THE PRAYER WARRIOR: CHURCH PLANTERS DAILY PRAYER GUIDE

Subject: Prayer for Churches and Leaders

“So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.” (Ezekiel 22: 30)

1. First Thursday of the Month:

International Churches and Leaders (Psalm 22: 27, 28)

2. Second Thursday of the Month:
National Churches and Leaders (Ezekiel 22: 30)

3. Third Thursday of the Month:

Regional Churches (Isaiah 59: 15-16)

4. Fourth Thursday of the Month:

Local Church and Institutions. (Ephesians 1: 17-19; 3: 16-19)

You are the watchman -Be vigilant

Do not remain silent, all day and all night, take no rest from reminding God, until His kingdom is established in this land. (Isaiah 62: 6, 7)

First Thursday of the Month

Subject: International Churches and Leaders

“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth.” (John 4: 23, 24)

Moses complained to God that he could not bear the burden of taking care of God’s people alone. Then God decided to give the same spirit to seventy other elders. As a result all the seventy started prophesying, some even in their tents. This upset some of Moses admirers who wanted them stopped. But Moses happily replied that he would have liked to see all God’s people prophesying. (Numbers 11: 23-30). Today we need leaders like Moses who will be happy to share their anointing and their responsibilities with others.

God then promised that in the last days He will pour out His Spirit on all people, both men and women, young and old. (Acts 2: 17, 18). The last days started on the day of the Pentecost. Ever since He has been pouring out His Spirit on all kinds of people all over the world.

The people who received the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem filled their city with the doctrine of Jesus (Acts 5: 28). Their disciples went to Asia, Africa and Europe and turned their cities upside down (Acts 17: 6). In the 1790, in Africa alone, 19 out of 20 missionaries died within two years. As a result, 50% of that Dark Continent is Christian today. A suicidal army of missionaries from the West went and planted churches all over the world and in the process transformed the world.

Now the Lord is doing a new thing. He promised that ‘the meek shall inherit the earth’ (Matthew 5: 5). He is specially pouring His Spirit on the weak, the meek, the foolish, the illiterates and plain nobodies including women and children who are planting churches by the thousands and slowly but surely inheriting the earth. The Lord is building His Church Universal and the gates of Hell cannot stop Him.

:: PRAYER ::

O Father, You are our shepherd (Jehovah Rohi) and therefore we shall not lack anything. You have an intimate relationship with each sheep and know us by name. Father, just like a shepherd, You never leave us alone and protect us from the attacks of the enemy.
We pray for the leaders that they may not just work for their organizations but have a covenant relationship with You and with each other. That they have intimacy with You and love each other. That they may esteem one another more highly than themselves. (John 13: 34, 35; Phil, 2: 3)
Lord, the gentile rulers exercise authority over others but You did not come to be served but to serve and to give Your life as ransom for many. Lord we pray that we may not fight to sit on the right or the left but whoever wants to be first and desires to be great among us shall be the servant and the slave of all. (Mark 10: 40-45)
O Father! We bless all those leaders of churches, institutions and foundations who provide resources such as Bibles, literature, films, audio and video cassettes, CD’s, computers, bicycles and vehicles, family support to workers, teachers and funds for training leaders and in many other ways make it possible to proclaim the gospel.
Lord, give the spirit of humility and integrity to our leaders. That they may avoid triumphalistic reporting. That they may evaluate their real effectiveness by the actual number of ‘fruit that remains’ and churches planted as indicators of permanent evangelism.
We thank You Father God because You are now preparing thousands of servant leaders all over the world, especially in the developing countries who have been endowed with Your Spirit to reach the unreached and disciple the remaining nations.
Pray on important news items mentioned in the media today.

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Second Thursday of the Month

Subject: National Churches and Leaders

“.... See I have this day set you over the nations and kingdoms, to root out and pull down, to destroy, to throw down, so as to build and to plant anew.” (Jeremiah 1: 9, 10)

God is one, but the church is divided into 33,000 denominations. Denominationalism is the root cause of division, dissension and strife. The Scriptures exhort us to, ‘keep the bond of unity’ (Ephesians 4: 3), to love God the Father, to love our neighbors and to love each other but we do not love people of other denominations. The Lord has told us that a house divided against itself can not stand. (Matthew 12: 25). The devil works overtime to keep the spirit of denominationalism alive to keep us divided.

We need a church, which is Biblically and culturally appropriate for our nation. Multitudes of our brothers and sisters of other faiths, who are now standing in the valley of decision, will not come in the existing model until it is indigenized. The foreign looking building, complete with the pews and the pulpit, the congregation in Western clothes, extensive use of English in worship, even the music is completely foreign. Pagan festivals like Christmas and Easter are all extra-biblical and far removed from the simplicity of the New Testament Church.

Like Jeremiah we have been assigned to root out, pull down, destroy, and throw down the traditional model and plant the original New Testament model church to welcome nations and kingdoms.

Peoples of other faiths are desperately seeking the Truth. Many of them fast and for days go to the temples and other religious places in search of truth, often keeping all night vigils (Jagrans). Millions travel long distances on pilgrimages and spend money and undergo enormous hardships but the truth eludes them. Much to the delight of the father of lies, we the ‘Truth Keepers’ are keeping it for ourselves and not sharing it with the ‘Truth Seekers’. God is now looking for those, who will enable gentiles, the new wine, to enter into new wineskins.

:: PRAYER ::

O Lord You loved this country so much that You gave Your only Son who shed His blood to save all mankind including our brothers and sisters of other faiths. In the name of Your Son we rebuke the spirit of divisive denominationalism, which is destroying Your church. We earnestly pray that the Church may know that there is one Lord, one body, one spirit, one faith, one baptism, and one God the Father of all. (Ephesians 4: 3-6)
We pray that You will deliver the faithful from every snare of the fowler (Psalm 91: 3). That they and their families may not become stumbling blocks for others, otherwise it will be better for them to drown in the sea by putting a millstone round their necks. (Matthew 18: 6)
Lord grant that nobody should enter the gates of Hell because of our sinfulness. Restore us to the joy of Your salvation and sustain us with a willing spirit. Then we will teach transgressors Your ways and sinners will be converted to You. (Psalm 51: 10-13)
We pray that You will break the middle wall of separation between Christians and millions of Dalits and peoples of other faiths who will find that You are the only way, the truth and the life and that no one can go to the Father without You. (John 14: 6)
Lord grant that every believer may know that You have appointed us to uproot, pull down, to destroy and overthrow the demonic powers, to overturn their rule and build and plant God’s kingdom. (Jeremiah 1: 9, 10)
Lord, we thank You for preparing new wineskins (house churches) for the new wine (new believers) and are giving them new strategies to plunder the people from the Strongman. Father thank you that these people will no longer be strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. (Ephesians 2: 14-19)
Pray on important news items mentioned in the media today.

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Third Thursday of the Month

Subject: Regional Churches

“My people are being destroyed for lack of knowledge, because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priests for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God; I also will forget your children.” (Hosea 4: 6; Proverb 1: 29-33)

The devil has been very successful lately in causing the downfall of many church leaders and their families. Divorce, adultery, homosexuality, abortion, theft, lying, taking bribes and corruption are no less than the secular world. Some of them have lost the original faith and gone after other gods, new age philosophy, yoga, transcendental meditation, occult and even Satan worship. The Bride of Christ is hardly recognizable because of the spots and wrinkles.

Many believers who lived by faith, are now striving hard to climb the prosperity ladder. Wealth, luxury, status, class and even caste factors are openly flaunted in the church, all in the name of the humble ‘fakir’ from Nazareth. Instead of the church going to the world, the world has now well and truly entered the church. The scriptures tell us that this is happening due to rejection of the knowledge of God. Due to the preoccupation of the family with the worship of Mammon and watching television, the Bible study and prayers become a mere formality and eventually stop altogether. Their knowledge of the Bible becomes shallow, therefore, Satan finds it easy to attack and destroy the whole family. (Hosea 4: 6; 1; Timothy 3: 4-5; Deuteronomy 6: 6-9)

Nowadays there is a fashion of building Prayer towers. But God’s idea is that every house should be a prayer tower, a bulwark against the attack of the enemy. He wants every house to be house of prayer for all nations.

The Scriptures exhort us that Godly knowledge should be dripping from the lips of the Priests. That the people should come to us seeking questions of doctrines and we as priests should go as the messengers of the gospel of the Lord. It is high time we took our priesthood seriously. (Malachi 2: 7)

:: PRAYER ::

O Father! You are Jehovah Makaddish, the God who sanctifies us to set us apart for Your purposes. But the congregations are filled with the works of flesh like adultery, fornication, uncleanliness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, dissensions, jealousies, covetousness etc. We pray that You sanctify and make us holy for Your sake. (Leviticus 20: 7-8; Galatians 5: 20, 21)
Lord, we pray that every Christian will be able to say boldly, ‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course and I have kept the faith ... now there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness and not only for me but also for those whom I have brought into the kingdom’. (2 Timothy 4: 7, 8)
Father, we pray for protection from those hirelings who enter the church pretending to be shepherds but are wolves, who promise green pastures to the sheep but actually take them to slaughter houses. (John 10: 11-16)
We pray that every believer may know that he is not just a layman, but an ordained priest to offer Gentiles as spiritual sacrifice. That every believer, man, woman and even the youth will bring sinners to repentance, baptize and break bread with them and fulfill all the other duties which pertain to priesthood. (Romans 15: 20)
We thank You for ordaining every father of Christian families to be the priest of his family. You have always wanted that the parents should diligently teach their children all the statutes from the scriptures and to obey them. (Deuteronomy 6: 6-8; 1 Timothy 3: 4, 5)
We thank You Father, even though we were unworthy, You made us worthy in Christ and only because of Your mercy, we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation and Your own special people to proclaim Your mighty deeds. Father help us to prepare Your Bride to be without spots or wrinkles. (Ephesians 1:4; 5: 27; 1 Peter 2: 9)
Pray on important news items mentioned in the media today.

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Fourth Thursday of the Month

Subject: Local Church and Institutions.

“Moreover, as for me, far be it for me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way.” (1 Samuel 12: 23; Ephesians 1: 15-19; Mark 10: 42-45)

The Israelites asked Samuel for their own king just like the other nations had, in spite of the fact that they had been under God’s direct supervision. They rejected God’s Lordship because of their wickedness. Samuel was also deeply hurt because they rejected his prophetic leadership. (1 Samuel 12: 17; 28:7)

When they insisted, they got Saul as their king who exploited them. He took their crops, animals, and children as laborers, sons as soldiers and daughters as concubines. He lost his kingship when he indulged in the occult by consulting the witch of Endore. Soon Saul and his sons came to a tragic end.

After all this Samuel assured the Israelites that the Lord will not forsake them because He had chosen them as His people. He not only did that but he said to them that it would be sin for him not to pray for the king and the people. He further promised them he would continue to teach them the good and right way.

Dr. Paul Brand transformed the lives of thousands of Leprosy patients by developing surgical operations to correct their deformed hands and feet. One evening we returned after a field trip and found several disfigured patients waiting in front of his house. He invited them in to his dining table and his wife Margaret served them tea and biscuits. They received not only physical healing but also social acceptance and many became followers of Christ.

We must pray that our institutional heads do not go astray like Saul and exploit the institutions for their own benefit. That they may undertake regular financial and ‘spiritual audit’. Let us pray that our Christian schools, hospitals, orphanages and development programs, will not be just teaching, curing or philanthropic centers but will be centers of holistic transformation for body, mind and the spirit. (Colossians 1: 10)

::Prayer::

O Father Your word is like fire that consumes and like a hammer that breaks the rock into pieces. Lord thank You for this powerful weapon with which we can break the chains of darkness (Jeremiah 23: 29). Lord, let every person know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. (Proverb 1: 7; Matthew 4: 4)
Lord we pray that Your Body be full of the fruits of the Spirit, that is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. (Galatians 5: 22, 23)
Lord, grant that believers may know that they are priests. That they may pray, study the word and witness to their workmates and plant ‘Office Churches’ right in place of their work. According to Your promise, wherever two or three gather in Your name, You will be present there. Father we pray that their worksites may become centers of holistic transformation and people will be saved right there. (3 John 1: 2-4)
Father, grant that gifts and manifestations of the Spirit be given to all believers to profit them in all they do like word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophesy, discerning of spirits, tongues and their interpretation. (1 Corinthians 12: 7-12)
Lord, grant that in spite of rejection, persecution and all the other problems we may continue to pray and support our leaders. Lord protect us from the sin of not praying and supporting them.
Father, we thank You for giving us schools, hospitals and other institutions. You have appointed us not to scatter the seed by the roadside, but to sow good seed in well-prepared soil. Lord enlarge our vision so that we may gather thirty fold, sixty fold and even hundred fold harvest from our institutions. (Matthew 12: 30)
Pray on important news items mentioned in the media today.