Prayer Leader OnLine

March 2008

Vol. 5, No. 2 

Introduction

Change. I recently was in a church that was in a battle because of change. It seems the room they had picked for a new prayer room did not sit well with some old time members of the church.
 
Some hate change, some accept it as inevitable, some embrace it. Change is necessary if we are going to move forward. God is into change. No He never changes, but for His purposes to be fulfilled in each generation, in churches, He brings about change.
 
The CPLN is undergoing change as well. As you will see in this issue we are losing an important person in our ministry. Most of you didn't notice that on the headplate of this issue, the date says March instead of February. A change--no you did not miss your February newsletter, like other magazines, we want to have the date reflect the arrival slightly before the month begins, rather than at the end. (You will still receive 12 issues in a year). A simple change.
 
In another month you will notice a huge change. We, along with our parent ministry, Harvest Prayer Ministries, will have a new resource store. Our member-only store will go away. A change. But one for the better for you. Your membership status will bring you a 20-30% discount on all of our more than 650 prayer products. No more flipping between stores and only receiving your discount on some products.
 
As a prayer leader, I bet you long for some things to change in your church. Keep seeking God for direction, and for His kingdom changes in your ministry and church.
 
Blessings,
Jon Graf
President, CPLN

It seems to me . . .

. . . I lost more than a Bible.

Several years ago my daughter gave me a new Bible as a gift; one I cherished for several reasons. More than my beloved copy of God's Word, it was also a gift from my beloved daughter. Add a slip-on cover with a cross on the front cover to remind me of the core message of the Good Book plus hundreds of underlines and handwritten notes, it became a comfortable companion.

That’s why I was heartbroken when it disappeared last month. Somewhere on a trip to lead a prayer segment for a gathering of Christian leaders, I must have misplaced it. It left with me but just didn't return. I've hunted high and low, made several SOS calls and, well, said a few prayers. Still no Bible. Still sad.

One of the reasons this is so difficult, is that Bible had become my unofficial prayer facilitator's guide. Through most of my ministry, notes and underlines have been study related or sermon prompted. A few mind-stirring or heart-piercing quotes. This Bible was different. The words and markings were instructions and reminders for leading corporate prayer. It had become my handy guide for leading prayer. A circled "U" indicated a psalm that enabled groups to pray prayers of praise, an upward focus. An added scripture reference probably indicated another example of believers praying together. "Spend much time together in the place of prayer" reminded me of the word-for-word translation of Colossians 4:2. Markings indicated some of the great prayers of both Old and New Testaments that provide formats for solemn assemblies or seeking first His kingdom. Examples from Kings David and Jehoshophat, the Apostle Paul, Mary's exaltation, and of course, the Lord's Prayers in John 17.

Ouch. Losing that Bible still stings. But, it has also helped me realize how much I have begun to understand the scriptures as a prayer book. And not merely a prayer book for personal intercession and praise. The Bible (the living Word of God, not my personal copy) has revealed itself as the first guide for corporate prayer facilitators! Psalms. Parables. Prophets. Stories and letters. A template for any prayer group. A formate for every prayer focus.

Standing before a congregation called by their pastor to devote a Sunday evening to prayer, I had forgotten that I had lost my personalized Bible until, that is, I turned to a familiar passage to lead us into prayer. The pages did not turn the same and when I finally found the reference, no notes, no underlines. After a moment of worry, the leadership of the Holy Spirit took over and my missing markings were unimportant. His leadership, often directly through specific scriptures, is more important than any human comments

But, I'll miss that lost book. At least until I mark up that new one I bought just this morning.

Pastor Phil

Excitement Growing for Empowered 2008

Anticipation is growing for what God is going to do at Empowered 2008. Dynamic speakers, vibrant worship, practical workshops and powerful times of prayer characterize this event each year. We are also bringing back our popular prayer room that we had last year.
 
While there is still plenty of time to register, remember an earlybird rate goes away after tomorrow, March 1st. If you regster by midnight tomorrow, you save an additional $13 on the registration fee.
 
And remember pastors and spouses are always half price ($75). Plus there are discounts for groups of five or more (20% off) or 15 or more (30% off) from the same church.
 
For more information or to register, click here.

Saying Good-bye to a Part of Me

The CPLN is deeply saddened to announce the loss of a vital part of our ministry. At the end of March, Sandra Higley, our member relations director will be ending her ministry with us. God is leading Sandra into new adventures for Him!

Sandra has played an important role as our front person to members. She has led prayer meetings, helped you figure out how to get into our website, challenged many, prayed with a lot of you and much more.

I (Jon) am already feeling a keen loss since Sandie has been with me in ministry since 1995. She was on my original advisory team as we started to develop Pray! magazine, then at its launch, she became my editorial assistant, then assistant editor. When I left Pray!, Sandie came with me to CPLN and has been an important part of our team--both as our member relations director and editor of incenseRising--for the past 4 years. Sandie will be deeply missed. I will miss her spiritual radar as she has prophetic giftings and a deep relationship with the Father.

Pray for Sandra as she seeks God for the new adventure He has for her (she felt He was calling her to go, but His full direction has not been revealed yet). If you have been touched by Sandie and would like bless her with a note, please email her at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it and encourage her.

 

Let Us Help You!

We are pleased to announce that Dennis and Betty Jo Conner have accpeted an additional role with the Church Prayer Leaders Network. While they will continue as our Southwestern Represnetatives,
Dennis and Betty Jo, will also assume the role of our Member Relations Directors.

Starting in March, Dennis and Betty Jo will be the initial repsonse to assist members with their needs and to offer advice. The Conners have been in local church prayer ministry for many years
and understand the issues that face churches and prayer leaders who are trying to grow prayer in the local church. To contact Dennis and Betty Jo, email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it , or call (972) 690-
9801.

Prayer and God’s Responses

Steve Hawthorne

Note: This is a chapter from a new textbook Giving Ourselves to Prayer: An Acts 6:4 Primer for Ministry that will be released by PrayerShop Publishing in May.

It may surprise you, but the Bible never says that God answers prayer. In all the books of the Bible, in the original languages anyway, you will never find one time which specifically says that God answers prayer.1 What you will find are hundreds of times that God responds to people who pray. It may seem like I’m hairsplitting over a trivial bit of semantics. But please take a closer look. I think you'll agree that the distinction between God answering prayers and answering people can be an important one.

God Doesn't Answer Prayer. God Answers People
Here are a few samples of how the Hebrew word, anah, usually translated "answer," is used to describe God responding to people who pray.

“Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications!
In Your faithfulness, answer me, and in Your righteousness.”    — Psalm 143:1

Prayers are piled on top of supplications. But the prayers, as such, are not answered. The psalmist himself is the one who is answered. But Gods responds personally, not programatically. The response is not yes or no. God moves in the marvel of his faithfulness.

Listen to Elijah’s famous prayer that brought down fire from heaven. It may be simpler than you remember: “Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God...” — 1 Kings 18:37

There are many more times that the Bible says God answers people, having heard them call out to Him. The wonder is not that prayers get answered. What's amazing is that people are heard. Jonah's prayer is typical: “I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, and He answered me . . . I cried and You heard my voice.” — Jonah 2:2

It may seem to be a minor point about words. But I don’t think so. Underneath the language of “God answered prayer” could be a mechanical model. For example, in the comedy film called “Bruce Almighty” an everyday guy is given unlimited power from God and temporary responsibility to answer prayers. The scene is significant because it reveals some of our assumptions about how prayer works. The human-playing-God figure sits at a computer, where every prayer appears as a kind of email message. He keys in the answers to the prayers with lightning speed. His fingers fly in a blur. We are made to think that he handles millions of prayers per minute. We are left with the idea that God processes requests like emails or text messages.

What’s wrong with this picture? Prayer is reduced to a procedure designed to bring about results. One prominent leader was so extreme in this view that he announced, “We now have the spiritual technology to deal with almost any problem.” Wow. If prayer can be considered "spiritual technology," no wonder we are bewildered when our prayer experiments don't seem to work.

You can’t blame us for thinking that way.  It’s how we’ve been taught. Prayer is usually presented as a procurement process or a problem-solving method that mysteriously “works,” but only part of the time. We have somehow thought that we could motivate people to pray by convincing them that prayer works. But by that same logic, if it doesn’t work, we should stop praying. And for the most part, we have.

Losing Heart
Jesus knew that we would look for ways to make prayer work. He knew that after long days, weeks or months of praying without seeing the asked-for result, that dismay could easily harden into stone-like disappointment. In short, He knew that we would lose heart. He knew that we would try to master the mechanism of prayer, and it would break us instead. So He told a story that invites us into the reality of how God really does hear our praying. “He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart” (Lk. 18:1).

Luke calls it a parable, but I think it opens up a complete paradigm if you look at it with the rest of the Bible’s teaching about God hearing prayer.

You recall the story (found in Lk. 18:1-8). A woman goes to a judge. Day after day, time after time, but nothing happens. It would seem that she’s not getting an answer. Or that the answer is no. But she refuses to give up. She keeps coming back and keeps making her case. Finally, the judge gives in.

Notice two things: First, that the woman was heard by the judge. The repeated pleas don’t add any new information. She wasn't pleading her case badly. The judge was not deaf. What’s wrong was that the judge was not good. He cannot be relied upon to act on what he heard with everyday decency, much less righteousness. Second, there was a delay. Nothing changes day after day after day.

Jesus' point is to compare the reliability of the unrighteous judge with the boundless righteousness of God. All the other variables in the story stay the same. Like the woman who kept requesting, apparently getting no response, God’s people, will “cry to Him day and night,” often without getting an immediate answer. It may seem like God is not responding. But in fact, we have been heard. And He's not finished.

The parable doesn't explain why God’s court doesn’t “work” more quickly. Jesus offers no tips, keys or secrets about how to make things happen. The point is that no matter how long it takes to see God complete His work, there is never a moment when we are not being heard by the King and Judge of all the earth who can be utterly trusted to act on everything He hears with magnificent wisdom and inexhaustible love.

Coming to Court: The Greater Paradigm
There are two biblical paradigms of prayer. On one hand, we can find what I call prayer as enforcement. In this model, prayer is the direct use of delegated spiritual power to accomplish God’s will. In this model, those who pray are portrayed as carrying an intrinsic power to command or to even create by faith, to overwhelm dark evil powers, or to pronounce healing. Those who pray are seen as agents exerting spiritual power on earth as derived from God in heaven. Intercessors are seen as adversaries of evil. The prayers are often confrontational, enemy-oriented declarations or denunciations.

On the other hand we can find prayer as entreaty for God to act directly by His power. Those who pray are seen as approaching God’s throne in the courtroom of heaven. There is no mysticism needed. Anyone who cries out to God from anywhere on earth is heard by God in heaven. It’s not just about petitionary prayer. In this model, every kind of prayer and worship carries weight in the deliberations of the courts of heaven and are described as moving the heart of God in accordance with His purpose. The prayers may seek God’s direct action against satanic powers, but the petitions and praises are addressed to God Himself and are more focused on what He desires to accomplish on earth. Intercession is simply serving as an advocate representing other people in heaven’s courts.

Both of these models have biblical support. But the vast preponderance of biblical material which describes, teaches, or calls for prayer works within the entreaty paradigm.

I don’t think heaven's court and the throne of God are mere imagery. There is too much consistency throughout the Bible to seriously think otherwise. Every time God reveals Himself in full blazing glory in scripture, He reveals Himself seated on a throne, surrounded by angelic majesties, governing all things with astounding righteousness and never-dying love. God's throne is not ancient tribal masculine legend formulated to frighten primitive pre-moderns into submission. Somehow God really does preside over all things, leading and intervening something like a king from his court. We have wrongly regarded heaven as just so much eternal reward, merely some puffy clouds and mansions for our bliss. Heaven in the Hebrew mind is God’s throne room. The tabernacle and temple were but training replicas of the throne room that stands eternal in the heavens. We now come to that very throne of grace (Heb. 4:16, 8:1-5, 9:24).

What then is prayer in this paradigm? Prayer is approaching God Almighty as a king who is governing all things in real time. All the cities, peoples, and persons of the earth are open cases before Him. He monitors the story of every breathing person. He doesn’t need prayer to accomplish His purposes, but prayer could be His favorite way to glorify Himself and even honor those who pray.

The courtroom model does not promise that any prayer instantly sways the mind of God's counsel. Many appeals are not upheld. Some motions are not sustained. But we can count on God to wisely weigh the lives and words of those who pray in light of His purpose as it unfolds throughout all the earth.

His people are His preferred witnesses, who by their testimony bring shame on evil powers, and move His heart like no angel ever has. We are not heard because of our many words, fervent words, or correct words. Ours prayers might seem silly to onlooking angels. But even the simplest prayer is significant because He helps us. The King we approach is our Father. At our side is heaven's favorite Son and Champion. He sends His Spirit to search out the depths of who we are, aligning our muddled desires with the surpassing majesty of His heart.

Because of His mercy, most of the important cases are taking many generations to unfold. But you can be assured of this: Every single word you have prayed with any kind of sincerity has been heard in heaven. Not a single syllable has been forgotten.

Prayer Doesn't Work. God is at Work
I suppose it’s okay to say that prayer works. But I think it may be more accurate to say that God is at work. Prayer is His way of getting us to work with Him. He never intended us to think of prayer as a problem-solving, goodie-getting procedure. He has always been summoning people to work as His accomplices in His court. Should you answer His call, He’ll probably assign you to serve as a court-appointed attorney for people who can't or won't cry out for themselves.

Keep praying and don't lose heart.
1. God is answering. Are you listening?  God is not interested in merely processing your requests or granting your wishes. He knows what you need way before you can think to ask. Instead, God is passionate about answering You. He may have been answering you instead of your prayers for some time. Are you listening?

2. Pray with long-haul hope.  Never assume that God has not responded because it seems to be taking a long time. The open cases in God’s court are many. Most of the important proceedings are being worked out over many generations. How can we doubt that we are now seeing God's response to prayers offered centuries ago? How dare we cease to pray now for Him to finish all that He’s begun? What we pray really matters. Because we are being heard.  Never cease to pray.

3. Be assured that you’ve been heard. Never surmise that because you haven’t seen God do exactly what you've asked Him, that He does not care or no longer does miracles. You may daydream how nice it would be to have God do whatever you ask, but think about it: You would not want to pray to a God you would not also want to worship. God’s desires and wisdom are far greater than ours. Since He can be trusted, it is enough that we are heard. But since He is for us, let's pray for His purposes in matters great and small.

The oft-quoted verse about God doing exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we can ask or think is really talking about God fulfilling a macro-global, history-encompassing work of glory. It ends with this: “to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, to all generations” (Eph. 3:20-21). The last phrase could just as easily be translated “throughout all generations” meaning that the answers to prayer that are beyond our life span have taken the entire expanse of history to come forth. At the last, we will not say, “Look at all the amazing answers to prayer we were able to make happen.” We will say, “He has fulfilled everything He has promised.

Steve Hawthorne is the president of Waymakers. He is also the developer and writer of the popular Seek God for the City prayer initiative.

Add Zing to Your Prayer Life

Regular Price: $11.99
 
March Super Special: $7.99
 
Most of us have been in prayer meetings where participants drooled, fell over, snored, or even snorted. Yet the Bible commands us to be alert and stay awake in our prayers. "God is not the author of boredom, especially when we are conversing with Him," says Daniel Henderson. PRAYzing! will help you understand that we pray to a creative God, from His creative Word, by His creative Spirit-and can pray in a creative way. Through powerful stories and real-life examples, this book will give you plenty of instruction and inspiration for making prayer a compelling and creative experience for every Christian.
 
Click here for more information.
 
Dr. Henderson is one of the keynote speakers at Empowered 2008.