5 Dec 08 (Week 2 on the theme "Prayer & Intercession")

Intercessory Prayer for Revival
Kah Lin

1. Intercessory prayer is the underlying constant and catalyst of all revivals.

2. Revival begins with me - i.e. in the heart of each praying individual, a personal revival.

- The words of the hymn "Cleanse Me" declares "Oh Holy Ghost, Revival comes from thee: send a revival, start the work in me".

- The Lord delights in the prayer of the upright (Proverbs 15:8).

- The prayer of the righteous man is powerful and effective (James 5:16).

3. Blended Prayers - Points from C.H. Spurgeon's sermon "Golden Bowls Full of Incense" [Article can be found in 'Useful Resources']

- Revelation 5:8 is about the "golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints".

- Let it be filled with the blended prayers of the saints.

- God is pleased for "united prayers possess the power of harmony as beautiful as that in music".

4. Prayer is spiritual warfare, thus we need to put on the full armour of God as we enter into intercessory prayer for boldness in sharing the gospel with the lost (Ephesians 6:11-19).

5. Prayer must be spirit led. Romans 8:26-27 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

6. Objects of Prayer As a cell group, we can identify the main objects (topics) for prayer, eg. mission, our families, churches in Singapore, our government, other nations, etc.

7. A suggested prayer method - eg. by rotating prayer topics for each day of the week. Eg. Monday - missions, Tuesday - family, etc. [As Kah Lin shared on Friday, we will kick-start this movement with a dedicated prayer time for salvation of our loved ones on Fri, 26 Dec.]

8. Continuous surrender of our lives as we continue in our prayer life. Recall or sing often the words of the hymn "Living for Jesus". Link to this beautiful hymn under 'Useful Resources'.

Prayer & Action (by Lee Lin)

Lee Lin shared her experience of prayer and revival in her church in Kuala Lumpur, Utama Damansara.

Prayer, fasting and repentance are all essentials in revival.

The willingness and discipline of believers to come together in church for corporate intercessory prayer is necessary and vital!

The cell group that Lee Lin attended has reached out to the Orang Asli people by befriending, visiting them and assisting them with practical matters once a month.

Encounter of the Best Kind (by Susie Lim)

Susie shared her experience at Siar Beach (Sarawak) and how the Lord revealed Himself to her and the campers in words formed through clouds in the night sky. And also shared about the revivals that took place in her school and in the churches in Kuching in the '80s. She also shared about the reality and the intimacy of the Lord in her personal experience. (We will try to find a way to put Susie's book on the encounter at Siar Beach on this blog.)