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Praying the Kingdom

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Praying the Kingdom PRAYING THE KINGDOM BY TERRY VIRGO 1 A DIVERSE FAMILY OF CHURCHES JOINED IN APOSTOLIC PARTNERSHIP Our common desire is to see every church among us established as a loving, prayerful, worshiping community that is centred on Jesus, deeply rooted in the Word of God and fully empowered by the Holy Spirit, in order to be effective witnesses in our local communities and across the nations. regionsbeyond.net 2 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Terry Virgo Terry Virgo is the founder of Newfrontiers, a worldwide family of churches together on a mission to establish the kingdom of God by restoring the church, making disciples, training leaders and planting churches. Newfrontiers serves 1,500+ churches across 70 countries. A well-known Bible teacher, Terry speaks at conferences internationally and hosted the Stoneleigh Bible week and annual Together on a Mission conference in the UK, which drew thousands of delegates from around the world. At the final Together on a Mission conference, in 2011, Newfrontiers was redefined as a network of apostolic spheres worldwide, and Terry passed the leadership on to fifteen apostolic leaders. Terry has written several books, including The Spirit Filled Church, God’s Lavish Grace, God Knows You’re Human, The Tide is Turning and No Well-Worn Paths which is his biography. We are hugely grateful to Terry for making this booklet available to us. Newfrontiers is a group of apostolic leaders partnering together on global mission, joined by common values and beliefs, shared mission and genuine relationships. newfrontierstogether.org 3 4 CONTENTS FOREWORD . 7 USING THIS BOOKLET . 9 1. LORD TEACH US TO PRAY . 11 2. OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN . 18 3. HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME . 27 4. YOUR KINGDOM COME . 36 5. YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN . 44 6. GIVE US TODAY OUR DAILY BREAD . 51 7. FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS AS WE ALSO HAVE FORGIVEN OUR DEBTORS . 58 8. AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION BUT DELIVER US FROM THE EVIL ONE . 69 9. FOR YOURS IS THE KINGDOM AND THE POWER AND THE GLORY FOR EVER . 81 10. GUIDANCE FOR PRAYING THROUGH THE LORDS PRAYER . 84 5 6 FOREWORD This booklet is pure gold! Many years ago, I received a copy of this book written by Terry Virgo, the then leader of the Newfrontiers church family. It changed the way I pray and I will forever be so grateful for all it taught me. It is insightful, instructional, theological and extremely practical, and it will leave you with the tools to turn your prayer-life into a dynamic experience. I am so grateful to Terry for providing us with this electronic copy. In 2013, when I was leading the church in Dubai UAE, I wanted to lay a firm foundation of prayer in our local church community. I remembered how this booklet had transformed my prayer life and so I set out to buy as many copies as I could. There were none available! In desperation I wrote to Terry Virgo and asked who I could approach to supply all the copies I needed. To my surprise, he informed me that it was out of print! Hearing of my desire to distribute this book, Terry kindly provided a PDF copy for me to freely use, print, share and distribute. I hope that, as you immerse yourself in this little treasure of a book, it will provide you with a simple but effective framework for your prayer life. I can highly recommend it! Enjoy, and may you be transformed. Steve Oliver Regions Beyond 7 8 USING THIS BOOKLET If you are using the book on your own, we suggest you work through the chapters systematically, Bible at your side and pen in hand. If you are doing it as a group activity, it is probably best to do all the initial reading and task work before the group sessions- this gives more time for discussion on key issues which may be raised. Group leaders will then concentrate on the application and discussion of the main ideas and to probe for possible misunderstanding. Each chapter can be done in a week with the Introduction part being the first week. In total it would take 10 weeks to complete from start to finish. Group leaders should give time for members to ask questions from each section allowing the truth of God’s word to be massaged in. It is helpful also to probe and ask questions like: ‘What is your understanding of this?”, “Do you agree with this point of view?”, “What will you now do differently?”, “How does this change the way you think?”, “Compare this with your previous ways of thinking.” Right now at the beginning of this course, come to God and ask him to give you a motivation for prayer and allow him to stir in you the reason why he wants to do this course. Ask yourself what you want to achieve from this course and what you would like God to do in you. My Name is: ……………………………………………………………………………………….. Through this course I wish to achieve …….………….…………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 9 10 1. LORD TEACH US TO PRAY “Christ soldiers fight best on their knees.” D.L. Moody “No man is greater than his prayer life.” Leonard Ravenhill “I have resolved to devote an hour each morning, noon and evening to prayer - no pretence, no excuse whatsoever.” John Wesley Throughout the ages those we view as the ‘great saints’ have all proclaimed prayer to be the secret behind their powerful ministries. These ‘ordinary Christians’ simply took to heart the teaching of the Bible which exhorts Jesus’ disciples to ‘pray and not give up’ (Luke 18:1), be ‘faithful in prayer’ (Rom 12:12), ‘keep on praying’ (Eph 6:18), ‘devote yourselves to prayer’ (Col 4:2) and ‘pray continually’ (1 Thess 5:17), and they got results. However much we may envy their success, the fact remains that prayer is as available to us as it was to them. The same God who proved himself strong for them is willing to be sought by our generation. Prayer is one of the most vital issues facing Christians today. We live in a demanding age. The very speed of life and the pressures of the modern world conspire to overwhelm our spiritual walk. God is looking for individuals who, through prayer, are keen to allow the power of the Spirit to be manifest through them at the world at large. But how do we pray? 11 Jesus’ disciples instinctively knew that they needed to be taught how to pray. They therefore came to him and simply asked him to teach them. We too must realise that there is a way to pray effectively- a learning process which all of us need to discover for ourselves. We may have tried before to establish a prayer pattern, but with limited success. Though our flesh is weak, we must never forget that our spirits are willing! The apostle Paul in no way condemns us for our weakness. Instead, he acknowledges it, stating that ‘we do not know how to pray’ (Rom 8:26 RSV), but adding that the Spirit is there to help us. Without the Spirit’s touch, the Lord’s Prayer is a mere ritual. But when the Spirit brings its importance to our hearts, it becomes the most dynamic prayer that we can ever offer to the Father. The Teacher The ‘great prayer warriors’ of the past and, for that matter, the present, could teach us much about prayer. Imagine being an apprentice alongside Elijah, Wesley or Paul Y Cho! How much we should learn! And yet, when it comes to teaching the subject, none of these men knows better how to instruct is in prayer than our Lord Jesus Christ. There are several reasons for this. a) His position Write out John 10:30 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Jesus was intimately in touch with the Father. He knew God’s character so he was fully aware of how he Father would act in different circumstances. He knew the extent of God’s power and how he wanted to manifest it. He knew God’s will and how he planned to accomplish it. The Son was perfectly united with his Father in every way. There is no better teacher than one who knows his subject so perfectly. 12 b) His practice Write out Mark 1:35 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… The day before this time of prayer, Jesus had preached in the synagogue, driven out an evil spirit there, released Simon’s mother-in-law from a fever and been host to the ‘whole town’ who had gathered at the door for teaching, healing or deliverance (Mark 1:21-34). We might have expected him to ‘have a lie in’ and ‘recover quietly’. Instead, he minimised his rest time because of the greater need he had to pray. Jesus’ life was packed with activity. God had ‘anointed (him) with the Holy Spirit and power’ and was ‘with him’ (Acts 10:38) in all he did. He triumphed as a man, yet he never worked independently of the Father. He openly declared: ‘… the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees the Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son does also.’ (John 5:19) If Jesus had not kept in touch with God through prayer, he would have been acting on his own initiative. But this was not God’s way. He wanted to tell his son what to do and because of this, Jesus placed top priority on his secret relationship with him. ‘After leaving them, he went into the hills to pray.’ (Mark 6:46) ‘Jesus went out into the hills to pray, and spent the night praying to God.’ (Luke 6:12) 13 Jesus knew that it was only when he had received from his Father that he could pass anything on to the people.
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