2. Ploughing the Ground
- PRAYER The very next thing a farmer does, is to plough the ground. The hard soil needs to be opened up and softened for the planting process. Likewise, the community in which you are going to plant a church needs to be opened up and softened for the gospel. This can only be done through prayer. You have now done the research which will give you not only statistics but also actual situations that you can target in your praying.
2.1 PRAYER Without deep intercessory prayer and patience in hearing God's strategy for the church plant, it will not have a lasting effect. I suggest that prayer walking in the neighbourhood or village may be of great value - praying on-site with insight.
Acts 4:23-31 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord, " they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: "'Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 26 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.' 27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29 Now,
Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30
Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus. " 31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. (NIV) THE PURPOSE OF PRAYER 1. Getting God's hand stretched out. They had a deep passion and desire for their community to be touched by God. They understood that prayer was the key. They were more concerned with their community's spiritual needs than with their own safety. They have just been warned by the authorities not to preach the gospel. 2. For the healing of the community They identified with the hurts of their community. Obviously we speak of the whole spectrum of hurts.
- Physically - Spiritually - Emotionally We will never see our community saved unless their hurts become our concern. Until we have a compassion for them. We can never have compassion for our community while we are busy with ourselves and concentrate on our own hurts. It's almost like you get healed while you are healing someone else's wounds.
3. To bring the miraculous into our community. The community will only discover God's power when the church displays it. There is no greater delight for the Christian than to experience miraculous answers to prayer. Can you imagine the organization that takes place in the heavenlies to make your prayer effective? Recently we have seen God's miraculous power in our community when the church prayed for rain. 4. Discovering the power in Jesus' name. Unfortunately we often pray with wrong motives. Often our prayers have an ingredient of self-advantage in it. Our passion must become that people would discover Jesus. Stop trying to persuade people with human reasoning. Let them experience Jesus. DEVELOPING A HEART FOR YOUR CITY 1. The Lord does not only have a heart for individuals but for cities/communities. 2. Before God can use us to reach our cities/towns, we must develop a heart for the place. 3. Nehemiah 1:3-4 4. Matthew 23:37 5. Several prophets were sent to bring prophetic words to cities. 6. The early church evangelism plan started with their city - Acts 1:8 IDENTIFYING WITH THE FELT NEEDS OF YOUR COMMUNITY 1. Unless we are going to be touched by the needs of our community we are only going to pray religious and rhetoric (language designed to impress) prayers. 2. We must be able to pray from the heart. Felt needs versus assumed needs. 3. How do we discover the needs of a community? • Read the paper. • Ask questions - make it your business. I attend an information meeting with the police. • Listen with sanctified ears to the community-talk and then verify it's authenticity. 4. People need miracles. Prayer brings them into contact with a living God who cares for them. • Praying with the mayor this week. 5. You cannot preach to them until you have prayed for them. We pray too much for those who ought to know how to pray and too little with those who do not know how to pray. 6. Hear God's heart beat for your city. I strongly suggest that you engage in prayer walking. It has a lot of benefit for church planting.
PRAYER WALKING (Please note that a handbook entitled: "Praying on Site with Insight" is available from the DAWN Africa office. Please refer to the contact details on page 2 of this training manual.)
Acts 4:29-32 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus. " 31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. 32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. (NIV) INTRODUCTION • Prayer gives us access into any part of the world, any house in the world and any person in the world. • You can affect your neighbourhood, your city or the world with your prayers. • Prayer has brought communism to its knees, the Berlin wall to its foundations and billions of people to Christ. DEFINITION It is taking the church outside its walls to pray on-site with insight. The Biblical Foundation of Prayer Walking
Genesis 13:14-17 The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, "Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you." (NIV)
Joshua 1:3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. (NIV)
WHAT ARE THE PRINCIPLES HERE? Abraham • God wanted Abraham to physically be on the territory to give him identification through observation. • God wanted him to see it – vision impartation. Joshua • You can also fight a battle without physically being on the ground – enemy identification / territorial spirits. • God's promise was linked to Joshua's feet – reclaiming ground. Lessons to Learn From Joshua
Numbers 13:18-20 See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many.
19 What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? Mat kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? 2o How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land. " (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)
Strategy #1 - Find out what the land is like • Look for things that can tell you more about the people themselves. • Do you know of any Christians in the area? • Do they keep to themselves or are they open for relationships? • Obtain the names of the people and the approx. age. Strategy #2 - Assess the enemy
Numbers 13:28-29 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev, the Hittites, Jebusites and
Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the
Jordan. " (NIV)
Determine the sociological problems. - Single parents? - Social interests etc. • Determine which territorial spirits control the area. - You cannot be the sole judge. Must be a group. • Don't over exaggerate the enemy's influence. Don't give the devil exposure by constantly talking about what he is doing. (Descendants of Anak) Strategy #3 - Discover the fruit of the future
Numbers 13:23-25 Men they reached the Valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the Valley of Eshcol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there.
25 At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land. (NIV) • Envision what this area is going to be like in the future. • Trust the Lord for promises, dreams and visions. • Pray prophetically. Prayer Walking - A Preparation for Jesus' Visitation Luke 10:1-20 SIGNIFICANCE OF SENDING 72 MISSIONARIES • I call this "saturation preparation". • The 36 teams went to do specific preparation for Jesus' visitation to these towns. • Jesus gave them a specific strategy to follow. • They were sent like lambs among the wolves. - They will enjoy Divine protection. - They will have a Divine boldness. • It seemed like madness to do this. - It seems like madness for God to use us! • Take no purse, bag or sandals. - Faith venture, keep money out of it. Strategy #1 - Pray • Jesus even told them what to pray. - They were not to only pray for converts but for converts that will become workers. • Locked-up in our community are many people that are still going to be workers in the harvest fields of God. - Pray for their salvation and release. - Like with Joshua, you must see the fruit of the future.
Strategy #2 - Be the agents of peace. • Do not get involved in arguing. Don't waste your time with fruit that is not ready. • "Man of peace" literally means "a man searching for peace and willing to receive it" • This person may be the means whereby you could reach the whole "oikos" (household). Strategy #3 - Identify with your community • Eat and drink what is set before you. Identification. - In many cultures eating and drinking is the sign of your love for them. • Spiritual pride will damage all your efforts. • Do not move around from house to house. - You can fall into the trap of looking for more comfort. Be content. - People must know where to get you. Strategy #4 - Be an agent of healing to your community. • Satan is destroying people. They don't need your judgment. They need your compassion. AN ILLUSTRATION OF KINDNESS Steve Sjogren adapted from the book A Conspiracy of Kindness (Vine Books, 1993, Ann Arbor, Mich.). Steve is pastor of the vineyard Christian Fellowship of Cincinnati North. "Kindness opened one man's heart to God when we were doing free lawn care. We had loaded a couple of mowers and rakes into a truck and drove around until we saw long grass. We approached his house and knocked on the door to tell him what we were up to. Through the screen door this man barked, "What do you want?" We gave him the brief explanation; without even looking up, his response was simply, "Yeah, whatever... " He sat motionless in front of the T.V watching a Reds baseball game. We mowed enthusiastically. We sometimes call it "power mowing" in the Vineyard - and finished in about thirty minutes. We stopped by to tell him we were done and ask if we could pray for any needs in his life. He said he didn't have any needs. As we stepped away from the door, one young man in the group said he was sure this man was in great emotional need and that we ought to insist on praying for him. We turned around and prayed a simple little prayer: "Come, Holy Spirit, and touch this man's pain, whatever it is." The response was instant and surprising - he erupted in deep sobbing, grabbing the nearest person in the circle and wetting his shoulder with tears for some minutes. As the crying died down, he told us his son had been arrested the night before for stealing a car to support a drug habit. That day God's presence and power penetrated this man's pain and isolation in a tangible way ... because we were willing to cut a little grass." • Use the power Jesus gave you to bring healing. It is the best form of spiritual warfare. • Get your hands dirty. REMEMBER 1. Be patient 2. Be persistent 3. Don't try and make things happen.
Applying Jesus' Principles in Prayer Walking. 1. A VISION FOR HARVEST. Luke 10:2 He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. (NIV) • As you walk envision the ingathering. • Pray bigger than yourself. Don't bind the Lord by your unbelief! If He could make Jericho's walls fall, He can answer your prayers. 2. ALWAYS DISPLAY THE OPPOSITE SPIRIT TO THE WORLD. Luke 10:3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. (NIV) Let God's power makes the difference. • Humility in the face of arrogance, kindness in the face of hatred and blessing in the face of anger. • Unconventional warfare! You go to the wolves instead of them coming for you. 3. USHER IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD. Luke 10:5-7 "When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' 6 If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him, if not, it will return to YOU. 7 Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. (NIV) • Jesus is the prince of peace. • Peace was the greeting blessing of the Christians. John 20:19 Acts 15:33 Acts 16:36 Greek - "eirene" Hebrew - Shalom • Learn from David's prayers for Jerusalem. Psalm 122:6-9 Psalm 147:12-14 4. MAKE PROPHETIC PROCLAMATION. Luke 10:9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you. (NIV) • Your community is going to experience God. Declare it! • Look for opportunities. 5. EXPECT RESULTS. Luke 10:17-18 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name. "18 He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Luke 10:21 At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, 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. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. (NIV) • God was making himself known to whole cities through ordinary people. • This is for Father's "good pleasure"
WHERE CAN WE WALK? 1. Our neighbourhoods 2. Our workplaces 3. Our churches 4. Overlook points 5. Sites wrongly named or cursed 6. Sites of past sin 7. Places of ongoing sin 8. Sites of strongholds 9. The Gates of The City 10. High Places SUGGESTIONS FOR NEIGHBOURHOOD WALKS HOW TO GET STARTED 1. Recruit a partner - Prayers of Agreement Matthew 18:19 "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. (NIV) 2. Family Walks - Each pray for their peers 3. Don't be a lone ranger - If you are not a leader, make sure you have submitted your plan of action to your leadership. WHEN YOU WALK 1. Ask God for a Word for your Neighbourhood. 2. Pray that Word over your neighbourhood. Psalm 122:6-9 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May those who love you be secure. 7 May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels. " 8 For the sake of my brothers and friends, I will say, "Peace be within you. " 9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your prosperity. (NIV) 3. Ask the Lord to show you, which territorial spirits are in control over that area. 4. As you walk pray against them. 5. Pray for souls to be saved 6. Pray for doors to be opened for you. 7. Bless the street and homes in the Name of Jesus 8. Listen to the instructions of the Holy Spirit. 9. Check all things with your cell leader or his intern. 10. Report back on a regular basis.
SUGGESTIONS FOR WALKING IN YOUR WORKPLACE 1. Don't fight flesh and blood. Determine which strongholds are operating to influence your work environment. 2. Pray the opposite spirit. 3. Make localized declarations. 4. Confess the sins of the people on their behalf. 5. If possible worship at those places. 6. Continually pray for conversions. SUGGESTIONS FOR PRAYING AT CHURCH SITES
2 Chronicles 6:20-21 May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. 21 Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive. (NIV)
Mark 11:17 And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written: "'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it 'a den of robbers. "' (NIV) 1. Discuss the matter with the pastor first to get permission and to make a commitment of communication. 2. In your discussion with the pastor, ask the Lord to show you, which strongholds are operating in the church. 3. If there are records of the prophetic utterances over the church, use it to declare it in your prayer walk. SUGGESTIONS FOR PRAYING AT OUTLOOK POINTS Outlook points or places have strong Biblical significance. Big contest between God and Satan occurred at elevated places. E.g. Elijah at Mt. Carmel, Jesus and Satan, Golgotha Panoramic Prayers - praying with a bird's eye view. Jesus often went to the mountain to pray. SUGGESTIONS FOR PRAYING AT SITES WRONGLY NAMED OR CURSED Names were often changed by God in the Scriptures. E.g. Abram > Abraham; Jacob > Israel; Simon > Peter There are places, which are named after false gods, criminals or Satan himself. Prayer walkers often find fruitful prayer in seeking to rename a place for God's intended purpose. WARNING – Do not make name changes on your own. First consult with the elders of the town.
SUGGESTIONS FOR PRAYING AT SITES OF ONGOING SIN • Adult Sex Shops Never go on your own. Never curse the people. Do not develop an attitude with them. • Casinos • Pubs SUGGESTIONS FOR PRAYING AT SITES OF STRONGHOLDS
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the Knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (NTV) • Freemasons Masonic Lodge • Cults - Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, Old & New Apostolics etc. SUGGESTIONS FOR PRAYING AT THE GATES OF THE CITY In biblical times gates acted more like filters, restraining evil and welcoming that which was worthy of honour. The respected elders of the town governed from the gates. It wasn't in a courtroom style but rather in communal fashion. • The elders guarded the city from wrong influences and moral danger. Today it would be places of governance - i.e. the borough where the Town Council meet. • City entrances - roads, harbor, airport etc. CONCLUSION John 12:35 Then Jesus told them, " You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. (NIV) Micah 4:5 All the nations may walk in the name of their gods, we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever. (NIV) James 5:16 The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. (NIV) Paul told the church in Thessalonica, "...pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith. But the Lord is faithful and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one" (2Th 3:1-3)
TAKE PRAYER SERIOUSLY It is clear from these passages that the early Christians prayed strategically for the spread of the Gospel and against the evil influences, which hinder the Gospel from advancing. These same prayer needs still exist today. In developing and implementing a church planting strategy, take prayer seriously. Do nothing without prayer. Your saturation church planting ministry must be born out of prayer and then continuously be bathed in prayer from start to finish.
The Church Planting
Process
3. Planting the Seed - Planting the Church -