||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NATIONAL PASTORS'
PRAYER NETWORK
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PRAYER STRATEGIES & INITIATIVES -
06/12/2001
...Finding New Ways To Connect In Prayer
__Send Your City's Story or
Strategy: phil@nppn.org
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Prayer Groups: http://www.nppn.org/ppg/
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* * S P E C I A L N P P N D I S
C O U N T O F F E R * *
Long Wandering Prayer: An Invitation To Walk With God
David Hansen, InterVarsity Press
A book for those of us who want to spend more time
with the Lord, but don't.
$10.99 before Special NPPN Discount (20%)
Your purchase benefits the NPPN!
Call 800-843-9487
Identify the book title
Give "NPPN" code
Receive an
immediate discount!
http://www.gospelcom.net/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=2283
Read/Download the NPPN interview with this author:
http://www.nppn.org/InnerViews/Innerview005.htm
* * S P E C I A L N P P N D I S
C O U N T O F F E R * *
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I N T H I S U P D A T E
... and for our
prayers:
1. PASTOR
PHIL'S PRAYER LETTER
2. NDP
- SAN ANTONIO, TX: BIBLE READATHON
3. A
PRAYER OF REPENTANCE
4. http://www.liveprayer.com/home.html
5. DALLAS,
TX: CITYWIDE PRAYER LEADERS CONSULTATION
6. WHAT
IS A HOUSE OF PRAYER?
7. STRATEGY:
CORPORATE PRAYER FOR CORPORATE AMERICA
8. CATHARTIC
PRAYERS
9. IF
YOU PRAY FOR YOUR PASTOR...
10. AMERICAN'S
PRISON: A PRAYED FOR COMMUNITY
11. PRE-PRAYER
EXERCISE
12. PENTECOST
PRAYERWALK
13. PIPER: PRAYER
ESSENTIAL IN SPIRITUAL BATTLES
14. PRISON
PRAYER MEETING EXPLODES
15. UNFILTERED,
UNBIASED, UNVEILED PRAYER
*
HOW ABOUT YOUR PPG...YOUR CITY...?
Send us some FEEDBACK to this update....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. PASTOR PHIL'S PRAYER LETTER
"How are you doing?" a good ministry friend asked me a few minutes ago
and my immediate response was to say "I'm overly blessed!"
Thanks, in no small part, to the prayer support of e-friends like you, the Lord
is guiding and guarding us through our transition. My current role, Strategic
Focus Cities Coordinator for Chicagoland's four Southern Baptist Associations,
concludes June 30th but God is enabling me to see the desires of my heart
fulfilled. I deeply desire to continue to network Christ centered
congregations throughout Chicagoland while developing the vital ministry of the
NPPN. God is providing both vision and support to continue these roles...
I'll share more soon - but, please take a moment and give thanks to God on
behalf of Carol (my wife) and me. Thanks for the honor of serving with the SBC
leaders and pastors these past two years. Gratitude for bringing t/his
dream into reality. Appreciation for NPPN friends who continue to pray on
our behalf.
Giving thanks for our partnership in the Gospel,
Pastor Phil Miglioratti
___________________________________________>>>
2. NDP - SAN ANTONIO, TX: BIBLE
READATHON
>From: Suzanne Dollar <suzanne@stic.net>
Thanks Jessica for the report on the Bible reading at City Hall. Everyone
who was there was indeed blessed to hear the Word or to be privileged to
read the Word over the city. It was a sacred time indeed. May God
bless everyone who was a part of this momentous occasion throughout San Antonio,
and even in Georgia.. At City Hall, the hour and a half gathering flowed as if
God was directing the time.....(and I'm sure He was!)....starting strong and
ending even stronger. I accredit it largely to the Word being read
as a preparation for prayer. His Word being declared first unto Him, seemed to
open up the heavens and allow God's hand to be upon the men and women who
prayed, the Mayor, the worship time, even the mayoral candidates. Not a person
came away, without concluding, "It was a glorious event!"
God bless you all! Soapy and Suzanne Dollar
>From: Jessica L Matthews <gideoninprayer@juno.com>
It takes 320 volunteers to read through the entire Word of God
in 10 minutes. God gave us an abundance of people willing to stop their
day and meld their voices with one another to the heavenlies for this. I
haven't had the opportunity to physically count them all, but I would estimate
we had between 400 and 500 volunteers (probably closer to 450)! They were quite
literally from all over San Antonio! I've heard of the following:
River City Fellowship Elementary read as entire classes.
International Bible College students joined us in the reading.
One small child in the gathering (without any prompting from
anyone) fell to her face in prayer, driving all those around her to do the same
- myself included!
One woman was absolutely thrilled to be able to join in on
ANYTHING the Lord was doing that day. She had been involved in an accident
5 years ago and her back went out now and then - NOW of course. She was
homebound for awhile and was heartbroken that she couldn't have any involvement
in the National Day of Prayer.
Another dear sweet little old lady just moved to San Antonio
and was scared to go anywhere. Said she didn't know any Christians here.
Now she was able to join her voice in with hundreds of others.
"Somehow" it made her feel a part of the church here, like she
met us, and knew us. Evidently it made her feel so comfortable, she called me at
the station
today to give me a prayer request. Praise God.
One woman couldn't go anywhere because of her three small
children, but she could go to the heavenlies with us right there in her living
room. And she could bring her children to the Throne Room as well. She
said she would read her assignment to them!
One man was on his way to work when the Lord reminded him the
time was close. The closest place for him to pull over and read his
section was a church (my own home church as a matter of fact - PRAISE GOD)
We had about 30-35 volunteers actually reading simultaneously
from the steps of City Hall! Soapy Dollar told us that from his vantage
point in the gathering, our reading sounded like a rushing river!!! And
that was only what WE could hear. That was less than 10% of the entire
group!
Can you imagine what the sound of hundreds of voices lifting up God's Holy Word
must have sounded like to our God? Can you imagine what it must have
sounded like to our enemy?
One sweet woman from Blue Ridge Georgia wanted to be a part of
us! She heard of what San Antonio was doing. Her church wasn't doing
anything special for the National Day of Prayer and she so wanted to be part of
something for the Lord! As you can imagine, it was our great joy to
include her voice with ours!! Thank you Judy!!
Almost to a person, everyone I spoke with from the reading on
the City Hall steps talked about being so choked up, it was difficult for them
to read. The Word became more alive to each one as they read on behalf of
our city - on behalf of the Church of San Antonio! I know I had trouble
reading through tears at times!
And it wasn't just the ones at City Hall who felt this.
Another volunteer I spoke to said the Word suddenly became like a force
because of it's REALITY and life.
Several people I spoke with wondered how I gave them the exact
verse they needed, or had just read, or that the Lord had given them to help
them through a tough time. I have been involved in 3 readings like this,
and I have never known the Lord to NOT give His people the PERFECT WORD AT THE
PERFECT TIME!! It's incredible how He does this! No human could ever
accomplish such a feat.
I had several prayer requests for this.
1) That this would come about with the excellence of God Himself, worthy
of a Holy God and our King;
2) That people would catch the impact of this - the passion of this;
3) That this would not only impact the hearer of the Word, but the reader
of
the Word;
4) That each would hear God speak to them individually as well as for the
Church of San Antonio, and that the Word would become alive for them;
5) That the Word would be read as with one voice, but in many languages;
6) For there to be a multitude of readers on the steps of City Hall (I was
asked to get 25, I asked the Lord for 30 - I got my 30!);
7) That our God would be pleased. I believe every prayer request was
answered, you agree?!?!
I watched over my list very carefully to insure the completion
of the ENTIRE Word of God, yet on my "final" inspection of the list at
10:30 Wednesday night (remember, we did the reading Thursday), I had messed up
and left a hole in 2 Samuel. I was beside myself! I was on the phone
with one of my team when I found this oversight, and we began to pray
immediately for God's help. I mean who, besides God, can you call on
at 10:30 at night to ask them to read Scripture?? I hung up the phone with
her and checked my email. The first one was someone who was going to have
a Bible Study in her home Thursday morning and had already told her people about
this. They were all so excited and wanted to join us. Did I have any
more Scriptures to give out? If my husband had not been asleep at the
time, I would have screamed!!! PRAISE GOD! That's Jehovah Jireh!
Many other blessings, but one final one I'll tell you about.
Probably THE most important! After all was said and done at the
steps of City Hall, we had the extreme privilege to pray for and minister to a
homeless woman. She stopped by because she had seen all these people at
City Hall praying and singing. She came struggling with depression - she
left knowing God. She left with many prayers, some in her hand to keep and
meditate on, some hidden in heart. Incredible! Only God could take
an event like this and SAVE one of His beloved. I can just see it.
Angels going about doing the work of the Lord - accomplishing every word
we spoke as we read God's own Word in it's entirety. Suddenly they stop in
their tracks and turn, falling prostrate as the Living God approached this
little one thrown away by the rest of the world. Each one of these mighty
angels - each one accomplished in battle and used to seeing many things - each
one absolutely trembling in awe as they watched God Himself redeem this little
child broken down by so much battle of her own. I believe she was the
first of many as the Spirit of God rests on San Antonio! Hallelujah!
We had several people and churches working on this as a team. Each of
these people were extremely dedicated. They worked on this for hours - and
at all hours of the day and night. Each one of them understood the
significant eternal impact this would have on the Church of San Antonio - and
each one would not rest until it was done! To each of them, I give my
eternal thanks!! Know this, I praise my God and thank Him every time I
remember each of you!! This was one of those tasks that was a
"God-thing". It was definitely too big for any human to
accomplish, but God used each and every one of you to do this. I thank
you! I thank each and every volunteer who read their portion of Scripture.
Love in Jesus' name, Jessica Matthews
___________________________________________>>>
3. A PRAYER OF REPENTANCE
>From: Gene Brooks <gbrooks@missioncarolina.org>
Attorney Art McQueen is Mission Carolina's Spartanburg County Coordinator and is
also the Prayer Co-Chairman of the Franklin Graham Festival in Spartanburg June
1-3, 2001.
He wrote and prays the prayer of repentance below. Thought it may help you
in any corporate prayer gatherings in which you are involved.
Prayer of Repentance - By Art McQueen <artm@teleplex.net>
/ Spartanburg, SC
FOR THE NATION:
Heavenly Father, we have broken our covenants with You. Our country was
established to worship You freely, but we deny You access to our schools, to our
courts of law, to our football and basketball games. We make our teachers
fearful of Your name being mentioned or Your Book being discussed in the
classroom.
We have shed innocent blood. We kill our children for the sake of convenience.
Our courts and legislators turn their heads and hide behind the legal definition
of when life begins. We teach our children how to kill through violence on
television, video games and movies and then we are shocked when they actually do
what we taught them to do.
We abuse our resources. We waste our food when others are starving and then we
spend million of dollars on diets. We waste our energy, pollute our waters, and
cut down our trees for junk mail. Have mercy on us.
FOR THE INDIVIDUAL:
Father, we are guilty of idolatry. We have made money our god. We plan our life
around money and we count on money, not You, to give us happiness and security.
We have made television our god. Our personal relationship is with the
television. We do not have time to spend intimate moments with You because we
are too busy watching the television. The television has become the parents of
our children. It gives them the rules to live by.
We have made sex our god. We use sex to sell our products, to entertain in
movies and on television. We think sex and love are the same thing. Our minds
and our power to reason are clouded with lustful thoughts. Have mercy on us.
FOR THE BODY OF CHRIST:
We are smothered by the Spirit of Religion. We spend our time on building
programs, policies, procedures, politics, Sunday school classes, Bible studies,
choir. We are so busy we do not have time to have an intimate relationship with
you.
We have divided into denominations and we make fun of each other. We argue over
issues that have nothing to do with eternal life. We have little unity in the
Body and very little love for each other. We have no power because we have not
obeyed Your commands. We do not forgive each other and the world cannot tell the
difference between the believer and the world. We are guilty of racism and
prejudice. Have mercy on us.
Source: Art McQueen, McQueen Law Firm, Spartanburg, SC artm@teleplex.net
___________________________________________>>>
4. http://www.liveprayer.com/home.html
___________________________________________>>>
5. DALLAS, TX:
CITYWIDE PRAYER LEADERS CONSULTATION
>From: "Prayer Transformation Ministries" <PTM@prayertransformation.com>
Second Annual Citywide Prayer Leaders Consultation
August 26-28, 2001 - Dallas, Texas
An Invitation to You:
A special time of encouragement, prayer and sharing has been
planned for all those who have a special calling on their lives to help give
leadership to their local citywide prayer movement.
If this describes you, we invite you to join us for the 2nd
Annual City Prayer Leaders Consultation. You will be enriched by relationships
with others who share your calling. You are not alone in the passion for prayer
that God is stirring in your life!
Convening Committee: Mac Pier, John Quam,
Steve Loopstra, Ann Quest, Don Rayno,
Gay Rowe
Consultation Purposes:
* To strengthen and encourage citywide prayer leaders through personal
prayer ministry.
* To expand the networking potential of the citywide prayer movement.
* To multiply the number of citywide prayer leaders, especially among
non-anglo groups.
* To learn from each other in sharing and instructional sessions.
* To bless the host city through on-site prayer and prayer walking.
*
Growing Our Network - We are anxious to unite with citywide prayer leaders from
across the United States. Thank you for praying about joining us. If
for some reason you cannot come, would you share this information with another
prayer leader in your city who has the ability to represent you? If you know a
prayer leader in another city who should attend, please share this information
with him or her as well. While this event is by invitation, we want to
extend that invitation to new cities and new prayer leaders we are not aware of.
Consultation Schedule:
Sunday
6:00 p.m. Optional dinner for early arrivals
7:30 What is God
doing in our cities?
Monday
8:30 a.m. Worship
9:00
Key
Lessons from a Citywide Prayer Movement Parts I & II
12:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00
Prayer
walking in Dallas
3:30
Connecting
the Prayer Movement to the Marketplace
6:00 p.m. Banquet and evening with E. K. Bailey
Tuesday
8:30 a.m. Worship
9:00
Personal
Prayer Ministry
Lunch
1:00 p.m. Unleashing Financial & Personal Resources
to the Citywide Prayer Movement
4:00 p.m. Close
Citywide Prayer Leaders Consultation
Hyatt Regency, 300 Union Blvd., Dallas, Texas 75207
August 26-28, 2001
Registration: $120.00 (send registration and check to Prayer
Transformation Ministries)
Hotel Reservations: Please call the Hyatt Regency and make your room
reservations as quickly as possible. The hotel number to call is 214-651-1234.
Please ask for the Prayer Transformation Ministries event rate of $89.00.
Name:
Address:
Phone:
Ministry:
E-mail:
Registration cost is $120 per person.
Registration includes three meals. Make checks payable to Prayer Transformation
Ministries. Check should accompany registration form.
Hotel Reservations: Please call the Hyatt Regency and make your room
reservations as quickly as possible. The hotel number to call is
214-651-1234 Please ask for the Prayer Transformation Ministries event
rate of $89.00
Return Registration to:
Prayer Transformation Ministries, 810 South 7th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55415
Phone: (612) 278-1717 Fax: (612) 278-1711
PTM@prayertransformation.com
___________________________________________>>>
6. WHAT IS A HOUSE OF PRAYER?
>From: LLVPrayer@aol.com
What is a House of Prayer?
God has given us in His Word the standard for His church.
Jesus spoke these words in Matthew 21:13: "My house shall be called a
House of Prayer."
Because of our love for our Lord, we have a deep desire to be obedient to His
every command. But how do we know when we have become a House of Prayer?
Here are a few characteristics we can use as an assessment tool:
The entire congregation is involved and takes ownership for
doing their prayer share.
All leaders, staff, and lay persons have a burden for prayer.
Groups spend time praying together and schedule times of
prayer in addition to regular church meetings.
Prayer classes and special prayer events are scheduled on a
regular basis.
The pastor places priority on prayer.
There is a fresh flowing atmosphere of the Holy Spirit due to
the whole church praying.
There is a designated prayer room or place to minister in
prayer.
Emergency prayer chains are in place and a mobilization plan
implemented.
The results of being a church devoted to prayer:
All things are initiated, planned, and accomplished through
prayer!
When a special time of prayer is announced, the whole church
shows up!
When it is challenged by financial shortfall, the church calls
for fasting, prayer, and faith!
The church will do things beyond its means, see the world as
its parish, and will be involved in the work of God!
A House of Prayer will mount up with wings of eagles, run and
not grow weary, walk and not be faint.
For Information Contact:
Judy Bowers, Prayer Coordinator, Loving Las Vegas: LLVPrayer@aol.com
702-649-3414, home / 702-798-0901, LLV Office
Visit us often for up-to-date prayer news and specific requests: http://www.lovinglasvegas.com
For more prayer resources, visit: www.namb.net/prayer
Loving Las Vegas Prayer Goal:
As a result of exalting Jesus Christ through fervent prayer,
the unity of the Body of Christ, and an extraordinary movement of God's Holy
Spirit, we will seek to saturate all aspects of the local church, the local
community, and act as the propelling catalyst of transforming Las Vegas and
Southern Nevada.
___________________________________________>>>
7. STRATEGY: CORPORATE PRAYER FOR
CORPORATE AMERICA
>From: "Joel News International" <j joel-news@xs4all.nl>
>At: http://www.joelnews.org
According to Dr. Henry Blackaby the greatest work of God is in corporate America
among the CEOs of the top Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies. "I think
it is the choice of God," he said. "The last great awakening in
America was in 1857 and 1858, and that was a layman's businessman's revival in
Manhattan, New York, where a lay preacher from a Dutch Reformed Church began to
ask businessmen to pray. Six came the first night. But in six months, 30,000
businessmen in New York were praying every lunch hour for a mighty move of God.
That spread all across America," said Blackaby. "In Portland, Oregon,
the businesses agreed to shut down for two hours over the lunch hour just so
people could pray. Well, a million people came to faith in Christ in one year.
Ratio to population, if that happened today, we'd be looking at 20 million
people coming to faith in Christ in one year. Blackaby said he is currently
working with an associate reaching more than 60 CEOs of the Fortune 100 and
Fortune 500 companies in America. "These are the top businessmen, the
movers and shakers," he said. (Source: Assist Communications)
___________________________________________>>>
8. CATHARTIC PRAYERS
>From: http://ChristianityToday.com/ctmag/
Behind the prayers left at Jesus' feet.
Reviewed by Edward Gilbreath
http://christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/007/45.93.html
Copyright (c) 2001 Christianity Today International--all rights reserved.
___________________________________________>>>
9. IF YOU PRAY FOR YOUR PASTOR...
>From: Gene Brooks <gbrooks@missioncarolina.org>
>Source: http://www.yahoogroups.com/messages/Sermon_Fodder
TOP 7 SIGNS YOUR PASTOR IS A WORK-A-HOLIC
7. Preaches a two-week revival every vacation.
6. His children ask their mother on Sunday mornings, "Mommy who's that man
in the pulpit? "
5. Wants to serve coffee during communion, says he needs the extra pick me up.
4. He personally cleans the church before, during, and after each service.
3. He stops in the middle of lunch at McDonald's and takes up an offering.
2. Instead if whistling during Men's work day, he preaches while he works.
And The Number One Sign Your Pastor Is A Work-a-Holic
1. He mans the 24-hour prayer line by himself.
___________________________________________>>>
10. AMERICAN'S PRISON: A PRAYED FOR COMMUNITY
>From: PrayOSL@aol.com
In prison events will take place at Rikers Island Correctional Facilities and
Detention Centers in Queens, the Bronx, Manhattan, and Brooklyn June 21-24,
2001. Hundreds of local volunteers will join platform guests, including
speakers, comedians, singers, and athletes to reach out to some 20,000
incarcerated men, women, and youth with four days of
in-prison programs.
Operation Starting Line's high-energy, concert-like program was presented at
Rikers in June 2000 and has since developed ongoing mentoring and training
programs in many of the facilities. Since Rikers is a temporary holding
facility whose turnover is quite high, Operation Starting Line is returning to
introduce its programs to the men and women currently incarcerated there.
Since its inception on Easter Sunday 2000, Operation Starting Line has taken its
programs to 213 prisons, reaching some 183,000 prisoners in seven states cross
the country.
Some six million men and women in the U.S. are currently under some form of
correctional supervision - incarceration, probation, or parole. According to the
Bureau of Justice Statistics, two thirds of all ex-offenders will return to
prison. Based on research that correlates religious participation with reduced
recidivism, Operation Starting Line is designed to reduce national crime rates
through a program that will, over the course of 5 years, offer in-prison and
post-prison education, spiritual help, and family and career support to every
prisoner in America. Research shows that the current criminal justice system
returns too many people to prison, leaving the U.S. with a national recidivism
rate of greater than 60 percent.
Mississippi churches and partner organizations are now making plans for
in-prison events to be held August 16-22. Volunteer training sessions and OSL
Rallies in churches are now being held. If you, or others you know, can
volunteer for the Mississippi events (particularly in the Delta region -
northwest quadrant of the state) please call toll-free 1-888-594-0411 to get a
schedule of trainings.
Your prayers for staff and volunteers of Operation Starting Line are greatly
appreciated. Please keep in your prayers Mary Byrd, who has served for
some time as the OSL Administrative Secretary. She will be leaving June 5
to continue her education. Also continue to pray for Linda Baumann after
the sudden loss of her husband, Bill, last month. Bill, 47, was one of the
original OSL collaborating partners from Campus Crusade for Christ and was with
CCC for 22 years. Linda writes that she continues on staff with Campus
Crusade, and thanks all for their prayers for herself, daughters Kristel and
Carrie (19 and 16), and son Daniel (6). David Lawson, OSL Task Force
Chairman, is back at work, though is reportedly "not yet 100"."
Please continue to pray for his full recovery from pneumonia. Gary Bergel,
Chair of the OSL Prayer Committee, has now recovered from the illness mentioned
in the last Prayer Alert, and is gaining strength daily. Please keep him
in prayer as he travels to be part of team ministry this weekend with a new OSL
Collaborator, Pastor Negiel Bigpond and Native American believers in Oklahoma.
Operation Starting Line needs you in the race against crime - helping prisoners
change from the inside out. OSL events require months of preparation and
planning. We can use your help now, during, and after the events. Even if
the events in your area are scheduled two years from now or were conducted six
months ago, there's work to be done. Here are some types of volunteering
that is needed: In-prison Evangelistic Events and Campaigns need: Event
Coordinators, Prayer Room and Hospitality Room Assistants, volunteers to provide
cookies, cakes and snacks, runners for meals, drivers for platform guests,
prayer coordinators, prison coordinators and volunteers for management training.
Follow up and Long-Term Volunteers are needed in the areas of leadership, after
care, Angel Tree, Bible Study, Church coordinating and Walk Thru the Bible
Teams, and other in-prison ministries and writing to prisoners.
If you would like to volunteer in any of these areas, visit http://www.operationstartingline.net
on the Web, and click on "Volunteer." You will have the opportunity to
check your area of interest and sign up!
Upcoming campaigns: 2001 - June 21-24, NY Rikers Island; July 12-22, Wisconsin;
August 16-22, Mississippi; September 20-October 1, Louisiana; October 2-16,
Arkansas; California (Fresno) October 2-14); 2002 - March 29-April 7, Kansas;
May 16 -26, Pennsylvania; August 1-11, Vermont, Main and New Hampshire;
September 26-October 6, California (South).
The Operation Starting Line Prayer Alerts are available via e-mail, fax and U.S.
postal service, e-mail: PrayOSL@aol.com or contact the OSL Prayer Committee as
shown below.
PO Box 4477 Leesburg, VA 20177 Tel: 703-777-0003 Fax:
703-777-2324
Toll free: 1-800-872-7729
http://www.ifa-usapray.org
___________________________________________>>>
11. PRE-PRAYER EXERCISE
>From: Annielois G Evans <cpcprayercircle@juno.com>
Here is tidbit taken from the March 2001 issue of the Community Prayer Circle
Newsletter. It is called, "Take a Pre-Prayer Exercise."
Perhaps those who view the NPPN would like to read it. It reads as
follows:
In your still quiet place, just before you pray, take your
pre-prayer exercise.
With a heart full of faith, a soul of contrition, and a mind
set on truth and love, lift up your hands and head toward heaven.
Let your thoughts overflow with images of blessings from God.
Meditate on His goodness.
As the Holy Spirit dictates, clap your hands as an expression
of praise to our Heavenly Father.
Read or recite a verse from Psalms, your favorite passage or
scriptures from the Holy Bible related to your concerns you would like to share
with God.
Continue this process until you feel the presence of the Lord.
Now you are ready to pray for your self and intercede for
others.
Practice this exercise as often as needed.
You may not lose weight but you will grow spiritually, Ann
PS: Our next prayer meeting will be Saturday, September 22, 2001
from 7:00PM until 8:00PM at Parkside Manor near Lake and Austin in Chicago.
I will give you more details as the date draws nearer. Hope you will
be able to join us.
___________________________________________>>>
12. PENTECOST PRAYERWALK
>From: RArcher821@aol.com
>Re: Pentecost Prayer Walk June 3 - Oct. 8, 2001
Dear Friends,
I've not had the privilege of meeting Tom Demaree but he has been highly
recommended by those I know, love and respect in the Body of Christ. I spoke
with him by phone last week and he asked if I would be willing to inform enlist
support for this important national event from those with whom I'm
regularly in contact. He is also assisting us in our North American
Reconciliation Journey.
Tom, his family, and a team of praying servants are beginning a 120 day
"Pentecost Prayer Walk" across America starting on Pentecost Sunday,
June 3 and continuing through October 8, 2001.
Their Mission Statement is: To call together believers across our country to cry
out to God for revival in America, through the dynamic of a coast-to-coast
prayerwalk and national prayer-letter campaign.
Their Plan is: (Subject to revision by the Holy Spirit...)
1. To prayerwalk across the continental United States, from Los Angeles to
Virginia Beach, Virginia, then on to the White House.
2. To solicit and gather signatures, both through personal petition and online,
for nationwide agreement to the Pentecost Walk Prayer (see web page).
3. To rally believers everywhere to join this effort through two channels:
3.1 A web page that will first announce, and
then chronicle the Pentecost Walk.
3.2 Interdenominational prayer gatherings
and day-walks held along the route.
4. To encourage believers to partner with their neighbors and prayer walk their
own towns during the 120-day event, while staying connected to the national
movement via the web page.
5. To culminate the Pentecost Walk by presenting these prayer-letters to
President George W. Bush, joining with him and other national leaders to agree
in prayer that the LORD would bring revival to the United States of America.
You can find detailed information, sign their petition, and stay abreast of
their needs and progress through their web site [www.pentecostwalk.org]
The attached document will introduce you to the team, the vision and strategy
for the Pentecost Prayer Walk. In case you don't receive the attachment,
you can either email me directly at [RArcher821@aol.com] or go to
the web page listed above.
This is another significant initiative drawing attention to the need for REVIVAL
in America. Please take the time to be informed, to intercede, and be involved
as the Lord would lead you.
In His Service, Ron Archer
North American Coordinator, International Reconciliation Coalition
North American Reconciliation Journey - Roundtables of Reconciliation
PO Box 3278, Ventura, CA 93006 / Office: (805) 642-5327
/ Cell: (805) 657-5642
Email: Rarcher821@aol.com / IRC Email: ircio@pacbell.net /
Web Site: www.reconcile.org / EGroup: IRCUSA-subscribe@Yahoogroups.com
___________________________________________>>>
13. PIPER: PRAYER ESSENTIAL IN
SPIRITUAL BATTLES
>From: http://www.pastors.com/pcom/specials/PrayerIsEssential.asp
>By: Debbie Moore
Just as Olympic athletes are at war with their bodies, so in the spiritual realm
"life is war" for Christians," said John Piper, 20-year senior
pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis. Speaking on the foundations of
prayer, Piper said a movement of prayer will be awesome and sustained only
"within the context of life being war and God being sovereign." Until
Christians understand this, they will NOT be able to access prayer's full power.
"The number one reason prayer doesn't work for saints is because we have
taken a wartime walkie-talkie and turned it into a domestic intercom," said
Piper.
People live differently when they are in the midst of war, he emphasized. Not
only are they on the alert, armed and vigilant, but they also spend their money
differently because ³the cause of the front line is everything," he said.
"War brings such a massive change in the way you live your life."
Christians in America easily display their lack of a wartime mentality, he said.
They think about how to get more comfortable and more secure, how to multiply
their comforts and ease, justifying it all with 10,000 types of sugarcoated
ministries.
This war currently raging is worse than what occurred in World War II because
"the conflict isn't just restricted to any global theater," Piper
said. "It's in every town, every city, every home and family, every church.
The casualties donıt just lose an arm, an eye, a leg, or their own life. They
lose their souls. They enter not into any prison camp, but into Hell forever and
ever."
During this war, Godıs mission for His people is for them to pray, Piper said.
Unfortunately, "people have simply stopped believing that life is
war."
Instead of using prayer as God intended -- as a powerful force along with
"the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God" against the powers
of darkness in this world -- Christians use prayer ineffectively, so "it
malfunctions as it is strung up with little wires all through the cabins, the
cars and all through the nice places. We try simply to make our lives more
comfortable with prayer."
The bullets of spiritual warfare are ³flying over our heads, people falling all
around us, blood everywhere, Hell filling up with lost people," he said.
During it all, "we're getting our second houses and our second cars, our
nice clothes and our fat retirements, our comfortable, safe neighborhoods, while
the world can just perish, thank you."
Instead, ³this great thing called prayer is a wartime walkie-talkie, designed
for war, not for peacetime, and itıs designed to do a lot of things in
war," Piper said, such as:
Get the accurate location to target the Word of God
Give protection
Blast open doors so the tanks of the Word of God can go
through and defeat the enemy
Ask for miracles of healing both for wounded soldiers and for
soldiers who donıt have any strength left
Supply the forces with what they need
Call in reinforcements
Until the Christian life is seen as war, "you will not sustain a life of
vigilance in prayer, perseverance in prayer, agonizing in prayer, nor will you
build a church that prays anything other than some simple little prayer-meeting
type prayer,² Piper said.
In addition to a keen awareness that life is war, Christians also need to
acknowledge the sovereignty of God, Piper said, if they are going to sustain
"a heart of prayer and churches of prayer and a movement of prayer for the
global cause of God in world evangelization and local evangelism."
Acknowledgment of the sovereignty of God is necessary not only because "you
can't consistently pray for God to save people if you donıt believe He has the
sovereign right to save people," Piper said, but also because "unless
you believe that He's going to win the war, you wonıt have the energy and the
hope to sustain prayer for the triumph."
-Pastors.com- Article by Debbie Moore
An author and former professor, Piper has written several books, including
Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist, Godıs Passion for His Glory:
Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards and Recovering Biblical Manhood and
Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism (co-edited with Wayne Grudem).
___________________________________________>>>
14. PRISON PRAYER MEETING EXPLODES
>From: charisma@strang.com
Revival has broken out in an Alabama prison, and a charismatic minister expects
the spiritual awakening to spread as the facility braces for new inmates. Steve
Walker, chaplain of the Bullock County Correctional Facility in Union Springs,
Ala., told Assemblies of God (AG) News that 1,000 to 1,500 inmates have made a
commitment to Christ by new conversion and rededication in the last three years,
largely because of faithful intercessory prayer.
Enrollment in the prison's "Protestant Bible Institute/College
Program," which teaches biblical principles for everyday life, is at an
all-time high of 175 to 200 inmates. There are also 40 inmates on a waiting
list. Attendance at prayer meetings has increased from 20 to 142 , with
gatherings in three different locations.
Walker anticipates the revival to continue with the addition of 400 new inmates
later this year. Alabama's federal courts have ruled that all county jails must
send their convicted inmates to the state's prisons by October 2001 in an effort
to relieve overcrowding. "It feels like we're standing in the middle of an
orchard, and a wind is blowing apples off of the trees," Walker told AG
News. "It's harvest time."
Copyright 2001 Strang Communications Co.
___________________________________________>>>
15. UNFILTERED, UNBIASED,
UNVEILED PRAYER
>From: RiverofLifeMailer@inchristsimage.org
>At: http://www.inchristsimage.org
>By: Pastor Francis Frangipane
"God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many
portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son. .
." (Heb 1:1-2).
God spoke to the prophets in "many portions and in many ways." All
their words and thoughts edify our souls; they are all profitable for reproof
and correction. But, "in these last days [God] has spoken to us in the
Son."
Prophets will point the way; Christ is the way. Teachers will expound the truth;
Jesus is the truth. Apostles will proclaim the life; Jesus is the life. Yes, all
speak the word, but the Son of God is the Word.
The teaching of Jesus Christ is not to be blended into the Scriptures, as though
He were one of many equally important voices used by God. He is the revelation
of God, the sole expression of His invisible glory. When Christ speaks, we are
listening to God unfiltered,unbiased, unveiled.
___________________________________________>>>
* HOW ABOUT YOUR PPG...YOUR CITY...?
How we can give praise and thanks with you
...for what the Lord has done in your city?
How we can join you in prayer for your region?
=============================================================
Phil Miglioratti, National Pastors' Prayer Network. 1130 Randville Drive,
Palatine, IL 60074
847-991-0153 ~ 847-358-9337(fax) ~ http://www.nppn.org
~ email: phil@nppn.org
Register your PPG: http://www.nppn.org/ppg/
Sheila Straka ~ Intercession: sheila@nppn.org
Chuck Straka ~ Web Master: straka1@nppn.org
Adam Shields ~ Tech Support: Updates@nppn.org
--->Unless clearly identified as "Personal To _____" or
"Confidential" all information and comments sent to phil@nppn.org will
be considered for use in a future NPPN Update.
--->Send all Email attachments as "text" (rather than in a specific
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--->Copyright 2001. However, permission is granted to freely redistribute to
those who will partner in praying for and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ
with everyone in our nation and beyond.
--->Opinions reflect the views of each author or respondent, not the NPPN or
any other person or organization
=============================================================