Harvest Notes Start a Prayer Movement


By Marilynn Lester Te year 1727 marked the beginning of a prayer meeting


that was heard around the world and was the beginning of the longest prayer meeting in history. Believers from the Moravian Community of Herrnhut in Saxony committed to pray on a round-the-clock schedule that continued for 100 years. As a result, over 300 people become missionaries to take the Gospel to other lands! During the first years the community experi- enced serious dissension and infighting, but they persevered and showed the world what prayer could do. (See www.youtube.com/ watch?v=uO5hetf6pk8.)


Will God do that for us today? Prayer does not get old or


outdated. It doesn’t lose its power because it’s been around for centuries. Prayer can still be as powerful today as it was in 1727 and even as it was when Elijah, Peter and Paul were on the earth. God said, “Where two or three gather together in my name, there I am with them” (Matt. 18:20 niv). You can’t get any more powerful than the presence of God.


To start a prayer movement in your church, start small, with


two or three; don’t start with the intention of starting a prayer movement. Te point is to pray that God’s “will may be done on earth as it is in heaven.“ (Matt. 6:10 niv) God’s will is that his name will be glorified.


Te goal of Operation World is that we believers would pray


for the glory of God to fill the earth. On its website (www.opera- tionworld.org), you can find information on just about any coun- try you are interested in. Operation World offers videos from those countries and allows you to sign up to get daily reminders to pray for the country of the day.


Other organizations produce monthly prayer calendars to


help you pray for specific needs each day of the month. SAT-7 will send out their monthly calendar upon request. Avant Ministries sends a prayer calendar out with one’s receipt for those who have made a donation that month. Prayer opportunities are on their websites: www.sat7.org and www.avantministries.org.


WorldChristian.com offers resources to help you pray more


intelligently and effectively for specific people groups such as Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus. Use their simple prayer guide to get children involved in praying. Tese resources help you understand the beliefs of these groups and focus on special prayer days during their respective religious festivals


As you pray, don’t forget to pray for your own country. Our


greatest enemy is not the terrorists; it is Satan who would like to see the downfall of our two countries. He hates to see countries that were founded on Christian principles succeed. Terrorists are one of the tools he uses. Other tools are morality, dissension, and complacency. We can easily see these things tearing our countries apart today. We can wring our hands and say, “Oh, woe is us!” We complain about the political climate while taking our eyes off the real solution — prayer. Prayer is one area where Satan works the hardest to derail Christians. He knows prayer is our most powerful tool.


When I pray, I find it hard to stay focused on the job at


hand, so I have made my own “Prayer Book.” I insert pictures of my family and pictures of the missionaries I’m praying for into an old photo album. Each picture gets one page. On the first page I have the verse “Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you …” (1 Sam. 12.23). Tese words are a reminder that Samuel considered it a sin not to pray for others. Ten, as I pray, I flip through the pages of pictures and remember to pray for each person in there. I go as far as I can on one day and then pick up from that point and move on the following day. In this way my prayers are much more focused, and I get a lot more accomplished in one prayer time.


Whatever methods or resources you use, just do it. Paul


encourages us to put on the full armor of God to stand firm but also to “pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people” (Eph. 6:18, niv). “Pray!” is our battle cry. Keep it going, and maybe it will become another prayer movement to the glory of God.


Fellowship Focus, July/August 2019


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