15 Guidelines for Participants in Corporate Intercession
By Eddie Smith

1. Come prepared to pray by stirring up your faith.

2. Sit together.

3. Speak up! Others cannot agree with what they cannot hear.

4. Avoid “preachy” praying and ministerial tones. Pray simply and conversationally.

5. Keep prayers concise, clear, and to the point.

6. Don’t read long passages of Scripture.

7. Don’t pray as you would in your private devotionals or pray through your personal prayer list.

8. Ask God; don’t explain things to Him.

9. Avoid addressing others in the room under the pretense of prayer.

10. Once you have prayed, wait for other people to pray before praying again.

11. When in doubt about what to pray, ask for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on your church and city. All other requests are fulfilled when that occurs.

12. -Try not to pray too big or too small. Pray for things the group can “get its faith around.”

13. Don’t be afraid of silence. It’s sometimes golden.

14. Listen to, agree with, and affirm each prayer.

15. Submit to pastoral guidance.

 

Establishing Monthly All Night Prayer Meetings
By Randy Booth

My local church in Lewes, Delaware, has found a way to both develop pray-ers and effectively undergird the ministries and concerns of the church through monthly prayer vigils.

Each month, a theme is selected to be the focus of 24 hours of prayer. Some of the more recent themes have been evangelism prayer (before Easter), vacation Bible school, healing for the ill within the congregation, and violence in schools. We put together a prayer guide for each theme, which offers specific things to pray, appropriate scriptures, songs for meditation, and space so that pray-ers can write down what God might be saying to them or burdening them with on the subject. The guide is also made available on the church’s website.

Each prayer vigil is divided into 30-minute increments. Individuals can sign up for one or more slots. The goal is to pray around the clock during the vigil. Pray-ers are encouraged to pray with a prayer partner or spouse. Others are encouraged to pray even if they have not signed up for a slot (we have to print about 20 percent more guides than it has slots for pray-ers! ).

 

A Corporate Day-of-Prayer Retreat
By Alvin J. Vander Griend with Edith L. Bajema

A day-of-prayer retreat, an entire day spent with others in prayer, is one way of focusing your energy and attention on prayer and giving it the priority it merits. Your day of prayer may take different forms. but it should include the following basic elements.

1. Prayers of Praise and Thanks
Even before you spend time sharing with your group, it is important to focus on God and praise IIim. Begin with songs of praise, directing your thoughts as a group to the person and work of God.

2. Sharing Your Lives
Getting to know each other is an important part of a retreat. Ask each person to give a three-minute personal biography that includes a testimony of faith and a brief sketch of his or her journey into the discipline of prayer.

3. Prayers of Repentance and Recommitment
This is a cleansing experience that prepares you as a group for the work of prayer that lies ahead. Form prayer triplets, and spend time confessing before God the sins that stand in the way. Then rejoin the larger group. and sing songs that emphasize God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

4. Prayers of Intercession
Use this time to pray as one group (if you have more than 15 people. you should form two or more groups). Focus your intercession on the health and mission of the church and on the personal ministries of each person present.

5. Reflection and Sharing Time
Ask participants to write a brief journal entry addressing what they would say to God about themselves, their ministries, and their futures based on this prayer experience. Then have them write down what they sense God is saying to them. Gather the entire group, and ask each person to briefly read a portion of what he or she has written.

6. Future Commitment
As you come to the close of an intense day of fellowship in prayer. prayerfully consider making commitments to each other that extend into the future—praying for one another, meeting in a prayer support group, etc.

7. Closing
Give your closing moments together a sense of liturgy, a flow between yourselves and God, perhaps using Jude 24-25 as a word to God and 1 Thess. 5:16-19,21-24 as God’s word to you.

 

A Church That Prays vs. A Church Devoted to Prayer
By Fred A. Hartley III

A Church That Prays:
1. Prays about what it does.
2. Fits prayer in.
3. Prays when there are problems.
4. Announces a special time of prayer – some in the church show up.
5. Asks God to bless what it is doing.
6. Is frustrated by financial shortfall – backs down from projects.
7. Is tired, weary, stressed out.
8. Does things within its means.
9. Sees its members as its parish.
10. Is involved in the work of man.

A Church Devoted To Prayer:
1. Does things by prayer.
2. Gives prayer priority.
3. Prays when there are opportunities.
4. Announces a special time of prayer—the church shows up.
5. Asks God to enable it to do what He is blessing.
6. Is challenged by financial short-fall—calls for fasting, prayer, and faith.
7. Mounts up with wings like eagles„ runs and doesn’t grow weary, walks and does not faint.
8. Does things beyond its means.
9. Sees the world as its parish.
10. Is involved in the work of God.

 

How To Spend A Day With The Lord
By Katherine J. Kehler

Usually our days are filled with the demands of life crying for our attention; that’s why we need to plan personal retreat time to be with the Lord – four, eight, or twelve hours with nothing on our agenda except to bask in His love, to thank and worship Him, to listen to Him, to intercede for others, to lay your life and activities before Him and let Him give directions.
The Bible promises us in James 4:8, “Come near to God and He will come near to you.” He is waiting for you! Don’t rush. The objective is to spend relaxed, uninterrupted time with God, not to go through a format. These are mere guidelines. Let God be your guide.

Preparation
* Find a place where you can be alone and free from distractions.
* Bring your Bible, a notebook and pen, and worship music. Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving
* Begin with thanksgiving. Psalm 100:4 tells us, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.”
* Thank Him for His patience and forgiveness.
* Thank Him for the privilege of coming into His presence.
* Thank Him for what He has done in and through your life in the last year.
* Take time to list what God has done for you. Be specific. Think through every area of your life.

Confession
* Ask God to search your heart. Psalm 139: 23, 24
* Confess any sins the Holy Spirit reveals. Psalm 19:12
* Remember the certainty of forgiveness. 1 John 1:9
* Make certain you are walking and praying in the Spirit. Ephesians 5.15-20 Praise

Praise
* Become still before the Lord. Psalm 46:10
* Consider who God is. Psalm 103
* Praise Him for His attributes. Psalm 145
* Rejoice in your fellowship with Him and that He delights in you. Proverbs 15:8
* Read passages of Scripture and pray them back to God. Psalms 146 – 150 Sing to the Lord.

Intercession
* Pray your way around the world with unhurried, detailed intercession for others. Ask God to reveal the world to you from His point of view as you read Psalm 33.
* Begin with your non-Christians, friends, relatives, neighbors and others the Lord puts on your heart.
* Pray that the people who have never heard about Jesus would have an opportunity to hear and understand the gospel. 2 Peter 3:9
* Pray for those in authority – federal/national, provincial/state and municipal/county government leaders. I Timothy 2:1,2
* Pray for Christians ,using Paul’s prayers in Philippians 1:9-11, Colossians 1:9-12, Ephesians 1 :16-19.
* “By intercessory prayer we can hold off Satan from other lives and give the Holy Ghost a chance with them. No wonder Jesus put such tremendous emphasis on prayer!” – Oswald Chambers

Personal Life Evaluation
* Ask for understanding as you read an entire book of the Bible. Record insights God gives you.
* Ask God what He thinks of your life. Wait. Listen for His answer.
* Evaluate the use of the time, talent, treasure, education and experience God has entrusted to you. Are they glorifying to God? Do you need to change what you are doing?
* Discuss with the Lord your joys, your sorrows and decisions you are facing. Find promises and directives in the Bible which you can record.
* “The greatest answer to prayer is that I am brought into a perfect understanding with God, and that alters my view of actual things.” – Oswald Chambers

Concluding Your Day with God
* Praise and thank God for the fellowship you had today.
* Schedule the next “Day with the Lord” in your appointment book. Share with someone about your day.

This article “15 Guidelines For Participants In Corporate Intercession” by Eddie Smith was excerpted from Pray! Magazine.