CURRENT INTERCESSION AREAS:
God's protection and provision for each member of the network as well as their ministries
Some Tips (extract from Derek Prince book outline (Shaping the World Through Prayer)
I. Christ’s Teaching and Examplea. Emphasizes motive and warns against religious ostentation for the sake of impressing people. (Matt. 6:1-18)
b. Fasting is endorsed by Christ’s own example – Luke 4:1-2.
i. When Jesus went into the wilderness, He was already full of the H.S.
ii. After fasting, He returned in the power of the H.S.
iii. Fasting was the final phase of preparation through which He had to pass,
before entering into His public ministry.
II. The Practice of the Early Church
a. Fasting was a vital part in Paul’s ministry – Acts 9:9; 2 Cor. 6:3-10; 2 Cor.
11:23-27;
b. Early Church fasted individually and COLLECTIVELY – Acts 13:1-3; Acts
14:21-23
i. As a result, they received direction and power from the H.S. for
decisions or tasks of special importance.
III. How Fasting Works
a. Fasting helps a Christian to receive direction and power from the H.S.
b. It’s a form of mourning, in one sense.
i. Mourning is not self-centered remorse or hopeless grief.
ii. It’s a response to H.S.’s prompting to share in God’s grief over sin and
folly of humanity – 2 Cor. 7:10.
c. It’s a means to humble and chasten oneself.
i. Rightly practiced, fasting brings both soul and body into subjection to the
H.S. – 1 Cor. 9:27
ii. Fasting deals with barriers to the H.S. – self-will and insistent, selfgratifying
appetites of the body. (Gal. 5:17).
1. Fasting changes people, not God.
2. Breaks down barriers in man’s carnal nature that stand in way of
H.S.’s omnipotence.
3. With barriers removed, H.S. can work unhindered in His fullness
through our prayers.
d. Four Requirements in 2 Chron. 7:14: if my people, who are called by my name, will
humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear
from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
i. Humble themselves.
ii. Pray.
iii. Seek His face.
iv. Turn from their wicked ways.
e. Fasting will never change the righteous standard of God. If something is outside
the will of God, fasting will never put it inside the will of God – e.g.) David’s
fasting to save his son after he committed adultery (2 Sam 12).
f. Fasting is neither a gimmick nor a cure-all. Fasting is not a substitute for any
other part of God’s provision. Conversely, no other part of God’s provision is a
substitute for fasting (117).
The Salt of the Earth
“Ye are the salt of the earth.” -Matthew 5:13
I. Two Familiar Uses of Salt
a. Salt Gives Flavor
i. Our Function: To give flavor to the earth.
ii. Who enjoys this flavor? God.
1. “Our presence makes the earth acceptable to God. Our presence
commends the earth to God’s mercy” (14)/
iii. Principles (based on Gen. 18:16-33 – Abraham’s intercession on
Sodom’s Behalf)
1. It is never the will of God that the judgment due to the wicked
should come upon the righteous. God’s dealings w/ believers and
world are different.
a. There is persecution (coming from the wicked) for the
sake of righteousness.
i. Christians must expect to suffer persecution.
b. There is God’s judgment upon the wicked.
i. Christians may be chastened by God to preserve
us from undergoing His judgments.
ii. But Christians should not be included in God’s
judgment upon the wicked. (1 Cor. 11:32; Ps.
91-7-8; Ex. 7-12; Ex. 11:7)
2. The presence of righteous believers is the decisive factor in
God’s dealings with a community.
a. Ratio of 1 Righteous: 1,000 Sodomites – God was not
going to destroy the city.
i. E.g) In NK: 22m population. Need 22k
Righteous Christians?
b. We are Christ’s Ambassadors. (2 Cor. 5:20; Phil 3:20)
i. Represent Heaven’s Government.
ii. Have Authority of Heaven.
iii. Our presence on earth “guarantees a continuance
of God’s forbearance and mercy toward the
earth” (21).
iv. When our presence is withdrawn – Full divine
wrath and judgment upon the earth.
b. Salt Restrains Corruption
i. Salt doesn’t abolish corruption (i.e. process of sin).
ii. Salt holds corruption long enough for God’s purposes of grace and
mercy to be worked out.
iii. So, once our influence ceases, result will be total degradation.
iv. (2 Thes. 2:3-12)
1. Antichrist will eventually emerge.
2. The restraining power is the Holy Spirit (H.S.) w/I the Church.
3. Christ’s disciples indwelled by the H.S. act as a barrier to hold
back lawlessness and emergence of Antichrist.
4. Once the H.S. with Christ’s completed Body withdraws, forces
of lawlessness will proceed w/o restraint to Antichrist’s
purposes.
II. The Consequences of Failure
a. Church stands as the barrier to Satan’s supreme ambition to gain dominion over
the earth.
b. If Satan can undermine faith and righteousness of the church
i. barrier is removed
ii. a way is opened for him to gain dominion.
c. If Christians fail, we’ll be overcome.
I. Good Government is God’s Will
1I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone--
2for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and
holiness. 3This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all men to be saved and to come to a
knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:1-4)
Summary of 1 Tim. 2:1-4
i. The first ministry and outreach of believers as we meet together in
regular fellowship is prayer.
ii. The first specific topic for prayer is the government - “Not merely do
they [professing Christians] not pray for the government first, they
scarcely pray for it at all!” (49).
iii. We are to pray for good government.
iv. God desires all men to have the truth of the Gospel preached to them.
v. Good government facilitates the preaching of the Gospel, while bad
government hinders it.
1. Maintains Law & Order
2. Keep communication open
3. Preserves civil liberty
4. Protects freedom of speech and assembly
5. Provides a climate for Gospel to be preached.
vi. Therefore, good government is the will of God.
II. Praying with the Knowledge of God’s Will.
5
14This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
15And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him.
b. If we know that we are praying for anything according to God’s will, we know
that He hears us.
c. If we know that God hears us, we know that we have the thing that we prayed
for. (Doesn’t mean immediate fulfillment).
d. Since good government is God’s will, when we pray for it, we have the assurance
that good government is granted to us.
I. How God uses human rulers – based on Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrusa. God uses human rulers as instruments to fulfill His purposes in history,
particularly as they relate to His own covenant people.
b. If God’s people are disobedient and rebellious, God subjects them to cruel and
evil rulers.
c. If through repentance and prayer God’s people lay claim upon His mercy, He
may bring about a change of government in one or other of two ways:
i. By removing an evil ruler and replacing him by a good one; or
ii. By changing the heart of a cruel ruler, so as to make him an instrument
of mercy rather than of judgment.
II. What God Requires in Those Who Rule – 2 Sam. 23:2-4
a. Just
b. God-fearing
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