By Dave Butts

There’s a fascinating change taking place in the way the Church perceives prayer. From dusty devotions and meeting personal needs, prayer has taken center stage in our attempts to reach the lost. Prayer seems to have become the Divine Strategy for the completion of the task of world evangelization. Wherever the church is growing the most, you find the Church praying the best.

The explosion of prayer evangelism is happening in Korea, in Argentina, in many places in Africa…and it’s beginning to happen in North America as well. Christians are creatively bringing together prayer and evangelism in ways that are overcoming both natural and spiritual barriers to Christian conversion.

I think it’s important at the outset to understand that prayer evangelism is not some sort of mystical weirdness where we pray and then sit back and do nothing else. It is rather, a releasing of God’s power through prayer that is focused on overcoming barriers to evangelism and on preparing the soil of an individual’s life to receive the gospel. We pray powerful biblical prayers and then our evangelistic efforts follow, with far greater effectiveness.

We shouldn’t be surprised by this. The New Testament speaks of the connectedness between prayer and evangelism in a number of places. When Jesus told His followers to look around them at the white fields (potential spiritual harvest), His first instruction to them was to pray. “Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field’” (Matthew 9: 37-38). Later, when Jesus had given His disciples the assignment to go to all people everywhere, teaching, preaching, baptizing and making disciples, their first step was to have a prayer meeting. “They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers” (Acts 1:14).

Paul wrote to Timothy that God wanted us to pray…interceding for everyone (1 Timothy 2:1-4). Why? Because God wants everyone saved. The New Testament teaches us much on the power of prayer in evangelism. Somehow the Church has lost the connection. My friend Terry Teykl of Renewal Ministries says that sometime after the first century the great divorce occurred–the divorce between prayer and evangelism. Prayer became devotional and liturgical, but not very practical, while evangelism was more and more a matter of human effort or even coercion at times. Fortunately, this New Testament concept is being recovered as prayer and evangelism are once again wedded together.

It’s happening in many exciting ways. One preacher in Texas asked his congregation to turn in the names of 100 people who needed to come to Jesus. Those names were prayed over by a trained team of intercessors and by the end of the year 92 of those people had come to faith in Christ. This type of focused praying by those who have been well-trained is central to effective prayer evangelism.

One way of praying for the neighborhoods around your church is an innovative method known as prayerwalking. Christians gather at the church building for a time of prayer and preparation. Then they go in groups of two or three through a particular neighborhood, walking up and down the street, praying for each house, that God would be at work in each home. It’s done quietly, without calling attention to those who are praying, but effectively releasing God’s power into people’s lives. There’s a great resource book written on the topic entitled “Prayerwalking: Praying Onsite with Insight” by Graham Kendrick and Steve Hawthorne.

One minister I spoke with some time ago prays for everyone in his church by name every week. To help him remember who is who, he has put all of their pictures on his laptop computer so that he can see their faces as he prays. Oh, did I mention that their attendance has gone from 150 to 1300 and he still prays for everyone by name every week!

Many churches are sending cards to homes in their neighborhood asking if there is anything they can be praying about. They are not asking them to come to church…not asking for money…or advertising a special program…just wanting to know if there is any way they can pray about what is important to them. It’s not long before such a church is attracting people who are looking for a church that cares enough to pray.

The power of blending prayer and evangelism is not something that is limited to local churches. Whole groups of churches and large evangelistic outreaches are beginning to see the importance of prayer. One of the most exciting and ambitious efforts to reach this nation for Christ is called Table Coalition (formerly Mission America Coalition). Its goal? To pray by name for every man, woman and child in the U.S. and to present them with the gospel. It’s a goal that no one group within the Church can do by itself. It will take the cooperation of many organizations, fellowships and congregations.

One of the things I like about Table Coalition is its emphasis on local congregational involvement and voluntary cooperation. There is no monolithic program for everyone to buy into. It is simply a networking of ideas and strategies with a common goal–“The whole church taking the whole Gospel to the whole nation in this generation.”

Another missional way to pray for neighbors and nations is to establish Lighthouses of Prayer. Over one and a half million Lighthouses of Prayer have been established in the United States with many more being added daily. A lighthouse is any person, family or group of people who will commit to pray, care and sensitively share Jesus Christ with their neighbors, co-workers, schoolmates or friends as God directs.

Billy Graham has said of this effort: “The Lighthouse Movement has brought the Body of Christ together in a way that is unique in American history. I am praying that God will use this movement to help bring about a massive nationwide renewal and spiritual awakening in the months ahead.”

It is exciting to see what God is doing in the midst of His people as he draws us to Himself in prayer. Prayer is re-igniting the Church’s fire of evangelism as we reach out to this nation and to the ends of the earth. “Lord, teach us to pray…in your way…and in your will” seems to have become the battle cry of the Church in these exciting days!

(c) Harvest Prayer Ministries

By Dave Butts

God is doing a new thing today. If you want to be “in” on what God is doing, you must begin praying with greater passion and intensity. If you want purpose and meaning to life, and if you want your life to really count for God and to make a difference in this world…PRAY! Prayer is what God is calling His people to do today as a part of His plan for this world.

God is moving all things toward completion. I don’t pretend to know when or how or any of the details that people often get so excited about. But I do know the key to the completion of God’s purposes on this planet. It is evangelism. And the key to evangelism is prayer. Let me show this to you through the words of Scripture:

Jesus said, “And this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). The Gospel is going to be preached to all nations…Jesus said so. If Jesus said it, I firmly believe it will happen. Sometime after the Gospel has been preached to the whole world, the end of all things will come. Evangelism is tied to the second coming of Christ. Without delving into issues of dates and times, the question for us today is, “Do we want to be a part of the fulfillment of Jesus’ words?”

Jesus ties together prayer and evangelism in Matthew 9:37-38: “Then He said to His disciples, ‘ The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.’” The instruction of Jesus to His disciples regarding reaching the lost is that it begins with prayer. There is certainly more to do after we have prayed. But evangelism will never be truly effective apart from the biblical beginning place of prayer.

The Apostle Paul continues this teaching in his first letter to Timothy: “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:1-4). Notice that Paul urges that prayers be lifted up, because God wants everyone saved. Prayer and evangelism are brought together in a powerful way and linked to the very purposes of God.

Not to be left out, the Apostle John shows us in his unique way that prayer and evangelism are inextricably connected. There are two passages of Scripture in Revelation that you may not have noticed before that are exciting in their presentation of prayer and evangelism: “Each one has a harp and they are holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints” (Revelation 5:8). “Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand” (Revelation 8:3-4).

After each of these incidents, in which the collected prayers of God’s people are poured out before God, angels are loosed upon the earth to cause events intended to bring people to repentance and salvation. God uses the prayers of His people to bring about the establishment of Christ’s Kingdom.

The second passage in Revelation comes in the midst of a half an hour of silence. Author Walter Wink explains the connection well: “Heaven itself falls silent. The heavenly hosts and celestial spheres suspend their ceaseless singing so that the prayers of the saints on earth can be heard. The seven angels of destiny cannot blow the signal of the next times to be until an eighth angel gathers these prayers…and mingles them with incense upon the altar. Silently they rise to the nostrils of God. Human beings have intervened in the heavenly liturgy. The uninterrupted flow of consequences is dammed for a moment. New alternatives become feasible. The unexpected becomes suddenly possible, because God’s people on earth have invoked heaven, the home of the possibles, and have been heard. What happens next, happens because people prayed. The message is clear: history belongs to the intercessors.”

Dick Eastman said it this way: “God’s ultimate purpose for mankind, the completion of Christ’s bride and the establishing of His eternal Kingdom on earth will result only from the release of the prayers of God’s saints.”

Graham Kendrick and Chris Robinson wrote the hymn, All Heaven Waits. See if their words call to your heart and stir within you a passion to be a person of prayer:

“All heaven waits with bated breath for saints on earth to pray,
Majestic angels ready stand with swords of fiery blade.
Astounding power awaits a word from God’s resplendent throne.
But God awaits our prayer of faith that cries, “Your will be done.”

By Dave Butts

I love the written word. Books, new and old, have made a major difference in my life. I have been taught, encouraged, rebuked, and given fresh vision by great authors. Some of my favorite books are still being written. The Lord is using my contemporaries to minister to me through their writings. However, I most often find myself irresistibly drawn to older authors. There seems to be a depth and a passion that is rarely matched today. It could be likened to drinking from the clear, cold water of an old well that goes deep.

I’d like to share with you some of my favorite quotes from a few of these authors. Some might be from centuries ago, while others are as recent as the last generation. My prayer is that your heart will be stirred, as mine was, while reading these gems from the past:

“Oh! men and brethren, what would this heart feel if I could but believe that there were some among you who would go home and pray for a revival – men whose faith is large enough, and their love fiery enough to lead them from this moment to exercise unceasing intercessions that God would appear among us and do wondrous things here, as in the times of former generations.” – C. H. Spurgeon

“Revivals begin with God’s own people; the Holy Spirit touches their heart anew, and gives them new fervor and compassion, and zeal, new light and life, and when He has thus come to you, He next goes forth to the valley of dry bones…Oh, what responsibility this lays on the Church of God! If you grieve Him away from yourselves, or hinder His visit, then the poor perishing world suffers sorely!” –Andrew A. Bonar

“To arouse one man or woman to the tremendous power of prayer for others, is worth more than the combined activity of a score of average Christians.” – A. J. Gordon

“I would rather train twenty men to pray, than a thousand to preach. …A minister’s highest mission ought to be to teach his people to pray.” – H. MacGregor

“The true man of God is heartsick, grieved at the worldliness of the Church… grieved at the toleration of sin in the Church, grieved at the prayerlessness in the Church. He is disturbed that the corporate prayer of the Church no longer pulls down the strongholds of the devil.” – Leonard Ravenhill

“Does it grieve you, my friends, that the name of God is being taken in vain and desecrated? Does it grieve you that we are living in a godless age? …But, we are living in such an age and the main reason we should be praying about revival is that we are anxious to see God’s name vindicated and His glory manifested. We should be anxious to see something happening that will arrest the nations, all the peoples, and cause them to stop and to think again.” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“The history of missions is the history of answered prayer. From Pentecost to the Haystack meeting in New England and from the days when Robert Morrison landed in China to the martyrdom of John and Betty Stam, prayer has been the source of power and the secret of spiritual triumph.” – Samuel Zwemer

“We give ourselves to prayer. We preach a Gospel that saves to the uttermost, and witness to its power. We do not argue about worldliness; we witness. We do not discuss philosophy; we preach the Gospel. We do not speculate about the destiny of sinners; we pluck them as brands from the burning. We ask no man’s patronage. We beg no man’s money. We fear no man’s frown…Let no man join us who is afraid, and we want none but those who are saved, sanctified and aflame with the fire of the Holy Ghost.” – Samuel Chadwick

“The evangelization of the world in this generation depends first of all upon a revival of prayer. Deeper than the need for men; deeper, far, than the need for money; aye, deep down at the bottom of our spiritless life is the need for the forgotten secret of prevailing, world-wide prayer.” – Robert E. Speer

“Oh, for closest communion with God, till soul and body, head, face, and heart – shine with Divine brilliancy! But oh! for a holy ignorance of our shining!” – Robert Murray M’Cheyne

“Some people do not like to hear much of repentance; but I think it is so necessary that if I should die in the pulpit, I would desire to die preaching repentance, and if out of the pulpit I would desire to die practicing it.” – Matthew Henry

“There is need of a great revival of spiritual life, of truly fervent devotion to our Lord Jesus, of entire consecration to His service. It is only in a church in which this spirit of revival has at least begun, that there is any hope of radical change in the relation of the majority of our Christian people to mission work.” – Andrew Murray

“The love-slave has no pleasure like that of serving his master. This is his joy, and his very ‘crown of rejoicing.’ The love-slave is altogether at his master’s service. He is all eyes for his master. He watches. He is all ears for his master. He listens. His mind is willing. His hands are ready. His feet are swift to sit at the master’s feet and look into his loved face, to listen to his voice and catch his words; to run on his errands, to do his bidding, to share his privations and sorrows, to watch at his door, to guard his honor, to praise his name, to defend his person, to seek and promote his interests, and, if needs be, to die for his dear sake; this is the joy of the slave of love, and this he counts his perfect freedom.” – Samuel L. Brengle