NIGHTWATCH FOR EUROPE week beginning Sunday August 10th 2008
‘Could you not watch with me for one hour?’ (Mtt26: 40)
WELCOME TO THE NIGHT WATCH FOR EUROPE
This week completes the Watch material from Isaiah 55 that has been prepared for us by Andy Knox from Manchester. As we have said, his work reflects the impact of current theological shifts on intercession, both in terms of our position in the world and the content of our prayer. We will begin by praying and reflecting over some of the feedback from the last two weeks of our prayer into Andy’s material, and then give the rest of the time to the final instalment.
For those of you who are still planning to join the Nightwatch transition event in Majorca, September 26th-28th 2008, PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FINAL DATE FOR THE AGREED PRICES FOR THE HOTEL IS THIS COMING SATURDAY AUGUST 9TH. It is still possible to register after that date, but it is likely that the price will rise slightly. Full details of the event are found at the end of this week’s guidelines.
If you know of anyone who would also like to receive this night watch prayer bulletin each week, they can subscribe by going to www.passion.org.uk/announcemail and submitting their details on the web form. Alternatively they can email us at admin@passion.org.uk
IF YOU ARE A REGULAR YOU CAN SKIP THE NEXT 2 PARAGRAPHS
If you are receiving this material unexpectedly it is because someone has suggested that you may be interested to join in. If you do not want to keep receiving it please inform us immediately and we will stop sending it to you. We want to let those of you who are newcomers know that we are very pleased to have your partnership in this watch. We are simply asking for a commitment of an hour a week some time between 9pm and 6am whatever time zone you are in.
We will send you a brief outline for prayer each week according to the prophetic direction coming from the contemporary prophetic movement in Europe. You will not always agree with everything in the watch material. Go with what you can and trust the Lord to help you with the rest. This Nightwatch began in November 2003 and we are looking to carry on until the transition event of September 26th-28th 2008 in Majorca. After this we expect to move to a different form of intercessory support.
THE CONTENT OF THE WATCH FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING SUNDAY AUGUST 10th 2008
ISAIAH 55
1. Feedback (12 minutes)
a) From England
“I have been really encouraged by the Nightwatch (on Isaiah 55), and am trying to work things to get to Mallorca. We have spent the New Year holidays there for the last couple of years, and have felt it a key place in most every way.” (2 mins)
b) From France
“Concerning the word ‘seminal’ which has been used twice in the Nightwatch to describe the passage from Isaiah 55, I finally found the time to look it up on the internet to find out the meaning! It says that the meaning is ‘seed for later development.’ Don't you think that it would be a good idea to use a word that everyone knows or develop the thought behind the word for greater clarity? The idea of ‘seeding and development’ is there and is important for the coming season. We are sowing into the land, and what we sow we should sooner or later develop.”
(5 mins)
c) From Scotland
“Theology is a major battleground for intercessors and watchmen to take more seriously. Clerical thinking and training are the main obstacles to linking the congregational leader with the intercessor (prophetic) and marketplace (apostolic) and networker (facilitator/helps). There is a clerical, twisted view of church and mission that excludes the marketplace and the prophet. God's thoughts are not 'other' than ours in the sense that he thinks about special things we could never think about… It’s only the Lord who can change a city and its thousands of people groups - and through a Body of people who each learn the difference between, ‘you are the Christ’ ... and ‘never Lord.’ … Only heaven's revelation and call and enabling will get the job done … His perspective and worldview are totally different to ours. His way of thinking about things is different to our western, capitalist, Greek/platonic-shaped mindsets.” (5 mins)
2. “Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you will call a nation you do not know, and a nation which knows you not will run to you, because of the Lord your God, even the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified you." (Is 55: 4-5) (12 minutes)
• Thank the Father for Jesus! His life, death and resurrection were all a sign and witness that the ways of God are totally other to the ways of man! He has made a spectacle of the principalities and powers on the cross, and is vindicated by his resurrection. He is the Christ! He is worthy, worthy, worthy! He has opened up the way. He is the new and living way. He is the first fruit of the New Creation, and we can follow his lead. (6 mins)
• He has come to reconcile ALL things to himself! Thank God that Jesus' death means so much more than just personal salvation! He has come to redeem entire nations and people groups and has called us to partner with Him in that process!! Thank Jesus that he is the hope of the nations and the entire creation. (6 mins)
3. “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and he will have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Is 55: 6-7) (12 minutes)
• Thank the Holy Spirit that he is doing a new thing! (4 mins)
• Thank him that the Holy Spirit has been poured out on all flesh and the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. (4 mins)
• Thank the Lord that evangelism is so much more than getting people safely into heaven. We are saved out of a whole pattern of life and way of thinking into the way of Jesus. This is not so that we can escape this earth, but so that we can live, breathe, speak and work and in doing so prophesy that there is hope, not only now but also in the fullness of time that he is the Resurrection and the Life and in him all things hold together and are made new! Ask the Lord to release the spirit of evangelism on the body of Christ in Europe – not to pack our churches full of people, but to bring life to the nations that will one day be fully redeemed! (4 mins)
4. "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will my word be which goes forth from my mouth; it will not return to me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” (Is 55:10-11) (12 minutes)
• Thank the Lord for his living word! This double-edged sword that brings life and cuts right to the heart! (4 mins)
• Thank the Holy Spirit for the spirit of prophecy that is the testimony of Jesus. (4 mins)
• Thank the Lord that even when we misunderstand his word, he is still able to accomplish what he meant through the prayers of the saints. (4 mins)
5. "For you will go out with joy and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up, and instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up, and it will be a memorial to the Lord, for an everlasting sign which will not be cut off." (Is 55:12-13) (12 minutes)
• Thank the Father for the goodness of his creation. (4 mins)
• Call to the very land of Europe to partner in this day with the people of God for the sake and purposes of God! (4 mins)
• Thank the Holy Spirit for such wonderful partnership in this day. The whole of creation is truly longing and groaning and waiting for the revelation of the sons and daughters of God. Ask the Lord of the harvest therefore to send workers in to the field. We pray 'Let Your Kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!' His Kingdom gives bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty, life to the dying, shelter to the homeless, family to the orphan and widow, hope to the despairing, economic justice to the poor, grace to the criminal, comfort to the grieving, peace to the war-torn, love to the loveless. This is what we live for, and this is what we are calling for! (4 mins)
