NIGHTWATCH FOR EUROPE: week beginning Sunday 27th May 2007
‘Could you not watch with me for one hour?’ (Mtt26: 40)
WELCOME TO THE NIGHT WATCH FOR EUROPE
This Sunday 27th May is the Global Day of Prayer. A year ago millions of Christians from 199 of the 220 nations of the world united in prayer. This year even more nations have indicated their involvement. As we said this time last year, this is the week to pray strategic intercessory prayers as the angelic realm will be than usually poised for action. Sacrificial prayer is a political power far greater than law, war or money! This week can change the world. So this week we will consider and pray over key scripture teaching that underlines this and explains how to go about it.
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 for another year and five months, while realising that some can’t commit right now for as long as that, we are pleased for you to enlist for as long as you can. If you have to miss an occasional watch it’s OK as the rest of us will carry it. A six-month commitment is probably a good start.
THE CONTENT OF THE WATCH FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING SUNDAY 27th May 2007
1. TAKE 15 MINUTES TO PRAY FOR THE GLOBAL DAY OF PRAYER THIS SUNDAY (May 27th)
Pray for humble prayers that connect with the heart of God, for strategic prayers that displace the devil, and for disciplined prayers that persevere until the burden is discharged.
As their website describes:
“At a meeting of the International Prayer Council in Malaysia in November 2004, the invitation from Africa went out to the nations of the world to join in a five year Global Day of Prayer process up to 2010. On Pentecost Sunday, 15 May 2005, Christians from 156 of the 220 nations of the world united across denominational and cultural borders for the first Global Day of Prayer. In the months following this day, Christians were overwhelmed by the testimonies of God's powerful work in answer to these prayers. This move of prayer again miraculously expanded in 2006, when on Pentecost Sunday (4 June 2006) millions of Christians from 199 of the 220 nations of the world united in prayer. But, this is just the beginning of a process to saturate all the nations of the globe in prayer: ‘For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea’ (Hab.2:14). May every Pentecost until 2010 see a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit!”
Pray for the fulfilment of the vision.
2. TAKE 45 MINUTES TO PRAY INTO THE FOLLOWING SCRIPTURES ON PRAYER:
i) The power of agreement (15 minutes)
“Jesus said …
‘Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by my Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in my name, I am there in their midst.’
Then Peter said to him, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’
Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.’” (Mat 18:18-22)
Note that what we successfully bind on earth will be those things already bound in heaven by the impact of Jesus’ outpoured life on the cross. Consider whether our prayers will connect with this power if we are not laying our lives down into the world’s need by prayer and practical action in the world. Pray for prayers that connect with the cross.
Note the power of agreement in prayer. Consider the hidden power of agreement that exists in this weekly Nightwatch. Consider the power of agreement when believers from more than 200 nations pray together in unity!
Consider the link between prayers of agreement and unforgiveness. How much does unforgiveness constitute disagreement and hinder prayer? Pray for a great desire to forgive one another to overtake this watch, and the Global Day of Prayer.
ii) A big reason for failing to receive answers (15 minutes)
“What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (Jam 4:1-4)
Note that a major reason for unanswered prayer is that we don’t ask for the right things. This is not about a religious retreat from the world, but about giving up the motives that are destroying the world that Christ loves and died for. Notice that these motives are rooted in the lust for, and envy of, possessions and experiences that we think will please us. This is why there are divisions and arguments in the church and why we aren’t asking for justice and blessing for the world, including our enemies.
Note that a further reason for unanswered prayer is that we ask for the wrong things. Success for ourselves, our loved ones and our churches more than blessing for the city and the society that God has called us to lay our lives down for like he did.
iii) The power of persevering prayer (15 minutes)
“Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit. My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” (Jam 5:16-20)
Notice what Elijah accomplished – a change in the climate of a whole nation. It was conditional on his position in Christ. He was human like us, and he fell at times into depression and despair. But he trusted the Lord through it all. We are looking to change the climate of a continent, and to turn back a family of sinful nations. We can expect to save the souls of Europe and its multitude of sins.
This is big praying admittedly. But beginning with our family, our street, our city, we can do this!
