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A New Day!

7 Comments / News & Reflections, Prayer / Tom Stuart

The first of this month, April 2014, I began a new chapter in my life and ministry. In God’s providence, through a series of divinely orchestrated events, I have been invited to become the executive director of the Twin Cities House of Prayer (TC-HOP).

Those of you who are regular readers of this blog have undoubtedly picked up on the fact that prayer has been the preeminent burden and focus of my heart over the past year from my many posts on that topic.

My personal prayer, breathed by the Holy Spirit has been “Lord, make me a house of prayer for all nations.” Over the course of time, as with any God inspired prayer, He has been answering. As a result there had been a growing passion within me that cries for the “kingdom of this world to become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.” (Revelation 11:15)

Starting with me, where spiritual journeys of transformation always begin, my scope of prayer has expanded in concentric waves outward to include my home, my church and the church at large. All of these constitute His “house,” His dwelling place. It is the same house to which Jesus issued His mandate that first Palm Sunday after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem when He declared “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations!”

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The Why and How of Prayer Mandates

Prayer, Relationship with God / Tom Stuart

“As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you.” 1 Samuel 12:23 (NIV)

The prophet Samuel, in his farewell address and final warnings to Israel, reminds them of his faithfulness to fulfill God’s mandate upon his life to pray for them. My use of the word mandate to describe his prayer commitment is intentional because it refers to a royal command or authorization to act in a particular way. In this instance, Samuel’s prayer mandate from the Lord is so serious that he would consider it a sin if he did not do it.

A prayer mandate is a sacred trust in which God conscripts His prayer watchmen and warriors to intercede on behalf of particular groups of people for the fulfillment of His purposes in their lives.

Prayer mandates are common throughout the Bible. They reveal God’s heart and intentions for His creation. They are invitations to enter into the implementation of God’s sovereign plans in the earth. Prayer mandates gripped the lives of Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel and Esther, just to mention a few of the Old Testament saints.

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul repeatedly makes reference to his unceasing, night and day prayer for the churches that he established. (Colossians 1:9, 1 Thessalonians 3:10, 2 Timothy 1:3 etc.) At one point in reference to this mandate he confesses “I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.” (2 Corinthians 11:28 NIV)

It is not unusual to receive from God multiple prayer mandates. Paul reveals that he also had a mandate from God to pray for Israel’s salvation. “Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.” (Romans 10:1 NIV)

One of the best examples of a prayer mandate in action is the prayer that Jesus prays in John 17. In His prayer He clearly delineates His mandate when He says He is praying to the Father for a very specific group of people: “for all those you have given me” (vs. 2, 6) and for “those who will believe in me through their message.” (vs. 20) “I pray for them. I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me, for they are yours.” (John 17:9)

What group(s) of people has God given you responsibility to pray for? Do you have one or more prayer mandates that God has given you as a sacred trust of intercession for His purposes to be fulfilled?

Prayer mandates provide a rhythm to our life of prayer by assigning us a priority to praying regularly for particular groups of people. They give us specific focus and direction for prayer that when revisited again and again add a depth of increasing revelation, wisdom and authority.

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4 Things Every Watchman Must Do

9 Comments / Overcoming, Prayer / Tom Stuart

The ministry of a watchman is a form of prayer that is focused on praying for God’s purposes and protection over a specific people, geographical area and/or nation. It requires dedication, focus, consistency and perseverance. The watchman’s passion is to discern the will of God and pray it into existence. Simply put, the watchman is called to watch and pray. (See the blog post The Watchman Calling.)

While everyone is commanded in the Scriptures to be sober, vigilant and watchful for the purpose of prayer not everyone has a specific calling and gifting to be a watchman.

Those with a watchman calling could be likened to the person standing next to a wall who is gifted with sufficient stature to simply look over the wall for prolonged views of the other side. For those without such stature extra effort is required, with a leap or a ladder for even a limited view.

However, regardless of anyone’s calling, it is beneficial for all of us, watchmen and non-watchmen alike, to consider how to grow and function more effectively in the watching and praying ministry.

Here then, from a Biblical overview, are the four essential functions of the prayer ministry of the watchman. An effective watchman is engaged in . . .

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The Watchman Calling

2 Comments / Prayer / Tom Stuart

“Could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:40-41 ESV

Watching and praying or what the Bible refers to as being a spiritual “watchman” may be the most critically important aspect of prayer that there is. The very nature of being a watchman requires staying awake, alert and vigilant to perceive what is happening. It also demands taking the appropriate steps of obedience of faith to either stop it, avoid it, or prepare to endure it. Jesus’ challenge to His disciples in the garden of Gethsemane to “watch and pray” illustrates this truth like none other. His agony expressed in prayer was directly linked to His watching to see what His Father was showing Him and His obedient response. Tragically, His disciples were sleeping instead of watching and praying. As a result they found themselves unprepared for what was about to unfold. Unfortunately, it is an all too familiar portrait of the condition of most churches today with regard to watchful prayer.

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Could it have been avoided?

Overcoming, Prayer / Tom Stuart

The senseless mass murder at the Naval Ship Yard in our nation’s capital this week raises many questions. Not the least of which “could it have been avoided?” Many things, as with past massacres such as the Newtown School shootings less than a year ago, are under consideration that shoulda woulda coulda been done to prevent such tragedies. But I have not heard, at least through secular media, even a hint or suggestion that it could have been avoided through prayer. To even suggest that prayer might have headed off such a tragedy doubtless jars the sensibilities of some, but let us stop for a moment and consider it as a possibility.

In the bible, both Old and New Testaments there are numerous accounts of earnest, concentrated prayer being made where tragedy was thereby averted Jerusalem’s last minute deliverance from its own imminent demise when surrounded by the Assyrians during the reign of King Hezekiah was a direct and miraculous answer to prayer. And the Apostle Peter’s eleventh hour escape from prison and certain death directly coincided with a prayer meeting that was focused on his behalf. (2 Kings 19 & Acts 12:5-16)

And even more noteworthy is the fact that throughout the Bible God actually encourages individuals to take up positions as watchmen in prayer specifically for the purpose of being a safeguard against evil. Many of the prophets, including Isaiah, Ezekiel, Micah and Habakkuk were specifically called by God as watchmen to intercede on behalf of God’s purposes in the nations. God told Isaiah “I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest, and give Him no rest till He establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.” (Isaiah 62:6-7 NIV)

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