The Kingdom of Heaven Is Near

In his book, That None Should Parish, Ed Silvoso gives four point focus of prayer from Luke 10 for the lost.  One of those points is praying for miracles to meet the felt needs of the lost person being prayed for.  It comes from Luke 10:9, "Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The Kingdom of God is near you.'"  For the past six months Mary Lynne and I have been praying for a dear couple who we believe are persons of peace (people who are open and receptive to the gospel and could be a gateway to share the gospel with their community).  It all began when I was having dinner with the husband.  Through the meal we talked about many things.  He shared a personal crisis he and his wife was experiencing.  However, there was no open door for me to testify of the goodness of God in my life.  As I drove home I heard the Spirit say in my heart, "Your not praying for him."  So I began to pray regularly for the crisis they were experiencing.  

My friend and his wife are PHD students are the University of Texas at Arlington(UTA).  They are Iranians.  Because they are foreigners the International Office and UTA required proof of their ability to pay for the upcoming fall semester.  However, they had exhausted the funds they had brought with them from Iran and with the US Sanctions on Iran, they were unable to transfer any funds by wire to the US.  If they could not provide proof of funds to pay for the fall semester they would have to return to Iran in six weeks.  So Mary Lynne and I prayed asking our heavenly Father to act in a miraculous way, on their behalf.  Three weeks later we saw them and the wife's comment was, "God is so close to us!"  The husband had received a scholarship for his tuition in the coming year and the wife had received a work visa within a two week period to secure a part time position working with the city of Arlington.  

A few months later, we had dinner with them.  We asked how we could be praying for them.  As it turned out she became pregnant so he felt like he needed a job to provide for the extra expenses of a baby.  She asked us to pray that her parents would be granted tourist visas so they could come and help with the baby.  That evening the wife told Mary Lynne, "It seems as though God hears your prayers more than ours."  Mary Lynne and I prayed.  Immediately her mother received a visa, but her father didn't.  Four weeks later the husband was hired to work part time on a research project.  Then 10 weeks later her father received his visa.

Our friend delivered her baby after a long ordeal in labor.  She had the flu and the baby is overdue by two weeks.  Mary Lynne and I kept asking the Father to strengthen her to deliver a healthy baby.  We prayed for the doctor and her team.  We had been asking the Father to work in a way that will show His goodness and power in their lives.  As we listened to their story about the labor and birth of their little girl a few days later.  She looked at us and said the birthing team (doctor and nurses) were perfect thanks to your prayers.  Once again the Father answered our prayers in the name of Jesus.  We are looking forward to telling them, "The kingdom of heaven is near you!"

A New Way of Looking at the Lord's Prayer

A few weeks ago I was on a university campus In East Asia.  I was prayer walking with three college students.  I gave them the Lord's Prayer Outline I use as I prayer walk on a campus, at a workplace or in a neighborhood.  The young men's prayers were sincere and heartfelt for the campus in the first 20 minutes of our prayer time.  I prayed through three names of Yahweh.  I was hoping to model for them a new approach to prayer.  I was then led to begin praying Kingdom prayers, asserting the victory of Jesus in His life, death, resurrection and ascension.  Right before I began serving notice to the powers of darkness and calling forth a harvest we paused for a moment.  I explained what we were doing as we were praying through the Lord's Prayer.  

As I view it, praying through the Lord's Prayer is like climbing up and down a mountain.  As we begin praying through the first request, "Hallowed be Your name," we are ascending the mountain.  In praying through the names of Yahweh and appropriating the present ministry of Jesus, we are coming to a place of abiding, oneness, with Christ.  Once we are in that place of abiding in Christ we are at the summit of the mountain and ready to intercede for the Kingdom.  Praying through the themes of the Kingdom is the focus of our intercession through the prayer time.  Once we are finished interceding for the people and ministries Jesus has entrusted to us we descend the mountain.  The focus our of intercession through the rest of the prayer time is righteousness.  We confess our sins.  We forgive those who have offended us.  We seek God's resources to resist the temptations that may confront us.   

It is interesting to me that Jesus speaks of God's provision following His instructions on praying the Lord's Prayer.  He exhorts His followers to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness.  I want to suggest that as we ascend the mountain praying through the names of Yahweh and appropriating the present ministry of Jesus and then intercede for the Kingdom at the summit, we are seeking first God's Kingdom.  As we descend the mountain, getting right with God and others through forgiveness, and then calling on His resources to overcome the temptations we will face, we are seeking first His righteousness.  Sandwiched in the middle of this twofold focus of prayer, Jesus gave His followers the request "Give us this day our daily bread."  In fulfilling this twofold condition, He promises them their provision, "All these things will be added to you."  As we pray through the first three requests of the Lord's prayer we are seeking first His Kingdom   As we pray through the last three requests of the Lord's Prayer we are seeking first His righteousness.  

One of the young men expressed his appreciation for the structure praying through the Lord's Prayer provides in a prayer walk.  He had never heard a description of the Lord's Prayer in this way.  I was careful to affirm that their prayers in the first twenty minutes of our prayer time was Spirit-led and heart felt.  I didn't want to minimize their prayers.  I was just trying to take them deeper in their experience in prayer.  We continued praying through the themes of, "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done."  Our one hour of prayer was finished.  There was a very real sense of God's presence and as anticipation of faith that our Father heard our prayers!

God Overcomes An Assault On A Kyrgyz Pastor Growing In Prayer

I watched God do a miracle! 

John Eldridge suggests in his book, Waking The Dead, "The devil knows what you could be and fears it."  So he attacks our hearts, seeking to keep us from serving God.  I watched this scenario unfold with Gani, the young Kyrgyz church planter, who was my host and translator last April.  Two weeks after the Kyrgyz trip I received a call from Gani.  He was sobbing with terror.  He and his two daughters, Mariam and Deborah were in a car accident.  Gani was fine, but his daughters had severe head trauma and were in surgery.  Mary Lynne and I prayed in that moment.  We then contacted all of our prayer partners (80 intercessors) from our Kyrgyz trip, requesting they pray for Gani's two little girls.  I called several hours later and heard that they both made it through their surgeries alive, but the Doctors gave Gani no hope that they would live beyond three days.  Searching to make sense of this tragedy Gani asked, "Is this spiritual attack?' 'Why is this happening?"  I told him I didn't know and that this was a time to seek the goodness and power of God.

For two weeks I contacted Gani and updated the Kyrgyz Prayer Team daily.   Thirty days later the girls are home.  After a series of brain scans, Mariam is completely healed.  Deborah's brain and skull has healed well.  The Doctor wants to see her again in August.  There was a little bit of fluid on her brain but there appears to be no physical or mental damage whatsoever with Deborah.  God has healed her through the faithful prayers of the saints!  The Nero-surgeon said that only 7% of people with the severity of head trauma Deborah endured live.  

Greater is He who lives in us than he who lives in the world.  The evil one sees what could be if Gani becomes a man of prayer and the impact it would have on Kyrgyz church and he fears it.  The devil tried to destroy the lives of his two daughters and thereby Gani's heart.  In the end God exalted Himself as the LORD who Heals, Yahweh-rophe!  Gani and his wife Sofia have seen the mighty hand of God at work in their lives and the lives of their daughters. 

The Lord's Prayer Simplified

I was doing a Discovery Bible Study with a young man I was discipling.  He chose to follow Jesus in December 2011.  I wanted to introduce Him to Jesus' teachings on prayer so I facilitated a Discovery Bible Study with him in Matthew 6:5-15.  To my amazement I watched the Spirit reveal truth to him and saw the Lord's prayer through new eyes.  In the Discovery Bible Study model we ask the question, "What do you learn about God in this passage?"  My friend looked at, "Your Kingdom come Your will be done," and said, "God is a king."  He looked at, "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one," and said, "God is a guide."  All of a sudden I realized that the Lord's prayer is just that simple.  I don't believe that Jesus ever intended the prayer outline He taught His followers to be quoted by rote.  Jesus was giving His followers an outline to pray through.  After reading Larry Lea's book, Could You Not Tarry For One Hour, I began praying through Larry Leas's outline of praying through the Lord's prayer.  Through the years I have expanded an outline for the Lord's prayer I use as a guide to pray for ministry events for years.  It is very a detailed and thorough approach to praying through the Lord's prayer.  It is overwhelming for a new followers of Christ to get their arms around such a complex approach to prayer.  Looking at Jesus' teaching through my disciple's eyes I saw that each request in the Lord's prayer reveals an aspect of the person and character of God as an object of our prayer.  So I am suggesting that when believers pray through the Lord's prayer they pray one statement or request at a time and then declare who God is.  You are king!  Then ask Him to establish His Kingdom.  You are a guide!  Then ask Him to guide them into a lifestyle of righteousness.  So here is what it looks like:

Our Father who is in heaven,

You are my Father!

Enter into a time of prayer and intercession for the Kingdom by affirming the Father's love for you.

Hallowed be Your Name, 

You are Yahweh!

Prepare yourself to intercede for the Kingdom by allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal within your heart, your sense of need for God in order to accomplish the work He has given you to do.  Confessing your sin, inadequacies and weakness, surrender your life to Jesus.  Ask Jesus to set Himself a part as Yahweh and appropriate His present ministry in your life so that you may abide in the Vine, Jesus, and bear fruit for the Kingdom.

Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,

You are the king!

Listen to the Spirit for what the Father is doing and by the power of the Holy Spirit call on the resources of heaven to war against the powers of darkness that the Kingdom of God may be established in your life and ministry.  In this way intercede for those the Father is entrusting to you.

Give us this day our daily bread,

You are a provider!

Turn your attention to God's provision in your life for today.  Declare the character of God as a provider, remind Him for His promises to provide and ask for His provision to meet your needs.

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors,

You are forgiver!

Begin considering the day that is a head of you.  Ask the Spirit to search your heart and convict you of your sin.  Confess your sin to your heavenly Father and allow Him to cleanse you and forgive your sin.  Ask the Spirit to search your heart and bring to mind those whom you resentful and bitter towards that you may forgive and release them.  

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

You are a guide and You are deliverer!

Ask the Spirit to search your heart and reveal the nature of your struggle with sin (world, flesh and devil).  Seek the leadership of the Father, appropriating His provision to overcome the temptations you will face today in your battle against the world, the flesh and the devil.  Call upon His resources to set you free from the bondage of sin today.  

I asked three young adults that my wife and I are discipling to use this simple outline of the Lord's prayer for their prayer time.  They found that it took them to a deeper time of prayer. 

A New Way Of Thinking About Prayer

When some pastors and Christian leaders hear the word, "prayer," many different thoughts come to mind.  For some, thoughts of shame flood their minds like, "I can't get up that early to pray" or, "I feel lazy when I pray."  For others it's thoughts of frustration, "No one comes to the prayer meeting and when they do come all they want to do is pray for the sick."  Still others have a sense of defeat.  "I am weak in prayer." or, "Prayer doesn't work."  I have learned through the years that when I speak of prayer pastors and Christian leaders often may imagine something completely different then what I am suggesting.

"I am weak in prayer."  This was the answer to my inquiry of my host and translator to tell me about his life of prayer.  To be honest, I was a little frustrated by his comment.  It was his way of closing the door on any further discussion about prayer.  What I later discovered is that the Kyrgyz believer's view of prayer is one of daily 4:30am prayer meetings.  When the church gathers to pray everyone stands and prays aloud at the same time for 60 to 90 minutes.  This model of prayer has had a great impact for the advancement of the Kingdom of God in some cultures.  But the Kyrgyz night owls struggle to rise in the early mornings to lead prayer their prayer gatherings.   

Conversations about prayer invoke shame and guilt within the life of Kyrgyz pastors because this   early morning perspective of prayer.  As I taught about Prayer Efforts, the Spirit of God began to set these pastors and Christian leaders free to embrace a whole new model of prayer.  With a new excitement several pastors shared with me what they had learned and what the Spirit was leading them to do.  They had a new sense of joy and hope as they thought about prayer.  By the way, my host and translator is now praying daily with his wife for his family and fasting one day a week for their needs.  He too has a new sense of optimism and joy in prayer.

Praying For Heaven's Resources

There are times when I pray with parents for their struggling teenage or adult children I hear what seems to be a manipulation of God.  One request after another is full of petitions, asking God to change their behavior.  "Holy Father, I pray that they will repent and surrender their lives to Jesus."  "Father, I pray that they will read your word and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit."  It is as though they are trying to control their son or daughter's behavior through a third party, God.  

If I were in a twelve step group with these dear folks I would share out my own experience, strength and hope that I am powerless to change people.  I would go on to say that God does not do anything against someone's will.  But God is a power greater than us.  He offers His heavenly resources to intervene on behalf of those we love as we pray for them.  Prayer is not a manipulation of others through God!  Our prayers may be full of scripture, but if we are asking God to change their behavior we attempting to manipulate them through God.  God will not answer those kinds of prayers.

So what are God's heavenly resources?  The Father sends His angels to minister and protect when we ask.  "Father God, send your angels to protect them." He gives us the ministry of the Holy Spirit who gives revelation and empowers and so much more.  "Father, give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that they may know you better."  The blood of the Lamb is available to redeem from sin.  "Holy Father, redeem them by the blood of the Lamb."  In His present ministry at the right hand of the Father, Jesus defends, perfects and so much more.  "Gracious Father, I pray that Jesus will be the perfecter of their faith as they endure the hardships of life."  The Father sanctifies through the word of truth.  "Father, sanctify them in the truth.  Your word is truth."  The word of God is full of promises the Father wants to fulfill on behalf of those we are praying for.  

These are the requests God wants to answer!  When we pray this way we are not manipulating our children through God!  We are calling on God to be faithful to fulfill His promises.  

Persistent Asking, Seeking and Knocking

Now, when my prayers go unanswered and I am tempted to resent those on my prayer list, I seek the face of the Lord Jesus. I began listening. The Holy Spirit shows me what Jesus is doing and He gives me new insights into how to pray. There is a relationship between asking, seeking and knocking in prayer. I find myself seeking intimacy with the Lord Jesus when I began to feel emotions of resentment. The Spirit of God gives me new insights into how to pray, as I wait and listen. The negative cycle of defeat in prayer is broken. I begin experiencing answers to prayer more regularly, as the Spirit leads me to pray persistently. Through the years, the Lord has taught me that:

1. Asking - is making requests of the Father for the things we need.
2. Seeking - is pursuing oneness/intimacy with Jesus and the Father and listening for what God is saying and doing.
3. Knocking - is interceding for the transformation of a life, a family, a church, a city or a nation.

There is a relationship between all three of these kinds of prayer that ebbs and flows from one to the other as the Spirit leads. In 2 Corinthians 12:8, Paul says that, “...three times [he] pleaded with the Lord,” to take away a thorn in the flesh. This is the Apostle Paul writing these words while in Ephesus. God did extraordinary miracles through Paul in Ephesus, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and they were cured and the evil spirits left them. Yet, God did not remove Paul’s thorn in the flesh from him. Paul prayed three times. He may have pleaded with God three times in one season of prayer or in three separate seasons of prayer. We don’t know how long of a period he prayed. It could have been for one hour or one day or seven days or even forty days. The Scriptures don’t make it clear. I believe Paul asked the Father to heal him during one season of prayer. When he didn’t get healed, he sought the Lord’s face to understand what He was doing. Not receiving any new insight, the Apostle entered into a second season of prayer. When there was no answer to his pleading with God, Paul sought the face of the Lord in a new way to hear what He was doing. Hearing no word from the Father, Paul entered into a third season of petition for his own healing. When that season of prayer was over, the Apostle sought the Lord’s face for a third time. It was at that time the Lord spoke to him and said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” In this example of Paul, we observe the relationship between the three natures of prayer in persistent asking, seeking, and knocking.

A Negative Cycle of Prayer

Years go I found myself in a negative cycle of prayer.   I was a volunteer in youth ministry at my church.   During a high school retreat, my Youth pastor, Dave Griener, made the statement, "I came to the place when I realized that if there is nothing else in ministry I can pray."  A few years later I was frustrated with ministry as a youth pastor and Dave's words came to mind, "If I can do nothing else I can pray."  So I began to pray.  It was great!  The Lord was near.  I was full of hope that God was going to work in the student's lives.  My prayer list was growing to 40, 60, 80 requests.  It would take me about two hours to work through my prayer list.  In about four weeks, I began to get a little frustrated.  Those suckers weren't changing.  I continued to pray, but after six weeks I was angry because I wasn't seeing any life change in the lives of the students.  Two more weeks later I was down right bitter.  So much so, that I had to throw my prayer list away and stop praying.  

A few months later I would be frustrated with ministry and my prayerlessness The Spirit would again bring Dave's words to my mind, "If I could do nothing else I could pray."  So I began to pray again.  It was great!  God's presence was near!  I was full of optimism that God was going to work in the student's lives.  I was making my prayer list with faith that things would change.  After four weeks, I began to get a little frustrated.  Six weeks later I was angry.  After another two to three weeks I was bitter again and I had to stop praying.  Believe it or not this was the cycle of my prayer life two to three times a year for ten years.  

After administrating an evangelistic training event that wasn't as successful as I thought it should be I was again frustrated and teachable.  I was at a pastor's gathering when the speaker spoke of a church in Seoul, Korea that had 500,000 people.  The reason for this amazing growth was prayer.  The speaker lifted up a book called, Prayer Key To Revival by Paul Y. Cho.  I bought the book driving home from the event and began to read it immediately.  Two news truths stood out as I read the book and completely changed my life.  First, I learned that God wants to speak to us as we spend time in the word and prayer.  In my prayer life I basically went to the Father with my shopping list of the things I wanted Him to do.  Second, I learned that the nature of prayer was threefold.  Prayer is persistent asking, making requests for the things we need.  Prayer is persistent seeking, pursuing the face of the Father and listening for His voice.  Prayer is persistent knocking, asking the Father to bring about life change in the life of a person, a family, a church, a city or a nation.

The defeating cycle of prayer that plagued my life for ten years ceased.  My prayer life changed dramatically as I began to seek the Lord is prayer, listening for what He was doing.  My perspective changed as I prayed for transformation in the lives of those I ministered realizing that I was knocking on a door and waiting for the Lord to change their lives.  

Praying For Your Team The Way Jesus Prayed For His Team

Praying for those the Lord has entrusted to us is often neglected by Christian leaders.  Christian leaders often assume the protection and growth of their teams, followers and even their families.  So how does a Christian leader pray for his team members?  In John 17, Jesus prays for his team, the twelve disciples, in four different ways.  Jesus prayed for their:

1. Protection - John 17:11 & 15  "Protect them from the evil one."
2. Sanctification - John 17:17  "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth."
3. Presence and Glory - John 17:24  "I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory."
4. Unity - John 17:21 "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."

It is interesting to note that as Jesus prayed for His follower's protection, He stated that none of them had been lost except for the son of perdition doomed to destruction.  Jesus prayed for His followers and did not assume their protection.  I have watched many followers of Christ fall away in churches.  In one church, the leaders of the church often profiled young believers during the worship services to hear their story and motivate the body to grow in an area of faith in their lives.  Sometime within the next three months I no longer saw many of them at church.  Having given their testimonies they became targets of the enemy's attack.  So when I pray for those whom the Lord has entrusted to me I pray the following four ways as Jesus prayed for His followers:

1. I pray for the protection of those the Lord has entrusted to me through the themes of Psalm 91.  As I pray through the themes of Psalm 91, I pray that:

• They will rest in the shadow of Shaddai as they dwell in the shelter of the Most High,
• God will cover them with His feathers and wings,
• God's faithfulness will be a shield and outer wall of protection for them,
• God will send His angels to protect them and their families,
• God will lift them up to a high place out of the reach of the enemy because they acknowledged His name, Yahweh. 

2. I pray for the sanctification of my team through the themes of Psalm 19:7-11 & Hebrews 12:7-11.  As I pray through the themes of Psalm 19, I pray that as my team reads God's word they will:

• Make them wise,
• Revive their souls,
• Give joy to their hearts,
• Give light to their eyes,

As those the Lord has entrusted to me endure the hardships of life, I pray through the themes of Hebrews 12 that they will share in God's holiness and that a harvest of righteousness and peace will be yielded in their lives. 

3. I pray that those the Lord has entrusted to me will experience God's presence and glory, by praying the prayers of Paul in Ephesians 1:15-19 & Ephesians 3:14-18.  As I pray Paul's prayer in Ephesians 1, I pray that they will be given the Spirit of wisdom (knowing who God is) and revelation (encounters with God) in order that they may know God in a deeper experiential way.  As I pray Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3, I pray that the Spirit will strengthen them with power in their inner person so that they will know the presence  and love of God in an experiential way. 

4. I pray for the unity of my team, by praying through the themes of unity Jesus prayed in John 17.  It is interesting to note that as Jesus prays for protection for His disciples His stated purpose is unity.  Then again as He prays that His followers experience His presence and glory He is again praying for unity.  In His prayer, Jesus states that He gave His followers the glory the Father gave Him that they might be one.  So when I have prayed that my team experience the presence and the glory of Jesus I am praying for their unity.  Finally, Jesus prays for oneness of His team as He prays that they will abide in Him and in the Father.  So as I pray for the protection of those the Lord has entrusted to me, I am praying for oneness.  As I pray for Jesus' presence and glory I am praying for oneness.  As I pray that the teams the Lord has given me abide in Christ and the Father I am praying for oneness.

What would happen, if Christian leaders prayed for their followers regularly?  Fewer followers may fall away from the faith.  More followers will see transformation in their lives. More followers will experience the presence of Jesus.  Fewer churches and teams will experience divisiveness.  

Prayer Walks

What is a Prayer Walk?

Prayer walking is a movement of the Spirit throughout the United States where believers are asking for God’s blessing on their neighborhoods.  A Prayer Walk is a spiritual discipline of prayer whereby men and women are so moved with compassion for the lost and filled with faith that they break away from the routine of life and prayerfully walk through their neighborhoods.  In so doing, the Spirit of God begins to usher the reality of the presence and power of Jesus in their neighborhoods.  The Kingdom of God will be near!  

A Prayer Walk is:

1.  Calling on the goodness of God to show His favor on your neighborhood by blessing the households you pass and asking for God’s peace within those homes as you walk, (Luke 4:16-19; 10:5,6)

2. Claiming your neighborhood for Jesus Christ by affirming God’s sovereign call in your life and affirming that He is placing households in your hand, (John 3:27,28,34,35; 17:2-4,18)

3.  Spiritual warfare whereby we declare the truth and serve notice to the powers of darkness that Jesus is building His church and their gates cannot prevail against it, (Matt 11:12; 16:18,19: 2 Cor 10:4,5) and

4.  Asking God to make the presence of the Lord Jesus real to every household within your neighborhood by the Spirit. (Luke 10:21,22; John 15:26,27; 1 Cor 2:9,10)

How does a Prayer Walk work?

A Prayer Walk begins when a believer realizes that God wishes to show His favor to his neighborhood and senses God’s call to pray for the households of his neighborhood.  The believer sets aside at least one hour weekly to walk the streets of his neighborhood.  A Prayer Walk is a Spirit led time of prayer, where the believer is worshipping God and listening for His voice.  He listens for the needs God wishes to touch within his neighborhood.  He listens for promises from God’s word to claim on their behalf.  

As he walks, he first prays for God’s blessing and peace to fall on the households within his neighborhood.  Second, he affirms God’s call in his life and the lost souls God is giving to him.  Third he serves notice to the powers of darkness by the authority of the exalted Jesus and by faith declares what Jesus is doing in his neighborhood.  Finally, he asks the Father for the ministry of the Spirit to reveal the presence of Jesus in each household within his neighborhood.

It is important that the prayer walker secure the commitment from his Biblical community and gifted intercessors to pray daily for the Spirit’s leading and protection for him and his family from the spiritual attacks of the enemy.

Discovering The Importance of Geographical Prayer Through Prayer Walking

Years ago, as a Pastor of Small Groups, I began discovering the importance of geographical prayer through prayer walks.  My church was a large rapidly growing church.  I was watching our small groups branch out to neighboring cities.  One such group was a Young Couples Group meeting in the city of Fontana, California.  I was very impressed with the leaders and the young couples in the group.  There was an excitement about Jesus as they met together.  They were full of love for each other.  Then one day the leader said he wanted to meet with me.  He had an affair and his wife left him.  Within weeks his group completely fell a part and not one couple reentered a new group our church.  

A year later, a mature, strong Christian leader approached me wanting to mobilize members and regular attenders in our church who lived in Fontana into small groups.  He did his own research and determined that there were enough people to have seven functioning small groups.  I gave him permission to fulfill the vision the Spirit had placed in his heart.  Two weeks later I contacted him to see how he was doing.  I discovered that his work load had increased at his place of employment, causing him to work more hours through the work week.  His wife had become very ill.  Between these two occurrences he had no time to invest in the members and regular attenders of our church in his city to establish new small groups.  

That same year I felt led to launch a new small group in Ontario, a city south of us.  I contacted all of the members and regular attenders of our church that lived in Ontario.  Six couples responded.  I led the small group meeting every other week for three months.  In that time, I identified a strong Christian couple who had the willingness and giftedness to lead the group.  I empowered these new leaders to lead the group and this new community of believers was doing well.  Two months later I learned that the new leaders relocated out of state for an employment opportunity.  None of the men within the group stepped up to lead the group.  A dear woman who was a mature believer, but had no leadership gifts took over the leadership.  Within six month the group imploded. 

This was all very discouraging.  There was two neighboring cities with three small group failures.  What was going on?  I realized that all of our 40+ small groups were located in two cities.  Rancho Cucamonga, California the city where our church was located and Upland, the city immediately west.  As it turns out I discovered that Fontana had a history of spiritual failures for many churches.  Ontario did not have a history like Fontana, but none the less, we had a misfire as I tried to launch a church within it borders.

One year later a different couple joined our church who lived in Ontario, the city south of us.  I trained and empowered them to launch a new small group in their neighborhood.  Four months later I sensed the leader was discouraged.  I asked him if we could do a prayer walk in his neighborhood.  In the first morning we prayed, the leader and my friend began tearing up and couldn't pray because he was so discouraged.  I prayed for him through the hour of prayer.  He shared that his wife was not embracing their new ministry opportunity.  None of the group members were willing to assume any responsibility for the group life.  In the second week of prayer walking, my friend began to engage in the one hour prayer time as we walked the streets of his neighborhood together.  We met to prayer walk every other week on the week of his group meetings.  After six weeks of prayer, the leader was ecstatic, there was new life in his group.  His wife had a change of heart and was very enthusiastic about the group!  All the couples in the group were volunteering to share in the responsibilities of the group.  Something had changed in the spiritual atmosphere over that neighborhood.

What was the difference?  We persistently prayed, walking through the leader's neighborhood six times and there was a breakthrough.  I concluded that there often needs to be a spiritual work of prayer before there will be spiritual breakthrough in the geographical area where someone is birthing a new church, group or ministry.  

Fivefold Plan For Prayer Evangelism For Persons of Peace

What is the Fivefold Plan for Prayer Evangelism?

The Fivefold Plan for Prayer Evangelism comes out of the teaching of Jesus in Luke 10 as He sent 72 of His followers ahead of Him to preach the gospel of the kingdom.  This five-step plan is being used in the Neighborhood Houses of Prayer Movement in India and the Lighthouses of Prayer Movement in Argentina to mobilize believers to pray for the lost in their lives.  In this plan workers in the Lord's harvest field pray for at least five persons of peace (PoP) personally, with their own household and corporately with their Biblical communities.  PoPs are lost people who are responsive, open, and welcoming when a worker in the harvest tells his story or talks about Jesus.  The fivefold plan is:

1. Pray for laborers - Ask the Father to bring workers into the lives of your PoP and their network of family and friends (household).

And He was saying to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Lk 10:2

1. Pray for God’s peace and blessing - Pray for your five PoP and their households, persistently asking the Father to bless them and bring peace to their households. 

"Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house.' Lk 10:5

1. Associate with them - Ask the Father for the Spirit's wisdom and understanding to know what to do and how to do it as you asociate with your PoP and their households through coffee, a meal together or participating in an event together and begin investing your life in theirs.

"Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house. Lk 10:7

1. Pray for miracles - Ask your PoP how you can pray for them and then pray persistently for the Spirit's power to work miracles in their lives both personally, with your household and corporately with your Biblical community.

and heal those in it who are sick,’ Lk 10:9

1. Share the gospel - As your PoP experience God’s blessing, presence and power in their lives, continue to make noise for Jesus and ask if they would be willing to do a Discovery Bible Study with you.  Ask the Spirit to open their eyes to a knowledge of who God is and an understanding of the good news of the Kingdom of God.

‘say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' Lk 10:9

How does the Fivefold Plan for Prayer Evangelism work?

1.   Pray together with your household and ask the Father to show you five PoP He wants you to focus your prayer and life on.  This could be family, friends, neighbors, your kid’s friends or teachers at school, associates, clients, vendors at work, family members,families at the gym or athletic field, etc.   List the five persons of peace:

2.  Prepare the ground by praying forty days for your five PoP and their households, using the Fivefold Plan for Prayer Evangelism pray:

1. LABORERS 

Pray that Jesus would send others into the lives of your PoP and their households. Lk 10:2 

1. PEACE 

Pray that God’s blessing & peace would come into the lives of your PoP and their households. Lk 10:5 

1. ASSOCIATION 

Pray that Jesus will open a door for you to associate with your PoP and their households Lk 10:7 

1. MIRACLES 

Pray that the Father will work in a miraculous way to meet the felt needs in the lives of your PoP and their households. Lk 10:9 

1. GOSPEL 

Pray that Jesus will open a door for you to make noise for Him and lead a Discovery Bible Study with your PoP and the Spirit will testify of Jesus as you testify of Jesus. Lk 10:9

3.  After you have prayed for your PoPs for forty days, approach them and tell them that you are a part of a Biblical community that is praying for the neighborhood, or school or workplace, or community, etc.  Then ask them:

a. How can we pray for the neighborhood/school/workplace/community?

b. How can we pray for your family?

c. How can we pray for you?

4.  If they are responsive and give prayer requests, persistently ask the Father to act in miraculous ways in answer their prayer requests, and continue to pray for them using the Fivefold Plan for Prayer Evangelism.  If they are not responsive, it may be that they are not a PoP, ask the Lord if He wants you to shake the dust off your feet, move on and begin praying for others. 

As the Lord leads associate with your PoP, tell them you are praying with them and ask if they have seen God answer their prayer requests.  Continue to make noise of Jesus and ask them to join you in a Discovery Bible Study.  Invite your Biblical community to join you in reaching out to your PoP and their households.  As you pray, ask the Father to work in a miraculous way in their lives and to bring the reality of the Kingdom of God to them.   When they are ready tell them God's story and invite them to trust in Jesus.  Begin praying that as your Pop does a Discovery Bible Study God will open a door for them to lead a Discovery Bible Study with their households.

How Much Do I Need To Pray?

Often when I lead a prayer seminar at a church or organization I will have a lay person approach me and ask, "Who are you, where did you come from and why isn't my pastor teaching me these things?"  Then a pastor or a leader within the organization will approach me and ask, "Really, Clyde, how much do I need to pray?"  In asking this question, some Christian leaders are asking me to give a them a specific amount of time so they can do it and check off their daily to do list.  Other Christian leaders, may discount my suggestion as being too much time in light of their busy schedules.  

I always respond by telling Christian leaders, "I don't know.  I can't tell you how much time you should spend in prayer."  I remind him of the words of Jesus as He prayed to the Father the night before He was crucified, "I have brought You glory on earth by completing the work you gave Me to do."  I suggest, "At the end of the day, when you look back on your day, ask God, 'Father, did I bring You glory today by completing the work You gave me to do?'  'If you cannot answer yes, you may want to pray more."  I continue, "At the end of the week, when you are resting on the Sabbath and reflect on your past week and ask God, 'Lord, did I bring You glory this past week by completing the work You gave me to do?"  I continue, "At the end of the quarter, the end of the year, and you ask the question, 'Father, did I bring You glory on earth by completing the work You gave me to do this past quarter, this past year?' "  Again, I suggest, "If you cannot answer, 'Yes.'  Then you may want to pray more."  

The next question I suggest they ask the Father is, "Father, what is the work of prayer I need to do so I can complete the work you gave me to do."  Then pray, "Father, fill me with the knowledge of Your will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding that I may know what to do and how to do it as I pray for the kingdom and seek to complete the work You have given me to do."  I want to suggest that Christian leaders might be led to  engage in and lead a variety of prayer efforts, praying both personally and with their  teams.  When he has done the work of prayer and persists in it, both personally and with his teams, he will complete the work the Father has given him to do. 

Twenty-four Hour Fast

What does it mean to fast?

To fast is to abstain from food for a spiritual purpose to either draw near to God for greater intimacy and worship or to seek more of His intervention for guidance, power and/or protection to do His will.  Fasting is an act of humility.  It is saying to God, “I need you more than I need food!”  And God gives grace to the humble.  It is saying, “God, I need more...more of you.  I want to give you more of my praise and worship.  I need more of your guidance…more of your power...more of your protection…more of Your grace and compassion.”  The very nature of a fast is a grieving or mourning over a situation that only God can change.

Why did Biblical leaders fast?

• Moses received more of God and His instruction. Exodus 34:28
• Israel needed more of God's deliverance. I Samuel 7:6
• Jehoshaphat needed more of God's wisdom & intervention. II Chronicles 20:3 
• The King of Nineveh needed more of God's compassion & grace. Jonah 3:5,6
• Daniel needed more of God's understanding. Daniel 10:1-3
• Ezra needed more of God's protection. Ezra 8:21-23
• Nehemiah needed more of God's wisdom & intervention. Nehemiah 1:4
• Esther needed more of God's intervention. Esther 4:15-17
• Anna wanted to give more worship to God. Luke 2:37
• Jesus needed more of God's strength. Matt. 4:1-11
• Prophets and teachers wanted to give God greater worship. Acts 13:1-3
• Paul and Barnabas needed more of God’s anointing for themselves and others. Acts 13:1-3; 14:23

How do we fast for twenty-four hours? 

We enter a fast as led by the Spirit of God.  It is a heart response of wanting more of God.  It is not to be entered into for show or personal ambition.  It is built upon a life that is already yielded to God.  And if our life is not yet yielded, that would be the very purpose of the fast.

During a twenty-four hour fast:

1. Allow yourself to be led and stirred with a sense of need by the Spirit of God.
2. Determine to not eat food after eating one meal (i.e. dinner, lunch or breakfast) until you sit down to eat that same meal the next day.  You could do a media fast if you are unable to do a food fast. (no TV, Radio, Internet, newspaper, magazines, iPods, etc.)
3. Devote the normal time allotted to the two meals missed, as well as your normal quiet time to meditate, to pray and study concerning the focus of your fast.
4. As you feel discomfort in the last few hours of your fast, use the discomfort to remind you of your need for God and utter breath prayers concerning your focus. (A breath prayer is a simple address to one of the members of the Godhead followed by a simple request, i.e. Father, set him free!)
5. Practice this discipline weekly until you are released from the Spirit of God to stop.

You might want to consider fasting if:

• You need direction for your life.
• You need freedom from bondage.
• You need an intervention of God in a very difficult situation.
• You want to see lost friends come to know Jesus.
• You want to see the Spirit of God transform the life of a friend. 
• There are people going hungry or without shelter in your community.
• You are struggling in a conflict with a brother or sister in Christ.

Looking At The Lord's Prayer Through New Eyes

Four the past three months I have been discipling a young Nepali man.  We have been doing a Discovery Bible Study together.  He chose to follow Jesus in December.  We did a Discovery Bible Study on Matthew 6:9-13 to learn about prayer.  I was introduced to praying through the Lord's Prayer by Larry Lea, in his book, Could You Not Tarry For One Hour twenty-four years ago.  I prayed through the Lord's Prayer almost daily for twenty of those years.  The outline has expanded through the years as I have used it to pray on-site for three hours at many ministry events.  Seeing the Lord's Prayer through the eyes on my new believer friend was very insightful.    One of his first observations was that God forgives us.  Another observation was that God is a guide who keeps us from temptation.  I then asked him, "In one word, who is the Father in each of these petitions?"  He then made the observation that the Father is the King.  As the King He is bringing His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.  I was blown away.  I realized for the first time that every request in the Lord's Prayer addresses who the Father is.  So with that explanation I want to suggest a new approach to praying through the Lord's Prayer.

Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your Name

You are Yahweh

We allow the Spirit to reveal within our hearts, our sense of need for God in order to accomplish the work He has given us to do.  Confessing sin, inadequacies and weakness, we ask Jesus to set Himself a part as Yahweh and appropriate His present ministry in our lives that we may be one with Jesus.

Your Kingdom come

You are the King

We listen to the Spirit for what the Father is doing and by the power of the Spirit we call on the resources of heaven to war against the powers of darkness that the Kingdom of God may be established on earth.  In this way we intercede for those the Father is entrusting to us.

Give us this day our daily bread

You are a Provider

We are turning our attention to today, declaring the character of God as a provider and asking for His provision to meet our needs.

Forgive us our debts

You are Forgiver

We allow the Spirit to search our hearts and convict us of our sin.  We confess our sin to our heavenly Father and receive His forgiveness.  We allow the Spirit to search our hearts and bring to mind those we resent that we may forgive and release them.  

Lead us not into temptation

You are a Guide

We allow the Spirit to search our hearts and reveal the nature of our struggle with sin (world, flesh and devil).  We seek the leadership of the Father, appropriating His provision to overcome the temptations we will face today in the realms of the world, flesh and the devil.

But deliver us from evil

You are Deliverer

We seek the power of the Spirit to deliver us from those areas in our lives where the devil holds us in bondage that keeps us from fulfilling God's will in our lives today.

In the Lord's Prayer, we are given a model of prayer that leads us to the mountain top of oneness with God in order that we may intercede for His Kingdom resources on earth.  We are seeking His Kingdom!  As we descend the mountain and face the day, we are given the freedom to ask for God's goodness to provide for our needs today.  We then address our obedience to God.  We seek His guidance from temptation and His deliverance from our adversary.  We are seeking His Righteousness!

Calling Forth A Harvest For Six Weeks

After eighteen months of rapid growth in our church in Southern California there was a sense that our staff needed an executive pastor to manage the staff and lighten the load our senior pastor was carrying.  The senior pastor and I had conversations about the potential of me assuming the role as the new executive pastor.  I began praying for each of the pastoral staff by name in the afternoons.  I would walk in a park above our church and pray.  This park was on a hill.  The Santa Ana winds were blowing and I could see the entire Pomona and San Bernardino valleys from this vantage point.  As I was praying for the staff, I was led by the Spirit to call forth a harvest.  Methodically, one by one, I named every city in the valley I could see and asked the Father to bring lost people to our church.  The next day I began praying for the staff again, and then the Spirit led me to call forth a harvest a second time.  It was the last week of November when I began this prayer effort.  Four afternoons a week I would walk in that linear park and pray for the staff and then call forth a harvest.  I continued this prayer effort for six weeks.  

Every Christmas our church offered multiple Christmas Eve services.  Four thousand people entered our doors in the Christmas Eve of 1990.  In the previous two years we watched the church leap one hundred people in attendance in the first week of January.  The same thing happened this year.  However, another one hundred plus people began attending our church the second week, then the third Sunday and again on the fourth Sunday as well.  Our Church leaped five hundred people that January. 

Now something was happening in America January of 1991.  People were flocking to churches because the Persian Gulf war was beginning.  Coalition Forces of 956,600 from 34 nations with 73% being American were on the ground of the Kuwait/Saudi Arabia.  Operation Dessert Shield had turned into Operation Dessert Storm.  The allied troops protecting Saudi Arabia began an air assault on Iraq on January 17.  The American population was full of fear as scud missiles were launched into Israel.  Saddam Hussein threatened chemical warfare against coalition forces.  There was the prospect of much American blood being shed in the impending fierce ground war.  

Most churches in America swelled at least 10% in attendance that month.  We grew over 25% in our regular attendance.  After 42 days of aerial bombardment and 100 hours of ground war Desert Storm was completed and Kuwait was liberated.  The growth most churches experienced during the war shrunk back to normal.  However, our church kept 350 newcomers.  What was the difference?  Again our church was poised for growth.  Our staff and lay leadership were gifted and committed to making disciples.  The Lord new He could entrust 350 newcomers to us so He led one intercessor to called forth a harvest for six weeks and he brought in the harvest.  

Praying For The Harvest

It was my first day at my new church, Friday morning, June 1st.  I was the new pastor of small groups at a church in Southern California.  It was my practice to pray two hours in the worship center of my previous church on Saturday morning for the Sunday morning worship service.  This church had five worship services, two on Friday night and three on Sunday morning.  So I entered the worship center and knelt down to pray for the Friday night services.  Our worship pastor saw me and knelt down beside me to join me in prayer.  In the course of our prayer time, we called forth a harvest of the lost from the east, west, north and south.  The next morning we prayed for the Sunday morning services.  We faithfully prayed this way throughout the summer and fall.  Six weeks after that first morning in prayer our church attendance grew one hundred people in one weekend.  This amazed all of us.  

This church had been planted ten years earlier.  Through the first eight years, the church grew to 1250 people in attendance.  Then the church attendance plateaued for two years.  The church planter and then senior pastor tried everything he knew to spur the church onto new growth.  The Lord used that season to call him into a new global ministry of training church planters.  One of his associate pastors became the second senior pastor and I was the first new pastoral staff member he hired.  Our church had a very gifted pastoral staff and team of lay leaders led by it's new senior pastor.  We were poised for growth.  All we needed was an on-site prayer effort along with calling forth a harvest to see a harvest of souls.  By Labor Day Weekend, three months later, 250 new people were attending our church.  That summer catapulted our church to be one of the twenty fastest growing churches in America in the next two years.   

One year prior to that summer, I read Larry Lea's book, Could You Not Tarry For One Hour.  In it I was introduced to praying for the harvest.  The notion of praying for the harvest comes from Isaiah 43:5-7.  Within the context of the passage, the prophet is calling forth the dispersed children of Israel.  There is a principle here of calling forth those individuals that God is drawing to Himself.  In our implementation of this principle, we call forth two kinds of people:

1. Laborers, asking the Lord of the Harvest to bring laborers into His harvest field, and
2. Lost, asking the Spirit to bring all those who are lost so they can hear the gospel and become followers of Jesus.  He is saying to the Lord of the Harvest, "Bring them to us, gather them to this ministry."

This is spiritual warfare!  Whether the Christian leader is asking the Father to bring them or addressing the demonic and saying, "Let them go!"  The powers of darkness that are blinding the eyes of the unbelieving and holding them in prison (the gates of Hades) within the kingdom of darkness don't want to let them go.  We sometimes passively assume that our churches and ministries will grow.  Sometimes, in the grace of God, they do.  However, I want to suggest that in most places throughout the world where there is a harvest there is aggressive spiritual warfare prayer.  The powers of darkness do not want to give up those whom they hold in bondage and desire their destruction.  So we call them forth, in the authority of the name of Jesus and in obedience to God's calling in our lives.  This kind of warfare prayer can bring great results for the advancement of God's Kingdom on earth.

Years later my family was attending a church in Arlington, Texas.  The pastors of the church asked me to lead their pastoral staff in a Jericho Prayer Effort for an evangelistic outreach.  A gifted team of evangelists who tear a part telephone books, blow up water bottles and judo chop concrete blocks, giving them an audience to present the gospel led the evangelistic event.  We began praying on a Monday at the noon hour.  Everyday through the week we called forth a harvest of lost students and their families from 28 elementary, Jr High and High School campuses that were targeted with special assemblies led by the evangelistic team.  The evangelistic event began on Wednesday night.  Fifteen hundred plus students and their families attended that first night.  One hundred students and adults responded to the invitation at the end of the evening.  Day by day we prayed, calling forth a harvest.  Each night of the five night evangelistic event was more of the same as 500 plus students and adults trusted in Jesus.  God did an awesome work among us!  Those in spiritual authority of that church, the pastoral staff, prayed daily for the harvest and God responded by bringing them to Himself.

Seeing The Parable of the Sower In Real Life

Mary Lynne and I saw the Kingdom truths of the parable of the sower in action when we ministered in Southeast Asia this past May.  We stayed for three days in the home of our good friends who are missionaries.  We met Oso, a man of peace, our friends had discipled and was now leading a House Church within his Muslim village.  Our friends had been sowing the seeds of the gospel in Oso's life for three years.  After having an encounter with Jesus and watching his wife be healed of cervical cancer, Oso began studying the way of truth with our friend.  Two and a half years later there are 24 House Churches of Muslims leading Muslims to Christ.  

Wow!  I was so excited about all that I heard of the grace of God and the move of the Spirit in the lives of these Muslims who were following Isa (Jesus in Arabic).  I thought the principles of Luke 10 could give birth to a similar movement the United States!  Mary Lynne was a little more skeptical and with good reason.  Not all the House Churches were thriving.  As it turns out one of the persons of peace who launched a House Church had fallen away and some of the groups were struggling.  The picture we saw on that island mirrors the picture of the Kingdom Jesus speaks of in in Matthew 13.  

Jesus taught His followers that the sower sowed seed on four different kinds of soil.  The First soil was the path on the field.  When the seed fell on the path the birds came and ate the seed.  Not all Muslims who hear the word of God respond with faith in Isa.  

The second soil was rocky.  When the seed fell on the rocky soil it sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow.  When the sun came up it scorched the plants and they whither because they had no root.  As it turned out, when Oso started his Discovery Bible Study, he invited his brothers, family and closest friends.  They received the word with joy and even witnessed there lives being transformed as they studied the word.  Just as the sun scorched the plants and they whither, so their village responded with a harsh persecution and all of Oso's brothers and most of his family and friends fell away from following Isa.  Oso is a very courageous man who together with a few family members and friends are faithfully following Isa in the midst of much persecution.

The third soil was full of thorns.  The seed fell on the thorny soil and began to grow.  However, the thorns choked out the new plants and they didn't bear fruit.  In the same way, another person of peace, who received the word from a member of Oso's House Church, chose to follow Isa.   However, later she was caught up with the world and fell away from following Jesus.  

The fourth soil was good and fertile soil.  The seed fell on it and it reproduced 30, 60 and 100 fold.  Our friends met with several of their House Church leaders the last night we were in their home.  I was amazed as I heard their stories!  Each one of them started a Discovery Bible Study with their household and was now leading a House Church of Muslim followers of Isa.  One woman was even starting her second House Church the very next day.  

When I heard of 24 House Churches being planted in two and a half years, I was very excited about the growth of the church on this island in Southeast Asia.  What we witnessed was the truth of the parable of the sower in Matthew 13.  The Kingdom of God does grow as we sow the seeds of the gospel.  However, many who hear the word do not respond at all.  Some fall away from the Lord Jesus because persecution and still others fall away because of the cares of the world.  The good news is that still others bear fruit 30, 60 and 100 fold and the Kingdom of God expands with the sowing of the seeds of God's word.