NIGHTWATCH FOR EUROPE week beginning Sunday November 4th 2007
‘Could you not watch with me for one hour?’ (Mtt26: 40)
WELCOME TO THE NIGHT WATCH FOR EUROPE
Today I have been taking part in a meeting of the trustees of InterPrayer, and I realise that we have never prayed for this grouping of intercession leaders as a watch, even although we are indebted to them for their hard work and friendship as intercessors in Europe and across the world. So this week we will give time to pray for them, as well as praying for the watch as we prepare to enter our final year, and praying again for Brussels and our brothers and sisters in Belgrade.
Any of you who live within reach of the Alsace region might be interested to know that the whole Nightwatch team will be in Guebwiler for the weekend of November 9 -11th, a weekend that coincides with the one remaining year of this watch. Details from david@leighweb.com
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 one more year, 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 4th NOVEMBER 2007
1. WE BEGIN BY RESISTING THE DEVIL (10 minutes)
Resist the devil away from your spirit, soul and body. Resist him away from your room, home, street, village, town, city and region. Resist him away from the expressions of church of which you are a part. Resist him away from your nation and the whole continent of Europe. Resist him away from your mind and the mindsets of Christians everywhere.
Then use the Lord’s own words from Mtt4:10 “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go, Satan! For it is written you shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
Remember what happened next: “Then the devil left him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to him.” (Mtt4:11) Let’s welcome angels into the watch again tonight.
2. PRAY FOR INTERPRAYER AND ITS PARTNERS AROUND EUROPE (10 minutes)
Interprayer exists to join together and resource leaders of strategic prayer across the world who sense a particular calling to relationship together with others of a similar heart and calling. There are partners in Finland, Switzerland, Italy, the UK and other European nations who connect with leaders in Egypt, Brazil, Uganda, the USA and many other nations. Together they make up an extraordinary band of strategic co-workers. Pray for their relationships, future plans and combined work for the kingdom of God. You can get more details from www.InterPrayer.com
3. WE ARE ABOUT TO ENTER THE FINAL YEAR OF THIS PRAYER WATCH. PLEASE PRAY FOR DIRECTION FOR US AS A TEAM (10 minutes)
Part of the purpose of the watch has been to cover the continent with prayer as a huge transition takes place. Instead of a church that often justified and maintained society we are moving to a church that confronts and challenges it with love.
Pray over Nebuchadnezzar’s vision once more:
"You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendour, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them.” (Dan 2:3-41)
It seems that we are alive at a time when God desires to fulfil this vision of Daniel’s. Pray for prayer strategies that will bring it to pass.
4. PRAY FOR NEW LEVELS OF STRENGTH FOR THE WATCHERS, AND FOR REINFORCEMENTS TO HELP US THROUGH THIS FINAL YEAR. (10 minutes)
Pray for inspiration and ideas for new people that you could invite to join is in the watch for this year, and pray the same for each Nightwatcher across Europe.
Hugh Davies of the European Union of Prayer has been very encouraging to us all. He is a creative thinker that heartily supports this watch. Recently he wrote the following:
“Just a thought:
I find your challenge for an hour of prayer a valid emphasis , but some may have different prayer patterns The prayer subjects you present are always good, whether for 1 hour or 10 minutes You may have already dealt with this issue but let me toss this in. I’d hate to discourage short prayer persons from these important prayer issues. Here is a suggested statement:
‘If you can not join with us for the one hour and you want spend some time in the subjects suggested please do so and share these concerns with other prayer advocates.’”
Consider ways that you can encourage friends who might be what Hugh calls ‘short prayer persons’ (!) to get involved in this final year. Pray for opportunities to explain about the watch to them.
5. PLEASE PRAY OVER THE EVENT FOR BRUSSELS HAPPENING ON SUNDAY NOVEMBER 4TH (10 minutes)
Ignace Demaerel wrote to us several weeks ago and we prayed for this meeting. He wrote as follows:
“Maybe you know, maybe you know not, but there have been some e-mails going around about prayer and intercession concerning the EU and Brussels as capital of the EU. Since Brussels is the European capital, it needs European prayer. A brother and prayer leader from Greece, George Markakis, launched the idea in June, and we had some contact about it with several European prayer leaders. We want to have a first meeting about this on November 4th.”
Please pray again for this meeting, either while it is happening on Nov 4th or afterwards, praying for God-given payer strategies to take the work of God forward in Brussels.
6. CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR THE CHURCH IN SERBIA (10 minutes)
We continue to get very personal requests for prayer from Serbia. These are sometimes too personal to publish, but they indicate something of the demonic pressure that some of our brothers and sisters live with every day. Let’s follow the direction of the Holy Spirit and pray for them.
The following are some of the general issues that our brothers and sisters in Belgrade are facing and ask our prayers for:
“TO BE RELEASED FROM DEPENDING OF OTHER PEOPLE’S OPINIONS AND PROVINCIAL WAYS OF THINKING, STOP FALLING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF OTHERS … MAKE DISTANCE FROM PEOPLE WHO ENJOY IN GOSSIPING ABOUT OTHERS, CRITICISM, SELFISHNESS, DESTRUCTIVE AND UNRREASONABLE RELATIONSHIPS, ACCUSATIONS, OCCULT THINGS.”
Thank you as ever for your fellowship in the this work, With love, Roger and Team
