THE BENEFITS AND ETIQUETTE OF GROUP PRAYER

The Biblical Foundation for Corporate and/or small group prayer can be found almost exclusively in the New Testament, especially in the Early Church (Book of Acts).

Here are some of the benefits as well as the Scriptural references for group prayer and the Christ-like etiquette we must practice to accomplish this beautiful discipline.

THE ADVANTAGE LEADS TO ACTION - WHEN JESUS PRAYS FOR YOU!

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32)

We know from Scripture that the Lord Jesus, Creator of the world, our Master, Redeemer and friend HAS prayed for His disciples and all future believers (John 17). This is from His High Priestly Prayer where He is recorded, for all time, praying for those of us who follow Him to be protected by the Father IN this world (while we are alive) while not being OF this corrupt and evil world system. The Word of God also tells us, wonder of wonders, that He prays for us even now! (See Hebrews 7:25 "Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them"). In other words, we have an Advocate with the Father - at all times.

In case there is any question about the methodology of this, we read in Romans 8:26 that "In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words". This is the Spirit of Christ Who lives in us and is our conduit to the Father, and is the prime example why we MUST pray in Jesus' Name. 

These two verses above from Luke 22:31-32 are powerfully relevant to the Christian in that many are like Simon (Peter), to whom Jesus is declaring this stunning statement! How many of us, if told by the Lord, that the devil was after us, would brush it off? If Satan is after a Christian/follower of Jesus Christ, we can guarantee it is to destroy us, destroy our relationship with God and destroy our families. But there is something else going on in this short passage, which we need to take a hard look at, in terms of our own lives and journey with Jesus.

After studying the original language of this text and its context, these two verses are stunning for us everyday believers in the 21st century. Looking at it under the following headings, we see:

JESUS ADVISES:
"....Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat" (verse 31)
THE ADVERSARY: What Satan, the accuser of the brethren, the father of lies and destroyer of souls knows very well is very own character flaws. Simon Peter, Jesus' boldest and closest disciple, was a fearless man of the gospel who was also not afraid to shoot of his mouth first, and think later. When this happened, Jesus had already walked on the water, and Peter had tried - and succeeded - because of his brash spontaneity. Some would describe what Peter used to be (pre-Resurrection) as extreme self-confidence, even pride. The devil knows how to use our pride against us, causing us to fall. Satan should know. It was pride that caused his - Lucifer's- fall from heaven (Isaiah 12-17). 
THE ATTEMPT: Secondly, the "sifting" which Satan is demanding about Peter from Satan's creator - Jesus - is the same kind he used against Job. Satan basically told God that Job was only faithful to Him because God blessed Job. Satan was going to take the chaff from Peter here and use it to attempt to destroy Him, while when God uses His 'Refining Fire" on us, He uses it to purify us and bring us closer to Him. So Jesus is warning His disciple here, that he is in real danger. Likewise, when we step out of fellowship with Him, due to our sins of omission, commission, disobedience and pride, we basically put the same bullseye on our backs.

JESUS ADVOCATES:
"but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail" (verse 32a)
When the Lord intercedes for us, we cannot fail. First, we have to BE in a position where He would even want to pray for us! That is, we must and have to be one of His - i.e. born again, saved and a follower. This is also shows us that once we are born-again and saved, once the Lord Himself pray, for us, we stayed prayed up.
However, look at this again - Satan is going after Peter (and us) for destruction...knowing our weakness and failures as human beings. Then Jesus says "BUT" I have prayed. This "BUT"means A LOT! It means that no matter how dark and dangerous our situation or circumstances are, the High Priest of Heaven overrules! No matter how deep in despair and down we are, the Holy One of Heaven overrides. No matter how devoid of hope and even faith we feel, the Almighty I AM - Yahweh - is on our side. Just like Job, who said "though He slays me, I will trust in Him....I know my Redeemer lives", we can look over all our dark despair and apparent emptiness and realize - we do not have a problem with Faith, our current situation is a temporary valley AND we are just walking through a shadowy valley, where it is darkest before the dawn! With Jesus as our Advocate, Intercessor and Friend, we lack nothing, NOTHING!

JESUS ADVANCES
"and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers" (verse 32b)
THE ADVANTAGE: Now this may seem confusing on the surface. That is, what does it mean "you have turned again"? A closer study of the original language causes one to search the soul....as it accomplishes a primary purpose of Scripture! Remember now, Peter had boasted that he would lay down his life for Jesus, even though "others" may abandon Him. So at the first chance to test it in public, Peter not only denied Jesus THREE times, but did so with loud cursing and foul language! Once Peter had come to his senses and repented, relented and become forever changed and humbled, he was restored. When Jesus rose from the grave on Resurrection morning, He told Mary to go tell the Disciples AND PETER, that He had risen! God does not waste anything in His Word. He said AND Peter for a reason, just as the Paul mentioned that Jesus appeared to over 500 AND JAMES after the Resurrection! James went on to lead the Home Church in Jerusalem while Peter dictated the First Gospel to the great Mark and literally wrote the books of Righteous Living for God in 1 & 2 Peter!
Therefore the Advantage you and I have as Christians is that even when we mess up as, even to the point of blasphemy (not recommended by the way), He restores us because we are His and He loves us!  The Advantage is He has given us the gift of repentance and that if we are truly His, the Holy Spirit will reveal even unknown sin and our immediate confession will restore us just as it did for Peter.

THE ACTION: We are thus restored to then help a fellow believer - a sister or brother - come closer to Him. There are so many of us out there, full of guilt, shame and worse because of both imagined and/or real sin or difficulty.  What could be worse than denying Jesus three times with loud curse words....within His earshot?! Still, that man became Peter the Rock, the primary messenger of the Doctrine of Righteousness to the western world before Rome crucified him upside down during the first round of persecutions. When we are restored by the Lord, whether it be spiritually, physically or other wise, it is our divine duty to reach out to another.
I know people with ministries to orphans, or breast cancer victims/survivors, autistic kids or more. The argument against The Action we are called to is: "I can't do that"...or "I don't have the resources, money or anything to do that kind of thing"....or "I don't know anybody else going through this. Some or all of this may or could be true. The divine call still remains. If we know how to speak in love to another person, can afford a spare cup of coffee or can invite just one person to break bread in your home - that's a ministry. If you can just meet consistently with someone who is hurting or is now experiencing the same pains, hurts, fears and cares you just had - that's a ministry. If you can then multiply that to two, three or five people with similar issues and to top it off, show them how to persevere with Prayer and the Scriptures - that's YOUR ministry! You don't need a 501 C 3 tax exemption, a Board of Directors, a website, multi-media etc. What is recommended is staying in touch with a private blog open to only the group or a Facebook private support group - things that cost almost nothing.

The wonderful thing about Christianity is it is liberating. It is devoid of commands from our Leader to hurt and destroy people who do not believe like us...in fact, the opposite is true. We are supposed to pray for those who hate us, because they may see the error of their ways or not. Either way, they will be accountable and not you. The other wonderful thing about following Christ is that it is so peaceful, joyful and full of hope. It is for Freedom that He set us free (Galatians 5:1). 

The Advantage is ours in this game of Life because our Advocate (King Jesus) has defeated our Adversary (the devil) and He has advised us to advance the Kingdom with Action. This is the essence of the Redeemed of God, through all generations. Amen.

TEN DAYS OF PRAYER FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH: OCTOBER 24-NOVEMBER 2, 2014, Day 10

My friend, Pastor Mike Henderson said in his upcoming new book "SIFTED

GENERATION" that Hatred is the daughter of Persecution. If you look at the sheer evil and brutality of the forces of darkness - from Pakistan to the Iraqi deserts to Nigeria's Boko Harum - it is just pure out and out hatred for God. We also do have persecution and harassment of Christians in places like North Korea and

Reverend Lleonart Barrosa &
wife, Yoaxis Marcheco Suarez

the latest from Cuba is the wife of a pastor - Yoaxis Suarez - who is under heavy harassment by the communist government of the Castro brothers. These are the same Castro's whom American leftists and atheists deify as their role models for governing.

Several years ago, when Pope John Paul II visited Havana, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who owns 32 houses while most of his people starve, promised to reopen a Catholic church in Cuba. However the same compassion does not extend to evangelical Christianity and bible-preaching protestants who see the hopelessness and spiritual vacuum in Cuba. As a result of speaking out, several Cuban pastors are now under the gun and facing worse, on that island.

The following is from iCommitToPray as we lift up the latest incident from this Caribbean island, which is of prime importance to the United States, due to its proximity:
Authorities arrested the wife of a Cuban pastor and religious freedom activist on Oct. 16 and tried to force her to sign a document that could be used as justification for future arrests and criminal charges. Yoaxis Marcheco Suarez, the wife of Reverend Mario Felix Lleonart Barroso, refused to sign the document but was warned that she will face imprisonment if she continues to have contact with "counter-revolutionary" elements. Reverend Lleonart Barroso and his wife have had numerous run-ins with the police because of his activism and interaction with other pastors who have faced persecution from Cuban authorities.

YOU MAY ALSO POST A PRAYER HERE FOR HER AND ALL CHRISTIAN LEADERS IN CUBA (AND WORLDWIDE) WHO STAND NOT JUST FOR THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, BUT FOR THE RIGHT TO LOVE AND MINISTER TO HIS PEOPLE.
WE MUST ALSO PRAY FOR AMERICAN PREACHERS, WHO ARE THEMSELVES BEING SIFTED, TO STAND APART FROM THE PROSPERITY, WORD FAITH AND THE LIBERAL APOSTATES OF THE MAINLINE PROTESTANT CHURCHES.

LET US PRAY:
FATHER GOD, WE REMEMBER WHEN THE LORD JESUS SAID IN HIS WORD, TO "BE ON THE ALERT" AND STAND AND WATCH BECAUSE OUR REDEMPTION DRAWETH NIGH. LORD, WE KNOWETH NOT THE DAY OR THE HOUR WHEN WE SHALL BE IN THY PRESENCE AND MEET THEE FACE TO FACE, BUT FATHER WE KNOW WE ARE TO USE OUR TIME WISELY TO MINISTER TO THE LOST AND THE HURTING AND THE ABANDONED AS WELL AS THE PERSECUTED WORLDWIDE. HELP US TO STAND IN THAT TRUTH AND CALLING AND EVEN ANOINTING TO BE ALIGNED WITH THE MASTER AND HIS WILL, AS DEMONSTRATED AT THE CROSS AND ALL HIS TEACHINGS.

LORD, WE PRAY FOR NEW VIGOR, NEW VISION, NEW VICTORIES FOR THE KINGDOM DAILY....NOT THE KIND OF VICTORIES WHICH THE PERISHING WORLD COVETS BUT THOSE WHICH WILL SHINE THROUGH THE REFINING FIRE OF THE JUDGMENT WHEN WE, THE ELECT, STAND BEFORE THEE TO GIVE AN ACCOUNT OF OUR STEWARDSHIP. THE CORRUPT AND EVIL WHO RULE THIS CURRENT WORLD DECEIVE THEMSELVES AND THEIR FOLLOWERS THAT THERE IS NO JUDGMENT, THERE IS NO SIN AND THERE IS NO WRATH WHICH IS TO COME. THEY BLASPHEME YOUR WORD, YOUR DEEDS THROUGHOUT 6000 YEARS OF RECORDED HISTORY AND YOUR POWER, BECAUSE THEIR JUNK SCIENCE AND SCIENTISTS DO NOT KNOW YOU.

BUT WE KNOW YOU FATHER, THE MASTER PRAYED FOR US IN THE GARDEN IN JOHN 17 THAT WE MAY BE ONE AS YOU AND HIM, ADONAI, ARE ONE. THROUGH YOUR SPIRIT, OH ELOHIM, MASTER OF ALL THINGS, WE ARE NOW ONE WITH THEE AND THY PRECEPTS. WE ALSO ARE ONE WITH EACH OTHER AND THAT INCLUDES OUR BROTHERS WHO ARE PERSECUTED -WHETHER IT IS PASTORS AND THEIR WIVES RIGHT NEXT DOOR IN CUBA...OR ANYONE UNDER THE PERSECUTION OF ISLAM OR OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS HERE IN OREGON, COLORADO, NEW MEXICO OR THE SCHOOL CHILD WHO IS TOLD HE CAN'T READ HIS OWN BIBLE IN HIS OWN FREE TIME AT SCHOOL. LORD WE PUT THE ENEMIES OF CHRIST INTO THY HANDS AND PRAY THEM THERE FOR YOU ATTENTION, WHILE WE PRAY FOR THEIR SALVATION AND THE SOULS THEY ARE AFFECTING. BY DOING THAT, WE FULFILL THE SCRIPTURES TO PRAY FOR THE ENEMIES OF THE BRETHREN WILL LOVING ON OUR OWN PEOPLE - YOUR ELECT. FATHER GOD, YOU ARE OUR DEFENSE AND WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED. WE LOVE YOU, WE PRAISE YOU, WE MAGNIFY AND GLORIFY YOUR NAME, THROUGH CHRIST OUR KING AND COMMANDER, AMEN AND AMEN.

(Information and photos from Cuba, courtesy iCommitToPray.com)

THIRTY DAY PRAYER CHALLENGE - DAY 29

PRAY THE NAMES OF GOD

DAY 29
GOD IS INTERCESSOR


We have all prayed for someone else, at one point or another. That is called Intercession...i.e. pleading their cause before God.


If and when God answers our prayers to the benefit of that person, it is His Will. If He does the opposite, it is still the Will of God! His Will and His Ways are perfect, whether we like it or not. But we press on.


In the Old Testament, believers had to go to the synagogue and have the priests pray for them. Since Christ, we now have direct access to the Throne of Grace and can press into and pray ourselves.

Even so, Romans 8:26-27 says "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God" (Emphasis mine).


Therefore, this is how it works: we immediately know in the Spirit man or woman, if our prayers are meeting with agreement with Holy Spirit! Trust me! We do!  If a christian is walking the Spirit-filled life, she or he will be sensitive to Holy Spirit's promptings and, if we are really fortunate, He allows us to have prophetic insight into whether the person you just prayed for will be healed or have a broken heart mended or whatever the issue is!


This is the dynamic power God gave us as He revealed in John 1:12! We pray in the Spirit, Who IS God and then transmits to Father God, in Jesus' Name!

There is a stunning example of Jesus interceding for Simon Peter in Luke 22:31-32a "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (Emphasis mine)


Here is God the Intercessor, in the Person of Jesus Christ! Notice Jesus did not pray for Satan to leave Peter alone! He prayed that Peter's Faith does not fail! So what happened not too long after that? Well, Peter boasted about his loyalty to Christ...and then denied Him thrice with curses! So, friends, you and I must be careful about the things we do and say when engaging in spiritual warfare....which is what is actually happening, depending on the level of Intercession. 


Jesus' High Priestly prayer is the perfect living example of God as our Intercessor...or Prayer Warrior Advocate! I urge you to read John Chapter 17, by clicking here. In this chapter, Jesus first prayed for Himself (verses 1-5). Then He prayed for His disciples (verses 6-19). Jesus then prayed for all believers until the End of Time (verses 20-26).

Father God, in the Name of Jesus, I thank You, oh Most Holy and High God, that You are God and seated on the Throne. Father, I love, adore, praise, worship, magnify, glorify and lift up Your Mighty Name above all Names this day, which You have anointed to live fully in the Spirit - man for You...and You alone, in Jesus' Name.


I thank You most Holy Father for sending Your Spirit to live in us - all who believe in Your Son as the Lord of Heaven. I thank You that You gave Holy Spirit instructions to lift up our prayers and intercessions on behalf of others in a such way, that those prayers will be acceptable unto You.


I thank You that Jesus is our Intercessor and Prayer Advocate before the Throne! Lord, with Christ praying that our Faith not fail, how can it?! Lord, when Jesus prayed for us in John 17, He prayed that the glory You have Him, may now be ours! He prayed for unity between us believers and You, Almighty Abba in Heaven! Therefore, Lord I pray, in response, for Your church worldwide to stay on our knees, in one accord, until He comes!


He prayed for that unity to be so dynamic and powerful - that the World will see the Power of the Testimony of You living in and through us and therefore, come to know you and the Wonder of the Most High God. Therefore Lord, make me a living Bible to those with whom I come into contact.


He prayed and still prays that You, Father, continue to love us as You love Him! Lord I receive that Grace and Love! Thank you, Father.


Lord, Jesus used the word love or loved five times in three verses, Lord. He used the word know or known five times in the same three verses.  Lord, for Your Glory, I accept that unconditional love You gave Your Son, when He prayed this, and which He passed on to us, because You so freely gave it to Him before the world even began! We now KNOW that Love and respond in complete awe, amazement and submission to Your will, oh God.


Father, I gave Holy Spirit permission to cleanse from within that I may be ready to intercede for someone else as Christ did, for us,  in John 17 and still continues to, until He comes in glory, some day soon, in the Mighty Name of Jesus, amen.

TOMORROW: GOD IS JEHOVAH SHAMMAH

(image by google images)