Leadership and Prayer

Prayer is the most vital part of leadership. It is not the only aspect, but it is the single most important tool that affects all other aspects of leadership. Dr. Earley asks:

• Do you believe God can do things bigger than you can?

• Do you believe God can do things faster than you can?

• Do you believe God can do things better than you can?

• Do you believe God can do things more long lasting than you can?[1]

 “Leadership is influence…Since leadership is the ability to move and influence people, the spiritual leader will be alert to discover the most effective way of doing this…Prayer influences men by influencing God to influence them.”[2] J. O. Sanders

S.D. Gordon says, “Prayer strikes the winning blow, and service is merely picking up the pieces.”[3] Andrew Murray says, “In spiritual work everything depends upon prayer.”[4]

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[1] Ibid.

[2] Sanders, J. Oswald. Spiritual Leadership. The Moody Bible Institute, (Chicago: 1994). 82-84.

[3] “Christian Prayer Quotes”, http://www.christian-prayer-quotes.christian-attorney.net/.

[4] Murray, Andrew. Prayer Life. Wilder Publications, (Radford, VA: 2008).

Five Grand Conditions of Prevailing Prayer

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George Muller has lots of lesson’s to teach on prayer. One extraordinary lesson is his five grand conditions of prevailing prayer:

1.                    Entire dependence upon the merits and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only ground of any claim for blessing (John 14:13-14; 15:16).

2.                    Separation from all known sin. If we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Lord will not hear us for it would be sanctioning sin (Psalm 66:18).

3.                    Faith in God’s Word of promise as confirmed by his oath. Not to believe him is to make him both a liar and a perjurer (Heb. 6:13-20; 11:6).

4.                    Asking in accordance with this will. Our motives must be godly: we must not seek any gift of God to consume it upon our own lusts (1 John 5:13-15; James 4:3).

5.                    Importunity in supplication. There must be waiting on God and waiting for God, as the husbandman has long patience to wait for the harvest (James 5:7; Luke 18:1-8).[1]

These five conditions were the foundation for Mueller’s believing prayer. He saw God work in mighty ways! Mueller has numerous stories of times when God answered very specific prayer. A favorite and well-known story is the time when there was no food for breakfast at one of the orphanages. There were about three hundred orphans at this time and there was no food available and no money to purchase any. The children lined up behind their chairs. Mueller gave thanks for what the Lord was going to provide. He did this in faith, as they had nothing to eat that morning. Soon after the children sat down there was a knock at the door. When Mueller opened the door, the baker stood there with freshly baked bread. He said that he was unable to sleep the night because he thought the orphans would need bread that morning. So he had gotten up around 2am to bake bread for them. Soon there was a second knock at the door. The milkman's truck had broken down in front of the orphanage, and he needed to remove the milk in order to repair his truck and offered the milk to the children!

 God is faithful and supplies all our needs when we pray in faith and take him at His Word!

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              [1] George Mueller, Release the Power of Prayer. New Kinsington, PA: Whitaker House, 2005. 91-94.

Encouragment and Inspiration from the Life of Martin Luther

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          The life of Martin Luther is one of the most fascinating and intriguing stories of church history. Perhaps, the single most impacting part of the Reformation was the renewal of the Word of God in the form of a book so that even peasants could read it. Luther understood that, “God preserves the experience of salvation and holiness from generation to generation by means of a book of revelation, not a bishop in Rome, and not the ecstasies of Thomas Muenzer and the Zwickau prophets.”^[1]

         Pope Leo X was in need of money to build St. Peter’s Basilica and the major income of the church came through the sale of indulgences. In 1517 he put a Dominican monk named John Tetzel in charge of selling indulgences in Saxony. Tetzel was an unscrupulous salesman who was willing to say anything to increase sales. He even promised people complete forgiveness from all sin. He also said that if a person would purchase indulgences for a loved one, they would be released from Purgatory. His famous saying was, As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, a soul from Purgatory springs.

          Some of Luther’s parishioners bought indulgences from Tetzel. This enraged Luther and drove him to write his 95 Theses against the practice of selling indulgences and other factors he saw flawed in the Church of Rome. On October 31, 1517, Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg.  Pope Leo X eventually received a copy of the 95 Theses, to which he was very unimpressed and directed the Augustinian order to handle the situation.

          On October 10, 1520, the Pope issued the Exsurge Domine, a papal bull that appealed to God to protect his church from Luther’s threat. “Arise, O Lord, and defend Thy cause! A wild boar has invaded Thy vineyard.”^[2] Luther was to be excommunicated from the Church of Rome if he did not recant within 60 days. According to the Holy Roman Church, salvation is only available through the church and to be excommunicated means eternal damnation. Luther, once a fearful monk, now stood and refused to recant his newfound faith. Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther on January 3, 1521.

            Luther was summoned to stand before the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, to recant his views at the Diet of Worms January 22, 1521. Eck, the spokesman for Charles V, said Luther had no right to teach contrary to the Church. He asked plainly if Luther would reject his books and the errors they contained. Luther replied: “Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe, Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.”^[3]

While the assembly was holding private conferences to determine Luther’s fate, Luther left Worms destined for Wittenberg, but was kidnapped by Prince Frederick the Wise's masked horsemen who escorted him safely to the Wartburg Castle at Eisenach. Martin Luther had no idea that he was going to be kidnapped and taken away to the Wartburg Castle. In fact, Luther was sure that the Diet of Worms would bring him to his death. On May 25, 1521, The Emperor issued the Edict of Worms, declaring Martine Luther an outlaw and a heretic and banned all his literature. 

During this year of exile, Martin grew a beard and wore the clothes of a knight, calling himself, Knight George. He worked on translating the New Testament into German, which was eventually printed, September of 1522. Yet this time of exile was not easy. He describes his feelings in a letter he wrote begging his friends for intercessory prayer:

I sit here at ease, hardened and unfeeling—alas! praying little, grieving little for the Church of God, burning rather in the fierce fires of my untamed flesh. It comes to this: I should be afire in the spirit; in reality I am afire in the flesh, with lust, laziness, idleness, sleepiness. It is perhaps because you have all ceased praying for me that God has turned away from me ... For the last eight days I have written nothing, nor prayed nor studied, partly from self-indulgence, partly from another vexatious handicap [constipation and piles] ... I really cannot stand it any longer ... Pray for me, I beg you, for in my seclusion here I am submerged in sins.^[4]

Even, Luther struggled intensely with distraction, sin, and laziness! Luther was doing a mighty work for the Lord, and the enemy was standing close by to kill, steal and destroy. Luther struggled with the passions of his flesh that waged war against his soul. He saw the power and significance of the praying saints and so begged for his fellow bearers of the cross to intercede on his behalf. Luther literally shook the whole known world with the start of this reformation and the enemy was close at hand to discourage.

Martin Luther’s boldness and courage to stand up for the truth of the Word of God led to the Protestant Reformation. His works were published and well read throughout Germany. Soon other theologians and thinkers arose and started other Protestant sects. Martin Luther’s legacy is still felt across the western world today.

Luther’s last recorded words were, “Wir sein Bettler. Hoc est verum.” ^[5] We are beggars. This is true”6 God is free in his grace. We are beggars, or in other words, we are prayers. This is how one lives and this is how one studies, so that God receives all the glory and we receive all the grace. Luther’s approach to studying the Word of God was rooted and founded on prayer.

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^[1]     Philip Schaff, ed. Religious Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, (New York: The Christian Literature Co., 1888), p. 1596. For Luther's response see A. G. Dickens and Alun Davies, eds., Documents of Modern History: Martin Luther, (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1970), pp. 75-79.

^[2] Ibid. 

^[3] Ibid, 142-144.

 ^[4] E. G. Rupp and Benjamin Drewery, editors, Martin Luther: Documents of Modern History, (New York, St. Martin's Press, 1970), pp. 72-73.

 ^[5]Heiko A. Oberman, Luther: Man Between God and the Devil, p. 324.

Pray for Nepal!

Day 1

Psalm. 98:2 The LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. 

Father God, I pray that the Nepali people would turn to You from their idols and serve the living and true God and wait for Jesus, Your Son from heaven, whom You raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. I pray that the LIGHT of the gospel breaks through the satanic veil that blinds their eyes. Reveal yourself to them. Bring them to salvation so that the Word of the Lord would sound forth from the people of Nepal into all the world and that their faith in God would go everywhere! 

Day 2

James 3:17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 

 Lord, You are the beginning and the end, the Alpha and Omega, and there is nothing hidden from Your sight. You are the wisest counselor of all. I thank You for your promise, that You give wisdom to those who ask. 

Father God, I pray that you would give my team the wisdom we need to minister to the Nepali people. Fill us with heavenly wisdom that is pure, peace-loving, and considerate. Reveal to us the divine strategies we need to navigate the cultural issues we will face with the people of Nepal. Inspire us with creative solutions to the challenges that hold back the Gospel among the Nepalis. Lord, release your wisdom and light the path before us to penetrate this people group with the truth of Your love.

Day 3

Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 

Father, I thank You for the Holy Spirit that You have sent to lead us into all truth, I lift up the people of Nepal to You, and I pray for the children among them. Holy Spirit, I ask that today you would visit one of these children and spark in their heart the revelation of who You are. Over-shadow them with Your presence Lord, and touch them with the truth of Your love. Draw them near to You Lord, give them eyes to see beyond what they have been taught. Open their hearts to receive Your love and Your truth. Comfort them with Your peace and set them on a new course for the rest of their life.  

Day 4 

Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. 

You, Oh God are Lord forever and there is no one who can challenge Your authority and power. You rule for ever and ever, and there is no end to Your Kingdom.

Lord, anoint my team as we work with wisdom and insight to reach out to the poor and needy. Enable us to put Your truth in a form that can be easily understood. Anoint our words with power to penetrate hearts. Open the ears of those who hear, and make the Good news of Your son Jesus, real to them.  Lord, Your heart is near to the poor and oppressed, anoint us, to represent you as Lord and Savior.

Day 5 

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.-Ephesians 3:14-21 

Father God, may your Kingdom come to Nepal. Shine your LIGHT and your truth into the hearts of the people. Awaken them! Give them ears to hear, eyes to see and hearts to receive your Word, your Spirit. May we be grounded in love so that we can have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and the depth and to know the love of Christ so we may be filled with all the fullness of Christ Jesus. 

Day 6

Father God,  may we be holy and have compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as You have forgiven us, so we also must forgive. And above all these we put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And may Your peace rule in our hearts, to which indeed we were called in one body. And may we be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in our hearts to God. And whatever we do, in word or deed, may we do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to you, God the Father... (Col. 3)

Day7

Father God, I pray you would be in the midst of the Nepali people, a mighty one who will save. I thank you that you will rejoice over them with gladness, and quiet them by your love and exult over them with loud singing (Zeph 3:17) I pray you would pour your Spirit on the Nepali people, that their sons and daughters would prophesy and their old men would dream dreams and that their young men would see visions. (Joel 2:28-29)

Mission to Nepal 2012

I am going to Nepal May 16th!!!

PRAY for NEPAL:

Lord, make Your salvation known to the Sherpa people of Nepal. Open their hearts to know Your love and Your truth. Comfort them with your peace and reveal to them the Jesus who died for their freedom. I ask that You would stir them to search for You and to carve a path for other Sherpa,s to follow.

Lord, reveal Your righteousness to the nations, let today be the day of salvation for a spiritual leader of the Sherpa.

Break down the deception that clouds their mind from Your truth, and release the revelation needed to embrace Christ as their Savior. Cause their lives be a powerful testimony of Your truth and redemption. Let them shout the news of Your son from all the high places, and open a gateway to the Sherpa, for the Good News! (www.joshuaproject.net)

More prayer points:
* Ask the Holy Spirit to grant my team wisdom and favor as we work among the Nepalis.
* Ask the Lord Jesus to reveal Himself to the Sherpa through dreams and visions.
* Pray that God will break down the spiritual and cultural barriers between us
* Ask God to raise up prayer teams who will begin breaking up the soil through worship and intercession.
* Ask the Lord to bring forth a triumphant Sherpa church for the glory of His name!

Thank you for your prayers and support!

May HIS Kingdom come to Nepal!

Compelled by LOVE

**Some names have been changed due to privacy**

Recently, Matt, a volunteer at LIGHThouse shared that a friend named Terrell had gone to be with the Lord at the ripe young age of 17. Matt had ministered to Terrell in a similar setting to LIGHThouse before coming to Lynchburg. When he met Terrell, he was 11 years old. As Matt invested in Terrell’s life and spent quality time with him, Terrell accepted Christ. We praise God that right now, Terrell is in heaven singing with Jesus. Matt had the privilege of sharing Jesus’ love with Terrell. Let us be encouraged to do the same with the kids God has placed before us at LIGHThouse.

It is still agonizing to think Terrell died at such a young age. I pray that the God of all hope will comfort his friends and family with indestructible joy in this time of sorrow. Ultimately, I pray God would be glorified through this death.

And indeed God is glorified through death as we triumphantly say, "Oh death...where is your sting?...Thanks be to God who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 15). This is just the beginning for Terrell. I pray that his story will impact others around him...even as it has already impacted me. How short our time is here on earth! An old saying I often think about: Only one life will soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last. May we live each day to the fullest for the glory of God.

Jesus said that the greatest commandment is that we Love God and Love others.

I feel that God has been asking me this week how much I love these kids at LIGHThouse...would I be willing to lay my life down for them even unto death? Do I love these children like Jesus loves them? How I pray God would fill me up...fill ALL of us up with HIS love for these kids. Jesus said, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." John 15:12-13
AND what is love...? We all know the Scripture, 1 Corinthians 13, perhaps very well, but how often do we think about each WORD? And truly live them out...Love is:

PATIENT
KIND
NOT ENVIOUS OR BOASTFUL
NOT ARROGANT OR RUDE
DOES NOT INSIST ON IT'S OWN WAY
IS NOT IRRITABLE OR RESENTFUL
REJOICES WITH THE TRUTH
LOVE: BEARS, BELIEVES HOPES AND ENDURES ALL THINGS

May we hide this Scripture in our hearts and live it out each day!

What is the one thing that will change these kids and make them have heart after God's own heart? What will spark a REVIVAL?
L
O
V
E
God's love being poured upon them through US will change the course of history!

Lord, how I pray you would fill us with your love. May we make each day count for these kids. Teach us how to love them as you love them and die for them each week. May we be compelled by your LOVE.

LIGHThouse

Part 1: Children…really God?

Lord Jesus, please show me this week what you want me to do with my life, I prayed as I stepped into the Mission Emphasis 2011 convocation at Liberty University. Boom…Boom…African drums resounded along with the shouts of joyful children worshiping God. The Children of the World Choir sang out:

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee,
God of glory, Lord of love

I was captivated. Their colorful national dress and big white teeth smiling through their dark faces entranced me.

Hearts unfold like flow’rs before Thee,
Op’ning to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;
Drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness,
Fill us with the light of day!

LIGHT, yes Lord, Shine your LIGHT today, I prayed as I sat at the top of the vine center that held nearly 10,000 college students.

The speaker that morning happened, by no coincidence, to be the president of Compassion International, Wes Stafford. I was fascinated by Wes’ testimony, growing up in a small African village and then how God lead him to work with Compassion, which now sponsors over a million children! He said, Children are the most numerous, weak, needy, disrupted, suffering, overlooked, and quite possibly the most receptive of the world’s population groups! He entreated Christians to “Consider the facts…People are much more likely to accept Christ as their Savior when they are young. Absorption of biblical information and principles typically peaks during the preteen years…Habits related to the practice of one’s faith develop when one is young and change surprisingly little over time.” He said, “Anyone who wishes to have significant influence on the development of a person’s moral and spiritual foundations had better exert that influence while the person is still open-minded and impressionable – in other words, while the person is still young.”

Children…really God? After I heard that message I knew God was calling me to work with children.

Part 2: Lighthouse

I started praying about where God wanted me to go. Within a few weeks I felt God put Uganda on my heart. My initial feeling, Uganda...I don’t know if I want to go back there, why not Ethiopia or Nepal? I had previously taught Bible at Heritage International School for a year. It was a difficult place for me to live BUT the more I prayed the more I was sure.

Ok, Lord, what do you want me to call the street children’s ministry? I waited…quietly, ever so quietly, Lighthouse, came to my mind. Ok, Lighthouse, it is. I started to write out a purpose statement and mission statement: I purpose to offer a lifeline of hope to the street children of Uganda from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and equip them to become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults by launching Rewnzori Lighthouse Children’s Ministry, August 2013.

I was so excited I stayed up all night and made a PowerPoint and wrote all about how I was going to start it.

Part 3: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth…

About a week later, I felt like God told me that I could not expect to go half way around the world to start a ministry if I wasn't doing that very thing right here in Lynchburg. This was my Jerusalem. I could not expect to go to Samaria or the ends of the earth if I was not doing the very thing right where I was. I prayed, Lord, help me to start an inner-city ministry for the children of Lynchburg.

“Julie, I had dream last night” I told my sister one spring morning. “I saw all these little black inner-city children at a park. I said to myself in my dream, this is so easy!”

“Hmmm, that sounds interesting” Julie said.

“I think I’m supposed to look for a park!” I told her.

That day I actually went to go look for a park and found one. I started reading the kids bible stories but I was too busy to be consistent.

Late August, about the second week of school, a student in one of my classes stood up and announced, “I’m part of a ministry called Lighthouse in downtown Lynchburg. We are looking for people to get involved. We are also looking for someone to start a ministry for the inner-city children.”

Oh my!! I am supposed to start that, I thought to myself. It's called Lighthouse, the same name God told me. AND it’s a ministry to the inner-city children of Lynchburg just like God put on my heart.

Lighthouse is a small NGO that has a food pantry, clothing closest and a Saturday night church service. They wanted to start something for the kids also. I talked with the guy in charge and told him I felt called to start a ministry for children. The next day, my sister, Julie and my roommate, Emily and I went door to door around downtown Lynchburg telling people about Lighthouse Kids Ministry. We started Lighthouse Kid's Night that very Sunday with about 20 little black kids! We've been doing it ever since and average nearly 50 kids every week AND our main pick-up point is the PARK!

I feel that God is calling me to be a LIGHT to the children of the nations...Lynchburg, Uganda, Nepal (Isaiah 49:6)