Prayer and Evangelism

I’ve really enjoyed this weeks lectures on Prayer & Creative Evangelism with Gabriele Soltau. Here are some of the main teachings from the week:

Be Intentional

One of the most important things I took from this is that I need to be intentional in my prayer life and in my evangelism. This was one of the first phrases that came out of Gabbie’s mouth. It really struck me because it was such a practical lesson to learn at the start of a ‘spiritual lecture’. This was one of the most basic and yet important principles taught this week. Its so important not to waste time on things that don’t matter. We all have ‘things’in our lives _________ that can steal our time and bring no fruit if we let them. Don’t miss the opportunities that appear before you whether these are opportunities simply to pray or to speak and share something about Jesus with others.

During this week I was challenged to create a habit of prayer and to make space for God to move and speak to me, so I can hear his still small voice.

We spent quite a bit of the week on intercession prayer which is a fancy word for standing in the gap for people or places (1 Timothy 2:1-3).

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—  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,

Mindset

Everything comes out of a mindset! I have heard this word used a lot over the DTS lecture phase and have come to realize it is somewhat interchangeable with other words including:

• Identity
• Worldview
• Frame of Reference
• Your worldview glasses
• View of the World
• Your belief
• Understanding

How you see yourself, God and the world around you dramatically changes depending on what you believe. Everyone has a different mindset and through this they view the world. This is usually a mixture of truth and lies. To pray effectively you must have a good understanding of who God is, who you are, your relationship with God, and your authority in Christ on this earth. A key verse for me this week was Matthew 7:7-11

 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.  Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

This is a powerful verse especially verse 11. If I know how to give good gifts to people (which I do most of the time) then just think how better the gifts that come from a God who loves me and knows me so well.

Faith

Faith is a word that is used a lot in Christian circles and this week it was used and explained even more. What really is encouraging about faith is that it is a gift (Ephesians 2:8 ). That if we feel we are lacking we can ask for it. It is God who supplies it not us.

 

 

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God

There is a process for building your faith, just like there is a process of forgiveness. Someone may hurt me and to forgive them I must speak out that I forgive them. The feeling of un-forgiveness or revenge may come back to my mind. I will need to pray again confess that I forgive that person. The same is true for faith, I may read that God is a good Father who knows my needs but when hard times come and I start to worry I need to go back to the truth of who God is and believe it. It is a process, not just a feeling. I may not always feel loved or that God is giving me good gifts at a certain time in my life, but the fact is God does not change, He always loves me and wants the best for my life.

Head —–> Revelation —–> Heart

Persistent in Prayer

It is so important that I read the Bible.  If I don’t then how can I truly know who God is, Who I am, and what is truth and lies? One really key teaching I heard this week from the Bible was to keep praying. When I was younger I used to wear a rubber band on my wrist that said P.U.S.H. Pray until something happens. This week I had a greater sense of what this means. At times I have doubted that when I pray for people to be healed nothing will happen, but first I must remember the fact that I can’t heal anyone! Only God can heal and there is no special formula for healing others. All I know is that “The best way never to see people healed is to not pray for them.” The example of the persistent widow was used throughout the week and really helped me understand more about prayer. There are certain streams of teaching that say you pray once and it is done. I understand the logic, but it seems that Jesus wanted to expand our faith that we would not give up.

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.  He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought.  And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think,  yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says.  how much more God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?  I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (

If we are persistent in prayer we shouldn’t pray just once like some streams of teaching, but follow the example of the widow and be persistent.

Misc and Gabriele

Two other phrases that really struck me but didn’t really fit into the above were about spiritual warfare.

The Highest form of Spiritual warfare is worship. It changes the atmosphere, it declares who God is, it changes your heart and focus’s you on Jesus. So in every spiritual struggle fixing your eyes on God and spending time in worship will always help.

When seeing the spirit of _____ respond in the opposite spirit. This is not a new teaching for me as we heard it in the first week, but it is still as powerful. Hearing stories of people who reversed the cultural norm through prayer and responding in the opposite spirit was so encouraging. It still shocks us today when in a greedy society, people start be generous or counteract violence with peace.

Gabriele was amazing teacher not just because of what she taught but also because of what she did out of lectures. She was constantly encouraging and leading us to pray for healing and opportunities in our weekly outreaches. She also took part in the prayer walk treasure hunt and  the weekly outreach.