The World Prayer Assembly in Indonesia, May 14-18, 2012, was a wonderful time of prayer and fellowship with more than 9000 prayer leaders from around the world. I was there representing America’s National Prayer Committee, a group I am privileged to serve as Chairman. God touched my heart in so many ways. One of the most significant things has to do with our fall elections. The Lord seemed to press in upon me that we must pray as never before if we are

It seems that a time of intense prayer for 40 days prior to our elections is in order. I have to confess . . . I argued with the Lord about this. I thought, not another 40 day event! But He was insistent that this be not another event or prayer gathering such as we have had . .  . but something unprecedented in American church history. The testimonies of these amazing praying international Christians prompted much of this. We are talking about 40 days of 24/7 prayer!

To issue such a call to prayer is beyond the parameters of the National Prayer Committee or any one group. It needs to come from a wide-spread array of leaders. Denominational, para-church, seminaries, publishing houses, broadcast ministries, etc., must all be a part of this call to prayer. I’m not proposing a single event or activity for everyone to get behind . . . but a call for everyone to get behind something. I envision a dozen different 40 day initiatives. I’ve already had a number come to me over the past few months.

This needs to go beyond what one ministry or denomination can do. My sense that this is a call to prayer for three things:

•  The Elections–asking for the Lord’s intervention.
• A righteous standard to be raised over the nation.
• Revival in the Church.

It seemed to me, first of all, that this call to prayer is essential for America. If we will mobilize and pray, we will see Him work. Without intense day and night prayer, we will not see the hand of God at work to transform our nation. The second thing is that I believe that many of the communities that do 24/7 prayer for 40 days will continue beyond that. We may well see a huge and immediate proliferation of 24/7 prayer across the nation as a result of these 40 days. It would be just like God to use something that we are interested in (the election) to produce something He is interested in (day and night prayer).

A website will soon be launched with further information to help disseminate the word about this vital prayer initiative. You will see information and links to other prayer initiatives that are focusing on this election. We are not endorsing these initiatives, but making you aware of them. Our intent is to stay far away from anything that looks like an endorsement or movement for any particular candidate or party. What we are asking for is the intervention of God on behalf of our nation.

Will you join us? The first thing you can do is go immediately to our new facebook page and “Like” us. This is so you can receive immediate information about the site and the initiative as it becomes available. Click here to go to the facebook page. Then help us get the word out!

One of my favorite verses on prayer is a real challenge to me to persist in my praying. Habakkuk 2:1 calls us to a commitment to pray until something happens. “I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.”

The prophet Habbakuk’s situation was clearly wrapped up in prayer. In the first chapter he was bringing to the Lord the crisis facing the nation. The Lord’s response was confusing and unexpected. Habbakuk didn’t quit. He kept praying, and here in the beginning of the second chapter declares his intention of continuing to pray. But this was not a situation where someone decides to keep praying until God gives them want they want. Not at all! As a matter of fact, what Habbakuk was hearing was not what he wanted.

His commitment to persistent prayer was not about his own desires, but God’s purposes. He could easily have said, “I don’t like what I’m hearing from God, so I quit.” But this was a man of prayer who understood the critical need of standing on the (spiritual) wall of his nation and crying out until the purposes of God were revealed.

This short prophetic book gives a hard answer to Habbakuk’s prayer. Invasion was coming. Tough times were about to hit the people of God. But the prophet also saw a vision of God overcoming evil. He saw a time when, “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea”(2:14).

It is time for that sort of persistence in prayer for the people of God today. We face times of crisis. Who is crying out for the purposes of God to be revealed in our day? Who will stand at their watch and pray? Not the kind of prayer that tries to talk God into giving us what we want, but lining our prayers up with the desires of God. I invite you to join me in praying one of Habakkuk’s prayers: “Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy” (3:2).

In a radio interview regarding revival in America I was asked, after many years of traveling and teaching on prayer in the Church, do I think things are better or worse. My answer? Both! That’s not intended to be a cute answer, but an accurate one. In so many ways, the Church in America is in trouble.

Stagnant church growth, abysmal discipleship, poor prayer life, confused leadership, a blending in with our culture rather than a prophetic stand . . . and the list goes on. Yet, to paraphrase Dickens, “it is the worst of times; it is the best of times.” It is becoming the best of times because I am seeing a growing awareness of our desperate situation.

Out of that awareness comes a realization that the critical need of our day is for revival!

Revival never comes to a self-satisfied people. Revival never comes to a people who think they can fix things with another new program or strategy. Revival only comes to those who are at the end of themselves and are convinced that only God can bring what is necessary for the healing of the land. There is a rising tide of that holy desperation in the Church today!

If the Spirit of God is stirring within you regarding revival, then I encourage you to go to the OneCry website, sign the declaration of spiritual emergency, and then join our team of intercessors. We are committing to pray daily, fervently, faithfully for revival in our nation. May the Lord awaken His people to the presence of Christ in such a powerful way, that it overflows from our churches into the streets and neighborhoods of our nation.

(c) Harvest Prayer Ministries

I admit it! I love Christmas. Oh, I get turned off by all the commercialization and secularization like many of you. But it’s our holiday! By our, I mean the Church. And I’m not letting other people ruin our holiday. It’s when followers of Jesus celebrate the incarnation. It’s that time of awe when we realize that the Creator-God took on human flesh and was born as a helpless babe. It’s the celebration of the event that changed planet earth forever.

I love the way the Church through the years developed Christmas as a season and not just a day. The lighting of advent candles builds a sense of anticipation for the coming of the Christ child. Then the day itself . . . ah, Christmas Day! Feasting, family, worship, singing, and giving of gifts . . . all can be done in a way that points to the great Gift given that Day to mankind.

Don’t take the tree down on the 26th. These days after Christmas can be glorious days of reflection about the meaning of the Incarnation. I encourage you to spend time in prayer, meditating on the wonder of the Incarnation. Make them days of preparation for the New Year ahead—seek God as to His purposes for you in the new year. Consider committing to a deeper level of prayer this coming year. Perhaps we can learn from the 12 Days of Christmas song and continue to make these days a time of giving, if not of gifts, of our time to those who need the blessing of Christ we carry within us.

No Scrooges in my house! Merry Christmas, and may God bless us every one!

The Statue of Liberty loomed before us as we worshipped the Lord and prayed on board a small ship this past September 11. Prayer leaders from around the nation had  gathered to participate in Cry Out America. We were praying around New York harbor on this memorable 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that have so impacted our nation.

As we slowed down nearest the shoreline where the new Freedom Towers are rising from the site of the former World Trade Center, I was asked to lead our group in a season of prayer.

As faith-filled prayers ascended to the Throne of God, I was struck by the lack of fear. Though many warnings had been given about the possibility of terrorist attacks that day, the atmosphere was one of faith, not fear. There was also a determination that on this day the Church would respond with prayers that were about Heaven’s agenda for spiritual awakening in our nation.

The time is over for prayers that are simply about our wants and wishes. It is time for the power of God to be released over this nation that returns the hearts of His people to the Lord!

New York City was just one place where prayer for revival was occurring on September 11. We have since received reports of more than 2,500 different prayer events on that day that focused on spiritual awakening in the United States. That figure doesn’t begin to account for the thousands of individual congregations who that day, remembered Sept.11 by praying for a fresh move of the Spirit of God among the Church. Harvest Prayer Ministries is delighted to be among those who are leading the way in calling the Church to revival praying!