Last week, 57 participants, mainly prayer network leaders from across the USA and one from Canada came on during two conference calls and some during a face to face meeting to share their sense of what the Lord is saying to us at this time of heightened concern for our nation's security. Many of their comments seemed to converge around similar foci, which have been included in the list below.
If you did not have a chance to join us on either call and would like to comment, please respond with your own sense of what God is saying to the prayer movement at this time about the future of America with regard to both its security and destiny.
Here is a condensation of the main comments that were made and we prayed accordingly and will continue to do so:
Preparation- prepare, prepare, prepare for what is to come. Be on the wall for the USA at this hour!
Rebuild the wall of prayer like Nehemiah and defend the nation. Neh. 4:4 "Remember the Lord and fight for your brethren." Be alert!
Strategize- develop a nation-wide strategy. Lay down individual things in order to come together as His sons and daughters with a Kingdom perspective for the nation.
Connect across the country as a network of united prayer. The power of unity even among a remnant can be used by God wonderfully. We need a new level of unity since the "generals of prayer" in the USA not united. Pride and ego need to be laid aside and let's deal with unforgiveness and fear that keep us apart.
Press in for an outpouring of the Spirit through worship and praise. The Lord inhabits praise.
Act with urgency to prepare and stand, simplify our lives.
Don't give way to just reactionary prayer. Anticipate what the devil will do to stay one step ahead. Clearly communicate and keep focused on what God wants us to pray so we are not reactive, but proactive, praying from a posture of humility.
Practice strategic repentance. Repent as part of strategy as Watchmen on the Wall. The church has lost spiritual authority because of sin. 2 Chron 7: 13-14. Need for strategic repentance to release our authority and restore justice in midst of growing lawlessness.
Be overcomers in spite of the storm. The storm has already come and we are in it- our three branches of government in some ways have collapsed in the face of political correctness already, and we are living in occupied country. However, in Christ we will not give up. Be overcomers and look for the harvest that is coming!
Become liberators. Need to use a "spiritual bomb" as in Esther--three days of prayer and fasting- to wake up the Church and cause the enemy to surrender. Sustained, united prayer will be used of God to achieve this.
Respect and honor one another. Learn to respect all groups of praying believers for their part so the whole process can happen through new honor, new respect for each other. Harness the prophetic dreamers and their dreams.
Cultivate corporate unity because we Americans are very individualistic and not as strong as other national cultures on doing things together well. In order to achieve that, let's pray together more often. Hold prayer conference calls with a different leader each week.
Use proven Biblical principles to achieve breakthrough. For example, utilize the principles of achieving spiritual breakthrough from 2 Chronicles 20. Someone counted 17 different ones! Also, two participants brought up the same passage unknown to each other.
Learn from previous revivals and prayer movements- past intercessors were intense and didn't quit. They pressed in until the Spirit fell upon their cities and the nation.
Respect and partner with 1st Nations prayer leaders. They are the spiritual gatekeepers to the USA and are crucial for the deliverance and healing process. Some good reconciliation has happened so far, but it has not gone deep enough due to portals of defilement due to corporate sin, so the enemy still claims territory. Humility and grace to connect with one another frees God to do so much. First Nations have special authority with both government and church that needs to be called upon.
Stand in hope and consecration where we are in our own family, community, taking responsibility for consecrating ourselves to God. Pray with hope, not in negative terms so that average people will be encouraged and empowered to pray also.
Link up with governmental officials- 770 governmental leaders are connecting already through Pray USA.
Learn more about and pray about Islam- our nation's conflict with Islamic radicalism has been called the "last battle" and we need to know more this antagonist to the nation and its future. In such a battle, prayer is the power of life and death.
Educate leaders and churches about the power of prayer. There is little understanding in the American church of the supernatural, transformational power of prayer and the priestly role of believers as intercessors. We need to educate and communicate the theology and rationale of prayer to pastors and others who still don't understand or practice it effectively.
Include children and youth as partners in prayer.
God responds to their prayers and they have much to teach us in their simple faith!
A number of national security calls are being planned for the next three months. Please join with us to pray for the USA. More information is in the next article below.
From Fait Non-Accompli AUG 3, 2015, VOL. 20, NO. 44 * BY William Kristol
"The Iran deal turns out to be so no good, so very bad, so awfully ugly, that there is a chance-an outside chance-that a congressional process accepted by the [U.S.] administration because it seemed to virtually guarantee the deal's survival might actually kill it instead.
The administration is pulling out all the stops. The left is mobilizing. Pressure is being applied. But what's striking is how many congressional Democrats are balking. Serious Democrats look at the deal-at its failure to stop Iran's nuclear program, at the weak verification provisions, at the precipitous and massive sanctions relief-and can't quite believe the horror the administration is asking them to approve.
The public can't quite believe it either. The Pew poll this week had those Americans who knew something about the deal-a strikingly high 79 percent of the public-disapproving 48 to 38 percent. When has this happened before? A president signs a deal that purports to limit arms and reduce the risks of war, he makes his case to the American people against scattered voices of criticism and dissent-and he doesn't even start out ahead. A Washington Post poll that framed the deal in a way more favorable to the administration had only 56 percent approval. Most analysts experienced in these kinds of fights expected the deal to start out way ahead in public opinion, and then perhaps face some erosion as the debate proceeded. Instead, opponents are at least even at the start. And, by the way, the critics are so far handily winning the debate on the merits.
Still, is it really possible that over a dozen Senate Democrats and almost 50 House Democrats will defect from the president and vote both to disapprove and then to override his veto? Yes. It's possible, if not yet likely. And the possibility will grow if opponents energetically press their case. They will need to explain, among other things, that the sanctions regime isn't doomed if the deal is defeated. It is true that some damage will have been done by the United Nations action. But a Congress that insists on retaining U.S. sanctions will leave the next president-whether a Democrat or a Republican-with a chance to marshal the international community to continue the pressure on Iran and perhaps to negotiate a better deal.
Meanwhile, what about that U.N. vote? Congress owes it to the American people to disapprove the deal because it is bad and dangerous, but also precisely to establish the principle that the American people are the masters of American foreign policy, not the United Nations."
Please pray that the U.S. Congress will be able to overturn the recent nuclear deal if it will endanger the Middle East nations along with other countries by giving Iran, the world's leading sponsor of terrorism, over 100 billion in sanctions relief as well as a path to the development and deployment of nuclear weapons. This is a crucial matter of international security.
To the glory of God, this is a report about some of the marvelous things He has done during the last several years through our humble efforts in the International Prayer Connect. It is also a request for your help if you feel a resonance in your heart about partnering with us for the World Youth Prayer Assembly, a magnificent initiative that is being planned by youth and children leaders for next year. It cannot happen without the generous support of many brothers and sisters in the Lord.
History
History is shaped by the united prayers of God's people in accordance with His many promises to that effect in Scripture. Therefore, since our inception, we in the IPC have sought to connect and unite Christ's people around the world in an increasingly global prayer movement. Here are thumbnail mentions of some of the initiatives the Lord has enabled us to accomplish:
December 2001, international and U.S. prayer leaders gathered in New York City near Ground Zero committing to the Lord and one another to pool our efforts in order to birth a global prayer network that would focus on international issues of concern to the Body of Christ such as terrorism, the HIV pandemic, wars and humanitarian crises as well as the fulfillment of the Great Commandment and Great Commission in the nations.
November 2002, in South Africa, almost 300 prayer network leaders and mobilizers from every region of the world gathered for the launch of the IPC. A number of regional prayer summits were then held and networks formed that have continue to unite the prayer networks and ministries in those regions till this day.
Three initiatives inside the United Nations (2007, 2009, 2013) with ambassadors and hundreds of prayer leaders from across the world participating
Three Children in Prayer global consultations (2006, 2008, 2013) bringing together those working with children to nurture them in intimacy with God and to empower them as young men and women of God with His unique calling for their lives
Numerous national prayer initiatives in difficult areas of the world with our international facilitation teams, often in the midst of war and human suffering. As a result, God's often sudden and startling breakthroughs bringing unforeseen peace agreements and governments of national unity as Christian leaders of all denominations have gathered to seek His face in accordance with 2 Chronicles 7:14: "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, pray, seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land."
Joined with the Global Day of Prayer to make it go global from 2004 after its leaders asked for our help. Hundreds of millions of believers in 200 nations have so far taken part during the years of the GDOP.
Actively bridging and embracing not only our own efforts but also many other prayer and mission networks as a "network of networks". This interdenominational, transcendent stance has enabled us to broker many different cooperative efforts that are the picture of "unity in diversity" in fulfillment of Jesus' prayer that we may be "one as He and the Father are one so the world may believe" (John 17).
In 2012, the IPC, in close cooperation with the Indonesian and Korean prayer movements as partners, brought together all known prayer networks and major ministries willing to participate for the World Prayer Assembly in Jakarta. Within Indonesia, up to 4 million people in almost 400 cities participated simultaneously in stadiums, churches and other public venues and by satellite TV. It was video-streamed through the Internet, God TV and Global Day of Prayer to many millions more, literally reaching the ends of the earth as possibly the largest prayer meeting in history.
Leadership
A leadership team of 24 men and women from every region of the world who lead various regional and international initiatives help direct the IPC. All of us volunteer our services without any remuneration. We also have a Board of Reference attached below. Through our database and the IPC Connections, a monthly prayer journal, we are in touch with about 5000 networks, ministries, prayer leaders and intercessors throughout the world.
World Youth Prayer Assembly
Both in Scripture and the history of the Church, the Lord has always used a vital prayer relationship with Himself to call and empower men and women of God for the unique missions He has for their lives. The IPC is now working on the World Youth Prayer Assembly with an international team of 40+ youth ministry leaders. We believe the Lord will use this WYPA called "UPrising (United Prayer rising) 2016-2017" to raise up a whole new generation of leadership for Christ's global Body and mission from the younger generation. Our Children in Prayer team is in touch with and helping to coordinate a movement of hundreds of thousands of praying children in various countries that will be included. We anticipate that a movement of many millions of the younger generation will be ignited as this prayer/mission movement rolls out around the world in successive waves. God will use the WYPA to call and empower the next generation, and through them generations to come. I am utterly convinced that supporting this focus on the youth and children is the most strategic thing we, as the older generation, can do for Christ's work on earth.
Request for your help
Hopefully, this letter has given you a clear idea of what the IPC is and what we are seeking to achieve. This initiative will be impossible without the support of many brothers and sisters in Christ through providing prayer and financial support. If you feel any resonance with this vision and would like more specific information about how you can partner with us to help make this initiative happen, we would like to share that with you. Just let me know through a quick email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or give me a call at 1 505 314-3331 FREE. If you would like to donate now, here is a link that will enable you to do so.
D o n a t i n g t o I P C a n d t h e W o r l d Y o u t h P r a y e r A s s e m b l y
PayPal is an online banking service that can receive donations from over 30 currencies worldwide through automatic draft and credit cards. It is safe and secure. International Prayer Connect is a non-profit ministry funded through the Transformation Prayer Foundation and relies on individual donations to keep the work going. If you are willing to provide support, please click below. Thank you for your sacrificial gift to IPC!
Click Here to Donate or visit http://www.ipcprayer.org/donate
IPC Leadership Team
Austen Ukachi, Coordinator, West Africa Prayer Network
Brian Mills, Interprayer and Senior Advisor to the IPC
Dr. Leslie Keegel, Co-chairman, Global Foursquare Movement
Steve Hawthorne, President, Waymakers
Gloria Au Yeung, China and Hong Kong United Prayer Altar
Refaat Gendy and Dr. Khaled Leon, Egypt United Prayer Movement
Yanira Gonzalez, Latin American Prayer Movement
Ian Cole, Director, World Prayer Centre, UK
Maria Harbajan, Coordinator, Caribbean Prayer Network
Ioan Peia, European Trumpet Call, Eastern Europe
Onassis Jeevaraj, Children in Prayer, India
Patrick Joshua, Coordinator, India National Prayer Network
Veronica Conteh, Youth Ambassadors, Sierra Leone, West Africa
Sarah Lee, President, All Nations Intercessors, South Korea
Tety Irwan and Irma Chon, Co-coordinators, Children in Prayer International
Grace Song, Lausanne and Call2All
Andy Page, International Prayer Alert and World Prayer Centre, UK
Jerome Ocampo, Coordinator, Jesus Revolution and World Youth Prayer Assembly
Hannah McVeigh, 24-7 Prayer Movement
Jason Mandryk, Former Coordinator of Operation World
Tom Victor, President, Great Commission Coalition and Transform World-4-14 Window Movements
Bishop Peter Sekhonyane, South African Prayer Watches and Royal Kids Children in Prayer movements.
Recently, a friend gave me the biography of one of the great intercessors of history, Daniel Nash. It is only 25 pages long but packs a big wallop. It mowed me down! I was "blown away" as we say here in the States by the way the Lord transformed a rejected, broken-hearted small church pastor into one of the mightiest prayer warriors in history, using his pain, brokenness and a physical affliction to do so. The booklet which you can read for yourself on the link below recounts this powerful story. Father Nash, as he came to be called, would go into towns weeks or days before the much more famous preacher, Charles Finney, would arrive as part of a deliberate strategy to prepare the ground for revival. Nash would gather with one or two other intercessors, and they would give themselves to prayer, sometimes for days, laying on their faces in the spirit of travail until the assurance came that God would pour out His Spirit upon those communities. Finney relied on these selfless prayer warriors for the convicting outpouring of the Spirit that brought thousands upon thousands to Christ (over 100,000 in Rochester, New York alone), including blasphemous haters of the Gospel. Massive transformations of individual lives and families along with major social reforms that brought about the abolition of slavery and other marvelous results were the direct result of this revival now called the Second Great Awakening. Nash only spent the last seven years of his life as Finney's partner in revival, but his quiet, behind the scenes, persistent heart-cries to God for the lost changed American history in profound ways. I was also encouraged by his obvious implementation of Jesus' powerful promise that even two or three can agree with prayers of unity and authority that will move both heaven and earth (Matthew 18:18-20). Of special relevance to those of us who work with children and youth, are these words concerning the Fulton Street Revival of the 1850's that arose in the generation after Nash and went around the world: "The youth of Nash's day were the leaders of perhaps the greatest revival of prayer in history." Please click on the link below and be stirred and challenged as I was.
John Robb
Click to Daniel Nash's biography
We are writing to you as prayer leaders and intercessors out of deep concern for the state of our nation, its spiritual decline and national security. Lawlessness has entered our gates and is on the rise. Our government is steadily moving away from the Constitution. Core issues of covenant are now being contested at the Supreme Court amongst the multitude of issues we all know. For a nation that was founded on religious freedom, we are in a real danger zone and at a tipping point. Our nation's security and its future is now greatly at risk. This sense of urgency has been underlined through recent visions and words (please see three of them below). We believe there are two key factors that have increasingly put our national security at risk:
Insufficient alertness and prayer for military/police forces as well as for our overall national security in spite of the growing threats of ISIS and other radical Islamic groups to carry nuclear weapons into the continental USA, a re-arming Russia, a rapidly emerging Chinese military build-up, and the avowed North Korean intention to put nuclear missiles on submarines.
The shocking moral and spiritual decline of America has opened us for attack at all levels as a consequence of gross sin and broken covenants before our holy God who may rightly withdraw His protecting hand that has kept us relatively secure till now.
Given these urgent concerns, we remind ourselves that the Lord has always used the united prayers of intercessors to build up a wall of protection over a nation, indeed to change the history of nations (Ezekiel 22:30, Isaiah 62:1-7). We cannot do it alone. Our hope is that through corporate agreement across the many prayer networks and streams, we could together intervene strategically in united prayer for God's redemptive, restorative call on America. The time is now, the trumpet is sounding, and the call is real. As part of this increased watchfulness over our national security, we would like to encourage you to include this emphasis in any prayer initiatives or conference calls you have for the next 18 months, leading up to the next national election.
Please let us know if you are in agreement with this heightened prayer focus and would like to take part with us in this effort. If you have any other suggestions on how we can mobilize and seed this emphasis into America and other nations' prayer networks and initiatives, please let us know your thoughts.
We look forward to hearing from you and working with you to see His wall of protection extended and strengthened around our nation and other nations.
Dave Butts, National Prayer Committee
Dave Kubal, Intercessors for America
Lisa Crump, National Day of Prayer
Drs. Fred and Sue Rowe, Transform World Celebration Challenge
Dai Sup Han, Prayer Surge
John Robb, IPC
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Recent Prophetic Visions and Warnings:
June 5, 2015
Dr. Leslie Keegel, Global Co-chairman of the Foursquare denomination and one of the most accurate prophetic voices in our time
"I see a large storm approaching over the United States. The clouds are dark and thick darkness covers the landmass. With the dark clouds and approaching storm, I see the appearance of dark forces some small creatures, others rather large. The small creatures looked very poisonous though insignificant to the human eyes. The larger creatures looked very scary and intimidating. These dark forces collectively represent principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places as recorded in Ephesians 6: 12. They are uniting themselves together to cause catastrophic damage in every sphere of influence. However, I saw the Church equipped with power rise up with authority and discernment. As the enemy surrounded and gathered up all its strength ready to attack the North American peoples, the intercessory prayers of the saints and strategic level spiritual warfare of the well equipped army of the Lord caused the evil storm to be defeated. The poisonous evil forces and principality spirits of darkness were thrown aback and broken apart into utter disarray and confusion. They were completely and utterly defeated to the point where they had no energy, subtle craftiness nor sinister plan to save their day. The Church and the Lord overcame every plan of the enemy, the enemy forces big and small were completed defeated. Their strongholds were demolished and a great flood of the Lord washed and caused the debris to be wiped away from every human sight and visibility. (Isaiah 59: 19).
What I hear the Lord say is, the enemy certainly is gathering in with well planned, sinister plans to cause catastrophic loss on the United States of America, but the praying Church's intercession will be heard by the Lord of the harvest and the enemy will certainly be put to shame. Our Lord is calling us out of fear to prayer in Holy Ghost strength. As you my Church, my army and the generals of intercession rise up together in Holy boldness you will defeat the enemy. I hear the Lord say, let courage rise up with danger, to defeat the enemy in every way. As you my people rise up in boldness to praise, worship and pray, you will see the enemy forces defeated. You will approach an era and season of profound prophetic victory over all the nations and national principalities of each of the nations. The gospel will spread like a flood as the glory of the Lord covers the earth like the waters cover the seas."
April 17th, 2015:
Dr. Susan Rowe, Prayer Facilitator for the Living Wall and the Celebration Challenge of the Transform World Movement
After a three day fast, I was wakened Friday, April 17th with the sound of the shofar blowing and vision of the nation (aerial view) that zoomed in towards Colorado Springs. I heard the Lord say, "Waken my people, the trumpet has sounded. Gather the remnant. Gather My people. Prepare for battle, for the nations are aligning for war." The nations are aligning for war, a trumpet has sounded. The vision distinctly zoomed in on Colorado Springs as the place to gather. But as the sound of the shofar was loud and deep, I sensed there would be a deeper component that would precede to prepare for any convening. As nations align for war, Colorado Springs is a hub for the Air Force and NORAD. It is also near the Continental Divide, a key place to unite the nation.
(Note, the date Paul Revere's Midnight Ride was on April 18th, 1775, date of vision was within one day of the 240th anniversary.)
September 3rd, 2011
David Wilkerson, Former Pastor of the Time Square Church, Author of "The Vision" and a leading prophetic voice for the USA
David Wilkerson warned America repeatedly that God's judgment was coming and that "the day of grace is about to come to an end". In this last message, shortly before his death he warned of "a catastrophe that would cost the lives of multitudes and change the way we live forever". Towards the end, in the last couple minutes, he expresses his fear of a nuclear strike on Washington, DC and New York City that would take out hundreds of thousands of our fellow Americans. Now ISIS and others are threatening that very thing.
Please see this 9 minute video on Youtube, "David Wilkerson's Last Message To USA & The World On The End Times. God's Warnings Before Judgment"https://youtu.be/C3wwEn9Uuh8
"When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you; then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies." Numbers 10:
According to the Christian humanitarian agency, World Vision, nearly 12 million Syrians have been displaced by the fighting - more than 7.6 million within Syria, and more than 4 million as refugees in neighboring countries.
More than 1.6 million Syrian children are refugees.
Refugee children are at risk of becoming ill, malnourished, abused, or exploited. Millions have been forced to quit school.
World Vision is assisting affected families with interventions like clean water, cash assistance for food, hygiene kits, basic household goods, clothing, Child-Friendly Spaces, and education.
See more at: http://www.worldvision.org/
Prayer Concerns
1- Family unity between husbands and wives and children; in other words, there is a breakdown among the families in view of the stress caused by the ongoing war. e.g. a mother of two took her children and left her home/husband to a far away place (details can not be released).
2- Joy to return to the hearts and smiles to reappear on the faces of people. Most people are depressed, and wear black clothing as a sign of mourning due to the death of family members caught innocently in the fighting,
3- The need for laborers to rise from within the Church, to encourage, and lend a listening ear to counsel those in need.
4- Healing and comfort for those who are sick and especially those with chronic diseases due to:
a. shortage of pharmaceuticals
b. long distance from the proximity of medical centers
c. expensive cost of pharmaceuticals
d. emigration of professional doctors
5- Increase in various sicknesses; doctors' appointments at hospitals are almost not accessible for dialysis, and cancer patients.
6- The transportation system is in jeopardy
7- The economy was highly affected due to the war.
9- Comfort for the increased numbers of those who lost family members, businesses, and properties.
10- God is giving additional opportunities for the Syrian people to love, forgive, and turn away from their evil ways, that have increased recently.
11- The Syrian people to humble themselves and shun arrogance.
12- Many of the youth are hopeless and have no job opportunities in the country. Immigration is their only option, which is a major loss in the CHURCH and the country.
Jean (John) G. Bouchebel, L.H.D. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
About 250 leaders of various big and smaller networks and ministries from across the USA, and a few from outside the nation, gathered in Washington DC, June 11-13, to hear about plans for a million-youth prayer assembly on the Washington Mall next July 2016. The exact date will be known this next month because the US Park Service only allows bookings up to one year in advance. The three dates they are checking on are July 16, 23rd and 30th.
The leaders are 30-something younger generation followers of Christ, some of them evangelists like Nick Hall, the visionary behind the RESET effort. They realize the importance of prayer and so are asking the prayer ministries and networks to get behind it by mobilizing up to one million to be in prayer for the coming year. They also are good at networking and have invited everyone under the Lordship of Jesus whether people are evangelical, charismatic or whatever so John 17 unity is an important part of what they are seeking to accomplish.
Here are a few quotes from Nick Hall and other RESET leaders to give you a bit of the flavor from the gathering:
"We need a Jesus Movement in our land!" (Hab.3:2)
"Reset is a prayer." (They are using the word "reset" as a modern equivalent of "repent" and the purpose is to ask the Lord for a reset of the USA, morally, spiritually and in every other way.
"This generation is seeking their moment. We want Jesus to be the agenda for America since no politician has the answer.
They will include an evangelism/ discipling emphasis as well as justice/ compassion aspects to all they are doing with prayer at the center of it all. Hopefully after the July assembly day next year they will continue to grow as a movement for the nation.
American prayer leader Lou Engle who was there senses that the Lord is calling back into place the prayer- with- fasting movement started by Bill Bright 20 years ago towards a new Jesus Movement. He encouraged us to build a "wall of fasting" for one year starting next month. Lou challenged us to let God "loose the third Great Awakening" through our combined prayers and efforts. He said, "Billy Graham's mantle is coming on the nation for a great harvest". He urged us to pray John 17, that the Church would be one and that we would be in an "Upper Room accord". Also, he asked us to pray Joel 2 for RESET and that it will result in such a great awakening and harvest that people will be "getting saved everywhere". It is "time for the evangelists to rise up" so "pray the Lord of the harvest to thrust laborers into the harvest".
The leaders seem to have been moved by what Lou shared and want to have a 40-day fast in January to be shared by many around the country in order to prepare the way for the big day in July- "Together 2016"- as it is being called.
For more information, please see their two websites- www.resetmovement.com and reset2016.com
Other initiatives on the Washington Mall that are being planned:
Fast-a-nation- a day of repentance prayer with fasting and even sackcloth and ashes for up to 50,000 being organized by another younger generation leader from the American Bible Society, Stacy Wright
David's Tent- 24 hour worship and prayer, starting on Sept. 11, 2015-organized by Jason Hershey, the local YWAM leader, another 30-something leader
Prayer Concerns:
Let's please be in prayer for all three of these important initiatives and the leaders that are undertaking them. Pray for His protection over the relationships that the evil one will not be able to divide or discourage them. Pray too for His rich financial provision as well as many others to join them and strengthen their hands. Pray that RESET will have great favor with the Park Service authorities and be able to get the right day for the huge assembly being anticipated.
Definition of fasting: choosing to abstain from food, one meal or several meals, to give special attention to some spiritual concern(s). Though fasting is neither a major biblical doctrine nor a foundation stone of the faith, it may open doors where other keys have not. It may open the way to new vistas of understanding and strength.
Motivation for fasting: first, to honor God by giving ourselves more fully to Him. Additional reasons may include any one or combination of the following:
- to express sorrow for our disobedience to God, for doing things our own way.
- to purify our lives and receive God's grace for the purification process.
- to turn our affections away from earthly things and toward eternal things.
- to express the seriousness and earnestness of our request.
- to avert the outpouring of God's wrath against evil; to appeal to God for extra time for His grace to work.
- to gain deeper insight into a particular portion of God's Word.
- to request the fulfillment of God's prophesies and promises.
- to sharpen our spiritual senses.
- to enhance our creativity in solving difficult problems.
- to discern God's will in a difficult situation and the steps to accomplish it.
- to mourn with God over the spiritual resistance and darkness both inside and outside the church.
- to reignite our desire to lead people to Christ and to see His kingdom come.
- to free those who are in spiritual bondage.
- to confirm the selection and ordination of elders.
- to keep the body and soul in subjection to the spirit. (Note: if fasting becomes a mere ritual, it loses its spiritual effectiveness.)
- to obey Jesus' words: "When you fast..." (Matt. 6:16, 17) and "... then they shall fast..." (Mark 2:20).
- to avoid the sins of Sodom: "...pride, surfeit of food, and prosperous ease" (Ezek. 16:49; Jer. 5:17; and Matt. 24:37-38).
- to gain insight leading to restoration and healing.
- to regain the spark of our "first love" for Jesus Christ
- to discern and dedicate the talents and skills God has given us for fulfillment of His purposes.
- to gain insight into God's chastening, a willingness to accept His discipline, and renewed commitment to obey. This page and all contents are copyright protected by Reasons To Believe, June 2015. www.reasons.org
Jesus does not want us to be satisfied with meager fruitfulness (John 15: 2, 5, 8). He wants our joy to be full and the fruit of the Spirit to overflow, to the glory of God the Father. When Jesus says "when you fast" (Matthew 6:16, 17), He uses both the singular you and the plural you (although English makes no clear distinction, the Greek text does). Fasting is for individuals and for groups.
Personal guidelines for fasting
Make sure you are physically able to fast. If you suffer from diabetes, ulcers, TB, or other health issues, or if you have undergone any type of gastro-intestinal surgery, you must consult a physician.If you are able to fast, be careful, first, to rid your life of spiritually corrosive influences, such as sensual reading material and sensual music. Fasting heightens your sensitivity to the spiritual realm. So if you have opened doors to Satan's influence in your life and have never closed them, you may find that you are subject to interference when you fast.
Be sure to wear "the whole armor of God" (Eph. 6:10-17). Begin with expressions of praise. Maintain a spirit of praise and allow significant time for praise. Set specific objectives. Examine your motives (Isaiah 58:1-12).Link fasting with sincere and practical charity. For example, before you fast, make a gift to help someone in need (Is. 58:7). Avoid ostentation (Matt. 6:16-18; Rom. 3:27; and Luke 17:10).If possible, fast before, rather than after, an emergency arises, but certainly do consider fasting in the midst of a spiritual crisis.
Consider making your first experience of fasting a brief one, say 24 hours or less. If you fast for 24 hours, fast from evening to evening. Important thoughts and insights that come to you in the evening will stay with you through the night and help prepare your mind and heart for the following day. Take time to read and meditate on Scripture. Allow God's Word to guide you, teach you, and sink into you as you fast. If at all possible, devote the waking hours of your fasting period to prayer, study, and contemplation. If you must give some time and attention to other activities, cut back on them so that your spiritual intake increases and your caloric requirements decrease to less than the usual.
Never ignore the "second hunger" that occurs after a few weeks or more of fasting. This hunger indicates that the body's reserves are burned up. Break a fast gently, with easy-to- digest foods.Keep in mind that the benefits of fasting often come many days after the fast has ended.
Rewards and warnings
"...Your healing will quickly appear" (Is. 58:8 and, for an unusual illustration, 1 Sam. 30:11- 15).
"Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help and he will say: Here am I" (Is. 58:9).
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"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart" (Jer. 29:13).
"I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten" (Joel 2:25).
"Put a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the sins they see around them...Kill everyone whose forehead is not marked...And begin right here at the sanctuary" (Ezek. 9:4-6).
"The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray" (1 Peter 4:7).
"We will cry out to you in our distress and you will hear us and save us" (2 Chron. 20:9).
In one of the most thrilling stories in Scripture, King Jehoshaphat led the people of Israel to a mighty victory over their foes using only the weapons of collective fasting, prayer, and songs of praise (2 Chron. 20:1-30).
Daniel, a key example
While studying the prophecies of Jeremiah, Daniel discovered that he was living at a special moment in God's plan (see Dan. 9:2). His people, the Jews, were about to be returned to their precious homeland. Understanding that the hour of deliverance and restoration was at hand, Daniel sought God with a greater intensity and fervor than ever, fasting and praying in all humility (9:3).
Though he was one of the most righteous men who has ever lived, Daniel fully identified with his people in all their disobedience and rebellion (9:4-19). He said, "We have sinned," not "They have sinned." Daniel linked himself with his countrymen, acknowledging that he and they together justly deserved God's judgment. He exemplified God's message in Ezekiel 9:4-6 and 22:30-31; he was ready and willing to "stand before me [God] in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it."
Daniel sought God's light with a wholeheartedness matched by few other men through the ages. In turn, God blessed him with wisdom and understanding beyond what Daniel could asked or imagined. Today, as in the time of Daniel, the light of God is desperately needed. In these dark days of spiritual apathy and moral degradation, God will give us all the light we need if we prize it highly enough to seek it as Daniel did.
Daniel's intercession demonstrates a very important principle: God's sovereign control over the future never gives us an excuse to sit back as spectators. Rather, God's prophetic words are given to compel us toward fasting and prayer with utmost zeal, humility, commitment, and hope. God reveals His plan not so that we can know our part and take out part in the action, His action, together with other members of the body of Christ. Revelation requires involvement!
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Suggested plan of action for a group fast
1. Among the leaders and members of your group, agree on specific goals for the fast, relying on prayer and Scripture to discern God's will.
2. Give each group member the freedom to determine, through his or her own communication with the Lord, whether he or she will participate in the fast.
3. Choose a day on which every participant is free to devote time and attention.
4. Meet some practical or spiritual need around you by giving financial or other assistance, as appropriate.
5. First evening: Spend time alone. Dedicate the fast to God's glory. Pray specifically for each group member, especially that the goals of the fast will be accomplished in and through each one. Study God's Word, asking for His guidance and insight.Pray that the goals of the fast will be accomplished not only in you and your group, but also in your church and through the entire body of Jesus Christ worldwide.Spend some giving praise.
6. Night: Sleep. Or, as an option, you may wish to organize a prayer watch, with each participant taking a specific time slot during the night for prayer.
7. Morning: Continue to pray, more and more specifically, for the goals of the fast. Mourn with God for the sin in your own life, in your family, your church, your community, your nation, the world. By late morning, individuals may begin to meet in small groups of two to four, continuing together in the morning's confession and prayer.
8. Afternoon: Bring the entire group together. Confess your sins to one another, and join together in prayer for one another's cleansing and healing. Pray that the church and the nations would be purified. Pray especially that God would purify and protect the leaders and would raise up more leaders who live and uphold the truth of Scripture. Pray again that the specific goals of the fast would be accomplished. Seek God's direction for your specific part in the accomplishment of those goals in the days and weeks ahead.
9. Early evening: Praise and worship the Lord together. Exalt His name. Take communion together, acknowledging the power of Christ's sacrifice on our behalf. Break the fast with a light supper. You may wish to arrange for each member of the group to provide some portion of this meal. Or perhaps some person outside the group would be willing to prepare it. Make sure you consider the menu, serving only foods that are easy to digest, e.g., soup or stew, rice, bread, poultry or fish, cooked vegetables, etc.
10. Keep alert in the coming days and weeks as God reveals His answers to your prayers and rejoice in Him. He is and always will be the Good in the Good News.
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From the new book, Arise Intercessors, Arise! A Manual for the Birthing, Calling, Training and Restoration of Prayer Warriors (Outskirts Press, 2015) Available on Amazon.com
The end time harvest and revival awaits God's watchmen intercessors being birthed, equipped, and fully taking their place. Their training needs to be prompt and accurate. Those who have fallen and are wounded need to be restored.
Maria Harbajan gives you the keys to experiencing the fulfillment of your call and ministry as an intercessor. Discover what intercessor should know in order to fight spiritual battles successfully. These include:
- Intercession- knowing its dangers and how to avoid pitfalls
- Specific instructions for praying for the family, church, and nation
- Powerful praying children-- releasing the youth and children
- How pastors and intercessors can be a dream team
- Dealing with different types of curses through intercession
- Intercession in the marketplaces- in your workplace, business environment, public places
- Restoring falling prayer warriors
"This book should be required reading for every serious, committed intercessor. In it Maria is candid and honest and plainspoken of herself. She offers volumes of revelation and truths for anyone who takes seriously the ministry of intercession. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned intercessor, you will learn as I have from this excellent work." (Esther Ilnisky, founder of Esther Network International and Children's Global Prayer Movement)
Maria Harbajan is President and CEO of the National Intercessory Prayer Network of Jamaica and prayer center of the Caribbean located in Kingston, Jamaica. She is also a member of the International Prayer Council leadership team.
May 15 Report from Wiesbaden, Germany
The Lord seems to have His finger on Europe these days! A prayer event just concluded in Rome and there will be several additional prayer gatherings in the UK, Holland and Romania coming up over the next couple of months. Right now, the Nordic Summit for marketplace people is happening in Stockholm and the Arab Europe prayer conference is happening here in Wiesbaden, Germany, both continuing today through tomorrow. Here in Wiesbaden, there are 300 Arab immigrant believers who have gathered from all over Europe- Egyptians, Iraqis and Syrians, some who are refugees from the conflicts going on in the Middle East.
It all reminds me of a visionary experience I had years ago not far from where we are here in Germany in which I saw pin pricks of light approaching in the great darkness. As they got closer, they were warriors with burning swords cutting through the dark canopy and I heard the words, "These are the intercessors". Afterwards, I heard these words, "New Reformation." A few days later, I received a communication from Loren Cunningham, the founder of Youth with a Mission, in which he was calling Christians in Europe to pray and work for a "New Reformation"! Wow, could the Spirit of the Lord be doing this now, moving brothers and sisters in Christ to gather others together across this great continent that has known wonderful revivals in the past and was the major mission- sending center for a couple centuries?
Later on, a local prayer leader and I visited Herrnhut, the place where Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians began a prayer chain in the 18th century that went on for 100 years and sent out hundreds of missionaries, the first Protestants to go to the ends of the earth. A few years ago, some local believers started it up again as a 24/7 prayer ministry! Germany was also the home of the Reformation in the 16th century and the great Pietist revival that swept through this country in the 17th century.
Would you please pray with us for a great outpouring of His Spirit upon upcoming prayer gatherings and upon the nations of Europe over the coming weeks?
1. Pray for great unity and clarity for the leaders and participants to know how they should pray for their nations and for this continent as a whole.
2. That the prayer movement which has at times been a trickle will become a mighty river, stirring Europeans so accustomed to empty, deadening secularism, to be hungry to know the Lord and return to Him with all their hearts.
3. Pray that the principalities and powers that have influenced the thinking of so many with their various -isms will be bound and driven to the feet of Jesus and that people here will go free from the materialism that blinds so many.
4. For genuine and widespread spiritual revival as happened in centuries past. It can happen again!
The Lord wants Europe back! Let's pray and trust Him to do "far more abundantly".
He can transform regions as easily as individual nations when His people pray. "According to your faith, it will be to you", He said. Thanks for joining in!
May 18 from Herrnhut, Germany
"But the Lord said to me, 'Do not say, "I am only a child." ...Now I have put my words in your mouth. See today, I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant." (Jeremiah 1:7, 10)
"When God gets ready to do a new thing with His people, He always sets them a-praying!" - J. Edwin Orr, scholar on the history of revivals
Thanks for your prayers of support for the Arab Europe prayer event. It was invigorating- with dynamic, Spirit-filled worship and faith-inspired praying together for all the nations of Europe where these Arab immigrants are now living. They came to understand that they are not refugees but sent by the Lord to pray and work for His restoration and revival of this continent that in the past has so much blessed the world through its strong spiritual legacy and now needs to recover that legacy with the help of these on-fire immigrant believers. Pray with us that they will be able to start prayer groups in their towns and unite with the nationals so that they can continue the process of united intercession they began in Wiesbaden.
It was a privilege to be in Hernnhut meeting with the church that has begun 24/7 prayer, renewing the practice of the Moravians and Count Zinzendorf who founded this place in the 18th century. As we worshipped, I noticed lovely young children, entering into worship with joy, and some were dancing freely in the presence of the Lord in front of us. The pastor then asked my colleague and me to pray fatherly blessings over the whole congregation. I felt moved to pray that from this fabled place a new and great revival would flow out to Germany and Europe.
We stood amongst the 6000 graves of Count Zinzendorf and the godly saints who prayed in "the Lord's watch" (the meaning of Hernnhut in German) from 1727 for 100 years. Out of only 600 people in this small village, they sent 300 missionaries to the ends of the earth. I was so moved to hear about the children of that day who went out in the fields in the night and cried out to the Lord. Adults in neighboring homes tried to get them to shut up; however, they were irrepressible and kept on praying! Along with three Hernnhut women, we prayed for the children of Germany and for the raising up of a new generation like this former one.
These same Moravian children who cried out to God in the fields at night later went out as the first Protestant missionaries, many of them never coming back to their homeland but laying their lives down for the Lord among the unreached peoples. Others returned and are buried here. The women who were guiding us around showed us their graves and those of Zinzendorf and his family. This humble noble was the benefactor of the much-persecuted Moravians, followers of Jan Hus, the great reformer from Prague, a Pentecostal charismatic Bible teacher who was burned at the stake for his efforts to bring reform and encourage the study of Scripture. As a child, Zinzendorf was deeply influenced by Francke and Spener who were leaders of the German Pietist revival, as well as by his own godly grandmother with whom he spent some years in this same area of Saxony.
I felt the Lord stirring me that this ground still has powerful, earned spiritual authority, so that like the ancient prophets did, they could pray, speaking out things that the Spirit puts in their mouths for the revival and transformation of nations and it will happen. Adding to this conviction, I was told that in 1989 a prayer gathering in Hernnhut with hundreds of intercessors proclaimed the end of the Berlin Wall. It came down soon after they were praying this! Indeed, history does belong to the intercessors, who believe the future into being!
Pray for the government of Germany that has become so politically correct as to say that, "Islam belongs to Germany" and to adopt sex education for little children, including introducing them to homosexuality. It is the same in the USA, the same wicked, perverted agenda that some in our own government are seeking to introduce to our nation while much of our "Christian majority" is occupied with our own comfort and entertainment. May the Lord shake us all out of our sleepy, complacent state to pray and prophesy to unjust, corrupted power like Jeremiah did!
Let us pray with expectation for His revival, restoration and transformation to come upon Europe and other Western nations through the youth and children and that this new generation will be protected from the dark, perverse influences that are now at work in the governments and education systems.
John Robb
IPC Chairman