Prayer and Missions

Some Spiritual Gifts

Last summer I was called to intercessory prayer. This was done through a “spiritual gifts” assessment, which I’ve been taking every couple/three years for the past decade. It’s been constant what my gifts were until then. To those that don’t know of these, the Books of Romans, Corinthians and Ephesians talk about them. From Romans: “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form on body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”

This past summer, intercessory prayer came out the highest. I thought, now what? I really don’t know so much about it. I was in an extraordinary small group study, the subject being spiritual gifts, and intercessory prayer was explained and defined. Still, I just prayed pretty much, I guess, like anyone else. Through God’s intercession and guidence; a few months later the Church on the Way in Van Nuys, CA, led by Jack Hayford, presented a conference, “Penetrating the Darkness, The Power of Praise-Filled Prayer”. It was there I learned how to pray. An amazing thing; I returned to church about 14 years ago, and really had no idea how to pray.  Mostly our prayers are self centered, asking for relief for so many things that cause us pain, with maybe some thought thrown in for some others, almost as an afterthought.

Basic Elements of Prayer

One of the speakers was Dick Eastman, the International President of Every Home for Christ. He presented a structure for prayer. This takes discipline, time and effort; it’s not easy.

He broke down prayer into twelve elements: Praise, Waiting (be silent to be aware of God’s presence), Confession, Scripture (make a reference), Watching (be alert to God’s intervention and guidance), Intercession (prayer for others), Petition (personal needs), Thanksgiving, Singing, Meditation, Listening (receive His instruction) and Praise again. I’m not so much into the singing as part of my prayers, and the suggestion of an hour a day is tough. I can do 15-20 min a day; that’s better than the 5-6 min I started with. I tried to pray on my knees. Very tough to do. Peter, Paul and the rest spent hours on their knees. It’s really painful.

He taught us to have a daily focus: Monday on the Arts and Entertainment, and especially Christians that they may touch others in their field (so few Christians there). Tuesday on Business, Wednesday on Education (I especially focus on teachers), Family, especially that they stay together, Government, not just ours but of every country, Media (that they contribute to bringing us back to Christian values) and Sunday, Religion, that the Holy Spirit moves through every church, and It opens non-Christians to the truth of His Word. He passed out a ‘world prayer map’ so countries are scheduled for prayer, that none are overlooked.

I’ve created a prayer list that I pull up on my computer when I get home. It grows nearly daily. An element I've added is prayer for people that need to hear of Jesus, and I have a link just a little ways down on the right side of this blog. People now know that I’ll pray for them, that I have a list, and come up to me (at work no less!) and ask for prayer. Some question or deny that prayer works. I think since there are so many asking for, and doing the praying, there's no question. It does. 

Something else I’ve done because of this is become a regular contributor to Every Home for Christ. These people go into dangerous areas, work with local Christians, and get the Word out, bringing people to Christ. I've never been called to be a missionary, but I can certainly support those that are. That there are people that testify in Arab/Muslim countries just stuns me. People in those countries kill Christians just because they can. Exceptional vid here about how Christianity is the most persecuted religion on earth. Jesus warned us it would be so. 

I've posted several times about Christian persecution, and we must always always always keep those suffering that most fervently in our prayers.

Romans: “I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.”  

Call to Prayer II

Most of us really don’t know how to pray. We have some idea, and mostly our prayers turn into a personal wish list. Here's a teaching about how to pray that may give some structure to help us discipline ourselves and have our prayers emanate into the world and push back the darkness pressing in on us from a world that praises those things that deceive, ruin, damage us.

This teaching I recently received and it comes from Pastor Dick Eastman, the International President of “Every Home for Christ”.

It’s absolutely necessary to set a specific time for daily devotional prayer. Morning is usually best. Our minds are uncluttered, we can focus, and we get ourselves aligned with God for the rest of the day. It’s the setting of the time that’s important, but it’s not necessary to set a time limit except for it to fit into your schedule. You may have to rearrange your schedule, maybe not do something that’s part of your routine. Not watch that TV program, or stay up and watch the eleven o’clock news, or get up a little earlier to make room for what's truly important.  

From Pastor Eastman’s book, Look What God Is Doing!  if you can get up to an hour, understandably tough if this is a new evolution in your life, is something to work toward. He breaks personal prayer hour into twelve five minute segments.

~Praise, recognizing God’s nature

~Waiting, silent soul surrender

~Confession

~Scripture Praying, prayer with your Bible open and read scripture

~Watching, develop holy alertness

~Intercession

~Petition, share personal needs

~Thanksgiving

~Singing, a sure challenge for some

~Meditation, ponder spiritual themes

~Listening, receive spiritual instruction

~Praise, bring it back to where you started

When praying intercession pray for your neighborhood; even take a walk through it, praying for those in each house you pass. Create a personal prayer list for family and friends that need intercession.

He gives us several spheres of influence.

~Monday, Pray for those in the Arts and Entertainment, including Sports. Ask God to use Christians here to touch lives.

~Tuesday, Pray for those in business.

~Wednesday, Pray for those in education, especially teachers.

~Thursday, Pray for families, especially those families facing breakup.

~Friday, Pray for those in Government, local to national, and international. Pick a country each day. Get a prayer map of the world to do this.

~Saturday, pray for those in the Media to become tools for Jesus Christ to change our culture from the baseness it exalts now to reflecting His honor and glory.

~Sunday, pray for the anointing of all churches and ministries. Pray for other religions to see the truth of the Gospel.

Pastor Eastman has three focuses, the first a “Prayer Focus” for our neighborhood and for the nations. For your neighborhood, start a prayer watch over them, walk the neighborhood praying. Declare God’s praises over your neighborhood. Whenever you can, lead your neighbors to Jesus. For the nations open doors to spread the Gospel, open minds to hear the Gospel, open hearts to embrace the Gospel, and open the Heavens to reveal the Gospel.

The second focus he calls the “Care Focus” to show Christ’s Love to a hurting world. For our neighbors bless them, know them (very tough in this time of mistrust), help whenever you can, and tell them the Good News. For Nations, remember to be like Jesus and be compassionate, remember to care for the suffering, and remember Him by sharing the “Bread of Life” (he is the bread).

The last is a “Share Focus” to share Christ’s Love through personal and relations evangelism, where we work, play and live.

This is a call to prayer in a darkening world consenting to live in the shadow of the Adversary. We need to penetrate that every day, for everybody, everywhere, and in every home.

You can get learn more and get involved in “Every Home for Christ” by visiting http://www.ehc.org/index.jsp, or calling 800 423 5054.

A Call to Prayer

The dark times we have entered aren't only socio-economic, it’s mostly spiritual. These dark times are a result of forces pushing back the holy power of God. Pedophilia being more acceptable, massive corruption in politics and business, plummeting wealth internationally, a culture sexualizing children, racial tensions and all the rest that disturb us, are a call to prayer for the Church, the Body of Christ. Prayer will penetrate the Darkness, and from there we can begin breaking it down and pushing it back.

Most of the time we pray, it’s more like a personal wish list, prayers of personal petition. In the prayer Jesus taught us, he has us saying, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done”, calling on us to bridge His kingdom to our life here. We’ve allowed ourselves to lose that relationship, our lives being ruled more by men than by God. That leads to deception and ruin; we see the results daily, experiencing the encroaching Darkness. We let ourselves become spiritually blind. Instead of pushing back the Darkness, we close more in on ourselves as the Church, as Christians.

While we do good works, there must be more prayer, both corporate and personal. When we look at the early Church, following Pentecost, prayer life was number one. The power of His Kingdom into our realm is brought by prayer. It began with Jesus, and his constant praying; he set the example. He would withdraw and pray often. He taught us how to pray. The Apostle Paul admonished us to pray unceasingly. Peter kneeled and prayed until his knees bled. Reading in Acts, the story of the early Church, people prayed and there were healings and miracles, new ministries, there were visions of God, people that lost direction found direction, and in the face of unbelievable persecution, the growth of the Church exploded. Acts 1:14 tells us these tangible results were the result of prayer, “all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication”.

This is a call to prayer, for all of us. It takes time and discipline. We each need to find a time to connect with the Holy Kingdom, and do it daily. Prayer is a spiritual discipline, and much neglected, and often limited to our own needs. The recommended time is morning; all is quiet and our mind uncluttered unlike at the end of our day. When we do this, we present ourselves to Him with praise, we open our hearts to Him, we offer our day to Him, and we expand our prayers, reaching out from ourselves, to family, to our Church family, to community, our nation, and then to other nations.

When we open our hearts to Him, He reviews what’s there, and will cleanse us of those things that deceive and keeps us from living totally in tune with His will. Psalms 139 tells us “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”. When presenting our day to Him, Psalms 5 tells us, “Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on your altar and watch for fire to descend.” When we do this we’re asking for His power and anointing to come upon us; this will push back, penetrate the darkness that surrounds us daily. When we reach out, we expand our prayer beyond our immediate circle. We can specifically name those in need of prayer within our immediate circle, and we need to do the same outside the circle. Pick a country everyday and pray for their leaders and people to be delivered from the encroaching Darkness.

There is no predestined fate. Many think God has set in motion events, so just let it be, things will just be taken care of. God has called us to intercede, to bring His Kingdom into our realm. It's on us. God will only act where He is invited; He won’t do things just on His own. It’s more important now than ever, with the force of the Enemy blanketing us in more Darkness that we make the time for daily devotional prayer.

Additionally, as the Body of Christ, the Church must pray, corporate prayer, as if each of our churches is the only church praying. Kingdom power must be that amplified. The order of things has been violated, and we must pray as if our lives depended on it, and it does, to put things right and open His kingdom here on earth.