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REVIVAL NEWS |
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REVIVAL NEWS |
PREPARE YOUR PEOPLE FOR A PRAYER MINISTRY
BULLETIN 92-1
Prayer is a form of ministry Christ desires for every believer. We are saved to pray for others. Prayer is the basis for whatever other ministry one has. Prayer can be the most important ministry in most Christians' lives. One of your greatest responsibilities is to help your people become a praying people, and to help them make their intercession effective for Christ. How much prayer time does your average believer invest in Christ's kingdom per day? This preparation has two phases. You must prepare them to be personally strong in prayer and intercession. You must also guide your people as they develop their personal prayer plans. Nothing is more important than a personal prayer plan.
1. Help them deepen their personal prayer life. Your people not only need your repeated clear teaching on prayer, they need to see in you a beautiful example of a life and ministry of prayer. A love for prayer needs to be taught, caught, and practised.
a. Deepen your own prayer life. Prayer must become the life, the joy, and the passion of your own soul. Your people must see that prayer is your eager delight and your very life-breath. If you only talk about prayer and do not demonstrate the joy and power of prayer, your teaching will seem to be mere words- pious words to which everyone agrees. But they will not realize how blessed prayer can be, until they see it in you. All Christians believe in the duty of some prayer each day. Most, however, have an ordinary prayer life except in emergencies. Too often they have never realized the thrill and excitement of communion with Jesus and prevailing in prayer for others. There are exceptions- people who pray more than others.
You are they key to the prayer ministry of your people. This assures that at the judgement you will have the most strict account to give. Dont expect your people to hunger for what they fail to see in you. They must sense your joy in the Lord, your intimacy with God, your love for Jesus and for themselves. They must sense your vibrant faith as you pray- that you really expect and get answers to your prayers. They must sense these things in your normal public praying; then they will begin to hunger to go deeper in prayer themselves. But remember that your public praying reflects the quality of your personal, private prayer life. God cannot mightily use public prayers and prayers in homes when you are weak, lifeless, and ineffective in your private prayer. You must be a person of God if you expect your people to become people of God. Many Christian leaders' prayer lives are inadequate for the work they are attempting to do. They are inadequate to satisfy Jesus. Is that true of you? Learn to pray if you want your people to pray.
b. Give priority to prayer in your public ministry. Prepare your heart as much for your public praying as for your speaking and teaching. If your heart is not melted when you pray, it will probably not be melted when you speak. If your heart is not aflame for God when you pray, it will probably not be when you preach. You should always pray longer in private than in public, but if your heart is melted with God's love or aflame with God's fire, a longer public prayer that really leads the people into God's presence often will be welcomed by your people. Some of God's greatest preachers have been great in prayer. Do people come to your services specially to hear you pray? Your prayer must echo the concerns, the heart cries, and the deep desires of your people. A "quickie" prayer tends to suggest that prayer is unimportant. But a long prayer that comes from a heart and lips that do not evidence God's near presence and power easily can seem perfunctory. It may seem so much a part of the routine of the service that people are relieved when you stop praying. Live and pray so that your public prayers are fragrant with God's presence and vibrant with God's power.
c. Make prayer a natural and vital part of all private ministry. Include a brief prayer in all your personal counselling, home or hospital visitation, farewelling, or committing a task to a person or group. Make prayer so constant and natural a part of all you do that you are known for praying about everything (Phil. 4:6). Prayer must be an ever-present part of your entire ministry. Remember, prayer adds God's benediction to anything you say, God's presence to anyone you contact, and God's power to answer any need you try to meet.
As your people see you bring God into everything by your prayers, they too will begin to bring prayer into everything they do, as Paul urged (Eph. 6:18). Your people almost unconsciously begin to become a praying people when they sense that prayer is an indispensable part of your whole life. (Article written by Wesley L. Duewel)
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The Bulletin of Revival is part of the ministry of Revival Congresses SA and serve as a Heart cry for a Biblical and Godsend Revival. There are so many "revivals" these days that few people could distinguish between false and real revival. The Bulletin will distribute and publish, sermons, stories and news of current movements of the Holy Spirit in Revival to the subscribers. The Bulletin is also aimed at all leaders, pastors and Christians that prayed and long for Revival. The purpose is to encourage and motivate believers to keep on praying for Revival. The Bulletin is usually sent out weekly. Please feel free to send this Bulletin to anyone you know who would be interested. If you would not like to receive this information, please send us a message: remove from the list or un-subscribe.
Francois Carr, National Coordinator of Revival Congresses SA
PO Box 27130, Sunnyside, 0132, RSA, Visit our website
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