What’s Your Prayer Strategy?

by Larry Barker

God’s Word is very clear that we are to be a people of prayer and our church should be a house of prayer. The battle we are in is a spiritual battle and when Paul tells us to put on the armor of God he says in Ephesians 6:18, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”  

Prayer is not preparation for the battle, it is the battle! When we strive to advance the kingdom of God there will be resistance because the devil is not going to release the ground he controls without a fight.  However, the devil does have difficulty making progress when we speak in Jesus’ name, when we use the Word of God, and when we are praying with a positive attitude and spirit.  

There are a lot of things Christians are praying against but who are you praying for, who are you asking God to enable to win the spiritual conflict they are in right now?

Do you have a prayer team in your church?  

Is there a strategy where people are praying regularly, faithfully, and fervently for one another?  

Are you praying daily for the leadership of your church?  

Are you using a prayer calendars to pray for a missionary family somewhere around the world, every single day?   

We get together to sing, we love to fellowship, but how often do we get together to pray fervently for someone or some specific region of the world?

Henry and Norman Blackaby’s book Called and Accountable has six chapters designed to help you discover your place in God’s eternal purpose. Those six chapters are: 

Why Does God Call Us?

What Is A Call? 

Who Are the Called? 

How Am I Called? 

When Am I Called? 

How Do I Live Out The Call?  

Chapter 1 ends with a wonderful story about how prayer can make a difference in carrying God’s call because of the power of prayer.  Here is that story:  

“Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf was born in 1700 in Dresden, Germany, into one of the noblest families of Europe.  As a young adult, Nicholas visited an art museum in Dusseldorf, Germany, where he saw the painting by Domenico Feti titled Ecce Homo(Behold the Man).  The painting depicted Christ with a crown of thorns on His head and the legend, “All this have I done for you.  What are you doing for Me?'”  

“The face of Christ in the painting never left Zinzendorf’s heart, and Christ’s love became the compelling force of his life.

“The love Zinzendorf felt for his Savior expressed itself in his love for other believers, especially through a small group of approximately 300 Moravians whom he allowed to establish a church on his estate at Herrnhut in 1722.  

“He helped the Moravians develop a deep passion for their Savior and helped them to live out Christ’s command to love one another.

“Zinzendorf’s love for Christ was also expressed through his life of prayer.  He spent countless hours in communion with his Savior and sought to lead others to commit to a life of prayer.  

“His example led the Moravian believers to begin a powerful prayer movement they called ‘hourly intercession.’  They prayed in shifts, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for the work of Christ around the world.  This ‘hourly intercession’ went on uninterrupted for more than 100 years!

“The desire Zinzendorf had to reach those who did not know his Savior was another manifestation of his passion for Jesus.  By 1752, The Moravian Church at Herrnhut had sent out more missionaries than the whole Protestant church had done in 200 years.  

“Before long, they had three members on the missions field for every one at their church in Herrnhut.  All of this was accomplished by men and women with little formal and theological education, but with a burning passion for the Savior, Jesus Christ.

” Zinzendorf’s life was a labor of love for his Savior, who had done so much for him and a lost and dying world.”

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