Last week we got to sit with our intercessory prayer team and interview them, Late Show style. It’s one of those ministries that often cops a lot of flak for being out there on the Spiritual Edge, but that our senior pastors felt it important enough to highlight to our key team, means that we as a church are placing intercessory prayer exactly where it’s supposed to be – in the midst of it all.
I think the team did a brilliant job of bringing attention to what is such a necessary part of church life, without over-dramatising what can often be a very misunderstood ministry. Here’s a few of their responses I jotted down.
What’s the difference between praying for your pastors with your agenda vs God’s agenda
When we pray we don’t have an agenda because we genuinely want what God wants for them. You can come with with your own agenda, or what you think you should be praying for – and it might even be a good thing, but usually it’s not what God wants us to pray for. So we come with an open heart ready to allow God to show us what to pray for. It’s in that place that revelation happens.
How do you know what to pray for?
God places a burden in my heart. If I truly have the heart of the senior pastors, and Honour them, God will trust me to carry burdens for them. It’s as simple as that, and it means I can pray that “effective” prayer that gets straight to the heart of the matter.
How would you describe the ministry of being a watchman?
A watchman is a person that God trusts with a special revelation. It means being a friend of God. Because often it comes through the whispers and little hints that you can only get through closeness. It’s a real protection ministry that carries a heart to keep our pastors and our church safe. It carries a responsibility to expose the enemy’s plans.
What is the power of prayer and fasting?
It’s never about “God if I do this, then you will do that”
It’s about humbling yourself at the foot of the cross.
It allows more of him and less of me.
If you feel that God is bringing you to a point of breakthrough, a fast is often the tool that breaks through that final barrier because a greater authority and anointing comes at those times.
The higher the calling, the deeper the foundation needs to go.
Nia: And, Fasting is food. Every time the bible talks about fasting it’s about food.
Who can come to an intercessory prayer meeting?
If you carry the heart and the vision of the house then this ministry might be for you. But unity is SO important to what we do that if your vision is for something else, or some other ministry, then it won’t work. It might not be that the vision you have is a bad thing, it might be exactly what God has called you to – but what we’re praying for is in support of the vision of this house, which has been entrusted to the hearts of our Senior Pastors, and so everything we do and say must be in alignment with that, because if it’s not, even if it’s some other ‘good’ thing, then the enemy will use whatever he can to get in and cause confusion and disunity.
What part of your role is about holding up our leaders’ arms?
we’re moving into a season where we need Aarons and Hurs at every level. What we do is vital to supporting our Senior Pastors, but the truth is that the full on ministry we do has a reality of weariness that we must be ready for. As a team we can all adopt a position where we hold up the arms of those who stand for us, and praying for them is one of the best ways we can do that.
