Month: April 2010

by Rob Campbell

Prayer is the work of ministry. When we see fruit from the ministry it is always rooted in prayer.

In the Old Testament, watchmen were placed on the city’s wall for protection as an early alert signal for invading armies. You are a watchman on the wall! I encourage you to serve with consistency, readiness and with a great longing to intercede in the heavenlies.

My days of ministering without a prayer ministry foundation are long gone. I will not participate in powerless “ministry” that is based on the good ideas, techniques and methods of men.

I want to remind you of one aspect of prayer. Prayer is not simply talking and listening to God. Prayer is relationship with God.

I believe it was Henry Blackaby who suggested the following process of prayer in our lives:

1. God takes the initiative by causing me to want to pray.

2. The Holy Spirit reveals to me the will of God.

3. I pray in the Spirit in agreement with the will of God.

4. I adjust my life to truth.

5. I look and listen from confirmation.

6. I obey.

7. God works in me and through me to accomplish His purposes.

May we be a people of prayer!

Comments?

Rob

by Michael Sove

As leaders we need to hear the call to the Spirit-filled life.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  John 10:10 (NIV)

Not only must we hear the call but must heed the call to the Spirit-filled life.

“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”  Eph 5:18 (NIV)

At Allen we believe prayer is the pathway to a Spirit-filled life.  We ask all our pastors and cell leaders to participate in “Soul Switch.”  This is an on-going 40 day period of commitment, where each of us agrees to pray for 30 minutes and read for at least 15 minutes daily.  As we do this we ask God to crucify our self-focus and our self-confidence.

Prayer must become a meeting with God.  We don’t like to use the word quiet time, as this meeting with God is far more than quiet.  In order to meet God, your soul must thirst for God.  We believe that when you approach God you must have “intense intentionality.”

Psalm 42:1-2  “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When can I go and meet with God?” (NIV)

Prayer also becomes important in the destruction of strongholds (areas of persistent disobedience that we refuse to destroy but rather try to justify).  In order to remain Spirit-filled, you must attack the strongholds.  We encourage each other to C.A.B daily.  (Confess your sin, Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you, Believe that you have been filled)

James 4:7  “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  (NIV)

Do you want to have a strong cell church that impacts nations for the Glory of God?  Then grow Christians to become Spirit-filled Believers.  Put them on the pathway of prayer.  It begins with you, passes through the leaders and spreads to the others.

Comments?

Michael

by Mario Vega

The leader is a model for the cell members. Since prayer is essential for cell work, the leader should be a model in this area as well. Besides living the life of prayer that every Christian must live, leaders must make a pro-active effort to make prayer their priority.

In the case of ELLIM, we make a daily reminder to our leaders through our radio stations to make prayer a priority. In addition, each month, the church has an all night prayer meeting. Since leaders are the ones responsible to bring their members and friends to church, they also must participate in these vigils.

The same applies to other church activities regarding prayer, such as fasting, retreats, and our systematic prayer programs. When the leader participates in these activities, he becomes not only a cell leader but also a prayer leader. The rest of the cell members tend to follow his or her example.

Therefore, the leader’s prayer life is fundamental to the cell work. Evangelization through cells can not be done mechanically; you need to depend on prayer at all times, rather than solely on effort, experience or knowledge.

Comments?

Mario

translation in Spanish

Lderes de oración

El lder es un modelo en muchos sentidos para los miembros de la célula. Siendo que la oración es fundamental para el trabajo celular, el lder debe ser también un modelo en esa área. Además de llevar la vida de oración que todo cristiano debe llevar, se hace énfasis para que los lderes coloquen la oración como su prioridad.

En nuestro caso, diariamente se está recordando a través de nuestras emisoras de radio la responsabilidad que tiene todo lder de hacer de la oración su prioridad.

Además, cada mes, la iglesia realiza una vigilia de oración durante toda la noche. Dado que los lderes son los responsables de llevar a la iglesia a los hermanos y amigos, ellos mismos no pueden sustraerse de su responsabilidad de participar en esas vigilias.

Lo mismo sucede con otras actividades de oración en la iglesia como los ayunos, los retiros, los programas de oración sistemáticos, etc. Cuando el lder se involucra en todas estas actividades se convierte no sólo en un lder de célula sino que también en un lder de oración. Los demás miembros de la célula tienden a seguir su modelo.

Por ello, la vida de oración del lder es fundamental para el trabajo. La evangelización a través de células no puede hacerse de manera mecánica, se necesita depender todo el tiempo de la oración y no de la pericia que pueda desarrollarse.

Jeff Tunnell

Dean C. J. Vaughn once said: “If I wished to humble anyone, I should question him about his prayers. I know nothing to compare with this topic for is sorrowful confessions.”  J. Oswald Sanders stated, “The spiritual leader should outpace the rest of the church, above all, in prayer.  And yet the most advanced leader is conscious of the possibility of endless development in his prayer life. Nor does he ever feel he has “already attained”.”

Of Samuel Chadwick it was said that he was essentially a man of prayer.  Every morning he would be astir shortly after six o’clock, and he kept a little room which was his private sanctum for his quiet hour before breakfast.  He was mighty in public prayer because he was constant in private devotion.  When he prayed he expected God to do something.  Toward the end of his life he wrote, “I wish I had prayed more, even if I had worked less; and from the bottom of my heart I wish I had prayed better.”  Evangelist Billy Graham echoed the same sentiment when asked what he might change if he could go back and start over, “I would work less, pray more & spend more time with my family.”

Have to go now, I’m feeling conviction (which moves me toward God), thanks for reading…       your comments?

by Joel Comiskey

Paul said in 1 Corintians 11:1, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” If we want our people to pray more, we as leaders must e exemplify the life of prayer, both on a personal level as well as a corporate one.

On a personal level, the leader should be known for his or her life of prayer. Prayer needs to be at the very heart of what the leader does. On one hand, I’m referring to praying throughout the day as it says in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, but I’m also talking about the leader’s quiet time. If the pastor, for example, doesn’t have a regular quiet time, how can he expect the church members to have one? How can he preach from the pulpit about the need for daily devotions, when he himself doesn’t exemplify that truth? (this same truth truth appies to all leadership positions, including the cell leader and cell coach). I strongly believe that the most important discipline in the Christian life is the quiet time. Each believer needs to have a daily appointment with the King. I wrote a book called, An Appointment with the King, which I believe is the most important book I’ve written.

Pastors and leaders also need to model corporate prayer. I remember when we as a pastoral staff from the Republica Church in Ecuador ate lunch with César Fajardo, the ex-youth pastor at the International Charismatic Mission (now Fajardo leads his own chruch called “Church without Walls.”). Fajardo looked right at us as a pastoral team and said, “Your church will not pray beyond your example.” His words cut deeply into our souls because we weren’t exemplifying the life of prayer to the rest of the church. When we returned to Ecuador, we realized that each of us had to take part in the weekly church-wide prayer meeting, and even lead parts of it. We had to demonstrate to others the importance of prayer by our feet, not just our lips.

When it comes to prayer, can we say with Paul the Apostle, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ”?

Comments?

Joel