Any christian leader or minister will agree with me that prayer is of course the driving force behind an individual or a church that is alive and vibrant in ministry. However we will run into trouble the moment we discuss how much time, money and effort we are investing into prayer! Making statements that our actions and lifestyle doesn't support is hypocrisy! Let's admit it, we have lost the focus when it comes to the area of prayer.
Just want to bring to your attention that we have more worship concerts, evangelistic ventures and conferences than we have prayer meetings. That was not the case of the first century church. For them, prayer was an integral part of their everyday agenda. (Acts 2:42) If only we will come down to living and practicing everything that the first century church did, we would be shaking nations and turning cities upside down like they did!
Prayer and Prophecy
Do you remember how Daniel prayed? When he was going through the prophecies of Jeremiah, he understood that they would be released from the captivity at the end of the 70 years. It says, he fasted and prayed till he received a word from God! How would we respond if we were in a similar situation? Please remember that, Daniel was in a very high and comfortable position in Babylon. He was honored by almost every king and his kingdom. But Daniel's heart was set wholly on Jerusalem. How often, we get super comfortable with the positions and titles the world gives us and forget the true purpose for which we have been called? Since Daniel was in such a high position in the kingdom, he could have appealed to the king for the release of the Jews! He could have entered into the politics behind making things happen, Instead he chose to pray! The scripture is filled with examples of people who chose to pray over unfulfilled prophecies! The praying Nehemiah, The Prophetess Anna, The Apostles and the first century church! How often we miss out on the fulfillment of prophetic utterances because we decided to act upon it rather than to pray over it!!
Need Prayer Warriors
We have many people today who prophecy revival over our nation! The need of the hour is people who will claim this prophetic words and seek God till all heaven shows up! We are so often caught up with sending out missionaries and mission funds! Well, it is not wrong to do that! However, more important is that we will pray to the Lord of harvest to send forth laborers. Gone are the days when we used to think praying for souls is the duty of the pastors and the evangelists. It is the responsibility of every born again Christian who is in the spiritual battlefield to seek God for a revival fire over our lost world. Prayer is like the oil that keeps the lamp burning! Remember the story of the Ten Virgins? We can either be lazy and foolish, saying we have a prayer team in the church who are doing the job or we could be wise and prayerful and take upon ourselves the job of standing in the gap.
Authoritative Prayer
God expects us to pray with authority. When we pray, we not only move the hand of God, but also tear down the powers of the darkness. Remember that one of the element in Lord's prayer is the phrase "Deliver us from the evil one" (Matthew 6:13) In prayer we have the authority to bind and loose things in the heavenlies. (Matthew 16:19) How often people continue to live in depression, oppression and bondage of the enemy because there was lack of Authoritative Christian Prayers! If you are really interested in the area of spiritual warfare I would like to recommend to you a book Possessing the Gates of the Enemy by Cindy Jacobs.
Just want to bring to your attention that we have more worship concerts, evangelistic ventures and conferences than we have prayer meetings. That was not the case of the first century church. For them, prayer was an integral part of their everyday agenda. (Acts 2:42) If only we will come down to living and practicing everything that the first century church did, we would be shaking nations and turning cities upside down like they did!
Prayer and Prophecy
Do you remember how Daniel prayed? When he was going through the prophecies of Jeremiah, he understood that they would be released from the captivity at the end of the 70 years. It says, he fasted and prayed till he received a word from God! How would we respond if we were in a similar situation? Please remember that, Daniel was in a very high and comfortable position in Babylon. He was honored by almost every king and his kingdom. But Daniel's heart was set wholly on Jerusalem. How often, we get super comfortable with the positions and titles the world gives us and forget the true purpose for which we have been called? Since Daniel was in such a high position in the kingdom, he could have appealed to the king for the release of the Jews! He could have entered into the politics behind making things happen, Instead he chose to pray! The scripture is filled with examples of people who chose to pray over unfulfilled prophecies! The praying Nehemiah, The Prophetess Anna, The Apostles and the first century church! How often we miss out on the fulfillment of prophetic utterances because we decided to act upon it rather than to pray over it!!
Need Prayer Warriors
We have many people today who prophecy revival over our nation! The need of the hour is people who will claim this prophetic words and seek God till all heaven shows up! We are so often caught up with sending out missionaries and mission funds! Well, it is not wrong to do that! However, more important is that we will pray to the Lord of harvest to send forth laborers. Gone are the days when we used to think praying for souls is the duty of the pastors and the evangelists. It is the responsibility of every born again Christian who is in the spiritual battlefield to seek God for a revival fire over our lost world. Prayer is like the oil that keeps the lamp burning! Remember the story of the Ten Virgins? We can either be lazy and foolish, saying we have a prayer team in the church who are doing the job or we could be wise and prayerful and take upon ourselves the job of standing in the gap.
Authoritative Prayer
God expects us to pray with authority. When we pray, we not only move the hand of God, but also tear down the powers of the darkness. Remember that one of the element in Lord's prayer is the phrase "Deliver us from the evil one" (Matthew 6:13) In prayer we have the authority to bind and loose things in the heavenlies. (Matthew 16:19) How often people continue to live in depression, oppression and bondage of the enemy because there was lack of Authoritative Christian Prayers! If you are really interested in the area of spiritual warfare I would like to recommend to you a book Possessing the Gates of the Enemy by Cindy Jacobs.
The voice of God resounds through the ages "if MY people who are called by MY name humble themselves, and pray and seek MY face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land" 2 Chronicles 7:14 I pray that we wil be the generation that will positively respond and take up the challenge to bring to fulfillment the promise in that verse. Click here to watch a video of a prayer movement in Africa. Let us do so and more, let us meet up for prayer in small groups, as churches, as cities and as nations to intercede and to exercise our authority!!
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