Believing it was essential to pray at the bridges on each end of our peninsula last month, we first prayed at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, then at the Bay Bridge-Tunnel. Afterward, we reported our strategic intercession to our network.
In response, one of our friends e-mailed, “I do not have a prayer strategy that I know of. I praise, then thank, then petition and thank. Is that what you mean?” We responded:
Strategic prayer involves specific targets. Example: In the last six years, we have led prayer at dozens of strategic sites in Salisbury, Maryland – schools, churches, neighborhoods, government installations, the hospital, homeless camps and shelters, crime hotspots and many more – for backsliders, prodigals, fathers, families, peace and safety, police and emergency responders, public officials, and unity in the Body of Christ. We speak life from God’s Word into these vital aspects of everyday life in the city.
These things need ongoing prayer because if we don’t stand guard in the spirit, Satan will try to recapture territory from us, just as in war. We have also prayed at hundreds of places all around the bay, but people are needed who will continue to intercede with their feet on the ground.
We find that if we write out prayers or prayer points ahead of time, specific needs are targeted, we don’t get sidetracked as easily, and we are more effective.
Our biggest strategy last year was to pray for schools. Here are some of the things we prayed for: students, teachers, staff, school board, bus drivers and passengers, athletes, protection from harm or destruction. Get names of individual students if you can and pray for them. Go on the property and pray discreetly – take someone else with you.
Pray for churches, not just for your church. And the local government – for the mayor and council individually. Same for key community leaders. Pray for law enforcement (local police, county sheriff, state troopers, state’s attorney’s office), judges and the court system, legislators (city council, county commissioners, general assemblymen). Pray for salvation of gang members. You get the idea.
The previous day, Barbara and I attended a conference at Salisbury University on human trafficking so we can pray with insight for perpetrators, victims, clients, affected families, and the city itself.
Everyone has certain routes they drive to work, shop or attend meetings. That is territory within your sphere of influence, where you have authority and responsibility to pray. Become prayer conscious! Ask the Lord what He wants your target to be. As in war, each soldier has individual as well as unit assignments.
The Lord told us this concerning intercession: “Prayer is more than a state of mind; it’s a condition of the heart.”
Love and blessings,
Randy & Barbara Walter
Salisbury Revival Prayer Network
Shiloh Ministries
