Prayer

Hope Fellowship Prayer Ministry, 2011 – 2012

Be Part of the Team

Qualifications

• Love Jesus (spiritual maturity)
• A passion for the lost and hurting
• A sense of calling by God
• A team player
• An active prayer life

 

Where Can You Serve?

• Week of Prayer & Fasting (September 11 – 17, 2011)
• Lead in Congregational Prayer
• Be a part of a Prayer Team during the Worship Service
• Be on the Prayer Chain
• Join an Intercession Group – Thursday morning at church or Evening group every other week (day to be determined)

 

1)  Week of Prayer & Fasting

      Come out to the church Monday to Friday between 7 and 8 pm to pray with others.

      Mon., - Outreach Zone, Tues., - Worship Zone, Wed., - Children & Youth Zone,

      Thurs., - Administrative Zone, Fri., - Community Life Zone

Consider and participate in the benefits of Prayer and Fasting:

• Indications in scripture that God recognizes fasting as a token of deep sincerity
• Fasting helps with self-discipline
• Fasting reinforces our appreciation for an abundance of good things
• Fasting allows the mind to enjoy greater depths of concentration

 

2)  Congregational Prayer

• Pray during the service.  A.C.T.S. – Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication.  Need to be in the Prayer Room before the service.  (See below for additional guidelines p. 360 Praying church Idea Book)

 

3)  Prayer Ministry Teams

• Be part of a prayer team that prays for others mostly after the Worship service.  (p. 171 The Praying Church Idea Book)

 

4)  Prayer Chain

• Our Prayer Chain acts like an “alarm system” activated when a special need arises.  When someone becomes aware of a special need they contact the prayer leader.  Then Prayer Captains are called and they call others on the chain.  (p. 67 Praying Church Idea Book)

 

5)  Intercession Groups

• Gather with other members that also have a strong sense to pray.  They take time to pray for fundamental issues of life; saving the lost, terminal illness, hunger relief, protection from persecution, unity of the church, and so on.  (p. 67 Praying Church Idea Book)

 

Extra Notes taken from The Praying Church Idea Book, by H. VanderGriend

 Congregational Prayer p. 360 - A.C.T.S.

Adoration:  Psalm 145: 1-7,

Confession:  Psalm 51: 1-17

Thanksgiving:  Psalm 100

Supplication:  John 14:12-14, Matthew 6:33; 7:7-8; 11:28-30; 1 John 5:14

• Organize one's prayer using the above four sections of A.C.T.S.
• Pray in preparation for leading Congregational Prayer
• Be silent and listen to God, jot down thoughts, names or needs
• During the week before you pray, visit a sick person, a shut-in, a new member, a teenager - to prevent your prayer from being too abstract or general
• Scan the newspaper.  Is anything happening in the community, country or world that needs prayer
• Find out the focus and theme for the worship service, as well as the personal needs of the congregation
• Idea.  Pray through a passage of scripture i.e. John 3:16, 17 or the Lord's Prayer.
• Use language that is respectful to God; do not offend anyone in the congregation

When praying on behalf of the congregation, we do a priestly work.  Jesus is the high priest.  He calls us to pray for the world, heal the sick, speak and act for justice, and to forgive sins.  The church cries out for the world as Jesus wept over Jerusalem.  The church suffers for the world as Jesus suffered.  The church heals the world as Jesus forgave sins. (taken from "So You've been asked to Lead in Congregational Prayer"  CRC denomination)

 

Prayer Ministry Teams p. 171 - Guidelines for praying with others

1.  Ask the person to state the prayer request simply and clearly.  When the person has verbalized the request, repeat what you've heard to confirm that you understand what the person has said.

2.  Bring to prayer this confidence:  God is with you.  He is able to give you anything you think you may lack.  Through Christ you are qualified to pray.  But don't try to do too much in one prayer session.  Recognize that there may be limits to what God wants to accomplish in that session; agree to meet and pray in subsequent sessions, if necessary.

3.  Communicate the love and compassion of Christ.  Many who are involved in healing ministries today strongly emphasize the importance of compassion for the one you are praying with.  It is through this "feeling with" (the literal meaning of compassion), this empathetic love, that God's healing power flows.

4.  Allow room for the Holy Spirit to lead.  the Spirit may give you a greater knowledge of the person' true needs, a knowledge that enable s you to pray differently than you had first intended.  Listen to the Spirit's promptings.

5.  When you are finished praying, allow a brief time of quiet, then ask the person to thank God (silently or aloud) for loving him or her through the prayer time.

6.  It may become obvious that the person or family needs help in addition to prayer.  Encourage the person to seek guidance from a qualified counselor or from the pastor.  Rememeber,  you are not expected to solve every problem through prayer.

7.  Don't expect prayer to be a magic tool.  All God asks is that you expectantly believe in his powerful love.  You serve as an assistant who places one hand in God's and the other in the person's for whom you are praying.  You are there to help someone "make the connection" with God.

8.  Follow through.  Continue to pray for the person and his or her needs after the initial time of prayer.  Follow up with repeated times of prayer with each individual (if you've established this kind of initiative as the team's responsibility).

9.  Maintain confidentiality.

 

Prayer Chain & Intercessory Prayer p. 67

Intercession is the responsibility and privilege of every believer.  It is the work of building the kingdom of God.  Persistent and passionate intercession is a fundamental building block in a church becming a house of prayer.  Every believer, as a member of the priesthood of believers, must daily bring the needs of the kingdom and its citizens into the throne room of God.

While God calls every believer to intercede for others, he gives some the gift of intercession.  The gift of intercession differs from the call to intercede primarily in degree.  Those with the gift of intercession pray more frequently, for longer periods of time, and with more intensity.  It is not uncommon for someone gifted in intercession to pray for several hours a day.

Those who are willing to make and keep a daily commitment to pray for others are, by definition, intercessors.  Intercessors "stand in the gap" and pray for others - often when others cannot pray for themselves.  Intercessors intentionally place themselves on the front lines of the battlefield and assume all the risks that go with it.  Intercessory prayer is hard work that involves little recognition.  For all these reasons, intercessors are important people in God's kingdom.

Intercessors must live holy lives.  Living with unconfessed sin blocks prayer.  The psalmist writes, "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened" (Ps. 66:18).  People who live with unconfessed sin also give the devil a foothold from which to wage spiritual warfare.

Moses was an intercessor.  Exodus 17:8-13 describes one of his moments of intercession.  While Joshua led the Israelite military into battle with the Amalekites, Moses raised his hands in prayer.  As Joshua fought the physical battle, Moses fought the spiritual war.  Although Moses did not receive the recognition Joshua did when the battle was won, the victory would not have happened without his prayers.

Because both the physical and spiritual sides of the Amalekite-Israel battle are recorded for us, we can see the whole picture.  But since few people actually see intercessors at work, few people realize the connection between prayer and spiritual victory.  Few people realized the hours of intercession behind the fall of the Berlin Wall, the rapidly growing church in China, or the powerful Promise Keeper conferences.  As John Wesley said, "God moves in response to prayer."

 Intercessory Prayer is:

• characterized by an overwhelming sense of urgency, expecation, even desparation
• simple.  Having invited us as His children - simple, dependent, and trusting
• persistent.  Sometimes the answer comes instantly, sometimes it takes years
• often painful.  The pain of prayer is found in waiting for God's answers, in the inconvenient times he prompts us to pray (such as waking us up in the middle of the night), and sometimes in addressing the answers he gives.
• expectant.  "We have not because we ask not," Jesus said.  Not only can God deal with the little issues of life, he can handle the universe.  Bombard God with great requests!
• specific.  Don't simply ask God to "bless all the missionaries".  Instead, name them one by one.  Address their specific needs.  Don't just ask God to forgive all your sins; enumerate them.
• bold.  While the primary goal of an intecessor is to discover God's will and to ask for God's assistance in conforming to it, interessors may boldly petition God to transform his will - to save one who is lost, to heal one who is dying, to bless one who is infertile.

 

Additional Prayer Opportunities

SILENT RETREAT

Date: Saturday, December 3, 2011 and Saturday, February 25, 2012 from 9 am to 3 pm
Location: Hope Fellowship
Cost: No charge (Lunch is included)

This year we hope to offer two Silent Retreats to all those who are interested in attending.  Each retreat has been strategically placed at the beginning of the seasons of Advent and Lent.  The Hope Fellowship Building will be reserved entirely for this experience.  Come enjoy a time of reflection, and refreshment, as you experience God's presence in this special place.  Contact Pauline to register your spot.