God Is On The Move In South Africa!
The past few weeks have been, in the words of my new friends here in South Africa, hectic. We have been so busy getting ready for the new schools to start – organizing, planning, meeting to discuss roles, learning and growing in faith, and praying a LOT. This week, however, things have shifted a bit… God is doing something very new and exciting – we went on Every tour! Every is our whole base’s way of reaching out to the nation of South Africa, to gather together people from every province, every age group, basically everybody! Our whole base is going out in teams to visit every province and spend a week doing local outreach, meeting in living rooms, hospitals, schools, houses of prayer, and just about anywhere we are welcomed and invited, to share about the importance of intercessory prayer and evangelism. We have seen some amazing things on our journey!
Just a few testimonies from my team’s outreach so far… We saw a woman get deliverance and freedom in a mall parking lot, and then we got to share what God did in her life with the mall management and encouraged them in their faith. God gave us the opportunity to encourage the local body of believers in several towns to keep going after prayer and evangelism. And, we saw several people give their lives to the Lord, and commit to living out their faith through intercessory prayer and evangelism! We have been amazed as well by the way that God has been ministering to our hearts, and activating our faith for this beautiful nation.
On a more personal note, I was so encouraged in my faith when I heard from one local man that he was recently in the USA. For the very first time in ten years of visiting the US, he told me that he saw the American Church sharing their faith, giving out Bibles, and praying for people on the streets, and it inspired him to dream big for his own nation. This was just over a few short days. Can you imagine what God might do over the next year as teams are sent to activate the local church all over South Africa? Please pray for God’s power to manifest through our teams and the local church in South Africa through the work of prayer and evangelism.
“Teach Us How To Pray”
As we have been gathering and sharing about prayer and evangelism, I have been learning and growing in my faith a LOT! Earlier in the week, I took some time to pray and study the topic of prayer, and I started to receive some fresh revelation from God’s Word about prayer. Here are just a few highlights from what I shared:
The one thing out of all the various things that Jesus did, of which His closest disciples asked Him to teach on, was how to pray. We see this in Luke 11:1-4, where the disciples say to Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
Just as John taught his disciples… And who was this John the Baptist? In Jesus’ own words, John was the Elijah who was to come, and even more than a prophet, he was the one about whom it is written, “Behold, I will send My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way before You.” (Matthew 11:7-15)
John was called to prepare the way of the Lord, and He did this by preaching a baptism of repentance, inviting everyone who would listen to turn to God for salvation. Now, when Jesus’ disciples asked Him, Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples, we have context for what they are asking. In other words, the disciples said:
Lord, teach us how to pray, as the one who went ahead of You (to prepare the way for Your coming) taught his disciples.
Now, how do we pray as one who prepares the way for the Lord? Well, Jesus taught us to pray in this way:
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us, and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.” (Matthew 6:9-13)
Intercession can be defined in one way as “mediation,” and in another, it is simply “praying for others.” The most loving God did for us was to send a mediator, Jesus, who brought us into right relationship with the Father. The most loving thing you can do for another, is to step into that position of mediation, asking on their behalf for heaven to come into their life. Praying for others is one of the most powerful acts of loving obedience that we can take as Christians, to love one another as ourself.
This is the basic guide for intercessory prayer. First, thank God for who He is, and remind yourself who you are. When you say, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, you are identifying that God is your Father, and you are one of God’s children, who loves God and is called to love others, set apart from the world. Next, pray for God’s will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Coming into alignment with God’s heart and praying in agreement with the intercession of Jesus, this is what brings heaven to earth, preparing the way for Jesus return.
And when you pray, ask for what you need. Do not pray repeating yourself over and over, be specific. God knows what you need before you ask. Just ask for what you need in simple, straightforward terms, not broad or general terms. Jesus prayed, Give us our daily bread, and forgive us for our sins, as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us, and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil… You can adopt these verses of prayer as guidelines, and personalize them, making them specific to the things that you are interceding and praying for, and you will find that you are able to pray for all of the different needs that you have, as well as for God’s will to be done.
When you close your time of intercessory prayer, remember who God is by declaring it out loud; Your’s is the kingdom, and the glory, and the power, forever, amen. Let all that you pray be for God’s kingdom, His power, and His glory. If your prayer is not in worship to God, it is probably not in alignment with God’s will. This is why we start and end with remembering who God is, to keep our hearts in alignment with the heart of Jesus as we are interceding with Him. This is part of what it looks like for us to come into direct communion with God the Father, through Jesus Christ, our High Priest, as we step into our true identity as intercessors, calling heaven down to earth.
Would You Pray With Me?
As I was writing these things down and meditating on God’s Word, I felt like it might be good to share with you here. I hope that these words will encourage your faith as well, and inspire you to go deeper in your prayer life, bringing it back to the foundations that Jesus laid, so that together we can build something for God’s Kingdom that will last through eternity. God wants to teach us how to pray, and how to walk by faith and not by sight. I hope that in the meantime, you will pray with me:
“Jesus, please help me to learn more about prayer and intercession. I want to be a good and faithful servant of Your Kingdom, and I want to see Your Kingdom come to earth here and now! Please forgive me for the times when I was not praying for the things that are on Your heart, Father. Will You give me the heart of an intercessor, the heart of Jesus, to pray not only for my own needs, but for the needs of others, the needs that I am seeing in my community, and my own nation, as well as the needs of other nations, and the things that You desire to see being done, on earth as it is in heaven? God, thank you that you are my Father, and You love me. Help me to love You and to love my neighbor as I love myself, and teach me to be an intercessor for Your Kingdom. To You, O Lord, be the glory, in Jesus mighty name, AMEN.”
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If you would like to add me to your prayer list, please keep the following prayer points for reference:
- Pray for laborers to be sent out from YWAM Fire & Fragrance, Potch, South Africa to the nations, and specifically to South Sudan because that is where I feel most called to for the sake of the Gospel.
- Pray for many opportunities to share the Gospel of the Kingdom in my local community here in Potchefstroom, as well as in the greater North West Province of South Africa, we want to see many souls getting saved and people discipled in the Word of God here!
- Pray for people of peace, who will open the doors for the Gospel in our community, even in the darkest places, because that is where God’s light shines the brightest.
Thank you for praying with me today! Until next time, may your whole life be blessed, and may your heart be filled with the wonderful fruit of the Spirit, in Jesus name.
Amen!
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