Category: Prayer Initiatives

Thesis #13: “The New Apostolic Epoch”  By: P. Douglas Small

 

Healthy prayer does not begin with us, but with God.  It is the space he creates, that He gives by grace, for communion and transformation.  In return, prayer is a gift we give back to God, measured by time and evidenced by worshipful consecration.  It’s privilege, not its center, allows for presentation of our needs (petition, prayer requests) and its duty, demands prayer for others, particularly the lost (intercession).  But its heart is always worshipfully free – it is a pure gift.

O God, creator of us all, thank you for this great privilege to cry out to you in prayer!  Our world is moving at an ever maddening pace away from You.  It is frightening to us to see and hear the reality of how humanity has moved so far from faith in You.

O God, help us in our feeble efforts to be a credible voice of testimony for You, Your great love, and Your desire to save unto the uttermost, those who call upon You. Our work is meaningless and will be fruitless without Your partnership in it.  We acknowledge Your sovereignty in our lives and pledge ourselves to call upon Your name always!  You have always been there and we believe in Your promise to never leave us alone all the way through this journey of life.

We ask all these petitions in the Name of Your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ!  And thank You again, for the privilege of prayer!

 

Thesis #12: “The New Apostolic Epoch”  By: P. Douglas Small   

“Prayer is at it’s heart, worship – and at it’s edge, mission. In between, God meets our needs.  Communion with God, not prayer requests, is the heart of prayer.

Prayer:  O God, may we see by your Spirit and by your Word, that prayer truly is the heartbeat of the believer who is effective and alive in the Spirit.  Your Word does tell us that “we have not, because we do not ask”.  So, we ask You first for contentment in You, for hope of a future reflected to us in Your Word.  As we pray, build up the muscle of trust and faith in You, in Your Word. We are so in need of Your Presence through prayer, yet we often find our prayers reduced to grumbling, complaining meanderings of self-centered petitions.  Give us the endurance to wait until you come and commune with us, overwhelming our hearts with Your loving, living Presence.  There is much to be accomplished for You and the Kingdom you have entrusted to our hands.  Lead us on in this world of hurt and pain, so we stand as beacons of hope and instruments of help for others along the way.  We humbly ask these petitions in the Name above all names, (our own included) the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  Amen!

 

Thesis #11: “The New Apostolic Epoch”   By: P. Douglas Small 

A thesis is a statement or theory that is put forward as a premise to be maintained or proven.  I believe the following thesis that I am about to read to you concerning prayer.  In the church, we do many things such as maintaining the buildings and grounds, keeping them clean, visiting the sick and needy, caring for those in need of care, disciplining, training, preaching the Gospel and a whole lot more.  The thesis I am presenting today – thesis # 11 – about prayer says this:

Jesus commissioned His disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel.  First, they were to prayerfully wait in the Upper Room for empowerment by the Holy Spirit.  As they prayed, in accord, the Holy Spirit came.  In prayer, the church was birthed; and by prayer, it is sustained.  In prayer, it evidences its purest form – dependence on God (Mark 16:15; Luke 14:23; Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:7-8). There is no true church where there is not ongoing demonstrated, deep dependence on God in prayer – by its leaders and the church itself, gathered in prayer.

Prayer:  Lord, teach us to pray, knowing that everything depends upon YOU!  Give us the courage to resist the voices screaming at us to strike out on our own.  From the collective experiences we have had, and know of from others, we “know” enough to get ourselves into deep trouble.  We confess, as Your church, we need You!  So, we pray, knowing that everything depends upon You.

But, we are also willing to work!  Lead us, guide us by your Holy Spirit along the journey so that we don’t misstep, so that our work is not in vain.  Give us a determination to seek your face in all we do that birth a knowing in our knower that we are moving in the direction you are pleased with.

Over and over, You have proven Yourself to us in our feeble attempts to hold onto You.  We love You and cannot see the way without You.  We confess our need of Your Presence in all of life and “wait” on You in prayer to move in on us.  Thank You for Your unfailing love and sustaining grace. Be with us in the days ahead.  We believe these days are critical to the future of this work to which you have called us.  Help us to stay focused on them and on You to guide us through them.  In the Name of Your Son, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, our Savior and Lord we pray.  Amen!

Thesis #9: “The New Apostolic Epoch”  By: P. Douglas Small

 

A thesis is a statement or theory that is put forward as a premise to be maintained or proved.  I believe the following thesis that I am about to read to you concerning prayer.  In the church, we do many things such as maintaining the buildings and grounds, keeping them clean, visiting the sick and needy, caring for those in need of care, discipling, training, preaching the Gospel and a whole lot more.  The thesis I am presenting today – thesis # 9 – about prayer says this:

“Back and forth, the people of God live between the two blessings, the praying home and the praying church; the personal family and the corporate.  Prayer constitutes both, drives the success of both, and invites God’s blessing on both.”

Prayer:  O Lord our Lord, we ask for your favor and blessing upon our families today.  Bless our homes to be places of great love and Christian communication.  Let our families find great consolation, comfort and direction from being a part of the home we are in.  We thank you for the haven our home is to us personally and ask as well that Your blessing always be available to any and all who pass through it’s doors.  May we be mindful of Your provision for us and honor you with regular, heartfelt, praise, prayer and worship in the place our family dwells.  Bless us, in our home, to be on the attack against the enemy of our family and all families in general.  Keep us in the victory of Christ, and by faith we apply the shed blood of Christ to the doorposts of our home for the protection we need against the enemy of our souls.

Thank you for the church, the body of Christ.  Thank You for the strength the church provides our family through fellowship, teaching, training, discipling and friendship.  We pray for the church to be a wellspring of refreshing for all families of the earth.  May the fountainhead of life through the name of Jesus Christ be manifest through the lives of each of us who have claimed allegiance through faith.  May we always be on the alert to opportunity for, as well as opposition to, the cause of Christ.

We submit our lives, to You and pledge to love You with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind and with all of our strength.  Use us, for your glory, to expand the Kingdom of God in the earth.  Guide us by your Holy Spirit in that process as long as we live.  Receive us into Your Presence when the day of our departing from this world comes.  In Jesus Name we pray!  Amen and Amen!

 

Thesis #8: “The New Apostolic Epoch”  By: P. Douglas Small 

A thesis is a statement or theory that is put forward as a premise to be maintained or proved.  I believe the following thesis that I am about to read to you concerning prayer.  In the church, we do many things such as maintaining the buildings and grounds, keeping them clean, visiting the sick and needy, caring for those in need of care, discipling, training, preaching the Gospel and a whole lot more.  The thesis I am presenting today, thesis # 8 about prayer says this:

“The two great blessings in Scripture drive prayer – the first, the blessing that constituted the home (Genesis 1:28), and the second, the blessing of Jesus at the ascension, that constituted the church with the descent of the Spirit (Luke 24:50; Acts 2).”

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  (Genesis 1:28 NKJV)

And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them.  (Luke 24:50 NKJV)

Acts 2, the Gift of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

Prayer:  O Lord, thank you for our families!  They mean more to us than words can express.  They are our safety net from the disasters of life, our help in the time of trouble.  We lean on their prayers and help in the struggles of life.

We take time now to bless them with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus, our Lord.  Meet their social and financial needs and their need for love.  Use us as instruments in Your hands to be purveyors of light for them.  May your love radiate from us to them in volumes of appreciation and help.

Thank you for the body of Christ, the church.  We have often been the recipient of the support, encouragement and love through the church that has sustained and kept us in trying times.  Thank You that You have allowed us to be a part of that great work assigned to the church through the Great Commission and the Great Commandments.  Your grace extended to us and all other believers is a guiding factor that leads us on to destiny and fulfilled purpose. Help us to remember that we are not of this world any longer, since we were borned again.  Also help us to remember that as long as we are in this world, we are here to bear witness to Your love and grace to those who have not received it.

Lead us and guide us on in our journey of life so that everything you have purposed in our lives will be fulfilled.  We love you and give ourselves completely to the service of Your Kingdom in the earth.  Be with us through Your Spirit to guide us into your will.  These things we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Your Son and our Savior.  Amen!

 

“The New Apostolic Epoch”  By: P. Douglas Small

“The New 95 Thesis”  Proposals for Reformation 

“My House shall be called a House of prayer for all nations”. (Isaiah 56:7, Mark 11:17) 

A thesis is a statement or theory that is put forward as a premise to be maintained or proved.  The following thesis you are about to read concerns prayer.  In the church, we do many things such as maintain buildings and grounds, keeping them clean,  caring for those in need of care, discipling, training, preaching the Gospel and a whole lot more.  But, we cannot forget prayer!  Rev. Douglas Small, Ordained Bishop with the Church of God and International Director of Prayer Ministries for the Church of God, has put forth a New 95 Thesis on prayer in his book, The New Apostolic Epoch, available at alive publications.org.  This is the 7^th Thesis in the list for your consideration and use.  Included is a prayer you may pray and use also.

Thesis #7

“There can never be a praying church without praying people – buildings don’t pray!”  

Scripture Reference:  …”pray without ceasing,…” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 NKJV), …be unceasing and persistent in prayer; (AMP), …Never stop praying.  (NLT)

Prayer: by Pastor Dennis Langford

Suggested Prayer:  Lord, sometimes we forget that we are the church and the building is simply a meeting place that is often identified as the “church”.  Just because we are not at the building doesn’t mean we are any less the church.  We are more the church out there in the world than we are in the building by Your  design.

We are living and breathing, speaking and feeling our way through the troubles and trials of life.  In all that we encounter, there is bad and there is good.  We are influenced by that, and need the guidance of Your Word and the Holy Spirit to sustain.  We ask that you birth in our hearts a dependence upon these through prayer that is prayed without ceasing and enjoined anywhere and everywhere.

We know that we cannot be the church you desire us to be without praying.  We sincerely and urgently request that you convict our hearts when we do not pray!  When we disconnect from prayer to You in Jesus name, we always fail in our mission of representing you to a hurting, needy world.  Birth the fire of prayer in our hearts O Lord we pray in Jesus Name.  Amen!

 

 

“The New Apostolic Epoch”  By: P. Douglas Small

“The New 95 Thesis”  Proposals for Reformation 

“My House shall be called a House of prayer for all nations”. (Isaiah 56:7, Mark 11:17) 

A thesis is a statement or theory that is put forward as a premise to be maintained or proved.  The following thesis you are about to read concerns prayer.  In the church, we do many things such as maintain buildings and grounds, keeping them clean,  caring for those in need of care, discipling, training, preaching the Gospel and a whole lot more.  But, we cannot forget prayer!  Rev. Douglas Small, Ordained Bishop with the Church of God and International Director of Prayer Ministries for the Church of God, has put forth a New 95 Thesis on prayer in his book, The New Apostolic Epoch, available at alive publications.org.  This is the 6^th Thesis in the list for your consideration and use.  Included is a prayer you may pray and use also.  

Thesis #6

“The typical church is not engaged in harvest prayer, in evangelistic praying, in tearful prayer for lost people – prayer is too often self-absorbed in its thinking, and lacking a missional strategy that considers the lost near and far.  (The New Apostolic Epoch – Thesis #6 – Page 22, 23)

36) But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. 37)Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38)Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”                     Matthew 9:36-38 – NKJV

Prayer:   by Pastor Dennis Langford

Suggested Prayer:  “Lord, one day, all of us who are now saved were lost. There was no hope for us outside of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  We were without saving hope in this world!  But, someone prayed for us!  Someone carried us in their hearts and prayers until faith blossomed in us and the witness of our mouth confirmed the answer to their prayers for our salvation.  For many of us, it was our parents and grandparents or our brothers or sisters.  For others it was our spouse or our children. But somebody prayed and held onto God on behalf of our spiritual need until the change came.

Lord, it is not enough that we got saved by the blood of Jesus Christ.  We were not the only ones you died for!  You died for our brothers and sisters, our nephews and nieces, our children and our grandchildren.  You gave your life for our neighbors and friends, everyone who has lived, is alive today or will live on planet earth!  We ask you Lord of the Harvest to burden our hearts with the lost who are half way around the world from us, and those closest to us.

We give you permission Holy Spirit to convict our hearts when we fail to pray for the salvation of the lost both near to us and far away from us.  Everywhere there are people, there are those who do not know you in the full pardon of their sin.  Lord, it is not enough to support our missionaries afar and our ministries near with our financial giving and not support through pray for the harvest of lost souls to be gathered in.

So, once again, we pray to You, Lord of the Harvest, to not only send forth laborers into the harvest, but use us in prayer and personal witness to be a reaper of the harvest.  Prepare our hearts Holy Spirit for the opportunities that are before us.  Open our eyes fully to see them and use us as You will to reap the harvest you have placed before us.

This we ask, according to Your will, in the Name of Your Son, and our Savior, Jesus Christ!  Amen!

 

“The New Apostolic Epoch”  By: P. Douglas Small

“The New 95 Thesis”  Proposals for Reformation 

“My House shall be called a House of prayer for all nations”. (Isaiah 56:7, Mark 11:17) 

A thesis is a statement or theory that is put forward as a premise to be maintained or proved.  The following thesis you are about to read concerns prayer.  In the church, we do many things such as maintain buildings and grounds, keeping them clean,  caring for those in need of care, discipling, training, preaching the Gospel and a whole lot more.  But, we cannot forget prayer!  Rev. Douglas Small, Ordained Bishop with the Church of God and International Director of Prayer Ministries for the Church of God, has put forth a New 95 Thesis on prayer in his book, The New Apostolic Epoch, available at alive publications.org.  This is the 5^th Thesis in the list for your consideration and use.  Included is a prayer you may pray and use also.  

Thesis #5

The church as a house of prayer ‘for the nations’ demands missional prayer, prayer with eternal consequences in view, prayer beyond one’s own narrow slice of pain.  (The New Apostolic Epoch – P. Douglas Small, page #22)

Prayer: by Pastor Dennis Langford

O God, you have called Your church to the nations.  Increase and enlarge my vision to see beyond myself to the world.  Specifically, give me sight to see and embrace my opportunity to make a difference through my prayers and through the investment of my time and effort.  Do not let me be satisfied with praying or even supporting others who go.  Move me to go into the community of the hurting, with the expectation that you will be there when I arrive at that place of opportunity where ministry awaits me!  You not only called me from where the hurting are, you equipped me through your love, grace and mercy to go back to where you brought me from to be “salt” and “light”.

Lord, I sometimes forget that there is heaven to gain and hell to shun.  “So teach us [me] to number [my] our days, that [I] we may gain a heart of wisdom,” as the Psalmist said.  (Psalm 90:12 NKJV) I do not hope to win a popularity contest, but, I do hope to be blessed with a message to deliver, that delivers those who live in the bondage of sin. Prepare me with the Word and anoint me with the Holy Spirit!  Guide me by your Presence and we I go in the Name of Your Son and my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Lord may all be done for Your glory and to increase Your kingdom in the earth.  In the mighty Name above all names, named upon this earth,…Jesus Christ our magnificent Lord & King!  Amen!

Thesis # 4: “The New Apostolic Epoch        By: Douglas Small

Sunday, March 31, 2019

“But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.”  Matthew 6:6 – NLT

The Sunday church experience has too often become a substitute for daily, personal God-encounters in prayer.  The majority of people who are to comprise a house of prayer are not praying, except as they pray on the go, and this is most often about personal needs.  Prayer is far too casual.  God is reduced to a servant.  Prayer commandeers Him to meet our needs.  True intimacy demands privacy.  (P. Douglas Small, The New Apostolic Epoch, Page 22)

Prayer: by Pastor Dennis Langford

Lord, today is the beginning of a brand new week!  Thank you for this week that is stretching before me.  Thank you because you are already out there where we I going.  You will meet me each day as time marches on, carrying me along with it.  Remind me, first thing each morning, how important it is to pray, to call upon your name, to trust you for the best outcome possible as each new day dawns.  Lord, spending that time with You will make me a better person!  Daily prayer will keep me in step with your will for my live.  I give you permission to bring me face to face with  own prayerlessness should I fail to take time to pray.

My world needs me to intercede for the intervention of Your power and Presence to come upon it’s people who are being swept away by a current of lawlessness and ungodliness.  O God, in the Name of Jesus Christ, please come and change the tide of evil by pouring out the True Spirit of righteousness.  These are surely the evil times you spoke of when evil men and those who seduce others to be and do evil are increasing in alarming numbers, boldness and exploits!  I petition you to stop them and raise them up with this generation, with the Word of God on their lips and the Spirit of God in their hearts.  Let the Word of God be spoken in power and with great conviction.  Let the Holy Spirit fall with great conviction upon this generation.  Raise up firebrands, those filled with the boldness to speak the Word of truth in the midst of a crooked and perverse people. Give them a fearlessness like that of John the Baptist and Elijah.  May the perseverance of Daniel keep them for the time of their ministry.

And Lord, I am here because you have planted me in the moment and place where I am.  I humble myself before You, surrendering to your will.  Come Holy Spirit and fill my heart with an anointing that releases me for the work assignment you have called me too.  Don’t let us miss my day of opportunity!  Don’t pass me by, but visit me in this dreadful day of iniquity and blatant sin.  Give me a heart of love to love those who are unloveable.  Give me grace to go where others refuse to go and do what others refuse to do.

Lord, increase my attention span to 24/7, my prayer life to maximum prayer alert, and full capacity output.  Change my perspective – however you have to do it – to understand and see prayer in a different manner.  Not as a duty, but a powerfully productive discipline!  Not just as a discipline, but also as a delightful experience!  And not just as a delight, but also as an exercise of dependent effort which releases me into Your will and the power of God into and upon our world!

Father, it is good to call upon you in the Name of your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ.  I look forward, with anticipation, for a move of saving, healing, delivering grace in these last days of earth.  Grant me the petitions I ask of You, for without You I can do nothing!  Amen!

 

Thesis # 4: “The New Apostolic Epoch”

 By: Douglas Small

Sunday, March 31, 2019

“But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.” Matthew 6:6 – NLT

The Sunday church experience has too often become a substitute for daily, personal God-encounters in prayer. The majority of people who are to comprise a house of prayer are not praying, except as they pray on the go, and this is most often about personal needs.  Prayer is far too casual.  God is reduced to a servant.  Prayer commandeers Him to meet our needs.  True intimacy demands privacy.  (P. Douglas Small, The New Apostolic Epoch, Page 22)

Prayer: by Pastor Dennis Langford

Lord, today is the beginning of a brand new week!  Thank you for this week that is stretching before me.  Thank you because you are already out there where we I going.  You will meet me each day as time marches on, carrying me along with it.  Remind me, first thing each morning, how important it is to pray, to call upon your name, to trust you for the best outcome possible as each new day dawns.  Lord, spending that time with You will make me a better person!  Daily prayer will keep me in step with your will for my live.  I give you permission to bring me face to face with  own prayerlessness should I fail to take time to pray.

My world needs me to intercede for the intervention of Your power and Presence to come upon it’s people who are being swept away by a current of lawlessness and ungodliness.  O God, in the Name of Jesus Christ, please come and change the tide of evil by pouring out the True Spirit of righteousness.  These are surely the evil times you spoke of when evil men and those who seduce others to be and do evil are increasing in alarming numbers, boldness and exploits!  I petition you to stop them and raise them up with this generation, with the Word of God on their lips and the Spirit of God in their hearts.  Let the Word of God be spoken in power and with great conviction.  Let the Holy Spirit fall with great conviction upon this generation.  Raise up firebrands, those filled with the boldness to speak the Word of truth in the midst of a crooked and perverse people. Give them a fearlessness like that of John the Baptist and Elijah.  May the perseverance of Daniel keep them for the time of their ministry.

And Lord, I am here because you have planted me in the moment and place where I am.  I humble myself before You, surrendering to your will.  Come Holy Spirit and fill my heart with an anointing that releases me for the work assignment you have called me too.  Don’t let us miss my day of opportunity!  Don’t pass me by, but visit me in this dreadful day of iniquity and blatant sin.  Give me a heart of love to love those who are unloveable.  Give me grace to go where others refuse to go and do what others refuse to do.

Lord, increase my attention span to 24/7, my prayer life to maximum prayer alert, and full capacity output.  Change my perspective – however you have to do it – to understand and see prayer in a different manner.  Not as a duty, but a powerfully productive discipline!  Not just as a discipline, but also as a delightful experience!  And not just as a delight, but also as an exercise of dependent effort which releases me into Your will and the power of God into and upon our world!

Father, it is good to call upon you in the Name of your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ.  I look forward, with anticipation, for a move of saving, healing, delivering grace in these last days of earth.  Grant me the petitions I ask of You, for without You I can do nothing!  Amen!