PRAYER STRATEGIES FOR REVIVALS, MISSIONS, CRUSADES AND PERSONAL EVANGELISM

ntroductionGod’s urgent concernThere is no more urgent concern in Heaven today than for the Church to complete its task of world evangelization. God wants a full house for the wedding supper of His Son to His bride, the Church (Matthew 22:1-10; Luke 14:6-23). Christ’s return will be delayed until all people everywhere have heard the Good News, but the inadequacy of our witness and harvesting can delay His coming (Matthew 24:14).The task of world evangelization is primarily dependent on witness and prayer. Prayer must prepare the way for evangelization. Prayer must follow up and conserve the fruit of evangelization. Only as the church prays will there be sufficient harvesters giving themselves to world evangelization and world harvest

Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest (Matthew 9:38).

Jesus told us to pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven”, Abraham interceded for Lot in Sodom, Moses prayed that God would turn from His wrath against Israel, Daniel for the return of Israel from Babylon. Ezekiel was told by God, “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it but I found none”. (Ezekiel 22:30).

Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession (Psalm 2:8).

Prayer in the power of the Holy Spirit breaks through the false dominion of the enemy, and clears the way for His deliverance, blessings and shalom to come to all peoples.

Why does God desire and require His people’s prayers and intercession? Most likely because God originally gave dominion of the earth to mankind. That dominion has never been revoked by God. Satan’s dominion achieved through rebellion against the Creator is a false, illegitimate, usurped dominion. Redeemed through Christ, we can exercise our God given right to influence the affairs of this world through the exercise of intercessory prayer. Like Kuwait’s request for United States and the multi-national force to come against the illegitimate invasion and dominion of Iraq, so we in prayer as God’s redeemed children, can pray that His will be done, His Kingdom come on earth.

Linked through prayer with the risen Christ, sitting at His side (Eph. 2) far above authority and dominion, we share in the accomplishment of His redemptive purpose.

Section OnePRAYING MEN, REVIVALS AND FRONTIER

BREAKTHROUGHS

EVERY great outpouring of the Holy Spirit including Pentecost began in the mind of God but it broke through on earth at the point of passionate and persevering prayer and intercession. This view, neither robs God of His sovereignty, nor man of his responsibility. We must be careful to harmonise these two great and important truths - the sovereignty of God and the involvement of man lest we are in danger of overstatements. God may be sovereign but He is not a dictator. He cannot act against His nature and the principles He has established in His word. There are some things impossible even for God - acting independently of the principles of prayer is one of them. This is why prayer local and global harvests are so inseparably linked. I know of no revival that is not connected in some way with powerful, desperate intercessory prayer.

When Evans Roberts was asked the secret of revival, he said, “There is no secret, ask and you shall receive”. John Wesley said, “God does nothing redemptively in the world - except through prayer”. Matthew Henry agreed the importance of prayer in bringing revival when he said “when God intends a great mercy for His people, the first thing He does is set them a-praying,” Dr. A. T. Pierson also recognised the place of prayer in bringing revival when he said, “Revival comes from God, but they come in answer to prayer. From the Day of Pentecost, there has been not one great spiritual awakening in any land which has not begun in a union of prayer, though only among two or three, no such outward and upward movement has continued after such prayer meetings have declined; and it is in exact proportion to the maintenance of such joint and believing supplication and intercession that the word of God in any land or locality has had free course and been glorified”. There have been revivals without any organisation, revivals without great preaching, but there never has been a revival without prayer! Without exception, the men whom God has used have been men of prayer. But today, our prayer altars are like a torrent bed in the season of drought. They are despised and forsaken. We treasure the memories of the great characters of bye-gone days who have caused multitudes to turn to Christ, and whose God anointed exploits are recorded in history. We think of such men as Wesley, Finney, Evans Roberts, George Whitefield, David Brainerd, Jonathan Edwards, etc. We reverence their memories, build their memorials, sing their praises - do anything but imitate them! Each of these

men could have pointed to a hallowed place by their bedside that was often wet with tears of intercession. These men prayed; often times in such travail of soul that they lay exhausted in a pool of tears. For example:

A. MEN JUST LIKE USDAVID BRAINERD (Praying Hyde)David Brainerd prayed in such agony of soul that his body became abnormal. He prayed and regularly preached to his native Indian audience through a drunken native interpreter. The result was thousands of conversions.

JOHN KNOXJohn Knox, whose prayer shook Scotland, was so desperate in prayer that to see him upon his knees was a sight that inspired awe. His constant cry was “Lord, give me Scotland or I die”, God responded with a sweeping revival all over Scotland.

GEORGE FOXGeorge Fox so gripped God in travailing prayer that men were often afraid to look upon his face as he came out of his prayer chamber.

JAMES DUNCANJames Duncan, preaching with great unction power, was asked what was the secret of such powerful preaching, “The secret,” he said was “thirteen hours of consecutive prayer”.

CHARLES SPURGEONWhen asked the secret of his spiritual power, Charles Spurgeon said, “Knee work! Knee work!!”

LIVINGSTONELivingstone of Shotts, on two different occasions preached with such power that in each service, 500 were converted. Both sermons were preached by nights of prayer.

CHARLES G. FINNEYCharles Finney, after spending a day in the woods in prayer and fasting, preached at night in a phenomenally irreligious congregation. The sermon was accompanied by such divine power that the whole congregation except one man, fell prostrate upon the floor, and voiced their agony under conviction of sin, in such loud outcries that the preacher was forced to stop preaching.

JOHN VASSAROf “Uncle” John Vassar, the Tract Society Colporteur, (Book Distributor) successful almost beyond comparison in his personal dealings with men, his pastor says: “He absolutely prayed day and night - prayed about everything, prayed for almost everything, prayed with almost everybody he met. He prayed when he went out and when he came in. He prayed before every religious service, and then prayed all the way through it. I have occupied the same room with him night after night, and rarely went to sleep without hearing him in prayer, or awoke without finding him in prayer”.

SAVONAROLAWe are told that Savonarola of Italy laid prostrate for hours in prayers wetting the altar with tears while pleading with God for his wicked generation. It was said that he preached with a voice of thunder. His denunciation of sin was so terrific that people who heard him sometimes went about the street half-dazed, bewildered and speechless. His congregation was often in tears. Men and women of all ages and conditions, poets , philosophers, workmen would burst to passionate tears so that the whole church responded with sobs. It is further claimed that people became so anxious to hear him that they rose in the night and waited hours before the church doors. The streets of Florence were filled with sighing as its citizens came and went from church. Tearing off their ornaments and costly array, they made them an offering to God. People forsook the shows and festivals and burned all their obscene books and pictures. The corrupt government of De-Medici was overthrown and replaced by the most advanced form of democratic government through Savonarola.

FATHER NASHThe Man Father Nash, co-partner in prayer with Charles G. Finney, proved a valuable asset to his revival, for as in each case he gave himself to prayer, his opponents said, “It is impossible for him to pray in secret, for he can be heard a half-mile off”. This praying he did until the heavens opened and rained down glory and revival. One man heard him praying a great distance off and became so convicted of sin that he early sought God’s face for redemptive grace

APOSTLE AYO BABALOLAHe was the forerunner of the Nigerian charismatic revival which started in 1930. A tractor driver, Ayo Babalola, after ascertaining the call of God upon his life, started an aggressive prayer and fasting life that was then hardly known of in Africa. He could go on fasting for up to 40 days in the wilderness and on mountains. He became convinced that by the prayer of faith there could be divine healings, working of miracles and that evil spirits could be dealt with. He forced herbalists

(witch doctors) to their knees, entered evil and forbidden forests. He performed phenomenal miracles. Everywhere he preached, mighty revivals broke out. The tens of thousands of African indigenous Apostolic churches seen all over Africa and in some places in Europe and America are some of the ministry results of this great man of prayer. Most notable evangelists in Nigeria in the seventies and eighties are the spiritual grand children of Apostle Babalola.

TIMOTHY O. OBADAREAfter the death of Babalola, Timothy Obadare, a physically blind prophet had a great burden to fill the gap. He locked himself up in a room for several weeks for prayer and fasting. When he came out, he was a different man. Diverse miracles began to take place in his ministry. Hundreds of thousands of souls have been saved even in the remotest villages in Western Nigeria and Africa through the ministry of this prophet. In addition to a worldwide ministry, thousands of native evangelists have trained in prayer and fasting under him. He is popular as a tormentor of witches and wizards. Obadare has maintained a monthly three-day fasting retreat called “Olorun Koseunti” (The God of all Possibilities) for about forty years now. Thousands of people participate in this retreat and receive amazing miracles and divine breakthrough.

W.F. KUMUYIA former university teacher and pastor of one of the largest single congregations in Africa (now over 85,000 ) with several hundreds branches of his Deeper Life Bible Church all over the world attributes his phenomenal success to his rugged discipline in prayer, diligent study and teaching of the Scripture and a practical life of holiness. He is one of the forrunners of the holiness move in Nigeria.

E.A. ADEBOYEThe man whose ministry has perhaps witnessed more miracles in this decade in Africa was also a former university lecturer. Pastor Adeboye is reputed to maintain a regular 40-day continuous fast for a number of times a year. Members of his worldwide congregation, the “Redeemed Christian Church of God” are made to do corporate prayer and fasting every year for a period of up 30 days, 40 days, and in some cases 100 days at once. A monthly night vigil conducted by Adeboye, called “The Holy Ghost Service” attracts about 750,000 people at every service. Awesome manifestation of the Spirit are witnessed in each meeting. He has organised the largest meeting ever held in human history, the “Lekki 98” Holy Ghost night where about 5.4 million people gathered for a night of praise, prayer and miracles.Through the ministry of this unique man of holiness, fasting, prayer and praise, the Lord began the largest quarterly prayer meeting in Europe (the Festival of Life) that attracts crowds of up to

7 - 8,500 on each night. The Redeemed Christian Church of God international headquarters is in Lagos, Nigeria. Pastor Adeboye has built a mini-christian city called the Redemption Camp that has the largest single auditorium in the world that seats up to 800,000 people at once. Plans are in advanced stage to build another auditorium four times the size of the present one because of the ever increasing crowds at the monthly Holy Ghost night. Membership of this ministry is in excess of 2 million in Nigeria alone.

B. PRAYER AND THE 1858 AMERICAN REVIVALThe 1858 America revival was laid in heart of an obscure man to pray that God would bless

his country. That man was Jeremiah Lanphier, newly appointed city missioner in a down-town New York church. He printed handbills inviting “merchants”, mechanics, clerks, strangers and businessmen generally to join him in calling upon God at a noonday prayer meeting every Wednesday. Six came to the first meeting on 23, September 1857. This increased to twenty on the second week and forty by the third week, then it was decided to hold daily lunch time prayer meetings.

In the next week, news came through of a great revival in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and just a week later there was a great financial crash in America. As people felt their need of help in 1858, the Futon Street prayer meeting in New York was so crowded that the only way they could accommodate the numbers was by holding three simultaneous prayer meetings in rooms on different floors in the same building. One observer says, “Prayer became the order of the day.” In March, a noon prayer meeting was commenced in a large theater. Half an hour before the announced time, it was packed full. The great majority being men - businessmen. Three days later, the outstanding preacher, Henry Ward Beecher led three thousand in the theater prayer meeting. The newspapers began to sit up and take notice and to report on the happenings. It was front page news that over six thousand were attending daily prayer meetings in New York.

Other great cities like Boston, Chicago, Washington, Buffalo and Newerk soon had their noonday prayer meetings too. In Washington, five daily prayer meetings were launched, commencing respectively at 6.30 a.m., 10.00 a.m., 12 noon, 5.00 p.m. and 7.00 p.m. It became common sight to see businesses closed with a notice: “Will re-open at the close of the prayer meeting”. A revival had been born through regular and protracted prayers. Multitudes were swept into God’s Kingdom as a result.

C. KOREANS MAJOR IN PRAYER - RESULTS ARE NATIONAL EVANGELIZATION AND CHURCH GROWTH.

1. In Korea, where God has been moving in a mighty way, the Christian population has grown from less than 2% to approximately 32% of the entire population of South Korea in the last three

decades. The key to this amazing growth is early morning meetings, and prayer and fasting retreat centres located throughout the nation. The churches in South Korea have made prayer a priority. Somebody said “they major in prayer”. Billy Kim said that “the Christian population is growing four times faster than the regular population is growing. We are building fifteen new churches everyday in Korea!”2. Scotland is the birth place of the Presbyterian denomination, but today, the largest Presbyterian church in the world is located, not in Europe, but in Korea. The Methodist church began in England, but the largest Methodist church in the world is located in Korea. The Assemblies of God began in the U.S.A; however, the biggest church in the world is the Seoul Full Gospel Church, with a membership of over three quarters of a million very aggressive and witnessing believers. The effectiveness of the Korean churches is directly related to the intercessory prayer life of the people.3. Prayer plays a different role in ordinary Christian living in Korea. Every morning at 4.30 or 5.00 a.m. a prayer meeting is held in every church. This include rural and urban churches of all denominations. The prayer meeting convenes 365 mornings a year. Most senior pastors themselves conduct the dawn prayer meeting personally. When asked why they do this? They said because that is where power is! Their spirits can no more function well without a daily intake of prayer power than their bodies can without daily intake of food. A large number of the Korean churches, also have an all-night prayer. Some add another on Wednesday nights. It is reported that no Korean Pastor spends under one hour a day in prayer, and that 47% of them spend two hours or more” A life-style of prayer is simply expected of Korean Christian leader; and most of them meet those expectations.4. Some of the Korean churches have purchased prayer mountain properties set up as prayer retreat centres. There are about 521 of them. Dr. Peter Wagner reported that he visited “Young Moon Prayer Mountain,” which regularly holds prayer rallies attracting up to thirty thousand persons. It has a tabernacle which accommodates seven thousand. Fasting and Prayer Mountain of the Full Gospel Central Church is the largest and most active. Located at O. Sanri, just south of the demilitarised zone, it represents a fulfilled vision of Pastor Paul Yonggi Cho’s mother-in-law, Jashil Choi, who founded it in 1973. Careful records are kept of all that happens at Prayer Mountain; again underscoring the crucial importance attached to prayer. The latest figures shows that over 750 thousand visits are made in a year. A commercial bus company has scheduled hourly runs over the forty-five minutes route from Seoul. Many visitors just go to attend the revival-type services, but in a given year over eighty thousand individuals go specifically for prayer and fasting. A staff of no less than 130 full and part-time ministers is on duty to instruct them in the correct method of fasting for periods of one to forty days. The only restaurant has a fasting withdrawal services with scientifically-planned menus. Over 100 private individual

prayer grottos (prayer rooms) have been dug into the mountain itself, and everyone is occupied almost twenty-four hours a day. Ten to twenty thousand (10 - 20,000) newcomers find salvation in Dr. Yonggi Cho’s church every month. He runs about seven services each Sunday with tens of thousands in each service.

D. THE NIGERIAN REVIVALS OF THE 80S AND 90S1. The revival Nigeria has experienced in the last two decades of the 20 th century is perhaps greater than the nation has ever seen. First, there was a serious revival of prayer. Many conversions have taken place in the university campuses. Many of the young men and women God raised in the campuses entered the ministry and now pastor very fast growing churches and ministries.Many churches begin the year with corporate prayer and fasting for 14 days, 21 days and 40 days. Almost all denominations now have prayer vigils on Fridays. Some vigils are more attended than some Sunday morning services. There is a prayer revival in Nigeria.Mission awareness has been on the increase. Many unreached people-groups have been discovered and several missionaries have been mobilised to reach those fields. 2. City based ministries have witnessed tremendous conversions. The ministries of men like Benson Idahosa, T.O. Obadare, E.A. Adeboye and W. F. Kumuyi have seen the conversion of many traditional rulers, government and military officers, notable industrialists and politicians.3. The Muslim population has significantly reduced in this decade. Because of this, there was a resurgence of Islamic militancy to stop the growth of the church, especially, in traditional Islamic strongholds. A number of books have been published to question the foundation of Islam and these publications have sensitized the nation and the Nigerian Church to evangelising Muslims. Nigeria presently has close to 25-30 million active evangelical and pentecostal christians.4. Churches are growing at an amazing rate. Almost all available abandoned warehouses, halls of hotels and even cinema halls have been converted to churches. It is in Nigeria you’ll find medical doctors, university professors, high court judges, military officers. lawyers, scientists, accountants, engineers and business men practising their professions and also at the same time actively serving the Lord as pastors, evangelists and teachers.5. Unlike in the Western Europe and America where mainly only the old people are interested in church going, the revival in Nigeria is basically among the youth and the middle aged people. Many of them in the traditional evangelical churches have caused revivals in such orthodox churches as the Catholic, Anglican, Methodist and Presbyterian churches where the leadership had been plagued with cult membership and formalism.

Mosques and those who go there are also targeted for intercession, and there have been many stories of the mosques been depopulated. For example, in a big mosque in the city of Ibadan, South-west Nigeria the Imam had an experience he can never forget. He had come to call the faithful to the Friday jumat service. The mosque is close to a radio station. As he switched on the public address system, the amplifier picked a sermon being transmitted from the radio station. The sermon was relayed clearly through the powerful speakers to about three-kilometre radius. For over five minutes, the Imam was confused while the Gospel was being preached from the minaret of the mosque!6. Many Muslims who could not be reached through the traditional preaching have been converted through dreams and visions as Nigerian Christians intercede for Muslims.Churches like the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Deeper Life Bible Church, Church of God Mission International and several charismatic denominations have multiplied branches across the nation and throughout Africa.8. Many of the human products of the revival in Nigeria that have relocated to Europe and America excelled themselves in ministry, especially, in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Russia, Ukraine and even in South America.

WONDERS OF GOD IN NIGERIA - SPIRITUAL ASPECT Nigeria has more than 21 million active evangelical and pentecostal Christians. One of the largest in the world.8. Nigeria has more than 21 million active evangelical and pentecostal Christians, one of the largest in the world. There are more Christians that are born-again in Nigeria than in the whole of born-again Christians in many African nations put together.9. There are more Christians that are born-again in Nigeria than in the whole of born-again Christians in many African nations put together. The NIFES (Nigeria Fellowship of Evangelical Students), a member fellowship of IFES (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students) is the world largest student fellowship body in the world.10. The NIFES (Nigeria Fellowship of Evangelical Students) a member of IFES (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students) is the world largest student fellowship body in the world. The world largest revival meeting holds in Nigeria during the Redeemed Christian Church of God’s (RCCG) annual Holy Ghost Congress that attracts about 4-5 million people (It usually holds at the second week of every December).11. The world largest prayer meeting holds in Nigeria during the Redeemed Christian Church of God’s annual Holy Ghost Congress that attracts about 4-5 million people (Usually holds second week of every December). One of world largest crusades that had ever held was in Ibadan, Oyo state.- the Reinhard Bonnke Crusade (2001) attracted over two million people every night.12. One of world largest crusades that had ever held was in Ibadan.- the Reinhard Bonnke Crusade (2001). attracted over two million people every night. Nigeria is also the home of the world’s largest prayer meeting - the first Friday of the month night vigil of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (Holy Ghost Night) at the Redemption Camp. It usually attracts between 850,000 to 1,000,000 people every month.13.

Nigeria is also the home of the world’s largest prayer meeting - the first Friday of the month night vigil of the Redeemed Christian Church of God at the Redemption Camp. It usually attracts between 850,000 to 1,000,000 people every month. The world’s largest auditorium is also in Nigeria. The 3-million seater out-door auditorium at the Redemption Camp.14. The world largest auditorium is also in Nigeria. The one million seater out-door auditorium at the Redemption Camp. The 60,000 seater ultra modern chapel of the Living Faith Ministries at Otta near Lagos, is the world’s largest indoor church auditorium. It has already featured in the Guinness Book of Records.15. The 60,000 seater ultra modern chapel of the Living Faith Ministries at Otta near Lagos, is the world’s largest indoor church auditorium. The 35,000 seater Word of Life Bible Church, Warri, is one of the most beautiful church auditoria in the world.16. The 35,000 seater Word of Life Bible Church, Warri, is one of the most beautiful church auditoria in the world. Nigeria presently has many born-again Christian political office holders, traditional rulers, military and police, top officers and bank executives.17. Nigeria presently has a born-again President who is also an active prayer warrior. Presently in Europe, the largest prayer meeting is being organized by a Nigerian, minister of the gospel, Pastor E.A. Adeboye (the General Overseer of the RCCG). The meeting called the “London Festival of Life” comes up about thrice a year. The attendance is now well over 70,000 people per gathering. For lack of space in London, two new centres have been created – Manchester in the U.K, and Dublin in Ireland.18. Presently in Europe, the largest prayer meeting is being organized by a Nigerian, Pastor E.A. Adeboye. The meeting called the LondonFestivalofLife comes up thrice a year. The attendance is now over 20,000 people per gathering. The largest church in Great Britain, the Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC) was founded and is being pastored by a Nigerian minister – Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo.19.

The largest church in Great Britain, the Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC) was founded and is being pastored by a Nigerian minister – Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo. The largest church in the old USSR now Common-wealth of Independent States (CIS)

was founded and is pastored by a Nigerian - Pastor Sunday Adelaja. That church now has over 25,000 members and is located in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.

Nigeria is about the only country in the world where an ex-military ruler, an Army General, (Genesis Dr. Yakubu Gowon) is the founder and leader of an organized prayer group (NIGERIA PRAYS) that goes round the country, mobilizing national prayers.20. The largest church in the old USSR now Common-Wealth of Independent States (CIS) was founded and is pastored by a Nigerian - Pastor Sunday Adelaja. That church now has over 25,000 members and is located in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.

E PRAYER AND MISSIONS (A Revival Case Study)One of the greatest illustrations of prayer as a strategic weapon in frontier missions is found

in the experience of J. O. Fraser, the pioneer missionary to the Lisu tribe of Southwest China. As a young missionary with the China inland Mission in the early 1900s, he preached Christ for several years among the far flung mountain villages of this people with almost no outward results. Fraser’s few converts fell back into the clutches of demonism and he himself, attacked by

severe depression and suicidal despair, almost gave up his mission. Breakthrough occurred when two things happened:1. The Spirit of God enabled him to pray “the prayer of faith” for several hundred Lisu

families to come to Christ.2. He succeeded in forming a prayer support group of eight to ten Christian in his home

country to back up the work in ongoing prayer.His wife later wrote about the difference this prayer effort made in Fraser’s work “He

described to me how in his early years he had been all but defeated by the forces of darkness arrayed against him. He came to the place where he asked God to take away his life rather than allow him to labour on without results. He would then tell me of the prayer forces that took up the burden at home and the tremendous lifting of the cloud over his soul., of the gift of faith that was given him and how God seemed suddenly to step in, drive back the forces of darkness and take the field”.

Fraser himself said: “Work on our knees. I am feeling more and more that it is after all, just the prayer of God’s people that called down blessing upon the work, whether they are directly engaged in it or not.

Paul may plant and Apollo water, but it is God who gives the increase and this increase can be brought down from heaven by believing prayer whether offered in China or in England .... If this is so, then Christians at home can do much for foreign missions as those actually on the field, I believe it will only be known on the last day how much has been accomplished in missionary work by the prayers of earnest believers at home.

Solid lasting missionary work is done on our knees. What I covet more than anything else is earnest believing prayer, and I write to ask you to continue in prayer for me and the work here”.

“I used to think that prayer should have the first place and teaching the second. I now feel that it would be true to give prayer the first, second and third places and teaching the fourth. We are not dealing with an enemy that fires at the head only - that keeps the mind only in ignorance - but with an enemy who uses poison gas attacks which wrap the people around with deadly effect and yet are impalpable, elusive ... Nor would it be of any avail to reach or preach to Lisu here while they are held back by these invisible forces... But the breath of God can blow away all those deadly vapours from the atmosphere of a village in answer to our prayers. We are not fighting against flesh and blood. You deal with the fundamental issues of this Lisu work when you pray against the principalities and powers, the world rulers of this darkness, the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies (Eph. 6:12)”

In the years that followed, hundreds of families accepted Christ and ultimately a people movement involving tens of thousands of Lisu ensued. Today in southwest China and Northern Burma, they are a missionary tribe taking the Gospel to other tribes about them.

The Need for a Delibrate Committment to PrayerWhat would have happened if Fraser had not formed that prayer support group which he so

faithfully kept informed with updates from the field? Would the breakthrough have occurred? In the decades since, how many breakthroughs among the unreached have not occurred because:1. Prayer was not perceived and used as strategic weapon.2. Prayer supporters were not kept linked ongoingly to a particular unreached group or

provided with a supply of up to-date information?Prayer at its very heart is a linking activity. First, prayer links us with God to receive His

power and direction as we pray for the world and carry out our own ministries. Secondly, as we pray for the unevangelized world, it links us with particular unreached groups and the Christian workers labouring among them. It links our efforts and their efforts to God in His almightiness, without whose help all such efforts ultimately are in vain.

Yet having said this, prayer can often be the missing link in our efforts on behalf of the unevangelized world. As important as good organization, planning and strategy are in world evangelization, in our business for God we may have neglected to link up with His power and direction to carry out that particular part of His mission given us. And that is a crucial omission!

Arthur Matthews, the late former missionary of the China Inland Mission, put his finger on the reason that we often do not emphasize prayer enough: “The concept that treats prayer as if it were a supplemental booster in getting some project off the ground makes the project primary and the prayer secondary. Prayer was never meant to be incidental to the work of God. It is the work”. Could we and other missions strategists be guilty of treating prayer as if it were a nice add-on to the other “strategic” things we are up to? Could it be that we have ignored the most strategic activity in accomplishing world evangelization? Reasons from Scripture, the history of missions and current missionary experience all compel us to contend that prayer is our most strategic weapon in frontier missions”.

Section TwoREASONS WHY PRAYER IS SO IMPORTANT

IN GLOBAL HARVEST1. GOD DESIRES AND REQUIRES INTERCESSORY PRAYER FOR THE

ACCOMPLISHMENT OF HIS SPECIFIC PURPOSE FOR THE PEOPLES OF THE EARTH

Jesus told us to pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is done in Heaven”, Abraham interceded for Lot in Sodom, Moses prayed that God would turn from His wrath against Israel, Daniel for the return of Israel from Babylon. Ezekiel was told by God, “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it but I found none”. (Ezekiel 22:30).

Why does God desire and require His people’s intercession? Most likely because God originally gave dominion of the earth to humankind. That dominion has never been revoked by God. Satan’s dominion achieved through rebellion against the Creator is a false, illegitimate, usurped dominion. Redeemed through Christ, we can exercise our God-given right to influence the affairs of this world through the exercise of intercessory prayer. Like Kuwait’s request for the multi-national force to come against the illegitimate dominion of Iraq, so we in prayer as God’s redeemed children, pray that His will be done, His Kingdom come on earth. Prayer in the power of the Holy Spirit breaks through the false dominion of the enemy, and clears the way for His deliverance and shalom to come to all peoples linked through prayer with the risen Christ, sitting at His side (Eph. 2) far above authority and dominion, we share in the accomplishment of His redemptive purpose.

Dick Eastman, president of World Literature Crusade, recently shared with the staff at World Vision how early in 1988, God had led him to take a team of intercessors throughout Eastern Europe. Their mission was “to confront the strongholds of Communism”. In obedience to God’s leading, they carried out a “prayer walk” around the Parliament building. In less than two years later, the Romanian dictator, Ceaucescu made his last stand after pridefully announcing his regime would last for a thousand years. While in Berlin, God led Dick to go out with a German friend in the middle of the night to face that still forbidding wall. Moved in intercessory prayer, they both laid their hands on the wall and prayed, “In the name of Jesus, come down!” The Berlin wall has fallen, communism has collapsed worldwide and the Soviet Union has crumbled never to rise again.

In the dramatic events of the past years in Eastern Europe, God has used the prayers of His people to shake the nations. He can do the same thing in the unevangelised world. He is seeking those who will stand before Him in the gap for the 2,000 major unreached peoples, the 1,000 unevangelised cities, and the unevangelised countries.

2. VICTORY IN THE SPIRITUAL REALM IS PRIMARY, AND IT IS WON BY PRAYER

Remember Moses intercession as he held up his hands before God while Joshua and the army of Israel fought the Amalekites in the valley below? Each time Moses arms grew tired and faltered, Israel’s army was pushed back. But as he sustained his stance in prayer with uplifted arms, the Israelites were victorious.

Later in Israel’s history, King Jehoshaphat relied on the weapons of united fasting and prayer, public worship and praise which brought God’s intervention against the invading armies of Israel’s enemies (2 Chronicles 20). Bible teacher, Derek Prince writes: “These weapons, scripturally employed by Christian today, will gain victories as powerful and dramatic as they gained for the people of Judah in the days of Jehoshaphat ... Victory in the spiritual realm is primary. It is to be obtained by spiritual weapons.

Thereafter its outcome will be manifested in every area of the natural and material realm”.These two Biblical episodes vividly portray intercessory prayer as being the winning factor.

Why should there be any difference in today’s battle for world evangelization?

3. PRAYER HAS ALWAYS UNDERGIRDED AND EXTENDEDTHE MISSIONARY OUTREACH OF THE CHURCH

(a) Prayer is mentioned over 30 times in the Book of Acts alone, and generally it is mentioned as occurring just before major breakthroughs in the outward expansion of the early Christian movement. For the Apostles, extended times of units prayer and waiting on God together were pivotal in their mission to the unreached. Before the first great outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost and Peter’s sermon that brought 3,000 into the Church, it is recorded that the Apostles “all joined together constantly in prayer” (Acts 1:14).Then, as the apostles and their new converts “devoted themselves to prayer,” signs and wonders occurred, the city was filled with awe, and people were added to the church daily (Acts 2:42-44). It was “after they had prayed” that the place where they were meeting was shaken, all were filled with the Holy Spirit, and Peter spoke the word of God with boldness (Acts. 4:31).

(b) The Apostles earlier on let it be known what their priority in mission was, “we will devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word” (Acts 6:4). The result of the Apostles’ determined adherence to this priority was that “The Word of God spread and the number of disciples increased rapidly, and a large number of the priests became obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7).

(c) Peter’s prayer resulted in signs and wonders such as the raising of Tabitha. Later it was a time of prayer that opened his eyes to the revelation that the gospel was also for the Gentiles, making him willing to go and preach to Cornelius. It was also the church’s prayer that brought the release of Peter from prison.

(d) A period of prayer and fasting by five leaders of the Antioch church led to the setting apart of Paul and Barnabas for their frontier mission to the Gentiles. Afterwards they were sent out with more fasting and prayer (Acts 13:1-3). It was through prayer that Paul was not allowed by the Spirit of Jesus to enter Bithynia, but redirected into Macedonia. And it was through the prayer and praise to God by the imprisoned Paul and Silas that an earthquake helped to originate the church at Philipi!

(e) The whole European side of the modem Protestant Missionary enterprise grew out of Pietism, a revival movement that was steeped in earnest prayer. From its influence, the Danish Halle Mission to India went forth and the Moravian movement under Count Zinzendorf emerged.

(f) One author writing about the Moravians said that, “the glorious movement of the Spirit ... among the Moravians at Hernhut in 1727 which transformed them into what has been the mightiest evangelization force in the world for the past two centuries, was borne in prayer”.

(g) The prayer meeting which the Moravians began in 1727 went on 100 years! By relays they offered unceasing prayer for the church and needs all around the world. This prayer effort kindled their desire to proclaim Christ to the unreached and led to the beginning of modern missions. And from this one small village, over 100 missionaries went out in 25 years.

(h) Decades later, William Carey, while still employed as a humble shoe repairman to support his part-time preaching, drew up a homemade map of the world, entering all information he could find about its regions and countries. As he mused over the world’s appalling needs and problems, he turned the information gathered into heartfelt intercession. His biographer reveals: “Often in the silence of the night ... by the dim rush light, he would scan that map and then kneeling before it, pour out his soul to God”. Prayer for the world was a definite motive force in the call and service of the one who came to be known as “the father of modern Prostestant missions”.

(i) In 1806, a few college students from William’s College took refuge from a sudden rainstorm beneath a haystack. Sitting in the midst of hay, they used the time to pray for the world and its needs. Out of that unlikely venue for a prayer meeting, the American mission movement was born.

Robert Glover sums up the role of prayer in the history of missions:“From Pentecost and the Apostle Paul, right down through the centuries to the present day, the story of missions has been the story of answered prayer, Every fresh out-breaking of missionary energy has been the result of believing prayer. Every new missionary undertaking that has been owned and blessed of God has been the germinating of our seed planted by the divine spirit in the hearts of praying saints”.

4. SPIRITUAL REVIVALS WROUGHT BY PRAYER HAVE POWERFULLY IMPACTED FRONTIERMISSIONS

It has been said that “all the mighty revivals which constitute the mountain peaks of missionary annals had their roots in prayer” Jonathan Goforth, missionary revivalist in the far East at the beginning of this century, described the powerful revivals and awakenings that took place in Korea and China, which not only revived the Church but brought tens of thousands from unreached peoples to Christ. It all began with small bands of believers deciding to pray together regularly for an outpouring of God’s Spirit upon them and upon the unconverted. Goforth later discovered it was not only the missionaries who had been praying, but someone in his home country:

“When I came to England, I met a certain saint of God. We talked about the revival in China when she gave me certain dates when God specially pressed her to pray. I was almost startled on looking up these to find that they were the very dates when God was doing his mightiest work in Manchuria and China ... I believe the day will come when the whole inward history of that revival will be unveiled and will show that it was not the one who speaks to you now, but some of God’s saints hidden away with it in prayer who did most to bring it about”

In Hawaii, the revival known as the “Great Awakening (1837 - 43)”, began in the hearts of missionaries who were moved strongly to pray. At their annual meetings in 1835 and 1836, they were powerfully moved to pray and were so deeply impressed with the need of an outpouring of the Spirit that they prepared a strong appeal to the home churches, urging Christians everywhere to unite with them in prayer for a baptism on high. There were soon signs of growing interest in spiritual things and non-Christians, and then in 1837, so sweeping a spiritual awakening occurred that the missionaries had to labour night and day to accommodate multitudes anxiously seeking the assurance of salvation. In one day, over 1,700 converts were baptized and in six years, 27,000 were added to the Church.

J. Edwin Orr, the late historian of revivals, observed that the 19th century spiritual awakenings “revived all the existing missionary societies and enabled them to enter other fields ... and practically every missionary invasion was launched by men revived or converted in the awakenings” Of four great outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the 19th century, he wrote: “The turn of the century awakenings sent off pioneer missionaries to the South Seas, to Latin America, Black Africa, India and China. There arose denominational missionary societies such as the Baptist Missionary Society, the American Board, and other national missions in Europe ... Then a second wave of revival reinforced the foreign missionary invasion of all the continents ... William Carey was followed by societies ready to evangelize India. Robert Morrison opened a way for missionaries to settle in the treaty ports of China... missionaries pushed north from the Cape of Good Hope as David Livingstone explored the hinterlands of Africa.

PRACTICAL RESULTS OF PRAYERSOf most importance to this discussion, Orr traced the origin of the spiritual awakenings

which launched new missionary enterprises at worldwide prayer meetings which intensified before they occurred. David Bryant agrees with Orr’s analysis. He has detected a fivefold pattern in the outward movements of the gospel over the last 3,000 years:

i. A movement of united prayer begins.ii. A renewed vision of Christ and His church emerges.iii. The Church is restored in unity and in its determination to obey the Lordship of

Christ.iv. A revitalization of existing ministries and outreach occurs.v. This leads to an expansion of the gospel among those who have been

untouched to that point.Bryant observes, “God’s primary strategy is to bring His people together in prayer ... in

order that they might seek Him unitedly. They pursued in prayer a fresh revelation of the glory of God’s Son so as to penetrate all levels of society with the gospel and to launch new mission thrust to the ends of the earth.”

Bryant has quoted J. Edwin Orr as saying, “Whenever God is ready to do a new thing with His people, He always sets them a-praying”.

5. INTERCESSORY PRAYER ENABLES GOD’S CHILDREN TO POSSESS THEIR

INHERITANCE

- THE PEOPLES OF THE EARTH.In Psalm 2:8, the Lord invites us as His children to “Ask of me and I will make the nations

your inheritance and the ends of the earth your possession”. The only thing we can take with us into eternity as our inheritance are other people. Our joy and crown, just as they were for Paul, will be others who come to Christ through our efforts. As this Psalm reveals, asking in praying opens the door to God’s making nations or more specifically, the frontier peoples our inheritance. In the history of missions, great in-gatherings into the church of Christ now appear to be linked to strong, persistent praying.

Prayer Testimonies:(a) Hyde, missionary to northern India, became known as “the apostle of prayer” since God

raised up scores of national workers in answer to his prayers. He made a covenant to pray for one person to accept Christ each day which resulted in 400 conversions the first year. The following year, he decided to trust God for two a day, with 800 coming to Christ that year. Finally, the next year, as his faith grew, he trusted God for four a day. Through much travail in prayer, four a day came to Christ through his work.

(b) A woman missionary influenced by Hyde’s prayer life, resolved to devote the best hours of her time to prayer, making it primary and not secondary as before. God said to her, “Call upon me and I will show thee great and mighty things. You have not called upon me and therefore you do not see those things in your work.” As she began to make prayer the priority in her ministry, enormous changes resulted with 15 baptized at first, and 125 adults coming to Christ during the first half of the following year.

Later she wrote, “Our Christians now number 600 in contrast with one-sixth of that number two years ago.”

(c) Elsewhere in India, prayer has also proved to be the key to great in-gatherings among unreached peoples. Missionaries working among the Telugu outcasts were discouraged to the point of almost abandoning the work because of the lack of response. However, the last night of 1853, a missionary couple and three Indian helpers spent the night in prayer for the Telugus on a hill overlooking the city of Ongole. When the first light of day dawned, they all shared a sense of assurance that their prayers had prevailed. Gradually, the opposition broke over the next few years, and a mighty outpouring of the Spirit brought 8,000 Telugus to Christian in only a six-week period. In one day, over 2,200 were baptized and this church became the largest in the world at that time!

(d) In 1902, two lady missionaries with the Khassia hills Mission were challenged by the need to pray and Khassian Christians also began to pray for their unconverted fellows. In a few months, over 8,000 were added to the Church in that section of India.

(e) Wesley Duewel of OMS International, known as a kind of guru on prayer for missions, once said that the first 25 years of their mission’s work in India was very slow. Only one church per year on the average came into being. Out of a period of intense heart searching by the team of missionaries, the decision was made to recruit 1,000 people in their homelands to pray 15 minutes a day for the work. Not long after things began to move substantially. Over the next several years, the mission went from 25 churches with 2,000 believers, to 550 churches with more than 73,000 believers. Duewel Believes the massive

amount of prayer harnessed and specifically focused on their efforts, turned the tide. One of his Indian co-workers exclaimed to him; “All of us are seeing results beyond anything we could have imagined!”

(f) Jonathan Goforth, in writing about the Korean revival of 1907, said: “It was intense, believing prayer that had so much to do with the revival which brought 50,000 Koreans to Christ. We are convinced too that all movements of the Spirit in China which has come within our own experience may be traced to prayer”. One missionary remarked to him: “Since the Lord did so much with our small amount of praying, what might He not have done if we prayed as we ought?”

6. EFFECTIVE MISSION STRATEGIES COME FROM RESEARCH IMMERSED IN PRAYERJoshua was one of the original “researchers” who spied out the land of promise in Numbers

13. Because he knew the facts about the land and its peoples so well, he was prepared to become the great military strategists that he later became during the conquest.

However, in the book of Joshua, we see him continually seeking God for His guidance in the development of effective strategies. He did not lean on his own understanding, but relied upon his own God’s direction given through prayer.

The principle is still the same. I am becoming more and more convinced that coupling research findings concerning the people/group we are trying to reach with ongoing persevering prayer is an unstoppable combination in the process of developing effective mission strategy. John Dawson’s recent book, “Taking Our Cities for God: How to Break Spiritual Strongholds,” insightly ties together ministry related research and intercessory prayer.

Prayer is the supernatural way of multiplying and sending out Christian workers into frontier missions.

As in the days of Jesus, the harvest is still plentiful and the workers are few. The unevangelized world, still claims only a very small portion of the mission force and the Church’s material resources. We have talked about the issue of redeployment and mobilization for our world, but Jesus answer in a similar situation faced in his time is still the answer today: “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest field (Matthew 9:37-38)” Jesus did not tell the disciples to go all out and round up as many Christian workers as possible or to raise all million dollars for mission. Instead, he said that prayer to the One who owns the harvest was the priority. Because he can call, equip and send those workers who will be best able to reap the harvest.

I am convinced that the mightiest missionaries to the Muslims might not have been converted yet. But God is waiting upon the prayers of His people to turn Muslim zealots around as he did the Apostle Paul, so they become missionaries to their people. I am convinced that as prayer networks are formed, focusing on particular peoples, cities and countries, we will see God raise up armies of new workers to reap the harvest in our world (the unevangelized world).

In 1880, when the China Inland Mission had only 100 workers, and then again in 1887, when additional workers were required, Hudson Taylor and his associates spent protracted time in prayer until they received the assurance of faith that the number required would be granted. Both times, after an appeal for 70 new missionaries in 1880, and 100 in 1887, the full number reached China within the specified time and with all their support supplied. A.T. Pierson is said to have exclaimed that, except for the prayers of praying mothers and fathers who prayed their children out to the mission field, there would have been no Student Volunteer Movement!

8. PRAYER OPENS CLOSED DOORS FOR OCCUPATION BY A CHRISTIAN PRESENCE

The Apostle Paul urge the Christians of his generation to “devote ourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us too that God may open a door for our message so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ” (Col. 4:24). McCurry of Ministries to Muslim International recently gave a striking illustration in this regard. Some years ago he visited the West African country of Guinea. Sekou Toure, a Marxist leader, had just kicked out all the missionaries, McCurry and two national pastors met to intercede for the country.

First, they interceded with God for the removal of this Marxist tyrant who had chosen to close the door to further mission efforts when most of the people groups still remained unoccupied by the church. Then they put up maps around the room in which they were meeting, and together laid their hands upon those areas of the country and groups that had no Christian presence. They prayed and agreed together for a breakthrough and the establishment of Christian ministries in them. Within a year, Sekou Toure was gone, replaced by a more flexible leader who opened the door to missions once again and today every one of the people groups they prayed for are now occupied by a national missionary effort!

When Jonathan Goforth planned to launch a new work in northern Honan Province in China, Hudson Taylor wrote to him with these words: {Brother, if you are to win that province, you must go forward on your knees}. His advice still holds today.

In the past years, we have seen God open the anti-Christian bastions of Romania, Poland, Ethiopia, Bulgaria, Russia and Albania. Can we not expect Him to do the same with Mauritania, Morocco, Libya, Turkey, Kuwait, Iran or Saudi Arabia, if God’s people will focus their prayers on these difficult places?

9. THROUGH PRAYERS WE CAN INFLUENCE WORLD LEADERS AND POLICIES

Government decisions and decrees are constantly taking away liberty of worship and permitting or directing the persecution of Christians. No outside government can do much to help change this picture, but we are not completely impotent. Through prayer, you can become a hidden counselor of these government leaders and authorities without their awareness. How? “The King’s heart is in the hand of the Lord; He directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases”. (Prov. 21:1).(a) It was the Lord who moved the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia, to issue the edict to permit

the Jews living in captivity to return freely to Jerusalem (Ezra 1:1).

(b) When, for sixteen years or longer, the leaders of surrounding nations prevented the building of the Temple, Ezra records that it was the Lord who changed the attitude of the emperor Darius (Ezra 6:22) and caused him to order the temple to be rebuilt and the surrounding nations to cease interfering.

(c) It was as Nehemiah prayed and fasted that God prepared the heart of King Artaxerxes, who had already ruled Persia for twenty years. He then authorized Nehemiah, his official, to take a leave of absence and go to Jerusalem to rebuild its walls (Neh. 2:4,6).

(d) When Queen Esther, Mordecai, and the hundreds of Jews in Susan spent three days in prayer and fasting, God would not let King Xerxes (Ahasuerus) sleep (Esther 6:1), and so began the series of actions which preserved the Jewish nation.

(e) We can be sure that it was while Daniel was praying that God delivered the three young Hebrew men and changed King Nebuchadnezzar from persecutor to protector (Daniel 3).

Today, as in the past, rulers of nations plot against Christians and against the Christian church. Laws are promulgated repeatedly to restrict missionary work, Christian witness, the baptism of believers, the assembly of believers public services, the erection of new church buildings. In some lands, Christians are repeatedly imprisoned, severally mistreated, and tortured. Thank God persecution cannot destroy the Church (Matthew 16:18)!

(f) Seldom does the Church adequately exercise her prayer privilege and prayer authority to change the attitude of political rulers and the treatment of suffering Christians. While again and again God does intervene to protect or help His own, who knows what changes might occur if the Church would only unite to focus on earnest, daily, prevailing prayer for authorities in Cuba, China, North Korea, Iran, Libya or any of the other nations where there is active opposition to Christianity. It was the protracted prayer of saints all over the world

that caused the collapse of communism worldwide. Missionaries are now free to enter those countries.

10. PRAYER PROVIDES A PROTECTIVE COVER OVER LABOURERS AND THEIR FAMILIES. (PSALM 91:1; GENESIS 19:28-29).

(a) In about 1949, a group of retired missionaries from China, with a few faithful praying friends, met for their regular missionary prayer meeting in Adelaide, South Australia. A great prayer burden and sense of urgency came on them as they gathereed together. All felt especially burdened for Hayden Melsap, then assigned to the China Inland Mission. They unanimously decided to drop all preliminaries and go “straight to prayer”. They prayed until they all felt a sense of peace and relief.

A few years later, when Hayden Melsap was on deputation in Australia, the missionaries asked him if he recalled any unusual occasion at that time.

To their amazement, they found that on that day and hour, Hayden and at least two other missionaries were backed against a wall in a courtyard in China, with communist guns levelled at them for execution. Just as the officer was about to issue the command to fire, the door of the courtyard opened and a higher officer entered. Shocked to see what was about to happen, he shouted, “Stop!” he then stepped up, put his arm around Melsap, and led him and the others to safety!

(b) Dr. Wesley Duewel a veteran missionary to India wrote that many a miracle has been brought to pass by the Holy Spirit in answer to a chain of prayer or the prayers of a specially convened group. Many local churches have arranged S.O.S. prayer chains for missions. When an emergency prayer request comes in, five or six people are immediately called. Each, in turn, calls the next person on his list.In a matter of minutes, many are at prayer. “We have such an arrangement among the OMS headquarters staff”, he said. He recalled that during the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya in 1960, missionaries Matt and Lora Higgens were returning one night to Nairobi through the heart of Mau Mau territory, where Kenyans and missionaries alike had been killed and dismembered. Seventeen miles outside of Nairobi their Land Rover stopped. Higgens tried to repair the car in the dark, but could not restart it. They spent the night in the car, but claimed Psalm 4:8: “I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety”. In the morning they were able to repair the car.A few weeks later, the Higgenses returned to America on holiday rest. They reported that the night before they left Nairobi, a local pastor had visited them. He told how a member of the Mau Mau had confessed that he and three others had crept up to the car to kill the

Higgenses, but when they saw sixteen men surrounding the car, the Mau Mau had left in fear. “Sixteen men” Higgens responded. “I don’t know what you mean!”While they were on holidays, a friend, Clay Brent, asked the Higgens if they had been in

any danger recently. Higgens asked, “Why?” Then Clay said that on March 23rd, God had placed a heavy prayer burden on his heart. He called the men of the church, and sixteen of them met together and prayed until the burden lifted. Did God send sixteen angels to represent those men and enforce their prayers? Heaven will reveal many wonderful accounts of how God has used special prayer burdens to advance His cause and protect His people.

11. SPIRITUAL WARFARE CAN BREAK THE CONTROL OF THE POWERS OF DARKNESS OVER PEOPLE GROUPS, CITIES AND NATIONS.

There are also links that needs to be broken if frontier missions are to go forward. Chains of spiritual darkness and bondage often link unreached peoples, cities and countries to principalities and powers who seek to control the affairs of humankind. At present, in the missions world, missionaries and mission agencies are undergoing a rediscovery that the issue in reaching the unreached is one of spiritual power. Just as it was when Jehovah God faced the gods of Egypt or Baal on Mount Carmel, so today the issue still is one of power encounter between the true God and false gods, those spirit beings who hold sway over segments of humanity.

Dr. C. Peter Wagner in a sympossium on power evangelism at Fuller Seminary affirmed: “Satan delegates high-ranking members of the hierarchy of evil spirits to control nations, regions, cities, tribes, people groups, neighbourhoods and other significant social networks of human beings throughout the world. Their major assignment is to prevent God from being glorified in their territory, which they do through directing the activity of lower-ranking demons”.

Ephesians 6 indicates that all Christians are involved in an unseen warfare with the powers of darkness, how much more those of us who are involved in frontier missions as missionaries, intercessors, researchers or strategists? Paul says our struggle or literally “wrestling” is to be carried out through prayer in the Spirit. Apart from the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, Prayer is the only offensive weapon available to us in this cosmic warfare.

Obviously, if we are going to see missionary breakthroughs in peoples, cities and countries, we will need to learn how to use the offensive weapon of prayer to dislodge the powers of darkness. While discussing the receptivity or resistance of people groups to Christ, Dr. Wagner draws out this implication: “It goes without saying that if this hypothesis concerning territorial spirits is correct, and if we could learn how to break their control through the power of God, positions on the resistance-resistivity axis could change virtually overnight.

THE NEED FOR STRATEGIC LEVEL PRAYER WARFAREFrancis Frangipane, writing about the strongholds the power of darkness maintain over

groups of people, takes a similar line of thinking:“There are satanic strongholds (territorial spirits) over countries and communities; there are

strongholds which influence churches and individuals. These fortresses exist in the thought patterns and ideas that govern individuals as well as communities and nations. Before victory can be claimed, these strongholds must be pulled down, and Satan’s armour removed. Then the mighty weapons of the Word and the Spirit can effectively plunder Satan’s house”

Territorial Spirits in Different NationsBurma:Studies of the belief system of pagan peoples attests to the reality of the picture of spirit beings portrayed in Ephesians 6, the book of Daniel and elsewhere. The Burmese believe in supernatural beings called “hias” arranged hierarchically with control over natural phenomena, villages, regions, and nations. Their link with these beings is maintained through witches or mediums, at least one of whom is found in each village.

Thailand:In Thailand, there are both village and regional spirits, with the village ones being

subordinate to the regional ones. Pillars are often erected in villages as a habitat for their guardian spirits. One CMA missionary told of the increasing oppression and lack of spiritual responsiveness she and her co-worker encountered in a village once this pillar was erected. An OMF missionary thinks he has identified the national principality over all of Thailand.

India:In India, a similar cosmology involving guardian spirits over villages and others over

regions is found. They are often associated with disease, sudden death and catastrophe. “Kali”, the goddess of destruction, is a regional deity known especially among the Bengalis of West Bengal in Calcutta.

Anyone who has been to Calcutta can see the devastating impact she and her worship have made upon that city and its people. Christian workers living there complain of severe oppression and serious disunity in the churches. Strangely enough, they have never yet come together to pray for the city and to take offensive action against the powers of darkness.

Zimbabwe and Nigeria:

A book on the African country of Zimbabwe reveals that every region, city, village is thought to be under the control of territorial spirits. In Nigeria, an Assemblies of God leader, who formerly was a high-ranking occult practitioner before his conversion, said that Satan assigned him control of 12 spirits, each of which controlled 600 demons. He testified, “I was in touch with all the spirits controlling each town in Nigeria, and I had a shrine in almost all major cities”.

Japan:Recently, in a meeting with a well-known Japanese evangelist and several missionaries to

Japan, a prayer missionary was surprised to discover how much the Japanese are still bound up with occultism. We can be fooled by the highly technological, modern look of Japan, and not realize that large numbers of the Japanese still attend Shinto shrines, that every school child carries an amulet, or that Shinto priests are called upon to dedicate each new building and new products fromthe factories. Each factory and conglomerate has an appointed shinto priest servicing shinto altars owned bythe management. And a dangerous phenomenon is now facing people in the West as New Age cults advocate “channeling” to communicate with spirit beings, thus re-establishing links with the powers of darkness originally broken by the evangelization and Christianization of Western societies.

The problem is that most of us do not realise we’re in a serious spiritual war, and therefore, they feel no need for prayer as a strategic weapon. John Piper, a Minneapolis pastor, puts it this way: “The problem is that most Christians don’t really believe that life is war, and that our invisible enemy is awesome. How then are you ever going to get them to pray? They’ll say they believe these truths, but watch their lives. There is a peace-time casualness in the church about spiritual things. There are no bombs falling in their lives, no bullets whizzing overhead, no mines to avoid, no roars of jets on the horizons; all is well in America, the Disneyland of the universe. So why pray?”

In Marks 3:27, Jesus said something that is especially relevant to the activity of frontier missions: “No one can enter a strongman’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strongman. Then he can rob his house”. It stands to reason that missionaries cannot be successful in entering and carrying off what has belonged to Satan for centuries - portions of humanity under his dominion - without binding the territorial spirits that have delegated control there. Prayer in the Spirit informed by facts uncovered by research is a potent force in binding the strongmen over cities, people, groups and countries.

Again, John Dawson’s book demonstrated how research can uncover a community’s link with the powers of darkness, and united prayer in the Spirit can break that link.

In Matthew 18:18-19, Jesus gave a startling assurance to those who pray in this way: “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I tell you, that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my father in heaven.” Effective spiritual warfare occurs when we pray in unity with others. This teaching demonstrates the importance of prayer groups and networks being formed where people pray prayers of agreement for certain people groups, cities or countries in an in-depth way. This, it seems to me, is what will bring the breakthrough.

The Greek word for “bind” in these verses means “to chain or imprison”. The prayers of God’s people joined together will chain and circumscribe the activity of spirit beings. As the Apostle Paul puts it: “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds” (II Corinthians 1:3-4).

Argentina:The experience of Omar Cabrera, a pastor/evangelist in Argentina, underlines the awesome

weaponry the prayer in the Spirit brings to bear on the occult realm.Over the past several years, he has made it his practice to fast and pray for a number of

days before opening an evangelism campaign in a city he is trying to reach. Often during those periods of fasting and prayer, spirit beings will come against him, even appearing in grotesque shapes, to contest his presence and plan to evangelize that city. They often say, “You have no right to be here, this is my territory”. To which he often replies on the contrary, “You have no right to be here, I bind you in the authority of Jesus Christ, the one who has all authority in heaven and on earth”. Immediately that spirit flees the scene and a higher principality will often come into place against Cabrera. In the same way, through a struggle in prayer, Cabrera breaks the hold of that being which often turns out to be a spirit of witchcraft. When the topmost strongman is bound, the mood of the whole city changes - often from one of resistance to the gospel, to one of great receptivity - with hundreds and thousands coming to Christ, accompanied by extraordinary signs and wonders, healings and miracles. Used ministering to a congregation of under 20, now to being the pastor of the world’s third largest church with over 140,000 members.

As strange and outlandish as Cabrera’s experience seem to the naturalist in all of us, we would do well to apply what he and many other Christian workers are learning about prayer warfare to the work of frontier missions. As I have travelled around leading prayer warfare and seminars on intercession and missions, among Christian workers, the issues of spiritual warfare keeps coming up. My growing conviction is that in many resistant contexts we can strategize and evangelize until we are blue in the face with no effect until we identify and bind the strongman

over the group we are seeking to reach. Until this happens we are unlikely to see much of a response.

Could it be that whole peoples we have written off as being “resistant” are in themselves really not resistant at all, but are in the grip of spirit beings that are the source of the resistance? Arthur Matthews writes of his burden in intercession for two specific areas of South-east Asia where the missionaries were unable to make any headway; “So asserting my position with Christ in the heavenlies on the basis of God’s word, I took unto me the whole armour of God in order to stand against the wile of the devil, and to withstand his opposition to the gospel”. He held on until news from both places began to change”; “The resisting powers in both places were weakened, making possible victories for the Lord”.

Greece:Loren Cunningham, general director of Youth With A Mission, (YWAM) describe his

experience in praying and fasting for three days with 12 co-workers in 1973. As they prayed, the Lord revealed they should pray for the downfall of the “Prince of Greece”. The same day in New Zealand and Europe, YWAM groups received a similar word from God. All three groups obeyed and came against this principality.

Within 24 hours, a political coup changed the government of Greece, bringing greater freedom for mission activity in the country.

12. THE CHALLENGE OF LINKING THE GLOBAL PRAYER MOVEMENT WITH FRONTIER MISSIONS - (UNREACHED PEOPLE GROUPS)

David Barret and Todd Johnson in their “Our Globe and How To Reach It” estimate there are 22 active global prayer movements in existence. Certainly we rejoice in the resurgence of prayer in the worldwide church, however, there is little evidence that these prayer movements are linked directly enough with the unevangelized world. The Lausanne Global Prayer Strategy For World Evangelization is one example. Although Christians from 167 countries are involved in praying for world evangelization each countries are involved in praying for world evangelization each morning as a new day dawns, the focus of prayer is quite general with no global move as yet being made to link these intercessors with specific segments of the unevangelized world or to feed them with updated information so that their prayers will be more specific and effectual.

I am convinced more than ever that unless prayer networks come into being, focus on each of the 3,000 unevangelized segments, the unreached people cities and countries, world evangelization by AD 2000 or any time will be just a pipe dream. As we have seen, the battle must be won in the spiritual realm if Christian workers are to occupy and reap the harvest. Like

marines landing on an island beach, they will need a prayer bombardment to knock out enemy positions before they are able to occupy that people group or city in need of Christ.

Reaching the unreached will first of all, mean for us not only to lay hold of it in faith, but to develop thousands and thousands of prayer cells that will commit themselves whole heartedly to prayer until the victory will be won.

Along with others, I believe that probably the most strategic thing we can do for local, frontier and general missions is to stimulate the formation of ongoing prayer and spiritual warfare networks focused on particular unreached peoples, cities and countries. They will become those watchmen on the wall who will never be silent day or night until, as Isaiah says, “God makes that segment of humanity” “a praise in the earth” and until those people will be called “the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord”. (Isaiah 62:1-12).

Section ThreePRAYING FOR CRUSADES AND OUTREACHES

1. PRAYING FOR THE LOSTState and Condition of the Lost Sinner (II Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:11-13; Jn. 3:18; Ps. 7:11; 15:29)The lost person is one whose heart or spirit is void of the life and thus light of God. God’s

nature, eternal life (manifested as righteousness and love) is absent from such a heart, and Satan’s nature, death and darkness (manifested in sin and sickness) is present in such a heart.

Thus, the Bible calls such people children of the devil (John 8:44; I John 3:4-15). All men have had this nature of the devil in them because of the fall of the first man. It is the entry of God’s life into the heart of man that makes a man born-again and a child of God. All men can have this experience by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour (Rom. 10:9-10; John 3:3-6, 16).

So a man who is not born again is lost. He is separated and alienated from God. Satan keeps the minds of such men blinded from the truth of God and His Word. The death and darkness in their hearts keep them from seeing and accepting God’s truth (II Cor. 4:3-4; Eph. 4:17-18). Should the lost die in this state, he is destined for hell fire, since his name is not in the book of life (Rev. 20:11-15).

2. HOW TO PRAY FOR THE LOST

Bind the devil - Isa. 14:17First, to bring a lost person to God, it is necessary to break the blinding and binding power

of Satan over his mind. Satan is the god and prince of this world, (II Cor. 4:4; John 14:30) and will not give up one of his subjects (those who are not born again) without a fight (Luke 11:21-22; Matt. 12:29).

It is therefore necessary to overcome and bind the devil by force (Matt. 11:12) to stop him from keeping the lost person blind to God’s truth. To do this we issue a command to the particular ruler of darkness of this world, who is dominating that particular person.

There are 4 classes of evil spirits we contend with as listed in Eph. 6:12. In order of rank power and intelligence they are:

(i) Principalities(ii) Powers(iii) Rulers of the darkness of this world(iv) Wicked spirits in the heavenly sphere.The rulers of darkness of this world are the spirits responsible for keeping men in darkness

from God’s truth and light. It is them we must overcome and bind before we can proceed to save the lost man. Other evil spirits may be operating in the person’s being and life but are lower in rank than the ruler of the darkness of this world. But once you bind him (the strongman - see Luke 11:21-22), you can easily deal with any other spirits involved for they are under him and take their orders from him. So we issue forth a commanding prayer in our known tongue, saying something like this: “You particular ruler and spirit of darkness, iniquity and deceit, keeping Mr.... from the light of God’s Word and Life, I command you to stop your operations and desist in your activities inJesusname. I command you to loose your hold over Mr... in JESUS Name. I release and set him free in the name of the LORD JESUS CHRIST. Amen.”

3. THE ROLE OF IMPORTUNATE INTERCESSIONS. (Travail or Intercede in the Spirit - Isa. 66:7-9; Jn. 10:16; Gal 4:19)Now that the strongman has been bound, you need to spoil his goods (Luke 11:21-22). The

goods of the strongman include: (i) any other evil spirits in the person’s being or circumstances (ii) the will and mind of the man that has been programmed by the devil to resist and reject the things of God (Rom. 8:7), (iii) bad influences and habits that keep the person from God and the things of God.

Now, you spoil the goods through continual intercession in the Spirit for the person. This intercession is to continue as regularly as possible (e.g. once a week or month, etc.) until the person gives his life to Christ. By this intercession you put to work angels and the Holy Spirit in the life of the person to influence his will and circumstances and thoughts to accept Christ as

Lord and Saviour. This intercession might be with the Spirit in unknown tongues inspired by the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 14:2); because often you do not know what particular spirits, habits, thoughts and circumstances are disturbing the person in details enough to be able to pray about them accurately. However, the Holy Spirit knows everything and He therefore helps us to pray accurately and in power. You should consider the battle over when you sense a note of victory in your spirit. Just begin to praise the Lord.

Release the spirit of conviction and repentance into the life of the individual. (Jn. 16:8)

4. SAMPLE PRAYER FOR THE LOST (Praying for Crusades & Outreaches)“Lord, by your Holy Spirit, sow a thirst and a hunger after God in the heart of these

particular unbelievers (name them if possible); and grant O, loving Father that they will come to the end of themselves, be disgusted with sin and hate it desperately and so desire to be delivered from its consequences and power.

Lord, move in a special way and open the eyes of these people that they may see Your glory for what it is: deep and permanent, and so desire it very earnestly. And that you also open their eyes to the world’s glory for what it is; fake and transient.

Most Gracious Lord of heaven and earth, bring these unsaved to the gospel campaign, or church service in their multitudes, and destroy every imagination and plan of the enemy to keep them away by:

(a) Sending them invitation to some other meetings taking place at the same time as the evangelistic campaign.

(b) Sending them out of station for sudden business.(c) Making them sick in body during the outreach.(d) Making them forget or confuse dates.(e) Making them suspect and misjudge the purpose of the meeting.Lord, in the power of the Holy Spirit, I break the chains of the devil and release these

unbelievers from his chains of unbelief, religious spirit, self righteousness, sorcery, magic, occultism, overt social activities, idolatry, fear, passivity, and all that will stand in the way of spiritual understanding.

Lord, may all they that are in the grave of sin, iniquity and infirmity hear the voice of the Son of God and live. To You be the glory for You are able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think, Amen”.

Section Four

PRAYER EVANGELISM

Introduction“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of

thanks, be made for all men; For Kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” - I Timothy 2:1-4.

This kind of prayer is simply a deliberate and protracted prayer offered to God by the believer for God to meet the felt need of certain targeted unbelievers and through this come to know the Lord as their personal Saviour.

Researchers contend that 80 per cent of new Christians in South Asia come to Christ as a direct result of some kind of supernatural encounter.

Church planters among the Gamit people of Gujarat, India say that church membership jumped from zero to 60,000 in ten years as a result of hundreds of miraculous healings.

The Chinese church is growing faster than any other in the world. In one province, 2,000 new churches were planted in 3 years. Why? Most observers believe the answer lies in the Chinese propensity for prayer - a habit formed among those who have grown up with no hymnals, few Bibles and much suffering.

In this tract you will learn how to pray for miracles to happen in your village, town, district, region, state or country. These will not be miracles accomplished by laying on of hands. You are certainly welcome to pray for these.

However, these miracles will be done by God alone. Believers will pray for God to perform the following miracles and God will go out and do them for unbelievers you may never have met. For example, you could ask God to reveal Himself in a vision to people in other villages. You may never have been there, or don’t know a soul there, but God does. He will go forth and accomplish your prayer for people in ways you don’t expect.

The reason for these types of prayers is the large number of unsaved persons. Christians may not be able to reach all of them quickly. Or perhaps someone is about to die and go to hell without ever hearing the Gospel. By praying for God to help people you’ve never met you can spread the Gospel much faster.

As mentioned above, the Chinese church sees more of these miracles than any other country. This is because he local church meets often to pray. Some of these prayer sessions last

for hours, sometimes all night. In Tibet teams of Christians pray and fast for up to twenty days at a time.

If your church will meet at least once a week to pray for two or more hours then God will almost certainly begin performing these same kind of miracles. You may ask Him to do them in any part of any country you wish. It is suggested that you begin by praying for your own towns and villages around area where you live. But the Spirit may lead you to pray for other places as well.

To use this tract simply gather in a group, or by yourself, and pray using the following topics as a guideline. When praying think of as many people or groups of people that need these miracles among them. With the leading of the Holy Spirit, you may spend as few as five minutes on topic number one and five hours on topic number 7. You may never know. Just endeavour to ask God in as great detail as possible what you want done. Always ask Him to guide your words so that you may say what He wants. He will surprise you. Sometimes it is best to have only one person at a time to pray. When he or she is done then the next person can pray.

PRAYER TESTIMONIES AND PRAYER POINTS1. In Saudi Arabia, some Christian nurses were asked to pray for a 13 year old girl dying of

leukemia. According to sources familiar with her story, the girl was visited by the Lord one night, though she knew nothing about Jesus. The next day, she announced to her astonished parent that she had meet her Healer, and the entire family is now following Christ.

Prayer points - Pray that God will heal cancer patients like this.- Pray that God will visit those dying of disease to heal them.- Pray that the entire families and villages would follow God because of the testimony.

2. The Gospel has penetrated even Islam’s holiest city. During the past years, several Saudi believers have conducted a prayer match around the periphery of Mecca, site of the annual Hajj, or pilgrimage. They asked God to establish a church in the city and to reveal Himself to the 2 million truth-seeking pilgrims who visit the city every year to pay homage to Allah at the Ka’bah shrine. According to at least two sources, Jesus made a special guest appearance during one year’s Hajj - declaring to a group of Nigerian Moslems that He was indeed the One they were seeking.

Prayer points- Pray that Jesus would appear to thousands and tens of thousands who visit Mecca.

- Pray that these visitations be so numerous that news of them would spread throughout all visitors and are printed in newspapers.

- Pray for Jesus to appear to those attending religious festivals such as the Kumbh Mela festival for Hindus

- Pray that Jesus appear to those visiting “holy” rivers or other shrines important to false religions.

- Pray that Jesus would convert leaders of false religions so that many of their followers might also turn to Jesus.

- Pray that Jesuswill noticably demolish the heightened demonic activity associated with religious festivals and pilgrimages.

- Pray that Jesus appear and noticably destroy demonic miracles before the eyes of the people.

- Pray for God’s protection on evangelists witnessing at these meetings.

3. Some Kurds reportedly have come to Christ as a result of intercessory prayer and supernatural dreams and visions. One of these new Christians was converted a few years ago in Turkish Kurdistan. An avowed atheist and the editor of an influential Marxist magazine, this man was arrested in 1981. A Christian who gave him a New Testament prayed that Jesus would reveal Himself in a series of dreams. At their next meeting, the man became a Christian and announced that Jesus is the One who cleanses sin.

Prayer points- Pray that Jesus appear in dreams to news writers or television people who are

hostile to God.- Pray that Jesuswill appear in a dream to those attempting to cause anti-Christian

persecution.- Pray that articles and newscasts favourable to Jesus would be written as a result of

conversion.- Pray that entire newspaper and television staff would become Christian as a result of

dreams.

4. In Tunis, as in other parts of the Arab world, God is employing dreams, visions and miraculous healings to draw truth-seekers to Himself. One dramatic example of this phenomenon involved a group of Sufi Moslems in North Africa who were chanting and

dancing before Allah in hopes that he might reveal himself. They say that Jesus appeared and declared that He is the true God.According to missionaries in the region, many other peoples living in the isolated reaches

of the Sahara Desert have reported similar visions of the Lord - ad they are requesting Scriptures so they can learn more about Christ.

Prayer points- Pray that Jesuswill appear before those seeking false gods.- Pray that Jesus will chase away demons these worshippers are following.- Pray that this would happen all over your region.- Pray that those visited would seek out the right people to discipline them.

5. In Egypt, a Moslem military officer said he was visited by Jesus Christ in a dream. Upon waking, he immediately sought out Christians in his unit to see if they could provide him with a copy of God’s Word. Finding only one believer in his officer corps, he quietly asked if he could borrow the man’s Bible. In a manner reminiscent of Aninias’ reluctant ministry to Saul of Tarsus, the Christian cautiously agreed. After several days of pouring over the Gospel, the officer became a disciple of Jesus. According to reports out of Cairo, this man has become a bold witness.

Prayer points- Pray that officers be visited by Jesus intheirdreams.- Pray that He would encourage and enable them to boldly preach, causing massive

conversions in the military.- Pray that top generals would dream and allow the gospel to be preached to the entire

military.

6. A team of christians reported that a Pakistani Moslem recently had a dream about a Bible descending out of heaven. While he gazed at the book in amazement, the man said he heard the voice of Jesus declaring, “This is My Word - obey it.” Similar reports of dreams and visions are commonplace inside Pakistan.

Prayer points- Pray that majority of people in Moslem countries will have dreams about Jesus.- Pray that everyone in entire villages have dreams about Bibles on the same night.- Pray that all follow Christ as a result.

- Pray that these dreams go from village to village throughout an entire region.

7. Youth With A Mission (YWAM) leaders (a missionary group) in the Krasnodar region recently received a plea for help from one of the only Christians living among the Moslem Adegyi people. She lamented that Moslems were flooding the land with Islamic literature and warned that the time was short to reach her people. One leader in the missions group mentioned that he had dreamed about the Adegyi the night before. Realizing that these were signals from the Holy Spirit, YWAM launched a series of literature and street campaigns in the Adegyi region. As a result a church has been planted.

Prayer points- Pray that God would tell missionaries where to go through dreams and vissions.

8. In Cuba a divine visitation of healing descended upon a small town about 40 miles outside the capital. Everyone who walked into the church there was healed. As news of this spread , people from other towns began arriving. They too were healed. Eventually people from all over the Island were coming and being healed. This went on for six weeks. Tens of thousands were saved. Many churches were planted and interest in the Gospel rose nationwide because everyone had heard the news. It was so powerful that even the Communist government could not deny these events. (Most of these healings were by laying on of hands).

Prayer points- Pray that God cause a similar visitation in your region.- Pray that God cause a massive revival as a result.- Pray that God enable the church to effectively disciple all these new Christians.

9. “But Paul (future apostle before his conversion), threatening with every breath and eager to destroy every Christian .... as he was nearing Damascus on this mission, suddenly a brilliant light from heaven spotted down upon him! he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Paul! Paul! Why are you persecuting Me?” “Who is speaking, Sir?” Paul asked. And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the One you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city and await my further instructions.” Acts. 9:1, 3-6.

Prayer points- Pray that Jesus will visit persecutors and convert them.- Pray that chief persecutors in your area be visited and become powerful witnesses.- Pray that some of these become Apostles like Paul.

10. “The night before he (Peter the Apostle) was to be executed, he was asleep, double-chained between two soldiers with other stand guards before the prison gate, when suddenly there was a light in the cell and an angel of the Lord stood beside Peter! The angel slapped him on the side to awaken him and said, “Quick! Getup!” and the chains fell off his wrists! Then the angel told him, “Get dressed and put on your shoes.” And he did. “Now put on your coat and follow me!” the angel ordered. So Peter left the cell, following the angel.” - Acts 12:6-9.

Prayer points- Pray that Christians sentenced to death be freed by angels.- Pray that those who are imprisoned would be e miraculously released from jail.

11. Many Argentine church leaders say the church growth boom in this South American country is a result of “spiritual warfare” against the powers of darkness. Aduardo Lorenzo, pastor of the Adrigue Baptist Church in Buenos Aires, says his small congregation began growing rapidly in 1987 immediately after church members fasted and prayed against a demonic spirit.“Until then, virtually to one who resided in Adrogue had ever been converted. “Lorenzo says, “Now 40% of the church members are from Adrogue.” His church, which was 70 years old, had never had more than 100 members; but it grew to 600 members in three years after the demon was challenged.

Prayer points- Pray that all churches in your area will identify the ruling spirit blinding the unbelievers.- Pray that these churches will successfully bind the spirit(s).- Pray that these churcheswould become mighty in spiritual warfare as a result.

N.B.ADDITIONAL PRAYERS

There are many other examples of God helping people. Space prevents printing all of them. However, you may use the following to guide you in praying for other types of miracles.

12. Pray that God will appear to perform the following miracles and save people en-masse as a result.

1. Heal the deaf, dumb, and /or blind.2. Deliver the demonically possessed.3. Heal those with mental problems.4. Raise the dead - This happened in China where Jesus raised a recently buried girl and

sent her home.5. Heal the crippled and lame.6. Nourish those who are starving to death.7. Pray that Jesus visit unsaved and tell them what church to attend and how to get there.

SPECIAL PRAYER STRATEGIESb. Prayer Tips: To increase your effectiveness do the following. These are just some suggestions. Any that you can do will make this prayer that much more effective. “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and availeth much.”

1. Pray with this bulletin at least 15 minutes a day.2. Get everyone in your church to pray.3. Give a copy of this bulletin to every church, ministry or Bible College in your

area.4. Send copies of the prayer guide churches in other cities or other areas.5. Print this guide in any church newsletter or newspapers.6. Form groups of people who get together regularly to pray.7. If you can make copies of the write-up for others you may certainly do so.8. You may translate this tract into any language you desire.9. Have your prayer group or church pray and fast an entire day for these needs.10. Gather several churches together for all day prayer and fasting. This can be done

one time, or once a month; or once every two months or whatever you decide. This is an extremely powerful and effective type of prayer.

Be a prayer evangelist (praying down God’s miracles and visitation on people who did not ask) and you will save whole families, tribes or communities.Prayer penetrates physical and spiritual barriers that man cannot penetrate.

Section FiveHOW TO PRAY FOR EVANGELISM

(MASS OR PERSONAL)

GOAL: TO ASK GOD TO BECOME INVOLVED IN OUR EVANGELIZING BEFORE AND WHILE WE DO IT - (Romans 10:1).

1. WHY DO EVANGELISTIC EFFORTS FREQUENTLY PRODUCESO FEW SOULS SAVED?

(a) Many Christians are witnessing, going as missionaries, preaching, and faithfully inviting unbelievers to accept Jesus, yet are puzzled at their lack of results. Why?

(b) One answer is that they have failed to involve God sufficiently through prayer in their soul-winning efforts.i. Prayer brings the omnipotent God of the universe into the struggle of rescuing

souls from Satan’s kingdom and transferring them into Jesus’ kingdom.ii. God works in their hearts in proportion to our praying.

2. WHY DO WE NEED PRE-EVANGELISM PRAYING?(a) Before we start to share Jesus with an unbeliever, much prayer is necessary.(b) Much precious Gospel seed, time, energy and finances are wasted because we have not

prayed sufficiently asking God to go before us and prepare the hearts.(c) We must precede the sowing of the Gospel seed with intense pre-evangelism praying.(d) This is imperative whether sharing Jesus personally through witnessing, preaching, radio

or television broadcasts, or any other method of reaching the lost.

3. SINCE EVANGELISM IS RESCUING LOST SOULS FROM SATAN’S KINGDOM, THERE ARE SPECIFIC SPIRITUAL WARFARE PRAYERS WE NEED TO PRAY.

Jesus parable of the seed eaten by Satan explains one.(a) In His parable of the four kinds of soil, Jesus taught that when sown seed (the word) falls beside the road, the birds immediately eat it up.(b) Jesus’ explanation of the parable to His followers: “The seed is the Word of God, and those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the Word from their heart, so that they may not believe and be saved”. Luke 8:11-12.(c) So, before sowing our Gospel seed, we need to ask God to go before our seed to soften and prepare the heart of the one who will hear - so that the seed can take root and the devil will not be able to snatch it away before they can be saved.

(d) Satan blinds the minds of the unbelieving. Another tactic of Satan about which we should pray before evangelizing is his putting blinders on the minds of the unsaved so they can’t even see the light of the Gospel.

“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whom the god of this world (Satan) has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ”. (II Corinthians 4:3-4).

4. WHY IS PRAYER IMPORTANT WHILE REACHING A PERSON FOR JESUS?(a) We must not depend upon our memorized methods or clever presentations, but on the power of God since He alone can save.(b) An intensified supernatural struggle may go on while we actually are leading someone to Jesus, so we must depend on God and not ourselves.

i. If there is a struggle to accept Jesus while a person trying to, pray asking God to remove Satan’s blinders and any hold Satan may have on them.

ii. Then claim the blood of Jesus in the name of Jesus against Satan. Tell Satan he knows Jesus is the victor and knows he cannot stand against the name and blood of Jesus.

iii. Knowing that you are praying God’s will that they be save (II Peter 3:9), ask God to do His saving work in them.

5. WHAT WEAPONS HAS GOD GIVEN US FOR THIS BATTLE?(a) Since this battle for souls is strictly spiritual, weapons of human intellect and power never can bring victory.(b) We need supernatural weapons in this spiritual struggle.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses”. (II Corinthians 1:3-4).(c) What weapons has God provided for us to use?

(i) Prayer. James 5:16b(ii) The word of God, the sword of the Spirit. - Eph. 6:17b- Base all evangelism praying on the Word of God.- Use the Scripture to counterattack Satan as Jesus did in His temptation. (Matthew 4:4-

7,10)- Use other spiritual weapons in prayer as the Spirit leads.

6. WHAT IS OUR AUTHORITY IN EVANGELISM PRAYING?

Jesus provided two new dimensions of authority for us when HE came to earth, died and rose again.

(a) The Name of Jesus“Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy

may be made full”. John 16:24.Jesus’ name is important because it is all He is, including His authority.“Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above

every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”. - Philippians 2:9-11.

People can be saved only in Jesus’ name, not in the name of our organization, church or denomination.

“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved”. - Acts 4:12.

“And she will bear a son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins”. - Matthew 1:21.

(b) The Blood of JesusIt is the blood of Jesus that provided salvation for those we are trying to win to Jesus.“In Him (Jesus) we have redemption through His Blood, the forgiveness of our

trespasses.” - Ephesians 1:7 (See Revelation 1:5; Romans 5:9).“Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold ... but with precious blood ... the blood of Christ”. - I Peter 1:18-19.

The new song they sang to Jesus the Lamb in heaven was about the people we are trying to reach who were purchased with Jesus’ blood.

“Worthy art Thou to take the book and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation”. - Revelation 5:9.

It is our authority over Satan.“And they overcame him (the great dragon called the devil and Satan) because of the blood

of the Lamb...” Revelation 12:9,11.

NB: In His Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus said He was sending us to the whole world because all authority was given to Him.

7. PRINCIPLES OF PRAYER EVANGELISM(a) For those around youi. Join with two other Christians, each choosing 3 non-Christians for whom you all will pray

to find Jesus as Saviour and Lord. (total of 9 unsaved).ii. Get together every week for fifteen minutes to pray for the salvation of your nine.iii. Prayer groups other than or in addition to your triplet, including church and organization

prayer meetings, are effective ways to pray for the lost.iv. Faithfully praying in your own personal daily prayer time is also a powerful addition.v. Avail yourself of any other method of praying for the lost around you which may help.vi. Be sure to fast as you pray for the lost as God leads.vii. Go out periodically to do prayer walks around the living or working premises of those you

are praying for.viii. As God leads, ask them (the ones for whose salvation you are praying without necessarily

letting them know) whether they will like you to pray for any specific felt need of their lives.

ix. If they agree, pray earnestly for them. A miracle may lead to instant conversions.x. Pray for your targetted unbelievers to have unusual supernatural encounters with God in

visions and dreams

(b) For those who never have heard of Jesus around the world1. Pray asking God to lay on your heart a nation where the name of Jesus never has been or rarely is heard.

i. If needed, contact AD 2000 leaders or missionary organizations around you.ii. Study the 10-40 Window regions in map to find where the unreached people are; but

accept any nation, tribe or city God gives you by His leading.

2. Pray faithfully and fervently in your weekly triplet meeting for people in this country to find Christ.

i. Each week pray about current information from the radio, T.V. and Christian publications that would impact the furthering of the Gospel there.

ii. Get prayer needs from any church or mission with contacts in your special unreached people group.

3. “Beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest” (Luke 10:2) specifically for your 10-40 window country.

4. Pray with your church, denomination or other organization committed to praying for and winning the lost who never have heard of Jesus.

8. FOR YOU TO PRAY:a. Ask the Father to lay His burden for the lost on your heart.b. Ask God to show you the specific country or people group He wants to be your prayer burden.c. Promise God you faithfully will obey His commands to pray to win the lost to Jesus.d. Ask God to lead you to your two other triplet members.

9. FOR YOU TO DO:a. Find and sign up your other two members for your prayer triplet.b. Find your specific country or peopple group where Jesus’ name is not known.c. Organize your prayer triplet (as of the following suggestions).d. Pray faithfully!

10. PRAYER TRIPLET FORMATION AND OPERATIONi. WHAT IS A TRIPLET?

A group of 3 christians committed to praying together regularly for the lost (for their salvation and provision).

ii. FOR WHOM SHOULD THEY PRAY?a. Each in your triplet chooses 3 who do not know Christ as personal Saviour and Lord,

making a total of 9 for whom you all are praying.b. Select a country or people group that is unreached with the Gospel of Jesus.

(Get this from your own denomination, organization, another organization praying for the world, to use the one God has laid on your heart personally).

iii. HOW DO I CHOOSE MY 2 TRIPLET PARTNERS?Ask God in prayer to show you 2 Christian friends, relatives or church members He wants

in your triplet. They should live, work or worship close enough to you to allow your actually getting together weekly to pray. Look for others who are burdened for the lost also.

iv. HOW OFTEN SHOULD WE PRAY AT OUR WEEKLY TRIPLET MEETINGS?At least 15 minutes - or as God burdens you to pray.

v. WHAT DO WE PRAY?a. Limit your praying to the salvation of your 9 and your unreached country or people group.

(Other important prayer requests should be covered in other prayer meetings, not here).b. Pray for each other as you seek to interact with your 3 to show them Jesus’ love in action.

vi. WHAT SHOULD WE NOT DO IN A TRIPLET PRAYER MEETING?- Don’t spend time chatting, or having food or beverages.- It is not a social gathering with prayer at the end, but a deep, disciplined time to pray for

those needing Jesus.

vii. WHEN TO PRAY?Any time you can meet with your other two, at work, at home, at church, etc.

viii. WHERE TO PRAY?Anywhere - such as at church, home, work, school, in taxi, buses and parks etc.

ix. HOW LONG DO WE SIGN UP FOR?Decide in advance how many months, a year, etc. you will promise to pray together. Renew your commitment at the end of that time.

x. WHAT WILL GOD EXPECT OF MY PERSONAL LIFE?Remember that God’s Word says that your godly lifestyle will determine whether or not

God will answer your prayers. Live I John 3:22 that tells us that whatever we ask of Him (God) we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.

xi. IF ONE FOR WHOM WE ARE PRAYING ACCEPTS JESUS. THEN WHAT?1. If possible, incorporate him or her into your church, Bible study and/or fellowship, making

sure he or she is discipled in his or her walk with Jesus.2. Don’t stop praying for him or her.3. Encourage and help that new Christian to get into a triplet to pray for those who don’t know Christ yet.4. Add another person’s name who doesn’t know Christ yet to give you opportunity again

for your triplet praying.

xii. HOW SHOULD WE COOPERATE WITH OTHER TRIPLET PRAYERS?

- If possible organize your triplet programme in your church denomination, organization or community.- Select a leader to keep track of who is praying in triplets.- Report all decisions for Jesus to the leader.- Come together regularly,once a month if possible, to praise God and pray for your triplet

programme and each other.

We can win the world for Christ through prayer. Let’s begin right now.

Section SixSPECIALISED PRAYERS

(Praying for the Spiritually Lost)

Scriptures to Stand UponPs. 2:8; Isaiah 49:25; 54:13; 2:6; 49:25; Hosea 2:6-15; Psalm 21:2; 86:16; Ephesians 1:16-23; 3:14-21.

Prayer Strategies• Love this person you are praying for with all your heart. Prayer works better in an

atmosphere of love.• Regularly exercise spiritual authority over the spirit of the darkness of this age - the demon

prince responsible for keeping people spiritually blind.• Pray this salvation prayer regularly with tongues and with your understanding.• Never give up nor be discouraged until the person is saved.

Pray Like This:1. Lord, I bring this man/woman ... (mention the name) before You. For him/her You came

down and gave Your life. Let him not die without knowing You.2. I ask for Your mercy for him in the mighty name of Jesus.3. I bind the spirit of the power of the air controlling this man/woman - the strongman

directing his life.4. As God’s creation, this man/woman belongs to God. I claim him for God and His service. I

break the hold of that evil spirit over his mind and thughts in the name of Jesus.5. Lord, mobilize Your angels to begin to arrange circumstances and situations that will bring

this man to repentance and conversion.

6. I bind the spirit of that false religion (mention his religion) who has held this man in bondage,. I release this man from your hold in the name of Jesus.

7. From today, this man/woman will begin to reason properly. Holy Spirit begin the work of conviction of sin in this man/woman. Let him find no rest or peace until he has found the Prince of pece.

8. I release this man/woman from whatever cult he/she belongs to. He shall be tired of this cult and come to Christ.

9. It is Jesus that presently has the keys of death and of the Hades. Lord, do not allow this man to see death until he has seen You. Use Your keys to block the way of his death until he is saved. He shall not go to hell in te name of Jesus.

10. I break every evil habit in his/her life that has prevented him/her from coming to Christ. I break the power of such sinful habits over his/her life in the name of Jesus.

11. I tear from the eyes of this man, all spiritual covering that has prevented him from reasoning properly to accept the salvation of his soul.

12. By the power of the Holy Spirit, I demolish arguments and every high thing in this man/woman that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

13. I destroy every moral standard he/she has created to justify himself. Holy SPirit, You are the One that convicts the world of their sins. Begin to do this work in the life of this person now in the name of Jesus Christ.

14. The Bible says, ‘there is no peace for the wicked.’ Lord, draw the heart of this man/woman to Yourself. Only You can give peace. Let every man-made peace collapse in his life. Let his heart begin to cry to You for help and as he calls, have mercy on him and deliver him because of the sacrifice of Christ.

15. I cast down every imagination and every high thing in this man/woman that exalts itself above the knowledge of God. I bind all the spirits behind the vain philosophies of life and Christless religions and perversion in this man/woman.

16. I bind the spirit of pride and arrogance in this man/woman.17. All the powers of witchcraft manipulating your mind, influencing your decision about your

salvation, I bind them and release your mind in the name of Jesus Christ.18. Your Word says the heart of the King is in the hand of the Lord. Like a moving water and

You can direct it to wherever You want it to go. I hand over this man/woman into Your hand. Direct him/her to Yourself and You shall receive the glory. Praise awaits You in my mouth when he/she is saved.

19. I thank You because I know it is for this reason You came to the earth and died. You will do it, and I will praise You for this.

20. Mr/Mrs ...................... , I now declare you a child of the living God in Jesus mighty name. You shall henceforth begin to live in this reality. Amen.

JESUS IS LORD OVER ALL CREATION

Section Six

DEALING WITH TERRITORIAL STRONGHOLDSDEALING WITH TERRITORIAL STRONGHOLDS

(Overthrowing the Spirit of Pharaoh in Strategic Level Warfare)

Spiritual warfare is divided into two broad categories and we engage in spiritual warfare for these major reasons:(1) For human emancipation and.(2) For territorial possession, deliverance and enlargement.

In bringing deliverance to our towns, cities, communities and nations, we need to fully understand how the enemy has penetrated, how far he has gone and the present effects of his activities. In using the term stronghold, we shall be applying it to a human entity Pharaoh, who symbolically represents vicious territorial powers and strongholds that keep multitudes in darkness and in involuntary captivity.

DIFFERENT DEFINITIONS OF THE TERM STRONGHOLD(1) According to II Corinthians 10verse 4, the term stronghold (Greek: Ochuroma) means a

fortress, a castle or a fortified place. Satan and his demons stay in fortified place against the invasion of the gospel.

(2) Strongholds are the mindset of people in a particular territory. These mindsets are fortified places that keep out the truth and hold in lies.

(3) A stronghold is also forceful stubborn argument, rationale, opinion, ideas of philosophy that is formed and resistant to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

(4) Mind-sets on the other hands is a combination of both mind and set. In other words, the mind is already settled on a set of beliefs and therefore resistance to change. The mind is fixed and rigid thereby becoming a stronghold.

(5) This concept can also be defined as the thought processes of people groups who have developed way of thinking over centuries of time. For example, communism is a mind-set, capitalism and materialism are mind-sets. Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism are mind-sets. But strongholds and mind-sets can be broken and destroyed by a strong anointing and spiritual warfare.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF STRONGHOLDSPERSONAL STRONGHOLDSPersonal strongholds are things that Satan build to influence one’s personal life: Personal sin, thoughts, feelings, attitudes and behavioural patterns. The Word of God warns us in Eph. 4:27 not to give the devil any foothold, but we do by allowing him to operate in our lives through

things we love and do not want to get rid or. These strongholds are “holes in our armour” which can be closed by being humble and repentive. Watch out for things like bitterness, pride, etc. (Eph 4 :13). When these things persist in our lives, we are to go for counseling and sometimes even for deliverance.

STRONGHOLDS OF THE MINDEd-Silvoso says that a stronghold of the mind is a mindset impregnated with hopelessness that causes the believer to accept as unchangeable something that he or she knows is contrary to the will of God. This can also be applied on a national level to nations.

From experience, I’ve found that many black people are of the opinion that they cannot achieve anything, but this is contrary to the Word of God in Phil 4 :13 that says that we can do “all things through Christ who strengthens us”.

OCCULTIC STRONGHOLDSOccultic strongholds refer to satanic activities like witchcraft, satanism, new age religions, etc; which invite evil spirits to operate. They work as power boosters to the territorial spirits that rule over geographic regions. In Acts 17: 21 & 32, it becomes clear that Diana at Ephesus influenced the whole of Asia, but her power was eventually broken by prayer, truth encounters and evangelism. In this case, the occult and a spirit of religion were very closely connected. In Africa, many of these occultic strongholds exist, e.g, in Venda, young girls are offered in the “Holy Lake” and on high mountains.

SOCIAL STRONGHOLDSA social stronghold refers to the oppression over city or designated are as in which social injustices, racism and poverty cause people to believe that God does not care about their needs.

TERRITORIAL STRONGHOLDSThese are caused and formed by idols and altars people of different communities raise to them.

NATIONAL STRONGHOLDSThese types have to do with a collective or corporate belief in an entrenched lie that a false deity is the real God. e.g. Pharaoh of Egypt was referred like a god.

PHARAOH, KING OF EGYPT AS A STRONGHOLDWe shall be tackling this subject in the context of strategic level prayer warfare. To me, strategic level warfare is simply a deliberate and sustained offensive prayer battle aimed at certain crucial targets (strongholds) the overthrow or destruction of which will bring an enormous release and breakthrough to individuals, communities, cities and even nations. In the military, targeting of strategic targets is very crucial to winning a war very quickly. This possibly informed the reason why God, as a Man of war Himself had to use Moses to use the strategic weapons of prophetic prayers and prophetic actions to deal with the strategic targets (the gods and the power bases) of Egypt.And afterward, Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. (Exodus 5:1)

We know that Israel is the inheritance of the Lord. Israel as the possession of the Lord has been enslaved them for 400 years in Egypt by Pharaoh, but at the fullness of time, God sent his men, Moses and Aaron to the court of Pharaoh to demand for their release. The Lord said He now wanted them for Himself. Enough of involuntary servitude and captivity. This bold demand caught Pharaoh by surprise and amazed him. He vehemently objected to the demand. And Pharaoh said, who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. And they said, the God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray the, three days journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword. And the king of Egypt said unto them, wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? Get you unto your burdens. And Pharaoh said, behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens. (Exodus 5:2-4)

This response of Pharaoh was very clear and unambiguous. He retorted, “Who is the Lord? I don’t know Him. Why should I obey His voice to allow Israel to go? Go back and tell the God that sent you, I don’t know Him and I shall not release Israel.” Now somebody who speaks like that knows what he is talking about. When somebody is defiant like that you know he is speaking from a position of strong confidence in something. Pharaoh knew where he was coming from, he knew the ancestral powers of Egypt, and the spiritual pillars (gods) that supported his throne. The Egyptian monarchs and other kings, ancient or modern, don’t rule ordinarily. You see them on the throne, but there are other thrones behind their physical thrones. The physical throne is just an ordinary decorated chair in a palace. The real rulers are unseen spiritual entities which give them power and confidence to lord it over other men. When God heard Pharaoh’s reply, He knew what Pharaoh was talking about and therefore did not take the threats and the insults of Pharaoh lightly. Therefore God declared in Chapter 12 verse 12b, “... against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgement: I am the Lord.” Also in chapter 6 verse 1-2, the Lord said unto Moses, “now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord.”

Pharaoh and all Egypt served a lot of territorial deities or you call them territorial spirits that gave them power and authority. This was the reason why God decided to take on the thrones behind his throne in an unprecedented strategic spiritual warfare that lasted several months.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SPIRIT OF PHARAOH

It is a spirit of :(1) Oppression(2) Bondage(3) Captivity(4) Servitude(5) Deprivation(6) Wickedness()7) Defiance(8) Obstinacy(9) Arrogance(10) Sorcery(11) Witchcraft

(12) IdolatryThe God of Israel was aware of all these and He needed to forcefully confront them before

Israel could be free. Egypt was the earthly seat of SatanThe burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards. And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts. And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up. And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.for fish.The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more. The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish. Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded.

(Isaiah 19:1-9)The battle for Israel’s release had to be fought at three levels for an effective judgement and

overthrow of the gods. The battle was fought:(1) at the level of the waters;(2) at the level of the land (earth);(3) finally, at the level of the heavens (cosmic level warfare).

THE JUDGEMENT OF THE SERPENTSThe Egyptians served up to ten or twelve major gods. The first power to be confronted was the serpent. Egyptians worshipped serpentine spirits. When you get to the court of Pharaoh or you see the picture of ancient Pharaohs on top of their crown, you’’ll see the head of a serpent with its fangs sticking out indicating their submission to the serpentine spirits. It was a national symbol.

God then instructed Moses to take his divine rod which now can turn a super- serpent anytime to Pharaoh’s palace for a power encounter with Egypt’s serpentine god. Moses dropped down the rod and it became a serpent. Pharaoh merely scoffed at Moses and commanded his astrologers, enchanters and the magicians to do the same. All those men also dropped their rods and they also became serpents in the palace of Pharaoh. But God always proves Himself to be the God of dominion. As those serpents moved up and down the palace, the dominion serpent of Moses opened its mouth and swallowed up the serpents of the magicians! Moses took up his own snake and it turned back into a rod!. What happened was a divine judgement against serpentine spirit of Egypt. God dealt with that spirit and Pharaoh couldn’t draw power from the snakes anymore.

THE MARINE BATTLEThen God ordered Moses to go to the Nile and stretch his rod over the Nile so that the waters of Egypt could become blood. The Nile was worshipped by the Egyptians, they called it the ‘Father of life’, Osiris. The water was worshipped because Nile was the major river in the land. The Nile and other water bodies of Egypt were a haven for marine spirits

In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt: Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales. (Ezek 29:1-4)

At two separate instances the Lord told Moses to get up early in the morning and meet Pharaoh as he went to the waters.Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river’s brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand. (Exodus 7:15)And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me. (Exodus 8:20)

One may ask, “what was Pharaoh going to do at the river?” Certainly not to bathe, because there were several swimming pools and baths in the palace; rather, he got up early in the morning to draw power from marine spirits at his marine altar. When Pharaoh did not bulge, Moses went to the river and stretched forth his rod upon the river and everything became blood. For about seven days, all the waters of Egypt became blood. A type of the blood of Jesus had been employed to poison and suffocate all the marine lives that inhabited their water bodies. The blood of Jesus judged all of them. Thus, the marine power-base of Pharaoh was neutralized.And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone. And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. (Exodus 7:19-21)

One after the other, in a systematic but strategic way, the Lord began to take out all the other gods of Egypt from the frog to lice, flies, cattle, boils to locusts. All these symbols of Egyptians gods were employed to destroy the gods themselves. At one time, the Egyptians tried as usual to duplicate that which Moses was doing by invocation and high-level enchantments, but they couldn’t do it. Then, they turned to Pharaoh and said to him: “now this is the finger of God”. Because of this, Pharaoh then began to think of and believed the existence of a bigger and stronger God somewhere. He then started to make concessions. He began to feel the pressure. It is just like the former President of Yugoslavia who insisted that Kosovo would not have independence. He vowed “I cannot sign any agreement, I don’t want any foreign troop on my soil, NATO will not come to Yugoslavia. God forbid.” He was resolute. But after 87 days of heavy bombardments, he capitulated. Kosovo was liberated.

A LIVING TESTIMONY

A younger brother of mine who is a pastor shared with me a most fascinating story of how this principle of strategic level prayer warfare was applied to deal with an age long problem of sudden and mysterious deaths of people in a river in his station in one of the towns in Nigeria. The river was not quite deep as to be able to easily drown people, but yet people drown and disappear in the river from time to time. So himself and other intercessors and pastors took up the challenge in prayer and fasting. The Lord then instructed them to go and anoint the river and pour holy communion wine inside it to judge the wicked marine spirit causing the death of innocent people. They obeyed the Lord to the letter. A few days after this secret operation, a big, black entity like a man furiously came out of the water very early in the morning, hissing and humming to the king’s palace to lodge a complaint of serious disturbance of his water domain, and that he was relocating to another place! He angrily left the palace never to return to the river again. Since then, no death had been reported in that river again. The blood of Jesus is a very potent weapon in dealing with marine spirits.

THE BATTLE AT LAND LEVELAnd the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt. And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail. And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. (Exodus 9:22-27)

This was a very crucial stage of the battle against the territorial strongholds of Egypt. The Lord employed the strategic weapons of hail, thunder and fire for the total destruction of all land, forest and mountain based altars and the spirits that lived in them. This divine ‘military’ action effectively neutralized the territorial power base of Pharaoh.

COSMIC LEVEL WARFAREThe next god to be judged was Ra – the sun god. The Egyptians for centuries and from ancient times have spiritually explored the heavens through diabolical means. This gave them an unusual, but early knowledge of astrology, mathematics and certain sacred sciences. The sun, the moon and the stars were the major sources of this unusual advanced knowledge. So the Egyptians worshipped and served them. God was very well aware of this. Therefore in a battle strategy never known in history, God employed the weapon of “thick darkness that can be felt” to deal with astral altars of the Egyptians.And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the LORD;

only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your little ones also go with you. (Exodus 10:21-24)

By this action the satanic transmission and network between the heavens and the earth of Egypt was broken. The astral altars and their information spirits were dislodged. Pharaoh became totally isolated and vulnerable. Fear and desperation set in.

THE KILLING OF THE FIRST BORNThis last stage of the battle shifted from dealing with inanimate objects to the killing of real human beings. God, as we know always have strategic reasons for all His actions. And Moses said, Thus saith the LORD, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more. But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the LORD doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee: and after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in a great anger. (Exodus 11:4-8)And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharoah that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also. And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men.nd on foot that were men, beside children. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.

    (Exodus12:29-36)

THE RELEASEEvery first born of Egypt was worshipped as an inheritor of family inheritance. There in the first born was deposited all the familiar and ancestral spirits of different generations. The first-born was literally worshipped and counted as a god. The first born was regarded as very sacred and God knew this because He had said, “I will kill all the first-born of Egypt”. In the middle of the night, the Bible says the angel of death went forth and smote the entire first-born of Egypt. There was a great cry throughout the length and breadth of Egypt. There was not a house where

there was not a dead person. From the first born of Pharaoh on the throne to the first born of the prisoner in the dungeon, all were dead. Pharaoh got up to mourn and all the elders of Egypt came to him and said, ‘we are all dead, Let these men go.’ The king sent for Moses in the middle of the night and said, ‘You people can go.’ Finally, there was freedom. Reason? Because all the territorial strongholds were judged. This principle still applies in today’s spiritual warfare for territorial emancipation. Israel left Egypt in pride, loaded with plenty of silver and gold. When strongholds are destroyed people have freedom, joy, progress, silver and gold.

THE POWER OF STRATEGIC PRAYERTo close this chapter, I’ll like to share one wonderful testimony of a notable victory that came as a result of strategic prayer warfare. In the year 1986, I was in Amsterdam, Holland, for Amsterdam ’86 evangelistic conference organized by Evangelist Billy Graham for itinerant evangelists. About 10,000 of us from all over the world attended. After two weeks of intensive training, Billy Graham gave everyone a sachet of 100 gospel tracts and asked buses (coaches) to take us to different parts of Holland for evangelism. I was to go to a beach town with a lot of seaside resort. In my team was a friend, Rev. Francis Wale-Oke of the Sword of the Spirit Ministries, who I think was the only other Nigerian in that team. We were under strict instructions not to return with a single tract. The 100 tracts must be given out to unbelievers.

We prayed as the buses took us to the place. On arrival, our musical team set up their instruments near the sea. There, some people were sunbathing and doing all sorts of things. We entertained them with different tunes. They didn’t even look at our direction because when you go to Europe and America, it is another story for evangelism. We left the place and went to the shopping malls to distribute our tracts. I met the first person, and said, “Jesus loves you, we are from different parts of the world, I’m from Africa, and this is about Jesus.” She looked at me and said, “I don’t want Jesus! I don’t want Jesus!” Then she started running away. I located another man and told him, “Jesus loves you, have this tract”. He took the tract, looked and saw, ‘The Name of Jesus, the Way to Salvation’, he threw the tract back on my face as if I gave him a letter-bomb and started running. I went inside the shopping mall and said, ‘Good day ladies and gentlemen, I am an evangelist, have this, it is about Jesus and all that.’ “No! No! No!” they screamed at me, and threatened to call the police. I had to quickly hurry out!

For about 30 minutes, I was roaming around, no one accepted my tracts. I then remembered Africa. If you gave a tract to somebody even if he doesn’t want to read it, yet out of respect and courtesy, he would collect it, when you turn your back, he may then tear it. But here are people who run away from tracts! What do you do? I didn’t know that territorial spirits and marine spirits were in operation. So, I prayed for what to do. Some of our team mates who experienced what I was experiencing either tore their tracts or just threw them off and were ready to go back. You know not all Christians are faithful. but I was eager to obey the man of God. As I was thinking about what to do, tears rolled down my eyes. I said to myself in pity: “100 tracts, in 30 minutes, nobody has collected one. What‘s the guarantee that I will give the 100 out?” As I looked up, I saw Rev. Francis Wale-Oke coming with a long-drawn face. I asked Rev. Wale,

what the matter was. He replied, “Moses, have you given anyone your tracts?” I said not a single one has been accepted. His story was the same. Suddenly, he said, “we are Africans and Nigerians, we are prayer warriors, you know what you used to teach about territorial spirits. Let’s do the practicals here” It clicked in me. Instantly, I remembered that this was a marine environment, and that marine spirits were interfering with the gospel.

The heaven was closed. The atmosphere was blocked Men were hardened because of the influence of territorial spirits. We dropped our bags, joined our hands together and exercised authority. We prayed like crazy men, African kind of prayer in a European environment! We screamed in that cold winter. After some minutes of strategic warfare over the marine waters, the marine spirits, and other territorial elements, we opened the minds of men to the gospel After we had a release in the spirit we took our bags and went back to places we were coming from. Unbelievable! the first woman I talked to about the love of Jesus, retorted back, “You mean Jesus loves me?” “This is the first time somebody is telling me that. What do you have for me?” I gave her a tract which attracted about three other people who even demanded for more. I went back to the same store where they had earlier driven me out and said, “I have come back – Jesus loves you.” They said, in unison “what do you have for us?” I opened my bag, and several people joyfully accepted many of my tracts. Within 20 minutes, all my 100 tracts were gone! As I was leaping back to base, Rev. Wale-Oke was also returning back smiling, and laughing. He said, “Rev. Moses, all my tracts are gone. Glory be to God!” What happened? We dealt with the influence of marine spirits of that environment and then the heavens were opened for men to be saved.

Men who looked cold, impervious, hardened and adamant suddenly opened up because the influence of these spirits over them was broken. The same people, the same place, the same tracts, the same evangelists. The difference was that we targeted our prayers accurately. Now, if we had joined our hands and prayed like this religiously: “O Lord, we want all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of Jesus. O Lord, these people are perishing, let them take our tracts.” If we pray like that, nothing would have happened. Strategic prayers will work wonders.

Section Seven

ADVANCING GOD’S KINGDOM THROUGH PRAYER

IntroductionJesus started to announce the coming of the kingdom in the Jewish setting of Judea. Latter on after his death and resurrection, the apostles filled Jerusalem with their doctrine of salvation through Christ. The persecution that led to the martyrdom of Stephen soon forced the disciples to be scattered to Gentile nations where they continued to preach the gospel, established churches in homes and continued to advance God’s kingdom in foreign lands.

Through the preaching of Paul and other disciples in Rome, Emperor Constantine I of Rome became a Christian. He became the first Roman emperor to rule in the name of Christ. His conversion led to the recognition of Christianity and its eventual adoption as a state religion.

Today, the church enjoys greater acceptance and liberty due to international human right laws. Despite the opposition of communism and Islam, the gospel of Christ has made great incursions into many regions that could not be reached before. Mega churches exist today in some cities that were formerly dominated by Islam and traditional worship.

Undoubtedly, prayer stands out as one of the major tools of kingdom advancement of the magnitude we have witnessed in the last twenty years. In this section, we shall be looking at how to advance the kingdom of God through prayer.

(1). GOD’S EXPECTATION FOR HIS KINGDOM

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Mat. 6:9-10).

Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. (Ps. 2:8).

The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth (Ps. 110:1-3).

From the passages of scripture above we deduce as follows:

a. God wants His Kingdom to advance and expand; He wants all men to be saved.b. He wants His will to be done in all the earth.c. He wants righteousness to prevail

d. God wants His kingdom power and influence to be felt throughout all the earth; He wants nations, kingdoms, schools and communities taken for Him.

e. Prayer is one of the major tools for kingdom expansion and dominion.f. Jesus still has enemies up till now. These enemies are also the enemies of His church. g. These enemies must be subdued, crushed, and made His footstool.h. The Lord Jesus Christ is not permitted to be directly involved in any kingdom battle for

now. His present job is priestly intercession in heaven (Heb. 7:25).i. The militant and intercessory church will constitute God’s battle axes and weapons of

war.j. The militant (praying) church called the “rod of His strength” will do these last days

battle for Kingdom advancement, dominion, expansion and preservation.k. This militant church will enforce the authority and rule of God’s kingdom over all

creation and the enemies of Christ until they become His footstool.l. Through the militant church, Christ will rule in the midst of His enemies.

(2). WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ADVANCE GOD’S KINGDOM?To advance God’s Kingdom means: a. To reach all men with the gospel messageb. To penetrate the hitherto impenetrable regions with God’s light and power.c. To see people saved and healed en-massd. To open new mission stations for the gospele. To bring about rapid community development and to influence national transformation.f. To influence the economic and social political life of a nation through the gospel.g. It is the liberation or deliverance of lands and people through God’s power.h. To transfer the economic power of the heathen to the church.

(3). WHO ARE THE ENEMIES OF CHRIST AND THE KINGDOM?Ephs.6:10-13; Deut. 18:10-14; 2 Cor.10:3-5; Gal.1:6-9; 2 Cor.11:4 and other Bible scriptures identify the following as the enemies of Christ and God’s kingdom:a. Satanic priesthood and their evil altars, evil gatekeepers, witches, wizards, necromancers

and all satanic intermediaries.b. Satanists, Devil worshippers, and satanic strongholds.c. All anti-Christ philosophies, ideologies and religious systems, e.g. Communism, Islam,

Shintoism, Hinduism, Buddism, and Confucius, New Age, and other occult religions.d. The mystery of iniquity and the Babylonian economic system of the world. e. Demonic principalities and powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, and wicked

spirits in the heavenly places.f. Ungodly political, religious and social strongholds.g. Human authorities, dominions, institutions, and systems contrary to God’s kingdom

purposes.h. Christians who still live in sin and compromise with the world.

(4). SCRIPTURAL GUIDELINES FOR KINGDOM EXPANSION PRAYERSWar, specifically biblical spiritual warfare, is a characteristic of the second Apostolic Age. Now that apostles are in place, the Spirit of God is strongly speaking to the churches about becoming

more aggressive. It is time to go to war! We are not to tolerate the kingdom of Satan; we are to invade it. Here are some scriptural guidelines that will help us see the picture clearly.

a. Our MandateOur mandate is clear. Jesus left heaven and came to Earth “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). When He went back to heaven, He left us with the mandate to preach the gospel to every creature (see Mark 16:15) and to make disciples of all nations (see Matt. 28:19-20).

When we preach the gospel, the good news of salvation to lost people and they do not respond, something is wrong. This is the best news they could ever hear, but when they don’t accept it, why not? The Bible is clear: “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them” (2 Cor. 4:3-4).

The “god of this age”, a synonym for Satan, is at the root of this. His agenda is the greatest obstacle to the spread of the gospel. Since this is the case, it would not be unreasonable to expect that God would provide us the necessary tools for removing these obstacles that he puts up. Let’s do it!

b. Our AssignmentOur assignment is to attack aggressively. Now is not the time for passivity. Sitting back and hoping against hope that someone else (like God!) may come along and do the job for us will not carry the day. God did not say, “I will evangelize the world”. He said, “you will evangelize the world”.

Our assignment, therefore, is to go into the invisible world for hand-to-hand combat, to “wrestle”, as Paul said, making reference to the closet and most intense contact sport in Greco-Roman culture: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).

c. Our WeaponsOur weapons come from the arsenal of heaven. The Bible says, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh” (2 Cor. 10:3). It is important to recognize that it does ay, “we do not war”. Just the opposite. We do war, but we had better not do it in our own strength. Why? “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds” (2 Cor. 10:4). There can be no doubt that as long as we depend on God’s weapons, we have the ways an means to defeat our enemy.

d. Our AuthorityOur authority is unlimited. Here is what Jesus said to His disciples when He sent them out to war: “Behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you” (Luke 10:19). The reference to serpents and scorpions is not to be taken as literal language. They are figures of speech meaning spiritual forces of darkness. Jesus did not say that He gives His disciples authority over some of the power

of the enemy. We are not limited to ground-level spiritual warfare. If we take His words at face value, we will conclude that we have authority over all the power of the enemy – at the occult level and the strategic level as well as the ground level.

e. Our ResponsibilityOur responsibility is to confront high-level spirits directly by declaring to them the will of God. God’s desire is that “the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places” (Eph. 3;10).

(5). KINGDOM ADVANCEMENT - THE EARLY CHURCH MODEL

The Early Church and Prayer In the book of Acts (Acts 2:41-47, Acts 4:31-35) we find prayer in almost every chapter.

· These all continued in one accord in prayer and supplication with the women… (Acts 1:14).

· And they continued steadfastly… and in prayers (Acts 2:42)

· Now Peter and John went up together in the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour (Acts 3:1).

· …They lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said ... And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together (Acts 4:24; 31).

· But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word …. When they had prayed, they laid their hands on them (Acts 6:4, 6)

· Who when they were come down, prayed… (Acts 8:15).

· And the Lord said … for behold he prayeth (Acts 9:11).

· But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down and prayed (Acts 9:40).

· And Cornelius said … and at the ninth hour, I prayed in my house (Acts 10:30).

· Peter therefore was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him… And … many were gathered together praying. (Acts 12:5, 12).

· And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them… (Acts 13:3)

· And when they had ordained them elders … And … had prayed with fasting … (Acts 14:23).

· And it came to pass, as went to prayer … And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God; and the prisoners heard them (Acts 16:16, 25).

Through what I can describe as an addicted prayer life, the Early Church recorded a lot of ministerial and kingdom exploits. The prayer life of the Early Church believers gave birth to the various manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the church and in their society. This gave them swift victories over enemy obstacles.

So the early church was:v a groaning churchv a going churchv a glowing churchv a giving churchv a growing church.

(6). MEN WHO ADVANCED GOD’S KINGDOM· David Brainerd David Brainerd spent hours in agonizing prayer before each gospel message to the Red Indians of America. Despite having to make do with a drunken interpreter, he recorded hundreds of conversion among the Red Indians.

· Martin Luther It is said of Martin Luther that he could get almost anything from God in prayer.

· John KnoxMary, Queen of Scotland, had a greater dread of the prayers of John Knox than all the armies of England.

· Charles FinneyIn the fifties, the ministry of Charles Finney recorded thousands of conversions weekly. In many cities during Finney’s time, there was no building large enough to hold his prayer meetings. Prayer was his secret. He carried such spirit of prayer that merely gazing into people’s eyes brought people under the conviction of sin, and they subsequently repented.

· Dwight L. MoodyIt was said of Dwight L. Moody that he would not accept an invitation to preach unless he was given positive assurance that the meeting would be prepared by prayer. Dwight L. Moody, commenting on the relationship between prayer and the work of kingdom expansion said “Every great work of God can be traced to some kneeling form”.

(7). PRAYING PEOPLE, PRAYING NATIONS AND GOD’S KINGDOM

a. Example of a Praying Nation: South Korea Christians

b. Testimony of Professor Zach Fomum in CameroonAbout twelve years ago, precisely in the month of August 1977, the Lord led us to fast and pray every Wednesday for our nation. So mighty has been God’s blessing on us that it is glaring evidence to the fact that God answers prayer. We are the richest, most prosperous, and most stable nation in this region of Africa. Even though our nation is in an economic crisis, we remain the most economically viable country in this region. We can look at the abundance of food supplies: yam, cassava, cocoyam, plantains, bananas, beans, maize and vegetables of all kinds, and fruits of all kinds as a part of the answers to our prayers. I remember that in 1977, as an associate professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Yaounde, in order to have some food for my family, I was forced by life’s hard realities to join everybody else in running to a truck with plantains for sale, jumping up into the truck, and holding fast to one or two bunches of plantains so as to be allowed to pay for them. This was a part of my morning exercise before I went to the university to teach. There was such scarcity that only those who jumped into the trucks fast enough and grabbed a bunch of plantains firmly were able to buy anything. I remember standing on a long line with my dear wife for over two hours in order to take our turns to buy palm oil. I will not forget the day she and I stood on a line for hours in order to enter a food store (Mideviv) in a part of Yaounde called Djoungolo. By the time that we finally got in, all the plantains, cocoyams, and bananas were gone. One of the frustrated people around said, “At this rate, next year people will eat human flesh”.

Glory be to God, we did not eat human flesh the next year. God called us to intercede and as we interceded and have continued to intercede, He has blessed the nation superabundantly. Today people beg to have their foodstuffs bought. We are producing more food than we can use. This year the reports say that there is more rice in store, rice grown in Cameroon, to meet the total needs of the nation for two years even if not one grain of rice is added to it. Food is being exported from our nation, including meat, to neighbouring countries: Nigeria, Chad, the Central Africa Republic, Congo, and Equatorial Guinea. Even our cash crops: coffee, cocoa, cotton, and tea are being produced in excess of international and national needs.

Another interesting thing is that, it is while we started interceding that our nation became a producer of crude oil.

c. B.J. Wilklife did a research at a pastor’s conference in Texas (USA). He found out from his research that 95% of the pastors prayed for only 5minutes a day.

· Dr. Peter Wagner also said that the average American pastor prays for only 22minutes a day, while an average Pentecostal Christian prays for 40 minutes a day.Research has also shown that an average Korean Christian spends about 2 hours in prayer daily.

· Dr. Paul Yonggi Cho observed that instead of praying, Americans will rather give their money for the gospel, sing wonderful worship songs, build exotic church buildings and preach great sermons; they will do everything but pray.

In kingdom business, prayer is inseparable from success. If any church or ministry will succeed, it must be a praying church.

(8). SOME PRACTICAL STEPS FOR ADVANCING THE KINGDOMWhat the Church needs to do:i. Repair personal, family, and congregational prayer altars. No prayer altar, no

divine fire (I Kgs. 18:30). ii. Graduate from survival prayers to revival (kingdom advancing) prayers.iii. Include prayer and revival topics in seminary and Bible school curricula.iv. Raise community or territorial prayer altars to enforce territorial deliverance.v. Train our missionaries and mission directors on the principles and practice of

strategic level prayers.vi. We must raise, train and equip special squads of intercessors to carry out

community and territorial intercession and deliverance in areas with strong opposition to the gospel, and in areas of strong satanic strongholds.

vii. All gospel ministers in Africa must learn to become prayer addicts, by giving quality time to prayer and intercession.