PRAYER CONSULTATION --- 24th JANUARY 2003
Submitted by Revd Lawrie Wilmot (Facilitator of Church Unity - Uitenhage)

A prayer consultation was held by a group of intercessors who are all involved in this ministry in the Metropole, and I believe that as the person facilitating the discussion that morning the record of the meeting needs to be published to encourage other intercessory groups to contact us, and to ask everyone for their comments. We are of course by no means the only intercessors' group in the Metro, neither do we speak on anyone's behalf, so this record is very much needing confirmation where it claims to have heard the Lord speaking; and of course it needs to be said that everything is as the group saw it, which is immediately an incomplete picture. We therefore would like as much feedback as possible.

 
PRESENT: Pierre and Sugnet van Wyk (Uitenhage), Ethelene Wiese, Barend van Rooyen, Trevor Jennings(Transformations chairman, present by invitation), Joan Keeling, Shan Fox, and Lawrie Wilmot, facilitator and scribe.

 
AIM:
To arrive at a prayer strategy for the Metro. We all know that there is a tremendous amount of intercession going on everywhere, which is wonderful, but our group felt the Lord could make more effective use of us if we had a definite strategy we were all working through as a Metro. In military terms, if the commander wants to redirect and replan his troops' movements, it is essential that they are following a predetermined plan that can be changed, rather than each unit in the army doing what it thinks best without much reference to anyone else's activities, necessary though they all undoubtedly are!

 
STEPS TO ACHIEVE THE AIM:

1. Share our present vision and direction (like a situation report).
    

2. Pray for one another (necessary to acknowledge the importance of everyone's input and to make us concentrate more on each others' needs)
   

3. Work out how we could cooperate better
   
4. Then ask the Lord for His prayer strategy, asking that He give us any changes in vision or direction.

 
REPORT:
As we went into our opening prayer time,we believe the Lord gave us two texts: Joel 3, to the effect of stirring up the mighty men; and Nehemiah 3, to the effect of cooperating and building together. We all felt strongly at the outset that God was saying that we must pray for the mighty men of intercession to step forward, (cf. 1 Tim.2), and that families (spiritual and literal) are to stand in the gap and not fight one another but the enemy.

Sharing time: what emerged is a clear reaffirmation that the whole process of Transformations in the Metro is the Lord's initiative and will remain so. We don't know how or when it will happen but we all have an understanding of it. We believe the Lord was encouraging us all to keep pressing forward in obedience His command. We all fit in to the army somewhere, and no one soldier on the ground can see the whole picture.

Equally, our commander relies on us all for reports on our progress.

Various texts or visions were shared:
 1.1: Ps 24: get out of the way so that the King of glory may come in!
 1.2: Be selfless. No agendas of self, one unity arising out of one agenda.
 1.3; Transformations is seen by the Lord as a magnet, to attract people to Himself.
 1.4: The dynamics and issues in each community are often very different.We really need to seek His face to be effective in our sphere of ministry.
 1.5: We need an integrated strategy; so many plans and strategies are in place in the Metro that people are getting confused in some cases. (This confirmed the reason for our meeting).

Leviticus 9: Our desire should be to bless others. Less action and more waiting on the Lord are essential (Amen!) The pastors need to meet more and spend time getting the Lord's vision and direction. "Thy will be done, Thy Kingdom come". We need a clear vision of what we are trying to transform. The vision of the " Six Goliaths" was shared. (Please contact AE if you don't know what this is about.)

Two other observations that were made were firstly that the way we relate is important, not just what we do. We need to deal with our difficulties and differences in a Biblical way, which was not always done previously. Secondly, we need to make Transformations more attractive, by honouring one another, maintaining one united vision and focus, and making sure this process is like a magnet, attracting people.

Trevor Jennings then gave us a briefing on the situation of the Transformations process in the Metro. He also gave us his analysis of situation, making these points:

1. We need to find a process; we have had the event first, which was the stadium event last year. Usually the process culminates in the event,but now we need to derive a Transformations process as a vehicle whereby the pastors of the Metro can unite.To achieve this a 3 year programme is envisaged.

2. We need to ensure that we will all be on the same spiritual agenda,and all killing the same "Goliaths".

We also realised that all the intercessors will have to have the same united approach.Networking is the way to achieve this.

 
STRATEGY:
We realised that as we arrived at a strategy the Lord would make us cooperate. We believe He gave us this 3-step strategy:

1. Identify prayer coordinators and/or intercessors in all churches, groups and areas. Such people would be recognised, appointed, under authority, and able to communicate.
    

2. Coordinate prayer efforts. Allow for different methods and approaches. Make sure our admin. is effective.
   

3. Counter opposition and attacks on the Transformations process by Satan, and dispel misunderstanding, by making a short video, as has been done after the stadium events of the last two years.

 
CONCLUSION:

We all felt the need to go into prayer at this point in our meeting, and simply to repent of things that we had done, or which had happened, to delay the Transformations process. Thereafter, as we waited on the Lord, we received this word which we submit for confirmation:

"Do not fear; have I not given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions? Go to wherever I will send you; and as you work in your different areas in different ways I will draw you all together as as the threads are drawn into a beautiful garment - a rich cloak that will be admired by all who come to this beautiful city I have given to all of you.

Do not fear to go out; I am with you and will use you - each one,and all of you. Let My glory shine on everyone you will meet, for know that I have arranged the many meetings you will have. Even though you may feel that at times you are hanging on by your fingertips, remember that My everlasting arms are always there to hold you and catch you.

Be blessed, My children, for I am with you all, always and forever. Amen."

 

As this report was entirely my own, any errors or omissions are mine as well.

In Christ's service,
Revd. Lawrie Wilmot

(Facilitator of Church Unity - Uitenhage)
Email : lw@eject.co.za

 
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