Thoughts for Life: #76 Asking God

C. Peter Wagner instructs us that "Some leaders who understand personal intercession feel they should not actively recruit I-2 intercessors, but should stop at the first part of the Jacobs Formula and simply ask God for them.

This is the policy of Pastor Paul Walker of Mount Paran Church of God in Atlanta.

As I mentioned in a previous chapter, he knows of 50 I-2 intercessors in his congregation who pray for him.

They are mostly mature women. Each one of them, so far as he can keep track, was directly and individually called of God to that important ministry.

Paul Walker told me personally that he used to have an I-1 intercessor, and would welcome another, but he feels that God should take the initiative and again is waiting on Him.

One of the most dramatic answers to prayer I have heard concerning I-1 intercessors occurred in Kenya. One of my students, Francis Kamau, who is an Assemblies of God pastor, said that he had three I-1 intercessors, but never had thought much about I-2s.

This was before he learned my terminology, but it fit exactly when he learned it.

One day all three I-1s came to Francis and said that God was telling them he needed some more prayer partners, and that God would give them to him.

The four of them convenanted to pray for I-2 intercessors for a week.

On Friday of that week, Pastor Kamau received no fewer than 22 telephone calls, all saying, 'Pastor, God has told me to pray for you!'

I joked and asked him if he would lease me some of those I-1 prayer partners!"

#76 Asking God, in the series taken

from C. Peter Wagner’s book, PRAYER

SHIELD, How to intercede for pastors,

Christian leaders and others on the

spiritual frontlines. (pgs. 147 -148)
by Regal Books

PRAYER SHIELD ChristianBooks - Scroll down to Wagner's book - offered for $9.69

Pray for your pastor: “Pray that your pastor will focus on the Word of God and walk in the fear of the Lord—rather than fear of man—as he prepares his messages. Pray that he will seek to please God rather than men, and pursue holiness rather than the praise of men.” (Act 6:4; Prov. 19:23; 2 Tim 2:15; Heb. 11:6; 2 Tim. 4:1-2) www.lifeaction.org

Let’s pray:

Father, it is our desire to pray for our leaders in our churches.

May we listen to Your call on our lives to pray for them, and to support them however You ask us to.

I want to be found faithful to this important task, so am asking that I make time in each day to pray for each of our leaders.

This is what I need to do, so ask this in the Name of Jesus, my Savior. Amen.

Christ Jesus Lay in Death's Strong Bands

By Martin Luther

Christ Jesus lay in death's strong bands

For our offenses given;

But now at God's right hand He stands

And brings us life from heaven.

Therefore let us joyful be

And sing to God right thankfully

Loud songs of alleluia!

Alleluia!

It was a strange and dreadful strife

When life and death contended;

The Victory remained with life,

The reign of death was ended.

Holy Scripture plainly says

That death is swallowed up by death,

Its sting is lost forever.

Alleluia!

Here the true Paschal Lamb we see,

Whom God so freely gave us;

He died on the accursed tree

So strong His love to save us.

See, His blood now marks our door;

Faith points to it; death passes over,

And Satan cannot harm us.

Alleluia!

So let us keep the festival

To which the Lord invites us;

Christ is Himself the joy of all,

How His grace to us imparts

Eternal sunshine to our hearts;

The night of sin is ended.

Alleluia!

Then let us feast this Easter Day

On Christ, the bread of heaven;

The Word of grace has purged away

The old and evil leaven.

Christ alone our souls will feed;

He is our meat and drink indeed;

Faith lives upon no other!

Alleluia!

Today’s Bible verse: Lam. 3:25 "Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.

Today’s quote: Michael Brooks – “ If you want to experience the decay and decomposition of your spiritual life, all you need to do is live for your flesh -- allow your worldly priorities to get out of order with God's. Is your spiritual life producing fruit or is it in the process of decay? What are your priorities? Are they God's or your own? What's important to you? Do your priorities
need to be reordered?” Michael Brooks writes for The New
The New Testament League

Some thoughts today: The increase of opportunities come as we do menial things, meeting the needs of people.

- We may not always see what God's doing, but maybe if we anoint our eyes to see, we'll begin to see the great things He is doing. (Joyce Meyer once said: "We don't see these things, because we're not looking for them!")

- Ask God to be your strength, as you take up the spiritual armor and do battle for the Kingdom.

19th- Saturday’s post: Man Rules Author unknown (How men think)

20th- Sunday's post: The Risk of Obeying God Dr. Charles Stanley

22nd- Tuesday's post: #77 Seeking and Knocking C. Peter Wagner

24th- Thursday's post: #78 Recruiting I-1 intercessors C. Peter Wagner

A popular post: The Day God Showed Up Sharon Jaynes shares with us, "Bob told me about a visit to Vietnam where he met with a leader of an underground Christian church. 'What everybody wants, is to see God move,' the pastor explained."