Brethren, pray for us.
1 Thessalonians 5:25

I’ve seen it proven time and again how desperately the ministers of God need the prayers of the Church to be successful. One specific example that always comes to my mind involves a group of missionaries who moved to Afghanistan some years ago and started broadcasting the Gospel on the radio. Those dear, dedicated missionaries preached the Gospel on the air every single day for 14 years, yet in all that time, they didn’t get one response to their broadcasts.

Then a church in America began to fast and pray for the Afghan people and for those missionaries. Within two months, their radio broadcast began generating 1,000 responses a week.

What happened? Those praying believers released resurrection power to go forth and stop the demonic powers from blinding people’s eyes to the truth of the Gospel. That power traveled to Afghanistan and started raising people from spiritual death to spiritual life.

Without ever getting on an airplane, without ever leaving the city where they lived, those American believers helped start a move of God halfway around the world.

No wonder God is calling us together more and more to pray these days!

As the time grows shorter and the earth grows darker, there is an ever greater need for the supply of resurrection power that resides within us as believers. The more the opposition of the Devil against the work of the Gospel intensifies, the more Christian laborers around the world need people praying for them. They need people to do for them what the Philippians did for the apostle Paul. They need to be able to say as he did:
 … I am well assured and indeed know that through your prayers and a bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (the Messiah) this will turn out for my preservation (for the spiritual health and welfare of my own soul) and avail toward the saving work of the Gospel.
(Phil. 1:19 Amp)
Dear praying friend, let’s make a fresh commitment in these crucial days to answer God’s call to prayer. Let’s give ourselves with increased zeal to the thrilling task of releasing the resurrection power of God to a dark and dying world that desperately needs it. Let’s release the rivers of the Spirit within us until they become a floodtide that sweeps every willing soul into the arms of God.

Scripture Reading: 2 Thessalonians 3:1 – 5

Source: Devotions for the Praying Heart by Lynne Hammond.
Excerpt permission granted by Lynne Hammond Ministries
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On the chilly March night in 1972 when Lynne Hammond took her first step into a life of Spirit-led prayer, she had no idea what was about to happen. All she knew was the hunger in her heart for God wouldn’t let her sleep. In the few short months she’d been born again, her desire to fellowship with Him had grown so strong she could hardly contain it. “Help me, God!” she cried. “I want to know you. I want to be able to talk to you. Please, teach me to pray!”

Suddenly, a heavenly presence flooded the room. Lynne sensed waves of spiritual fire sweeping over her and a beautiful language began to flow like a river from within her. Although she’d never heard of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, she knew instantly, without a doubt—this was God!

What began that night soon blossomed into a life of prayer that ultimately became a ministry of prayer when, in 1980, Lynne and her husband, Mac, founded Living Word Christian Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Under Lynne’s leadership, the prayer ministry at Living Word has become an internationally recognized model for developing effective pray-ers in the local church.

A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”

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