God has meticulously placed you and your church right where He wants you! The more mature we become in Christ, the fewer choices we make on our own by allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us. "For as many as are led by the Spirit, they are the sons/daughters of God." One true indicator of the mature child of God is that the Lord is making the choices in our lives and our will becomes increasingly submitted to His perfect will.
The reason God has planted us in our local community, our church, and our work place, is that through prayer we might transform our neighborhoods, our local church, and our work place. Our communities suffer when God's people become reluctant to accept their responsibility to pray for their neighborhoods and work places. Remember, the church is not the building---it's the people, you and me. As we go to and from our neighborhoods, our church, and our work place we are the carriers of spiritual authority and power.
By divine design we have been given a sphere of influence that starts at your door of your home, opens out into the community and leads to the work place. That is where our ministry begins. The moment you step out of your home, verbally take authority over every demonic power and bind them in Jesus' name---"you shall not have this neighborhood by the blood of Jesus Christ."
You and I can release a flood of prayer out over our communities as we develop a lifestyle of praying for those in our sphere of influence. Make of list those in your sphere of influence that you already know and add to that list the names of those whom you soon discover to be in your sphere. Call out their names frequently to the Lord. They may not walk into your church tomorrow but they will come under the influence of your flood of prayer and their hearts will begin to change. Your community and work place will be changed.
We personally experienced this when our daughter and her family moved into a new home a few months ago. Their neighbors somehow picked up that they were strong Christians and immediately the resistance set in. It was not a pleasant experience. As I thought about this matter, I began to pray for those neighbors by name. Within weeks we all witnessed a change and now it is not uncommon for the same neighbor to bring freshly-baked cookies over to our grandchildren.
Inundate your sphere of influence with prayer, the mayor, city council, aldermen, and county officials. Release spiritual authority over your city NOW!
Thomas Suey
International Prayer Coordinator
World Network of Prayer
MINISTRY
MINISTRY: Terry and Cheryl Riddick (Cameroon/Africa Impact Team), Monte and Dianne Showalter (International Evangelism), Steve Willoughby (Singapore), Stanley Scism (South Asia/United Kingdom), David and Donna Flowers (Philippine Islands), Jeff and Ivana Norris (Brazil), Stephen and Lynette O'Donnell (Hong Kong/China)
A.I.M. - Associates in Missions: Wayne and Elaine Goodare - New Zealand (PAC), Dennis and Claudette Graham - Japan (ASI)
FULL-TIME EVANGELIST: John G. Laun - Loveland, OH, David T. Lee - Parker, CO, Kevin L. Lee - Natchitoches, LA
BIBLE SCHOOLS: Apostolic Bible Institute, Indiana Bible College
WNOP'S PERSONAL REQUESTS
To minister to the needs of others through prayer, click here to pray over WNOP's personal prayer list.
STATE FOCUS - Florida
The state focus this week is Florida. Please pray for Governor Charlie Crist and SenatorsBill Nelson and George LeMieux. Please pray for all district officials, home missionaries and pastors.
WORLD NEEDS
Food crisis grows in West Africa: These are desperate times for millions across West Africa's Sahel region who are facing a growing hunger crisis. And desperate times require desperate measures, evidenced by reports that people are resorting to eating unripe wild fruits and even plant roots earlier than normal to survive. Some ten million people in Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali and northern Nigeria are facing shortages due to a combination of circumstances.
Poor rains have knocked harvests for six and shriveled up pasture vital for those whose livelihoods rely on livestock. Pest infestations have made matters worse, food prices have rocketed and all have coincided at a time known as the hunger gap when families traditionally face shortages anyway in between harvests.
Successive years of drought have left so many vulnerable. In some areas the lack of food has driven people to eat wild fruits that are not even ripe. The most vulnerable people - widows, the elderly and children - have seen their health get worse.
This affected region of West Africa, called the Sahel, has known food crises before, notably in 2005. But this one is looking far worse.
1. Please pray for God's protection and provision for families facing hunger and that his church will be moved to new heights of compassionate response, both in prayer and giving.
2. Pray for good rains at the right time of the growing cycle for crops, and for the restoration of grazing land for livestock, so this situation is not made worse by future crop failures.
3. Pray for wise decision making by the governments of the affected countries as they help their populations.
4. Pray for donor governments to continue and increase their financial support to this crisis.
THE CHECK
"We carry checks on the bank of heaven and never cash them at the window of prayer." - Vance Havner
If I wrote a check to you for $1 million, and Bill Gates wrote a check to you for $1 million, would they be worth the same? Do you think Bill's check would be worth more than mine? It's true that Bill's account is much larger than mine, but actually, Bill's check would be worth the same as the check that I wrote out to you -- Why? -- because it's only worth the paper it's written on and the ink used to write it out.The true value of Bill's check is only realized when you take it to the bank and cash it. more
PRAYER QUOTE
The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men...Men of prayer." - E. M. Bounds
FIND US ON FACEBOOK
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