy of the enemy for bringing confusion and impotence to the church. If a leader can be enticed to fall into moral sin, or be led astray doctrinally, many others may fall into disillusionment, unbelief or bitter criticism of Christ and/or His Church. Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. (1 Chronicles 21:1) He must also have a good reputation with outsiders so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devils trap. (1 Timothy 3:7) And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. (2 Timothy 1:11-12)

II. Prayer for leaders is biblical.

The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, 'Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.' Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up one on one side, one on the other so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. (Exodus 17:8-13) A. Joshua, leader of the Israelite army, needed prayer. While Joshua is credited with "overcoming the Amalekite army with the sword, his success was utterly dependent on the intercession of Moses who was in turn dependent for help upon Aaron and Hur. God has ordained a healthy inter-

dependence in the body of Christ for the outworking of His plans and purposes. Just as Joshua, although a godly man and powerful warrior, was unable to defeat his enemies alone, so leaders today also need the prayers of others. B. Moses role was that of intercessor. Moses was God's chosen intercessor, the one to whom God granted authority (symbolized by the rod) in this event. God is still granting spiritual insight and authority to believers who are called to intercession on behalf of leaders. Note that Moses, in addition to praying for Joshua during the battle, also gave direction to go to battle in the first place (v. 9), another role that intercessors sometimes play today. C. Paul was aware of the need for partnership with intercessors. One day, while praying for one of our overseas team members, I kept seeing a picture in my mind of his head and neck. Strangely enough, in the picture in my mind I saw Jesus hand placed over his throateven exerting pressure on the area. I wasnt sure if this brother perhaps had a sore throat which the Lord was touching and healing, or if there was another meaning. I finally called him and told him what I was sensing. Immediately he recognized the meaning of the picture. At that very moment he was praying for the Lord to show him whether or not he should confront a Christian brother with some things that were bothering him. Through this partnership in intercession, God revealed to him that the time was not right for him to speak, and he was able to wait in peace until the Lord would ordain such a meeting to take place in a constructive way. Paul was not just being polite when he asked for prayerhe was inviting brothers and sisters to partner with him for effective ministry. We see this in these New Testament injunctions to pray for his ministry:

Brethren, pray for us. (1 Thessalonians 5:25) I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayer to God for me. (Romans 15:30)

III. Why some leaders have difficulty asking for prayer.

A. Ignorance Some leaders are unaware of the potential power-source of intercession on their behalf. They have never perceived that Paul's requests for prayer for himself and the ministry were not a polite invitation but a vital recognition of need. B. Individualism Some leaders prefer to "sink or swim" on their own. They perceive that they have full responsibility for the carrying out the vision and work granted them by God, without realizing the principles of teamwork outlined in biblical illustrations such as that of Joshua fighting the Amalekites. (Exodus l7) C. Fear Fear of being perceived as weak or needy can cause some leaders to resist asking for prayer. Also, the accountability and vulnerability involved in asking for prayer may feel uncomfortable. These fears can be overcome as mature, trustworthy prayer partners are established and the leader begins to experience the benefit and blessing of having others lift him before the throne of grace. D. Spiritual Arrogance "I don't need anyone to pray for me," is a dangerous attitude harbored by some leaders. This underlying pride often "goes before a fall." (Proverbs 16:18) God has created His body to work in a healthy inter-dependence, allowing for His name alone to be glorified. Anyone who believes that he/she has all of the gifts and fruit of the Spirit necessary to move in leadership without the aid of others is deceived. E. Undue humility

Sometimes leaders feel that their ministry is insignificant in the sense that they shouldn't bother others to pray for them. They are afraid that their requests for prayer might be perceived as arrogance considering their ministry more important than they ought. While humility is truly a virtue, leaders need to realize that "if it's worth doing, it's worth praying about."

IV.

Establishing Personal Prayer Partners.

One way to encourage intercession for leaders is to invite spiritually mature, praying people into a relationship of being a prayer partner. Prayer partners have had significant impact on many leaders ministries. The size of such a group may vary from as small as 3 to as many as l00. A target number for a leader may be 8-l2 people. In building a prayer partner ministry, a leader should: A. Identify those who are gifted in the area of intercession. Typically, they would be those who: 1. have a close relationship with God 2. feel a special obligation to pray for a particular leader or group of leaders 3. receive revelation from God as to how to pray 4. do not look for rewards or use prayer manipulatively for the advancement of their own cause. B. Recruit them to be prayer partners. 1. Determine time period. Invite people to serve as prayer partners for a specific period of time, such as six months or one year. 2. Clarify commitment. Clarify the expectations of how much time in prayer you are asking intercessors to commit to (daily, weekly, as God impresses them to pray). This helps prevent misunderstanding and confusion.

3. Understand focus. Some intercessors may be called to pray for one specific arena of your life or ministry such as your family, health, travel, etc. C. Pray for your intercessors. Although the intercessors will probably spend a more significant amount of time praying for the leader, it is appropriate for the leader to ask the Lord to protect and bless those who are involved in the ministry of intercession. D. Communicate regularly. Remembering that intercessors are people too can do much to facilitate the relationship between leader and intercessors. Remember to: 1. Encourage. Personal greetings, messages of encouragement and appreciation from time to time give messages to the intercessor that you do consider him/her to be a significant part of the ministry. 2. Communicate. Regular communication of plans and needs should also occur, so that those praying can be specific as they pray. A letter sent out once a month is usually adequate to convey needed information. It is helpful to share the significance of certain events with the intercessor, instead of just giving a list of names, places, and dates of conferences, etc. 3. Train. Getting together with the intercessors from time-to-time to enjoy fellowship as a group, or to equip through specific teaching and training, may be profitable for all involved. From the following passage in Ephesians, we

can see an illustration of how Paul communicated with those praying for him: emboldened type: Paul's prayer requests/needs underlined text: Communication, encouragement "...pray always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints . . . and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. But that you may know my affairs and how I am doing, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make all things known to you; whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that you may know our affairs, and that he may comfort your hearts. (Ephesians 6:18-22) E. Watch out for dangers. As in any close relationship, care needs to be taken that unhealthy behaviors and attitudes, such as the following, do not develop: l. Spiritual dependency. This happens when the leader feels that he doesn't need to seek God, because there are others who are praying for him. To avoid this pitfall, it would be prudent for the leader to have a relationship with one in spiritual authority over him, to whom he is accountable for his own devotional/spiritual life, as well as ministry goals. 2. Emotional dependency. This occurs when either the leader or the intercessor is controlled by the feeling that they cannot function without the support or approval of the other or if there is too great an attachment between the two. A general rule is that the leader should not share deeply personal needs or information about his marriage with prayer partners of the opposite sex. Keeping the marriage relationship healthy is the best way to avoid this kind of inappropriate dependency.

3. Physical dependency. This may simply be defined as sexual attraction between the leader and the intercessor. Establishing general rules of conduct which establish boundaries aids in avoiding temptation. This would include such practical guidelines as never meeting alone with a prayer partner of the opposite sex, never engaging in counseling or other intimate aspects of relationship without one's spouse present, etc. While a leader/prayer partner relationship can involve some risks, being watchful and dealing with problems before they become disasters is possible. Staying focused on God, trusting in Him, and enjoying a healthy inter-dependence with His Body will enable us to be effective leaders, to the glory of the King.

Material in this chapter developed in conjunction with Dr. C. Peter Wagner.

ESTABLISHING INTERCESSION IN THE LOCAL CHURCH

Cathy Schaller

I. A church prayer ministry is grown.

I see prayer as the channel for the life of God to flow into the body of believers. For this reason, its important that prayer be developed in our churches. I purposefully do not bring you a how to packet, because I believe that God wants it to be something unique in each church. My strong conviction is that prayer ministries are not something that we just organize, but rather something that God grows. So you may want to think of this as a packet of seeds. The ministry of intercession, like a plant needs to grow over time. Each church also has a unique calling. Each church has a unique soil (receptivity), climate (spiritual atmosphere) and mix of gifts. God will grow a ministry of prayer that is consistent with who He has called you to be. Efforts to transplant a full-grown ministry (structure a ministry like weve seen in another church) are seldom effective. Just because He is blessing through a method in one place doesnt necessarily mean that He will use the same method in your church.

II. A church prayer ministry begins with breaking up the hard ground.
A. It starts with a recognized need.

Prayer begins by a church or pastor recognizing that something is missing. This recognition usually comes through experiencing difficulties, such as disillusionment, illness, problems in relationships and even physical and mental breakdown. This need is the drive that pushes us toward God, as we begin to feel and believe that, We dont want just another program. We need the life of God. A Baptist pastor in California puts it this way, We, as a church, no longer desire to do something for God, but for God to do something in us and through us. B. It has a cost. A prayer ministry will involve self-denial, an evaluation of values, a call to holiness. a. Giving up control. One pastor said, "The cost of waiting on God is giving up control." God is going to do it His way. God knows exactly what He wants done, when he wants it done and how He wants it done. Who are we to dictate to God what needs to be done and when? Our task is to step where He steps, pray as He would have us pray, wait when the Lord says wait, and move on when He would have us move on. (Exodus l4:l3-l5). It is not up to us to figure out how to expand His kingdom, but to listen to Gods call in our life and be obedient to His voice. b. Evaluating the seed were planting. Even good things, like prayer, will only bear fruit that is like the seed that is planted. If the seed is from God, the fruit will be a glory unto Him. Likewise, if the desire is coming from our own flesh, that too will become evident.

III. The pastor is key to the expansion of prayer ministry.

If the pastor of a church is looking only for a way to improve prayer meetings or even to have a prayer ministry, I dont think that much is going to happen. Prayer itself is not our goal: relationship with God Himself is the goal. Everything flows from this relationship. Prayer both releases and causes our hunger for God to increase in our church family. Case study In the First Baptist Church of La Jolla, California Pastor Brian Fairley and a small group of people began seeking God for direction for prayer ministry a few years ago. Brian brought his congregation along with him as he began to experience a deeper relationship with God through prayer. He shared his experiences, his trials, his joys, his confusion. The Lord then imparted through him to his flock a hunger and desire for God. They saw that Brian was changing and wanted to grow as he was growing. The general level of expectation and anticipation in meeting with God in prayer was raised throughout the church. As this developed, Brian recognized that there were some people who surfaced for whom this life of prayer came naturally and spontaneously. These are intercessors whom, I believe, God places in each assembly. It is usually these people through whom ministries of prayer develop. Brian shares the following about his experience: Prayer has changed my life. Seven people prayed for me without even knowing my name. Prayer was responsible for breaking my heart and allowing Truth to touch me. After nine years of pastoring, I found God. As a church, prayer has strengthened and intensified our worship experience. We expect to find God any time we gather to worship. For over two and a half years there has been two hours of prayer for every hour of worship. There is now power in our worship because God is there. We have come from knowing about God to knowing Him. Prayer has caused us to see that the main activity of the church is to focus on Christ and keep that focus before us. We have moved from a program-based body to a relational body.

IV.

The root of a church prayer ministry is its intercessors.

People, rather than programs, form the foundation of effective prayer ministry. Thus, recognizing and involving those who have a desire and feel called to pray becomes of critical importance. A. Every believer is called to pray: Every believer is called to pray. I believe that the primary reason for that is that it is through the life in union with Christ we can be ambassadors of His to others. As we spend time with God in prayer, we take on his likeness in character, speech and action. This is the foundation of whatever service we render in His kingdom. a. Scriptural injunctions to pray Pray continually. (1 Thessalonians 5:17) 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 saints. (Ephesians 6:18) We can encourage all believers in prayer by developing the prayer opportunities that are already established in our churches. One way of obeying the scriptural injunction for all believers to pray for one another might be through the formation of prayer pairs. Everyone can pray for one other person in the congregation, sharing concerns, and scripture passages with one another. This fosters caring and provides place for needs to be expressed so that in the context of larger prayer groups focus is not diverted in praying for Sallys great-aunt Susie. b. Continual prayer. They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42) Use of formal prayer times, such as benedictions, can be a way for pastors to model prayer that is vulnerable, expectant and real. c. Situational prayer.

For the sick. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. (James 5:16) Sending out missionaries Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. (Acts 13:2, 3) Keep before the congregation messages of faith and expectation that God answers and honors prayer. Teaching from texts which demonstrate the process of prayer builds faith and desire to know God. B. Some have a special calling on their life to pray. Intercessors are not favored of God or more spiritual than anyone else. Its just that prayer is their service to the body of Christ. They have a priestly ministry. As people who are involved in a personal ministry of prayer grow, a church prayer ministry will emerge. a. Difference between the role and gift. Though the role of prayer is key to the life of every believer, God seems to gift some with the desire and ability to devote themselves to intercession for others. They will often spend more time and energy in prayer than others. b. Example of someone with a special calling to prayer: Anna She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. (Luke 2:37) Nigel Buxton Nigel is a retired missionary, an 80+ year old doctor, who lives in Canada. He spends four hours each day in prayer. He is consumed by the desire to be before the throne of grace on behalf of Dawn Ministries, and receives insight from God into particular situations. I believe that God has Nigels for each outpost of His kingdom.

V. The church prayer ministrys goal.

A. To identify the intercessors in the church. Intercessors will be able to readily identify other potential intercessors. Remember the principle that like attracts like. Often intercessors will share a common experience and desire for God expressed through prayer. Emerging pray-ers, seeking those who can further equip and encourage them in prayer, will recognize those leaders who are intercessors by that common experience and desire. B. To equip the intercessors. This involves helping them to identify and develop the unique calling that God has put in their lives, such as: praying for the city, praying for the sick, praying for leaders. There are many different kinds of anointing in prayer, and it is important to help people to receive training appropriate to their call. Those who are called to pray for a city or nation may have a strong warfare stance or focus. They may be best networked with other people in the city who share a common call to pray for that realm. Pastoral-type people will often want to do personal ministry, spending longer amounts of time ministering to those who are broken physicially, spiritually or emotionally. They will need different training for their ministry. It is important to let each person wear their own armor. David couldnt fight Goliath with Sauls armor on; rather, he had to minister out of who God made him to be. C. To release them into ministry. As times of empowering come to intercessors and fruit begins to be apparent, structure is added to support the

fruit-bearing limbs. Ministries are formed according to the gifting/calling of the various individuals and groups. There will probably be different branches in the tree of your churchs prayer ministry. One may predominate, in terms of the overall call of the church community. Making room for each branch is crucial to the health of the whole organism. Allowing each part to operate without competition or splintering takes watchcare and wisdom.

VI.

Conclusion
Prayer has taught us that the process of ministry, and how to relate to those in that process, is as important to God as the product we are trying to produce. If the process is wrong, the product loses meaning. In fact, the process in Christ is the product. Brian Fairley Again, prayer is founded in relationship. Relationship with God, and with one another. Ultimately, its never going to be what we do, but who we know that brings forth anything of real substance and life in our churches. May God bless you as you follow Him.

May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever, Amen. (Hebrews 13:20, 21)

PRAYING FOR NATIONS

Cathy Schaller

I. God holds the whole world in His hands.

A. God is the Creator of the nations. While God cares about each of us individually, He also sees us collectively as nations. The existence and separate identity of nations are noted from the beginning to the end of scripture. From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. ( Acts 17:26) When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, He set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. (Deuteronomy 32:8) There is something unique about each created nation and people group. Each, out of the individuality that God has given them, is able to reflect a special facet of God's glory unlike any other. Peruvians can bring to the worship of God a different flavor than Germans. While we are all in Him, the diversity of nations and cultures demonstrates the greatness of God. Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to Your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. (Revelation 15:4) B. God is the Judge of the nations. God deals with the nations justly, according to His righteousness. He blesses those that acknowledge Him and punishes those that do not respond to His revealed will but turn from relationship with Him to their own devices.

The reasons for God's judgment of nations is very clear, especially in the Pentateuch and the Old Testament prophets. The most frequent reasons for judgment include: l. Apostasy abandoning the God of the covenant. In the records you will find that this city is a rebellious city, troublesome to kings and provinces, a place of rebellion from ancient times. That is why this city was destroyed. (Ezra 4:15) I will deal with you as you deserve, because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant. (Ezekiel 16:59) 2. Idolatry turning away from the worship of the one true God. This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O city that brings on herself doom by shedding blood in her midst and defiles herself by making idols, you have become guilty because of the blood you have shed and have become defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close, and the end of your years has come. Therefore I will make you an object of scorn to the nations and a laughingstock to all the countries. (Ezekiel 22:3, 4) 3. Injustice a neglect of the poor and oppressed, alien, orphan, and widow. Is not this the kind of fasting which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into the house; when you see the naked, to cover him; and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? (Isaiah 58:6-7) 4. Indulgence of self in all its forms abundance of food, ease, opulence. Now this was this sin of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore, I did away with them as you have seen. (Ezekiel 16:49-50)

5. Abuse of power and leadership kings, princes, et. al. who are unprincipled or abusive. Woe to the city of oppressors, rebellious and defiledher rulers, her prophets, her priestsknow no shame. I have cut off nations. (Zephaniah 3:1, 3-6) This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. (Ezekiel 34:l-5) 6. Immorality in all its forms. We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. (I Corinthians 10:8) If we look to church history, we see that judgment and revival often happen at the same time. Think of John Wycliffe, the "Morning Star of the Reformation" (l330-l384). At the same time as he was disseminating his new English translation of the Bible, over one-third of the English population died of the black death. The followers of Wycliffe, known as Lollards, affirmed obedience to the Word of God and brought to the English Church such a wave of repentance from dead works that the Lollards became a threat to the religious establishment and were severely persecuted. What will happen in the end times? Some say a great falling away, while others predict a worldwide revival. Again the answer is both. The Bible predicts a great polarization of darkness and light at the end of the age. Satan will unmask his kingdom and intensify his efforts. There will be no illusion of middle ground. On the other hand the Spirit of God will be poured out on the earth and an unparalleled harvest will be gathered into His Kingdom.

God is a God of mercy and grace, but He is also a holy God who hates the suffering caused by wicked people. God judges a nation when people have repeatedly rejected His message and warning, but judgment is His last resort. ---John Dawson Taking our Cities for God C. God is the Redeemer of the nations. Even as it is the LORD who brings judgment, so it is also He who brings redemption to our nations as we seek Him. When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you and when they turn back and confess your name, praying and making supplication before you in this temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their fathers. (2 Chronicles 6:24-5) I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 29:11-14) I will defend this city [nation] and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant. (Isaiah 37:35) I will deliver you and this city [nation] from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city. (Isaiah 38:6) I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness; I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free.(Isaiah 45:13) When the word of the LORD reached the king of Ninevah, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the asheswhen God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it. (Jonah 3:6,10)

II. God has a will for each nation.

We must understand that there is a differentiation between God's will FOR A NATION, that is, His ultimate purpose which will be fulfilled some time in the future, and God's will IN A NATION at a given point of time. A. Gods will FOR each nation is: 1. To exalt His Son. The primary purpose of God for each nation is to exalt in it the name of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is God's desire that all people respond to His gift of redemption. Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11) After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.Revelation 7:9 2. To bless them. As King of the nations, God is primarily interested in blessing the nations of the world in various ways: a. Through Abraham's descendants. (Genesis l2ff) It is emphatically and repeatedly stated that Israel had been blessed to be a blessing to all the nations. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. (Genesis 12:2, 3) b. Through observance of His ways and law revealed through nature and His word. The Melchizedeks' and Corneliuses' of history have salted the nations with a God-fearing disposition which brings His mercy and ultimate salvation message. Their observance of God's

ways has preserved the larger populace for a later advent of His salvation message. Righteousness exalts a nation. (Proverbs 14:34) Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted (Proverbs 11:11) See Romans chapters 1 and 2. c. Through the fear of God. Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. The LORD nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance. (Psalm 33:8-12) d. Through the establishment of His reign. The Kingdom of God the extension of His rule and reign over all peoples and nations is a promised reality. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and his kingdom will never end. (Luke 1:32, 33) B. Gods will IN each nation at a specific point of time: At a specific point in time God deals with each nation in a unique way according to how the people of the nation are responding to Him. Although God's love for a nation is constant, His love will be expressed differently at different times. He will be glorified by the raising up or by the downfall of a nation. Illustration: Israel at the point of the Babylonian Captivity. God's will FOR the nation of Israel was to "treat you like sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation." (Jeremiah 3:l9)

Because of the unrepentant heart of Israel, God's judgment fell upon them. God's will IN the nation, at his appointed time, was this: "the whole land will be ruined" (Jeremiah 4:27) punishment would come through drought, famine and the sword (Jeremiah l4) seventy years would be spent in captivity to pagan Nebuchandnezzar of Babylon. (Jeremiah 25) Even God's judgments are ultimately redemptive in purpose and nature.

III. The Church is the prophetic mouthpiece of the Lord to the nation.
A. God reveals his will to nations. The prophets of the Old Testament give irrefutable evidence to the ongoing conversation which God carries on with cities and nations (not only within the confines of the Holy Land) and offer much in our understanding of his attitude, will and actions for and against them. Amos 2:7 says, The Lord God does nothing without revealing His plans to His servants the prophets. Prophets are, by definition, intercessors, as they stand in the gap for the nations.

PROPHETS

NATIONS PROPHESIED TO: Assyria, Philistia, Moab, Aram, Israel, Cush, Egypt, Babylon, Dumah, Arabia, Tyre

Isaiah

Jeremiah

Egypt, Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar, Hazor, Elam, Babylon Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, Sidon

Ezekiel

Daniel

Persia, Greece, Egypt, Syria Israel Judah Aram, Philistia, Phonecia, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Judah, Israel Edom Ninevah Israel Ninevah Judah, Babylon Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Cush, Assyria, Judah Israel

Hosea Joel Amos

Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah

Haggai

God pronounces warnings and hope for redemption and restoration through the agency of His people. This is demonstrated in at least the following three ways: 1. Through the presence of His people in a nation. The churchs presence is fundamental to all its activity. In the same way that Christs incarnation was fundamental to His ministry, so the living of the life of Christ among the people of a nation validates proclamation of the gospel. Through the presence of Gods people in a nation, His love, power and righteousness are made known. These are all necessarily carried out by the people of God in a place. Let your light shine before all men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (I Peter 2:12) 2. Through the praises of His people "before the nations." The Church must so worship God that the nations will see it for God inhabits the praises of His people. All you have made will praise you, O Lord; your saints will extol you. They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, so that all men may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. (Psalm 145:10-12) 3. Through the prayers of His people. Intercession is fundamental to the intervention of God in the story of nations. From the prayer of King Solomon: As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name for men will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstrtched arm when he comes and prays toward this temple, then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name. (I Kings 8:41-43) I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (I Timothy 2:1-4)

IV. Through intercession the church enters into the concerns of God for the nations.
A. Through the voice of Scripture. God will hear and answer prayer that is born out of His nature, character and purpose.

An intercessor's prayers are shaped through interaction with the LORD God by His Spirit and through the scriptures. The church, as the mouthpiece of God to a nation, must be saturated and steeped in the scriptures, especially in the Old Testament, where God discusses His perceptions of and dealings with various nations, because as He dealt with those nations, so will He deal with our own. The LORD frequently uses the dealings with one nation as an object lesson for another to whom He is speaking. For example, in Jer. 3:6-l3 God chastens Judah for not having taken a lesson from his dealings with the Northern Kingdom, Israel. During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, "Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there. I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. I gave faithless Israel her ceritificate of divorce and sent her away because of her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery. Because Israel's immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. In spite of all of this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense," declares the LORD. The scriptures should be used as a portrait of God's standards and dealings, as a lens through which we might see our own nations from His perspective. God uses the vehicle of intercession to include us in the outworking of His plans for the nations. It must be understood that we enter into intercession on His terms and not our own. We don't have a "blank check" to disperse the power and authority of His kingdom except as He directs, which will be in accordance with His nature and His purpose. For example, Balaam could not curse the nation of Israel. Numbers 22:18 says, And Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything either small or great contrary to the command of the Lord my God, and again in verse 35, But the Angel of the Lord said to Balaam, Go with the men, but you shall speak only the word which I shall tell you.

There is another example in Luke 9:5l-55. James and John wanted to call down fire from heaven upon a Samaritan town that rejected their message. Jesus told them that they "did not know what kind of spirit they were of. B. Through interaction with God. But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds. (Jer. 23:22) Abraham was able to intercede for Sodom and Gomorrah because the LORD told him how He viewed those cities and what He planned to do. We need also need to stand in the "council of the Lord" that we might perceive our nations as does the LORD, sensing, seeing, hearing what He is about to do and interceding accordingly. But which of them has stood in the council of the Lord to see or hear His word? Who has listened and heard His word? (Jer. 23:18) What happens in a nation is largely determined by the people of God in that nation. God gives His Church opportunity to be "watchmen on the walls" and healers in our nations, as we enter into intercession. I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it .... (Ezekiel 22:30) If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14) To be "prophetic pray-ers," we must be agents for His purpose not merely advocates of our own desires and purposes. As His agents, it is important that intercessors are not lobbyists before the throne of grace, but those to whom God has given prophetic insight into His immediate plans and purposes. Illustration: Ezekiel as a Watchman (Ezekiel 33:l-6)

The word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, speak to your countrymen and say to them: When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head. Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had taken warning, he would have saved himself. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood." We are called to be "watchmen on the walls" and are accountable for "blowing the trumpet" in prayer, understanding that if we are slack in His purposes, we will not only miss out on what God has for us, but that the losses are real. There are times in which God limits His activities of mercy and redemption to the prayers and obedience of His strategically placed people. He does not always "find someone else to do the job" if we're disobedient. His ultimate authority as LORD of the nations is final, yet, in a mysterious way, His activity on earth in saving and restoring the nations is so wrapped up in His emissaries on earth that He will be limited, even as Christ was limited in His incarnation, to what the Father could and would do through His body.

V. Discerning the spiritual status of a nation.

A. Through spiritual discernment in intercession. Our goal as we pray for our nations is to understand what Gods purpose is in establishing it. God will give revelation to His Church through the work of His Holy Spirit. l John 2:20 states you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. We all operate out of a general discernment common to all believers in order that we can perceive and understand both the work of God and the resisting forces of darkness in our nation. Gods will is to establish His kingly rule and reign, bringing forth into this present evil age the blessing of the future kingdom. Those things that we think of when we think of heaven healing,

forgiveness, deliverance, eternal life, provision, etc. are the very extension of Gods rule that He wishes to establish in our nations through the life and work (including intercession) of His people. We will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Ephesians 4:14-16) But solid food is for the mature, who by constant practice have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:14) Intercessors must ask the question "WHAT IS GOD DOING IN THIS NATION RIGHT NOW in order to bring about His ultimate goal of glorifying His Son in this place?" We must be aware that material prosperity and God's blessing are not synonymous. Argentina, for example, did not experience revival until her economic system failed. While Satan may have been the instrument of the financial collapse, God's sovereignty prevailed. What the enemy intended for evil, God used for His good purposes. Our intercession must be bathed in discernment, or we will be fruitless in our ministry. B. Through researching the nations spiritual history. Researching the spiritual history of a nation can bring revelation regarding Gods intent and purpose in a particular place and a particular time. The purpose of the questions that follow and related questions is to begin to explore Gods intent for a nation, to understand how sin throughout the generations has given access to the enemy and to evaluate the current status of the body of Christ. l. Entry of the gospel into the nation. Under what circumstances did the gospel first enter the nation? Did God send a missionary with a vision for a particular work to be accomplished? What has happened to that vision? Was it fulfilled? Was it thwarted? Were promises from God given in conjunction with the vision? Have those promises been fulfilled?

Note Daniel 9:2-3 In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. So I turned to the LORD God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. Daniel realized that the 70 years were completed. In seeing the promise of God, Daniel approached Him in prayer and fasting. 2. The founder of the nation. Did the nation have a founder? What was his dream? Were biblical values part of the original foundation of the governmental system? Was it founded on greed or conquest? Was there bloody revolution? What has happened since then? 3. Relationship of races or people groups in the nation. What is the history of relationships among the races in the nation? Has there been oppression, exploitation or genocide? God tells us that the land is cursed because of these iniquities. Sometimes it is necessary for the church to ask forgiveness on behalf of former generations for the atrocities committed to release the land from the curse. As the body of Christ, we identify not only with the breadth of Christianity (all believers everywhere) but with the depth of the Church (historically). 4. Institutions of the nation. What institutions have dominated the life of the nation? Is the power base in the church, the government, the peoples? What has been the leadership style of those institutions? Oppressive governments or other institutions (even the established church) sometimes are such that, like the Pharisees in the day of Jesus, they lead people into legalism and bondage. Repenting of these sins and asking the LORD to heal and restore His righteousness and justice to a nation is very appropriate. 5. The Church of the nation. What is the church like now? Does apostasy characterize the church? Is there syncretism being practiced? Is the church growing?

The current practices of sin need to be addressed, often with corporate repentance and the seeking of forgiveness. God has given us a way to deal with sin through the blood of His Son but that forgiveness is not automatic. The Church needs to truly deal with sin in the camp.

VI.

Responding to the Research.

A. Noting resistance factors. 1. Natural resistance. As the results of research into the spiritual status of a country begin to be communicated to the church, there may be resistance. Christians have believed in their understanding of the state of things for a long time and to acknowlege that it may be different can be threatening. As long as we are in the flesh, we will need to deal with the issues of the flesh. Resistance to change, fear of losing place or prominence, desire to maintain the status quo, etc., will always be a part of our interaction with one another. We must commit to walk in humility before God and one another, forgiving one another and working to preserve the unity of the body of Christ. 2. Supernatural resistance. Fear, division, depression, accidents, illness, etc. may be an indicator that the enemy is actively engaging against us. When this is discerned to be the case, we must stand in the full armor of God according to Ephesians 6 and resist the enemy until he flees from us. (James 4:7) B. Developing a prayer focus that reflects biblical principles: Prayer can be visionary, bold and prevailing. The nature of the petition needs to reflect biblical principles and models. For example: Lord, you alone are the Almighty we affirm your sovereign dominion over our nation. By faith, we write the triumphant name of Jesus above this nation, and ask that you would reveal your glory in this place. The scepter of the wicked shall not remain over the land you have given to your people (Ps. l25:l,2). The battle is not ours, but yours (2 Chron. 20:l5). We

ask you to penetrate and weaken strongholds of evil. Because of your names sake, forgive our iniquities and sin, even for those of past generations. Thank you for scattering the enemy and restoring unto us the righteousness, peace and joy of your kingdom. We praise you for your faithfulness. As the church stands in unity within a nation, petitioning with one voice for the revelation of the glory of God within every place in that nation, the following may be included in the prayer focus: 1. That there would be unity in the body. There will be a need for healing of the particular wounds, splits and fractions of the Body of Christ in the nation, both because of personality conflicts and differences of doctrinal beliefs. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that 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. (John 17:20-21) 2. That the Holy Spirit will bring conviction of sin and repentance to the nation. When He comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. (John 16:8-11) 3. That the church will identify with and repent of the sins, past and present, of the nation which have been revealed through research and spiritual discernment. In looking at Daniel, Nehemiah, Moses, and other biblical intercessors, we see a pattern emerge in their prayer. a. They identified with the sins of their nation. They prayed not I, but we, even when they themselves were not guilty of the sins being confessed. O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and

night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my fathers house, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses. (Nehemiah 1:5-7) b. They repented of those sins.

They asked forgiveness not on the basis of their righteousness, but on the basis of the nature and character of God. Now, our God, hear the prayer and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O LORD, look wi th favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name. (Daniel 9:17-19) c. Thirdly, they asked God to remove the effects of judgment from their nation, restoring the land with justice, peace and righteousness. But if they confess their sins and the sins of their fathers their treachery against me and their hostility toward me which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and Isaac and Abraham, and I will remember the land. (Leviticus 26:40-42) You have shaken the land and torn it open; mend its fractures, for it is quaking. Save us and help us that those you love may be delivered. (Psalm 60:2, 5) 4. That the influence of evil spirits which have had control over the nation to deceive would be exposed, uprooted and stopped. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. (Ephesians 5:11)

The god of this age has blinded the eyes of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4) The God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet. (Romans 16:20) 5. That the Church would be strengthened, protected, blessed and empowered, especially in the areas of weakness evident in the nation such as immorality, greed. May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20-21) I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of selfdiscipline. (2 Timothy 1:6) May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. (1 Thess. 5:23-24) 6. That the Church would be bold in sharing and demonstrating the gospel. As you go, preach this message: the kingdom of heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. (Matthew 10:7, 8) Now consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus. (Acts 4:29-30)

7. That the nation be saturated with churches Empowerment and boldness for church planters as they are sent to each unchurched area of the country, naming the particular areas, towns and villages before the Lord. That everyone in a nation would have opportunity to meet Christ incarnate in His Church; hear the good news, and be saved. Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand. (Romans 15:21) Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Matthew 28:19-20 C. Prayers for nations. In May of 1991, delegates from 23 islands of the Caribbean gathered for a DAWN Regional Training Seminar. Teaching on strategy, research and prayer was included in the five-day conference. One evening, however, the scheduled plans were cancelled as the Lord began to sovereignly move on the hearts of the delegates. What began as a 15-minute worship and praise time turned into a three-hour experience with God in which person after person spontaniously came forward to the microphone, and, as representatives of their nations, publicly repented and asked forgiveness for sin. Weeping, embracing, words of forgiveness and reconciliation were hsared as the pastors and leaders from various nations committed to one another to stand in unity rather than in competition and jealousy. One tangible result of the time was the formation of a network among leaders through which they now support and serve one another. These are a few of the prayers offered by leaders on behalf of their nations: Colombia

My country has to ask forgiveness, not only of Latin American countries, but of the whole world. There are hospitals and clinics full of people who are victims of our sin. Forgive us for our sin against the world. We're killing ourselves, killing children, fathers, indians, destroying our land. We are worse than Sodom and Gomorrah. But there are 20 or 30 people there who love you. Jamaica I want the Americans to know that we forgive them on behalf of Jamaica. I repent for the spirit of greed, for sexual immorality in Port Royal that brought the judgment of God against us, for a spirit of revelry, for Raga festivals, for Carnival. Forgive us for a spirit of rebellion, for lawlessness. We repent. I ask the Lord to pour his spirit over the islands, that he might move foward in his agenda for the nations. USA We are at fault for a lot of things. I'm glad to be from the U.S. and ashamed at the same time. My forefathers and family are Dutch. We shipped slaves to the Caribbean, the greatest crime against you. I ask your forgiveness. We have no excuse for our sin. That same spirit of exploitation and domination has penetrated the U.S. We're sorry. We love you and we want to serve you. Father, forgive us for our sin. In our pride we thought we were the best. But we treated so many precious people as less than animals. Forgive us for our stupidity and sin. Give us an opportunity to truly serve our brothers. We would consider it a privilege to serve in the lowest place our brothers and sisters.

Another example of a prayer for a nation can be found in Coventry Cathedral in England. This excerpt from Eerdmans' Book of Famous Prayers tells the history of this prayer: "On 14 November 1940, a German air-raid passed over the centre of England. The medieval cathedral was left a burnt-out shell. Because of the extent of its destruction, Coventry has become as familiar a name around the world as Dresden.

"In 1962 a new building was consecrated. The cathedral has become a centre of reconciliation between former enemies. In the ruins stands an altar with a cross of nails and another made from charred timbers. Before this altar each lunchtime there is a short service which uses the litany below, first composed for an International Students' Festival held in February 1964, and written on a plaque in front of the altar."

Father, Forgive The hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class, Father, forgive. The covetous desires of men and nations to possess what is not their own, Father, forgive. The greed which exploits the labours of men, and lays waste the earth, Father, forgive. Our envy of the welfare and happiness of others, Father, forgive. Our indifference to the plight of the homeless and the refugee, Father, forgive. The lust which uses for ignoble ends the bodies of men and women, Father, forgive. The pride which leads to trust in ourselves and not in God, Father, forgive.
Eerdmans' Book of Famous Prayers Compiled by Veronica Zundel William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Grand Rapids, Michigan

Scripture tells us that the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16). As we, who are clothed in the righteousness of

Jesus, pray for our nations, God will truly bring release from judgment, close the doors of access to the enemy and redeem our land.

MODELS OF NATIONAL PRAYER MOVEMENTS

Cathy Schaller

I. ENGLAND
Brian Mills, an elder with King's Church in Reading England, is the leader of the Intercession arm of the DAWN strategy in England called "Challenge 2000." He started the prayer movement before being introduced to the DAWN strategy, but has now adapted it to be an integral part of the saturation church planting movement in England. The heart of this strategy is the formation of small prayer groups called "triplets" which pray for specific people.

TOWARDS A PRAYER STRATEGY FOR CHALLENGE 2000

by Brian Mills Introduction: The development of an adequate prayer strategy is to some extent dependent on the overall strategy. It must be seen to develop from it, not added as an extra to it. It must serve the overall strategy and not be seen as a challenge to it. It needs to flow into and out from it. The prayer objectives may well feed the overall strategy, and it should certainly flow from it in the way that goals, timetabling and initiatives are developed. Any churchplanting initiative must be born out of prayer, be preceded by prayer and be accompanied by prayer.

A.

Identifying a strategy. Discipling A Whole Nation may be the aim of the overall strategy, but it needs to be broken down to manageable aims for local Christians to feel they can buy into it. So Discipling a Whole Neighbourhood is much more relevant.

B.

Setting Goals. If we want to disciple a whole neighbourhood, how do we get there? By setting clear and concise goals. These will be specific nationally, but can be adapted locally. For instance: 1. Each church double by 1996 and double again by the year 2000. That process could be arrived at by numbers doubling and/or by churches reproducing themselves by church-planting. Overall that would mean four times as many Christians in the nation by the year 2000. Subsidiary goals might be bi-annual in nature (see prayer strategy below). 2. Each person in the nation prayed for and reached with the gospel by the year 2000. That would be attained by each church attender praying for one person among their circle of friend to become a Christian each year between now and the year 2000. (Or expressed another way, each church attender prays for nine people over the next nine years to become Christian.) If ten percent attend churches now, that would mean potentially 100 percent attendance by the year 2000. 3. A church for every 500 people. At present there is one for every 1,200 people and one for every 311 homes. The English Church Census reveals Population 45,000,000 (10%) Churches 38,000,000 Church Population 4,500,000 Average church attendance 120

C.

Strategic Slogans Part of the motivation will include slogans that can catch on and serve the strategy. Im not a slogan creator, but one could have:

1.

DAWN related phrases. Such as: DAWN Watchers (intercessors committed to praying and watching over their city/nation at dawn) DAWN Walkers (people committed to prayer-walking the streets of their neighbourhood at dawn) DAWN Warriors (people committed to Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare) DAWN Raiders (people committed to street evangelism) DAWN Visitors (people committed to visitation evangelism) DAWN Kids (children committed to praying for their schools)

2.

Prayer vigils at dawn. The break of day (dawn) could be a strategic time for special prayer like vigils at Easter, Pentecost, Solstice, Halloween, Christmas.

3.

Other dawn phrases: The dawn of a new day for the church (getting churches ready to grow and prepare for an awakening) The dawn of a new generation (preparing to evangelize the not-yet-born through those nine and under by the year 2000) The dawn of a new heaven (involving the elderly in prayer and evangelism in readiness for heaven)

D.

A Prayer Strategy. I recognize that people will have varying experiences of prayer and will be familiar with different levels of praying. A strategy has to allow for that. Whatever is decided must be accompanied by a vigorous programme of training, equipping and motivating in all parts of the country and in all denominations. One has to go over the top on prayer to have a chance of enabling it to be given significant priority. The strategy has to include: The world of work as well as the neighborhood.

The very young and the old. The countryside as well as the city. The novices in prayer as well as the experienced intercessor. It has to precede as well as accompany all forms of evangelism. It has to have a prophetic edge in anticipating what will be as well as what is. It has to allow for both the human constraints and the Spirits interaction. The need of man and the heart of God require fusing. 1. Three thousand DAWN Warriors and/or Watchmen nationwide, committed to one hundred cities/regions of England (say 30 each), majoring on spiritual warfare, and available to go from city to city as necessary to support other DAWN initiatives (Zechariah 8:21-22). 50,000 Triplet Groups formed to pray for 450,000 people in the first two years. 200,000 Triplet Groups praying for 1,800,000 people in the next two years. 800,000 Triplet Groups praying for 7,200,000 in the next two years. 3,200,000 Triplet Groups praying for 28,800,000 people in the next two years. This would mean potentially 38,450,000 people could be converted in the next eight years. Each triplet group would also be regarded as DAWN Walkers walking and claiming the streets or work-place in which it was located. 3. DAWN Chains to be formed Aiming principally at the housebound and elderly. Each person given two phone numbers one they are to hear from and the other they are to speak to in prayer at agreed times weekly. 4. DAWN Kids to be praying for their schools ( so that every school is covered by a praying group of people). Kids to be encouraged to go out and get prayer happening for their school by using the sponsorship approach to parents and to wrinklies. Revival among the young must be an objective.

2.

E.

Components to help outwork a Prayer Strategy. Prayer Walking and Prayer Vigils Get the church out of the pew and onto the pavement. To shed light (Matthew 5:16), to gain intelligence in advance of church planting and to break up the fallow ground before seed of the Word is sown.

II.

VENEZUELA
For several years Armando Campos has been calling the Church of Venezuela to pray for its nation through prayer seminars called Schools of Prayer and the organization of prayer leaders for every region of the country. This movement is now identified with the DAWN churchplanting strategy being implemented since their first DAWN conference held in January, 1992.

HOW TO DEVELOP A NATIONAL PRAYER MOVEMENT

by Armando R. Campos Castillo, Venezuela

A.

Develop a NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF PRAYER (Joel 1:14) Develop an Assembly of Prayer on a national level which can be brought together on a regular basis. GENERAL OBJECTIVES: 1. 2. Bring together national prayer leaders. Plan and define an effective strategy of prayer for the nation toward the end of seeing the nation saturated with churches so that every person has the opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel. Commit each participant to the forming of prayer movements in their respective locality. Spend time together in prayer and intercession. Share testimonies, workshops and related teachings.

3. 4. 5. B.

Form groups of INTERCESSORS (Ezekial 9:4) Form Intercessory Groups through existing structures on the level of each city, state and region. SUGGESTED STEPS: 1. Gather together intercessors.

2.

Hold activities which emphasize the importance of intercession in the salvation of the lost (Ezekiel 22:30). Share prayer needs, national emergency situations, methods, testimonies of intercession movements in other parts of the world and how to loose financial resources in order to sustain ministries of prayer. Maintain permanent contact with them, supplying information through correspondence, literature and other means concerning priorities and necessities of intercession.

3.

C.

SCHOOLS OF PRAYER (Luke 11:1) The schools of prayer are to impart strength, order and teaching to the life of prayer through seminars, workshops, literature and audiovisuals.

D.

NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER (2 Chronicles 7:14) This is an effective way of uniting the Church-at-large and its leadership in order to bring salvation to every city, state, region and the nation. (I Timothy 2:1-4) SUGGESTION: Involve all leadership, all pastors, and all churches.

E.

DAILY PRAYER CHAIN AND NATIONAL FASTS (Jonah 3:5-8 and Esther 4:16-17) Prayer chains and fasts have had tremendous results in difficult and decisive times in the history of nations. Operation 639 can be used in order to unite believers for specific aspects in daily prayer. For example: 6:00 AM For the Church, 3:00 PM For the Government, 9:00 PM For the Nation

F.

DEDICATED PLACES FOR PRAYER AND FASTING (2 Chronicles 6:20-21) Prayer houses, prayer mountains, prayer rooms, etc., all give believers who desire to spend time in the presence of God tranquil places consecrated for these purposes. They are like army quarters for Spiritual Warriors who are preparing and arming themselves for battle, continually receiving new instructions from the Holy Spirit. They can be used: collectively, in groups or individually; by men, women, teens and children