Day 9

Several years ago I met with a gal who was celebrating her 5th wedding anniversary and she was miserable. She married her darling husband who served Jesus alongside her while they dated but once the wedding occurred he stopped serving. He became distant from her and their children and spent most of his time at work. She longed to have the man that she dated back again. She longed to have him love Jesus and show it like he used to. She longed for him to be engaged in their children's lives. She said she had been praying but had pretty much given up. We joined together to pray, and invited others to pray. She continued to love Jesus and trust that her husband belonged to Him and that some day (sooner rather than later) her husband would have a renewed faith. A man, a few years older than her husband, began to spend time with him. He shared life with him, built a relationship with him and invested time and energy in him too. Her husband began to show signs of a renewed interest in Christ. He began to attend church again, he didn't want to spend as much time at work because he wanted to be home with his family. This man began to fall in love with Jesus like never before. He and his wife fell in love with each other like never before too. He quit his job, they sold everything and took their children to a land where Jesus wants to be known. They are serving on a mission field in a distant land where everything is new and hard. But the prayers of their brothers and sisters in Christ are strong and mighty because of Christ. Their prayer warriors know the power isn't in the pray-er but the One....do you remember the rest?? The power is in the One who hears the prayer.

Day 9
The Ministry of Intercessory Prayer by Andrew Murray.

"While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, '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. The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus" (Acts 13:2-4). The evangelization of the world depends, first of all, upon a revival of prayer. Even deeper than the need for workers is the need for prevailing prayer on behalf of those already laboring on our mission fields. Pray that mission work may be done in a spirit of waiting upon God, hearing the voice of the Spirit, and sending workers out with fasting and prayer. Pray that in our churches, our missionary interests may be directed by the power of the Holy Spirit and concentrated prayer. It is a Spirit-filled, praying church that will send out Spirit-filled, praying missionaries, equipped to invade the Enemy's territory.

How to Pray: Take Time

"I am a man of prayer" (Psalm 109:4).
"We will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word" (Acts 6:4).
"Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few" (Ecclesiastes 5:2).
Time is one of the primary standards of value. The time we give a thing is proof of the interest and value we place on it. We need time with God in order to realize His presence, to wait for Him to make himself known, to consider and feel the needs we ask for, to take our place in Christ, and to pray until we truly believe we have received what we ask. Take time in prayer and receive blessing and provision for the mission work of the church.

Your Own Prayer Requests:


~Ask God for His heart toward mission work
~Ask God for the name of a missionary that you can support in prayer or financially
~Connect with a missionary in order to understand her/his specific prayer needs (practice from yesterday's entry...pray specifically!)
~Consider how you might reach out and serve someone this Christmas season

Sometimes I look around me and I think Satan is winning. So much bad stuff is happening and it seems like so many are either walking away from faith in Christ, or creating their own savior and calling it their salvation. However, our God wins. I need to type that again, our God wins!!!! Satan has no hold on us and it is time for a revival that allows Jesus to wake up His people. I believe His people are waking up, getting the dust out of their eyes and getting ready. I believe they are getting ready for a revival of faith in our churches, our families, our schools and in the world. A woman said to me last week, as we discussed the demise of our surroundings, "We can't change the world." I said, "Yes we can, we can pray." Ladies, join me in praying for the Spirit to come in power and might and that we will be changed. These are exciting days ahead!! Tell Him you want to pray in the power of the Spirit. Ask Him to teach you to pray so that your prayers will be Spirit-filled. Next, prepare to mess with the Enemy's territory. The Enemy isn't going to like you messing with his territory so pray for God's protection for yourself and for your family.

Be safe with the expected snow tomorrow and go to church with a heart prepared to praise our Heavenly Father!!

Blessings upon you.