The following are the prayer guides for today’s sessions, 2/23/26. If you are following along feel free to print them and use them to guide your own prayers for the day. The Link to the evening message is at the bottom.
2016-01-01
Convocation 2016
Preparing Our Hearts to Pray
Preparation begins with taking responsibility for our own minds and hearts.
Col 3:1-3
1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on
the right hand of God.
2 Set your affection (mind) on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. KJV
As much as lies within us, we shut everything else out and resolve by God’s grace to focus on the issues
at hand.
It also involves worship and we have a wonderful guide for worship, given by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Matt 6:9-13
9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, for ever. Amen. KJV
Certain crucial realities must be both present and active in our minds when we pray. (The blank places are left for you to compost your own thoughts concerning the individual matters. ld)
Our Father –
Who is in heaven –
Hallowed be Thy Name –
Thy Kingdom come –
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven –
Give us this day our daily bread –
Forgive us our debts –
as we forgive our debtors –
Lead us not into temptation –
deliver us from the evil one –
Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever, Amen
2016-01-02
Convocation 2016
Our Specific Requests
Eph 1:15-23
15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of
wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his
calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the
working of his mighty power,
20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand
in the heavenly places,
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not
only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. KJV
Eph 3:14-21
14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by
his Spirit in the inner man;
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the
fulness of God.
20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according
to the power that worketh in us,
21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
KJV
Col 1:9-12
9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that
ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and
increasing in the knowledge of God;
11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering
with joyfulness;
12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the
saints in light: KJV
2 Thess 1:11-12
11 Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and
fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:
12 That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to
the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. KJV
We are praying that these things be realities in our own lives.
We know that it is the will of God that we each be filled continually with the Spirit of God.
Eph 5:18
18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; KJV
We believe that it is His will that we preach the gospel with the power of God attending.
1 Cor 4:19-20
19 But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them
which are puffed up, but the power.
20 For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. KJV
It is the longing of every faithful servant of Christ to know the power of God, the fullness of the Holy Spirit,
and the advancement of the Kingdom of God in his life.
If we were all satisfied that this was a reality, we would not be here today.
Each of us knows that:
this is a pattern that is anticipated and expected in the NT,
we cannot create this in ourselves without profound help,
our labors to see this in our lives have been somewhat, if not altogether, insufficient,
our suspicion is that there remains some sin, on some level, that is hindering us,
for us to continue in this state is unacceptable to our Father.
We are longing to see Revival and Awakening in our churches.
We know that we live in a day of lukewarm and fallen Christianity, that is has affected and infected many
believers and churches.
Yet we remember that even at Laodicea, the Lord Jesus was pleased to offer a way out of their situation
and a return to Himself.
We know that this condition can only be remedied by the visit of the Spirit of God upon us.
We also know that unless someone is faithful to pray, Revival and Awakening will never come.
We have seen in our own lives how very difficult it is to maintain focus and purpose over time to
pray toward this end.
We are often frustrated, discouraged and disappointed as we see the spiritual condition of our own
hearts and of those who meet with us to worship.
We know that Revival and Awakening will greatly change us and our churches.
And, we know that we must be willing to be changed.
Continuing to do the same things expecting different results is not wise.
We pray for Revival and Awakening for our communities.
We know that there is deep and profound need for the working of God in our communities and the
areas that surround our churches.
We know that it is the will of God for each church to have a profound effect on the area in which
it exists.
We know that, for the most part, we have not impacted our communities seemingly at all with the
gospel.
We believe that if God might move upon us by His Power our communities will be powerfully
affected by it.
Many in our communities did not go to church last Sunday and will not this coming Sunday. And,
many who did attend church went to a place where the gospel is not proclaimed. We know that
we are to be their light.
Matt 5:14-16
14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth
light unto all that are in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your
Father which is in heaven. KJV
We know that one of the lasting effects of Awakening and Revival will be an increased burden for
souls in our churches and an increasing burden among the lost of our area for their salvation.
And, finally, we are praying for Revival and Awakening for our culture.
We know that unless God moves mightily upon this culture that it is destined to follow the path of
every culture that has given itself over to wickedness.
We remember that this country was born in a time of Revival and Awakening which fashioned the
very fabric of the culture.
We remember what a haven it has been to the Church of God and how the Church has prospered
here in many ways.
We remember the saints who gave themselves to God in mighty ways over our history that this
heritage might be preserved.
And we remember the countless thousands of Christians who have died defending this place of
freedom for the Church.
We know that the sad condition of the church in our day is largely responsible for the collapse of
the culture that we are seeing; the compromise of truth, the passion for numbers and money over
the glory of God, and the unwillingness of the Church to hear the admonitions of God to return and
repent.
We envision what the nation might be under Revival and Awakening: the restored passion after
God, the true seeking of God in prayer, the mighty conversions that would take place, and the
ways that our culture and government would be changed.
Therefore, we pray for Revival and Awakening.
2016-01-03
Convocation 2016
Our Particular Disabilities Concerning Revival
Gen 26:16-25
16 And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.
17 And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.
18 And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his
father; for the philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names
after the names by which his father had called them.
19 And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.
20 And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac’s herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called
the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.
21 And they digged another well, and strove for that also:and he called the name of it Sitnah.
22 And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called
the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be
fruitful in the land.
23 And he went up from thence to Beer-sheba.
24 And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father:
fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s
sake.
25 And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD and pitched his tent there:
and there Isaac’s servants digged a well. KJV
Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones used this passage as an analogy for the seeking of Revival in our time. He made
the point that we do not need a new work but to ‘dig again the wells of our fathers’ and not be seduced
by the New Things around us.
But we are at a disadvantage. There was no Revival in the days of our fathers, nor in the days of their
fathers. The ‘wells,’ as it were, are somewhat lost to us. We do not have context nor example for the
seeking and finding of the power of God.
So, it seems that we have some needs.
1. Wisdom to know how to seek Revival without being drawn into the deceptions that lie in wait.
2. Knowledge of how those men sought and found the power of God.
3. Diligence, persistence, and determination not to let go until we have the answer that we are seeking.
4. The willingness to be ostracized if that is what comes for our determination and focus on this
matter. This is not incidental, it is a matter of the survival of Christianity in our culture.
5. A real understanding of how and where Christianity has failed over the last hundred years that we
might follow a proper remedy.
It may be that we need to radically alter our own approaches to the issues of preaching
and pastoring, even of walking with God personally, but we must have the wisdom of God
to guide us in the effort.
6. An understanding of those behaviors and attitudes that we may have absorbed which are counter-
productive to the end we are seeking.
7. Revival always produces radical changes in unexpected ways. We need a commitment to the Lord
to be willing to follow the changes that He brings.
8. The path of Revival is difficult. The seeking of it is difficult but Revival itself is difficult. We must
have a heart of willingness to labor and bear difficulty in order to see God work.
9. The reality is that we ourselves my be part of the problem. It is not beyond possibility that there
are things about us even now, even meeting to pray for a noble cause, that grieve and, in some way
beyond our understanding, hinder the working of the Spirit both in this prayer meeting and in our
respective ministries.
10. We need remedies for our own ignorance. Unlike Isaac, who knew where his father’s wells were
located and how to unstop them from the devices of the Philistines, we came into Christianity at a
time that it had been long without Revival, when men had concocted devices and schemes so as
not to need the powerful visits of the Spirit of God.
– We may not, as yet, have learned all of the ways that the errors of the Christianity into
which we were born have affected us negatively.
– And, because of that, we may not have sufficiently purged those errors from our souls
and our ministries.
Therefore, we desperately need the moving of the Spirit of God upon our own souls that we might not be
overcome by the obstacles of the Philistines but be given grace to be overcomers in this matter.
Rev 21:7
7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
KJV
2016-01-04
Convocation 2016
Critical Things Needed for Corporate Prayer to be Effective
On the one hand we think that all we should do is get together and pray, but we know that there are some underlying things that are needed and necessary.
Acts 1:12-14
12 Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem
a sabbath day’s journey.
13 And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter,
and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew,
James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.
14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary
the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.
Acts 2:1
1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one
place.
The thing that seems obvious to most is the unity.
But we know the struggles of getting together in one place, do we not?
And, even when we are together there is sometimes lack of core agreement on critical matters.
There is also, sometimes, a lack of genuine love for one another which, John teaches, goes to our love for
God Himself.
There, there is also pride, the competitive spirit, mistrust, conceit and a thousand other issues which creep into our relationships and hinder a real spirit of unity.
There was a common goal.
Luke 24:46-49
46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from
the dead the third day:
47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all
nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
48 And ye are witnesses of these things.
49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of
Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. KJV
Acts 1:4-5
4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart
from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of
me.
5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many
days hence. KJV
Their common goal was to be empowered by the Holy Spirit and their method was to tarry in Jerusalem
as they had been commanded, and pray.
We have a difficult time commonly defining even what this was and what it means for us today.
– Can we agree that this was a unique event followed by many subsequent events of the
same nature and that we seek another of those visitations of God’s Spirit upon us?
We all know and can (hopefully) agree that our first Common Goal is that God be glorified in us and
through us. His primary means of glorifying Himself across the ages has been through empowering His
people.
We also have the goal that our churches, and Christianity in general, be lifted up spiritually to a blessed
place, duplicating the great times that we read of in history.
We have a common goal of obeying Jesus Christ concerning the Great Commission, knowing that He must empower us to do it.
We also have a common goal of giving a good accounting of ourselves at the Judgment and those of us who
are ministers know that we will be held to a very high standard.
Those early saints has a common methodology:
They continued in prayer, corporate prayer.
Revivals of the past have always been preceded by faithful and abiding labor on the part of some to sustain the effort of lifting up requests to God for His Outpoured Spirit.
They had a commitment to the Lord, to the goal that He had laid before them and to one another.
They continued faithful in that unified commitment and God mightily blessed them for it.
The great 100 Years Revival of the Moravians demonstrates to us that this methodology is sound and that it is blessed of the Lord whenever it is used.
2016-01-05
Convocation 2016
Some Difficult Questions to Face
Given the fact that we have often prayed and sought God for remedies for the current state of spiritual decline without a satisfactory answer, we cannot avoid asking ourselves some hard questions rather than simply taking things for granted.
Are we unconverted?
Before we answer ‘of course not’ we must remember that people whom we would consider
unregenerate had met for prayer many times, sometimes with remarkable results. (Azuza Street, for
example.) This possibility must be seriously considered.
Do we have critical theological error?
Of course, we think that we believe the truth, but have we missed something, something that makes
this much difference?
Are we double-minded?
We know that such people cannot expect answers to their prayers.
Are we just not serious enough with God for Him to trust us with His Outpoured Power?
We would not give the car keys to a child, so is our Father withholding that which we would handle
wrongly?
Do we have hidden sin?
He knows, and we know that He knows, even if no one else does. It must be dealt with else God will
not grant us such a blessing as this one that we seek.
Do we have sin that is hidden from our own eyes? Have we seriously checked with the Lord about that?
The sin of Achan was hidden from Joshua and Israel but they suffered the consequences anyway,
and so shall we except we turn over every stone.
Are we allowing things in our lives, our worship, or in our churches that grieve the Holy Spirit?
Remember that more than one of the pastors of Rev 2 & 3 were criticized by Jesus for allowing
improper things to go on in their churches.
Do we worship God appropriately? Are we sure? How diligent are our efforts?
One of the errors of our day may be a worship system that we have absorbed from a badly damaged
Christian culture.
Have we made grave and critical errors concerning the Holy Spirit? Have we made wrong
assumptions about what grieves Him and what does not?
Certainly there is much confusion in our time concerning Him.
How about our prayer lives? Have we made serious inquiry into our practices and methods? Are we
certain that we are handling ourselves correctly in regard to it?
The Traits of an Awakened Church, pt 1, Walking in the Fear of the Lord
