The prayers of God's saints are the capital stock in heaven by which Christ carries on His great work upon the earth. Great throes and mighty convulsions in the world have come about as a result of these prayers. The earth is changed, revolutionized; angels move on more powerful, more rapid wings; and God's policy is shaped when the prayers of His people are more numerous and more efficient.
The most important lesson we can learn is how to pray. Indeed, we must pray so that our prayers take hold of God. the man who has done the most and the best praying is the most immortal because prayers do not die. Perhaps the lips that uttered them are closed in death, or the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God, and God's heart is set on them. Prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them—outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world.
Prayer is no fitful, short-lived thing. It is no voice crying unheard and unheeded in the silence. It is a voice that goes into God's ear; and it lives as long as God's ear is open to holy please, as long as God's heart is alive to holy things.
The mightiest successes that come to God's cause are created and carried on by prayer in God's day of power. When God's church comes into its mightiest inheritance of the mightiest faith and mightiest prayer, the angelic days of powerful activity occur. God's conquering days are when the saints have given themselves to mightiest prayer.
The life of the church is the highest life, and its office is to pray. Its prayer life is the highest life, the most fragrant, the most conspicuous. When God's house on the earth is a house of prayer, then God's house in heaven is busy and powerful in its plans and movements. "For mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people" (Is. 56:7), says our God. Then, His earthly armies are clothed with the triumphs and spoils of victory, and His enemies are defeated on every hand.
God shapes the world by prayer. The more praying there is in the world, the better the world will be and the mightier the forces against evil everywhere. Prayer, in one phase of its operation, is a disinfectant and a preventive. It purifies the air; it destroys the contagion of evil.
The very life and prosperity of God's cause—even its very existence—depend on prayer. And the advance and triumph of His cause depend on one thing: that we ask of Him.
Prayer puts God in full force in the world. To a prayerful man, God is present in realized force. The man who has prayed many acceptable prayers has done the truest and greatest service to the incoming generation. To a prayerful church, God is present in glorious power. The prayers of God's saints strengthen the unborn generation against the desolating waves of sin and evil. Woe to the generation of sons who find their own censers empty of the rich incense of prayer, whose fathers have been too busy or too unbelieving to pray, and who have inexpressible perils and untold consequences for their heritage! They whose fathers and mothers have left them a wealthy legacy of prayer are very fortunate indeed.
Prayer is God's settled and singular condition to move ahead His Son's kingdom. Therefore, the believer who is the most highly skilled in prayer will do the most for God. Men are to pray—to pray for the advance of God's cause. The one who can wield the power of prayer is the strong one, the holy one, in Christ's kingdom. He is one of God's heroes, God's saints, God's servants, God's agents. "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you". (Matt. 7:7). The strongest one in Christ's kingdom is he who can knock the best, and the secret of success in Christ's kingdom is the ability to pray.
—Taken from Praying with Purpose by E. M. Bounds.
Praying for the Nations in the 10/40 Window
This week we are focusing our prayers on the nation of Iraq.
Fast Facts
* Though free from the harsh dictatorship of its former president Saddam Hussein, Iraq's paramount challenges include the restoration of civil order, the introduction of a new political system, and reconstruction.
* While oil made this country rich, wars and sanctions have devastated Iraq's economy and society. Graciously, several Arab countries such as Kuwait and UAE are canceling or substantially reducing Iraq's debt to them.
* Satellite TV and media outlets have flourished since the downfall of Saddam.
Stats of the Nation
* Capital: Baghdad
* Population: 26,074,906
* Religion: Muslim 97%, Christian 1.5%, Other 1.1%
* Life Expectancy: 68 years
* Literacy Rate: Male 55%, Female 24%
Prayer Points
* Pray that Christians would take advantage of the "open" door of media to send the Gospel into Iraq.
* Pray that the fear which has gripped this nation for so long would be bound. Pray that the people would see their need for Jesus and experience true peace and freedom.
* Pray that other nations would continue to reach out and support the people of Iraq.
Government
* Chief of State: President Jalal Talabani
* Head of Government: Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari
* Type of Government: None; note—the Iraqi Transitional Government (ITG) was elected on January 30, 2005
* Kurdish leader Talabani is the first non-Arab to head an Arab state and has pledged to work with all ethnic and religious factions to rebuild Iraq.
* Prime Minister Jaafari, a former doctor, spent time living as an exile in Iran and Britain following the crushing of a Shia rebellion against Saddam Hussein in the 1970s.
Prayer Points
* Pray for the establishment of peace, good government, freedom, religious liberty, and democracy in Iraq.
* Pray that the government of Iraq would truly be a government for all Iraqis and that it would protect minorities including Iraqi Christians.
* Ask God to protect the allied troops who have come to protect the people of Iraq from the rebels and Islamic militants trying to disrupt the transitional government.
Prayed…
* We pray for our leaders in their dealings with Iraq
* We pray for religious freedom
* A voice of authority
* Open their eyes to see, their ears to hear
* Use all the ways, all the avenues and venues
* For the visitation of the Holy Spirit
* That every person would be reached with the Gospel
* Vindicate the righteous
* Evil strategies and conspiracies were brought to the light for the world to see
* Evil connections were stopped
* Internal strength for those moving to the right
* We plead the Blood over all the military troops stationed there
* Supernatural strength
* We pray for all the military leaders
* Give them the supernatural plans and strategies
* We pray for advancement for humanity, a better life, advancement of the Gospel
* Illumination and revelation
* We plead the Blood over Iraq
* Digging it up every work and plan
* Moving by the power of the Blood
* Change and revelation by the Blood
* We plead the Blood over all the nations in the 1040 window
* Governments open! Nations opened by the Blood!
* It's working and opening things up! Preparing and making a way!
* Time released calls and anointings
* Prayers that were prayed there are now being used
* I have set watchman on your walls
* They shall never hold their peace day or night
* You who make mention of the Lord
* Do not keep silent
* They shall never, never hold their peace day or night
* You who make mention of the Lord
* Do not keep silent and give Him no rest
* Until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth
* And give Him no rest till He establishes
* It is out with the old ways and into Yours
* Revealing those things
* A shaking
* A fresh turn, entering into for the church to know and see
* Shake it off! Church, be free of weights!
* It is time O Jerusalem to shine
* You are a praise in this earth
* For mysteries to be revealed
* Church be released from weights
* The men, mentors
* They're for this time
* I know it's turned but there's a furtherance, a revelation to come into the Body
* No deception, no deceiving ways in Jesus' name
* Pressing over into that way, declaring it will come to pass
* We are the people!
* Those territories, enter now!
* Thank you our prayer going beyond these walls and bring the change needed in the world