PRAYER TIME

GUIDE BOOK
CHAPTER ONE

Following Christ in Biblical Prayer

Katy and Brian were among the first converts of a new church. They were not sure
how to pray "the right way." They were sure they wanted to talk with their newfound
Lord and Savior. As members of a new church, there were not a lot of other mature
believers around to disciple them. They began to read everything they could find on
prayer. Some of the books were biblical, but many of them were based on human
experience or opinion, and some were just weird. They very quickly learned "a lot of
people talk about praying, but very few people understand and practice biblical
prayer."

Satan hates prayer. He prefers that believers do anything except pray. Even people
who believe in prayer and have seen its power wake up one morning to discover that
their prayer life is powerless. It is interesting that prayer does not move to a
secondary priority in the believer's life. It is either a top priority or it moves to the
periphery of our lives.

Many people desire to renew a personal passion for prayer. They want to discover
what the Bible means when it commands us to "pray without ceasing" in 1
Thessalonians 5:17. Believers know in their spirit that obedience to the living Lord
means responding with a lifestyle that allows unceasing prayer. People for all faith
backgrounds are interested in prayer.

Some people have a tendency to rely on processes and effective models. Sometimes,
this results in a dangerous autonomy from essential spiritual resources. A very
important verse for believers is Zechariah 4:6, "This is the word of the Lord...'Not by
might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord of hosts.'" Put that verse on
your dashboard and on your bathroom mirror. Do not let Satan turn your self-
confidence into self-sufficiency, nor to turn it into arrogance.

Differences in Biblical Prayer and Popular Prayer Edmund was one of the
backbones of the church. As a core group member, he was there every time the
doors opened. Everyone knew they could count on Edmund. He prayed often at
church but it had been years since he had spent any time alone with God in prayer
and Bible study.

Prayer is popular in the postmodern culture. But popular prayer is often very
different from biblical prayer. A March 2001 Internet search of the word "prayer" in
the northernlight.com search engine resulted in 2,280,745 responses. Many people
talk about the importance of prayer. A March 1994 article in Life magazine, reported
that "nine out of 10 Americans, . . pray frequently and earnestly." Eighty percent of
Americans pray for their families, 92 percent pray for forgiveness, and 25 percent
pray for relatively unimportant things like victory in a sports event. The article
indicates that 28 percent spend more than an hour in prayer each day. It also
reveals that more than half of all people pray for five minutes or less.

George Barna more recently (2000) indicates that 83 percent of North Americans
pray during a typical week. However, only 39 percent consider themselves as an
"evangelical Christian" and only 17 percent regularly attend a small group. . . for
Bible study, prayer, or Christian fellowship." He too concludes the typical daily prayer
time is less than five minutes long.i

Think about that fact. Most evangelicals only pray five minutes a day or less. That
means that even believers rely on ourselves for the remaining 23 hours and 55
minutes each day. No wonder the culture and the church are in such disarray. No
wonder that so many unbelievers are uncertain if there is any difference between
Christians and non-Christians. (An unbeliever is defined as someone who has not
accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior).

Barna concludes, "In one recent survey we found that almost nine out of ten adults
believe they know all of the basic teachings of Christianity very well. But when you
explore what they think the Bible actually teaches, ...many theological
inconsistencies and inaccuracies emerge. Unfortunately, correcting people's mistaken
assumptions about Bible content is made nearly impossible by their self-assurance
about their beliefs. Even if they are exposed to good Bible teaching they typically fail
to absorb that input because they think they already know it all...."ii Where then
does a person begin to renew a personal passion to pray unceasingly?

Jesus said "follow Me" (see Matt. 4:19; 16:24; 19:21). Prayer flows from our
personal relationship with Jesus. It is a gift to His followers. A gift that is often
unopened and unused. Every believer needs to clearly share what the Bible says
about becoming a follower of Jesus Christ. Those seeking a relationship with God will
find it through the life and teachings of Jesus.

Becoming a Follower of Jesus

Believers need to share a clear call for people to follow Jesus. Unbelievers need to
respond to God's call too. The followers of Jesus Christ were first called Christians in
the first century (see Acts 11:26). Like today, it was probably intended to be an
insult. The term had become so widespread that by Acts 26:28, King Agrippa used
the word "Christian" when talking to the apostle Paul. The followers of Jesus Christ
acted so much like Him that the people of Antioch, and the Empire, called them
CHRIST-ians. Like today, there was conflict between those who listened to what God
wanted and those who imposed on God what they wanted. God's way is better.

The followers of Jesus need to act like Him so much that there is no doubt that they
are Christians. The word "believers" is now being used for the followers of Christ.
This became necessary because so many people who are called Christians do not
resemble Christ. The Creator is quite clear what He requires for a person to become
a Christian. Be careful not to compromise these truths under the guise of being
"seeker sensitive."
Following Christ in Biblical Prayer (Part II)

First, The Creator God Wants a Relationship with His Creation

Levi was a 78-year-old Russian Jew. Sitting by the pool, he began a conversation
that soon turned to spiritual matters. He shared his experiences under communism
as an intellectual. He told of family members killed during the Holocaust. He said, "I
many times thought that God is no longer there, but my heart cries out for Him." His
intelligent and piercing questions took over an hour to answer. At last he said, "I see
the Messiah has come to you and perhaps will come to me too."

Creator and creation

People are created with the need to have a relationship with the Creator God. We will
only find peace and meaning to life by accepting the instructions and purpose of our
Creator. There are many false gods that try to demand obedience. But, like any
counterfeit, they do not bring satisfaction. Prayer flows out of that relationship with
the Creator.

The Creator God is worthy of our absolute trust in His love and justice. The book of
Genesis introduces the Creator God. Like any proud parent, He is shown walking with
and enjoying His created beings. Then they disobeyed Him and they hid from His
presence. A broken relationship with Jesus is the primary reason for prayerlessness
or ineffective prayer.

God seeking humankind

The rest of the Bible is the story of God seeking humankind to restore the
relationship between Creator and creation. In Exodus 20:2-7, God warns His creation
to allow none of these counterfeit gods to replace His role as the sole King of our life.
They began to trust in other things instead of the Creator God. They, like
postmodern humanity, ". . .exchanged the truth of God for a lie, . ." (Rom. 1:25).

Humans are not ultimately satisfied with religious rituals and self-centered
accumulation of wealth. Agreed, this is a surprising statement in today's culture. But
it is true. The prayer team was taking prayer to the streets of an affluent
neighborhood. A man was washing his luxury automobile and greeted the prayer
walkers. They responded, "We are out praying for our community today, is their
anything we can pray for you about?" He immediately replied, "yes, as you can see I
have everything in my hands that I ever wanted. But I have nothing in my heart.
Pray for me to find something worth holding in my heart."

Every person needs a relationship with our Creator. People created the false religions
and false gods so they could try to meet God on their terms. We must meet God on
His terms. The Creator God of the Bible is the one, true God. According to Romans
1:20, "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power
and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been
made, so that they are without excuse."
The reality of a Creator God drives people to seek to know Him. God responded by
sending Jesus. Everything humans need to know about God can be discovered in the
life, teachings, and resurrection of Jesus (see John 14:1-6). Knowing God is
dependent on biblical, consistent prayer and Bible study.

Confronting the lies of the culture

The two businessmen sat next to each other in the plane with a nod. Shortly after
takeoff, one man put down his paper with an expression of disgust. He said aloud, "I
just can't believe there is a God with all the bad stuff happening to children now."
The believer next to him responded, "So you believe that there is a clear difference
between good and bad?" The man replied, "Oh yes, there is good and bad all around
us." The believer asked, "So bad things, like hurting a child, are bad everywhere in
the world." The man replied, "Absolutely, bad is bad no matter where you are." The
believer then asked, "If that is true, you must believe there is a moral law that
defines good and bad for all humankind." The man thought for a moment and said,
"Yes, I believe there is a moral law defining good and bad."

The believer asked "How do humans know what is good and bad in this moral law?"
The man quickly responded, "Oh, humans can determine what is good and bad." The
believer asked, "Really, could Hitler, (and he mentioned other notoriously evil
people) determine what is good and bad?" The man said, "Oh no, they could not
determine the content of moral law." So the believer asked, "Then you are saying
the moral law giver would have to be superhuman." The man thought again for a few
moments and said, "Yes, the moral law giver must be superhuman." The believer
smiled and asked, "Then could the superhuman, moral lawgiver be called God?" The
man sat back, surprised at where his logic had just taken him. "Yes, the moral
lawgiver has to be God."

But the believer did not stop there. He asked the man, "Would God hide the moral
law from His creation?" The man replied immediately, "Absolutely not, He would
want people to know His moral law." The believer asked, "So how would God tell us
His moral law?" Without pause the man said, "He would send people to tell us." The
believer asked, "Can you believe just anyone who comes up and says they can tell
you how to know God's moral law?" The man responded with certainty, "No, you
would have to have someone special sent from God." The believer responded, "That
is why the Bible says that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes
to the Father except through Him" (see John 14:6). The man sat back like he had
been hit. Suddenly, the lies of the culture were clear to him. He said three times,
"that's right, that's right, that's right."

This conversation took much longer than described here. But it shows several
important points. 1. Satan has blinded people from the truth. 2. All of creation points
to a Creator. 3. God is taking the initiative to bring His creation to relationship with
Him. 4. God sent His only Son, Jesus, to show humans how to know the Creator.

Humans must admit to themselves and to God that He is Creator. We need to

respond to His desire for a close, personal, and daily relationship with each one of
us. That response includes an active, biblical prayer life.

Second, Humankind's Problem is Disobeying God and Not Knowing What

God Wants
Sin is to disobey God
Creation points people to the Creator God. But the human problem is that our radical
self-sufficiency wants to instruct the Creator. This causes us to disobey Him. We
determine that our plans are better than God's plans. We choose not to study God's
Word and so we are ignorant of God's character and instructions. The biblical
definition of sin is to disobey God. Every person has disobeyed God and is a sinner
(see Rom. 3:23). In spite of the cultural opinion to the contrary, there is no degree
of acceptable sin. Sin undermines effective prayer.

God is holy
This is important. Since God is holy, any sin carries the consequence of being
separated from God. Do not be fooled. The culture teaches people to believe that
they will not go to hell. However, the truth is that everyone who disobeys God is
immediately separated from the Holy God. A person who is separated from God
immediately earns the wages of death (see Rom. 6:23). Jesus paid the penalty for
our sin. That is why he alone is able to offer us salvation. Even believers need to
daily confess our sin to maintain an unhindered relationship with God (see 1 John
1:9).

Hell is horrible
Life separated from the purpose and teachings of the Creator is horrible. It results in
a hellish existence on earth and eternal separation from God in a literal, horrible hell.
Jesus taught about hell in Luke 16:19-31. Sending people to hell is not God's choice.
The culture is correct that our Creator is NOT SENDING people to hell. The culture
tries to overlook that people CHOOSE hell as the result of disobeying God. Our
Creator has provided the Savior, the Bible, the true church and other believers to
warn people away from choosing hell. But the majority of the culture has chosen the
path that leads to hell. And now the culture is desperately trying to justify and gain
approval for that decision.

The Christian has the moral imperative to warn people away from hell just as
certainly as the weatherman must warn people of an impending tornado. Believers
have allowed the culture to intimidate us into silence about the destructive
consequences of sin. Barna's survey asked people to respond to the statement "You,
personally, have a responsibility to tell other people your religious beliefs." Only 28
percent disagreed strongly.iii Most of the population understands that truth should
be shared.

Do not be fooled. The culture also tries to minimize the horror of hell. Hot days, bad
traffic, and other things are compared to hell. This is done so that people get the
impression that hell is not so bad. And so some people are taught to believe that
spending time in hell is worth the price of getting to do things their way instead of
God's way. This is a terrible lie.
Following Christ in Biblical Prayer (Part III)

Being good is not enough

Many people think that being good is enough to go to heaven.iv However, the only
way to heaven is to allow Christ to replace good activities with moral change.
Annette was a very good person. She was a faithful wife and good mother. She
believed that if she was a good person she would go to heaven. Her friend often
talked to her about following Christ. Annette always replied, "I have never
intentionally hurt anyone. I do no believe that God would send me to hell." She
admitted though that she thought her prayer did not go any higher than the ceiling.

Raymond was proud to be a "hell-raiser." His authority in life was himself. He drank
heavily, used drugs and was considered a troublemaker at work. When his mom
talked to him about faith in Jesus, he always said, "Mom, I am no Hitler. I am not so
bad that I would go to hell." His pal, Bud, just said, "At least I'll be with my friends,"
and laughed.

Human opinion has become the authority for many people. This is why it is so
important for humans to understand that the entire Bible is the authoritative and
trustworthy instruction of God's will for humankind. The Bible is the primary way to
learn what God wants for and from His creation. No other academic discipline or
individual's thought is equal to or superior to the Word of God.

Humans must determine what authority they will follow. No other religious or
philosophical teaching can compete with the instruction manual that is given by the
Creator God. In these instructions, people are taught to follow Jesus through the
power of the Holy Spirit. Many people make a fatal assumption when they try to
impose their expectations and wishes on God. God's authority must take precedence.
This understanding changes how we pray.

Confess and repent

People must admit to God that His way is better than our way. We need to admit
(confess) through prayer that we have disobeyed Him. We need to know God's
requirements. We need to turn (repent) from our sin. Acts 26:20 says, ". . . they
should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds" (NIV). We
must begin a life of obedience through following the example and teachings of Jesus.
Our obedience includes a daily, specific time of prayer and Bible study. God even told
his people ". . .to obey is better than sacrifice, . ." (1 Sam. 15:22).

Third, God Provided the Solution to our Problem through Jesus

God is love and absolutely just. He does not want anyone to spend eternity
separated from Him. However, justice requires punishment for disobedience.

Jesus is the only way to God

The Creator loves people so much that He sent His only Son to pay the penalty for
our disobedience (see John 3:16). Jesus lived all of His life without disobeying God.
He never sinned. But He willingly sacrificed His life on the Cross and paid the penalty
for each person's sin. Jesus' death on the cross was so significant that it affected all
of time and all of history. If you or I were the only people to ever live, Jesus still
would have died. He died to pay the penalty for your and my disobedience (see 1
Pet. 3:18). His sinless life and sacrificial death are why Jesus is the only way to God
(see John 14:6). God requires that His creation agree that they are (I am) wrong
and God is right.

The individual's response is to accept God's solution through Jesus. This relationship
can only happen through accepting God's Son, Jesus, as Lord. He becomes Lord by
asking the Holy Spirit of God to come inside and take control. When the Holy Spirit
moves into the individual's life, He begins to remold it into Christ's likeness. This
change occurs on the inside first. This internal moral and spiritual change results in
different behavior and activities.

The Creator God is absolutely holy. His justice and law are absolutely fair. He only
does what is best for His creation. He trusts us enough to let us choose His best way
over our own inferior way. The consequences of choosing our way are severe
because they are not what are best for His creation. God's love is so great that He
even provides Jesus' death to pay the penalty for choosing the wrong way. God even
provides the Holy Spirit to change us from the inside out.

False religion
Every person needs to understand that becoming a Christian is more than just
changing behavior. False religion tries to convince people that changing outward
behavior and activities result in becoming a moral person on the inside. This is wrong
(see Matt. 23:15-19). Religion can successfully modify some external behavior, but
only a relationship with Jesus transforms the internal person into the likeness of
Christ. The internal change results in external change. This is a very important point
when sharing Jesus in a postmodern culture.

Becoming a Christian is more than just believing in God. Satan and his demons
believe in God (see Jas. 2:19), but they refuse to obey God. James 1:22-26 explains
the importance to be ". . . doers of the word, and not merely hearers...If anyone
thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his
own heart, this man's religion is worthless." A personal relationship with Christ
replaces all religious pretense. It transforms prayer from a ritual into communication
with our Lord.

Confessing Jesus as Lord

Romans 10:9-10 says, ". . .if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe
in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the
heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses,
resulting in salvation." This is what the Bible also calls justification (see Rom. 4:25-
5:1; 5:18). We become just through Christ. People cannot earn their justification.

If you have never accepted Christ as Lord then pray a prayer similar to this one:
"Dear God, I know that You alone are the Creator God. I admit to You that I have
disobeyed You. I ask forgiveness for my sin. I know that Your only Son is Jesus
Christ. I know that He died for my sin and rose from the dead. I now accept His Life
and teaching as the model for my thoughts and behavior. Please send the Holy Spirit
inside me to change me on the inside. Thank You for forgiving me and giving me
eternal life."

Remember and share that there is nothing magical about this prayer. It is merely a
summary of what you need to tell God. Anyone can do that in his or her own words.
Being sure about your salvation
Satan will try to bring doubt and discouragement into the believer's life. First John
5:13 teaches that "I write these things to you...that you may know that you have
eternal life" (NIV). In John 1:12 the Bible says, "Yet to all who receive him, . .he
gave the right to become children of God" (NIV).

A person who has turned from their sin and accepted Jesus cannot lose their
salvation. In John 10:27-28 Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them,
and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and
no one can snatch them out of My hand." The true followers of Jesus can never be
snatched from His saving hand. Salvation is for eternity (see Rom. 8:38-39).

Growing as a healthy Christian

Every living thing needs nourishment to survive and grow. Christians grow
(sanctification) as they choose to let Jesus be Lord of every part of their life. The
Christian becomes a ". . .living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your
spiritual service of worship" (Rom. 12:1). Seek to become a living and holy sacrifice
to God. Let God use you as His instrument to begin and grow the church.

The service of worship includes immediately becoming part of a local church. Church
members are not perfect, but they are seeking to learn from others how to become
more like Christ. Church membership includes being baptized (see Rom. 6:4).
Baptism is a public symbol of what has happened on the inside of the new believer
(see Acts 2:41).

Growing in Christ is an individual decision. It is a daily struggle to be changed into

Christ's likeness. It usually is not easy to set aside the old habits so that we will
". . .not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable
and perfect" (Rom. 12:2). Renewing our mind comes with Bible study, prayer and
worship.v Growing Christians must be involved in a local congregation to learn as
well as to lead. Old friends and old habits will try to reclaim the new believer. Do not
let them. One new believer described it. "I sometimes feel like there is a bungee cord
pulling me back toward my old friends and old lifestyle. Only prayer, Bible Study and
my Christian friends keep me from falling back."

Healthy Christians automatically begin to tell others about Christ.

In Luke 19:10, Jesus said that He came to ". . .seek and to save that which was
lost." Those who are like Christ will do what He did.vi Proverbs 11:30 says, ". . .he
who is wise wins souls." Make sure that most of your church's growth is by
conversion growth. Seek to reduce the population of hell.

Conclusion
A vibrant prayer life flows from a relationship with the Creator God. His enemy,
Satan, seeks to confuse and distort the biblical facts about prayer. So believers must
be careful to focus on biblical prayer. The Creator God wants a relationship with His
Creation. He has taken the initiative to bring His Creation back to Him. He sent Jesus
to clearly point us to God. He has sent the Holy Spirit to teach us how to live the
Christian life. God has taken the initiative with His creation to communicate with Him
through prayer.
CHAPTER TWO

Praying From A Believer's Heart

Craig was a well-liked science teacher. He often taught the importance of the
scientific process. He was adamant that there is no personal higher power. He even
told a believer, "I tried prayer once and found it unreliable." He attempted to access
spiritual truth through secular processes. One day, his mother grew gravely ill. He
asked his Christian friends to pray for her. "I am not on good speaking terms with
God and have no right to approach him with this request." Even Craig realized that
effective prayer is based in relationship with the Creator. That relationship is based
on God's terms, not our terms.

Only believers have the relationship with God that provides Christ as their mediator.
Without the mediator, unbelievers do not have access to the throne of God, and
prayer is powerless if it does not go to the throne of God.

In a masterpiece of subversion, Satan will convince unbelievers that their prayer has
been answered. This effectively keeps unbelievers praying the selfish, shallow areas
that do not require conversion to Christ. In Matthew 4, Satan offered Jesus food,
success, and popularity. The lure of these things is so tantalizing to people that
Satan does not even need to make a personal appearance to offer them. Since so
many people pray for these things, receiving them is perceived as an answer to their
prayer. Satan also can answer prayer miraculously.

Many people accurately recognize that there is a universal spiritual need to

communicate with the Creator. The error develops with the belief that prayer then is
universally answered separate from the requirements God established for prayer.
Misconceptions about prayer can be corrected by carefully studying the biblical
instructions for prayer and for the person praying.

The Role of Jesus in our Prayer

The Bible presents the essential role of Jesus in the believer's prayer life. Jesus
provides our access to the Father.

By the blood
Hebrews 10:19 reveals, "Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the
holy place by the blood of Jesus." Jesus became the high priest to take each believer
into the holy of holies. In Ephesians 2:18 Paul wrote, "for through Him (Jesus) we
both have our access in one Spirit to the Father." The word prosagoge, refers to
unhindered approach to God. The word is used to introduce an ambassador to a
national assembly or a person to the king. Humans cannot enter the holy of Holies
unescorted. The only escort is the Son through the Holy Spirit. Unescorted prayer
does not leave the room where it is prayed.

Made Righteous
Humans are made righteous only through Christ. James 5:16 refers to the effective
prayer of a righteous man. Romans 10:10 writes, "for with the heart man believes,
resulting in righteousness, . . ." Jesus is the only one who can cleanse us of our
unrighteousness (see 1 John 1:7-9).
Righteousness is right behavior that comes from holiness. Holiness only comes from
the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit only comes through accepting Jesus Christ as
Lord. It is important to understand that even sincere, fervent prayer is powerless
without righteousness. Without Jesus there is no righteousness. Without
righteousness there is no effective prayer.

Obedience
The requirement for answered prayer is obedience to God's commandments. First
John 3:22 reads, "and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His
commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight" (emphasis added).
Righteousness results in obedient behavior that is pleasing to God. Obedience is
essential to effective prayer.

The great prayer warrior, R.A.Torrey, wrote, "God's promises to answer prayer are
made to certain specific persons, and God is very careful in His word to tell us just
who these persons are." He continues, "The Christian Scientist cannot really pray.
What he calls prayer is simply meditation or concentration of thought. It is not
asking a personal God for a definite blessing; indeed, Mrs. Eddy denied the existence
of a personal God and she denied the atoning efficacy of the blood. She said that the
blood of Jesus Christ when it was shed on Calvary, did no more good than when it
was running in His veins. So a Christian Scientist cannot really pray; he is not on
praying ground."i

Boldness
Here is the source for bold, confident praying that is biblical. First John 5:14 says,
"And this is the confidence (boldness) which we have before Him, that, if we ask
anything according to His will, He hears us" (emphasis added). The believer's prayer
of petition must be according to God's will. There is a lot of false teaching that
results in frustrated people who could not impose their will on God. Many people
have become angry with God because they imposed expectations on God that were
not biblical. Please notice that He does not even hear prayers that are not according
to His will. This is why it is important for prayer warriors to understand God's will and
boldly align themselves with it.

The Holy Spirit's Role in our Prayer

The Holy Spirit plays a key roll in the prayer life of the believer. Prayer is a secular
activity without the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:26-27 says, "...the
Spirit also helps our weakness; for we (Christians) do not know how to pray as we
should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;
and He (God) who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because
He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."

The Holy Spirit helps in our weakness.

Paul often reminded believers that our weakness is a benefit in our spiritual life (see
1 Cor. 1:27; 9:22). In 2 Corinthians 12:10 Paul writes, "Therefore, I am well content
with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for
Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong." The believers' effective prayer
is based on repentant and humble recognition that we come to the throne as
forgiven sinners. The prayer of unrepentant people is fruitless. The believer enters
into prayer through recognition that he or she is responsible for Jesus' death. He
died for your sin. Look at the things Paul endured for Christ's sake. What will we
endure?

The Holy Spirit intercedes for us.

Our human weakness is so great that prayer requires the Spirit's help. Referring
again to Romans 8:26-27, "...for we (Christians) do not know how to pray as we
should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us..." Many believers are not sure what
is best in any given situation. We truly do not want to impose our will on God.
Perhaps our pain or our ignorance has blinded us. We cannot see the future, so we
do not know what could be harmful to us. Think back gratefully to the youthful or
immature prayers that God answered "no." Recognize that some of our current
prayers also deserve a "no" answer. In these times of uncertainty, the Holy Spirit
serves as our advocate in the divine courts.

"...the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He
(God) who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He
intercedes for the saints according to the will of God" (Rom. 8:26-27). There is no
biblical evidence that this groaning refers to tongues. The Spirit's groaning in this
verse is the same word used in verse 22. There, "creation groans." In verse 23, the
same word refers to when ". . .we ourselves groan ... waiting eagerly for our
adoption as sons, . . ." This is not tongues, but eager anticipation.

Paul then gives a glimpse into the relationship between God's omniscience and the
Spirit's intercession. Prayer is not a matter of informing the omniscient God. Prayer
is recognizing that believers are bowing our will to God's will. We must agree with
God.

It is the intervention of the Holy Spirit that brings the unbeliever's prayer
for salvation to God.
The biblical evidence seems to indicate that the only prayer that reaches the throne
of God from an unbeliever is a prayer seeking to know the Creator. Many of the
stories that relate effective prayer to unbelievers can be attributed to the
intercession of believers for that person or for their country. Many people believe
that God hears prayer that may not be for salvation but when answered will lead
them to salvation.

Works for the good of the believer

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love
God, to those who are called according to His purpose" (Rom. 8:28). This verse is
often misquoted and applied universally. The key phrase is, "to those called
according to (and on the basis of) His purpose." Albert Barnes notes, the word
"called" (kletos) refers to ". . .those who have accepted the call, and (are) true
Christians."ii

The human definition of "good" is much too secular. Believers must come as Paul did
in 2 Corinthians 12:10 to be ". . .content with weaknesses, with insults, with
distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; . . ." The definition
of good must move away from whether an experience is good or bad for me and my
family. Believers must be able to determine the experience was good if it was good
for God's kingdom.

A missionary family was preparing to return from stateside furlough to a very difficult
field of service. People asked him why they would return to endure the heat,
sickness, and political turmoil. "It may not be a real good experience for us, but it is
essential to the work of the kingdom of God." That sense of dedication and sacrifice
is lost to many believers today, and so our prayers become shallow and selfish. Even
to the point that we selfishly ask God to send someone else's children to the mission
fields.

Jesus wept in the garden of prayer with the hope of being excused from His
crucifixion. But the good of the kingdom and the salvation of humankind were
awaiting Him. His response to His Father was, "Thy will be done..." (Matt. 26:42).
The deacon Stephen knew that public preaching could be fatal, but he was willing to
pay the price for the good of the kingdom. Saul, who became Paul, was also
convicted by such devotion. Seeing believers who did not fear death was crucial in
Saul's conversion (see Acts 7(8).

The work of the Holy Spirit is so crucial that those outside of Christ have no hope of
effective prayer.

God's Expectations for Prayer

Manuel had been a Christian for many years. He realized that his relationship with
the Lord was not as strong as it used to be. He often prayed for his family, their
safety, and God's blessings, but deep in his spirit, he knew there was more to
prayer.

The model prayer in Matthew Chapter Six presents many lessons on God's
expectations for prayer. It also explains God's expectations from the one praying.

Not just an external activity

Jesus warns believers that prayer must be more than mere external activity. In
Matthew 6:5, Jesus begins to distinguish between popular prayer and true prayer. He
identifies the hypocrites who ". . .love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on
the street corners...they have their reward in full." The focus of biblical prayer is the
Creator, not His creation.

A spiritual discipline
Matthew 6:6 emphasizes the important discipline of personal prayer, "...When you
pray, go into your inner room, . . ." Personal prayer is an essential spiritual
discipline. It is easy for spiritual leaders to allow public prayer to replace private
prayer. Every believer needs time alone with God.

Jesus is not rejecting public prayer. He is pointing believers to a priority need for
personal prayer. Public prayer is different from private prayer. It deals with
corporate issues. Private prayer allows believers to be completely honest with the
Lord. He knows our every thought. He knows every motive, yet He loves us anyway.

Beware of imitation prayer

Jesus rejects the misguided devotion of "meaningless repetition" (the word means
babbling). Jesus said, ". . .they suppose that they will be heard for their many
words" (Matt. 6:7). These hypocrites did not really pray, they only imitated prayer.
William Barclay comments, "When a man begins to think more of how he is praying
than of what he is praying, his prayer dies upon his lips." (We also could insert "or to
whom he is praying.") Jesus insists that prayer be offered to God and not to men.
Barclay also concludes that Matthew Chapter Six ". . .is a prayer which only one who
is committed to Jesus Christ can take upon his lips with any meaning."iii Effective
prayer is a function of believers through their personal relationship with Jesus.

Focus prayer on the Father

In Matthew 6:8, Jesus repeats His warning to focus on the Father. Prayer is an act of
worship to the Father, in the name of the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit.iv
Technically, we can address our prayers to any part of the Godhead. However, there
is no place in the Bible where the Holy Spirit is addressed in prayer.v Only once is
Jesus addressed in prayer (see Acts 7:59). The other prayers of believers in the New
Testament were directed to God. There is no biblical evidence for angels, loved ones
who have died, or spiritual leaders to be addressed in prayer. The focus of the
believer's prayer is the Father.

Who among us has not begun the closing prayer to remember something we meant
to tell the class? So, in the midst of the prayer the audience for the prayer shifts to
the classmates from the Lord God. This should not be so.

At dinner one night, the youngest child said grace for the family. Her brother was
quick to say after the Amen, "I couldn't hear you." Just as quickly, the younger child
responded, "I wasn't talking to you."

Contrast false prayer with Spirit-led prayer

Jesus contrasts false prayer with Spirit-led prayer in Matthew 6:9: "Pray, then, in
this way." Jesus has just rejected ritual prayers, so He is not presenting a formula
for repetition. He is providing a model for prayer in form, content, and spirit.

"Our Father which art in heaven." Jesus uses the intimate word "abba" for Father.
The word implies relationship. It requires faith in the God who sent Jesus as the
Messiah. Bible scholar, R.C.H. Lenski, writes, "In the old covenant any Jew who
believed in the coming Messiah could have prayed this prayer; and in the new
covenant only those Jews (and Gentiles) can pray it who believe in Jesus, the
Messiah.... Only a true child of God can address him as 'Father,' and only faith in
Christ makes one a child of God."vi

The story is told of the Roman Emperor who returned in triumph. Soldiers lined the
parade route to protect the spectators and prisoners. As the parade neared the
palace, a young boy attempted to pass a soldier. The tall, strong soldier scooped up
the boy and held him. "You can't go through there boy, that is the Emperor." The
boy laughed and said, "He may be your Emperor, but he is my daddy."

Our relationship with "abba" Father comes through our accepting the Lordship and
sacrifice of Jesus. The apostle Paul was thrilled at this gift. In Romans 8:15, he
wrote, "...but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out,
'Abba! Father!'"

"Hallowed be thy name." A hallowed name is respected. The Greek word means to
treat it as holy or different from other things. The name refers to the character,
nature, and personality of the person named. The culture prefers to profane God's
name and to question His motives. Humans prefer to live in godless self-indulgence
and then expect Him to respond to our petitions. Notice that you never hear
someone say, "Oh my Buddha" or "For Mohammed's sake." The culture does not
slander the names of Buddha or Mohammed because there is no holiness in those
names.
"Thy Kingdom come." Requesting God's kingdom to come infers the purpose of being
the citizens of that kingdom. The kingdom refers to the reign and rule of Christ.
Those who refuse to be subjects to His rule are not citizens of His Kingdom.

"Thy Will be done." Praying for His will over our will is the acknowledgement that
"prayer must never be an attempt to bend the will of God to our desires; prayer
ought always to be an attempt to submit our wills to the will of God."vii Paul tells
Timothy in 1 Timothy 2:4 that God ". . . desires (wills) all men to be saved and come
to the knowledge of the truth." These are foreign concepts to the attempted prayer
of an unbeliever.

Seek God's influence

Matthew 6:11-13 requests God to influence every part of our lives so that we
maintain control over no part of our lives. We must acknowledge that our prayer
flows from a life transformed by dependence on the grace and love of the Creator.
This transformation allows our prayer to begin seeking God's influence in the lives of
other people. This dependence allows us to seek God's influence in the culture at
large.

The visitation team was in an affluent neighborhood where a church was being
started. The man at the door replied, "Look at everything I have, the car, the boat,
the house. I am in control of my destiny and don't need your God to bless me." The
team asked what would happen to all this when he died. He grew a bit agitated and
responded that he was in control of his life and his family's future. The team asked
what would happen to these things if he had an accident and lost his job or if the
stock market crashed. Fear entered his eyes as a team member recounted the
massive destruction a tornado had brought just a few miles away. The man kept
repeating, "I am in control." His fear succeeded in breaking the self-sufficiency. He
asked, "How can I learn to trust in God?"

Prayer, like faith, without works is dead

These verses show that prayer, like faith, without works is dead. Praying "give us
this day our daily bread" is not an order on some celestial menu. This verse is not
instructing the person to then sit and wait for God to drop bread in our hands. (God
can do that, as we see in Exodus 15 and 16, but it is not the normal way God
answers prayer.) The balance between God's sovereignty and human responsibility
prevents our prayer from becoming an excuse for our laziness. Neither should prayer
be an excuse for our disobedience.

The newspapers have recently reported several high profile cases of unbiblical
prayer. The purpose of such articles is often to undermine any practice of prayer.
The articles often try to portray all believers as dangerous extremists. In one recent
report, a 2-day-old boy died of complications from a hole in his heart. The parents
noticed the boy was ". . .having trouble breathing and that he was turning blue. But
they considered him fussy and thought he was getting better after they prayed for
him, . . ."viii The parents misunderstood the balance between faith and works. They
join the many of us who struggle with the balance between God's sovereignty and
human responsibility. We struggle with knowing when we are running ahead of God's
will or lagging behind God's will. This is one reason that daily intimate time with God
is so important. God's Word gives clear direction.
Praying From A Believer's Heart (Part II)

Forgiven and forgiveness

"And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors." Forgiveness for our
sin only comes from Christ. Only through Christ can we forgive others. Trying to
accomplish this prayer outside of a relationship with Christ is not humanly possible.
The whole tone of this prayer is of a person talking intimately to his or her father. It
is not a person shouting from outside to a stranger.

Jesus was even more specific in Matthew 7:21-23. "Not everyone who says to me
'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of my Father
who is in heaven.... And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you'...."
Forgiveness is only found in and through Jesus. So is the ability to forgive.

Delivered from temptation

"Lead us not into temptation." The word for temptation in Matthew 6:13 is not to
seduce us to sin but to test the believer's strength, loyalty, and ability for service.
Temptation is further explained in James 1:12-18. The word he uses refers to a
fishing lure. The culture has presented evil as being alluring, exciting, and desirable.
Satan tempts us to desire things that have a dangerous hook implanted in them.
Stanley warns believers, ". . .the devil may not be able to keep (believers) from
heaven, but he will do his best to make certain you don't take anybody to heaven
with you."ix Intimate time with God is essential to maintain the proper perspective
between what is good and what is bad.

Even unbelievers agree that hypocritical religion is fruitless. So the religious activity
of insincere (and even of sincere) prayer, is worthless. Effective prayer requires the
person and work of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. Prayers often seek God's
intervention. Such prayers must be presented from a life that seeks God's
intervention in every part of that life. This divine intervention only comes through
Jesus and results in a transformed lifestyle of holiness. Then there follows a
reputation for honesty, integrity, and doing the right thing. These characteristics help
deliver us from temptation.

Powerful, effective prayer

Powerful, effective prayer requires an intimate relationship with the Creator.
Unbelievers often want the blessings of God without the necessary requirements.
They also want to live as they please without the necessary consequences.

The Way
Jesus clearly tells humankind that access to God is only through the Son. John 14:1-
12 establishes the importance of believing (and obeying) Jesus as "the way, and the
truth, and the life; . . ." John confirms in verse six of this passage that ". . . no one
comes to the Father, but through Me (Jesus)." There is only one way to God.
Unbelievers and the non-Christian religions do not have access to the Father. Prayer
that does not go to the Father is powerless.

In Thailand, it was heartbreaking to watch Buddhists pray. A young man would come
to the idol and kneel. He would light a bundle of incense in the hopes the aroma
would carry the attached prayer to their god. He would clasp his hands in the
traditional "wai" or sign of respect. He would devoutly utter his prayer to an image
made with human hands.
In Israel, pious Jews go to the wall of the temple in Jerusalem. They write messages
to God on tiny slips of paper and insert these between the rocks for God to read.
They dress in all of the proper clothing of prayer. Then, they stand and rock before
the wall, repeating the same ritual prayers over, and over, and over again.

Such attempts to pray are often sincere. The prophet, Elijah, experienced a graphic
contrast between the futile prayer of pagans and divinely answered prayer. In 1
Kings 18:20-39, King Ahab brought Elijah and the false prophets to Mount Carmel.
Elijah called out, "How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is
God, follow Him, . ." (v.21). He then had an altar and a sacrifice prepared. The
prophets of Baal ". . .called on the name of Baal from morning until noon..."(v.26).
They continued to cry out in a loud voice, they cut themselves and ". . .raved until
the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice; . ." (v.29). These false prophets
spent an entire day in fervent, sincere prayer. But then in verse 29 comes what are
perhaps the saddest words in the Old Testament, "But there was no voice, no one
answered, and no one paid attention." False gods cannot answer prayer.

In verses 36-39, Elijah presents his sacrifice. He prays aloud, "O Lord, the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that. . .I am Thy servant, and that
I have done all these things at Thy word." The Lord immediately answered Elijah's
prayer. Fire came down and totally consumed the offering, the altar, and the water.
The people then cried out, "The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God." Note the
prayer was answered to glorify God, not Elijah.

Answered prayer is intended as a witness to unbelievers. It glorifies God. The Lord

God is fully known through His Son Jesus. Knowing God occurs by having an intimate
relationship with God through prayer and studying His Word, the Bible. Our theology
(understanding of God), our Christology (understanding of Christ), and our
ecclesiology (understanding the church) must come from the Bible. Other
philosophical teachings are not divinely inspired as was (is) the Bible. Pray and live in
a way to impact unbelievers.

Conclusion
All of the artificial tolerance of the culture bristles at these biblical truths. Prayer is a
gift to those who are in Christ. And even those who are in Christ must pray according
to His will and teachings to have effective prayer. The only prayer God hears from an
unbeliever is the prayer of repentance.

The entire secular culture understands that privileges come with a price. Police, fire,
and government services come at the price of paying taxes. Even warehouse
shopping clubs deny entrance to non-members. Everyone wants to get something for
free. Jesus paid for our access to God's throne and we access it only through faith in
Him.

This is not an exclusive intolerance, but a standard of accountability. Christ died for
all humankind (see John 3:16). Every person has the opportunity to accept Him and
enjoy the benefits of being adopted sons and daughters. Prayer must be offered on
God's terms and with His intended purpose.
CHAPTER THREE

Spiritual Warfare and the Biblical Plan

The plane rolled to a stop on the runway in Bangkok, Thailand. The young missionary
was excited to have arrived at his field of service. The door opened and the steps
were brought up to the door. The missionary stepped outside into his new home. The
first impression was the heat and humidity. The second impression was the smell of
spices and diesel gasoline. The third impression was of spiritual oppression. Having
grown up in the Southern United States, he was unaccustomed to spiritual
oppression. It was quite unsettling to him. He had to dig into God's Word to learn
how to endure and respond.

That country had long served false gods. Idolatry, poverty, immorality, and crime
were pervasive. Unlike their stateside counterparts, many Christian missionaries
there were accustomed to spiritual warfare. It was a constant and important
awareness.

In contrast, the United States has had a long Christian heritage. The presence of so
many believers protected the country from much of Satan's direct influence. Recent
years, however, have seen a shocking decline in moral and theological foundations.
Satan has launched a massive and effective counterattack. Rationalism and
intellectualism have undermined belief in a spiritual world. Secularism and humanism
worship the idols of human achievement.

North America has become decidedly more like the pagan world. This has resulted in
a growing need for effective and biblical spiritual warfare. Since most Western
Christians did not have the experience and/or training to respond biblically to the
increased spiritual onslaught, many false teachings filled the void.

Recent movies, television, and books have also increased awareness and interest in
the supernatural. Believers were searching for solutions to stop the moral and
spiritual decline of North America. Popular books presented an entertaining depiction
of spiritual warfare. Many of these inaccurately confused spiritual warfare in the
heavenly realm with the earthly realm.

The biblical teachings on spiritual warfare are much too extensive to cover in this
brief chapter. The endnotes attempt to provide many of the finest biblically based
books on the subject. The last part of the chapter alerts believers to some decoys
used by Satan. These decoys confuse sincere people and drain resources from the
legitimate battle. Please use this outline to prompt your own study of biblical spiritual
warfare. Please allow the word of God to impact our theology more so than trying to
impose our self-made theology on the Word of God. This chapter was written with a
lot of input from other believers. The heartfelt intent is to help believers discover and
practice biblical truth about spiritual warfare.

The Focus of Spiritual Warfare

Satan does not like outposts of the kingdom being built in his territory. The biblical
focus of spiritual warfare is threefold:

1. The conversion of lost people to a relationship with Jesus Christ.

In Luke 10:17-20, the 70 missionaries returned to report with excitement that ". .
.even the demons are subject to us in Your name." Jesus immediately corrects their
perspective. He reminds them that He has given them authority over "all of the
power of the enemy, and (in order that) nothing will harm you." The authority was
given for their protection, not for a militant spiritual aggressiveness.viii Then, Jesus
makes this very important point. "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits
are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven" (Luke
17:20). This is also the focus of Luke 9:1-2. The focus of spiritual warfare is the
salvation of lost people.

The book of Acts presents many examples of spiritual warfare, but the emphasis of
the book is the conversion of the lost. For example, Paul gives his testimony before
King Agrippa. In Acts 26:18, Paul recounted Jesus' words to him, ". . .open their
eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to
God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among
those who have been sanctified by faith in Me." In 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 Paul reminds
believers that Satan has ". . .blinded the minds of the unbelieving, . . ." Any event or
focus that subverts attention from the conversion of the lost is in error.

The focus is not Satan and his demons. The focus is not the manifestation of Satan's
or God's power. The focus of spiritual warfare is summarized by Jesus in Luke 19:10,
"For the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." Evangelism
is spiritual warfare. Dr. Chuck Lawless at Southern Seminary defines evangelism as
"Taking the gospel of light into the Kingdom of darkness."i Each convert must be
discipled through a local congregation.

A lot of the information in the spiritual warfare books seems to focus on Satan or
believers more than the lost. The focus of spiritual warfare is the conversion of the
lost.

2. Identification and protection from Satan's plans. God's enemy, Satan, is also
the enemy of all humankind. C. S. Lewis once said, ". . .in respect to the devil we
usually make one of two mistakes: we either give him undue attention or ignore him
all together."ii Understanding Satan's nature and purpose will prevent people from
being fooled by his tactics. He is identified as the evil one in Matthew 13:19, a
murderer in John 8:44, a trickster in Ephesians 6:11, a trapper in 2 Timothy 2:26,
the adversary in 1 Peter 5:8, the destroyer in Revelation 9:11, and the accuser in
Revelation 12:10. Satan cannot be trusted to direct or even influence our life. He is a
thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy (see John 10:10). First Peter 5:8 describes
Satan as a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour. Every believer needs to
understand the tactics of Satan and the biblical protection provided. Evangelism
requires the evangelist to wear the Eph. 6 armor that God provides.

Please be careful that the enemy is Satan, not his followers. Some of the spiritual
warfare and evangelism material seems to picture the lost as the enemy. Jesus died
for all humankind (see John 3:16, Rom. 5:8). We must share the truth with them in
and with the love of Christ (Eph . 4:15).

3. Accepting responsibility for biblical authority and activity.

The Bible provides clear instruction about the believer's authority and activity in
spiritual warfare. Christians have a responsibility to participate only in spiritual
warfare that is biblically based and taught. Here are five key components to spiritual
warfare in the earthly realm.
The first and primary component of earthly realm spiritual warfare is prayer. In John
17:15, Jesus prays for His father to keep His followers ". . . from the evil one." In
Luke 22:31-32, Jesus prays for Simon when Satan ". . .demanded permission to sift
you like wheat; . . ." Jesus prayed that Simon's "faith may not fail." In 2 Corinthians
13:7-9, Paul prays for them to ". . .do no wrong...do what is right, . .that you be
made complete." In 1 Timothy 2:1-8, Paul presents extensive lessons on truly
biblical prayer. The focus of warfare prayer is interceding for other people, not
against Satan and his demons.

In Ephesians 6:18-19 Paul concludes his lesson on the armor of God by writing,
"With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be
on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, . . ." In Matthew
26:41 Jesus told his followers to "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation."
The primary task of believers involved in spiritual warfare is prayer. More prayer
warriors are desperately needed.

The second key component is to resist the devil and his influence. James 4:7-8 says
to "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to
God and He will draw near to you." Resisting without submitting is to take the devil
in our own strength, which is a dangerous move. 1 John 3:7-12 warns that practicing
sin identifies us with the devil and puts us under his influence.

Paul warns believers in Ephesians 6 to enter the battle daily by putting on the armor
of God. Most of the pieces are defensive armor. Study that chapter carefully. In
verse 17, Paul refers to the Word of God as a short sword for close combat. It is the
knowledge and use of God's Word that protects believers from Satan's influence.

A pastor shared, "Satan knows my weaknesses very well. I have to be very diligent
to stay away from things that lead me into depression and lust. I have learned that
resisting Satan is directly related to drawing near to God."

In Ephesians 2:1-2, Paul acknowledges the "prince of the power of the air, of the
spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience." Satan is working in the
earthly realm to influence the entire culture to disobey all physical and spiritual
authority. In verse 3, Paul warns about following the lusts of the flesh that makes us
"children of wrath." He also warns that uncontrolled anger can give the devil
opportunity to penetrate our defenses (see Eph.4:26-27). In 1 Thessalonians 5:22,
Paul says to avoid all evil. Anything that gives Satan a foothold in our lives can cause
us to fall into sin, and sin destroys our testimony.

The third component is to lift up Jesus. In John 12:31-32, Jesus describes how ". .
.the ruler of this world shall be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will
draw all men to Myself." Notice how the first part of that verse is often omitted when
it is quoted. Lifting Jesus up will draw people away from Satan's influence. The
primary activity and authority of the believer is to lift up Christ. Be careful not to fall
into the trap of lifting up Satan instead of lifting up Jesus. Many unbelievers will
gladly leave their counterfeit religions when the truth of Christ is provided as the
Divine alternative.

Fourth, work through the local church. Matthew 18:18 and Ephesians 3:10 each
emphasize the primary role of the church for support, protection, accountability, and
direction. The list of gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 includes the need for
"discernment of spirits." The church has an essential role in spiritual warfare. Be
careful of spiritual vigilantes working autonomously from the church. Error occurs
easily without theological training or accountability.

Mark began his prayer ministry separate from the church or denominational support.
"I wanted the freedom to do my ministry as I understood God wanted me to do it.
However, I quickly learned that the lack of accountability was dangerous. I became
undisciplined. I became driven to make an income instead of ministering to people. I
compromised the truth to get a crowd."

Another couple wept as they returned from a failed church start in a pioneer area.
"We did not want to wait until our denomination would appoint us. We went out on
faith without the training, education, or spiritual maturity that we needed. It was a
horrible experience. We tried it in our power. Now we understand why the
denominational guidelines are so helpful."

Fifth, overcome strongholds with the power of the gospel. 2 Corinthians 10:4 is an
often-misunderstood verse. It does not refer in any way to warfare in the heavenly
realm. Paul begins by admonishing believers that the ". . .weapons of our warfare
are not of the flesh, . . ." The weapons are defined as the power and wisdom of God
in 1 Corinthians 1:17-25.xii Churches should not exchange the power and wisdom of
God for secular weapons of marketing, entertainment, or the personality of the
pastor. Each of these things can be helpful, but these do not replace the power of
the gospel.

Paul continues, ". . .but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses" (2 Cor.
10:4). This is the only place in the New Testament that the word "strongholds"
(fortresses) is used. Paul explains what he means by strongholds in verse 5: "We are
destroying speculations and every lofty thing (pretensions) raised up against the
knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of
Christ." This is not as exciting as participating in the spiritual Green Berets, but it is
the truth. The strongholds are arguments that try to make individual will
impregnable to God's will.xiii Beth Moore says that this verse (2 Cor. 10:5) intends
for us ". . .to steal back our thought life and take it captive to Christ instead."xiv
Believers do not have to discover and demolish vast levels of spiritual strongholds.
We simply (but not easily) must take "every thought captive to the obedience of
Christ."

Satan's Plan

Satan's first tactic is to tell people that God and the spiritual world are not real (see
2 Tim. 4:3-4). In spite of pervasive rationalism, people know this is a lie. But Satan
convinces many sincere people to stay away from any "organized religion."

A professed atheist was arguing with a believer. The conversation seemed to find no
hesitation that there is no God. The believer said, "Fine, then I will pray for God to
strike down your children." Immediately the purported atheist responded, "NO,
DON'T." With a flash of understanding, the uncertain atheist, not the believer, said,
"Maybe I believe in God more than I thought."

A second satanic tactic is to provide fake examples or incomplete definitions of

salvation, revival, and prayer (see Acts 13:8-10). Satan likes to focus on works
instead of on grace. This allows him to lure many sincere people into works-based
cults and false religions. Satan is aware of the global awakening in prayer. He has
responded with a lot of counterfeit teaching about prayer and about spiritual warfare.
This allows him to effectively confuse intelligent, sincere people.

Third, he has confused some believers so thoroughly that they will not participate in
any kind of spiritual warfare. The young couple came up smiling before the
conference. "We are looking forward to what you have to say. We hear so many
conflicting opinions on spiritual warfare that we have been waiting until we know the
truth so we don't do anything wrong." The speaker affirmed their seeking the truth
and asked where they thought they would find the truth. "Oh we know it's in the
Bible somewhere. We just haven't been to the right seminar, yet." The speaker
strongly encouraged them to do their own study of the Scripture. The couple looked
at each other as if they hadn't thought of that and said, "Yeah, I guess we could do
that." Some believers do not want to move from the comfort of being spectators.
Others refuse to believe there is a spiritual war between good and evil all around
them.

A very effective satanic tactic is to provide decoys that drain energy, time, and other
resources from the legitimate battle. This will be thoroughly discussed later in the
chapter. Christians must be careful to participate only in biblical spiritual warfare.

Discerning False Teaching

Studying the Word of God will identify false teaching. Many nanve and trusting
persons have been lead astray by unintentional and intentional false prophets.
Believers need to take heed to 1 John 4:1. "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but
test the spirits to see whether (or not) they are from God; because many false
prophets have gone out into the world." Jesus Christ, as revealed in God's Word, is
the way to discern false teaching. There are many intentional false prophets leading
people astray. In many ways though, the unintentional false prophets are more
dangerous. Even sincere, conservative believers can become false prophets when we
stray from God's word into teaching our opinion.

The young couple shared about attending a spiritual warfare conference. "We had
purchased all the books and attended every seminar. We quoted the speakers to our
friends and recounted their experiences with the devil. We sincerely wanted to help
our church grow, but we were sincerely wrong in what we had learned about spiritual
warfare. Our militancy turned to guilt at not seeing the kind of things we read about.
We became defeated because of the unbiblical teaching instead of triumphant in
Christ."

The Bible is the definitive source for understanding and practicing prayer and
spiritual warfare. People must be very careful that their theology and practice comes
only from the Bible. In a recent Sunday School class, the teacher quoted a radio
preacher he had heard that morning. The teacher thought the radio preacher was
wrong, but he wanted to share that perspective "just in case." Another class member
quoted a television program about Mary. Many people get their theology and activity
from television, books, and their preacher. However, the only truly reliable source is
the Bible, and the only perfect example is Jesus. Be careful that we too do not
become unintentional false prophets.

Spiritual Warfare in the Bible

This part of the chapter highlights five biblical principles that are foundational to
understanding and responding to warfare in the heavenly and earthly realms.

First, God is in control.

From creation to the apocalypse, God is absolutely in control. As we see below in
Genesis 3 and Matthew 4, Satan is constantly trying to question God's sovereignty.
Job 38(39 presents the wonderful response from God to Job. In this discourse, we
learn that God is God and we are not. Do not be fooled by Satan or the culture. God
is in control.

Job 1:6, Zechariah 3:1-2, and Luke 22:32, each show that Satan must come to God
for permission to accuse and "sift" believers. Do not let Satan's accusations steal
your joy. God is in control. In 1 Samuel 28:3-20, King Saul seeks answers from
demonic sources. God answers him by taking control of this evil medium.iii Saul pays
with his life for dabbling in the occult (see 1 Chron. 10:13-14). God is even in control
of evil. Romans 8:38 reiterates that nothing, not even angels or principalities, can
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. God is in control.

Second, Jesus is God's Son and has authority over Satan and his demons.
First Corinthians 15:23-28 teaches that it is Christ alone who will dethrone the
powers and place ". . .all things in subjection under His feet" (v.27). Colossians
2:10-15 refers to the victory of Christ and His followers over sin and death. The
crucifixion and resurrection allowed Paul to write in verse 15, "When He (Jesus) had
disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having
triumphed over them...." Jesus unmasked them as false gods and liars. The
resurrection showed without doubt that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (see
John 14:6). Amazingly, Satan and his forces continue working to remove the
influence of Christ and His followers. Satan is desperate to renew his dominion with
false gods.

Jesus binds Satan.

Please study these verses carefully with several Bible commentaries. They will help
you respond to a lot of confusion about the believer's role in binding Satan. Matthew
12:22-29 presents the lesson of what Jesus did and completed for humankind.
Notice the context refers to Jesus being accused of casting out demons through the
power of Beelzebub. Jesus responds in the first person in verse 28 , ". . . I cast our
demons by the Spirit of God . . ." Verse 29 has been elevated into a prescriptive role
for all believers that has no biblical validity.

There is absolutely no evidence that the followers of Christ are to become involved in
binding Satan and his demons. In his balanced book about spiritual warfare, Calvin
Miller writes, ". . . remember this, we do not have such a pat representation for
'binding Satan' anywhere in the Bible. Paul does not once say, 'Satan I bind you.' Nor
does Jesus for that matter."iv There also is no evidence of binding Satan in any of
the records from any of the previous great awakenings. Some of the teachings seem
to indicate that God was not able to bind Satan enough so now we humans need to
help. Believers should not assume an activity in the name of God that has no biblical
validity.

Sara would often bind Satan whenever a problem arose. She was embarrassed that
the demon she bound in her car was actually a dead battery. She was elated to learn
the biblical truth that she was not responsible to help God in that way. "I had heard
so many people doing it, I thought I was supposed to do that, too." She became a
wonderful prayer warrior. There is a lot of misunderstanding about Matthew 18:15-
18 too (". . .whatever you bind on earth..."). This verse was written in the context of
church discipline. Criswell writes, "The tenses of the (Greek) verbs indicate that the
action in heaven precedes that on earth .... The church is to carry out on earth the
decisions already made in heaven."v Matthew 18:18 refers to disallowing certain
conduct in people. It does not refer to binding demons in people or to binding
demons in general.

Matthew 16:18-19 refers to confronting the gates of hell. This is done by the
conversion of lost people. The task of the believer is to reduce the population of Hell.
In Ephesians 1:20-21, Christ has been placed by God "far above all rule and
authority and power and dominion." Philippians 2:9-11 reminds questioning believers
that Christ rose from the dead so that eventually ". . .every knee should bow... and
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, . . ." Faith will endure.

Demons can be cast out and their activity limited. Demons can possess people
and animals, but there is no evidence of possessing inanimate objects. Christians can
be influenced, as we will discuss later, but there is no biblical evidence that a
Christian can be owned or controlled by a demon.vi Be careful of the many stories
that try to impose personal experience and opinion on the Word of God. We are
much safer relying on the Word of God.

Mark 5:1-9 tells the story of Jesus' encounter with the Gerasene demoniac. Much has
been assumed about Jesus asking his name. There is no evidence that this is a
formula in preparation for casting out demons. Jesus does not request the demon's
name in any other exorcism.vii In verse 7 the demon recognizes Jesus' authority
before Jesus asks for a name. In Matthew 8:16, Jesus ". . .cast out the spirits with a
word, . . ." We must conclude that naming the demoniac was a descriptive act and
not a prescriptive formula. A lot of sincere people are wasting time researching the
names of local demons to bind them.

In Mark 10, we do not find Jesus casting out demons of greed when he meets the
rich young ruler, or demons of blindness when healing Bartimeas. Don't demonize
the regular difficulties of bad hair or broken toasters. Also, be careful not to blame
Satan or God for your bad decisions and choices. The influence from a comedian of
an earlier generation continues as believers too often respond, "The devil made me
do it" (or made it happen). In Luke 4:40-41, the physician Luke describes that
healing some illnesses is different from exorcism. Notice that none of these demons
were named before they came out.

Jan commented that so much of what she had read and heard "seemed to create a
militant band of Satan-bashers instead of soul-winners." She was struck by the role
of prayer and spiritual warfare in the conversion of lost people. "Now I understand
that spiritual warfare is more about the lost and less about me."

Third, Satan is the enemy of God and humankind.

Satan and his demons are fallen angels.

In Luke 10:18, Jesus describes watching ". . .Satan fall from heaven like lightning."
Second Peter 2:4 describes the judgment of the angels who sinned. In Matthew
25:41, Jesus refers to ". . . eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his
angels, . . ."
As fallen angels, they have supernatural power. This is the danger of the "If it works,
use it" philosophy of some people involved in spiritual warfare. Pragmatic success
should not be the only indicator for the validity of an activity. Exodus 7(8 recounts
the story of Moses' miracles before Pharaoh. Exodus 7:11 and 7:22 recounts that the
". . .magicians of Egypt did the same with their secret arts." In Acts 16:16, Paul
encountered a slave girl with a ". . .spirit of divination...who was bringing her
masters much profit by fortune telling." Rely solely on God's power and wisdom. Do
not be fooled by Satan's power and "fleshly wisdom" (see 2 Cor. 1:12).

Satan tempts and influences people.

Satan, his demons, and his followers are working against God and His people. As we
saw in Chapter Two, Satan seeks to compromise and undermine the testimony of the
believer. Matthew 4:1-11 presents an excellent summary of how Satan tempts
people. In 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, Paul warns believers that Satan and his followers
can be disguised as an angel of light.ix Believers must be spiritually sensitive to
recognize (and also not become) imitation and counterfeit spiritual leaders.

The influence of Satan is a primary concern for believers. The followers of Satan can
hinder Christians without Satan's direct involvement. In Acts 14:2 the unbelievers
". . .stirred up the minds of the Gentiles, and embittered them against the brethren."
In John 6:70, Jesus knew that Judas was influenced by the devil. John 13:2 reports
that ". . .the devil had already put into the heart of Judas ...to betray Him (Jesus)."x
Revelation 2:10-13 shows that even believers will be tested. Bad things happen to
good people. Good people can be influenced to hinder God's work.

The new church pastor went to the city council meeting with the plans for the church
property. A council member began by saying, "We need more bars in our community
than another church." That person began to add restrictions on the property that
would limit the growth and effectiveness of the congregation. In another instance a
store wanted to sell alcohol across the street from the church school. The Baptist
commissioner supported allowing alcohol to be sold in spite of the church's protest.
Each instance was resolved through persistent, righteous prayer.

Satan already has been defeated.

Revelation 20:1-10 describes Satan's final and total defeat. Satan, his human
followers, and the angels who followed him, are consigned to the lake of fire for their
ultimate punishment. Verses 11-15 reemphasize that those who never accept Jesus
(whose names were "not found written in the book of Life") will join Satan in the lake
of fire. Much of what we do not understand in Revelation is because we are so
temporally based. Time and space will no longer be relevant when these events
occur.
Spiritual Warfare and the Biblical Plan (Part II)

Fourth, There is a Battle Between Good and Evil

The battle between good and evil predates the creation of humankind (see Rev.
12:7-12). The Bible warns believers that there is a personal and cultural war
between good and evil. Readers meet the serpent (Satan) for the first time in
Genesis 3:1-8. Satan lies to Eve and lures her into disobeying God. Satan's purpose
is to disobey God and lead others to do so. The culture often attempts the impossible
task of explaining evil in secular terms.

The July 18, 2000 USA Today featured a front page article entitled "Why everyone is
so short tempered." The article tried to diagnose what is happening in the culture
without acknowledging the existence of good and evil. The problems were identified
by "experts" as "an increasing sense of self importance, the widespread feeling that
things should happen my way...too little time, overcrowding, intrusive technology
and too many demands for change." The article offers no solutions, only diagnosis.

Life can only be understood by acknowledging that good and evil are at war with
each other. The pervasive, illogical, and horrible evil in the world has no other
explanation. Identifying the problems, or even throwing money into social services,
will not solve the problems in human behavior. As Chapter One showed, people must
repent from allowing bad influences to control their decisions. Every person must
follow Jesus' example both internally and externally. Our faith, and transformation, is
in Christ alone. Believers then need to be involved in counteracting Satan's influence
in our lives and in our culture. Think about some ways you can do that personally
and through your congregation.

Fifth, the difference between warfare in the heavenly and earthly realms.

The Bible shows that there is warfare in the heavenly realm for which humans have
no responsibility or involvement. There is also warfare in the earthly realm that
requires diligent, biblically accurate involvement. The events in each realm often
impact each other.

Angels are the key warriors in the heavenly realm. The current popularity of
angels has led to many false perceptions about their work and nature. Genesis 3:24
introduces one category of angel, the cherubim, whose duties include protecting the
entrance to Eden. This does not imply territorial authority. Also, angels are a created
class of beings, not the spiritual remains of deceased humans (see 2 Pet. 2:4,11).

Revelation 12:7-12 graphically describes the fall of Satan. In verse 7, "Michael and
his angels" (the good guys) waged war in heaven against the dragon and his angels
(the bad guys). Verse 8 recounts, ". . . they (the bad guys) were not strong enough,
and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven." (The good guys did and
always will win). Verse nine clarifies that the dragon is also, the "serpent of old ...
the devil and Satan." This warfare occurred and was won without human knowledge
or intervention. No human lead cavalry of prayer and intercession turned the tide.

Daniel 10:13-20 details another spiritual battle in which humans were not involved.
These verses are often used to justify belief in territorial or ruling evil angels. This
has become such a common misconception that this strong response was presented
in a major missiology journal, "First, even if the territorial reading of this passage
were the correct one (and we do not believe it is), there is still an enormous gap
between what can be inferred from this passage and what the advocates of territorial
spirits are teaching. Daniel has no knowledge of the details of the battle, . . until he
is told later. He simply prays and trusts God for the unseen dimension of things.
Daniel's prayer, therefore, does not depend on any knowledge or map of such
realities on his part, and his prayer is not that of knowledgeably binding a territorial
spirit. It certainly does not involve binding such a spirit for evangelistic purposes.
Daniel does not 'discern,' 'map,' 'bind,' or 'pray against' a territorial spirit."xi
Obviously there is a tremendous gap between what the Bible teaches and what is
inferred from the passage. Hence the need for careful Bible study about the
believer's role in spiritual warfare.

God and His angels are in warfare in the heavenly realm that is unseen and usually
unknown by humankind. There is no evidence that believers have been given
authority to be involved at that level or in that heavenly realm. However, as we saw
at the beginning of the chapter, there is a level of spiritual warfare in the earthly
realm that requires the diligent involvement of believers.

Believers need to daily confront Satan's influence on a personal and cultural

level in the earthly realm. A congregation that is not transforming lives and
impacting the culture is just competing with social agencies. The culture does not
need another social agency. The culture needs the truth of Christ. The spiritual
warfare conducted by the disciples (including Paul) deals in the earthly realm. Paul
took no authority to deal in the heavenly realm of spiritual warfare.

The Decoy Tactics of Satan

Sincere believers have been fooled into diverting needed resources into the decoys of
unbiblical emphases and events. This is occurring through neglect of the biblical
principles of spiritual warfare.xv Dismissing these decoys can help reassign those
resources to the legitimate battle at hand. Learn to recognize decoys and do not be
fooled by them.

Spiritual Warfare Movement

The most popular decoy is the Spiritual Warfare Movement. It has raised concern
from many conservative evangelical theologians and missiologists. This section
focuses on the writings of two primary leaders, Peter Wagner and Charles Kraft.
These are good men with a sincere desire to help the kingdom. But they have
become unintentional false prophets by straying from biblical truth. (They define
themselves as a "movement" in their publicity pieces.) Wagner's extensive writings
are permeating Christendom and so require specific correction. As has already been
seen, in spite of its popularity, there is no biblical support for the kind of spiritual
warfare endorsed by the movement. Careful footnoting is used to document their
beliefs and provide the biblical response. Personal experience has shown that
criticism of the movement often results in emotional responses instead of biblical
study. Please study the scripture references carefully and make a biblically based
judgment.

The stories told by people in the movement are convincing, exciting, and frightening.
They have all the markings and popularity of great fiction. It is a concern to many
people that the "proofs" come from individual experiences, from "interviewing"
demons, and from the practitioners of other religions. There is a consistent appeal to
pragmatists because it is shown to work. Remember that this chapter has already
dealt with that danger.

The movement endorses Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare (SLSW). The best
response to that subject is Chuck Lowe's Territorial Spirits and World Evangelization?
xvi Lowe clearly contrasts biblical spiritual warfare with unbiblical and animistic
SLSW. In his prolific writings, Peter Wagner contends there are territorial spirits who
are a class of powerful evil spirits (demons) who rule over areas of various types and
sizes. He proposes the need for warfare prayer which involves naming and rebuking
the spirits.xvii There is no biblical evidence for either approach.

There are many stories of evil felt in certain rooms and certain places. As we saw
above, Satan is real and active. Be careful not to assign him a territorial role based
on Hollywood or stories and encounters. Believers must impose biblical theology on
our experiences, not vice versa.

For most evangelicals the Bible is the authority for our lives and teaching. In the
movement's limited appeals to Scripture, ". . .the connection between the references
they cite and the doctrine for which they seek biblical support is often oblique and
but superficially suggestive. Alternate interpretations are rarely entertained. They
seem to disregard clear passages which do not agree with their assertions."xviii This
requires careful study by every believer so that our response is biblical, not
emotionally, or personality driven.

Wagner even admits he has little biblical evidence for what he teaches. In
Confronting the Powers, he acknowledges the Bible does not provide a single definite
example of a strategic level spirit. He also admits there is not a single indisputable
instance of strategic level warfare.xix Wagner writes "It is true, . .that the examples
we have in the Gospels. . .of Jesus' disciples deal by and large with what is called
ground-level spiritual warfare. . . ."xx What he calls "ground-level" is called the
earthly realm in this chapter. For those of us committed to biblical authority there is
no excuse for creating such an obviously extra-biblical movement. Please study the
scripture carefully before accepting the conclusions of the Spiritual Warfare
Movement (or of this chapter!). The Bible is the only safe place to stand for our
theology and practice.

Animism
Understanding the characteristics of animism shows how clearly it has infiltrated the
Spiritual Warfare Movement. One of the earliest warnings came from highly
respected anthropologist and missiologist, Dr. Paul Hiebert. In 1989, he identified
the return of animism among believers. He writes that animism is a ". . .world in
which God is distant and in which humans are at the mercy of good and evil powers
and must defend themselves by means of prayers and chants, charms, medicines
and incantations. Power, not truth, is the central concern in this worldview."xxi

Another characteristic of animists is that they assign a spirit to inanimate objects like
stones, buildings, and bridges where bad events have occurred. The danger to this
view is that "it assigns too much power and authority to unseen spirits and forces in
the world."xxii

The missionary received a gift from his student of a Buddhist temple bell. That night,
the missionary had horrible, evil nightmares. He got up in the middle of the night
and placed the bell outside his apartment door. He sheepishly realized the next day
that there was no evidence the bell was the cause of his nightmare. He had assigned
to the bell a power and presence that had no biblical basis. It makes a great story,
but is based on experience, not biblical theology.

An excellent summary of the biblical problems and a response by SLSW leader

Charles Kraft is found in Spiritual Power and Missions, Raising the Issues.xxiii Priest,
Campbell, and Mullen show that there is an almost animistic attachment of demons
to physical objects and places. A great deal of time and effort have been expended
to identify these "strongholds" and their ruling territorial spirits. (Two concepts that
were rejected earlier in the chapter.) xxiv

Idolatry is seen in the Bible and in the modern world. People have and do attribute
godliness to objects. There is a difference between objects actually carrying Satan's
power and objects that represent Satan's influence or are used by him (such as
pornography or the lottery). In Deuteronomy 7:25-26; 32:17; Psalm 106:37; and 1
Corinthians 10:19-20, there is no implication that there are demons in these
items.xxv Kraft also believes that "One of the laws of the universe is that demons
can be inherited."xxvi Exodus 20:5 is quoted as their proof text. This verse does not,
(as does no place in Scripture) imply generational inheritance of demons. "The
presence of genetic demons in babies is not addressed in scripture."xxvii Powlinson
calls it ". . .simply a piece of occult theology ...."xxviii

Kraft's rebuttal denies the movement is animistic and presents a thorough

anthropological explanation. But Kraft, like Wagner, does not provide the scriptural
evidence that evangelicals look for when responding to criticism of being unbiblical.
The movement is working outside of a biblical safety net and that leads to error.

Spiritual mapping
Another popular invention of SLSW is called spiritual mapping. Wagner sees spiritual
mapping as researching, discovering, and naming the ruling angel, and then
marching into the demon's territory to bind him. It's fun, but as shown above, it has
no biblical basis. Much of the spiritual mapping and warfare prayer over emphasizes
human responsibility to overcome the demon.

Ray commented, "I loved going on the attack against Satan. It affirmed every male
instinct I have. It gave me a sense of power and self worth that competed with the
Lordship of Christ. In the name of Christ, I was actually turning away from obedience
to Him. I began wasting time chasing demons that should have been spent in
intercession or with my family."

The Acts 13 account of Paul's missionary journey does not indicate any mapping or
warfare prayer. In verse 5, Paul goes and immediately begins to preach the Word of
God in the temple. The word for "preach" here is based on the Greek word for
evangelism. There also is no example of spiritual mapping in any records of earlier
great awakenings.

Too much warfare prayer completely leaves out any evangelism under the excuse of
preparing the soil for others who will come afterward. Lawless asks, "What better
decoy is there to think we are doing evangelism when we are not?"xxix Every
believer must look for the daily divine encounters that allow him or her to participate
in bringing unbelievers to Christ.

There is a legitimate biblical basis for what Stephen Hawthorne calls "praying on-site
with insight." Many believers are participating in legitimate prayer walks and Prayer
Journeys.xxx This helps believers to pray specifically and effectively. Every target
area needs to be covered with specific prayer. The entire church needs to be
pleading for God to pour out His power on that area because you are there and ready
to respond.

Conclusion
Understanding and practicing biblical spiritual warfare is important in the postmodern
culture. Not everyone involved in the Spiritual Warfare Movement is familiar with all
of its teachings and theological error. Many sincere believers are seeking how to
respond to spiritual decline. Correct understanding and practice only comes by
accurately studying and practicing the Word of God. Spiritual warfare ultimately is
won or lost in the conversion of lost people to Jesus and discipling them through a
local congregation.
CHAPTER FOUR

Christian Intervention - Becoming an Intercessor/Prayer

Warrior

Every believer should include something eternal in every day. Prayer is an excellent
way to make an eternal difference. It is no wonder that Satan works so hard to keep
believers away from prayer. First Peter 2:9 reminds Christians that we were made
priests when the Holy Spirit moved into our heart. Priests have many priestly
responsibilities. Jesus modeled and taught that a primary responsibility of a priest is
to pray. Church leaders need to model the role of a prayer warrior to the church. The
previous chapter emphasized the role of prayer in spiritual warfare. This chapter
begins with biblical characteristics for those who wish to grow in intercessory prayer.

What could happen through a daily, personal quiet time with God?
Evangelicals believe in prayer. We know that it is powerful and essential. However,
as we saw in Chapter One, most of us only pray five minutes a day. This is why so
many believers panic at the thought of a thirty-minute, or heaven forbid, an all night
prayer meeting (Jesus prayed all night in Luke 6:12). That much prayer is outside of
the comfort zone for the typical believer. Each believer needs to grow in prayer. The
postmodern culture desperately needs each believer to become a prayer warrior.

Becoming a Prayer Warrior

Most believers are blessed to know a prayer warrior. This is someone who really
prays when asked. They see results through prayer. Every believer should be such a
blessing. There are five characteristics for those who wish to become prayer
warriors.

First, Prayer Warriors Remain Connected to the Vine like a Branch.

Becoming a prayer warrior begins and matures through our relationship with Jesus.
John 15:1-11 is the wonderful illustration of Jesus as the (genuine) vine and His
followers as the branches (tender and breakable offshoots). "Jesus alone embodies
the complete will and purposes of God, which others only foreshadow or reveal in
part, and which still others only pretend to reveal."i

Pruned to bear fruit

Jesus reminds believers that our purpose is to bear fruit (see John 15:2). Paul listed
the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, ". . .love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; . . ." Abide in Jesus so much that the
fruit of the Spirit characterizes everything you do and say. Eternal fruit includes
personally and purposely participating in reducing the population of hell.

Believers are plainly told that we will be pruned to bear more fruit. Too many
believers have not understood the meaning of John 15:2. There is a widespread
misconception that Christians are immune to pruning. We are not. Neither are we
immune to the consequences of our sin and other people's sin. We need to grow in
our desire to bear fruit. We need to be willing to be pruned to be fruitful in the
kingdom.
A prayer warrior confessed, "I hate to be pruned. I would fuss at God every time He
tried to cut away old habits that were dead branches. I would spend time on my
knees asking Him to expand my borders, but I was not willing to pay the price to be
like Jabez (See 1 Chron. 4:10). I knew God could never answer that prayer until I
was obediently bearing His fruit."

Abide in Jesus
In verse four of John 15, Jesus says "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot
bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide
in Me." Look at that verse closely. Abiding in Christ means to remain connected to
the source of nutrients and life. It implies much more than five minutes a day.
Abiding in Christ makes it much easier to recognize and refute the lies of Satan.
Abiding in Christ allows for His Word to permeate our lives and thoughts. Abiding in
Christ is a biblical command that makes an eternal difference! It is required in order
to bear fruit.

Then, in verses 7-8 of John 15, Jesus adds, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide
in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. By this is My Father
glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples." The prayer
warrior abides in God's Word. That is what enables us to recognize Satan's lies.
Abiding in God's Word shows us how to pray effectively and powerfully. Notice again
that the proof of discipleship is bearing fruit.

Jesus as our example

Abide in Jesus. Be careful not to replace the authority of His Word with the opinions
or teachings of other people. A prayer coordinator confessed "I often adapted my
teaching notes when I heard or read something I really liked. One day, I realized I
had carefully crafted my presentations based on public figures instead of Jesus and
His Word."

Theological errors often develop because it is easier to ask someone their opinion
than research the biblical text. Be careful of the personality cults that develop around
authors, preachers, and teachers. Receiving our theology and activity from any
source other than the Bible is not good. Read carefully. Listen carefully. If you
disagree (or agree!) with the writer or speaker, go to the Word to be sure it is
biblically correct.

The prayer coordinator continued, "I even fell into the trap of thinking I could not
sponsor any prayer conferences unless I had a big name personality come teach or
preach. I was convicted that the personality we should come to see is Jesus. I
realized I was as guilty as those who look at their horoscopes for answers, I was
seeking God in His creation instead of seeking Him personally." Believers need to
abide in Jesus.

A group of young people listened intently as the teacher talked about spiritual
warfare. One teenage girl blurted out, "I want to be an angel when I die and help
people." No amount of discussion or biblical evidence would change her mind. She
wanted to be an angel like she saw on TV. Another young person said, "I think God
ought to answer every prayer 'yes' every time someone prays." For these young
people, their theology came from the culture, the TV, and from their immature ideas.
Abide in Jesus for truth.

Ask whatever you wish

The privilege of asking is determined by abiding in Christ. Abiding should change
every believer to the extent that Jesus' teachings characterize how we behave and
what we ask. Jesus shows that humans apart from God are engaged in fruitless
endeavors. Notice the requirement from John 15:4-6 for "asking whatever you wish."
Abide in the Word.

Love and joy are the results of abiding in Christ (see John 15:9-11). Love and joy
are missing from the postmodern culture. Major newspapers are almost daily
reporting on road rage, air rage, school shootings, and abuse. Abiding in Christ
results in fruit that is essential to the survival and happiness of our culture.

Second, Prayer Warriors Remain Grounded in the Bible.

Prayer warriors must be diligent to recognize decoys and false teaching. Here are
seven characteristics of biblical prayer.

1) Biblical prayer recognizes the difference between emotion and

knowledge
It is interesting to observe the struggle between emotion and knowledge in almost
every prayer and spiritual warfare movement around the world. The enemy has lured
believers to respond with two extremes: emotion or logic/knowledge. A factual,
logical presentation of biblical truth is sometimes met with a highly emotional
response. This often occurs when individual experience is imposed as the norm on
God's Word. A solely logical presentation may completely ignore individual
experience. The issue is to discover, teach, and practice biblical truth.

The young woman cried out in class, "I'm offended" as the teacher presented the
biblical response to spiritual warfare. The teacher apologized for offending her and
asked her a question. "Do you agree that there is some false teaching out there
today?" She nodded her head yes. "Do you agree that I have a responsibility to warn
people about false teaching?" Again she agreed. "Didn't I just tell you to be sure that
you use the Bible as your authority and not human opinion?" Another yes was softly
heard from her. "Then am I wrong to warn people about false teaching in spiritual
warfare?" She nearly sobbed, "But there are so many good people involved in the
movement." The teacher replied, "Then they need to go to the Word of God to be
sure they are following His example and teachings. Anything less than seeking the
truth can cause emotional outbursts."

The March 22 meditation from Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest
includes, "Much of the distress we experience as Christians comes not as the result
of sin, but because we are ignorant of the laws of our own nature. For instance, the
only test we should use to determine whether or not to allow a particular emotion to
run its course in our lives is to examine what the final outcome of that emotion will
be...and if the outcome is something that God would condemn, put a stop to it
immediately."ii

In Genesis 4:7, the Lord warns Cain that ". . .sin is crouching at the door; and its
desire is for you, but you must master it." But Cain chooses to disobey God (to sin)
by acting on his emotion. Cain killed his brother in an act of jealous anger.

Emotion may also drive believers to try and manage their careers separate from the
will of God. Even professional ministers succumb to using politics to advance their
personal agenda. Surveys indicate there is much dissatisfaction in the ministry
today. There is a lot of dissatisfaction among those ministers who have engineered
their current position. They made sure they received what they thought they wanted,
or they have ignored God's call to pioneer areas or overseas missions. Now they are
unhappy and are begging God to rescue them. Or worse, they are making life and
ministry miserable for everyone around them.

There is balance between God's sovereignty and human responsibility. But many
people are actively working to circumvent or direct God's sovereignty. James 3:16
warns, "For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder. . . ." Even
Christians struggle with trusting God. These things seriously impact our prayer life.

In Acts 13:45, Luke explains that jealousy caused the Jews to begin ". .
.contradicting the things spoken by Paul, . . ." Their jealousy even led them to
"blaspheming." James 3:15 describes that there is some wisdom not ". . .from
above, but is earthly, natural, demonic."

All people, and especially believers, must train their emotions or their emotions will
lead them captive to every passing impulse or reaction. The emotions of doubt, fear,
ambition, and anger are common entryways to question God's authority. As
Chambers continues, "And the higher the emotion, the deeper the level of
corruption, if it is not exercised on its intended level."iii It is very important for
believers to approach prayer, spiritual warfare, and ministry with loving, biblical
knowledge instead of untrained emotional reaction.

2) Biblical prayer is in Jesus' name

Prayer warriors pray in Jesus' name. In John 14:13-14, Jesus instructs believers to ".
. .ask in My name, . . ." (And so we end our prayers, "In Jesus' name we pray.")
What does it mean to pray in Jesus' name? Praying in Jesus' name means asking
anything that is consistent with His character, nature, and personality. Because of
our sin, humans have no right to ask anything of God. But through the sacrifice of
Jesus, we can ask anything of God as long as it is consistent with Jesus' character,
nature, and personality. If people do this, He will personally serve as the mediator
for that request.

Be careful of imposing expectations on God that are not from the Bible. One man
was weeping at the altar, "I have lived a hard life. I prayed for many years that I
deserve better than I have received. I have tried to get God to do things my way. If
I were to get from God what I deserve, I will spend eternity in hell. Jesus has paid a
big debt for me."

As discussed in Chapter Two, those outside of Christ do not have access to ask in
Christ's name. They are separated from Him in their sin. They can say the words, "In
Jesus' name," just like they can say "In Buddha's name." But they have not
understood Christ's character and nature. If they had understood those things, they
would accept Him as Lord. Praying in Jesus' name flows from a believer's heart.

3) Biblical prayer intercedes with Righteous Prayer Praying in Jesus' name

includes righteous prayer. James 5:16 reads, ". . .pray for one another, . . The
effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (NKJV). There is a big
difference in being religious and being a Christian. Religion often calls for people to
act good. Christianity calls for humans to become holy (see 2 Tim. 1:9). The only
way to become holy is to invite the Holy Spirit to come live inside of you. This act of
obedience causes internal change that results in changed external behavior. Seek to
grow in biblical righteousness. Pray effectively.

4) Biblical prayer is persistent prayer

Praying in Jesus' name is persistent. Luke 11:5-13 teaches more about the
intercessor than the intercession. This woman continued to intercede until she had
provisions for her guests. There are several lessons in this parable. First, her need
was legitimate. Second, she persisted on behalf of others. Third, she persevered.
Praying less than five minutes a day can in no way be considered persistent. Our
prayer should never provide an excuse for our cowardice or laziness. Luke 18:1
encourages believers to pray without fainting. Be an intercessor for 30 years, if
necessary. But continue to pray. Prayer warriors pray unceasingly.

5) Biblical prayer includes Evangelistic Prayer Praying in Jesus' name is

evangelistic. Evangelistic prayer intercedes for lost people. No prayer time should be
complete without intentional, specific prayer for lost neighbors, co-workers, friends,
and family. Pray for God to break your heart for lost people. He will answer that
prayer "Yes." Pray through the phone book. Schedule your PrayTimer software to
include local schoolteachers and politicians. If those of us who believe in prayer are
not praying for lost people, who will?

The July 18, 2000 USA Today presented an article in the "Life" section on "The Power
of Prayer" (p. 7D). The article focused on healthcare and prayer. There is no
application for prayer in any other part of life. That perception seems to be common
even in evangelical churches. Health concerns seem to be the primary reason people
pray.iv

Luke 15 presents three illustrations from Jesus that believers need to revive a
passion to reach lost people. Torrey said, "There have been revivals without much
preaching; there have been revivals with absolutely no organization; but there has
never been a mighty revival without mighty praying."v

6) Biblical prayer will at times agonize in Prayer Praying in Jesus' name is hard.
Romans 15:30 describes agonizing (striving) together in prayer. In Luke 22:44, the
same word describes Jesus' prayer in the garden. Acts 12 records the story of
earnest prayer made by the church on Peter's behalf. He was released miraculously
in answer to their prayers. The life of John "Praying" Hyde shows that prayer
warriors pay a high price to agonize in prayer. It is difficult. It takes time, but it
brings results.

7) Biblical prayer prays in Unity

Praying in Jesus' name brings unity. Matthew 18:19-20 describes the importance of
unity in prayer and why we need to pray in groups. God honors unified prayer. It
shows we are prepared to pay the price for His answer. However, praying in unity
does not mean compromising theological truth.
Christian Intervention - Becoming an Intercessor/Prayer
Warrior (Part II)

Third, Prayer Warriors Listen for the Lord to Speak.

The Bible often mentions the Lord speaking, but much of our prayer is more talking
than listening. Notice that God spoke to every prophet, leader, and hero in the Bible.
In 1 Kings 19:12, the Lord speaks in a "still small voice." It is difficult to hear God's
voice when so many other voices are clamoring for our attention. Prayer warriors
must carefully seek to hear the Lord's voice. The Lord primarily speaks through His
Word. Include Bible study time during every personal and corporate prayer time.

Acts 16:7 shows an occasion that the ". . .Spirit of Jesus would not permit them; . ."
to travel to Bithynia. The Spirit will warn believers of dangerous situations. In Acts
10:4, 10:10, and 16:9 the spirit used a vision to communicate with Cornelius, Peter,
and Paul. Be careful though; it is difficult for believers to discern the voice of the
Holy Spirit from the voices of Satan or our own desires.

In Thailand, the missionary was walking home late one evening. The Spirit impressed
on him to quickly go inside a small restaurant. He wasn't sure if the impression was
just hunger or the Lord speaking to him. Once inside, the missionary tried to share
the gospel with the owner, but he was watching TV and did not want to be disturbed.
The missionary waited. Somewhat frustrated at his spiritual ineptitude, he headed on
toward home. The next day's paper told of two tourists who had been harmed in that
area.

Fourth, Prayer Warriors Pray in Truth.

In John 8:44, Satan is unmasked. He is described as ". . .a murderer ... and does not
stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. . .for he is a liar, and the father
of lies." The relativism of the postmodern culture shows how Satan consistently
seeks to undermine and dismiss the truth. Our prayer is empowered by walking in
the truth.

You shall know the truth (see John 8:32)

Jamal prayed five times a day. He was devoted to his religion. He could not
understand why doing the right things and trying to be good brought him no spiritual
satisfaction. He could tell his prayers went no higher than the ceiling of his room.
Even praying in the temple brought no sense of talking with God.

The nature and source of truth needs to become the core of our cultural debate. As
we saw in Chapter Three, praying in truth dismisses spiritual decoys. Particularly
when Christians have allowed the media to replace the moral standard of the Bible
with morality beliefs from actors, politicians, and reporters. When a cultural crisis
occurs, the media no longer seeks an interview with a theologian or an educator. The
media instead chooses to endorse the opinions of entertainers and other reporters!
Satanic influence in the culture wants humans to believe that truth is not attainable.
This eventually can cause even believers to pray without faith.

So the source of the debate about truth becomes clear. Satan is once again working
in the earthly realm to convince humans to exchange the truth of God for a lie.
Notice how insidiously Satan lures the believer into the powers of darkness. Slowly,
deliberately raising our tolerance of evil until all evil is acceptable. The only bad
words in the current media culture is to be intolerant or puritanical. There is a need
for the culture to recognize that truth is not relative, nor is it subject to public
opinion.

What is truth?
The prevailing relativism has many people looking for truth. The word truth in Greek
carries the meaning of dependability and eternal reality.vi There is a mathematical
standard that always points to mathematical truth, 1+1=2. This is true for all time
and in every culture. It doesn't matter if the current CNN poll says that 95 percent of
those polled believe 1+1 should equal 3. It is not intolerance that precludes any
other answer. Truth by nature of the word is exclusive of error.

A tuning fork will produce a C sharp anywhere on the planet. There is a musical
standard that is not affected by language, culture, or tradition. It is a supra-cultural
standard. In 1901, the United States Government created the National Bureau of
Standards and Measurements "to advance the science of measurements and develop
standards" (see www.nist.gov). Now known as the National Institute of Standards
and Technology, it contains a standard for measuring time, liters, a meter, and even
handcuffs. There is no discussion of intolerance with them. They maintain that there
are supra-cultural standards for measurement that prevent confusion and even
protect people from dangerous products.

Ravi Zacharias writes that "...all truth is God's truth, and truth cannot be in conflict
with itself."vii Do not let the postmodern culture fool you into believing that there are
no moral or religious standards. Scriptural truth is the product of a supra cultural
standard for right and wrong. It is not correct to call Christians intolerant because we
have discovered the way, the truth, and the life. This confidence affects how (and
how often) we pray.

In John 12:48, the Word of God is shown as the standard by which humans will be
judged. "There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words;
that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day" (NIV). The coming
judgment is still true no matter how much the culture disagrees.

The Truth shall set you free (see John 8:32)

Khanh was not a Christian. But he knew in his heart the Creator God was (is) real.
He asked the Creator to make Himself known. Within a year, Khanh had met a
Christian, read the New Testament, and became a follower of Jesus.

In John 8:31-32, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (NIV). Think about it.
The popular culture often quotes "the truth shall make you free" out of context.
Those who hold to Christ's teachings can know the truth and the truth will set them
free. The truth that sets people free is Jesus. It is not education, technology, social
reform, or even autonomy from rules. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (see
John 14:6). Jesus is not one of many ways, part of the truth, or some of the life.

Discovering and choosing the truth has become a difficult decision for many people.
The media brings in opposing Ph.D.'s on every issue. People are confused with how
to know the truth. Josh McDowell has been most helpful by challenging the culture
with the logic of his theorem. For Jesus to make such a claim He must have been ". .
.a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord."viii The fact that Jesus is Lord precludes any other
pathway to God. No matter how hard we wish it were true or how many people say
otherwise. Truth is not dependent upon opinion polls.

Fifth, Prayer Warriors Create a Prayer Plan that Helps Them.

Jeanine came up after a prayer conference. She was quite adamant that her outline
for prayer was "the only effective way to pray." As she talked, she realized that she
often spent more time organizing her prayer than actually praying. Some prayer
plans become hollow rituals. Every believer has to be diligent to protect against ritual
prayer.

Having a personal prayer plan can enhance your prayer experience. In Matthew 6:9-
13, Jesus teaches believers to pray in a certain way. As we saw in Chapter Two, the
Lord's Prayer is not intended as a ritualistic prayer. It is a model prayer. (John 17 is
another good example of biblical prayer).

A prayer plan can provide direction and focus in the believer's prayer life. It can help
to maximize and organize our prayer time. The believer's desire should be to
encounter the God who answers prayer. As we saw above, Jesus warns against
prayer being treated as simply a ritual or religious activity. Rituals replace
relationship. The attached PrayTimer software is created to maximize and organize
the personal prayer time.

Sixth, Prayer Warriors Help with a Comprehensive Prayer Ministry.

A comprehensive prayer ministry will cover every part of the church's ministry with
prayer. A comprehensive prayer ministry will not happen automatically. It needs
leadership and commitment to keep prayer as a priority of the congregation. Create
a Great Commission Prayer Ministry that will best help your congregation. It is so
named to support the global completion of the Great Commission.

Three goals in a Great Commission Prayer Ministry: A prayer ministry should

include personal, corporate, and kingdom goals. These goals can be adapted to
create an overall prayer plan or strategy. The tendency is to replace a true strategy
with a series of prayer events. The strategy sets the direction and purpose for each
event.

1. Personal Prayer Goal. Renew a personal passion to pray unceasingly (see Ps.
51:10; 1 Thess. 5:17). Encourage and train believers to improve the amount of time
and the quality of specific, intentional, biblical prayer. It does not matter what
system is used, or even if there is a system. Prayer should not be a program.

2. Corporate Prayer Goal. Reclaim the church as a house of prayer with a passion
for lost people (see Mark 11:17; Luke 19:10). Encourage and train believers to
reclaim an evangelistic house of prayer. Jesus was very clear that the church is to be
a house of prayer. What would Jesus find at your church? A house of prayer requires
a lot of work. There are so many important things that compete for church member's
time and energy. None of these is more important than becoming a house of prayer.
A praying church comes most quickly through the leadership of a praying pastor.
Praying leaders will develop praying followers. Don't forget that the biblical house of
prayer is a community of believers, not just a building.
3. Kingdom Prayer Goal. Respond to God's call to unite believers in focused prayer
for global evangelization and awakening (see 2 Chron. 7:14; John 17:20-21).
Believers must become passionate about the absolute need for revival in North
America. Encourage and train believers to be kingdom minded. The national spiritual
awakening will begin in individual believers and in individual congregations. We have
no hope of surviving the twenty-first century without a radical spiritual awakening.
Plead for a spiritual awakening that begins with you.

A Suggested Process for a Great Commission Prayer Ministry

Please take care that prayer does not become a program or a lifeless process. Any
process needs to reflect the leadership of the Holy Spirit and the needs of the
congregation. Use these steps to encourage ideas that can help you create a Great
Commission Prayer Ministry. These are suggested tactics or approaches to help you
complete the three goals listed above. The more prayer options you provide, the
more people will be involved in prayer.

1. Immediately discover, through prayer, a prayer coordinator for the new

church. The pastor may need to serve as the prayer coordinator in new or
small membership congregations. Even there, he usually could use help.ix
Don't let prayer become overshadowed by other pressing needs as the church
begins and grows.
2. Select, through prayer, a prayer council. The prayer council works with the
prayer coordinator to complete the three goals of a prayer ministry. Surely a
church that has a kitchen committee or a flower committee can see the need
for a prayer committee, team, or council.
3. The pastor should take the lead by preparing a sermon series on prayer.
Remind the congregation of the importance of biblical prayer. Encourage the
staff to have intentional and extended prayer times together. Lead the
congregation as a prayer warrior.
4. Host a prayer banquet. Ask each deacon or teacher to invite and host a table
full of people. Pray, eat, pray. Pray for believers and unbelievers. Invite the
sponsor churches.
5. Refocus the Wednesday night prayer meeting into equal time to pray for
believers, unbelievers, and individual spiritual growth. Use the PrayTimer to
provide national and international prayer needs and opportunities through
NAMB (1 800 554-PRAY) and IMB (1 800 395-PRAY) prayer lines or through
your denominational or church resources. Also visit www.namb.net/prayer
and www.imb.org/pray. Please see the bibliography for several resources that
help.
6. Provide a prayer room. Notice the prayer room is one of many prayer options
in the church. A house of prayer needs a prayer room. Find a place where at
least three people can pray comfortably. Coordinate prayer times to keep
someone praying in the room as much as possible. Be sure that every time
someone steps into the pulpit, there is someone stepping into the prayer
room. Include in the prayer room up-to-date lists of specific prayer requests
from the PrayTimer software. You may even create three or more prayer
stations in the prayer room including lists and materials for these separate
areas: a) Prayer for believers, b) Prayer for unbelievers, c) Prayer for
personal physical and spiritual needs.
7. Create a prayer chain or watchman network. Each person prays from their
home and calls the next person on the list when they finish praying. Pray
alone for a while and then pray with the next person on the list.
8. Provide many ways to involve people and call them to prayer. Use as many
different approaches as possible to involve as many people as possible. Be
careful to apply each of these events to help fulfill the overall prayer
strategy.
A) Prayer Triplets. A prayer triplet has three believers agreeing to pray
together each week. Each believer chooses three unbelievers to pray for with
the triplet. The prayer triplet prays for all nine unbelievers to be saved. Often,
one of the believers becomes the instrument to lead the unbeliever to Christ.
B) Concerts of Prayer. A concert of prayer is a gathering of believers to pray.
There are usually not a lot of people talking about prayer, just concentrated
time of group and private prayer.
C) Prayer Revivals or Retreats. A prayer revival or retreat is an extended
number of meetings to focus on prayer. It can have a conference or worship
service format.
D) Solemn Assemblies. Joel 1:14 and 2:15 calls for the church to participate
in solemn assemblies of repentance and prayer.
E) Pastor/Staff Prayer Networks. These groups pray for the specific needs of
pastors and staff in the church and association. Satan's counter strategy
includes intentional attacks on pastors and church leaders. Believers need to
provide a hedge of protection around them through prayer. These networks
meet weekly, monthly, or quarterly. Many of them meet during the worship
service to intercede for the Spirit to work freely. F) Outreach Prayer Surveys.
A prayer survey goes door-to-door in a community asking for prayer
requests. Prayer is usually well received and provides contacts for later
follow-up by the visitation and evangelism teams.
9. Provide ongoing prayer training. This is very important. Train the church to
grow in Christ. Help the church create a culture of prayer evangelism. Work
with the evangelism council to train the church in personal evangelism.
Provide numerous small prayer training sessions. Reject the belief that you
need a huge audience to have effective training. Disciple the two or three
mentioned in Matt. 18:20.
10. Participate in campus Prayer Journeys/See You at the Pole. For more
information visit studentz.com/pray. Campus Prayer Journeys encourage
parents to meet the night before See You at the Pole to intercede for the
salvation, spiritual growth, and safety of students, teachers and
administrators. This intercession then continues all year.
11. Cover the community with Prayer Journeys/Taking Prayer to the Streets. This
is an important way to confront the gates of hell in the community of the
church. Include Prayer Journeys for as many groups and as often as possible.
Plan a mission trip that includes a Prayer Journey.x
12. Encourage individual prayer through any of the resources available or through
those listed in the bibliography.
13. Launch new prayer groups at work places, through the Sunday School, in
small groups, and Discipleship Training. Encourage prayer groups to meet
before and during the worship services.
14. Create praying affinity groups for people in your congregation and
community. Affinity prayer groups are created by ethnic group, profession, or
interest. Men, women, singles, youth, ethnic groups, lawyers, physicians,
nurses, construction workers, and so forth, can pray specifically and
 intentionally for others in their profession locally, nationally and globally.
Postal workers, police officers, and other service providers have found
particular joy in praying for the people on their routes.
15. Develop prayer lists of lost people and prospects in the community. Send
evangelism teams to visit lost people for whom the church has been praying.
Pray for those listed in the telephone book. Purchase lists of newcomers from
Welcome Wagon, real estate sales, and utility companies. Pray for each of
them by name and then call or visit them. Include their names on your
PrayTimer prayer calendar.
16. Participate in North American and International Seasons of Prayer. The trend
of some congregations to have a single missions offering and prayer emphasis
is reducing specific prayer for missionaries and missions work. PrayTimer
includes SBC North American and International missionary birthdays by name
on their birth date. Create lists of missionaries and leaders for your
denomination too.
17. Schedule a prayer time during the worship service. Occasionally, pray in
groups. Pray for missionaries. Make prayer a vital part of the worship
service.
18. Create a Lighthouse of Prayer in every community or every street. A
Lighthouse of Prayer consists of believers committed to intentionally praying
for, caring for, and sharing the gospel with individuals in their neighborhood
or community. For more information or to register your home, visit
www.namb.net/prayer/lighthouses.
19. Work with the state and associational prayer coordinators. Contact your state
convention or association office. There is an updated list of SBC prayer
coordinators at www.namb.net/prayer.

Conclusion
The postmodern world needs more believers to become prayer warriors. Become a
prayer warrior by abiding in Christ, staying grounded in the Word, and by praying in
truth. Create a prayer plan that works for you and for your congregation. Include the
personal, corporate, and kingdom goals. Help your congregation cover every ministry
and person in the church and in the community with prayer. The next two chapters
present more information about using the PrayTimer software for personal and
corporate use.
CHAPTER FIVE

Maximizing Personal Prayer Time

A young man dropped to his knees in prayer. "Lord, I can't go on," he said. "I have
too heavy a cross to bear." The Lord replied, "My son, if you can't bear its weight,
just place your cross inside that room and pick out any cross you wish." The young
man was filled with relief. "Thank you, Lord," he sighed, and he did what he was
told. He saw many other crosses, some so large the tops weren't even visible. He
walked all around the room and looked. Then, he spotted a tiny cross leaning against
the far wall. "I'd like that one, Lord," he whispered. And the Lord replied, "My son,
that is the cross you just brought in."

Our personal prayer time allows us perspective. It renews our relationship with the
Lord. Prayer allows us to be involved in making an eternal difference. Believers often
become uncomfortable when they exceed their prayer "comfort zone" of five
minutes. This discomfort comes from not knowing or remembering what else needs
prayer. Consider using some kind of daily intercession schedule to remind you of
prayer needs.

It is not essential to use any software or schedule to pray effectively. As we saw in

Chapter Two, the Holy Spirit directs our prayers. Many believers find it helpful to
create or use some kind of template or schedule to help maximize and increase their
personal prayer time. This chapter provides some ideas to maximize your prayer
time even if you do not use the software.

Please be careful not to make these suggestions into a ritual or program of prayer.
Let the Spirit lead you as you pray. Enjoy your visit with the Lord. Pray more than
you plan for prayer. Here are three suggestions you can adapt to maximize your
personal prayer time.

First, Plan A Daily Prayer Time.

The discipline of a daily prayer time requires a decision of commitment. Everything in

our daily schedule seems to try to reduce or delete our time with God. Set a time for
prayer that is least likely to be interrupted. This is one reason many people prefer an
early morning prayer time. This requires the discipline of going to bed early enough
to get the needed sleep. It requires replacing our entertainment driven habits with
the desire to make an eternal difference. Give the Lord time when your mind is sharp
and you are refreshed.

Guard your prayer time as diligently as you do meal times. Make prayer a priority
meeting or date. Hold your calls and wait on the mail. You are entering into an
appointment with the Ruler of the universe.

Many believers find they need to schedule additional prayer times as the prayer
request lists grow longer. These times often include praying instead of eating or
sleeping. Yes, sometimes prayer is more important than eating or sleeping. Fervent
prayer is the solution to many struggling congregations and overwhelmed pastors.

Second, Adapt the ACTS acrostic.

Four areas can help bring balance to corporate and personal prayer time: Adoration,
Confession, Thanksgiving, and then Supplication. The supplication time is organized
into prayer categories. These are created and adapted as needed. The purpose is to
pray for as many specific prayer requests as possible in a day, week, month, or year.
Personal and corporate prayer times should include aspects of all four components.
Begin with adoration.

Adoration - The role of adoration/worship in prayer is often overlooked. The word

for worship in Matthew 28:17 means to bow the knee. People, even believers, do not
like to bow the knee to anyone. We need to approach God in an attitude of bent
knees. Some of what is currently called worship is not true worship. True worship
transports believers into the presence of God. Be careful that the entrepreneurial
personality does not replace the need for humbly bowing the knee to God.

Spend time praising the Lord and adoring Him for who he is (see Matt. 6:9). Use
Scripture to praise Him.i Love and cherish His presence and allow Him to work in and
through your life (see Matt. 22:32-34). Be still before Him and enjoy His presence
(see Ps. 46:10). Use this time to allow God to speak to you through His Word and
Spirit (see Pss. 40:1-3; 90:12-17). Praise the Lord by praying scripture or hymns
back to Him.ii

Confession - Adoration that draws us near to the Lord results in the recognition of
our sinfulness. Then our confession begins to flow naturally. Confession should be a
part of your daily walk with Jesus (see Matt. 6:12). Spend time asking the Lord to
search your heart for areas that displease Him (see Ps. 139:23-24). Allow God to
cleanse your heart of any unconfessed sin (see Ps. 51:10-13). Be sure to spend time
confessing and repenting (turning away from) specific sins (see 1 John 1:9). Accept
His forgiveness and cleansing (see Jer. 31:34). Personal confession time is different
from corporate confession time.

A believer wrote, "I know I am a sinner, but I find it hard to take the time to pray for
forgiveness of every sin. I seem to think that God does not notice what I consider
the small sins. I also can maintain my illusion of holiness if I do not over-emphasize
my confession time."

Thanksgiving - The forgiveness that follows confession often results in heartfelt

thanksgiving. Giving thanks for all things should be a part of our everyday lives as
God's people (see Phil. 4:6-7). Notice how thanksgiving differs from adoration.
Thank God for specific things, such as blessings, people, open doors, guidance, and
so on. Give thanks for salvation and the privilege to serve such a wonderful Savior.
Thank Him for his goodness, loving-kindness, and faithfulness (see Ps. 100:4-6). A
prayer coordinator shared, "I realized I needed to return to a childlike thankfulness
for grass, trees, birds, and family. I had become shallow in my thankfulness."

Supplication - Righteous and thankful hearts then naturally flow into intercession
for others. We are called as believers to intercessory prayer.iii Thus, we are to come
before God on behalf of others (see Heb. 10:19-25; Rev. 1:4-6). Spend time praying
for missionaries and other specific people in specific events, states, and countries
(see Acts 12:5; Rom. 10:1). Pray for lost people (see John 17:20). Pray for those in
authority (1 Tim. 2:1-6). In addition, spend time praying for personal needs (see
Matt. 6:11-12; John 17). Make prayer lists for your time of supplication. Be sure to
include a place for answers to be recorded. Recorded answers can become items for
praise and thanksgiving. The PrayTimer prayer lists are helpful for specific daily
supplication.

Third, Include Prayer List Categories.

There is so much that requires prayer. Satan has fooled so many believers to try to
cover all of our prayer requests in five minutes a day. Many prayer warriors find that
maximizing and expanding the personal prayer time is much easier by creating
prayer lists in specific categories. Please be careful to be Spirit-led so that prayer
does not become a ritual or a program. Please be sure to pray more than you
organize your prayers.

Prayer list categories allow believers to remember important requests. These can be
used by the Spirit to maximize our intercession time. Some believers find that using
the following categories help bring balance to their prayer lists. As we saw in Chapter
Four, prayer can focus believers on completing the Great Commission. The following
prayer categories can help believers pray consistently with the Great Commission.
These categories are included in the PrayTimer software but easily can be created on
paper lists. Pray for:

1) Believers
2) Unbelievers
a. Believers and unbelievers involved in evangelistic missions events
b. Believers and unbelievers in states, provinces, and countries
3) Personal, spiritual, and physical needs.

Satan works to keep people from praying for other people. A church prayer
conference was going well. At the first break, a person came up and said, "It is not
biblical to pray for ourselves." Later that evening, another person came up and said,
"It is not biblical to pray for unbelievers." The next day, a different person came up
and said, "It is not biblical to pray for believers." It was very interesting to discover
that if you got those three people together, we would not pray for anyone! Here is
the biblical basis for each of those prayer areas:

Include a Category for Believers

Jesus modeled praying for believers with His high priestly prayer in John 17. Paul
also models and teaches this practice throughout his epistles (see Eph. 1:15-19;
3:14-19; 1 Thess. 3:11-13). Believers should intercede for each other daily. As has
been said, "More believers on their knees praying will result in more Christians on
their feet evangelizing."

Missionaries are an important group of believers who need daily prayer. A proven
method is to pray for missionaries on their birthdays. SBC missionary birthdays can
be located in many places and online at www.namb.net/prayer or
www.imb.org/pray. Missionaries' birthdays and missions Prayer Grams are included
as import files in the PrayTimer software. Use these as a model for creating similar
files for your church or denomination. Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in
the number of missionaries hurt, killed, or leaving the field. This is partly due to the
decreased prayer support they are receiving from distracted believers. If we who
believe in prayer are not praying for missionaries, then who is praying for them?

Pray for pastors, Sunday School leaders, professors, and denominational leaders.
Every believer needs a hedge of protection through prayer. No believer can
withstand Satan's attacks without prayer support. The software allows you to create,
import and share specific local prayer requests by calendar dates. If we who believe
in prayer are not praying for pastors and leaders, then who is praying for them?

Pray these things for believers by name:

1. Christ to send believers into His harvest fields (see Matt. 9:38).
2. Christ to keep Christians in His name and character (see John 17:11).
3. Christians to have Christ's joy made full in themselves (see John 17:13).
4. Christ to guard and protect believers from the evil one (see John 17:15).
5. Christ to sanctify (set apart) believers in the truth of God (see John 17:17).
6. Christians to be unified in one mission, purpose and spirit even as the Father
and Son are one (see John 17:21-22).
7. Christians to be where Christ is and to join His work (see John 17:24).
8. Christians to be filled with wisdom, pleasing in all ways to Christ,
strengthened spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally, and bearing fruit in
every good work (see Col. 1:10-11).
Maximizing Personal Prayer Time (Part II)

Include a Category For Unbelievers

Evangelistic praying should include prayer for unbelievers. The software allows you
to create, import and share prayer requests for lost people. Prayer requests for lost
people in the software are color coded in red text to help us give them priority.
Prayer on behalf of lost people is clearly taught by Jesus in Matthew 6:9-10. The
apostle Paul models and teaches believers to pray for the lost in Romans 10:1-2 and
1 Timothy 2:1-4. Chapter Two reviewed what it means to be a believer and an
unbeliever. It is not unfair judging when the fruit of a person's life is obviously not
consistent with the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

The great preacher D.L. Moody had a good habit for the postmodern world we live in.
He presumed that every person he met had a large "L" for "lost" on their forehead.
The "L" stayed there until he knew he could replace it with "saved." Moody is
credited with reducing the population of hell by a million souls. Please do not
presume that people are saved when we are not sure. Make it part of your ministry
to make sure they are saved.

Pray for family members, entertainers, educators, actors, musicians, and politicians.
Pray for them by name. Pray for the entire management structure at your office or
school. Pray for co-workers, neighbors, and public personalities. Pray for newsmen
and women, movie directors, lawyers, judges, and medical doctors. Ask the Lord to
break your heart for lost people. He will answer that prayer with a "Yes." If we who
believe in prayer are not praying for lost people, then who is praying for them?

R.A. Torrey, wrote, "Prayer avails for the conversion of others. There are few
converted in this world in any other way than in connection with someone's
prayers. . . . By prayer, the bitterest enemies of the gospel have become its most
valiant defenders, . . ."iv What does the Bible teach believers about praying for an
unbeliever? Below is an acrostic that can be used to pray biblically and effectively for
people who are not Christians:

Pray for their HEARTS to be changed.v

Pray for receptive and repentant Hearts (Luke 8:5-12). Pray for their spiritual Eyes
and ears to be opened to the truth of Christ (see 2 Cor. 4:4; Matt. 13:15).
Pray for them to have God's Attitude toward sin (see John 16:8).
Pray for the person to be Released to believe (see 2 Cor. 10:3-4; 2 Tim 2:25-26)
Pray for a Transforming life (see Rom. 12:1-2).
Pray for God to Send them into His harvest field (see Matt 9:35).

Dr. Bob Reccord, President/CEO, North American Mission Board, wrote in the 1999
On Mission Prayer Map: "God's great movements of history have repeatedly been
preceded by a movement of prayer."

Include Praying for Believers and Unbelievers Involved in Evangelistic

Missions Events
These events offer great opportunities for God to use His people to influence the lost
world for Christ. So, prayer for events focuses on praying for the believers and
unbelievers involved in those events. A biblical mission event will always be
evangelistic. Too many events are called mission trips that are not really mission
trips. Every true mission trip is involved in reducing the population of hell. Here are
three ways to pray biblically for outreach events.

A) Pray for people before the event.

Pray for the lost (see Matt. 6:9-10; 1 Tim. 2:1-4).
Pray for laborers to be sent into Christ's harvest fields (see Matt. 9:35-38).
Pray for holiness and unity among witnesses (see Ps. 51:10-13; John 17).
Pray for open doors for the gospel to be shared (see Col. 4:2-6).

B) Pray for people during the event.

Pray for witnesses to have boldness of speech and to witness with passion and love
(see Acts 4:26-31).
Pray for proclamation to be powerful and Spirit led (see 1 Cor. 2:1-5; Eph. 3:18-
20).
Pray for miraculous timing and encounters for proclamation (see Eph. 6:18-20; Col.
4:2-6).
Pray for protection for witnesses (see Rom.15:30-33).

C) Pray for people after the event.

Pray that the seed of God's Word that was shared will bear fruit in people's lives (see
2 Thess. 3:9-11).
Pray for new converts to abound in love for believers and all men (see 1 Thess. 3:9-
11).
Pray that new converts will know and do God's will in their lives (see Eph. 1:17-18;
Col. 1:9).
Pray for new converts to bear fruit in every good work (see John 15:16; Col. 1:10).
Pray for God's people to have a desire to follow-up and nurture new believers (see
Matt. 5:2,42; 1 Thess. 2:5-12).

Include Praying for Believers and Unbelievers in States, Provinces, and

Countries
In Matthew 23:37-39, Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem. Our personal and
corporate prayer time should include intercession for the people in the geopolitical
structures of the world. Satan has worked hard to transform the cultures of
humankind into his image. Culture and people can only be changed by the
transforming power of the gospel. God must intervene person-by-person, state-by-
state, and country-by-country. As we saw in Chapter Two, this intercession helps
unbelievers to find the Creator God.

The Prayer Map provides daily lists of political leaders and SBC denominational
leaders by state. It also includes specific countries that require unified prayer. That
file provides a template for what you can create for your church or denomination.
The prayer map is available as a PrayTimer download and online at
www.namb.net/praytimer. You may also call your state convention office or
government center for a list of people to use as a prayer list. If we who believe in
prayer are not praying for government leaders, then who is praying for them?

Below are focused prayers that can be prayed for the people in the states, provinces,
and countries of our world.
 • Pray for revival and spiritual awakening (see 2 Chron. 7:14; Ps. 85:6).
• Pray for the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into His harvest fields (see
Luke 10.2).
• Pray that God would place His people in political leadership and that political
leadership and political leaders who are not believers would come to know
Christ (see Prov. 14:34; Rom. 13:1; 1 Tim. 2:1-4).
• Pray for state denominational leaders to increase in God's wisdom, conduct
themselves honorably in all things, and grow in favor with God and man (see
Luke 2:52; Col. 1:9; Heb. 13:18).
• Pray for open doors for the gospel to be taken to the lost (see Col. 4:2-6).

Include a Category for Personal Spiritual and Physical Needs.vi

Luke 22:39-45 provides an example of Jesus praying for Himself. Jesus prayed for
personal physical and spiritual needs. In verse 42, He asked His Father if He could
physically avoid the coming cup of pain. But He prayed for spiritual strength by
saying ". . .not My will, but Thine be done." He prayed "in agony" and "very
fervently" (see v. 44). Christ's obedience allowed Him to ask in John 17:5, "Now,
Father, give me back the glory that I had with you before the world was created"
(CEV). This is quite a glimpse into all that He gave up for us, isn't it?

An important personal need is for each believer to share Jesus with unbelievers. If
you want a "yes" answer to prayer, ask for a divine encounter. Praying for divine
encounters is a request for the Lord to put someone in your path who is ready to
hear about Jesus. The Holy Spirit is working in thousands of lost and backslidden
people. He will gladly create encounters to share a witness about life with Jesus. It is
interesting that the term "backslider" is not used in our tolerance-driven culture. A
backslider is a believer who has compromised his or her walk with Christ. They are
living in known sin and rebellion against the teachings of God.

Praying for personal spiritual and physical needs is not the selfish and greedy praying
that comes from seeking God's hands instead of His face. It is praying to
acknowledge the weaknesses in our lives and the specific places we want Christ to
take control. This personal praying acknowledges that God is the source to meet all
of our physical and spiritual needs. This is very difficult in a culture that so easily
confuses needs with wants.

A church bulletin captured this prayer, "So far today Lord, I've done all right. I
haven't lost my temper, I haven't gossiped, I haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty,
selfish, or over-indulgent. I'm thankful for that. But in a few moments, Lord, I'm
going to get out of bed. And from then on, I'm going to need a lot of help."

Here are biblical examples of personal prayer needs:

• Pray in repentance and belief in Christ (see Mark 1:15).

• Pray in confession of sin (see 1 John 1:9). Pray for our daily bread (see Luke
11:3).
• Pray that we can forgive everyone (see Luke 11:4a).
• Pray that we will not be led into temptation (see Luke 11:4b).
• Pray for God's will and not our will to be done in our lives (see Luke 22:42).
• Pray for the fruit of the spirit to characterize all that we say and do (see Gal.
5:22-23).
Include Other Categories

Under these categories, you can create a number of additional sub-categories.

Family, friends, acquaintances, neighbors, colleagues, government and community
leaders, athletic and entertainment figures, church members, prospects, and dozens
more. As we saw in Chapter Four, create a category for people in your profession or
interest group. Include praying for entertainers like your favorite actor, musician, or
newscaster.

It is overwhelming to realize how many people we should be praying for. One of the
results of using these outlines will be an increase in the quality and quantity of
prayer time. These guidelines can be used by those beginning a prayer time or by
prayer warriors. Using these outlines can help maximize the short prayer time. The
Lord may use this material to challenge each believer to increase the length of their
prayer time, too.

Daily intercession schedules can be in a calendar format or daily lists. Both options
are provided in the PrayTimer software. These same schedules can be created in
whatever way works for you. The number of categories and people on your list is
only limited by the amount of time you pray. You will want to pray for some of those
categories and people daily. Others, you will only be able to pray for weekly or
monthly. If we who believe in prayer are not praying consistently, then who is
praying?

Schedule How Often to Pray for Each Request

Prayer lists help believers see the large number of prayer requests that require
specific prayer. The only way to pray for them all is to create a prayer schedule.
Some prayer requests are only for a limited time, such as a request for surgery.
However, other requests may be on our prayer list for an extended period of time.
The prayer for salvation of a family member may require 30 years of daily
intercession. Other requests, like the National Day of Prayer, are only once a year.

The SBC has over 10,000 North American and international missionaries. It is not
possible for most believers to pray for all of them every day. So, a schedule helps to
provide specific prayer once a year on their birthday. Create the same type of
schedule for each church member, club member, or colleague.

The PrayTimer CPMS and PrayTimer Editions provide an import file to automatically
place missionary birthdays on the correct date. The import template also allows you
to create and schedule prayer requests on any date and on a repeating schedule.
You can create the same kind of schedule on paper if the software is not practical for
you to use.

Create a Daily Intercession Schedule

These suggestions can be adapted to your personal, congregational or
denominational preferences. The idea is to schedule prayer requests to maximize
your prayer time and increase that time as you see and share the need. The purpose
is to help every believer to pray for as many specific prayer requests as possible on
any given day, week, month, or year.

Use these suggestions to include specific prayer requests for specific individuals. Be
careful not to fall into the trap of praying so broadly that there is no faith involved
nor any specific answer. A common shallow prayer is "Lord, I pray for all the
missionaries around the world." This is a sincere prayer, but it is also powerless.

Sunday. Begin with Adoration, then Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication

(ACTS). Incorporate the prayer suggestions for believers, unbelievers and personal
needs mentioned earlier in this chapter. Add or import the names to pray for these
believers: missionary birthdays, pastor/staff, deacons, elders, Sunday School/Bible
teachers, and associational leadership. Add or import the names of these
unbelievers: lost prospects for church, favorite actor/actress. Pray for this and other
personal, spiritual, or physical needs: The fruit of the spirit to characterize
everything you say and do (see Gal. 5:20), divine appointments. Include specific
names for these or other general suggestions: International Mission Focus. (The
PrayTimer 31dayprayermap import file lists two of the 60 "Praying Through the
Window" countries every day. These countries are virtually untouched by the gospel.
This information is available from IMB and other missions agencies.) U.S. President,
Vice President, your representatives and senators, Supreme Court justices, and
evangelistic events.

Monday. ACTS
Believers: missionary birthdays, seminary presidents, staff, and professors.
Unbelievers: family members, educators, national or local news anchor. Personal
growth: in godliness and righteousness, divine appointments. General suggestions:
International Mission Focus; local schoolteachers, administrators, students.

Tuesday. ACTS
Believers: missionary birthdays, state Baptist leadership for your state and partner
state. Unbelievers: global unreached people groups, neighbors. Personal growth: in
witnessing, ask for divine appointments. General suggestions: International Mission
Focus; state government leaders, governor, state representatives, and senators.

Wednesday. ACTS
Believers: missionary birthdays, Baptist state convention executive director, state
evangelism director, and state mission director. Unbelievers: management structure
at work or school. Personal growth: in humility, divine appointments. General
suggestions: International Mission Focus; local government and community leaders;
local, national, and global revival.

Thursday. ACTS
Believers: missionary birthdays, North American Mission Board, Lifeway, and ERLC
leadership. Unbelievers: police, fire and post office officials in your community.
Personal growth: in Bible study, divine appointments. General suggestions:
International Mission Focus; SBC Prayover/CrossOver Cities (an intensive prayer
evangelism effort that is held prior to and in conjunction with the annual SBC
meetings).

Friday. ACTS
Believers: missionary birthdays, International Mission Board, Annuity Board, and
WMU Leadership. Unbelievers: the director of your favorite movie; local doctors and
medical professionals. Personal growth: in prayer, divine appointments. General
suggestions: International Mission Focus; neighbors, neighborhoods near church, co-
workers, and people you meet; those on military bases or in prison.

Saturday. ACTS
Believers: missionary birthdays, Baptist state convention executive director, state
evangelism director, and state mission director. Unbelievers: begin praying through
the phone book. Personal growth: in relationships, divine appointments. General
suggestions: International Mission Focus; Local and national entertainment and
sports figures; extended and nuclear family; state/province prayer requests;
strategic cities, choose a major metropolitan area in the state; through prayer,
evangelism, volunteer mobilization, and church planting efforts, the gospel will be
taken to each inhabitant of the selected SFC cities.

Conclusion
Begin seeking ways to maximize and expand your personal prayer time. Plan a time
for daily prayer. Seek to bring balance to your corporate and personal prayer time.
Consider creating category lists to help you pray specifically for unbelievers,
believers, and personal spiritual and physical needs. Include specific prayer for
unbelievers and believers involved in evangelistic mission events, states, provinces,
and countries.

Each one of us needs to become the person that others come to for righteous,
effective prayer. If we who believe in prayer are not prayer warriors, then what hope
does North America have for the future?
CHAPTER SIX

Praytimer 1.0 Instructions

The PrayTimer software is available on the CD in the back of this book. Updated
versions and import file updates can be downloaded from www.namb.net/praytimer.
PrayTimer helps maximize and expand the believer's prayer life. It provides tools for
individuals, prayer coordinators, and church staff to manage, print, and distribute
personal, congregational or small group prayer requests. Page by page instructions
are included in this chapter.

Features include: Customizable calendar options for prayer requests with daily,
weekly, and monthly calendar views. It helps individuals and prayer coordinators
manage and customize personal, congregational, national, and international prayer
requests. Customizable lists of prayer requests can be printed for personal and
corporate use by calendar dates, subject, reason, or source. Downloadable files are
included to pray for specific national and international requests, as well as
missionaries on their birthdays. Also included is a schedule of verses to read through
the Bible in a year. Import files for local prayer requests are easy to create and add
to the prayer database. Export files can be created easily and distributed to church
members or other people using the software. Requests can be exported from
PrayTimer into the Microsoft Outlook Calendar program.

Files can be imported and exported easily between the CPMS edition and the
PrayTimer Edition. CPMS is a component of NAMB's Church Planter Management
System (CPMS) and the Next Level Management System (NLMS).

Motivation for Personal Prayer

A personal prayer time begins with the motivation to grow in Christ. Otherwise, the
software is just a toy or another program. Growing in Christ requires at least three
actions on our part:

First, choose God's will over our will.

As we saw in Chapter One, every person must agree that God's will (plan) for our life
is best for us. In Luke 22:42 Jesus agonized over the impending pain of the cross,
but He knew that humankind's debt must be paid. Jesus agreed that God's will was
(and is) better than individual will. We must choose God's will.

Revelation 3:20 refers to Christ standing at the door and knocking. Notice the
imagery that the human heart is like a house with many rooms. Christ knocks on the
front door and requests to come in. He brings abundant life when He comes in. In
contrast, Satan is constantly bringing his ideas and temptations uninvited. This is
where we discover Satan is the thief who comes to "steal, kill, and destroy" (see
John 10:10). Choose Christ daily.

When the Holy Spirit moves into our lives, He rearranges the "furniture" which
includes our desires, attitudes, and self-made theology. Many believers dislike that
process of changing their priorities and behavior. We often want the Spirit to move in
and leave things alone. But the spirit begins replacing the furniture so that the rooms
in our heart resemble Christ. Choose to exchange your will for God's will.
Second, growing in Christ requires a change of heart.
Every believer struggles with giving the Lord access to every room in their heart.
Matthew 22:37 is one of many places that the New Testament refers to the word
"heart" as the seat of human will and emotion. ". . . Love the Lord your God with all
your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." There are several benefits
to allowing the Spirit to change your heart.

Purity. How sad that the culture has defined purity as an embarrassing word. In
Matthew 5:8, Jesus told His followers, "Blessed are the pure in heart, . . ." Being
pure in heart means that it has no mixture of impurities. Our time alone with God
helps to identify and root out impurities. The culture inundates us with torrents of
impurities on a daily basis.

Believers desperately need daily time with God to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. In Matthew 12:34, Jesus gives an indicator of a contaminated
heart, ". . .out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (NKJV). What we
say and do is as clear an indicator as a speedometer or thermometer. Be careful to
not accept the cultural lie that what we are on the inside has no relationship to what
we do on the outside.

Pray Unceasingly. First Thessalonians 5:17 encourages believers to pray

unceasingly. In Matthew 15:8, Jesus lamented, ". . .But their heart is far away from
Me." Chapter One challenged believers to live in such a way that unceasing prayer
would be easy. Ask your congregation if praying unceasingly is unrealistic in the
twenty-first century. Many of them will answer "yes"! Praying unceasingly cannot
occur if our hearts are far from God. Hebrews 4:12 refers to the Word of God
discerning the attitudes and actions of the heart. Learn the Word of God.

Sharing with others. Romans 10:9-10 says that people must, believe in their heart
and confess (agree) with their mouth. As we saw in Chapter Four, our witness flows
from our relationship with God. We more easily confess to others that Jesus is Lord
when He fills and overflows us.

Comfort. In John 14:27, Jesus said, "Let not your heart be troubled, . . ." Our time
with God provides peace that passes understanding. There is great comfort in
knowing God is in control.

Third, growing in Christ requires fellowship with God.

The heart must become obedient to the Creator God, through His Son Jesus, and in
the power of the Holy Spirit. Our relationship with Jesus grows through fellowship.
Acts 2:42 says the new believers were ". . .continually devoting themselves to the
apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and to prayer."
Fellowship with the Lord happens through daily prayer, Bible study, and worship.
Who receives most of your fellowship time?

A Christian publicly identifies himself or herself as a follower of Christ's teachings.

This includes fellowship through a local church. Hebrews 10:25 warns Christians, to
not forsake "the assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one
another...." Every believer needs to be active in a church.

Satan will provide many excuses about why you do not need to join or attend
church. Even after you join, he will precede every worship service or church meeting
with a reason that you cannot attend. He will blame the weather, the temperature,
the mood, or the schedule. It is universally true and so is identifiable as satanic
activity.

Please seek the Lord for the motivation to pray unceasingly.

Instructions for the PrayTimer 1.0 Software

Page by page instructions are included in this chapter. Visit

www.namb.net/praytimer for updated versions, updated online help files, updated
quick start guide, answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and printable copies
of each file. PrayTimer was created on FileMaker Pro 5 software. FileMaker Pro is
growing in popularity as the premiere database collection, sharing, and management
tool. These instructions are different between the CPMS Edition and the PrayTimer
Edition. Refer to the CPMS Guidebook under Tab 7 of the CPMS Ministry Manual for
those specific directions.

General Instructions/Overview

1.) The PrayTimer software maintains prayer data files in a master list (Figure 7.5)
containing each imported or added prayer request. A second database includes
calendar views for each of those prayer requests. The master prayer list is found by
clicking on the master list button. Click on the blue arrow beside each prayer request
to change content. This master list page also allows you to search by category, or
choose to print customized lists. You can import data files into the master list and
choose to schedule those prayers by date.
2.) You can create individual prayer requests by clicking on the "add new request"
button. Those requests are automatically saved to the master list. In fact, a blank
file is saved to the master list if you click on the "add new request" button and do
not add data.
3.) You may choose to schedule a specific date to pray for each prayer request. To
schedule each prayer request in the prayer list, click on the "Set calendar schedule"
button and schedule the date to begin and end praying for that request. You also can
determine if you want to pray for that request once, daily, once or more per week,
once or more per month, or once or more per year.
4.) The subject categories include believers, unbelievers, and personal spiritual need.
Including one of those categories can help you balance biblical prayer. Many of us
pray much more for believers than for unbelievers. As one prayer leader said, "We
tend to pray more for people who are sick to stay out of heaven than to pray for lost
people to get into heaven."
5.) You can export any prayer requests into other calendar programs. Click on the
export button.
6.) You can create a .txt data file of any information you want to automatically
import into the calendar fields. (.txt and .tab files are file extensions that can be
managed by PrayTimer and other database programs.) 7.) Please do not delete any
of the .ptm files in the PrayTimer folder. Each one is needed to ensure proper
operation of each function. Files with the extension .ptm will not import or export
properly. Please use the export instructions to export data into a new version or into
the PrayTimer edition.
PrayTimer Quick Start Guide.
Detailed instructions are found later in this chapter. Download and print a copy of
this guide at www.namb.net/praytimer

1. Insert the PrayTimer CD into your PC or MAC disk drive. The self-executable
installation wizard should begin automatically. If it does not, navigate to your CD
drive and click on setup. Follow the onscreen instructions. Further installation
directions can be found in Appendix C.

2. Add the name you want to see in the field that tells where the prayer request
originated. Use your name for personal requests or your church or class name for
church requests.

3. The first thing you may want to do is import the Read the Bible through in a year
verses and the 31dayprayermap. To do this:
a. Click on the "import" button.
b. Click on "import" on the screen that comes up.
c. On the next screen, double click on the import folder, (if the file looks empty,
change the type of files at the bottom of that screen to show all files) then double
click on the .tab file you wish to open. (i.e., the Bibleinayear). Click on the "import"
option that comes up. Depending on the speed of your computer, it will take several
minutes to add the text into your calendar every day. (The Bibleinayear can take 10
minutes on a Pentium(r) computer.)
d. The next screen that comes up gives you the option to import the data into your
calendar program (click yes) or just into the master list (click no).
e. When that file is finished, click on import again and choose the next text file (i.e.,
31dayprayermap, etc.). Import each of the missionary files as you wish.
f. Please visit www.namb.net/praytimer for updated and additional import files.

4. Add your denominational, individual and/or congregational prayer requests.

a. Click on the "add new" button.
b. Type in the prayer request for the first day.
c. Click on the "Set calendar schedule" and create the schedule for how often and
when this prayer request should appear on the calendar.
d. Click on the "add to calendar" button
e. Repeat the process to create each day's prayer request and the schedule that you
wish to export.
f. Check the "Calendar Dates Scheduled" for this prayer box to confirm the schedule.

5. You can export files for other PrayTimer users or to your Outlook calendar too.
a. Go to the Master List page.
b. Click in the boxes beside each file you wish to export. An "X" will appear in each
box selected.
c. Click on the "export" button.
d. Select the PrayTimer file.
e. Select records by Subject, Date, and so forth.
f. Perform "Find".
g. Give the file a name.
h. Save the file and make note where you save it. (The default save is in the
PrayTimer folder, but you can change the default to wherever you wish.)
i. Enter the program you wish to receive the file (i.e., Excel) and use its import
function.
j. Navigate to where you saved the export file and double click, or you can e-mail
that file like any other attachment.
k. A copy of the exported files remains in the master list and on the calendar.

6. Both versions allow you to import any data that is saved in comma delimited text
(.txt files) or tab delimited (.tab) files.

7. For customer support, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions file at
www.namb.net/praytimer, write praytimer@namb.net or call 1 888 749-7479. This
call is free to you, but we pay for each phone call, so please help us to be good
stewards of that line.
Figure 1: Opening Screens
(Click here to see figure 1)
The PrayTimer software opens the first time (Figure 1) on a screen requesting the
user name you wish to use in the source column of the prayer requests you create.
You can change this name on the Preferences page. Prayer Coordinators may want
to use the name of your church or Bible study class.

Figure 2: Enter Privacy Code screen

(Click here to see figure 2)
The first time you enter Praytimer you will need to create a privacy code. Key in your
privacy code (Do not hit enter) and click on continue. The privacy code is case
sensitive. Please write down this code so you will remember it. There is no way that
customer service can help you open files if you lose your password. You will need to
reinstall the program.

Figure 2a: You will come to this privacy code screen every time you launch the
PrayTimer software. Key in your privacy code.
(Click here to see figure 2a)

The Unlock button allows you to unlock private prayers to allow them to be
included in mailed or printed lists.

The Leave Private Prayers Locked button allows you to prevent prayers from
being seen by anyone. Prayers are initially locked on the “add new” page and can be
unlocked from there. A locked prayer will appear on the screen as “private prayer.”

Figure 3: Daily Prayer Plan Page

(Click here to see figure 3)
The next screen is the Daily Prayer Plan Page. This page lists all of the requests that
have been added or imported for that date.

The first thing you may want to do is import the Read the Bible through in a year
verses, missionaries’ birthdays, and 31dayprayermap. (See the Quick Start Guide at
the beginning of this chapter, for specific instructions. Please visit
www.namb.net/praytimer for updated and additional import files).

On Figure 3, the yellow dot on the small calendar indicates the date chosen. It
defaults to the computer date upon entering the program. Click on arrows or date
fields to change dates.

Adoration Confession, Thanksgiving (ACTS) fields: key in your individual

responses for these three fields. The preferences area allows you to choose to
include or exclude these fields when you print.
Supplication area: Fill in this area when you use the " import" button or use the "
add new" request button.
Folder Tabs: Click on the tabs to the far right to go to pages that allow print, views,
and customization options. (You may have to use the right arrow at the bottom of
your Windows screen to move the view area to the right).
Add new button: click here to add/change a prayer request (See figure 6). A blank
entry is added to the master list if you access this page without adding data.

Import button: allows you to import .tab data files. (See Figure 10 or the Quick
Start Guide at the beginning of this chapter for specific import directions.) The
import function help page is located on the add new page. Click on the question
mark at the bottom left of the screen and proceed through each page.
Export button: allows you to send requests to Outlook or other Calendar programs.
Under this tab, the day you have displayed will be exported (See Figure 11 for
specific export directions). The export function help page is located on the add new
page. Click on the question mark and proceed through each page.
Print button: allows you to print the daily page in the chosen format. You can
choose to print with the ACTS fields or without them. Choose the 5.5x8.5 to print on
a precut commercial calendar page. Feed from the front with the holes going into the
printer first.
8.5x11 portrait: allows you to choose from seven print styles. You have several
options to fit your paper calendar binder. Landscape means the calendar will print
long ways on the paper. You will usually want to choose the expanding option that
allows you to see the entire text in each calendar block. There are also options for a
3x5 card and for a prayer list without the calendar templates. (Avery Laser Rotary
cards # 5386 work very well in Laser printers).
Bottom left of the screen navigation bar: The first three icons help adjust the
viewing size for different computer monitors. The next icon provides a left of the
screen status panel which allows you to navigate through the entire master list of
records. The browse button is inactive.

Figure 3a: Question Mark/Help Pages

(Click here to see figure 3a)
Each page has a help page that can be accessed by clicking on the question mark at
the lower left corner of the screen.
Question mark: allows you to open the help file screens. Exit the help screen files
by clicking on the "Go back to daily prayer plan" button at the bottom left of the help
page.

Figure 4: Weekly Prayer View

(Click here to see figure 4)
This page provides a weekly template of requests for private use or for larger
groups.

Click on arrows or date fields to change dates. The top left identifies which week
you are currently viewing.
Add new button: click here to add/change a prayer request (See figure 6). A blank
entry is added to the master list if you access this page without adding data. You can
edit prayer requests on this page or from the master list (Figure 8).
Import button: allows you to import .tab data files. (See figure 10 or the Quick
Start Guide for specific import directions). The import help page is located on the
prayer page in the help pages.
Export button: allows you to back up your data, send requests to other PrayTimer
users, to Outlook or other Calendar programs. Under this tab the week you have
selected is exported. (See Figure 11 or the Quick Start Guide for specific export
directions). The export help page is located on the prayer page in the help pages.
Preferences: Click here to go to the preferences page and change the beginning
day of the week. You may prefer to distribute prayer lists from Wednesday to
Tuesday, or Monday to Sunday (see Figure 9).
Print button: allows you to print the weekly page in the chosen format. You can go
to preferences to choose to print with or without the ACTS fields. You can choose an
expanded print option by selecting the button at the top of the screen. You can also
add a customized header and logo from the preferences page.
8.5x11 portrait: allows you to choose from seven print styles. You have several
options to fit your paper calendar binder. Landscape means the calendar will print
long ways on the paper. When the amount of text exceeds the size of the daily field,
click on the field to see all text.
Question Mark: allows you to open the help file screens. Exit the help screen files
by clicking on the “Go back to weekly prayer plan” button at the bottom left of the
help page.

Figure 5: Monthly Prayer View

(Click here to see figure 5)
This page provides a monthly template to help manage the number of daily requests.

Click on any calendar day to see text on the right hand view.

Print button: Allows you to print the monthly page in the chosen format. You can
choose to print with the ACTS fields or without them.

8.5x11 portrait: allows you to choose from seven print styles. You have several
options to fit your paper calendar binder. Landscape means the calendar will print
long ways on the paper. The Expanding option allows you to see the entire text in
each calendar block. There also are options for a 3x5 card and for a prayer list
without the calendar templates

Click on arrows or date fields to change dates

Question mark: allows you to open the help file screens. Exit the help screen files
by clicking on the "Go back to monthly prayer plan" button at the bottom left of the
help page.

Figure 6: Add/remove change Prayer (Prayer Detail) page

(Click here to see figure 6)
Use this page to add individual and corporate prayer requests.

Subject and Reason boxes: optional fields to help you categorize the prayer
request. Modify the field by clicking in the box.
Source: describes where the prayer originated. It identifies the import file or the
name entered in the Preferences field.
Prayer: enter the prayer request.
Answer: enter how the request is answered.
Answer date: allows you to include the date this prayer was answered.
Calendar dates scheduled for this Prayer: shows how often and when each
prayer request is scheduled (This is changed by using the "Set Calendar Schedule"
Button).
Prayer Navigation: allows navigation through the entire master prayer list.
Search button; complete that screen to find a prayer request
Print button: Allows you to print prayer requests by date, subject, reason, source
or time.
Add new button: add/change prayer requests. Each request is automatically saved
to the master list. In fact, a blank file is saved to the master list if you click on that
button and do not add data.
Duplicate button: allows you to duplicate this screen so you can change part of the
data or so you can import, export, or add to calendar.
Delete button (red dash): allows you to permanently remove the active prayer
request. There is no undo.
Preferences button: allows you to set your identity and preferences (see Figure
9) .
Import button: allows you to import .tab data files (See Figure 10 or the Quick
Start Guide for specific import directions). Import instructions are found on the help
files for this page.
Export button: allows you to send requests to other PrayTimer users, Outlook or
other Calendar programs. (See Figure 11 or the Quick Start Guide for specific export
directions). Export instructions are found on the help files for this page.
Email button: allows you to email a single request or a found set of files to other
people.
Set Calendar Schedule button: takes you to the screen to schedule how often and
when you pray for each request (See Figure 7).
Private button: Locks the request so it cannot be sent, mailed or printed.
Public button: allow you to determine each prayer is for public sharing.
Question mark: allows you to open the help file screens. Exit the help screen files
by clicking on the "Go back to prayer detail view" button at the bottom left of the
help page. Click on the "more" button to see more help files including the export and
import instructions.

Figure 7: Schedule How often and when to Pray page

(Click here to see figure 7)
Use this page to schedule how often and when you wish to include each prayer
request on your calendars.

Selected Prayer: you can edit the selected pray request in this box.
Subject and Reason: optional fields to help you categorize the prayer request.
Source: describes where the prayer originated. It identifies the import file or the
name entered in the preferences field.
Prayer: enter the prayer request
Scheduled Occurrences for this prayer: shows how often and when each prayer
request is currently scheduled. Notice how it adds the information when you "setup
your repeating schedule" below. If this field is blank, this prayer request is not
scheduled to show up on any dated prayer lists.
Set up your scheduling options box:

• Between Date and Date: Set the date you want to begin and end praying
for this request. The default beginning is the current computer date and the
default ending date is the end of the current year.
•
Schedule this prayer: Determine if you want to pray for this request once,
daily, once or more per week, once or more per month, or yearly. Notice that
you can check the schedule in the Scheduled Occurrences box above.
Add to calendar: Be sure to click here to add this request to the calendars. All of
the prayer requests will then be added to your calendar in accordance with the date
and frequency instructions you have given. Check the "Scheduled Occurrences for
this Prayer" box to confirm the schedule for that prayer request.

The red border is permanent and does not change after adding the file to the
calendar.

If you click on the add to calendar and receive figure 7a you have already added this
request. Clicking on replace allows you change the current request. Clicking on add
indicates you want to duplicate the request. You can delete an entire import by going
to the master list.

Done: click to return to the prayer summary page. Be sure to click on the "Add to
calendar" button first if you want to save this data.

(Click here to see figure 7a)

Figure 8: Master Prayer Request list

(Click here to see figure 8)
This page lists all prayer requests separate from the calendars
Click in any field to see the entire prayer request

Mark Found button: ( at the top of the page) allows you to add a check mark to all
prayer request boxes in this list. Check the record indicator to confirm the number of
files marked.
Un-mark button: allows you to remove the check mark from all prayer request
boxes in this list.
Search button: allows you to search for existing prayer requests. Use this feature
to find, mark and delete the former months and quarters of prayer requests.
Otherwise you will acquire a very large database on your hard drive.
Find Marked button: allows you to sort the marked boxes to the top of the list.
Show all button: allows you to show all prayer requests in the master list,
canceling the find marked list.
Print button: allows you to print all marked entries.
Lock All button: allows you to lock private prayers to ensure they are not exported
or mailed.
Unlock All button: allows you to unlock private prayers for export or sending.
Add new button: to add/change prayer requests. Those requests are automatically
saved to the master list. In fact, a blank file is saved to the master list if you click on
that button and do not add data (see Figure 6).
Delete List button: allows you to click on multiple files and delete them
simultaneously. WARNING: This button will delete the entire master list
(marked or unmarked) if no other set of files is found. Be sure to click on the
unmark button before marking the files you wish to delete. You may want to double
check the marked files for deletion by clicking on the Show All button. The program
remembers as a set of files the program you just downloaded. So you can delete that
download if it is a duplication or if you changed your mind. Use the search function
to locate a large number of files for deletion without having to click on these
individually.
Import button: allows you to import .tab data files (See Figure 10 or the Quick
Start Guide for specific import directions).
Export button allows you to send requests to other PrayTimer users, Outlook or
other Calendar programs. (See Figure 11 or the Quick Start Guide for specific export
directions).
Record area: (at the top right) allows you to navigate through the master list.
You may sort the records by column.
Mark column (Boxes): Check these boxes to choose a prayer request to
view/change/send or print.
Subject column: Presents the subject you typed in or imported for the prayer
request. The color-coded subject area helps you to balance prayer requests for
unbelievers (red), believers (green) and personal spiritual needs (blue).
Prayer column: abbreviates each prayer request. Click on the field to see the
complete prayer request.
Reason column: Presents the reason you typed in or imported the prayer request
Answer column: Click in the answer column of the request to type when that
prayer is answered (be sure to include the date answered).
Source column: Shows where this request came from, including imported files.
Red Dash: clicking on the red dash allows you to delete that prayer request. There
is no undo. You probably will want to delete earlier prayer lists to keep from creating
a large database on your hard drive.
Blue Arrow: (on the left of each request). Clicking on the arrow takes you to a
screen that allows you to edit and determine if the chosen prayer request is to be
scheduled once, every day, once a week, once a month or once a year. Set the date
to begin and end each prayer request.
Status Bar (to the left of the screen): Allows you to navigate between pages of the
master list.
Question mark: allows you to open the help file screens. Exit the help screen files
by clicking on the "Go back to prayer list view" button at the bottom left of the help
page.

Figure 9: Preferences Page:

This page allows you to set preferences for the PrayTimer software.
(Click here to see figure 9)

My Name: This name is used to identify the source of the new prayers that you add
to PrayTimer and that you share (export) to others. You may want to use your
church or class name here.
Privacy: Allows you to 1) set all new prayers to default as private, meaning that
they will not be included in any exported or mailed lists. 2) Set all new prayers to
default as public, meaning they can be exported and mailed.
Change Privacy code: Allows you to change your privacy code. Write down your
privacy code so you do not forget it. Remember the code is case sensitive. (Capital
letters or lower case letters must always be capital or lowercase as you originally
entered.) Customer support cannot help if you lose your privacy code.
Default Prayer Time: You may include a default time to include on your prayer
request.
Logo: Allows you to change the logo on the PrayTimer pages. Click on the red "X" to
delete this logo. Click on the green "plus" sign to add a new logo from clip art or
notepad.
First Day of Week: Allows you to change the first day of the week for your
calendars. (For example: You may prefer Thursday if you distribute the request lists
on Wednesday night.) Press the Update calendars button to change the calendars to
the day of the week you have chosen.
Printing: Allows you to choose 1) To include the information you key into the ACTS
fields when printing calendars or lists, or 2) To NOT include the information from the
ACTS fields on the printed calendars or lists.
Calendar Headers: Allows you to customize the headers of each printed calendar or
list. Key in the header you wish to include for each of the calendar templates.
Question Mark: Takes you to the help files for this page. Exit the help screen files
by clicking on the "Go back to preferences dialog" button at the bottom left of the
help page.
Print button: Allows you to print the daily page in the chosen format. You can
choose to print with the ACTS fields or without them. Choose the 5.5x8.5 portrait to
print on a precut commercial calendar page. Feed from the front with the holes going
into the printer first.
8.5x11 portrait: allows you to choose from four print styles. You have several
options to fit your paper calendar binder. Landscape means the calendar will print
long ways on the paper.
Bottom left of the screen navigation bar: The first three icons help with viewing
the screen on various monitors. The next icon provides a left of the screen status
panel which allows you to navigate through the entire master list of records. The
browse button does not function.

Figure 10: Import Screen

This page explains how to import a .tab or .txt file
(Click here to see figure 10)

Import instructions also can be found under the help pages on the Prayer page.
Click on the Prayer tab. Then click on the question mark in the lower left of the
screen. Click on the “more” button until you come to import instructions.

Clicking on the Import button brings you to this import screen. The Praytimer
component allows you to import tab and text delimited files.

Each file will import the dates scheduled if you choose "yes" during the import
process. The import files folder includes several files for your use. 1)The
31dayprayermap.tab file provides a daily list of denominational and political leaders
for each North American state and province. Each Governor, local and national
denominational leaders are listed by name. The file also includes the name of a focus
country from the “10/40 window” that has been identified for corporate daily
intercession. 2) The Bibleinayear.tab file provides daily verses to help you read
through the Bible in a year. 3) The prayergram is a sample of the monthly
missionary prayer list that is available each month at namb.net/praytimer in the
library page. These specific requests from the field help you to pray for each listed
missionary request. It provides an example of what can be created for other
denominations, agencies and congregations. To import a database, click on the
Import button.

Figure 10a: Browse to the tab or text file you wish to import and click on the file.
PrayTimer will import the list into the master prayer list.
(Click here to see figure 10a)
Create your own customized database by using the add new screen (Figure 6).
Create a separate entry for each prayer request. Include a calendar date if you wish
to pray on a specific request on a certain day or with a certain schedule. Create an
export file (Figure 11) of those requests.

Figure 10b: The program will then give you the option of including each calendar
date so that each calendared prayer will show up on that day's prayer list.
(Click here to see figure 10b)

Figure 11: Export Screen

(Click here to see figure 11)

This page explains how to export a file. Export instructions also can be found under
the help pages on the Prayer page. Click on the Prayer tab. Then click on the
question mark in the lower left of the screen. Click on the “more” button until you
come to export instructions.

1. Clicking on export in each page will default to export the files highlighted on that
page.

2. To create a customized export file, Click on the “Master List” button to take you
to the master prayer list (see Figure 8).

3. Click in the box beside each request you wish to export. (Create additional
requests by clicking on the Add New button.)

4. Click on the Find Marked button.

5. Click on the Export button, create the file name, and save the file.

Remember where you save the file.

Then, e-mail that file to your sponsor congregations, friends, class, or anyone you
wish to add this file to their PrayTimer or CPMS editions. Use the export option to
create back-up files periodically for your prayer requests.

Figure 11a. Future versions will allow you to export a file into your Microsoft
Outlook calendar program and from there to your Palm computers.
(Click here to see figure 11a)

For technical support please email praytimer@namb.net or call 1 888 749-7479 in

the afternoons Eastern time. This is a free call to you but we pay for each minute.
Please help us be good stewards of that line.

Conclusion: The technology can be helpful as a means and not an end in itself.
Please use it to maximize your personal prayer time and see what the Lord will do.