THE PRAYER WARRIOR: CHURCH PLANTERS DAILY PRAYER GUIDE

Subject: Own City.

“In the morning sow your seed. And in the evening do not withhold your hand. For you do not know which will prosper. Either this or that, or both alike will be good.” (Ecclesiastes 11: 6)

1. First Saturday of the Month.

Discipling of Nations (Jeremiah 29: 7)

2. Second Saturday of the Month.

Church Planting (Ezekiel 9: 1-6)

3. Third Saturday of the Month

Prayer for Laborers (Matthew 9: 37, 38)

4. Fourth Saturday of the Month

Prayer for the family (Acts 16: 31)

Write down the vision and run with it (Habakkuk 2: 2, 3)

First Saturday of the Month

Subject: Transformation of the city

“Seek the peace of the city where I have sent you and pray to the Lord for it, for in its peace you will have peace.” (Jeremiah 29: 7)

Jesus touched a leper and healed him. By touching him Jesus broke the Jewish law, which annoyed the Jewish leaders, but He fulfilled a higher law of compassion. Jesus told him to go to the temple to fulfill the Mosaic Law. Instead the untouchable man went all over the town and told everybody about Jesus. Jesus could no longer enter the town because the crowds came to him outside the city. (Mark 1: 40-45)

The Samaritan woman was a woman of ill reputation. She could not face the people of the town so she went to fill water at the well at lunchtime when other women were busy at home. After coming in contact with Jesus, the Samaritan woman was so impressed that she went to every house and brought the whole city to Jesus. (John 4: 39)

The man from Gadara was totally demonized. After being released from thousands of unclean spirits, the man wanted to go with Jesus. Instead Jesus told him to go and give his testimony to his friends and relations in Decapolis. The man went and proclaimed Jesus all over Decapolis (which means ten cities) and all marveled. (Mark 5: 18-20)

Dit was small, dark and physically handicapped. He was illiterate and belonged to the untouchable Churha community in Punjab. He came to know Jesus. During the day he went from village to village, buying and selling leather and in the evening he shared his faith with his Churha ‘Biradari’ (brotherhood). By the end of his life in 1905 he got 58,000 Churhas baptized.

Jesus chose physically, socially and spiritually worthless people who changed their cities and their peoples. If these severely handicapped people could do it then we can all do it, provided we want to.

:: PRAYER ::

O most merciful Father, You loved the world so much that You incarnated in Your Son to dwell among ordinary people. Lord we invite You to dwell amongst all the ethnic groups in every part of our city, especially among the poor and the down trodden. (Revelation 21: 3, 4)
O merciful Lord, encourage us also to go like You and wipe away the tears from the eyes of the poor, the widows, the orphans, the slum-dwellers, the homeless, the disabled and oppressed people.
O Lord, grant that the drunkards, pimps and prostitutes, the gays and tax collectors of this place may find salvation and become sources of salvation for others. (Matthew 21: 31-33; 19: 11, 12)
Father, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we close down all the gates of Hell and put a seal of the name of our Lord Jesus, so that the people of our city may not enter Sheol. (Isaiah 5: 14)
Lord, You have said that what you have done unto the least of these you have done it unto Me. Lord grant that by our mercy ministry, there will be no hunger or thirst or anyone in dirty rags in our city. We pray that there will be no one sick who has not been taken care of and no prisoner who has not been visited by us. Grant that every Christian would be ready to share his bread with the hungry, clothes with the naked and all the necessary material blessings, which in Your mercy You have given in abundance to us. (Matthew 25: 31-40)
Lord, we thank You that we have been chosen to pray and bless and do all the necessary things for the welfare of our city. We know that we must seek Your kingdom first. Father we thank You for those who have forsaken their homes, loved ones, their jobs, property and security. Now we pray that You bless them a hundred fold. (Matthew 19: 27-30)
Pray on important news items mentioned in the media today.

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Second Saturday of the Month

Subject: Church Planting

“I am sending you among your people and gentiles to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among the saints.” (Acts 26: 16-18)

The Lord Jesus did not instruct Paul just to go and pray or preach or teach or do a healing crusade or convention or broadcast a message or to show a Jesus film because by themselves they do not result in churches being planted. Despite many astronomical claims, there is nothing to show after a few months. None of the above things are wrong but Church planting is not a haphazard series of events but rather a well-planned goal driven process, which results in multiplying the church planting movement. Sadly, we are mostly ‘Event Managers’ and need to change into ‘Process Managers’.

Jesus gave Paul a whole package deal right from the opening of their spiritual eyes to their becoming inheritors of the kingdom. We must understand that the fruit of the church is not a new believer but a new church.

Jesus gave very specific instructions on church planting. He sent his seventy disciples two by two to find the ‘person of peace’, live and eat there, conduct an in-house healing and deliverance ministry (Luke 10: 1-9), make disciples, baptize and bring about a rapid church planting movement. (Acts 16: 5)

We should do whatever it takes to saturate our city with rapidly multiplying churches. When a child learns the Alphabet then his goal is to learn all the way to Z. This Z thinking is very essential in church planting so that we have the aims, objectives, goals and the methodology worked out clearly before we launch out to avoid failure and disappointment.

Without a well-planned and systematic approach for church planting we might as well be operating a religious treadmill which goes nowhere.

:: PRAYER ::

O Father, You are Jehovah Shalom, the Prince of Peace who was promised to us to bring peace in the hearts and minds of the people. Salvation, glory, honor and power belong to Lord our God, Alleluia! (Revelation 19: 1)
Father, we pray that when Your servants go to visit, You will show them the Persons of peace whom you have chosen from the foundations of the earth. May they receive them, feed them and listen to them and accept You as Lord and Savior. May these persons of peace, their households and neighbors get baptized and plant a church in their own houses. (Acts 15: 14; Romans 11: 5)
Lord, every Christian should know that You have sent them as priests to their work place. Grant that they may grab every opportunity to witness to their fellow workers and take time to pray and witness, until the work place is transformed.
Lord, the young birds build new nests, produce babies and one-day they all fly away and build new nests in other places. Similarly, young Christians may build new groups among their Gentile friends, which will multiply and fill the whole city. Lord let no one despise their youth. (1 Timothy 4: 12-16)
O Father, We pray that the Christian women should show love to their neighbors of other castes, and visit them and become responsible for their salvation. (Psalm 68: 11; Romans 16: 1-5)
Lord, we thank You for choosing us to preach repentance and remission of sins in Your name to all nations. We thank for not calling the righteous but sinners to repentance. Let many people come to repentance and be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit as a result of our ministry. (Luke 24: 47; Acts 2: 38)
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Third Saturday of the Month

Subject: Prayer for Laborers

“When Jesus saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion and said, “the harvest is truly plentiful but laborers are few.” (Matthew 9: 36, 37; John 4: 34-38)

If you have acres of good land, good seed, plenty of water, manure, etc. but no laborers then you cannot have a harvest. Jesus never asked for highly qualified leaders but for laborers who will go into the harvest fields and dirty their hands and feet. The church managed to grow from Jerusalem to Rome and beyond without a seminary until the revolt of Martin Luther. The Catholic Church started its first seminary in 1545 to produce qualified Reverends to protect the wholesale exodus of monks and nuns to get married.

We all know that the more qualified a person is, the less useful he is as laborer in the field. It is like having an army full of generals but no foot soldiers. How can you win a war without foot soldiers? Yes we do need a few generals but laborers are what Jesus specifically needs.

A beehive is a hub of activity. The queen bee produces thousands of ‘worker bees’ and only a few ‘guards’. The result - plenty of honey. No workers, no honey. Similarly few laborers - little spiritual harvest.

Jesus discipled twelve fisherman for three and a half years. Then he took the test and asked Peter, ‘Do you love me’? Peter said of course I do. Then Jesus commanded him to take care of His sheep. Loving Jesus and loving the sheep are interlinked. If we really love Jesus then we will go out, find the lost sheep, and lovingly bring them into the fold.

The persecuted little house churches produced amazing number of quality leadership. Jesus did not say ‘follow our program’ but ‘follow me’. The apprentice system is still the best model of equipping the disciples. Paul as a father could confidently say, ‘You have carefully followed my teachings, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance and persecution.’ How many of us could make that kind of statement today? (2 Timothy 3:10, 11)

:: PRAYER ::

O Father, you are the vinedresser, Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. We plead that no branch should remain fruitless; otherwise it will be thrown into fire. Grant that every branch be loaded with ‘fruit that remains’. (John 15: 1-8)
Lord, let Your laborers do whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is anything worthy of praise, may their minds dwell on these things. (Philippians 4: 8)
Lord, in Your mercy, we will be judged not by academic knowledge but by our fruits. We know that every laborer who goes out to gather fruit will surely be persecuted but he who perseveres till the end will be victorious. Lord, let every enemy of Yours may learn that it is foolishness to kick against the edge of a sharp axe. (2 Timothy 3: 12; Matthew 7: 16, 20; Acts 26: 14)
Lord, like the poor widow of Zarephath, with our own jars of oil and bins of flour we will help in sending and supporting reapers into Your harvest field. We pray that every Christian family will generously support at least one missionary. (Philippians 4: 19)
Lord, for those church planters who go to make disciples, we pray for enlargement of their vision, plenty of spiritual fruit and abundant financial resources for their families so that they may lack nothing. We build a hedge of protection of Your blood around their homes and families. (Isaiah 54: 10-17)
O Father, we thank You, for challenging us to love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength and with all our mind. Help us to love our neighbors as spiritual fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters. (Luke 10: 27, 1 Corinthians 4: 15)
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Fourth Saturday of the month

Subject: Prayer for the family

“But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Acts 16: 31; Joshua 24: 15)

The book of Ephesians teaches us that before engaging in spiritual warfare, it is important to make sure that all our relationships with the family, servants, masters, the church and God are right.

Husbands love your wives; otherwise your prayers will be hindered. Wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord. Children honor and obey your parents so that you may live long. Fathers do not provoke your children; instead bring them up in the fear of the Lord. Servants, serve your masters in all sincerity. Masters, stop threatening your servants, knowing you have a master in heaven.

Finally, all believers must submit to ‘one another in the fear of the Lord’. The expression ‘one another’ comes over 50 times in the New Testament, like speaking the truth in love, encouraging and building up each other (1 Tim. 5: 11), serving one another (Galatians. 5: 13) etc. (Ephesians 4: 15, 5: 22, 33; 6: 1-9; 5: 21)

After correcting all these relationships, you will be ready to submit to God and then resist the devil and he will flee from you. Now you have ‘Shalom Bayit’ or a peaceful home, which pursues peace. (James 4: 7; Psalm 34: 11)

In our families, we to pray for our material needs only, including healing from sickness, success in examinations, good job opportunities and marriage partners. If you desire that their names be written in the Lamb’s Book, then you must teach them scriptures, intercession, praying for the sick, prayer walking and spiritual warfare so that they can plant churches from childhood. Most of the church planters in China are between the ages of 13 to 19 years.

Jesus started His ministry at the age of twelve years. He confounded the temple scholars and told His parents that He must be about His heavenly Father’s business. We need to do the same. (Luke 2: 49)

:: PRAYER ::

O Father, You created the family of Adam and Eve and blessed them. Father we pray that just like You put a hedge around Job’s household so that the devil could not enter without Your permission. We now ask You to do the same around us. (Job 1: 10)
Lord, grant that Satan should have no entry points in our homes through T.V., magazines, novels, calendars, photos, tapes, CD’s, cinema songs, statues, heirlooms, decorations, drugs, alcohol and any thing else that might blot out our names from Your Book. Instead we pray that our family will grow in the fear of the Lord so that their names are written in the Book of the Lamb. (Deuteronomy 7: 25, 26)
Lord, You have commanded us to love our neighbors. Let our home be a house of prayer for people of all castes and creeds. Because of loving relationships within our family, life style, witness and prayer may our neighbors believe in You. (Romans 13: 8-10)
Lord, You have commanded us to seek the kingdom of heaven and Your righteousness first. We repent, because so far we have been praying more for worldly needs and have neglected the spiritual needs of our family, neighbors and the city. (Matthew 6: 31-34)
Lord, we repent because many of our relatives and friends are still non-believers or only nominal believers, because we have not interceded enough for them. Lord we confess our sins and the sins of our friends and relations. We repent and ask You to forgive us so that we may all become Your children. (Luke 16: 27, 28; Acts 10: 24)
O Father, we thank You, because we are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints of the household of God. You will not smite the earth with a curse because of the right relationships in our household. (Ephesians 2: 19, Malachi 4: 5, 6)
Pray on important news items mentioned in the media today.