An Overview of CityServe's Intercessors Network
I am excited you have chosen to consider joining our CityServe Intercessors Network prayer time!
We don't want to be so structured that we do not allow God to lead us but with some structure we can prepare.
We will keep at the forefront of our prayer time our desire to allow the Holy Spirit to lead.
In preparation for our monthly prayer time please consider an attitude of repentance and fasting.
We want to keep our prayer at a high strategic level.
Here are some areas we may consider:
- Praying for the lost in our cities
- The New Generation (Our children: their protection and spiritual training)
- Any specific requests you bring from your Pastor
- The CityServe leaders and Pastors for wisdom, righteousness and God's will
- Calendar Events for our Pastoral Leaders
- The CityServe Pastors Prayer Groups
- The CityServe Compassion Network
- The CityServe Youth Ministers Network
Why intercede?
Eph 6:12 - For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Our Goal
To become the army like the one that God prepared for David.
It was not only numerous but they were prepared, mature and ready for battle.
As an intercessor, it is important to spend quality time with God, being faithful in the small things.
God found David when the timing was right - in spite of his family not recognizing his call.
David killed the enemy with a small stone and huge faith.
1Ch 28:1 - Now David assembled at Jerusalem all the leaders of Israel:
the officers of the tribes and the captains of the divisions who served the king,
the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, and the stewards over all the
substance and possessions of the king and of his sons, with the officials,
the valiant men, and all the mighty men of valor.
Practices of effective intercession that can be adopted and adapted anywhere
- Develop a prayer strategy that complements the vision of the pastors and supports the ministries within our local churches
- Always remember that the ultimate goal is not to develop a prayer ministry - it is to become a praying church
- There will be resistance from the enemy - If plans fail, don't be discouraged, be flexible
Laying the foundation of an effective prayer strategy
- The best motivation to pray is love. Find out what people love and connect them with that area of prayer
- Pray for your leaders - if they model prayer, others will follow
- Pray big - Good is the enemy of great. Our God is big. We do not have to settle for mediocrity.
- Determine milestones and celebrate success along the way.
- Ask God - He is incredibly creative and has invested more than we ever could to have the opportunity to talk directly to each one of us.
Creating a passion for prayer
- Passion begins with you � personal renewal � the Acts church turned their world upside down because of the awesome personal change God made in their own lives
- Build up the passion � if you are excited and talking about it, it will spill over
- Communicate to your leaders success stories
The Objective of Intercession
Philippians 3:10
All I want is to know Christ and the power that raised him to life. I want to suffer and die as he did, so that somehow I also may be raised to life.
1. To know Christ more intimately; how He works and what He does, to see how He works in and through people
2. To see God�s power displayed more vividly
3. To share Christ�s burdens more deeply; Jesus cried for the pain of Jerusalem before entering the city. Through intercession we begin to share the burdens of the heart of God.
Centrality of Prayer in Scripture
2 Corinthians 5:20
We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
We need to know God's heart concerning prayer. We are called to be change agents for God. We are not supposed to just pass through life.
To whom and how are we to be change agents?
We are called to:
- Comfort the disturbed; bring change to those who are wounded;
- Disturb the comfortable; targeting those who are in bondage and don�t even know it.
- Be acceptable sacrifices.
- We are called to be agents of change but our sacrifices must also be acceptable.
1 Peter 2:5-6, 9
And now you are living stones that are being used to build a spiritual house.
You are also a group of holy priests, and with the help of Jesus Christ you will offer sacrifices that please God.
But you are God�s chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation.
God has brought you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Now you must tell all the wonderful things that He has done.
This verse shows us two things:
Our offerings must be acceptable.
Cain gave an offering to God, and it was a good offering of high quality, fruits and vegetables,
but it was not what God asked for and therefore was not acceptable.
Likewise, our offerings can be good, but if they are not what is requested by God, they will be unacceptable.
We are works in progress.
This verse calls us living stones; because we are living we are growing and changing.
This should give us great hope and encouragement as we learn to intercede.
Through our growth, prayers offered today will be more acceptable than prayers offered last year.
Our goal should always be to grow in our understanding of the heart, mind,
and ways of God so that our intercession is more effective, more targeted,
more biblical, and more appropriate.
God�s intent is that we offer acceptable prayers and to offer an acceptable prayer we must know to whom we pray.
Isaiah 55:8-9
The Lord says, my thoughts and my ways are not like yours. Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, my thoughts and my ways are higher than yours.
We must know our God to be able to pray the heart of God back to Him.
While we will never fully understand God in our earthly bodies, He has given us an incredible promise:
Jeremiah 31:33-34
'This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,' declares the LORD. 'I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, "Know the LORD," because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,' declares the LORD. 'For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.'
How to position prayer as the central work of the church
"The man who mobilizes the church to pray will have the greatest impact on world evangelism than anyone in history." Andrew Murray
Peter Wagner said the average pastor in America spends 5 min/day praying.
Bruce Demarest, Denver Seminary professor, states that the average Christian spends 5 minutes/day in prayer; average pastor only 7 minutes.
Jonathan Graff, editor of Pray! Magazine said that at best, 5% of churches have a significant mobilized prayer ministry.
Acts 6:4 "And we will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."
Marti Williams (adapted from Diana Graham)
