Pray Network Forum

Guest post by Sherry Schumann, Prayer director for Christian Grandparenting Network

If you wander through a Hallmark store during the final weeks of August, you’ll notice cards celebrating National Grandparents Day. You won’t find any cards for Grandparents Day of Prayer, even though its date coincides with National Grandparents Day. Grandparents Day of Prayer isn’t a day for grandparents to receive flowers, candy, or cards. It’s a day for grandparents to pray corporately for their grandchildren.

Every year, National Grandparents Day and Grandparents Day of Prayer occur on the second Sunday of September. This year, it falls on September 8th. If September 8 does not fit into your schedule for an event for grandparents plan your event at another time in September. It’s an excellent time to introduce a grandparents prayer group to your congregation.

Like it or not, we are in a spiritual battle for the hearts, souls and minds of our children and grandchildren. The enemy is using media, technology, education, social influences, and political pressures to launch an aggressive attack on the family unit. If we are in a spiritual battle, we need a spiritual weapon. Prayer is the greatest weapon in our arsenal.

Grandparents Day of Prayer can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. Your options are limitless. Some churches host a prayer breakfast before the Sunday morning service, while others host afternoon teas or evening desserts in someone’s home.

Food isn’t necessary. Last year, our church celebrated Grandparents Day of Prayer by recognizing the grandparents in the congregation and setting aside time during the service for grandparents to pray for their grandchildren. It’s essential, though, that grandparent realize the importance of praying for their grandchildren.

Grandparents Day of Prayer also offers a wonderful opportunity to launch a G@P (Grandparents @ Prayer) group at church or in your community. A G@P group consists of two or more dedicated grandparents who gather to pray regularly for their grandchildren. A G@P meeting normally lasts 1 to 1-½ hours, and the format varies among the different groups.

Will you unite in prayer on September 8, 2018,

with grandparents around the world?

Will you consider launching a Grandparents Day of Prayer event at your church?

Will you consider starting a G@P group in your area?

For more information about Grandparents Day of Prayer, please visit https://christiangrandparenting.net/grandparents-day-of-prayer/.

For more information about G@P, please visit https://christiangrandparenting.net/grandparents-at-prayer/.

Deborah Haddix and  Lillian Penner, Coordinators for Grandparents Day of Prayer

lpenner@christiangrandparenting.net

If anyone prayed for our first prayer service on Sunday, Thank You!  God met us and gave us a great time of community prayer.

About 15 people participated, including several leaders.  We provided some instructions at the beginning and then we went into our prayer time.  We had selected 6 topics beforehand, and had identified a facilitator for each topic.  We took each topic in turn, with the facilitator sharing for 3-5 minutes on a couple of things they were thankful for in their area and then a couple of key prayer requests as we enter 2020.  We broke up into three small groups to pray for the topic, then went on to the next topic.  Sticking to one topic at a time (rather than having all the prayer requests presented at the beginning) helped the group to agree together in prayer.  And alternating between prayer times and sharing times kept the group focused and engaged (where a prolonged time of sharing followed by a prolonged, skipping-around prayer time tends to be disengaging).

Several people commented afterward that they were blessed by the prayer time, and each group had a lot of participation.  Breaking into groups ensured that everyone got a chance to pray.  We did find that a group size of about 4 was the most effective; we had one group of 6 people, and feedback from that group indicated that people didn't have as much of a chance to pray.  When people think they're only going to get one turn at a given topic, they're tempted to pray longer, which exacerbates the problem, causing people to disengage a bit and making harder to agree in prayer (how do you follow the person who just prayed for everything?!).

The three of us who planned the meeting debriefed this morning and agreed that we want to continue to keep this simple and focused on prayer.  We didn't have time to put together childcare for this meeting, but we agreed that that was a need going forward.

We'll be holding our next prayer service on March 29, sticking to our pattern of meeting quarterly on the 5th Sunday of the month that has 5 Sundays.  (This is also the pattern for our "outside the box" serving; every month that has 5 Sundays, we use the 5th Sunday as a time of community service rather than our normal worship meeting).  We're planning to meet quarterly for the first half of the year, and then to consider increasing the frequency to monthly.

Meantime, we're beginning plans for an "equipping class" to train congregation members in prayer.  More to come on that.

Please pray for the salvation of Dr. D's summer course student, Andy (pseudonym). Although from the Gulf, Andy once lived in Los Angeles, where he became involved with a gang. Thankfully, Andy was able to leave that situation left that situation, and he has shared some of his life with Dr. D. They have, in fact, become confident friends. Pray for meaningful conversations about the gospel in the next few weeks, and for the Spirit of God to convince Andy of the Truth.

There was a group in one AP country that specifically did campus ministry at a local university. The girls of that group started to find that many of the local female students had questions about who Jesus is. So, they started having Bible studies with these students, and in the end, about 13 female students began to meet regularly and read through the Bible together. They continued to disciple the students for some time, but the group ended up leaving altogether. They did, however, hand the girls off to other believers. Please pray for spiritual fruit among these university students. Pray that the seeds of the gospel sown in them will grow into full salvation in Jesus Christ. Pray that they would continue to be hungry for the Word and find Jesus to be sufficient and satisfying.

Pray for a local man who has been hospitalized for a year since last Ramadan. He is wasting away and cannot communicate but is conscious and can hear. A member of his Muslim family happened to sit next to a Christian on a bench. Although they were total strangers to each other, the Muslim struck up a conversation and directly invited the Christian to pray specifically for a divine healing for the man. Such an invitation was certainly seen as a divine appointment by the believer! Pray for God to be glorified in healing and salvation of the man, his family, and those who hear the testimony! Pray for the fame of the Lord to spread and draw multitudes to Him through the Son.

He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough."
-Matt 13:33

The kingdom of God is like yeast, moving all throughout the dough. Believers in the Arabian Peninsula are like that yeast with dough all around. May the Lord move His people by His great will through the Arabian Peninsula.

Pray, O Lord and sovereign God, send us where You will, move us as You desire, and lead the believers in the Arabian Peninsula by Your Spirit. May Your kingdom come and increase throughout this entire Arabian Peninsula as yeast does in dough. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

As Ramadan has come to a close, pray for freedom from a religious spirit that keeps people in bondage to faith in their own works. Pray that believers will live out their faith in front of their neighbors and co-workers in a way that will attract them to Jesus Christ. Continue to pray that locals will have dreams and visions of Jesus Christ. Pray that they will hunger to know Him for who is truly is and connect with believers who can help disciple them.