← Back to Bookshelf ×
Worship

The Battle Plan for Prayer

By Stephen Kendrick

My Personal Takeaways →
Motivation for Reading & Implementing the Book

Summary

The Battle Plan for Prayer treats prayer as spiritual strategy, not religious filler. The Kendricks present prayer as intimate communion with God that aligns the believer with God’s purposes, confronts spiritual opposition, and fuels obedience, mission, and endurance.

The book is practical and tactical: why prayer matters, what prayer is and is not, types of prayer, how to persist when answers delay, and how to build a disciplined prayer life individually and in the church. Read this if your prayer life feels sporadic, reactive, or shallow. Implement it by creating a structured prayer plan, anchoring requests in Scripture, prioritizing daily and corporate prayer rhythms, and evaluating answers through God’s glory rather than personal convenience. This book strengthens spiritual focus and helps turn prayer into a consistent, lived priority.

Direct Quotes & Excerpts From The Book

The Battle Plan for Prayer

By Stephen Kendrick and Alex Kendrick **

PART I - ENLISTMENT

CHAPTER 1: THE LEGACY OF PRAYER

  • It should not surprise us, then, to discover that the greatest and most spiritually successful men and women in the Bible were always people of prayer.
  • Abraham walked by faith but was guided by prayer, and the nations of the world have never been the same because of it. Isaac’s intercession on behalf of his barren wife resulted in the birth of Jacob, who became the father of the nation of Israel (Genesis 25: 21). Moses spoke with God “as a man speaks to his friend,” receiving God’s guidance and revelation for his leadership decisions (Exodus 33: 11). The world still has the Torah and the Ten Commandments as fruit of it.
  • Before choosing His disciples, Jesus spent all night in prayer to God. As they followed Him, they discovered His private habit was to rise early and pray before the sun rose (Mark 1: 35). Even as His popularity was exploding, He would “often slip away to the wilderness and pray” (Luke 5: 15–16).

CHAPTER 2: THE POWER OF PRAYER

  • Prayer provides an unlimited spiritual data plan, meaning we never need to worry we’ve drifted out of range from the signal tower.
  • With everything that prayer can be to us, why would anyone choose not to pray?

CHAPTER 3: THE PRIORITY OF PRAYER

  • Prayer aligns the body of Christ with her Head. It’s the key to intimacy between the bride of Christ and her Bridegroom.
  • When He ran the money changers out of the temple, He proclaimed, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den” (Mark 11:17). With this one violent, surprising motion, He distilled down the purpose of God’s house and the meeting together of God’s people to a central priority: believers getting together for prayer. He did not say, “My house shall be called a house of sermons” or “a house of singing” or “a house of evangelism” or “a house of fellowship.”
  • God never intended for us to live out the Christian life or accomplish His work on the earth in our own wisdom or strength. His plan has always been for us to rely on the Holy Spirit and live a life of obedience in prayer.
  • Scripture specifically ties each of these things to prayer. Consider them a sneak preview of what will happen if your church truly becomes devoted to prayer: Evangelism of the lost (Colossians 4: 3; 1 Timothy 2: 1–8), cultivation of discipleship (Luke 11: 1–2; John 17), true Christian fellowship (Acts 2: 42), wise decisions (James 1:5), obstacles overcome (Mark 11: 22–24), needs met (Matthew 6: 11; Luke 11: 5–13), true worship ignited (Matthew 6: 13; Acts 2: 41–47), and revival sparked (2 Chronicles 7:14).

PART II - BASIC TRAINING

CHAPTER 4: THE ULTIMATE PURPOSE OF PRAYER

  • Ultimately, all prayer is for the glory of God. The best answer He can give to any prayer is whatever answer brings Him the most glory.
  • When He reveals His glory, He is unwrapping a measure of His identity—some of His nature, His holiness, His power, His lovingkindness.
  • Your ways are higher than my ways. Work in my heart and in each of my situations, Lord, so that You are most glorified.

CHAPTER 5: WHAT IS AND ISN’T PRAYER

  • Realize in prayer that we’re bowing before the same One who, in John’s Revelation, is described like this: “His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength” (Revelations 1: 14–16).
  • Prayer is communion with God in order to … 1. Intimately know, love, and worship Him.
  • Prayer is communion with God in order to … 2. Understand and conform our lives to His will and ways.
  • Prayer is communion with God in order to … 3. Access and advance His kingdom, power, and glory.
  • When we pray, “Give us this day … lead us not into temptation … deliver us,” we are seeking to access God’s kingdom resources, for His mighty power to work on our behalf, and for Him to reveal His glory in our situation.
  • Again, prayer is not about prayer. It is about a Person—God Himself. When it becomes merely about accessing the provision or protection of God rather than knowing and pleasing the Person of God, then we are getting off track.

CHAPTER 6: WHAT: TYPES OF PRAYER

  • When you study praise in Scripture, you will observe people expressing one or more of the following things to God: A reminder of who God is: You are our Creator; You are awesome; Lord of all. A recounting of what He’s done: You rescued us; You saved us; You provided for me. A recognition of His holiness: There is none like You; You are greater than … better than … higher than … more powerful than … anything else. A rejoicing in His name: We lift up Your name; I praise Your name; we honor Your name. A relinquishing of control: I love You and give You my life; I surrender to You; all that I am and have is Yours.
  • Our hearts are more pure and ready to pray in faith when we have first adored God, confessed our sins, and thanked Him for what He’s done.
  • While Haman was planning to destroy the Jews, Esther interceded in prayer and then politically interceded for the people and saved her nation.
  • You don’t need to always include every type of prayer when you pray. Sometimes you need to just get to the point, like Peter when he cried, “Lord, save me” (Matthew 14: 30), or when Jesus said, “Father, glorify Your name,” and that was it (John 12: 28).
  • Search me and cleanse me of anything that displeases You.

CHAPTER 7: WHAT ARE GOD’S ANSWERS TO PRAYER?

  • In fact, what may surprise you to know is how many of God’s answers to prayer, when you pull them out and look at them under better spiritual lighting, are a variation of yes. But in general terms, His answers to prayer form up under about five different types. Let’s look at them.
    1. Yes, immediately. Sometimes when we pray, our request is exactly in line with His will, with His timing, and His answer arrives on the spot.
  • Man prayed that God would “grant me success today” (Genesis 24: 12), hoping for a specific sign that would soon alert him to the right girl. “Before he had finished speaking,” a young woman named Rebekah appeared. And in answer to his prayers, she offered to water his camels. Later she would become Isaac’s beloved wife.
  • God is simply not bound by time. He may start answering a request ten years before you pray it. He’s likely already preparing things right now for prayers you will one day pray.
    1. Yes, in due time. A delay should not be interpreted as a denial. If a nine-year-old girl asks her mom for a wedding dress she saw, the answer to her request might sound like a no. But it’s actually more of a “Yes, I’ll get you a wedding dress, honey. But not now. You’re not ready for it yet.”
    1. Yes, so you’ll learn from it. Sometimes God, deciding we might learn from the lesson, does go ahead and give us what we ask—realizing we don’t really know what we’re asking.
    1. No, because your heart’s not right. James said the reason for a delay in God’s answer is not always simply a timing issue. Sometimes “you ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4: 3). If lust, greed, bitterness, or pride is at the heart of a request, God may veto an answer in order to guard us from the hurt or idolatry that could result from the toxic request.
  • Wise mothers and fathers will often withhold a desired privilege in order to get through to their child’s heart. They’re not saying no forever. But they realize their son or daughter is not in a position to appreciate the gift or handle it well. Receiving it would merely worsen the situation.
    1. No, I’ve got a better plan. Sometimes we ask too small. Confined by our limited knowledge, not thinking outside what we’ve already seen and experienced, we pray for a handful when God wants to give us a houseful.
  • That’s why it’s good to pray, “Lord, would you do more than I can ask or imagine in this situation?”

CHAPTER 8: WHEN: SCHEDULED PRAYER

  • Prayer should be a natural part of our thinking. Not just in our quiet moments but also in our chaos.
  • If we were to say that kids ‘play constantly’ or that teenagers ‘text their friends constantly’, we wouldn’t mean they never do anything else except playing or texting nonstop. We’d just mean that throughout the day, kids are often trying to integrate play into what they’re doing. Many teens communicate hourly with their friends through text messages. Likewise, God desires that prayer become an ongoing opportunity we take full advantage of—quietly praising, thanking and leaning on Him at any moment and context in our minds and hearts.

CHAPTER 9: WHEN: SPONTANEOUS PRAYER

  • What if the richest man in your city called you today and said he would give you ten thousand dollars in cash every morning if you showed up and rang his doorbell at 6:00 a.m. Would you be there? Absolutely. No question. Why? Because if we really want something bad enough and value it enough, we make it happen. We figure out a way to fit it into our schedules. At the same time, our Savior, Jesus Christ, is daily offering us eternal treasures from His Word and the opportunity to talk with His Father, the God of the Universe, to share our hearts and needs. And yet we still come up with excuses as to why we don’t have time to make it work.

CHAPTER 10: HOW: THE POSTURE OF PRAYER

  • Lifted hands. Many prayers from Scripture were made with uplifted hands. The idea of folding our hands, while meaningful, is actually more recent in history. But the Bible does talk about raising our hands—“the lifting up of my hands as the evening offering”
  • Lifted eyes. While closing our eyes is a good way of limiting distractions and maintaining focus in prayer, a common biblical expression was lifting the eyes toward heaven, like when Jesus “raised His eyes” before praying at the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:41), or when “looking up to heaven” as He blessed the five loaves and two fish before multiplying them for the crowd of five thousand (Luke 9: 16).
  • But we all can identify the difference, can’t we, between the prayers we make while flat of our backs, fighting sleep—and the prayers we make while deliberately kneeling, or raising our hands, or speaking aloud.

CHAPTER 11: HOW: THE LOCKS OF PRAYER

  • “Husbands … live with your wives in an understanding way … and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered” (1 Peter 3: 7).
  • When you show compassion to those in need, God shows favor on your requests. But the opposite is true as well. “He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be answered” (Proverbs 21: 13).
  • “Whenever you stand praying,” Jesus said, “forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions” (Mark 11: 25–26).
  • Bitterness is a toxin that not only poisons us spiritually, mentally, even physically, but also poisons the effectiveness of prayer and the full experience of our relationship with God.

CHAPTER 12: HOW: THE KEYS OF PRAYER

  • Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you.
  • Praying in His name means to pray as He would. To pray from within our relationship with Him. We don’t approach God based on our authority, our righteousness, or what we’ve done, but based upon Christ’s and what He’s done.
  • Another overlooked key is the dedicated discipline of fasting—going without food (or some other sort of daily need) in order to focus more fully on the Lord for a concentrated period. Jesus fasted and prayed. Esther fasted and prayed. Nehemiah fasted and prayed.
  • Fasting opens up your spirit to God when you would otherwise be feeding your flesh. It puts seeking Him above all your appetites.
  • Whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:21–22).
  • “Delight yourself in the Lord,” the Bible says, “and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalms 37:4). The Hebrew word for “desires” is the word for petitions.

PART III - CONDITIONING

CHAPTER 13: VERTICAL: THE CROSS OF CHRIST

  • “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’” (Matt. 7:21–23). Admittedly, this is one of the most terrifying passages in the Bible. But Jesus is not trying to haunt us with these words. He’s trying to help us. So before diving into what all is involved in developing a more vibrant and effective prayer life, the first place for anyone to start is by pausing to make sure they’ve even begun a genuine relationship with God in the first place.
  • “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation” (Romans 10:9–10).
  • Eternity is too long to be wrong about your ultimate destiny.
  • If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would the evidence of your life be overwhelmingly clear that you know Christ and that He knows you? Genuine salvation is a life-changing experience. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
  • Good works do not remove sins, nor can they save anyone. But after a person is genuinely saved and is truly transformed by Christ, specific good works will start showing up as evidence or proof of their salvation. These seven things are not the cause or roots of salvation, but they are the fruits of true salvation. The book of 1 John gives us seven key indicators of genuine salvation revealing that someone is truly saved and knows God.
  • Indicator 1: A lifestyle of obedience to God.
  • By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked” (1 John 2:3–6).
  • Indicator 2: A confession of Jesus as the Christ, God’s Son.
  • Indicator 3: A lifestyle of repentance of sin. Jesus said, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
  • Indicator 4: Genuine love for other believers.
  • Indicator 5: The discipline of God your Father. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness” (Hebrews 12:7–8, 11).
  • Indicator 6: The presence of God’s Holy Spirit. “This is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us” (1 John 3:24). If you are a true believer, then God’s Spirit is in you and will testify with your spirit that you are a child of God (Romans 8:16). He will also convict you when you sin (John 16:8), reveal what God’s Word says when you read it (John 14:26), and pour genuine love, joy, and peace in and through you toward others (Galatians 5:22).
  • Indicator 7: Faith in Jesus alone for salvation (and not yourself).
  • These seven indicators are signs of a changed life—litmus tests revealing whether God has really made you a new creation or not.

CHAPTER 14: VERTICAL: REPENTANCE VERSUS PRIDE

  • That’s why pride is one of the greatest sins of all (Proverbs 6:16–17). It leads to almost every other sin. Proverbs 11:2 warns, “When pride comes, then comes dishonor, but with the humble is wisdom.”
  • The things we tend to chase in life—wealth, success, applause, awards—can all lead to greater pride if obtained.
  • But where I’ve worked so hard to build myself up, I see now I’ve actually been tearing away at what my relationship with You can be. Today, Lord, I come to You with nothing but gratitude, asking You to purge me of pride and help me see things as they really are. You first. You always.

CHAPTER 15: HORIZONTAL: UNITY VERSUS DIVISION

  • That’s why the enemy does everything possible to keep God’s people divided. Because once we come together in unity, we gain momentum and take ground for the kingdom.
  • Let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. (James 1: 6-7)

CHAPTER 16: YOUR HEART: FAITH VERSUS DOUBT

  • When you pray, you should rest in the fact that God is not unaware, unable, uncaring, unwilling, or unlikely to answer.
  • So if you don’t feel like praying much anymore, the diagnosis probably lies in one of the following four misconceptions about God’s heart and identity. 1. God doesn’t know or understand my needs.
  • “But if He already knows what’s in our heads,” you might ask, “why does He want us to pray? What’s the point?” Remember, prayer is about (1) intimately knowing, loving, and worshiping God; (2) conforming our lives to His will and ways; and (3) accessing and advancing His kingdom, power, and glory. All of these require interaction. God could do things without us. But He’s too good and kind to kick us to the curb.
  • The second misconception is … 2. God isn’t able to help. The apostle Paul answered this objection with one of the most resounding exclamations in the Bible, declaring that God is able not only to do whatever we can imagine Him doing, but He is “able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3: 20).
  • The third misconception is… 3. God doesn’t care. If He knows everything and can do everything, then why won’t He help me? Jesus pointed to the birds of the air to prove that God cares. If He cares for them, how much more does He care for you?
  • Jesus provided two prayer-ables in Scripture that paint polar opposites to the caring character of God. A man gets caught off guard late at night by unexpected company. His pantry isn’t stocked so he runs to a neighbor’s and asks if they might spare a little bread. “Don’t bother me!” comes the answer from inside. “The door is already locked, and my children and I have gone to bed. I can’t get up to give you anything” (Luke 11:7). But the man is persistent, and finally the neighbor gives him what he wants to get him to go away. A second example is the story of a widow who was being mistreated. Bothered by the injustice, she keeps approaching a local, heartless judge to plead her case. But this official remains cold and unwilling to help. Not until she’s almost worn him down by her endless pestering does he finally give in and grant her request (Luke 18:1–5). An uncaring friend. A dismissive judge. Jesus pointed out that in both stories, the persistent requestor got what he or she asked for. His point is that God is not a calloused, uncaring judge or a sleeping neighbor in bed. Therefore, how much more quickly and willingly will He answer our requests than the judge and the sleeper?
  • Not only does He care; He cares for you more than anyone else in your life.
  • The fourth misconception is… 4. ‘God isn’t likely to do anything anyway’. That’s not the impression you get from Mark 11:24 — “I say to you, all things for which you pray, ask and they will be granted you. Yes, He is willing to listen and respond and counsel and comfort and encourage and direct and rescue.
  • As we’ve seen, of course, He is not a genie who grants our wishes. We should be glad of that, since we’d soon learn the horror of worshiping a God who was controlled by us, rather than one who rules all and takes all things into account. God has given us the capacity to trust that His reasons are in keeping with His wisdom and His will. Because God is sovereign, He may or may not choose to do something, even though He certainly has the ability.
  • So the Battle Plan for your life includes the kind of praying that… 1. Expects Him to know your heart and what you truly need from Him. 2. Believes that no limitations apply to Him, that He can do anything. 3. Anticipates that He will respond to you with love, compassion, and mercy. 4. Assumes that He is there and listening, willing to come to your aid and help you.

CHAPTER 17: YOUR HEART: SECRET VERSUS SHOW

  • Scripture reveals that the primary way Jesus prayed was in secret. Though we have a few accounts of short prayers He prayed publicly, as well as one longer, high-priestly prayer (John 17), His routine was to either rise early to be alone in prayer (Mark 1:35), send everyone away in the afternoon and escape to a solitary place (Mark 6:46), or stay up late and pray after the others had gone to sleep (Luke 6:12).

CHAPTER 18: YOUR HEART: OBEDIENCE VERSUS REBELLION

  • But that’s how a lot of people handle prayer. They hide behind it. They hope it will cover for disobedience in other areas that are a lot harder and more costly to do than just praying. God keeps telling them to do things, but they keep “praying about it” with no steps of action.
  • Pray and obey. Obey and pray. Put those two together, and you’ve got a powerful combination.

CHAPTER 19: YOUR HEART: PERSISTENCE VERSUS IMPATIENCE

  • Indeed, none of those who wait for You will be ashamed (Psalms 25: 3)
  • In fact, He may use delays in our life to reveal our hearts and our level of trust in Him.
  • When he was facing the false prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, Elijah prayed once, and fire fell from heaven (1 Kings 18:37–38). When he was praying for the dead son of the widow, he prayed three times before the boy came back to life (17:21–22). When he was asking God to send the rain, he ended up praying seven times (18:41–44). The point is, we don’t know if God’s answer will come immediately, after several days, or even years.

PART IV - STRATEGIES

CHAPTER 20: THE WORD OF GOD

  • Your copy of the Bible is not only your companion when you enter your prayer closet; it’s also your inspiration, your source, your reliable storehouse and gold mine of trustworthy promises. When you don’t know what to say, let the Bible lead your praying for you.

CHAPTER 21: THE WILL OF GOD

  • We should pray in accordance with what we already know for sure to be His will. The chief goal of God’s will is that He be glorified.
  • God’s will is to advance His kingdom. That’s what Jesus meant by telling His followers to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).
  • Glory. Kingdom. Lordship. Those are just three major components of His overall will for you. He also wants you living a pure, sanctified life (1 Thessalonians 4:3). He wants you rejoicing, praying, and grateful in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18). He wants you maturing in the faith (Hebrews 6:1). He wants you producing fruit, season after season (John 15:16). He wants you in close fellowship with other believers, “being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose” (Philippians 2:2). Much of His will, therefore, is readily known. Not only does His Word declare it, but the Spirit affirms it in your mind and heart.
  • So your quest for God’s will on a specific issue—whether to make an offer on this house or that one; whether to go to the smaller church nearby or the larger one across town; whether to apply for another job opportunity or stay where you are—is not really a separate matter from these other elements of His will. They’re all tied together. Your knowledge on how to make a left-or-right decision, one that doesn’t come with a specific Bible verse attached, will come clear in His timing as you stay focused in prayer on submitting to all of His will. The heart that’s not only praying for His will but is also surrendering to it simultaneously—whatever the Lord reveals His plan to be—will not miss His desires when all is said and done. Because He will bail you out if you take a wrong turn (Proverbs 16:9).
  • When you make known your sincere requests to Him in prayer, “the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).

CHAPTER 22: THE “WHATEVER” FROM GOD

  • Some people claim that God allows us to only ask for what we need, but never what we want. Sounds dutiful and honorable, but it’s actually not biblical. The truth is, this “whatever” offer runs throughout the New Testament. It’s not just an isolated statement. “Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it” (Mark 11:24). “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do” (John 14:13). “Whatever we ask we receive from Him” (1 John 3:22). “If we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him” (1 John 5:15). There’s a noticeable pattern here. A “whatever” pattern. Now we know, of course, God is not Santa Claus. He’s “established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all” (Psalms 103:19). And we know He will not answer requests born in sin or for sinful things (James 4:3).
  • If you are walking with Him on the path He wants you to walk, and if He’s your first love, and if your heart’s desire is to please Him, then He delights in granting your heart’s desires. Your good ones. When your motivation for wanting His blessing isn’t to go chasing after sin with it, but rather to find your joy in the only place where true, lasting joy can be found, the possibility of receiving your best “whatever” wishes opens up for you.
  • We are not more kind than He is. We obviously don’t think twice about giving our children what they really need when they ask for it. Neither does God. And if they ask for something we’d already planned on giving them—similar to when we ask God for something according to His will—we don’t suddenly decide not to give it at the last minute. Neither does God. But what if they ask for something they don’t technically need, but it’s something good that would bring them great joy and show them our love if they had it? And what if we knew that they were consistently desiring to honor and love us and respect our rightful leadership in their lives? Would we take extra steps to try giving them their heart’s desires if there was any way? And yet we think God wouldn’t?
  • Yet some people make it sound wrong to do so. They describe God like He’s an impoverished, distant dad who only lets his kids ask for socks and underwear for Christmas.
  • When our delight is in Him—when the beat of our hearts is to say, “Lord, what can I do for You today, my Father?”—the beat of His kind heart is to say, “Well, what can I do for you, my child?”
  • That’s the understood relationship between them. The Son lives to honor the Father; the Father delights in blessing the Son. And that’s where each of us can live too. When we delight ourselves in the Lord, He says He’ll give us the desires of our hearts (Psalms 37: 4)
  • James 4:2, as we’ve mentioned, tells us that one of the reasons we don’t have what we want from God is because we haven’t asked for it—whether through a lack of faith, an inflated trust in our own self-reliance, or other misguided reasons. But in all these “whatever” verses from the Bible, God is telling us not just to throw out these good, legitimate desires in our hearts, afraid we’d be asking too much to actually ask for them. Turn those desires into petitions!
  • What we want today, we might not tomorrow. Most of the junk at garage sales is comprised of items that once seemed like something a person wanted really badly. So we should be wise and careful in the asking.

CHAPTER 23: THE WONDER OF GOD’S NAMES

  • So as you pray strategically, remember to call out to your God by His names as you learn them. He loves to hear His children acknowledge Him for all He does and all He can do.

CHAPTER 24: THE WISDOM OF GOD

  • Wisdom is supreme — so get wisdom. And whatever else you get, get understanding” (Proverbs 4:7). Not many things in life come with this kind of endorsement. Whatever else you get. Whatever else you do. Yet anytime we hear this kind of ultimatum, we know something important is about to be said. And when God is the One who’s making the proclamation through His Word, you can be sure His advice is worth heeding.
  • Acquiring wisdom, He says, is of “supreme” importance. And prayer is one of the keys that unlocks it. In fact, prayer yields wisdom, and then wisdom yields better prayer. Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge to a given situation. Making the best choices with the data you have. To take what you know and make it work really well. To make your relationships work. To make your money work. To make grand-slam, home-run decisions about friendship, marriage, and parenting.
  • God promises to give wisdom “generously”—especially to those who “seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure” (Proverbs 2: 4).
  • David’s throne. He admittedly had little to no experience in leadership. So he prayed, “Give Your servant an obedient heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” (verse 9). God was pleased with Solomon’s request, and grew him into a man whose wisdom was known far and wide. Not only did his wisdom make him known for his writing of memorable proverbs—3,000 of them, the Bible says—but also provided him the secrets of riches and honor.
  • The Proverbs point up the difference between hard work and laziness: “Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.” Between righteousness and wickedness: “The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.” Between honesty and dishonesty: “Truthful lips will be established forever, but a lying tongue is only for a moment.” Between humility and arrogance: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling. It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud.” In fact, discovering what’s “better” is a key takeaway of Proverbs, as with everything else the Bible teaches. “Patience is better than power, and controlling one’s temper, than capturing a city.” “Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and turmoil with it.” “Better is a dish of vegetables where love is than a fattened ox served with hatred.” “Better to be a poor man than a liar.”

CHAPTER 25: THE WAYS OF GOD’S SPIRIT

  • Prayer is an admission that we are not in control, and yet at the same time completely and confidently under God’s control (Psalms 103: 19). God knows we often can forget to pray, and not know what to pray or how we should be praying (Romans 8: 26). We can ask for what we know, but still not address the heart of an issue or cover even half of what should be requested. And yet God urges us to keep entering into prayer anyway … knowing He can lead us through the One He has deposited into our hearts.
  • The Holy Spirit is the engine of the Christian life, guiding and empowering us to do what we cannot do on our own.
  • Our finite knowledge is surrounded by His infinite wisdom.
  • Having been granted access to His Word, His will, His wisdom, and the wonder of His names, we have an arsenal of weapons to hone our praying to a razor’s edge and launch it with pinpoint accuracy.
  • “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18). This is powerful praying. In the Spirit. At all times. For all the saints. Every believer in Jesus Christ has the Holy Spirit within them (Ephesians 1: 13–14). But we must be filled with, submit to, and walk in the Spirit, as opposed to following our sinful flesh.
  • The Greek tense used in Ephesians 5:18 is a command to keep being filled by God’s Spirit. It’s not a one-time experience but a moment by moment, daily way of living and submitting and walking in the Spirit (Galatians 5: 16–25). Every morning we should be asking God to fill us with His Spirit as we worship Him and surrender all that we are and have to His loving lordship for the day. Anytime we sin, become bitter, or get in the flesh, we should quickly repent, humble ourselves, and resubmit ourselves to the Lord and to the leading of His Spirit.
  • Even those things which “eye has not seen and ear has not heard,” the Spirit is able to reveal to us—what we need to know, when we need to know it—“not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words” (1 Corinthians 2: 9-13).
  • He illumines God’s Word and makes God’s true nature come alive to us, convincing us of spiritual realities—the hideousness of sin, the glories of righteousness, the realities of judgment (John 16: 8–11).
  • He prays for us. The “Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26). What we can’t pray, His Spirit can. And therefore we are never without hope or help.
  • You hear people say sometimes how He “speaks” to them. But this speaking is not so much an audible hearing but an internal knowing—a good and timely thought accompanied by a holy burden and a desire to do something specific for the glory of God. It’s the Spirit saying to you, “This is the way, walk in it” (Isaiah 30: 21).
  • Because of the boundless reach, wisdom, and power of the Holy Spirit, He is able to create kingdom connections between you and others in what seem to be the most normal, coincidental happenings of life.
  • Our prayers are not bound by our limitations because the Spirit has no limits, and He is living within us.

CHAPTER 26: PRAYING OFFENSIVELY

  • Sure, there are times when we need to play defense. But not all the time. We need a game plan for offense as well—asking God to open doors for the gospel, to send forth laborers into the harvest field, to pour out His Holy Spirit in revival, to fill us with His love and the knowledge of His will, to use our spiritual gifts in His service, and to raise up a generation who will honor His name. Spiritual warfare is about standing our ground against the enemy and taking new ground for the kingdom.
  • Think of your marriage, family, or city, and consider your answers these questions generate … What is the most loving thing I can ask for right now? What could I pray for that would be overwhelmingly good? What could greatly advance God’s kingdom in my situation? What could I pray for that would be really glorifying to God?

CHAPTER 27: PRAYING PREEMPTIVELY

  • Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation (Matthew 26: 41). If you were the leader of a country and discovered you would soon be attacked by a brutal, invading army, what would you do? If no terms of peace were possible, you would do everything plausible to quickly prepare for war. Evaluating resources. Developing strategies. Stationing troops. This is also what we must do in prayer. We must first fight our battles on our knees before the battle rages in the natural realm.
  • His signature schemes include the following: Distraction. Misdirection is Warfare 101. David wrote, “I am restless in my complaint and am surely distracted, because of the voice of the enemy” (Psalms 55: 2–3). Satan will constantly try to get you off track. To focus on even good things which are not God’s best things.
  • Deception. Jesus said whenever Satan speaks a lie (which is all the time), “he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8: 44).
  • He will lie to you about God’s goodness, the Bible’s trustworthiness, who you really are, and what is morally right and wrong.
  • Derision. When he’s not lying, he’s usually running you down or running down someone else in your mind. Bringing up things from your past. Falsely presuming someone else’s guilt.
  • Division. One hallmark of the gospel is the loving unity it brings to people of all nations, all backgrounds, all ages, and demographics. All in Christ. One in Christ. But Satan knows “if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand” (Mark 3: 25).
  • Nonetheless, the question is not whether he’s coming out to engage you in battle. Seen or unseen. The question is whether you’re going to prepare in prayer first or wait until the devil has you in a headlock before you call on the One who has already defeated him. By preemptively preparing, we will ensure that we do a lot more winning than losing.

CHAPTER 28: PRAYING DEFENSIVELY

  • In like manner, Christians are equipped with everything needed for life and godliness (2 Peter 1: 3), but many are not ready when the enemy attacks. So they continually live in defeat in one or more areas of their lives.
  • God’s Word says spiritual war is taking place around you. So you must take up “the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6: 16–18).
  • Every time Jesus was tempted by the devil (Luke 4: 1–13), He raised His shield of faith and strategically cut down Satan with the sword of the Spirit by quoting the Word of God (Ephesians 6: 17). God has given us a fully loaded cache of powerful ammunition in Scripture, ready to fire at the enemy. You just need to learn verses that deal with your issues
    1. RESIST Satan in Jesus’ name. 2. ESCAPE with Scripture. 3. SEARCH for unconfessed sin. 4. PLEAD the blood of Jesus. 5. OVERTAKE ground given to Satan. 6. NAME someone in targeted prayer. 7. DELIGHT in the Lord If you will learn this and do this, the devil will tempt you less and less when he realizes his attacks only remind you more to call on Jesus, quote Scripture, repent, pray, and praise.

CHAPTER 29: PRAYING EXTRAORDINARILY

  • Prayer strategies go to the next level when situations reach a point of desperation. Like when a mother is rushed to the hospital with a premature delivery. Like when the foreclosure notice is said to be on its way over.
  • “Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to law; and if I perish, I perish” (Esther 4: 16).
  • That’s the kind of prayer model the Bible guides us to follow.
  • Jesus, at the outset of His earthly ministry, prepared Himself for the challenges ahead by committing to forty days of fasting (Matthew 4: 2). We don’t say no to ourselves or our appetites easily. But by denying the daily demands of our flesh in order to focus all of our attention on God, we can go more deeply and intently into focused prayer in times of difficulty, strain, and emergency.
  • Fasting together means we’re united in appealing to Him and hearing from Him.
  • Nehemiah’s Words: “I sat down,” “wept and mourned,” “I was fasting and praying,” “I beseech You, O Lord [Yahweh],” “God [Elohim] of heaven,” “great and awesome,” “who preserves covenant, lovingkindness,” “praying day and night,” “on behalf of the sons of Israel,” “we have sinned,” “I and my father’s house have sinned”, “remember the word,” “Your great power and strong hand,” “I beseech you,” “prayer of Your servant,” make your servant successful,” “grant him compassion.”
  • How Nehemiah Prayed: with humility, with brokenness, with fasting, using God’s name, using another of God’s names, praising God’s character, praising God’s attributes, with fervency and persistence, with intercession, confessing sin, interceding, with personal repentance, praying God’s Word, with praise and faith, supplication, individual praying, praying specifically, and with faith and expectation

CHAPTER 30: PRAYING FOR THE LOST

  • This leads us to the next part of our prayer strategy: readiness. We can’t clam up and allow embarrassment or the fear of rejection to stop us from sharing the most important message in the universe. Putting our insecurities above another’s need for hearing the truth is like saying, “My comfort level is more important to me than your salvation.”
  • Jesus Himself said the reason He came to earth was to seek and save the lost (Luke 19: 10). And as part of His body on the earth today, we need to view this same priority as a crucial part of our purpose as well. Not that we should deny our God-given responsibilities to become full-time evangelists, but in everything we do, in every situation, we need to be ready to share the love of Christ with a lost, dying world.
  • So how do we pray for the lost? We pray for God to begin working in their hearts to prepare them to receive the truth. We pray against the enemy, that he would be prevented from blinding their eyes and hearts. We pray for opportunities and boldness, both for ourselves and others, to share the gospel with them in power and love. We pray for conviction of sin to agitate their hearts, bringing about true repentance and a desire for Christ’s cleansing.
  • And we pray for God’s blessing, guidance, protection, and presence to be on all those who obey Him and seek Him.

CHAPTER 31: PRAYING FOR BELIEVERS

  • Encouraging other believers. Thanking God for them. Exhorting them. Worshiping with them. Bringing their concerns before the Lord, both physical and spiritual. Asking them to do the same for us.
  • Consider a strategy that actually works for all kinds of different settings and different people: using the Lord’s Prayer as an outline. Instead of praying it for yourself, pray it for your fellow believers.
  • Think of what all we’re missing by not taking advantage of this readily available opportunity to bless and be blessed. What a simple investment with such incredible dividends.
  • Economists, playing off a recent anniversary of the 1980s arcade game Pac-Man, compared the different results a person could have seen, depending on whether they’d placed a quarter into the game slot or into a savings fund. Turns out that when people were investing twenty-five cents into a few minute’s entertainment in 1980, the cost wasn’t only twenty-five cents. The same monetary value, if placed into a brokerage account on one of the higher stocks in the S&P 500, would currently be worth more than $1,800. If those same people, in pursuit of a high score, had dropped as much as $100 into the machine over the course of the summer, their $100 waste of time could now potentially be worth nearly three-quarters of a million dollars. How much of our time has been eaten up by little more than our own gripes, our own problems, and our own tirades, when it could’ve been invested instead in praying for others, with no loss to how God helped us deal with our own life and its issues? What kind of opportunity cost are we actually clamping on to the body of Christ by not giving ourselves more fully, even minimally, to the common cause? “Pray for one another” (James 5: 16). It will pay high, eternal dividends.

CHAPTER 32: PRAYING FOR FAMILY

  • But we will praise God more and recognize His handiwork when we pray specifically.
  • Pray, then, that your spouse would above all be devoted to Christ in loving gratitude, surrendered to following His Word and His lordship. Pray also that each of his or her relationships would be marked by love and unselfishness, especially those that perhaps are the most noticeably strained and contentious right now. Pray for peace. Pray for healing and restoration wherever brokenness exists. Perhaps next in line, since their discernment of God’s will is foundational to living out their purpose, pray that God would keep them vividly aware of His desires, knowing how to handle each day’s decisions. Pray that His Spirit would keep you actively and accurately attuned to their needs so that He can employ you as a helpful voice of clarity and insight in all their decision-making.
  • Your role as a mom or dad is to stand in the gap, attentively listening to them, knowing the true condition of their hearts. Praying with them, with your arm around them, as well as when they’re not physically present with you. Be diligent in interceding to the Father for their protection, their character, their friendships, their ability to stand up to temptation. They may not yet realize just how seriously the warfare is being waged against them, how many layers of spiritual opposition are working to claim their eye and interest (Ephesians 6: 12).

CHAPTER 33: PRAYING FOR AUTHORITIES

  • This chapter is intended to help you cover this entire circuit, praying all the way around the whole authority structure, up and down the chain of command. Praying for leaders as well as followers. And all for the glory of God.
  • And by praying for those in authority, we are working in the best interest of everyone. Authority basically orbits around four centers of activity: family, church, government, and employment.
  • God still uses imperfect authorities to carry out His perfect purposes (John 19: 11; Acts 4: 24–28). The Lord, of course, is able to turn the heart of a ruler (Proverbs 21: 1), and our impassioned prayers and petitions are part of how He does it. Pray also for your boss and management at work. Like all those in authority, they are charged with these four overarching responsibilities, among other things: (1) providing direction, instruction, and an example to follow; (2) protecting with boundaries and rules; (3) praising those who do right; and (4) punishing those who do wrong. Let these areas of influence guide your praying. You might even add a fifth—pointing others to Christ—because any leader in any job, in dedicating his or her position to God, can be used as a force of spiritual change, both in the lives of individuals as well as the culture at large.

CHAPTER 34: PRAYING FOR LABORERS IN THE HARVEST

  • If you want a better pastor, start praying boldly and faithfully for the one you already have. And rally your church to do the same.
  • Pray for God’s protection around your pastor’s heart, his marriage, and his home. Pray that he would freely, confidently, unapologetically fulfill his ministry. That he would fear God more than men. That the Spirit would cause many to be drawn to the gospel and grow rapidly into Christlikeness through his efforts.
  • By most ways of accounting, the world is comprised of 11,500 different people groups. (People groups are those with a common self-identity, based largely on language and ethnicity.) Current data suggests that in more than half of these groups (around 6,800), their populations are less than 2 percent Christian. And half of those (roughly 3,200) do not contain any Christians at all and are not being engaged in any way by the gospel. No Bible. No churches. No missionaries. No spiritual light.

CHAPTER 35: PRAYING FOR CHURCHES AND REVIVAL

  • We’re tired of caving to the general sense of helplessness about the state of our country and the other nations of the world. The apathy, the fear, the inevitability that no one can really do anything about it. We’re tired of disinterested churches making little to no mark for Christ on their communities and neighborhoods, much less their cities and the ends of the earth. We’re tired of believers tolerating their own sins, consumed by their own selfish pursuits, content with lifeless religion while millions of people are dying without Jesus. There’s no reason why we can’t see God’s Spirit poured out in abundance on us, like He’s done in days past—reviving families, and restoring broken lives. Seeing salvation breaking out en masse, drawing more people to Christ every day.
  • The secret is united, repentant, humble prayer. Persistent prayer. Extraordinary prayer. Fervent prayer … believing that what God wants is always better and more important than what we want. What God wants are people devoted to Him. People in love with Him. People whose hearts are ready to be used for reaping the harvest. People whose lives are surrendered to His Word. People who are primed to receive the blessings only He can provide.
  • Evan Roberts, the leading face of the Welsh Revival in the early 1900s, boiled down his message and his heart’s desire to a few succinct points: (1) confess all known sin, receiving forgiveness through Christ; (2) remove anything in your life that you are in doubt or feel unsure about; (3) be ready to obey the Holy Spirit instantly; and (4) publicly confess the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, pray and obey. “Bend me” was the frequent prayer that still echoes through the written recollections from those days. And in response to that prayer, God’s power came down and set thousands afire with fervent love for Him. “Bend me”—help me to submit, to want Your will first, to follow Your Word without question, to put myself last. To finally die to the vanity of me.

Appendix:

God responds to the surrendered, repentant, expectant hearts of His people, and He blesses and moves even more when we’re working together.

SPIRITUAL TEMPERATURE TEST: Indicators of a Cold or Lukewarm Christian

  1. When your spiritual life is joyless and apathetic.
  2. When you do not love and follow God now as you once did.
  3. When you have at least one unconfessed sin that you refuse to repent of.
  4. When there is at least one person who has wronged you that you refuse to forgive.
  5. When the words of your mouth are displeasing to God and dishonorable to others.
  6. When you are not seeing answered prayer or God’s power in your life.
  7. When you have time for entertainment, but not for Bible study and prayer.
  8. When you let pride, worry, or fear stop you from obeying what God has told you to do.
  9. When your family sees you behave one way at church and another way at home.
  10. When you enjoy viewing things you know are unholy and displeasing to God.
  11. When you know people who have things against you, but you make no effort to reconcile with them.
  12. When your worship is casual and singing is halfhearted.
  13. When your giving is reluctant and calculated, rather than extravagant and sacrificial.
  14. When you have to be begged to serve in the church.
  15. When you are unresponsive to the neighbors, associates, and friends around you who will likely die without Christ, and you make little effort to share your faith with them.
  16. When you are blind to your spiritual condition and don’t really think you need to repent or change anything. (Revelations 3: 15–19)

PRAYER STRATEGY VERSES:

  1. Praying for Your Wife
  2. Praying for Your Husband
  3. Praying for Your Children
  4. Praying for Your Pastor or Minister at Your Church
  5. Praying for Governmental Authorities over You
  6. Praying for Those Who Don’t Know Christ
  7. Praying for Other Believers
  8. Praying for Laborers in the Harvest
  9. Praying for Your City

PRAYING FOR YOUR WIFE (OR YOURSELF)

  1. That she would love the Lord with all her heart, mind, soul, and strength. (Matt. 22:36–40)
  2. Find her beauty and identity in Christ and reflect His character. (Prov. 31:30; 1 Pet. 3:1–3)
  3. Love the Word of God and allow it to bloom her into Christlikeness. (Eph. 5:26)
  4. Be gracious, speaking the truth in love and avoiding gossip. (Eph. 4:15, 29; 1 Tim. 3:11)
  5. Respect you and submit to your leadership as unto the Lord. (Eph. 5:22–24; 1 Cor. 14:45)
  6. Be grateful and find her contentment in Christ, not in circumstances. (Phil. 4:10–13)
  7. Be hospitable and diligently serve others with Christlike joy. (Phil. 2:3–4)
  8. Bring her family good and not evil all the days of her life. (Prov. 31:12; 1 Cor. 7:34)
  9. Invite godly, older women to mentor her and help her grow. (Titus 2:3–4)
  10. Not believe lies that would devalue her roles as a wife and mother. (Titus 2:5)
  11. Be loving, patient, hard to offend, and quick to forgive. (Eph. 4:32; James 1:19)
  12. Have her sexual needs met only by her husband, and to meet his. (1 Cor. 7:1–5)
  13. Be devoted to prayer and effectively intercede for others. (Luke 2:37; Col. 4:2)
  14. Guide her home and children in a diligent, Christlike way. (Prov. 31:27)
  15. Provide no reason for her character to be slandered or to lose confidence. (1 Tim. 5:14)

PRAYING FOR YOUR HUSBAND (OR YOURSELF)

  1. That he would love the Lord with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength. (Matt. 22:36–40)
  2. Walk in integrity, keep his promises, and fulfill his commitments. (Pss. 15; 112:1–9)
  3. Love you unconditionally and stay faithful to you. (1 Cor. 7:1–5; Eph. 5:25–33)
  4. Be patient, kind, hard to offend, and quick to forgive. (Eph. 4:32; James 1:19)
  5. Not get distracted or cower into passivity, but embrace responsibility. (Neh. 6:1–14)
  6. Become a hard worker who faithfully provides for your family and children. (Prov. 6:6–11; 1 Tim. 5:8)
  7. Be surrounded with wise friends and avoid foolish friends. (Prov. 13:20; 1 Cor. 15:33)
  8. Use good judgment, pursue justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. (Mic. 6:8)
  9. Depend upon God’s wisdom and strength rather than his own. (Prov. 3:5–6; James 1:5; Phil. 2:13)
  10. Make choices based upon the fear of God, not the fear of man. (Ps. 34; Prov. 9:10; 29:25)
  11. Become a strong spiritual leader with courage, wisdom, and conviction. (Josh. 1:1–10; 24:15)
  12. Break free from any bondage, bad habit, or addiction that is holding him back. (John 8:31, 36; Rom. 6:1–19)
  13. Find his identity and satisfaction in God rather than temporary things. (Ps. 37:4; 1 John 2:15–17)
  14. Read the Word of God and allow it to guide his decisions. (Ps. 119:105; Matt. 7:24-27)
  15. Be found faithful to God and leave a strong legacy for future generations. (John 17:4; 2 Tim. 4:6-8)

PRAYING FOR YOUR CHILDREN

  1. That they would love the Lord with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength, and their neighbors as themselves. (Matt. 22:36–40)
  2. Come to know Christ as Lord early in life. (2 Tim. 3:15)
  3. Develop a hatred for evil, pride, hypocrisy, and sin. (Pss. 97:10; 38:18; Prov. 8:13)
  4. Be protected from evil in each area of their lives: spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically. (John 10:10; 17:15; Rom. 12:9)
  5. Be caught when they are guilty and receive the chastening of the Lord. (Ps. 119:71; Heb. 12:5–6)
  6. Receive wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and discretion from the Lord. (Dan. 1:17, 20; Prov. 1:4; James 1:5)
  7. Respect and submit to those in authority. (Rom. 13:1; Eph. 6:1–3; Heb. 13:17)
  8. Be surrounded by the right kinds of friends and avoid wrong friends. (Prov. 1:10–16; 13:20)
  9. Find a godly mate and raise godly children who will live for Christ. (Deut. 6; 2 Cor. 6:14–17)
  10. Walk in sexual and moral purity throughout their lives. (1 Cor. 6:18–20)
  11. Keep a clear conscience that remains tender before the Lord. (Acts 24:16; 1 Tim. 1:19; 4:1–2; Titus 1:15–16)
  12. Not fear any evil but walk in the fear of the Lord. (Deut. 10:12; Ps. 23:4)
  13. Be a blessing to your family, the church, and the cause of Christ in the world. (Matt. 28:18–20; Eph. 1:3; 4:29)
  14. Be filled with the knowledge of God’s will and fruitful in every good work. (Eph. 1:16–19; Phil. 1:11; Col. 1:9)
  15. Overflow with love, discern what is best, and be blameless until the day of Christ. (Phil. 1:9–10)

PRAYING FOR YOUR PASTOR OR MINISTER AT YOUR CHURCH

  1. That he would love the Lord with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength. (Matt. 22:36–40)
  2. Experience the filling and anointing of the Holy Spirit. (John 15:4–10; 1 John 2:20, 27)
  3. Honor Christ in his heart, words, and actions. (Ps. 19:14; 1 Cor. 11:1; 1 Tim. 1:17; Heb. 5:4)
  4. Be a loving, faithful, Christlike husband to his wife. (Eph. 5:25; Col. 3:19; 1 Pet. 3:7)
  5. Lead family and the church with wisdom, courage, and sensitivity that only the Holy Spirit can provide. (Mal. 4:6; Eph. 6:4; Col. 3:21; 1 Tim. 5:8)
  6. Abide in Christ and be devoted to prayer, relying on God. (Acts 1:14; Rom. 12:12; Col. 4:2)
  7. Rightly divide the Word of truth and communicate the gospel with clarity. (1 Cor. 4:2; Eph. 6:17; 1 Thess. 2:13; 2 Tim. 2:15; 4:2)
  8. Have a heart for the lost and be an effective and fruitful soul winner. (Mark 16:15; Luke 10:2; 1 Pet. 3:15)
  9. Keep his priorities in line with the will of God. (Prov. 2:5–6; Phil. 2:14–15; Col. 1:10–12)
  10. Walk in purity and be protected from the deceptive schemes of Satan. (Eph. 4:27; 2 Thess. 3:3; 1 Tim. 3:7; James 4:7; 1 Pet. 5:8)
  11. Create an atmosphere of unity and shared vision for the will of God within your church. (John 17:21; 1 Cor. 1:10; Eph. 4:3)
  12. Continue to discover new depths of understanding as a student of the Word. (2 Tim. 2:15)
  13. Experience good health, rest, and refreshment from the Lord. (Exod. 33:14; Ps. 116:7; Matt. 11:28; Heb. 4:13a; 3 John 2)
  14. Emulate the grace, strength, and compassion of the Good Shepherd toward all those he leads. (Lam. 3:32; Mark 6:34)
  15. Exhibit love, comfort, and encouragement as he performs weddings, funerals, and counseling. (2 Cor. 1:3-4; 1 Thess. 5:14)

PRAYING FOR GOVERNMENTAL AUTHORITIES

  1. That they would be blessed, protected, and prosperous in their role. (3 John 2)
  2. Submit to the authority and ways of God and His Word daily. (1 Pet. 2:13–17)
  3. Come to the knowledge of Christ and surrender to His lordship. (1 Tim. 2:4)
  4. Lead with honor, respect, wisdom, compassion, and godliness. (1 Tim. 2:2)
  5. Use good judgment, pursue justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. (Mic. 6:8)
  6. Walk in integrity, keep their promises, and fulfill their commitments. (Ps. 15; 112:1–9)
  7. Not get distracted or cower into passivity, but embrace responsibility. (Neh. 6:1–14)
  8. Watch over, protect, lead, and serve those in their care. (Heb. 13:17)
  9. Respect all people without regard to their gender, race, religion, or social status. (1 Pet. 2:17)
  10. Hate evil, pride, injustice, and turn away from Satan’s lies and schemes. (1 Pet. 5:8)
  11. Establish rules and laws that honor God’s law and strengthen families and cities. (Deut. 10:13)
  12. Reward those who do right and punish those who do wrong. (Rom. 13:1–5; 1 Pet. 2:14)
  13. Refuse to take a bribe or allow favoritism in judgment. (Ps. 15)
  14. Become hard workers who faithfully fulfill their duties (Prov. 6:6-11; Luke 12: 42-44)
  15. Make choices based upon the fear of God, not the fear of man (Ps. 34; Prov. 9:10; 29:25)
  16. Be a godly example in their roles and responsibilities. (Josh 24:15)

PRAYING FOR THOSE WHO DON’T KNOW CHRIST

  1. That God would connect them to genuine believers and the simplicity of the gospel. (Rom. 1:16; 1 Tim. 2:5–6)
  2. Disconnect them from influences that are pulling them away from Christ. (John 7:47–52)
  3. Expose the lies they’ve believed that have kept them from Christ. (2 Cor. 4:4)
  4. Show mercy, bind Satan, and turn them from darkness to light so they may receive forgiveness of sins. (Luke 19:10; Acts 26:18)
  5. Enlighten them to everything God extends toward those who believe. (Eph. 1:17–19)
  6. Convict them of sin, God’s coming judgment, and their need for a Savior. (John 3:18; 16:8–9; 1 Cor. 1:18; Eph. 2:1)
  7. Grant them a repentant heart that turns fully to Christ. (2 Tim. 2:25–26; 2 Pet. 3:9)
  8. Save them, change their hearts, and fill them with God’s Spirit. (Ezek. 36:26; John 3:16; Eph. 5:18)
  9. Help them be baptized and get plugged into a Bible-teaching church. (Matt. 28:18–20)
  10. Grant them grace to repent of daily sins and walk in holiness. (2 Cor. 6:17; Eph. 5:15–18)
  11. Grow them in Christ by helping them obey the Word of God as a disciple. (John 8:31–32)
  12. Help them live with Christ as their hope and true source of peace and happiness. (John 4:10-14)
  13. Deliver them from evil, the devil’s traps and schemes, and any strongholds. (2 Cor. 10:4-5)
  14. Help them abide in Christ and live according to His will. (John 15:1-17)
  15. Find them faithful when they stand before God. (Matt. 25:21; 1 Tim. 1:12; 2 Tim. 4:7)

PRAYING FOR OTHER BELIEVERS (OR YOURSELF)

  1. That they would fully surrender their lives to the lordship of Jesus Christ. (Rom. 10:9–10; 12:1–2)
  2. Be baptized and stay in fellowship, service, worship, and growth at a Bible-teaching church. (Matt. 22:36–40; 28:18–20; Acts 2:38)
  3. Learn to abide in Christ, be filled with His Spirit, and live according to His will. (John 15:1–17)
  4. Grow in Christ and obey the Word of God as a disciple. (John 8:31–32)
  5. Love the Lord with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength. (Matt. 22:36–40; Luke 6:46–49)
  6. Walk in love, kindness, and favor with the lost and believers around them. (Col. 4:5–6)
  7. Find their identity and satisfaction in Christ rather than anything else. (Ps. 37:4; Eph. 1:3–14; 1 John 2:15–17)
  8. Know the hope, riches, and power of their inheritance in Christ. (Eph. 1:18–19)
  9. Be devoted to prayer in secret and corporately in the church. (Matthew 6:6; 18:19–20; Col. 4:3)
  10. Repent of daily sins and walk in holiness before God. (2 Cor. 6:17; Eph. 5:15–18)
  11. Break free from any bondage, stronghold, or addiction in their lives. (John 8:31, 36; Rom. 6:1–19, 2 Cor. 10:4–5)
  12. Walk in integrity, keep their promises, and fulfill their commitments. (Ps. 15; 112:1-9)
  13. Live with Christ as their hope and source of peace and happiness. (John 4:10-14)
  14. Share the gospel and faithfully make disciples of others in their lives. (Matt. 28:18-20)
  15. Be found faithful when they stand before God. (Matt. 25:21; 1 Tim. 1:12; 2 Tim. 4:7)

PRAYING FOR LABORERS IN THE HARVEST

  1. That God would open the eyes of believers and give them hearts of love and compassion for the lost. (Matt. 9:27–28; John 4:35; Rom. 5:5; 10:1)
  2. Call out a new generation into ministry and service of God’s kingdom. (Matt. 9:38)
  3. Give them faith, courage, and initiative to obey God’s call. (Mark 13:10–11)
  4. Provide prayer, encouragement, and resources to undergird their work spiritually and financially. (Isa. 56:7; Phil. 4:18–19)
  5. Help them serve in the power of God’s Spirit and not in the flesh. (John 15:4–10; Gal. 5:16–25; 1 John 2:20, 27)
  6. Help them represent Christ well in their words and actions. (Ps. 19:14; 1 Cor. 11:1; 1 Tim. 1:17)
  7. Make them diligent, effective, and fruitful laborers. (Prov. 6:6–11; Mark 16:15; 1 Pet. 3:15)
  8. Undergird them with the ongoing support and accountability to keep them effective. (2 Cor. 8:1–7; Heb. 3:13)
  9. Lead them to abide in Christ and be devoted to prayer, relying on God. (Acts 1:14; Rom. 12:12; Col. 4:2)
  10. Grant them good health, rest, and refreshment from the Lord. (Exod. 33:14; Matt. 11:28; 3 John 2)
  11. Bless them with strong marriages and families amid the hard work of ministry. (Eph. 5:22–6:4; 1 Tim. 3:4–5)
  12. Empower them to effectively evangelize and make disciples of Christ. (Matt 28:18-20)
  13. Help them start churches and establish good leadership in each one. (Titus 1:5)
  14. Use them as a catalyst of unity and revival wherever they go and serve. (2 Chron. 7:14; Ps. 133)
  15. Help them be found faithful when they stand before God. (Matt. 25:21; 1 Tim. 1:12; 2 Tim. 4:7)

PRAYING FOR YOUR CITY

  1. That God would bless your city and make it a safe and prosperous place for families to freely live, grow, worship, and serve Him with their lives. (Psalm 122:6–9, 3 John 2)
  2. Raise up strong pastors and healthy churches throughout the city to be a light and a spiritual force for good. (Matt. 5:16; Acts 16:4–5)
  3. Open the eyes of believers with hearts of love and compassion for the lost. (Matt. 9:27–28; John 4:35; Rom. 5:5; 10:1)
  4. Unite local pastors in prayer for one another and for revival and restoration in their city. (Col. 4:3; 2 Tim. 1:8)
  5. Unite churches in prayer, the preaching of the Word, and in serving the needs of their city. (2 Tim. 4:1–3; Titus 3:14)
  6. Give our leaders guidance and understanding, and help them fear God rather than man. (Deut. 10:12; James 1:5)
  7. Replace poor, corrupt government leaders with strong, godly leaders who will honor God and serve the people wisely, justly, and unselfishly. (Ps. 101:7–8, Micah 6:8)
  8. Shut down the corrupt businesses and organizations that are destroying the community with sinful products or practices. (Ps. 55:9–11)
  9. Bring in strong, healthy businesses that will benefit families and the city. (Prov. 28:12)
  10. Rebuke satanic influences and control over the city, and overcome any strongholds of the enemy with the gospel, prayer, and the blood of Jesus. (Eph. 6:12–20, Rev. 12:11)
  11. Replace corrupt laws and standards with just and godly ones. (Deut. 16:19-20)
  12. Strengthen the marriage, parenting, and families in the city. (Ps. 112:1-9; 128; Eph. 5:22-6:4)
  13. Strengthen the law enforcement to protect the people and eliminate crime. (Rom. 13:1-5)
  14. Pour out His Spirit and bring revival to the church and spiritual awakening to the city. (2 Chron. 7:14)

SPIRITUAL AMMO:

Verses to use when wrestling with: Anger - Rom. 12:19–21; 1 Cor. 13:4–5; Eph. 4:26–27; James 1:19–20 Bitterness/Unforgiveness - Matt. 6:14–15; 18:21–22; Mark 11:25; Eph. 4:32; Heb. 12:14–15 Depression - 1 Kings 19; Pss. 30:5; 42; 103; 143:7–8; Phil. 4:4–7; 1 Thess. 5:16–18 Doubting Salvation - John 1:12; 3:16; Rom. 10:9–10, 13; Eph. 2:8–9, 1 John 2:20–25; 5:13 Fear - Pss. 23:4; 27:1; 34:4; 91:1–2; Prov. 1:33; 3:21–26; Matt. 10:28; 2 Tim. 1:7 Feeling Unloved - John 3:16; 15:9, 12–13; Rom. 5:8; Eph. 3:17–19; 1 John 3:1; 4:9–11 Greed - Ps. 37:4; Prov. 25:16; 28:22; 1 Tim. 6:6–10 Guilt/Condemnation - Ps. 32; Rom. 8:1–2; 1 John 1:9 Hopelessness - Ps. 31:24; Eccles. 9:4; Matt. 12:21; 1 Cor. 9:10; 13:7, 13; Eph. 1:12, 18; 2:12–13 Lack of Faith - Ps. 34:8; Prov. 3:5–6; Jer. 33:3; Matt. 17:19–20; 19:26, Heb. 11:1, 6; James 5:16 Low Confidence - Deut. 31:6; Josh. 1:9; 1 Chron. 19:13; Ps. 27:1–4, 14; Phil. 4:13 Lust - Job 31:1; Prov. 6:25; Matt. 5:28; Gal. 5:16; Phil. 4:8; 2 Tim. 2:22; James 1:14 Pride - Ps. 10:4; Prov. 6:16-17; 8:13; 16:18; Rom. 12:3; James 4:6-10; 1 John 2:16 Self-Rejection - Gen. 1:26-28; Ps. 139:1-14; Eph. 1:1-6; 1 John 2:20-25; 5:13 Weakness - Psalm 6:2; 79:8; Matt. 8:17; 26:41; Rom. 8:26 Worry - Matt. 6:25-28; Mark 4:19; 13:11; Luke 12:11; Phil. 4:6-7, 13, 19

OLD TESTAMENT HEBREW NAMES FOR GOD Old Testament Hebrew Names for God: Elohim (the strong Creator God)—Gen. 1:1–2 El Elyon (God most high)—Gen. 14:18; Ps. 78:56; Dan. 3:26 Adonai Jehovah (Lord God)—Deut. 3:24 El Shaddai (God Almighty)—Gen. 17:1; Ezek. 10:5 El Roi (God who sees)—Gen. 16:13 El Bethel (God of the house of God)—Gen. 35:7 El Kanna (jealous God)—Exod. 20:5 Jehovah (the relational God)—Gen. 2:4 Jehovah-Eli (the Lord my God)—Ps. 18:2 Jehovah-Elohim (Lord God)—Gen. 3:9–13, 23 Jehovah-Jireh (the Lord will provide)—Gen. 22:8–14 Jehovah-Nissi (the Lord our banner)—Exod. 17:8–15 Jehovah-M’kaddesh (the Lord our sanctifier)—Exod. 31:13; Lev. 20:7–8; Deut. 14:2 Jehovah-Shalom (the Lord our peace)—Judg. 6:24 Jehovah-Sabaoth (the Lord of hosts)—1 Sam. 1:3, 11 Jehovah-Elyon (the Lord most high)—Ps. 7:17 Jehovah-Raah (the Lord my shepherd)—Ps. 23:1 Jehovah-Rapha (the Lord our healer)—Exod. 15:23-26 Jehovah-Shammah (the Lord is present)—Ezek. 48:35 Jehovah-Tsidkenu (the Lord our righteousness)—Jer. 23:5-6

OTHER NAMES FOR GOD Consuming fire—Heb. 12:29 Eternal God—Gen. 21:33; Isa. 40:28 Father—Matt. 5:16; Col. 1:2 God of all comfort—2 Cor. 1:3 God of glory—Ps. 29:3 Holy Father—John 17:11 I Am Who I Am—Exod. 3:14 Judge of all the earth—Gen. 18:25 King of heaven—Dan. 4:37 Lord God Almighty—Rev. 4:8; 16:7; 21:22 Strength of my heart—Ps. 73:26

NAMES FOR JESUS Almighty—Rev. 1:8 Alpha and Omega—Rev. 1:8; 22:13 Anointed of God—Ps 2:2; Luke 4:18; Acts 10.38 Author and Finisher of our faith—Heb. 12:2 Beloved—Matt. 12:18; Eph. 1:6 Bread of life—John 6:32, 35, 48, 51 Bridegroom—Matt. 9:15; John 3:29; Rev. 21:2 Christ—Luke 9:20 Comforter—John 14:16 Counselor—Isa. 9:6 Creator—Isa. 43:15; John 1:3; Col. 1:16 Deliverer—Rom. 11:26 Emmanuel—Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23 Faithful and True—Rev. 19:11 Friend of sinners—Matt. 11:19 God—John 1:1; Rom. 9:5; 1 John 5:20 God of hope—Rom. 15:13 Good Shepherd—John 10:11, 14 Head of the church—Eph. 1:22; 5:23; Col. 1:18 Healer—Matt. 4:23; 8:16–17 High Priest—Heb. 4:14–15; 6:20; 7:26; 8:1 Hope—Acts 28:20; 1 Tim. 1:1 Judge—2 Tim. 4:1, 8; James 5:9 King of kings—1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 17:14; 19:16 Lamb of God—John 1:29; Isa. 53:7; Rev. 7:9 Light of the world—John 8:12; 9:5 Lord of the harvest—Matt. 9:37–38 Lord of lords—1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 17:14; 19:16 Lord of peace—2 Thess. 3:16 Master—Luke 5:5; 17:13; Eph. 6:9 Mediator—1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 8:6; 1 John 2:1 Messiah—John 1:41; 4:25-26 Mighty God—Isa. 9:6 Peace—Eph. 2:14 Prince of Peace—Isa. 9:6 Propitiation for our sins—1 John 2:2; 4:10 Resurrection and Life—John 11:25 Righteousness—Jer. 23:6; 1 Cor. 1:30; Phil. 3:9 Rock—1 Cor. 10:4 Physician—Matt. 9:12 Redeemer—Job 19:25; Ps. 130:8; Isa. 59:20 Salvation—Luke 2:30 Sanctification—1 Cor. 1:30; Heb. 13:12 Savior—Luke 2:11; Phil. 3:20; 2 Tim. 1:10 Savior of the world—John 4:42; 1 John 4:14 Shepherd—Heb. 13:20; 1 Pet. 2:25; 5:4 Son of God—Matt. 14:33; Luke 1:35; John 1:34 Son of Man—Matt. 8:20; Luke 18:8; John 1:51 Teacher—John 1:14; 14:6 Truth—John 1:14; 14:6 Victor—John 16:33; Rev. 3:21; 17:14 Wisdom of God—1 Cor. 1:24 Wonderful—Isa. 9:6 Word of God—Rev. 19:13

NAMES FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT Breath of the Almighty—Job 32:8 Counselor—John 14:16, 26 Spirit of Christ—1 Pet. 1:11 Spirit of counsel and strength—Isa. 11:2 Spirit of faith—2 Cor. 4:13 Spirit of fire—Isa. 4:4 Spirit of glory—1 Pet. 4:14 Spirit of grace and supplication—Zech. 12:10 Spirit of His Son—Gal. 4:6 Spirit of holiness—Rom. 1:4 Spirit of Jesus Christ—Phil. 1:19 Spirit of judgment—Isa. 4:4 Spirit of justice—Isa. 28:6 Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord—Isa. 11:2 Spirit of life—Rom. 8:2 Spirit of our God—1 Cor. 6:11 Spirit of sonship (adoption)—Rom. 8:15 Spirit of the living God—2 Cor. 3:3 Spirit of the Lord—Isa. 63:14; Luke 4:18 Spirit of truth—John 14:17; 1 John 4:6 Spirit of wisdom and revelation—Eph. 1:17 Spirit of wisdom and understanding—Isa. 11:2 Voice of the Almighty—Ezek. 1:24 Voice of the Lord—Isa. 30:31; Hag. 1:12

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Chapter 1. Which persons of prayer from the Bible or Christian history inspired you the most from this chapter on the Legacy of Prayer? Why? Chapter 2. Have you believed in spiritual warfare in the past? How have you fought battles in the past? Where have you seen prayer work effectively? Chapter 3. Why do you think churches struggle with prioritizing prayer? What would change at your church if your congregation truly became devoted to prayer? Chapter 4. What is the glory of God? How have you seen God glorified through answered prayer? What attributes of God has He revealed to you by how He’s responded to prayer? Chapter 5. How have you seen prayer help someone to know, love, and worship God? To better understand and conform to His will and ways? To access and advance His kingdom, power, and glory? Chapter 6. What is adoration? What is confession? What is thanksgiving? What is supplication? Which type of praying do you tend to do most? Least? How do they work together? Chapter 7. Describe a time when you saw a prayer answered immediately. How about years later? How does the parenting of children help you in understanding how God answers prayer? Chapter 8. What is your default prayer time and place? What are the top three things that tend to crowd out your prayer time? Chapter 9. Which prompt of spontaneous prayer would likely remind you to pray the most in the days ahead? What are some other prompts that were not listed that you have used? Chapter 10. What postures of prayer have you felt the most comfortable with in the past? Is there a biblical posture or type of praying that you have never really tried? Consider trying it this week. Chapter 11. Did you identify any locks of prayer in your own life? If so, what steps are you taking to eliminate them from your life? Chapter 12. Which keys of prayer encourage you the most or help you see what prayer can become in your life? What does it mean to abide in Christ? What are the different aspects of an abiding relationship with Jesus? Chapter 13. How is Jesus Christ and His death on the cross a key to answered prayer? What did the “Seven Indicators of True Salvation” mean to you (page 87)? How did it affect your thinking about your relationship with God? Chapter 14. What are some of the biggest problems with pride? What does the Bible say we should do to help us repent of pride? Chapter 15. How does bitterness hinder our churches and our prayer lives? How is love the “perfect bond of unity” (Col. 3:14)? What does it mean to pray in agreement? Chapter 16. What does Hebrews 11:6 teach us about faith? What are some of the lies people believe that cause them not to pray in faith? What attributes of God help us to trust Him by faith when we pray? Chapter 17. When you are praying with others, are you ever tempted to pray in such a way as to impress them? Why or why not? Why can it be hard to pray in secret? What are the benefits to praying in secret? Chapter 18. How do parents respond differently to the requests of an obedient child versus a rebellious child? How might some use prayer as a cover for disobedience? Share with each other something God has been prompting you to do that you may need some encouragement in doing. Chapter 19. How do prayers that are not immediately answered actually test and build our faith? Share a story of how God answered prayer after a period of waiting. Why is waiting on the Lord actually healthy for us and honoring of Him? Chapter 20. What are some Bible verses that are most meaningful to you? How could you use them more effectively in your praying? How would your Bible reading and Bible study be enhanced by allowing God’s Word to prompt you into prayer? Chapter 21. Why do you think God’s will has often seemed difficult to discern? What does our struggle to follow His known will for our lives indicate about the condition of our hearts? How have you experienced His peace when seeking His will? Chapter 22. Discuss the balance between praying sinfully or selfishly and praying freely for good things that your heart desires? Share a story of when God answered a prayer that went beyond a basic need and just demonstrated His loving-kindness? Chapter 23. Why is God’s name very important to Him? What does a name represent? Turn to pages 244–249 and discuss which names mean the most to you personally. Chapter 24. What is wisdom and how does it help us? Share a time when God clearly gave unexpected wisdom to handle a situation. How often do you pray for wisdom? How might wisdom guide your praying strategically? Chapter 25. Who does the Holy Spirit dwell within? What does the Holy Spirit do in the lives of believers? How can the Holy Spirit benefit our prayer lives? Chapter 26. Have you ever had someone overwhelm you by lovingly praying for you? What did they pray? How does praying offensively help us avoid evil in the future? What is your favorite offensive prayer passage shared in this chapter? Chapter 27. What is preemptive prayer? What are Satan’s primary tactics to destroy God’s children? What does God’s Word say we should do when the enemy attacks? Contrast Peter’s lack of preemptive prayer with Nehemiah’s faithfulness in it. Chapter 28. Why is it important to have a ready response plan to the devil’s attacks? Can you remember and repeat back the entire R.E.S.P.O.N.D. acronym from memory? Which of the seven parts of the plan meant the most to you and why? Chapter 29. What are the aspects of extraordinary prayer? Discuss as a group some biblical or personal examples of how united, fervent extraordinary prayer has worked powerfully. How is Nehemiah’s prayer an example of extraordinary prayer (pages 185–186). Chapter 30. Who prayed for you in the past that helped draw you into a relationship with Christ? Is it biblical to pray for lost people? Who’s someone you know that needs God, someone you want to start praying for? Close your time together today in prayer for those people. Chapter 31. Why is it important to pray for other believers? Why do we tend to pray for physical needs over spiritual needs? What are some of the things the apostle Paul prayed for other believers? (See Ephesians 1, Philippians 1, Colossians 1) Close in prayer for one another. Chapter 32. Can you share any stories of answered prayer in your family? Who in your family has prayed for you in the past? Who are you praying for now? What are the top three things you would love for God to do in your family right now? Consider praying together for these things. Chapter 33. Why is it important to pray for our authorities and those under our authority (1 Tim. 2:1-7) How might the world be different if believers over the past thirty years had faithfully prayed for their authorities? Chapter 34. What ministers have greatly blessed your life in the past? Who did God use to bring you to Christ? How might praying for pastors, ministers, and missionaries affect the church in a positive way? How might it instill in the next generation the importance of serving God in ministry? Chapter 35. What is revival? What different things have led to revival in the past? What do you think hinders the church from praying more for revival now? Read the “Rhythms of Payer” guide together on page 224-225 and discuss ideas that might help lead your group or church to become a people of prayer for all nations. What is God saying to you personally about prayer? What is He leading you to do? What in this study has meant the most to you? Close by praying for revival together, using the written prayer on page 222 as a springboard.