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Will You Pray with the Watchman?
By Paul | February 13, 2008
Stephanie Samuel is one of the most passionate prayer warriors that I know at Bethel. When I heard her name in conjunction with a new prayer initiative at the church, I had to find out more. Stephanie often teams with Tina Lagonegro, who also gave input to these thoughtful answers. May you be inspired to make prayer more of a priority, at the least.
1. What has God been doing in your heart to stir you up to be one of the leaders/participants of Watchmen on the Wall?
Prayer is not something that I am just now investing my time in. When I gave my life to the Lord in 1990, it became very evident to me that I was sorely lacking in the things of the Lord and needed help on all fronts. I had not been taught the art of good communication, but I knew the word “HELP” and also knew that after 30 years of living my life according to my rules, God was my best bet since everyone else in my life was in the same sorry boat as I was.
For many years the Lord has stirred my heart to pray for Bethel and the leadership, but it was always in my closet that I prayed. In the last four months He made it very clear that He wanted me to make myself available to help facilitate a group of people in corporate prayer for our church, its leaders and our city. A watchman is someone that stands guard and is on alert. There is no question in my mind that we are in the last days and the stirring that He has been doing in many of us has ignited into a corporate passion and urgency to pray for His people, and in this case, Bethel.
2. Tell us more about the group’s purposes and when it meets.
Well, initially we were “The Wailing Women” which comes out of Jeremiah 9. That was pretty cool, actually, because The Lord brought some very sweet women into our lives and we prayed for weeks for the leadership of our church, for the Bethel body and for the Tri Cities as we were led by The Lord. Guys wanted to come too, but they weren’t too much into the wailing thing; so we changed it to The Watchman on the Wall. Since then, men and women come together, and we pray in sweet unity.
We meet on Sunday evenings at 7:00pm in the House of Prayer (the portable next to the Activity Center). Our purpose is to come together in obedience to God’s calling. Each person that has come into this group has a story of how God has laid on his/her heart a burden and a desire to pray for The Church. God is moving greatly, and a church that is seeking to pursue a deeper relationship with Jesus will be in need of a lot of prayer coverage. The enemy doesn’t like passionate believers and doesn’t want anyone knowing more of Jesus.
3. What do you believe is the proper attitude/position a believer should take in prayer?
I’d like to draw our attention to The Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11. Without FAITH, it is impossible to please God. What is faith? 11:1 - It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is what is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.
It’s knowing The Truth in The Word of God and standing firm on His promises they bring; in other words, know who you are In Christ and know what you are entitled to In Christ, and you will learn a whole other side to prayer.
When my extreme prodigal was living on the streets for 5 years I didn’t have a specific attitude or position I would take before The Lord; I wasn’t taught how to pray so I didn’t know much about it. All I knew was that my daughter was in danger every day she was out on the streets and if God couldn’t save her, nobody could. I was desperate and would cry out like the blind man on the side of the road, “JESUS, HAVE MERCY ON MY DAUGHTER!” I didn’t care what others thought; in fact, Almondy (my daughter) became a household name in Bethel, for I didn’t stop shouting until she was home safe and sound. It takes faith to continue to hound our Heavenly Father until what we are desperate to hold is in our hands. Not only did my prodigal come home and give her life to Jesus, He was also transforming my life from the inside out. While I was praying for her, He was changing me.
The Lord gave me a vision one day of a vessel in His hands (representing the poor in spirit). He would place His hand (which was full of glorious light) into the vessel and pull out the rubbish from within and toss it aside and reach in again, repeating this as long as the vessel chose to remain in His hands. While He was cleaning the vessel out, He was filling it with His glory! This is our life in His hands.
If there is a proper attitude or position we should have in prayer, let it be like this vessel in The Lord’s hands. We’ll find ourselves saying what can only be said from experience, “My God is the Kindest Person I have ever known”. He hurts us so good!
4. Where do you think we “miss the boat/blessings” sometimes when it comes to prayer?
What is prayer? Prayer is simply practicing His Presence. Think of our closest friend just now…how’d we get here? What sacrifices have we had to make to become closely knit with them? How are we maintaining this closeness? Has it been worth it?
We had to practice being in their presence to enjoy their person.
It is no different with Our Lord. He ENJOYS relationship and has set up prayer, by His Spirit, to be just that, an opportunity to KNOW Him better (Eph. 1:17).
He knows US through and through, yet, when we take the time to REALLY KNOW HIM we’ll be like Peter and say, “Where else could we go? You have the Words of eternal life!” John 6:68
I believe it is in our lack of desire to KNOW HIM that we find ourselves wanting in prayer. Our Lord specifically tells us not only to “desire the sincere milk of The Word’ but to ‘hunger and thirst for righteousness’. This WORD is not limited to a time of scripture reading in the morning, but it is also communing with The Living Word, desperately needy and with great expectation to be filled by The Spirit of God to live today in His Power and for His Glory. When one has this kind of desire within, it is with little effort at all that the knee bows and the tongue confesses “JESUS” at any given time. Much of the time His Name is on our lips because He’s constantly on our minds.
The mere mention of His Name shoots light into the darkness and hidden things scurry away for another cover. It is this kind of devotion Our Lord is seeking from us, and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
It is not too difficult to spot these lovers of God, however, for not only are they being transformed before our eyes, but they are catalysts for others’ transformation as well. You can spot them in conversation, for their spirit seeks the deeper recesses of another to touch HIM…”deep calling to deep”.
That old song comes to mind now “Take it to The Lord in prayer”. Some of us are prodigals concerning prayer…Father’s arms are open wide and waiting to embrace you…in prayer.
I think one of the biggest blessings we miss out on in prayer is the opportunity to know the Father’s heart. So many of us pray for this or that, for an answer, a change, all which are ok to pray for, but when we can come to Him and just ask “Who are You? What delights You, what hurts You, what are Your thoughts?” It is the answer to those prayers that ignite our passion to pray more and to pray more effectively.
5. As an intercessor, what message do you think God wants to tell the small group leaders at Bethel?
PRAY! Practice My Presence today. I require your attention. I’m not far away, I’m in you wanting to release My Power through you which will aggravate some and draw others to Me. I am grieved when My people come together yet rarely give Me a moment’s notice. I hear you talking ABOUT Me, yet some of you rarely talk WITH Me; and when you do, it’s only to say hello and goodbye before I have anytime to respond at all.
I have commanded you to come to Me to ASK, SEEK and KNOCK, and I have promised you that I WILL open the door–yet you dart away so quickly I have little opportunity to allow you entrance. I have SO much to show you and to give to you, and I have so much I want to do THROUGH you–so won’t you stay a little longer? Many of my sheep are in need of healing, and I expect you to comfort them and to bring calm and peace to My flock. I am grieved that many of my sheep are weak from malnutrition, wounded, ill, and running away in fear. I have given you a great responsibility to these sheep, My Shepherds; not only are you to feed them, but you are also to bind up their wounds and to heal them. I expect you to comfort them and to bring them to a place of peace for their souls. You cannot possibly do this without My Spirit’s Power, and you cannot gain The Spirit’s Power without coming to Me in prayer.
I see that some of you are yourselves weak and wounded, ill and fearful. I have hope for you, yet you must come to Me to receive it.
Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light, but, you must COME.
I am El Shaddai, All Sufficient One. If you eat of me as if I were the last piece of bread on the earth, I will show you true satisfaction, true wholeness in brokenness, the miracles of multiplying the bread, and the blessedness of having everything in nothing.
Topics: Inspire |
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