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I have set watchmen upon your walls, O Jerusalem, who will never hold their peace day or night: you who [are his servants and by your prayers] put the Lord in remembrance [of His promises]. Keep not silence. -Isaiah 62:6 (Amplified version)

Foreword:

I pray that this resource may be a blessing to you, today, and every day. As prisoners, you are separated from the rest of the world by walls. Yet, Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross to atone for all of our sins, if we would only accept his gift. As such, you and I are united in God’s grace, and in Spirit. It extends to all of us who are willing to receive it. This resource is meant to be both expansive and inspirational. Certain pieces of it may resonate with your heart more than others. It is my prayer that this resource can serve to bring you hope and encouragement throughout the seasons of your life, perhaps some pieces in certain seasons, and other pieces in others. Perhaps above all else, know that you are loved! God loves you, and we at Watchmen Beyond the Walls love you. God bless you today and always!

Isaac Brown – Communications Coordinator with Watchmen Beyond the Walls Ministries

Prisons are surrounded by walls or fences. Prisons are like towns or cities, they are their own communities. In biblical times, most cities were walled and fortified for protection against the enemy. The lack of solid walls left the people defenseless against their enemies. A city with broken walls set its people up for defeat. In other words, that city was in deep trouble. It was very, very important and a must that watchmen would stand upon the walls and look out upon the land for messengers, or most importantly, any sign of enemy. That city needed watchmen who were alert. Why must you understand this? Here’s why!

God is building a prayer army behind the walls of prisons. He is calling those in prisons to repent of their sins and give 100% of their lives to all

powerful Jesus Christ, His son, and follow Jesus with everything that they have. When you do this, the Holy Spirit will live inside of you and give you power to live in

ways you cannot fully understand. He is searching for more prayer warriors, more prayer watchmen. What kind of people

does he use? Let’s take a look at some of those used by God in Biblical times:

- Abraham, when he was under direct pressure, distorted the truth.- Moses became a great leader, but before he became that great man, Exodus 2:12 says that he rashly killed a man. Yet, as we read in Exodus 3, Moses had an encounter with God and his life was changed.- King David committed adultery and arranged the murder of an innocent man.

However, because he repented of his sins, he is known as Israel’s greatest king, “a man after [God’s] own heart.” (Acts 13:22)

There are many things to learn from David’s life. Having a willingness to step up and honestly admit our mistakes is the first step in dealing with them. Asking for forgiveness from those we

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have wronged and even more importantly, asking the Lord to forgive us our sins, will bring us freedom.

Do Not Let Your Past Define Who You Are Today!!

In John 4:4-42, we read about the woman at the well. She was despised. She was an outcast and looked down upon. She was marked as immoral, an unmarried woman living openly with the 6th in a series of men. Then she met Jesus Christ. He picked up the broken pieces of her life and made something great out of her life. Jesus will do that for you if you let Him.

The apostle Paul hated Christians. He enjoyed seeing one of them stoned to death. He was a dangerous man. Paul met Jesus and his life was changed. Not only this, but many of Paul’s letters that make up the Bible were written from behind the walls of a prison. This is evidence that much of God’s most powerful work occurs from within prison walls. You too can be a powerful part of God’s plan!

As we read through the Bible, we read of those who committed murder, adultery, were liars, thieves, deceptive, and on and on we read about messed up people with messed up lives. Their lives were a massive mess. Then God got ahold of them and they were made new.If you call yourself a Christian, then be the real deal and live it. If you do not know Jesus, then quiet your heart and talk to God. Pray and listen. Jesus is with you right now inside these prison walls. I pray you will give your heart to Him today. Please read 2 Corinthians 6:2. Now can be your time to accept Christ into your heart.

1 John 1:9 explains that, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” What a gift! To be forgiven of our sins no matter how big they are! This is true of everyone who would ask Jesus Christ into their hearts! Everyone!

Remember that Jesus died crucified beside two criminals. One chose to mock Jesus, but the other proclaimed that Jesus was the Lord, and asked Him to remember him. Jesus assured this man, “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:39-43) You too have this choice, and regardless of who you are or what your history involves, Jesus is mighty to save your soul. He loves you, no matter what! True confession involves a commitment to discontinue sinning. We should pray for strength to defeat temptation the next time we face it! Are we perfect? No. Do we fail? Yes. When we do sin, we must repent and follow Jesus with a sincere heart. He forgives us. We can pray with freedom and with clear hearts and minds. To repent means to think differently; being sorry for sin; turning from sin; and following Jesus.

Isn’t it just like God to use men and women in prisons around the world to do a great work for His Kingdom and bring fame to the name of Jesus Christ? Please read Ezekiel 37:1 – 14. Look at this picture:

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Verse 1: Valley full of bonesVerse 2: Very dry bonesVerse 3: A question: “Can these bones live?”Verse 11: Hope was lost. There was despair.Verse 5: God said he would breathe life into the lifeless bones.Verse 10: A great army came to life.Verse 13: Who got the glory? God did, not the great army!

This is also a picture of prisons… Camps of broken, hopeless lives. But it is just like Jesus Christ to choose to live inside these prison walls to bring life. Jesus will bring hope into your life, as well as eternal salvation. When you commit to Him, he commits to you!

Listen to the call! God’s eyes are searching for watchmen to be on the walls of prisons throughout the

world. Whether you have prayed for years or today is the first time, you can partner with God. Prayer is war against Satan! As you draw close to God, Satan will try to make you

stumble. The Holy Spirit will be your power source. Pray to Him if you feel that you are under spiritual attack.

Remember that because Jesus died for you, you can come into the presence of God with prayer at any moment.

Those of you that have many years left in prison, you that are in for life, those of you in solitary confinement, those of you on death row, those of you who are in the darkest prisons. The call is for you to lead the way! I pray that you will answer the call and pray.

We must pray!

What are you going to do today that is more important than talking to God? Be like Paul and Silas in prison. Read Acts 16:16 – 31. You cannot change the past, and you need not dwell on it either. Starting right now,

you can finish your life in a powerful way! Pray. Finish strong and make a difference in this broken world.

Do not think of your years spent in prison as lost time. God will take your life experiences and use those experiences to transform you into a powerful prayer warrior. Ask Him for wisdom and to teach you how to pray, and He will.

Make it Personal!

Write your name in the following space: ____________________ God knows your name! He has a plan for your life, specifically for your life! Stop right now and ask him what that plan is.

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Listen with your heart, and trust that He will speak to you. If you do not hear His answer right away, do not worry. Continue to seek Him in prayer. He will reveal Himself in His perfect timing.

Read Jeremiah 29:11-14 below and write your name in the blanks. Believe what this verse says about God’s love for you!

For I know the thoughts that I think toward ______________________________,says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give ______________________________ a future and a hope. Then ______________________________ will call upon me and go and pray to me and I will listen to ______________________________.And ______________________________ will seek Me and find Me when______________________________ searches for me with all his heart. I will be found by ______________________________ says the Lord, and I will bring ______________________________ back from captivity.

God’s Word is personal, isn’t it? He’s speaking His Word into your heart.

Do the following describe you?

Bruised and broken? Drowning in emotional pain? Feeling alone and in the dark?

Read Luke 1:79. Jesus comes to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. Christ is this light that pulls one out of spiritual darkness! He will guide your feet the right way.

Do the following describe you?

The air you breathe is dirty and polluted. You feel crushed beyond repair. You have physical, emotional, and mental scars. You feel like you’re in the gutter. Do you ask yourself, “Why does it have to be this way?” You struggle with feelings of hopelessness. You feel that your life has been poisoned.

Is it time for you to stop trying to live life under your own power? Is it time for you to turn to the Lord of all creation for help? Can His Word (the Bible) help you? Will you commit to following Him?

Do you want to be free? Christ frees us from the bondage of sin, and he guarantees a blessed afterlife. It’s your choice.

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Please read Luke 4:18. What does this verse tell you about the freedom that Christ offers?

Do you want liberty and freedom that will last for an eternity? You can be free from your oppression at this very second in time! Talk to Jesus about it.

The Deep Dark Night of the Soul

As we go through life’s journey there will be days and weeks and perhaps years when we hurt deeply and secretly wonder, “Where is God?” Questions like, “Why has this happened to me?” or “When will this pain stop?” may haunt us. This is normal.

Those questions ring deep into our inner being. You may feel like you are in the deep dark night of the soul. Have you experienced it? My guess is that some would say, “I have been through this storm,” and others are right in the thick of this dark night right now, and I would say to the soul who has not experienced it, “You will!”

Sometimes the pain of life breaks us to the point that we become physically, mentally, and emotionally crushed. It’s as if God stepped aside and His strength is not there, but trust that it is! At this point one can be scared. In Mark 4:35-41, we

find Jesus and His disciples crossing over the Sea of Galilee. A furious wind storm arose and the boat was filling with water. Worse yet, Jesus was asleep. In fear, his followers cried, “Don’t you care, we are about to perish?”

We can be just like those disciples. We are in a storm and our boat of life feels like it is sinking. When we say words like, “Where are You God,” “Don’t you care Jesus?” or, “When is this struggle going to end?” we are opening our hearts and we are being honest with God. This is the beginning of a true relationship with God. He wants your honest heart, even when you are angry, afraid, or down!

A question you must ask yourself is, “Am I close enough to God to feel secure even when He is silent?” My faith can really be tested when I am praying my heart out and see the opposite thing happen for what I am praying. God always answers prayers, though He may not answer them in the way we expect. Learning to wait on God, and to seek His wisdom in understanding why He answers our prayers in the way He answers them is an important part of the journey of the prayerful life.

Deep questions come into my life when I am following Jesus in a passionate way, my prayer life is alive, I am talking and listening to God, and I am hit with a life event that makes no sense at all. Sometimes those events in our life’s journey can put us on a stretcher. Deeply wounded and emotionally spent, one can become unable to feel or express emotion.

Words of Jesus: “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.” – Mark 14:34

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During these extremely tough times when you’re just hanging on by a thread, the most powerful words you can say are, “Help me Jesus!” He understands. He has lived on this Earth. He loves you and He cares.

I believe in the sun even when it isn’t shining. I believe in love even when I am alone. I believe in God even when He is silent. ~ Graffiti found in 1945 on the wall of a basement in Koln, Germany, where a person is thought to have been hiding from the Gestapo.

I believe that one of the deepest ways to worship God is to trust Him and love Him when we cannot think, cannot read, are suffering mentally, physically, and emotionally, and perhaps cannot even pray. Yet, if you trust Him, that is worship that reaches the heart of God. Please be assured that God is ALWAYS with you, through good seasons, and bad seasons!

Prayer Thunder Lightning Behind the Walls

Read Job 37:1-6 and ask God to speak to you. Listen to what He says to you through these verses!

Verse 2: “Thunder of His voice.” May our prayers be in line with His voice. Ask God to teach you to pray; He will!

Verse 5: “God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend.” May our prayers reach His throne in asking Him to be that thunder and lightning in doing great things. Things that bring fame to the name of Jesus, things that advance God’s Kingdom in this dark broken world we live.

Verse 6: “The heavy rain of His strength.” Pray that the healing peace of Jesus Christ and the power of God would fall like rain on prisons around the world.

Words of Jesus: “Abba Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will.” – Mark 14:36

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Do not let anything keep you from praying today and every day:

Not guilt or sin : 1 John 1:19 tells us that if we confess our sins to God, he will forgive us. Guilt and sin should not keep us from prayer.

Your past : Do not let your past define who you are today. No matter what you have done, or the places you have been, Jesus loves you regardless. His sacrifice is more than enough to cover all of your sins!

Satan will attack our minds with negative and confusing thoughts to keep us from praying. He is a liar! Do not believe him. If you feel that Satan is attacking you, then you are very likely too close to God for Satan’s comfort.

If you are praying and your mind begins to wander, ask the Lord for strength to refocus.

A confession of the author:

I am the guy that put this guide together. I am a prayer warrior, yet for too many years of my life I was not. I regret that, but I thank Jesus that I am strong today. I will finish the days I have l left on this earth, crying to Him in prayer! I have mental struggles for sure. I can be talking to God and have thoughts that hit me up (bad thoughts, negative thoughts, my mind can wander while I am praying). I can have racing thoughts and feel like I can’t concentrate. Then, I just stop and ask the Lord to quiet my heart and give me His power to pray.

There are times that my mind is crystal clear and I can pray with ease. There are also times when I must wrestle in prayer and gut it out. Prayer is spiritual warfare! At times it may be easy. At other times, it may be difficult, but God never leaves your side nor is he out of reach of your prayers.

Freedom to PrayThese biblical truths are what give us the authority, power, peace and joy to pray with freedom.

Hebrews 10:19 reads, “Therefore brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus.” The “Holiest” refers to the very presence of God. Through Jesus’s blood and only through Jesus, we can come boldly 24 hours a day to God in prayer.

In Hebrews 4:16, we are encouraged – “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need!” That word “boldly” means having confidence, plainness of speech, fearlessness, courage, and it’s all because of Jesus!

Hebrews 12:29 – “Our God is a consuming fire.” He is to be feared because He is God. We should come to Him with awe, because He is awesome. Yet, He says we can approach Him with “boldness.” Pause and think of that.

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Prayers and Prisons

I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day or night. - Isaiah 62:6

Prayers from prisons are a very, very vital force in this great end-time prayer movement. Like a crack of thunder and a bolt of lightning in this storm of prayers reaching God’s throne.

God’s eyes are searching for prisoners to worship Him, in the name of Jesus and in the power of the Spirit. Though captive behind prison walls, your soul can be freed by Jesus Christ. He works with the most unlikely people to be used by Him in powerful ways. Let it be you!! The Bible is full of people that God used even though they had broken lives.

I wish I could look you in your eyes and shout out, “I believe in you.” Much more important though, God believes in you. Jesus Christ died for you. Come on, man! Pray! Alongside reading the Bible, it is a powerful and righteous tool at your disposal.

Prayer Points for You, Your Camp, and Prisons Around the World

Pray that the Lord increases the number of prayer watchmen in prisons. Pray that the Lord would teach them to pray. Please read Luke 11:1. You learn to pray by talking to God. It can be as formal or as casual as you like.

Remember, God is most interested in the honesty of your heart and words. Pray that men and women in prison would live out Jesus’s words in Matthew 5:16: “Let

your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”The moon has no light of its own. It reflects the sun’s light. We are not the light, we can only reflect Jesus’s light living out in us. Do this not only through prayer, but also through kindness to others.

Pray that Jesus’s name and fame would spread through prisons. Please read Mark 1:28. Pray that God’s Kingdom grows inside prison walls. The Holy Spirit would exhibit His power like thunder and lightning inside prison walls. Pray that there would be true repenting of sins from the heart and a great army

following Jesus inside the walls.

Finally, pray the words of Luke 4:18 into your life and into your camp and other camps. Pray that Jesus would heal the broken hearts. Pray that He would give spiritual healing and spiritual liberty and spiritual vision to be free in heart.

He sets at liberty those oppressed and a new beginning for those who respond to His message. In the midst of all the negative noise around you, pray this verse: Psalm 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God…”

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Quiet your heart. Ask Him to talk to you. Psalm 139:23: “Search me God, and know my heart;” Ask the Lord to show you any sin in your life. Write down what you think He is saying to you. Pray into it. Consider what the Holy Spirit lays on your heart, and read your Bible to confirm that what you hear is Christlike. The Holy Spirit and the Bible will never disagree. If you feel like the two don’t match, pray and ask God for clarity.

Prayer in the CellYour cell or your dorm is your room. It can become a powerful place of prayer. I am not saying it, Jesus Christ did.

There is little that you can do that is more powerful or purposeful than being a man of prayer! Do you believe this? Ask God if this is true. A question that I ask myself and I will ask you is, “what can you do through the course of a day that is more important than talking to God?”

Let me share this testimony from a prisoner at Putnamville Correctional Facility in Indiana: This Christian brother of mine was housed in an open

dorm with about 150 or so men. He decided he was going to walk his dorm and pray while he walked. It took him around 5 minutes to walk a lap. He would walk 6 laps praying silently as he walked. The 7th and last lap he would pray out loud, not concerned what people thought. My guess would be that most of those men did not even know they were being prayed for. Yet that man’s faithful praying was of great importance.

2 Chronicles 16:9 – “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.”

God has Divine vision. He sees everything. He is at all places, all the time. The verse above tells us that He sees evil and good.

Prisons are a dark place. Evil abounds. Your heartfelt prayers in the name of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit will pierce the darkness you live in. Light pierces darkness and lies, and Jesus is Light and Truth. You could be in the center of a pitch dark cave. If I were to light one single match, the light from that match would pierce the darkness of the cave. So Christ can pierce the darkness in your life and in your heart.

Prisons may seem like a heap of dry bones to many people, spiritually dead with no hope of vitality. God’s eyes, however, are searching for men in prisons to pray. That means you. Even if you have only been a follower of Jesus for a day. He wants you to pray.

Words of Jesus: “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”– Matthew 6:6

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ListenThere is and there will be a spiritual quickening, souls coming alive to Jesus in prisons around the world; a great army marching on its knees in prayer until the return of our Lord Jesus Christ!

In Acts 16:22-33 we read about Paul and Silas. They were beaten with rods, thrown into prison, and fastened in stocks. At midnight Paul and Silas prayed. The fruit of those midnight prayers was powerful. Please read these verses yourself and get the entire message.

So who are the Pauls and Silas’s in your camp? It could be you! Do not miss what God is calling you to be a part of!

Corporate prayer, that is, praying alongside other people, is important. It is powerful; yet, Jesus gives us another example to follow, that of the prayer closet. Your secluded place of prayer is vital. Your cell room, your dorm, or your bunk, can become the most powerful place of worship and prayer for you. Even if no one knows but God!

Let’s explore the Bible and catch a glimpse of Jesus’s prayer life.

Mark 1:35 – “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.” Jesus got up early, got away by Himself, and prayed.

Luke 5:16 – “So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.” The crowds were flocking to hear Jesus. He was on a life giving mission, but Jesus made sure He often withdrew to have a quiet time with God.

Luke 6:12 – “Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” The Bible reveals to us that before every important event in Jesus’s life, He took time to be by Himself and pray. It is so very critical that our important decisions are grounded in prayer.

Jesus is making it clear. Though you should also pray corporately with other believers, He demonstrated the importance of private communion with God.

A confession of the author:

My friend, let me speak to you from my heart. I do not know if you have days or years left inside a prison wall. Perhaps you will spend the rest of your life in prison. Your prayers can rip through the walls of prison and make a difference in so many lives outside the walls. You can have a more positive impact on this world than you can imagine. Jesus is inside your prison 24 hours of every day. Talk to Him. Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you to pray. Before you go to the next chapter, stop and pray. And listen.

Words of Jesus: “I was in prison and you came to Me.”– Matthew 25:36

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Are You Going to Do This? Listen to the words of Paul in Philippians 3:13-14:

“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, – I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

The man who wrote those words had quite the past to forget. He had a frenzied desire to persecute Christians. He wanted them captured. When a Christian was stoned to death, Paul applauded it. He was a bad man. But God stopped him in his tracks. Paul met Jesus Christ, and his life was changed.

We all have things in our past we would like to change. Here is the truth. We can’t change the past. What happens when we look backward? It can cripple us from moving forward in a positive way. There are some things in our past that we can’t forget. The Apostle Paul must have had bad disturbing memories of what he did to Christians before he knew Christ, perhaps memories that would wake him up at night. I don’t know for sure. But he was human like us.

If our hope is in Christ, we can let go of past guilt and look forward to what God will help us become. That is freedom!

A wise man will learn from his mistakes. Wisdom comes with a price tag. Learning from our mistakes, learning from

the pain and sorrow that has come into our lives, can mold us into wise and experienced people.

God can pick up the broken pieces of our lives and make something eternally important from them.

Every day you have spent in prison and every day you have yet to spend in prison does not have to be considered time lost. You can learn from those days. You can be a wise, experienced man. You can spend those days with God, in prayer.

Only Jesus can help you to be those things written above. Do not dwell on your past. Reach or strain toward what is ahead. Press forward towards God.

Do not let your past define who you are today it has no effect on what God will

mold you into in the future!

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Paul had put his hope in Jesus. He realized he was forgiven and he was going to move on with everything; he had to live, a life of faith and obedience. That can be you!!! Putting your hope and trust in Jesus and pressing on in the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Sword of the SpiritThe sword was a common offensive weapon used by the soldier when he found himself in hand-to-hand combat in biblical times. The fight would have been up close and intense. The soldier had to use his sword very quickly and with precision. It had to be a blow to the heart or gut of the enemy in order to disable him.

As a follower of Jesus, we can expect the enemy, Satan, and the fallen angels, demons, to attack us and bring the battle right into our mind, will, and emotions. With a battle like this, we must reach for the powerful weapon – the sword of the Spirit!

Hebrews 4:12: For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

There are times, perhaps seasons, when the enemy’s assaults are in your face and the battle is intense.

You conquer and move forward At times you stand your ground and battle. Oh you may get tired, even wounded in the

battle, BUT you will NOT be defeated! You withstand, and will stand in the end… IF you use the sword of the Spirit! It is not my sword. It is not a sword of religion. It is not a sword of a church or denomination. It is not a sword of good works. It is not another person’s sword. It is God’s truth, including our relationship with Jesus, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit.

The authority for victory is found in God’s power, not in us. The Bible does not say take up your sword. Our best efforts cannot compete with an enemy who is fighting in a different capacity than we could ever function. Pray to God when you feel that you are in the midst of a spiritual battle.

Satan is a master at dulling the sword.

Genesis 3:1 – “Has God indeed said…?” That’s the question he asked Eve. She took the bait and sinned. Satan wants us to doubt that the Bible is perfect and complete truth.

Today’s culture wants to re-interpret God’s Word and cast doubt on His Word. And some Christians are taking the bait.

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Satan loves it when we say things like:

This is my opinion Well, I think… My friends say I got my info from this book (one that contradicts the Bible) The guy is a good preacher, so it must be true (If a preacher disagrees with the Bible)

Satan will leave you alone to collect information through TV talk shows, self-help books, or anything other than the Bible or what God tells you when you pray to Him. Though there is truth to be found outside of the Bible, all truth belongs to God, so anything that is true will not stand in disagreement with God’s Word.

Read Matthew 4:1-11. “What Jesus didn’t do in this situation is just as important as what He did. By saying, ‘It is written’ (vv. 4,7, & 10), and then using the full force of the Word of God, Jesus did not enter a long debate or dialogue with Satan about the subject. He simply said, ‘It is written’ and shut the Enemy down.” Quoted from the book Victory in Spiritual Warfare by Tony Evans, page 167.

The Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. The Bible is more than just words on paper. It is alive and active.

Yet a person could own a 100 Bibles, memorize thousands of verses, attend Bible studies and take notes on what they’ve learned, yet not have the power of the sword. Why? If they know the Truth of God, but do not have a relationship with Him or seek Him in prayer, then they are missing an important part of the picture.

The only way we can have victory over trials and temptations is by overcoming Satan with the Word of God, the power of the Holy Spirit, and spending time in prayer.

Ask God to speak to you and give you truth (Bible verses) to take into the heart to combat temptation. Take up the Sword and as James says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” – James 4:7

Kingdom Prayers

A Kingdom prayer is something that has lasting value and importance in the Kingdom of God. How do we learn to pray in this way? We ask adopt the mentality that prayer is a two-way street. In addition to what is on your own heart, ask God what is on His heart. Ask Him, “What is Your concern?” Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see through a global lens. Pray, “Lord, please help me to understand what is going on in different places in this world. Please let me see not only my own needs and concerns, but also the needs and concerns of others. Then teach me to pray for them.” These are Kingdom prayers.

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Praying for the suffering church (that is, all believers of Christ who are suffering, including prisoners) is Kingdom praying. I would like to introduce to you other ways to pray Kingdom prayers. This is not a complete list and as always, ask Jesus to teach you to pray.

May your prayers on this day be for God’s Kingdom (that his grace, peace, and justice would rain down on the entire world), and bring fame to Jesus Christ and be fueled by the Holy Spirit.

There are many people worldwide who do not have access to God’s Word. Please pray for the ministries that are working feverishly to get God’s Word into the hands and hearts of those that do not have it.

Pray for the hungry. Pray for the homeless. Pray for the persecuted. Pray for widows and orphans. Pray for the imprisoned. Those who are suffering from human trafficking.

Jesus is here in this camp to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captive, and release from darkness for the prisoners. Pray these words to God!

Regarding your own camp, please pray for:

Pray that you and your fellow inmates would repent of their sins. Pray that other inmates would accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Pray for your prison’s administrators, staff, and officers. Pray for unity between the Christians in your camp. Pray that men in this camp would begin to live Christlike lives. Pray for spiritual revival within your prison walls. Pray whatever the Holy Spirit lays on your heart.

Pray with a burden.“Breakthroughs in prayer come through a heart that has been burdened by The Holy Spirit.” - KP Yohhannan in his book Learning to Pray

Pray the words of Jesus in Luke 4:18 over your camp and yourself.

Hebrews 13:3 says, “Remember the prisoners as if chained with them – those who are mistreated – since you yourselves are in the body also.”

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For those that travel into these dangerous lands and are able to minister to persecuted Christians, this is the first request from these brave followers of Jesus: “Pray for us!”

There are reports of followers of Christ who are under such intense persecution that they deny Christ. This brings enormous shame and doubts that Jesus will forgive them for denying Him. Pray that they would understand that Jesus will forgive them and that they would repent and find joy and peace in Him. Pray that they would stand in Jesus’ name and be stronger than ever.

The following list is from the organization “The Voice of the Martyrs”

10 Ways To Pray For Our Persecuted Family1. Pray that persecuted believers will sense God’s presence (Hebrews 13:5).2. Pray that they will feel connected to the greater Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:20,

26).3. Pray that they will experience God’s comfort when their family members are killed,

injured or imprisoned for their witness (2 Corinthians 1:3-5).4. Pray that they will have more opportunities to share the Gospel (Colossians 4:3).5. Pray for their boldness to make Christ known (Philippians 1:14).6. Pray that they will forgive and love their persecutors (Matthew 5:44).7. Pray that their ministry activities will remain undetected by authorities or others who

wish to silence them (Acts 9:25).8. Pray that they will rejoice in suffering (Acts 5:41).9. Pray that they will be refreshed through God’s Word and grow in their faith (Ephesians

6:17).10. Pray that they will be strengthened through the prayers of fellow believers (Jude 20-25).

A final thought from the author:

“I have not always been a prayer warrior, I regret that, but I cannot change the past, and I praise God that I am a prayer warrior today. Shouting, crying, listening, being still, rustling, persevering, gutting out, worshiping holy God in the name of Jesus. I may never see you in person, but I am committed to standing with you, as Watchmen on the Walls, praying together. – Kent Fiechter.

God bless you, and remember, God is always with you.