Pray Network Forum

Have you ever seen a medieval castle? Have you noticed the broken lines at the tops of the walls? A rook or castle on a Chessboard has the same cuts.

I suspect you could guess what those were if you didn't already know. They were essential to the defense of a castle. Those slots were the lookouts for soldiers on watch.

On several occasions Scripture tells us to watch and pray. Have you thought about what God is saying to you in those passages? Let's look at those Scriptures and allow God to speak to our hearts through them. The first of them that comes to my mind is when Jesus was praying with His disciples in the garden before the cross. He prayed earnestly that that cup might pass from Him. And yet He surrendered His heart to the will of God. Then He looked and saw that Peter, James, and John were asleep. He was amazed that they could not watch with Him for one hour. And in Matthew 26:41 Jesus commands us.

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

The word translated, “watch” here is also used for soldiers, or possibly shepherds, keeping the watches of the night. On that very night while they were in the garden soldiers would come to arrest Jesus. This would be the most severe trial that the disciples would ever face. Earlier Jesus had told them they would all abandon Him. Peter and the rest swore they would never leave Him even if they had to die with Him. Their spirits were willing but their flesh was weak.

You might say they should have known this trial was coming. Jesus had told them over and over again. And it didn't take any great genius to see that the High Priests had determined to kill Him.

And it it should not surprise you that you are going to face trials and temptations. Peter himself warns us that we are going to be tried. In 1 Peter 4:12 he wrote,

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.”

Like soldiers on guard duty we are told to watch and pray for spiritual strength and protection.

The next place we are told to watch and pray is in Luke 21 where Jesus warns us about the trials that will come in the last days. In Luke 21:36 Jesus gives us this same command.

“Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

It seems to me that many of these things are already coming upon us. I am crying out to God for a great prayer movement. We need to be on guard, and pray as we have never prayed before. These things could be seen to begin when the Roman General, Titus, led his army to destroy the city of Jerusalem. As Jesus predicted, not one stone of the beautiful temple was left upon another. 2 Timothy 3:1 and other Scriptures warn us that there will be terrible times in these last days. Will we be on guard as these things come about? How seriously will we watch and pray?

We are also to watch for our hope in God during difficult times. He has made very great and precious promises to us even for the worst of times.

Another place where we are called to watch and pray is much more positive. Colossians 4:2 says,

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”

We not only need to watch for spiritual attack that will come. But I am afraid we are not alert enough to see God at work around us. There is great encouragement and joy in seeing the hand of God and thanking Him for working in our lives.

Finally, we need to watch and pray for others in our families and in the church where God has stationed us. Ephesians 6:18 commands us.

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”

In 1 Samuel 12:23 Samuel said he would be sinning against the Lord if he failed to pray for the people of Israel. Are you alert to pray for those God has commissioned you to pray for?

We need to see watching as motivation and preparation for prayer. But all four of these passages see watching as integral to prayer. As we spend extended time in prayer God shows us more and more of what we will face and what He is doing and preparing to do all around us.

http://theanchorofthesoul.blogspot.com/

http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/

http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/

http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/

Website

http://daveswatch.com/

YouTube

https://goo.gl/PyzU

During the month of October, thousands of people around the world are joining in and praying through the countries of the 10/40 Window. Today is prayer on behalf of Bahrain. PTAP is delighted to join in these prayers, especially for the seven countries on the Arabian Peninsula.

Praise Report
Praise God that there are very open expressions of the Lord Jesus in Bahrain, Christian Hospitals, Churches and Christian Bookstores (The Bible, Acts 22:15).

Prayer Request
Pray that these different ministry centers will continue to have freedom to shine their lights and that many locals will seek out these places of truth (The Bible, Isaiah 45:19).

Pray that the government will have wisdom to care for people living in their country from both the Sunni and Shi'ite Islamic background. Right now the divide seems to be increasing (The Bible, 1 Peter 2:17).

Call to Salvation
Pray that God will bring Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims to Himself and they will dwell together in unity (The Bible, Colossians 3:14).

Source: WIN

Hi!

Every Friday night from 10pm to midnight we're traveling from church to church to pray for revival and unity, and to pray for wild blessing over the pastors, staffs and their vision.

We'd love to connect with you (or your pastor)!

Check out the site at www.revivallab.com and you can request a date for the team to pray in your church.

Here's the plan:

There’s an increasing hunger in the body in Detroit for a move of God, and our heart is simply to gather these people together and to pray. I had the privilege to give leadership to a similar prayer movement in Colorado Springs and the impact was truly amazing. Every Friday night we’d be in a different church in the city, and at times we’d pack 150 people or more into a tiny church building—people whose only motivation was to bless God and bless the church.

The protocol is intentionally simple:

1.       After I give a short briefing for those who have never been to theLab, we spread out and pray fervently in tongues for around an hour and a half.

2.       I will give direction at times throughout the night as we focus on different issues. For example, I may call everybody together to pray over the church’s leadership, or we may move outside and pray for homes and businesses in the area.

3.       We will close with 20-30 minutes of reading scripture together.

Here are some points that will help in understanding the vision of this ministry and the flow of the evening:

1.       We chose the 10pm-midnight Friday time so as to ensure everybody in the Detroit region is free to participate. We’ve found that’s almost always a wide open spot on people’s calendars.

2.       A primary call is for pastors and ministry leaders in Detroit to travel with us every Friday night as we move from church to church. What a powerful statement of unity it is when pastors from other church devote two hours a week to pray for blessing together over another church!

3.       We are believing for 1000 intercessors to develop through this ministry. People from churches all over the city are being positioned to simply pray together for revival in Detroit. Can you imagine seeing 1000 people show up to pray together in Detroit every Friday night?

4.       During the time when we’re praying in the Holy Spirit, we don’t allow time for prophetic words to be shared. We simply pray. However, we do encourage post-event reports to be sent in through a contact form on the website. Also, when we are reading scripture, we don’t include commentary along with the passage. We simply read the scripture. No teaching, no preaching, just the Word of God.

5.       We ask that you have the doors to your property open by 9:45pm the night of the event.

6.       Please have every interior room (classrooms, sanctuary, etc.) open so we can pray in them. We pray over the children’s ministry, over the worship department, etc.

7.       If possible, please have a microphone available for me so I can be clearly heard as I give direction.

8.       Invite your entire church to participate, and ensure your leadership team is there so we can pray for them.

9.       Plan on joining us the following Friday at the next church, and then the next and the next!

Here's an article published by Pray! Magazine regarding the prayer movement in Colorado Springs:

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO—Faced with dwindling attendance at prayer meetings, many church leaders address the problem by publicizing more, trying to find more “convenient” times to meet, and just plain coaxing. But a Colorado group has done the opposite. They picked what many people would consider an inconvenient meeting time—10 p.m. until midnight every Friday—and they don’t publicize at all. The results have been remarkable.

“It has the feel of an underground movement,” said Pastor John Burton, who coordinates the meetings. “We all show up in the middle of the night at a church we’ve never been to—there’s a certain mystique about it,” he said.

“Secret Prayer,” as it’s called, began almost a year ago when several pastors who believe God is sending revival to their community decided to pray with and for one another. “What we want to see more than anything is unity,” Burton said. “We need to love each other a lot. That’s what God is going to use to bring revival more than anything else, and prayer does that. It’s hard to hate anyone when you’re praying for, loving, and blessing each other.”

The format is simple. Each week a different church is targeted to receive prayer. Intercessors show up at that church, read Scripture and pray however the Holy Spirit leads. Usually they pray through the church, blessing and interceding for the various ministries that take place in each area.

Attendance varies, but is usually anywhere from 50 to 200, Burton said. It’s a very diverse group of pastors and lay people, with representatives from different denominations, ethnicities and church sizes. The largest participating church has more than 10,000 members; the smallest only a couple of dozen.

The biggest result is that people are always encouraged, Burton said. One story that particularly sticks out to him is of a little Baptist church the group prayed for late one Friday night. It had only about 30 regular attenders. But within two or three weeks of the Secret Prayer meeting, attendance had doubled.

Although many churches request repeat visits, and sometimes the group will do that, Secret Prayer more typically aims to pray in a different church each week in order to reach as many churches as possible, Burton said. Churches and intercessors find out about the meetings mostly by word of mouth, although there is a website and they have made up business cards to hand out to people who inquire.

We can’t wait to pray with you!

John Burton
theLab