HELPS TO INTERCESSION - DAYS 1 - 15

This is a guide to help people begin to have a disciplined time of intercessory prayer.

DAY ONE

WHAT TO PRAY - For the Power of the Holy Spirit

"I bow my knees before the Father...that ...he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit..." Ephesians 3:14,16
"...wait for the promise of the Father..." Acts 1:4
"The fuller manifestation of the grace and energy of the Blessed Spirit of God, in the removal of all that is contrary to God's revealed will, so that we grieve not the Holy Spirit but that He may work in mightier power in the Church, for the exaltation of Christ and the blessing of souls."
God has one promise to and through His exalted Son; our Lord has one gift to His Church; the Church has one need; all prayer unites in the one petition-the power of the Holy Spirit. Make it your prayer.

HOW TO PRAY- As a Child of the Father

DAY TWO

WHAT TO PRAY - For the Spirit of Supplication

"The Spirit himself intercedes for us..." Romans 8:26
"...I will pour out...a spirit of...supplication..." Zechariah 12:10

"The evangelization of the world depends first upon a revival of prayer. Deeper than the need for people - even, deep down at the bottom of our spiritless life-is the need for the forgotten secret of prevailing, world-wide prayer."
Every child of God has the Holy Spirit within him or her to pray. God waits to give the Spirit in full measure. Ask for yourself, and all who join, the outpouring of the Spirit of Supplication. Ask it for your own prayer circle.

HOW TO PRAY - In the Spirit

"Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication." Eph. 6:18 "...pray in the Holy Spirit;...." Jude 20
Our Lord gave His disciples on His resurrection day the Holy Spirit to enable them to wait for the full outpouring on the day of Pentecost. It is only in the power of the Spirit already in us, acknowledged and yielded to, that we can pray for His fuller manifestation. Say to the Father, it is the Spirit of His Son in you is urging you to plead His promise.

DAY THREE

WHAT TO PRAY - For all Saints

"Pray at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,...." Ephesians 6:18 Every member of a body is interested in the welfare of the whole, and exists to help and complete the others. Believers are one body, and ought to pray, not so much for the welfare of their own church or society, but, first of all, for all the saints. This large, unselfish love is the proof that Christ's Spirit and Love is teaching them to pray. Pray first for all and then for the believers around you.

HOW TO PRAY - In the Love of the Spirit

"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:35
"...I...pray...that they may all be one; so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." John 17:21
"I appeal to you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf,...." Romans 15:30
"Above all hold unfailing your love for one another,...." 1 Peter 4:8
If we are to pray we must love. Let us say to God we do love all His saints; let us say we love especially every child of His we know. Let us pray with fervent love, in the love of the Spirit.

DAY FOUR

WHAT TO PRAY - For the Spirit of Holiness

God is the Holy One. His people is a holy people. He speaks: I am holy: I am the Lord which make you holy. Christ prayed: Sanctify them. Make them holy through Thy Truth. Paul prayed: "God establish your hearts unblamable in holiness." "God sanctify you wholly!" Pray for all saints - God's holy ones - throughout the Church, that the Spirit of holiness may rule them, especially for new converts, for the saints in your own neighborhood or congregation, for any you for whom you are especially interested. Think of their special need, weakness, or sin, and pray that God may make them holy.

HOW TO PRAY - Trusting in God's Omnipotence

The things that are impossible with people are possible with God. When we think of the great things for which we ask, of how little likelihood there is of their coming, of our own insignificance. Prayer is not only wishing, or asking, but believing and accepting. Be still before God and ask Him to give you to know Him as the Almighty One, and leave your petitions with Him who does wonders.

DAY FIVE

WHAT TO PRAY - That God's People may be kept from the World

"Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me,....I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." John 17:11, 15, 16 In the last night Christ asked three things for His disciples: that they might be kept as those who are not of the world; that they might be sanctified; that they might be one in love. You cannot do better than pray as Jesus prayed. Ask for God's people that they may be kept separate from the world and its spirit; that they, by the Holy Spirit, may live as those who are not of the world.

HOW TO PRAY - Having Confidence before God

"Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him." 1 John 3:21-22
Learn these words by heart. Get them into your heart. Join the ranks of those who, with John, draw near to God with an assured heart, that does not condemn them, having confidence toward God. In this spirit pray for your brother or sister who sins (1 John 5:16). In the quiet confidence of an obedient child plead for those of your brothers and sisters who may be giving way to sin. Pray for all to be kept from the evil. And say often, "...we receive...whatever we ask, because we keep and do...."

DAY SIX

WHAT TO PRAY - For the Spirit of Love in the Church

"I...pray...that they may be one, even as we are one, I in them and thou in me so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me....that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them." John 17:22-23, 26 "The fruit of the Spirit is love...." Galatians 5:22
Believers are one in Christ, as He is one with the Father. The love of God rests on them, and can dwell in them. Pray that the power of the Holy Spirit may so work this love in believers, that the world may see and know God's love in them. Pray much for this.

HOW TO PRAY - As one of God's Remembrancers

"I have set watchmen on thy walls, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, keep not silence, and give Him no rest." Isaiah 62:6 KJV Study these words until your whole soul be filled with the consciousness, I am appointed intercessor. Enter God's presence in that faith. Study the world's need with that thought - it is my work to intercede; the Holy Spirit will teach me for what and how. Let it be it be an abiding consciousness: My great life-work, like Christ's, is intercession - to pray for believers and those who do not yet know God.

DAY SEVEN

WHAT TO PRAY - For the Power of the Holy Spirit on Ministers

"I appeal to you...to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf...." Romans 15:30 "...he will deliver us....You also must help us by prayer...." 2 Corinthians 1:10, 11 What a great host of ministers there are in Christ's Church. What need they have of prayer. What a power they might be, if they were all clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit. Pray definitely for this; long for it. Think of your own minister, and ask it very especially for him or her. Connect every thought of the ministry, in your town or neighborhood or the world, with the prayer that all may be filled with the Spirit. Plead for them the promise, "Stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high." (Luke 24:49)
"...you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;...." Acts 1:8

HOW TO PRAY - In Secret

"But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret;..." Matthew 6:6
"He went up into the hills by himself to pray." Matthew 14:23; John 6:15
Take time and realize, when you are alone with God: Here am I now, face to face with God, to intercede for His servants. Do not think you have no influence, or that your prayer will not be missed. Your prayer and faith will make a difference. Cry in secret to God for His ministers.

DAY EIGHT

WHAT TO PRAY - For the Spirit on all Christian Workers

"You must also help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us in answer to many prayers." 2 Cor. 1:11
What multitude of workers in connection with our churches and missions, our railways and postal workers, our soldiers and sailors, our young men and young women, our fallen men and women, our poor and sick. God be praised for this! What could they accomplish if each were living in the fullness of the Holy Spirit? Pray for them; it makes you a partner in their work, and you will praise God each time you hear of blessing anywhere.

HOW TO PRAY - With definite Petitions

"What do you want me to do for you?" Luke 18:41
The Lord knew what the man wanted, and yet He asked him. The utterance of our wish gives point to the transaction in which we are engaged with God, and so awakens faith and expectation. Be very definite in your petitions, so as to know what answer you may look for. Just think of the great host of workers, and ask and expect God definitely to bless them in answer to the prayers of His people. Then ask still more definitely for workers around you. Intercession is not the breathing out of pious wishes; its aim is, in believing, persevering prayer, to receive and bring down blessing.

DAY NINE

WHAT TO PRAY - For God's Spirit on our Mission Work

"The evangelization of the world depends first of all upon a revival of prayer. Deeper than the need for people - even, deep down at the bottom of our spiritless life, is the need for the forgotten secret of prevailing, world-wide prayer."
"While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.' Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and set them off. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went...." Acts 13:2-4
Pray that our mission work may all be done in this spirit - waiting on God, hearing the voice of the Spirit, sending forth people with fasting and prayer. Pray that in our churches our mission interest and mission work may be in the power of the Holy Spirit and of prayer. It is a Spirit-filled, praying Church that will send out Spirit-filled missionaries, mighty in prayer.

HOW TO PRAY - Take Time

"I give myself unto prayer." Psalm 109:4 KJV
"But we will devote ourselves to prayer...." Acts 6:4
"Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God;...." Ecclesiastes 5:2
"...all night he continued in prayer to God." Luke 6:12
We need time with God - to realize His presence; to wait for Him to make Himself known; to consider and feel the needs we plead for; to take our place in Christ; to pray till we can believe that we have received. Take time in prayer, and pray down blessing on the mission work of the Church.

DAY TEN

WHAT TO PRAY - For God's Spirit on our Missionaries

"What the world needs today, is, not only more missionaries, but the outpouring of God's Spirit on everyone whom He has sent out to work for Him in the foreign field." "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth." Acts 1:8 God always gives His servants power equal to the work He asks of them. Think of the greatness and difficulty of this work, - cast out Satan out of his strongholds, - and pray that everyone who takes part in it may receive and do all his work in the power of the Holy Spirit. Think of the difficulties of your missionaries, and pray for them.

HOW TO PRAY - Trusting God's Faithfulness

DAY ELEVEN

WHAT TO PRAY - For more Laborers

"...pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." Matthew 9:38 What a remarkable call of the Lord Jesus for help from His disciples in getting the need supplied. What an honor put upon prayer. What a proof that God wants prayer and will hear it. Pray for laborers, for all students in theological seminaries, training homes, Bible institutes, that they may not go, unless He fits them and sends them forth; that our churches may train their students to seek for the sending forth of the Holy Spirit; that all believers may hold themselves ready to be sent forth, or to pray for those who can go.

HOW TO PRAY - In Faith, nothing Doubting

"And Jesus answered them, 'Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, "Be taken up and cast into the sea," and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.'" Mark 11:22 23 Have faith in God! Ask Him to make Himself known to you as the faithful, mighty God, who works all in all; and you will be encouraged to believe that He can give suitable and sufficient laborers, however impossible this appears. But, remember, in answer to prayer and faith. Apply this to every opening where a good worker is needed. The work is God's. He can give the right workman. But He must be asked and waited on.

DAY TWELVE

WHAT TO PRAY - For the Spirit to convince the World of Sin

"...I will send him [the Counselor] to you. And when he comes, he will convince the world of sin....." John 16:1-8
God's one desire, the one object of Christ's being manifested, is to take away sin. The first work of the Spirit on the world is conviction of sin. Without that, there is no deep or abiding revival, no powerful conversion. Pray for it, that the gospel may be preached in such power of the Spirit, that people may see that they have rejected and crucified Christ, and cry out, What shall we do?
Pray most earnestly for a mighty power of conviction of sin wherever the gospel is preached.

HOW TO PRAY - Stir up yourself to take hold of God's Strength

"Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me." Is. 27:5 KJV "There is no one that calls upon your name, that bestirs himself to take hold of you...." Isaiah 64:7
"Stir up the gift of God which is in thee...." 2 Timothy 1:6 KJV
First, take hold of God's strength. God is a Spirit. I cannot take hold of Him, and hold Him fast, but by the Spirit. Take hold of God's strength, and hold on till it has done for you what He has promised. Pray for the power of the Spirit to convict of sin.
Second, stir up yourself, the power that is in you by the Holy Spirit, to take hold. Give your whole heart and will to it, and say, I will not let You go except You bless me.

DAY THIRTEEN

WHAT TO PRAY - For the Spirit of Burning

"And he who is left in Zion...will be called holy, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion...by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning." Isaiah 4:33-4
A washing by fire! a cleansing by judgment! Those who have passed through this shall be called holy. The power of blessing for the world, the power of work and intercession that will avail, depends upon the spiritual state of the Church; and that can only rise higher as sin is discovered and put away. Judgment must begin at the house of God. There must be conviction of sin for sanctification. Beseech God to give His Spirit as a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning - to discover and burn out sin in His people.

HOW TO PRAY - In the Name of Christ

"Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; if you ask anything in my name, I will do it." John 14:13-14
Ask in the name of your Redeemer God, who sits upon the throne. Ask what He has promised, what He gave His blood for, that sin may be put away from among His people. Ask - the prayer is after His own heart - for the spirit of deep conviction of sin to come among His people. Ask for the spirit of burning. Ask in the faith of His name - the faith of what He wills, of what He can do - and look for the answer. Pray that the Church may be blessed, to be made a blessing in the world.

DAY FOURTEEN

WHAT TO PRAY - For the Church of the Future

"...that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God." Psalm 78:8
"...I will pour my Spirit upon your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring." Psalm 44:3
Pray for the rising generation, who are to come after us. Think of the young men and young women and children of this age, and pray for all the agencies at work among them; that in associations and societies and unions, in homes and schools, Christ may be honored, and the Holy Spirit get possession of them. Pray for the young of your own neighborhood.

HOW TO PRAY - With the Whole Heart

"May he grant you your heart's desire,...." Psalm 20:4
"Thou hast given him his heart's desire,...." Psalm 21:2
"With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O LORD!" Psalm 119:145
God lives, and listens to every petition with His whole heart. Each time we pray the whole Infinite God is there to hear. He asks that in each prayer the whole person shall be there too; that we shall cry with our whole heart. Christ gave Himself to God for people; and so He takes up every need into His intercession. If once we seek God with our whole heart, the whole heart will be in every prayer with which we come to this God. Pray with your whole heart for the young.

DAY FIFTEEN

WHAT TO PRAY - For Schools and Colleges

"And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the LORD: my spirit which is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your children, or out of the mouth of your children's children, says the LORD, from this time forth and for evermore." Isaiah 59:21
The future of the Church and the world depends, to an extent we little conceive, on the education of the day. The Church may be seeking to evangelize the non Christian, and be giving up hits own children to secular and materialistic influences. Pray for schools and colleges, and that the Church may realize and fulfill its momentous duty of caring for its children. Pray for godly teachers.

HOW TO PRAY - Not Limiting God

"They limited the Holy One of Israel." Psalm 78:14 KJV
"...he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief." Mt. 13:58
"Is anything too hard for the LORD?" Genesis 18:14
"'Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you,....'...'Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too hard for me?'" Jeremiah 32:17, 27
Beware, in your prayer, above everything, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things, above all that we ask or think. Each time you intercede, be quiet first and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, of how He delights to hear Christ, of your place in Christ, and expect great things.