REVIEW OF “EVANGELISTIC PRAYER” by DR. J. KIE BOWMAN (2024)

At first glance, Evangelism and Prayer appear to be two different attributes of the Christian Life? Dr. J. Kie Bowman, in his latest book “EVANGELISTIC PRAYER” (PrayerShop Publishing, 2024) specifically, through the very words of Jesus Himself, how they not only intersect, but are two sides of the same coin.

 

The book, by Senior Pastor Emeritus of Hyde Park Baptist Church/the Quarries of Austin, Texas at first appears manageable enough to read in a single two or three-hour sitting. That would be selling yourself short. It took me a week to go through “Evangelistic Prayer”. It was not only because the author recommended using a pen and highlighter to read it. It is simply because of its richness’ its Biblical foundation and its many life changing illustrations in recent church history.

 

The eight (8) chapters of “Evangelistic Prayer” are chock full of
proactive points at the very end. These points or “PRAYER PROMPTS” as Dr. Bowman calls them, are tools which I would recommend for prayer huddles; prayer small groups or church prayer meetings at any and all times. Also, if you pick this book up and read it, as intended, and then allow the Holy Spirit to lead, you will find yourself becoming a regular user of the “MY PRAYER LIST” feature. Both tools are the end of each chapter. These are two enriching qualities of an excellent work by Pastor Bowman, who I know practiced what he preached (and wrote) at Hyde Park Church and elsewhere.

 

In January 2022, I started a twice-monthly prayer meeting at the oldest Baptist church in Illinois – Springfield First Baptist, where I began a long-running men’s bible study in 2012. We launched this prayer meeting with 5 people, where the hour or so was ordered with first praise and a hymn, before intentional intercession, to get into a routine. After three months, I handed it over to the new senior pastor of the Church. While it was structured with an opening hymn and praying through several psalms and portions of Scripture, it was when I introduced the One Cry Prayer Guide, from Byron Paulus, the meeting really grew in numbers.  It is now in Year 3 and flourishing. Not only can each individual, huddle, or prayer group do likewise but the “My Prayer List” can be enhanced by then going into the One Cry Guide (HERE)  to develop “evangelistic praying” for lost friends, family, communities, and a nation.

 

The main takeaways I got from this best little book I have read so far, in 2024 are these:

• Evangelism is Biblical and the Lord is willing that none should perish. We are the Hands and Feet of Jesus, so we must have a tremendous burden for the Lost…thereby sharing the good news with as many as possible. We can’t miss – the majority of mankind in this “Christian” are not born again.
• Evangelism cannot be successful without prayer. The Lord is sovereign and can lead us to a person but the most successful form of evangelism that lead the Lost to Christ, begins/continues and ends with prayer.
• Without a foundation of prayer, souls will not be saved and lives cannot be changed. I have personally been a part of three tent revivals. Along with my own preaching and music teams, I led two tent revivals (2015-2016) in Springfield, two years in a row and was part of another one in 2002 run by Life Action Ministries. Life Action Ministries have the best system – a non-stop prayer tent, with intercessors and where the 250 who got saved over those 18 days went, as they got saved. Dr. Bowman recounted similar type tent meetings in his “Evangelistic Prayer”

This review of Dr. Bowman’s “EVANGELISTIC PRAYER” began with a mention of the Words of Jesus as the underpinnings (in my humble view) of evangelistic prayer. Jesus gets the final words: "Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few, Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38) 

BUY DR. KIE BOWMAN’S BOOK HERE

PRAYER CONNECT MAGAZINE

ONE CRY WEBSITE

  

CONSIDER THIS: COMMAND

 "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success….Joshua 1:8

Old Fashioned Tent Revival (Image Courtesy Pinterest)

CONSIDER THIS: The command from Joshua to the Israelites entering Canaan is for all people of all time. The book of the Law of God – Bible – is for all generations until He comes and we know this from several scriptures. Our calling is the following:  NOT to let it depart from our mouths/hearts/minds; to meditate on it always and to walk carefully in Holiness! Is this easy? No, it is not. We are going to drop our phone or tablet and crack the screen. Subsequently, the urge to let out a four letter word is right there. If it slips out, repent immediately, but if the Bible is second nature to you, then recall the words of Isaiah who told God face to Face “I am a man of unclean lips”, and the Lord cleansed his mouth with a burning coal. Bringing Scripture to mind will avert almost ANY desire to react in sin and fury.

ACTION:  Start memorizing Scripture. Apart from just reading over and over and memorizing that way, a good way is to write it out by hand. Using your prayer journal or ESV or other Journaling Bible, start by writing out Psalm 23. Be slow and intentional by focusing on every line which is written. When this is memorized, go to Psalm 34 and write only a portion per day. DO that for a month and watch the difference  both in you and in your alone time with the Lord.

Heavenly Father, thank you for Jesus, Who is the Word Who became flesh. Your Word in the natural here on earth is all we need, after Salvation and to continue to fight that which lives accuses and attempt to deceive us. Wpsalm e thank You that Jesus shows us how to approach these less-than-ideal situations by the Sword of the Word  – as in “It is written”. Help us to be so saturated by the Word of God that it becomes second nature and we can draw on the right verse, at the right time, for any occasion, for such a time as this, in Jesus Strong Name amen.

DEEP SEA PRAYING

TEXT:

Jonah 2 

 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying,

“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,
    and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
    and you heard my voice.
3 For you cast me into the deep,
    into the heart of the seas,
    and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows
    passed over me.
4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away
    from your sight;
yet I shall again look
    upon your holy temple.’
5 The waters closed in over me to take my life;
    the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
6     at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
    whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the pit,
    O Lord my God.
7 When my life was fainting away,
    I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came to you,
    into your holy temple.
8 Those who pay regard to vain idols
    forsake their hope of steadfast love.
9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving
    will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
    Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER 2020 ROUNDUP

The Annual National Day of Prayer Illinois State Capitol event was canceled for the public part of it, but it was still the Day of Prayer. Thanks to the great management of our local Christian radio station, and Moody Bible Radio affiliate - the WLUJ Family of Stations, we were able to assemble our small group of 6 praying ministers and record the most powerful and anointed appeal to Heaven we have had in recent memory. 


That pre-recorded broadcast was then played across the stations many frequencies from the Mississippi River to the Indiana Border - a listening area of over 3 millions people.

In order of Prayer, on the National Day of Prayer across America, our prayer leaders were:
Pastor Joey Krol (Galilee Baptist, WLUJ Morning Host) - Opening Prayer
Pastor Patrick Groth (Hope Church) - The Glory of God
Pastor Mac Dalton (Radiant Church ) - Government (Federal, State, Local)
Pastor Eddie Pullen (Il. Southern Baptist Association IBSA) - The Church, Missions, The Lost

Bernie Lutchman (BMIC) - Families
Pastor John Swinford (Sweetwater Christian Church) - The Military, First Responders, Medical Personnel

Pastor Eric Ginder (New Life Tabernacle) - The Judiciary, Transformation, Vision.

The audio from the radio station will be available at a future time.

EIGHT KEYS TO REVIVAL

TEXT:  2 Chronicles 34-35 (KJV) - PUBLIC DOMAIN

34 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.

2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.

3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.

4 And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.

5 And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.

6 And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.

7 And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.

8 Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God.

9 And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin; and they returned to Jerusalem.

10 And they put it in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of the Lord, and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of the Lord, to repair and amend the house:

11 Even to the artificers and builders gave they it, to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed.

12 And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it forward; and other of the Levites, all that could skill of instruments of musick.

13 Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and were overseers of all that wrought the work in any manner of service: and of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters.

14 And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the Lord given by Moses.

15 And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.

16 And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and brought the king word back again, saying, All that was committed to thy servants, they do it.

17 And they have gathered together the money that was found in the house of the Lord, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and to the hand of the workmen.

18 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.

19 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes.

20 And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king's, saying,

21 Go, enquire of the Lord for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do after all that is written in this book.

22 And Hilkiah, and they that the king had appointed, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college:) and they spake to her to that effect.

23 And she answered them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Tell ye the man that sent you to me,

24 Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah:

25 Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched.

26 And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to enquire of the Lord, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard;

27 Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord.

28 Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again.

29 Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

30 And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the Lord.

31 And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book.

32 And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

33 And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the Lord their God. And all his days they departed not from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.

NEHEMIAH'S PRAYER - STILL RELEVANT TODAY.

TEXT: NEHEMIAH 1:4-11 (KJV) - PUBLIC DOMAIN

4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,

5 And said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:

6 Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned.

7 We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.

8 Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations:

9 But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.

10 Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand.

11 O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer.

BOOK REVIEW: CITY OF PRAYER (2019)

AMERICA'S UNCEASING PRAYER MOVEMENT

There is only one major American city, of which it can be said, that it is completely blanketed in daily Prayer. On the surface,  Austin, Texas, whose motto is “Keep Austin Weird” may seem like the unlikeliest place for the most concentrated, sustained and focused city-wide movement of prayer in this great country.

Just as in the Third Great Awakening began with one man’s vision for prayer  (Jeremiah Lanphier), Austin’s decade old “Unceasing Prayer Movement” began when one man and his wife. Pastor Trey Kent of Northwest fellowship Church in Austin Texas, and his wife, Mary Anne,  were prayer-walking their neighborhood one night in February 2008. There, under a street lamp, the Holy Spirit gave Pastor Kent a clear vision for a 24/7 prayer movement, powered by many churches from the capitol city of Texas – Austin.

Thus began execution of this divine directive, which quickly evolved into what is now 100 churches of all races and denominations, praying for their city, their churches and the lost. They pray, literally, 24/7/365.  CITY OF PRAYER is the first document of its type to not just record the success of a growing grassroots movement, but the book provides a roadmap which can be, and has already been reproduced in the USA, with interest from other countries!

Written by Pastor Kent and Dr. Kie Bowman of Austin's Hyde Park Baptist Church, CITY OF PRAYER gives not just the history of what is now "The Unceasing Prayer Movement" and "Austin Prays", but also a brief primer on the great revivals and moves of God in the last 150 or so years. These Revivals/Awakenings began with and were fueled only by prayer. Some of the prayer movements of Scripture are also looked at, as a foundational to this book.

Chapters include such themes as: A Culture of Prayer; A People of Prayer; The People of Prayer; Launching 24/7 Prayer in Your City and the Results of Prayer. Without "spoiling the end", as "they" say, this group of churches fervently praying in Austin brought a direct answer from Heaven, which ended a terrible drought in Central Texas! 

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE CITY OF PRAYER

The Chapter on "Launching Your Own 24/7 Prayer Movement in Your City" is of particular interest to me. I have been part of now five year old and on-going, intentional, twice per month noon prayer meeting of some local pastors and just anyone who loves to prayer. We had met for years on end from 2005 at the local HOP or House of Prayer run by a good brother of mine- Scott Beauchamp. However since relaunching in recent years, more and more prayer leaders are coming by on our lunch hours on the First and Third Tuesdays of each month to press in for transformation (personal and city wide), the church and everything else that comes up. We have pastors who are Bible churches; Baptist, Assembly of God, Nazarene, Apostolic, Non-denominational and others I have no idea where they go to church. All I know is they love Jesus and love to pray.

When I assumed leadership of the Annual National Day of Prayer event at the Illinois State Capitol, little did I know I was walking, as a prime target, into a blazing hot war. The Lord led me directly to this core group which were already in the infancy of our little city prayer group.  There is a living testimony as to the power of prayer to deliver, empower and embolden which I personally found in this group of praying men back in February 2006. I have never forgotten it as we move into Year 16 of facilitating the annual National Day of Prayer, and stay close to the flame of praying men and women of God, who are all about Jesus and the Holy Ghost. We may be growing very slowly, but there is something to persevering and pressing ahead, regardless, since our Audience is an Audience of One.

  

Almost every movement of God began with one man praying. The Third Great Awakening, the last great nationwide move of God in America, began in New York City in 1857 when one man with a vision for prayer – Jeremiah Lanphier. The first week Lanphier called a prayer meeting, no one showed up. But then on week, one other man showed up….and then more and more. The economic and socio-political conditions in the USA were not unlike those we have today.  Yet Revival spread like wildfire across the nation, leading to many millions saved and the gospel spreading like wildfire to the new American frontier! It laid the spiritual foundation which guided the nation through the devastating Civil War which followed very soon after the Awakening.

We are almost similar Civil War times, not with the Fort Sumters or Gettysburgs, but a civil war of Culture, Community and Church dysfunction. The only answer is the Praying Church. Get this book and let the Lord lead us to what He would have us do.

LINKS:

The PrayerShop

AUSTIN PRAYS

National Day of Prayer

THE JOYFUL LIFE - THE BLESSINGS OF FORGIVENESS, PART 1

At a recent series of Revival Services, where I led worship music on the opening night (October 9, 2019) two major things happened which affected the lives and even the eternity, of members of two distinctive churches. Both entities were personally revived and both experienced the Joy and Freedom of Forgiveness.

The final service was on the regular Sunday morning service with the title "Embracing Forgiveness". In it, my good friend, the Texas pastor/author Dr. David King, who has a background in both Christian radio and church leadership, used the story of Joseph in the Book of Genesis. Joseph as the example of HOW to live a life of forgiveness which reflects both God and the willingness to complete our mission here on earth, with the richness and inner peace which only comes from the Father. We know this story very well. The favorite son of the patriarch Jacob was sold into slavery by this brothers, who schemed and told their father that Jacob was dead....simply because they hated him. Fast forward two decades later and Joseph is the prime minister of Egypt, whom the Lord used to save the entire world from famine. He rescued those same brothers and their families, forgiving them in an act of Mercy which only came from God. He never told a soul about it. (READ MORE ABOUT THAT HERE).

There is HUGE BURDEN lifted when we forgive others. HOWEVER, we can never really know what that means until we are forgiven ourselves! To that end, we begin a new series in Psalm 32, in part, to personally know this powerful pardon from the Lord. In Psalm 32, King David has repented fully before the Lord, for his murderous adultery with Bathsheba. We read his prayers of repentance and sorrow in Psalm 51, which is the example for us to go to God with, when we have blown it so bad, that we think the Lord cannot forgive us.

Now in Psalm 32, the Holy Spirit-inspired author of the Psalms (most of them) - King David, has his eyes opened as what God has really done for him, by forgiving him of his crimes against both God and man. It was too late for David to apologize to Uriah the Hititte, whom he had killed so he (David) could cover up the affair with Uriah's wife, but David did the right thing by responding to God exposing his sin. Now, he shares for all the ages, how this really feels.

Psalm 32, verses 1 and 2 (NKJV):

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

There are three varying degrees of sin listed here, which we have ALL committed and some, maybe still do. Each one is worse than the other one:

Transgression: (pesha, or the rebellion of humans against God which will send the majority of the world away from Him. This can be forgiven if the sinner is truly repent and is the highest degree of sin).

Iniquity: (awon or willfully and blatantly knowing God's standard but breaking it anyway)

Sin: (chattah or missing the mark or the threshold of the Lord).

Here, David is committed all three when he disrespected God, broke all His Commandments and basically not just crossed the line, but willingly blew across it.

The key is Repentance.

The original bible word for "BLESSED" is "Esher" which basically means perfect happiness which cannot be bought by things or conditions, but only comes from the love, grace and peace of Almighty God! Basically, it means - joy.

The other key word to note here is "impute", where God does not consider or hold this against us anymore. We will still have to face the CONSEQUENCES of those sins in our time here on earth, unless we attempt to make it right and others forgive us. To achieve that and to fully receive the blessings of this imputation from the Lord, we must fully embrace forgiveness - and truly forgive others, while not holding anything against them.

This is a hard calling. Are we up to it? Yes, we are.

COLLEGIATE DAY OF PRAYER: THIS THURSDAY

This Thursday February 28 is the Annual Collegiate Day of Prayer across America. Many of us have signed up to pray for more than one college. As men and women of prayer, we encourage every praying Christian to take this challenge up to really pray hard for our young people in college.

  

If there ever was a time to pray for our kids in college and high school it is now. Everything ungodly and unwholesome is aligned against them. From indoctrination into the denying the existence of Creator God through Evolution, to deny the Commands of God for specific roles and functions of the human body in holiness, sexuality, daily and contented living, our next generation are being confused on purpose, while being taught that there is no such thing as absolute truth or one true God.

ADOPT A CAMPUS TO PRAY FOR 

Facts:

• 70% of college age kids who grew up in church, and/or Christian homes lose their faith in college (Campus Renewal 2017)
• 47% of young people/millennials and college kids, think that sharing their faith is wrong! (Barna February 2019)
• Only 33% of so-called “evangelical” young people (high school and college)  believe Jesus is the only way to Heaven! (Christian Post 2013)

What to pray for on the Collegiate Day of Prayer:

• The salvation of the souls of these young people in our college. The majority are oblivious to the facts of the brevity of life or heaven and a literal hell, which will be overpopulated if they ignore the facts.
• That campus ministries be allowed to flourish, even in some of the Midwest and friendly western states which still believed in the US Constitution of freedom of Assembly and Religious Liberty.
• That churches around our campuses will invest time and effort and outreach to college age young people as is done in North West Arkansas.  Cross Church, formerly First Baptist Church of Springdale, invested in a campus pastor – Brian Mills – who has devoted his  home and his life to the current and next generations of college kids, not just from America but from ALL nations, at the University of Arkansas. Pray for more men like Pastor Mills.
• Pray for mentors to step up and reach out to these young people - men and women, mentoring young men and young women respectively.
• Pray for a renewed love of the Savior by those who grew up in church but walked away, as well as those who are yet to encounter Christ.
• Pray for the Word of God - the Bible - to be distributed into the hands of every college student in America, and that they will read, comprehend and find comfort and salvation in God's Word

THE COLLEGIATE DAY OF PRAYER STARTED IN 1823, WHEN COLLEGES LIKE YALE, BROWN AND OTHER AMERICAN COLLEGES WHICH WERE CHRISTIAN AT THE TIME, SET ASIDE THE LAST THURSDAY IN FEBRUARY AS A DAY OF PRAYER FOR ALL COLLEGES IN THE NEW AMERICAN COUNTRY. IT HAS CONTINUED SINCE THEN.