[00:00:10] Speaker A: Welcome to Mission Eyes. I'm Sam Roberts and once again I'm joined by our co host Clint Richey. We're glad that you've joined us for this episode of Mission Eyes. Now, Clint, you and I both love to read. We are avid readers and I know myself at various times throughout the year, I find myself kind of focusing my reading in a particular area.
When I looked back on last year's reading list that I completed, there was a stretch of a couple of months there where I had seven books on revitalization and replanting. Knowing that that was emphasis this year where we were going to put a lot of our focus. And the year before that, my focus on reading was on ministry in rural settings.
This year my plan is to focus on church planting because of the merger that we've recently undergone here at the Arkansas Baptist State Convention with our missions team and church planting team coming into one missions team.
So for myself, knowing more about church planting, but the second area is going to be on prayer. So I've got a question for our listeners.
What is the most significant book on prayer that has really impacted your prayer life?
One of those personal goals I've got this year is to pray more and to pray more effectively.
So if there's a book out there that you guys have read that, man, it's just made a world of difference in your prayer life. Now, I'm not talking about those books that we read on prayer that you like or that challenged you or maybe you used a quote in a sermon, you know, that kind of stuff. I'm talking about a book that after you read it, you went back and you read it again and then it had a lasting impact on your prayer life. I mean, it made changes. I would like to know what those books are.
So if you've got one of those, hey, email that to
[email protected] I would appreciate knowing as I'm putting together my list of books to read this year. And I'll tell you what we'll do.
We'll give a couple of months from the drop date of this episode and then let's have a drawing for one of those missionized coffee mugs for one of those who responds in that way.
Now, one of the books for me that has really made a difference, I mean, an incredible difference in my personal prayer life is the Power of Prayer and fasting by Dr. Ronnie Floyd.
Here's the impact that that book had on my prayer life some 15 years ago, 16 years ago, when, when I first read it, it Helped me develop focus in my prayer life, which really put life back into my prayer life.
We all know that sometimes prayer can be routine and mundane and, dare we even say, boring.
And because of that, the life kind of gets sucked out of it, and we may even stop praying or not pray as effectively as what we want to pray.
So now, using the model that Dr. Floyd gives in that book, each day of the week, in my prayer life, there's a different focus group for my prayers. So it's not just some random list of prayer requests. There's. There's focus and there's intentionality in my praying. Like, Sunday, I will begin my day praying for my church. It just seems that that's a natural flow.
Monday, I'm gonna pray for those that I know in my life who are lost, whether those are my neighbors or friends or relatives, whoever that may be. Tuesday, I pray for our nation and our leaders. Wednesday, because I developed this while I was a pastor, that's the day that I pray for world mission and missionaries and unreached people groups and unengaged unreached people groups. And then Thursday, I turn my attention to local churches. Not just my church that I attend, but other local churches and Christian leaders.
Dr. Horne here at our state convention or associational mission strategists, Dr. Ben Sells, Dr. Stan Norman, Jeff Dial, Derrick Brown, just individuals who lead in certain ministries.
Friday, that's a day I devote to praying for my friends, whatever those requests are that they've given me, I'm going to be praying specifically then. And then Saturday, that's a family day. So I'm really going to concentrate on Saturday in my early time of prayer with the Lord, of interceding for my family. And then with each one of those, I've got some bullet points, some prayer bullets that just help me in guiding that prayer and staying on focus and being intentional, praying for salvation, praying scripture over each of those.
So that has really made a huge difference in my prayer life.
So, Clint, is there a book, is there an author that's impacted your prayer life?
[00:05:54] Speaker B: Well, the smart aleck in me wants to say the Bible.
Yeah, you know, couldn't let you down there. But no, probably one of the ones. Now, obviously, Ronnie Floyd's book that you mentioned, I think a key there that stood out to me was the intentionality, because prayer can become mundane. You can just repeat the same things over and over. And, you know, my personality, to be honest with you, slowing down, stopping to pray can be one of the hardest things to do. You know, to train Yourself because there's always something to do and, you know, people waiting on you, that sort of thing. So to be intentional in praying and then intentional in your prayers. But one of the things, probably one of the books early on, and I can't remember the. I think the author's last name was Franklin, but it was called. And the place was shaken. And that was really, really showed me the importance of corporate prayer. Praying together. And not just praying for. Of course, just praying for the sick, Although that's important. But I think we really limit our prayers when our church prayer gatherings are just that. That's another episode. But basically off of Acts 4, where Peter and John have been told to no longer speak and then they come together and their prayer is. And enable your servants to speak boldly. And so that book really stands out to me. But not to be smart, but just a scripture too that does is Luke, chapter 11, where Jesus tells a story about a visitor coming near in the middle of the night, banging on the door, asking if he can stay or need some food as he's had some guests come. And the text says, Jesus says because of the man's shameless persistence. And just a reminder to be persistent in praying, I think was something. Because you would hear things like, we shouldn't just pray the same things all the time. And we just mentioned it can become mundane. But there are some things that you can be praying for, pleading for God to work, and then maybe God's slow in answering that and you can just quit praying. But to be shameless in our persistence. I think some translations show here, some say his shameless audacity because he dared to continue to ask the friend opened the door and met the need that was there. So that's a book, but then also a scripture that has really guided my prayer journey.
[00:08:19] Speaker A: Yeah. Awesome. Now, currently I'm reading through a little book called Praying for the Understanding God's Heart for the Nations. It's a compilation of some prayer writings of some of the older saints on prayer. Oswald, Sanders, Hudson, Taylor, James, Frazier, Will, Bruce. And it's in devotion form now. I've not been using it as a devotion book. I've been reading through five days at a time and kind of outlining and determining, hey, here are the principles that are gonna help me in my prayer life. But one of those devotions from a couple of days, days ago really drove home the truth of the importance of prayers for our missionaries.
Scripture reference was Exodus, chapter 13 or 17. I'm sorry, that's where Joshua is leading the children of Israel in battle against the Amalekites. And while they're fighting, then, while the battle is going on, Moses says, I'm going to stand on the top of that hill and I'm going to hold the staff of God in my hands. Now, Oswald Sanders says this. There's no possible connection that's apparent between these isolated events. The battle began first, then Moses makes his decision. Yet their functions are inextricably linked in the fluctuations of battle. The key to victory was in the hands not of the fighters in the valley, but the intercessor on the mount.
Prayer is more important than armies. It was the weaponless hand of prayer that controlled the issues of battle. Now, we know that story. We've read it. That as Moses kept the staff above his head and held his hands high, then Joshua was winning the battle when they weakened. Then the Amalekites begin to prevail. And then he calls along others to hold his hands up for him, and they eventually win the battle. And Sanders says this. Joshua must fight as though there was no uplifted staff on the mountain. Moses must pray as if there was no drawn sword in the valley.
Divinely chosen warriors. Those are our missionaries. Divinely chosen warriors are battling satanic forces in distant lands. The final issue lies in the hands of distant intercessors. That's us, who have been entrusted with divine authority. Only as their hands are steady till sunset will Amalek be destroyed. Clint, that was powerful when I read it, and it reminded me of the importance of intercessory prayer in my life. Not only for our missionaries who are in battle each day against the rulers and authorities and powers of this dark world and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms, but also for those folks who live around us, our neighbors, our friends, our folks that we work with, those we see each and every day of our life, who are captive to their own sinful nature and blinded to this incredible freedom that's found only in Christ Jesus. Now, we talked in a previous episode about prayer as the missionary strategy, not as part, but as the strategy. For the next few minutes, let's talk about intercessory prayer, especially for those who live in our communities who do not know Jesus.
[00:12:07] Speaker B: That's right. And way we want to do that is by looking at an article by our friend Dr. Chuck Lawless, an article we'll have in the show notes back from 2023 on 10 Ways to Prayer Walk or Prayer Drive a Community. And we're just going to walk through these. We may spend more time on Some than in others.
But, you know, you. You may walk, the weather may keep you inside right now. But especially, you know, as Jesus, you live in a neighborhood, the weather warms up, we see people get out and walk. But if we're not walking, we're sure driving. Oftentimes we may drive the same path.
I mentioned, I think in the previous episode that, you know, as a pastor, there would be times I would just get out and drive an area that I didn't regularly drive. And what were you looking for? I mean, yes, you can use that for praying. And you're also seeing needs that may exist. And so the first way he says to prayer walk or prayer drive a community is to look for evidence of children in a home. Now, that may be toys in the driveway, maybe a trampoline basketball, goal, who knows? But evidence that kids are outside. And it gives you an opportunity to pray one for wisdom for parents, and then two, for grace that the parents and that the children would come to know the Lord. And so I think it's a great opportunity to pray for the parents as they're raising those children. They'll raise them in the ways of the Lord. And if those parents don't have a relationship with Jesus, that they would come to know him and that their kids would come to know him as well.
[00:13:38] Speaker A: Yeah. And as we go through this list, just keep in mind, guys, that prayer walking, prayer driving can be a vital component of your missional strategy of interceding for those in your community who do not know Jesus.
[00:13:54] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:13:55] Speaker A: That's what this is all about.
Another way that Chuck says on prayer walking or prayer driving is when you see for sale signs in the yard, it means somebody's moving out, but it also means somebody's moving in. And so it gives you the opportunity to pray for both for those who are moving out, pray that wherever they are going, there's going to be a gospel witness there. There's going to be a gospel church that's going to reach out to them, pray for those who are coming in, that you're going to have the opportunity, the boldness to meet that family, that individual, and begin a conversation that leads to sharing the gospel.
[00:14:41] Speaker B: And if you're walking and you see the U Haul moved or backed up because they're moving in, stop walking and go up and introduce yourself, welcome them to the area, get to know them, invite them to your church. You never know where that first contact will lead because you're going to probably be prayer walking that area again. You'll See them out. And as you just continue to pray for them, now you have a relationship and you know my name and it, it really changes your prayer for them because you're able to pray specifically for those people.
[00:15:12] Speaker A: Yeah. And if you really want to develop a relationship, offer to help them move in.
[00:15:19] Speaker B: That's right. Then they know you're a saint for sure.
[00:15:24] Speaker A: Okay. Number three is this.
When you go by places of worship every day coming here, there are multiple churches that I'm going to pass. Okay.
If I'm going to the grocery store or wherever it may be, there are going to be multiple places of worship. Doesn't have to be a Baptist church. Any place of worship, that should be a prompt for us to pray. Now what do we pray? We pray that the true gospel would be preached in that location each and every Sunday or whenever they gather. And if that is a gathering of people that are not of the Christian faith, then we want to pray that their minds would be open to the truth of the gospel and that there's going to be some Christian or group of Christians in that community that would be loving witnesses to them.
[00:16:22] Speaker B: That's right. Another thing to look for and way to pray is for homes in apparent disarray. Now, every home you know or that you pass, only God knows what goes on behind the closed doors. But there are signs that can be signs of apparent chaos in a home. And you know, that may be a home you pass that has a new wheelchair ramp and you see someone that's maybe aged or had an accident that's led to that need.
It could be cars that are home during the day all of a sudden that maybe weren't at home. Maybe a sign of unemployment that is hit. If you really want to see what's going on, go on trash day when people's trash is at the curb before it's picked up. And you'll get a pretty good picture of ways that you can pray for that home based on what's sitting outside.
[00:17:10] Speaker A: Yeah, that's good stuff. Hey. Another point that Chuck makes is this. Be attentive to neighbors who are also walking or driving through the neighborhood.
And sometimes it's just that eye to eye contact that you're going to have that's going to prompt you to pray specifically for that person. I love what he says. Somehow briefly looking with gospel intentionality into the face of someone created in the image of God changes my heart.
That's gold.
[00:17:50] Speaker B: Another place is to go to places of education. If you don't walk by those, maybe drive to Them stop and get out and walk that campus. Most schools are large enough that you can get your whole walk in just walking around the campus. And I think the public school campus or campuses is probably one of the greatest mission fields that we have in our world today. And as you're walking, yes, you're praying for students and teachers, faculty that may be lost, but also you're praying for the Christian teachers, that they will take advantage of opportunities that they'll have when questions are asked of them, that they'll share the hope that they have in Jesus. A lot of those folks are discouraged just due to the current education system and the struggles that are there. Pray that they would be encouraged. And of course, you're praying for the students that are there, much like you would in homes of children, but just praying that God would raise up the next generation that's following him.
[00:18:48] Speaker A: Hey, number seven on this list. Chuck reminds us of 2 Timothy, chapter 2, verse 2, that says that we should pray for kings and all those who are in authority. And so he encourages us as we are walking or as we're driving, whatever that may be, that we're noticing those sights of governmental leadership, whether that is the city hall in your community or whatever that may be. And as you pass that building, pray for salvation and wisdom for the folks who are there. Many times those folks are probably going to have a different political slant than you do. And politics has a way of dividing us, but prayer has a way of uniting us. So pray for those who are in authority that they would be open to the truth of the gospel.
[00:19:51] Speaker B: Pray for places of business. When you pass by a business, maybe slow down a little bit, or maybe as you're just going inside a business, as you come out, if you're driving from place to place, pray for that business as you get back in your car. We know a lot of business owners, the nations have come to us, and so we just pray for the health of that business, pray for that owner and for their salvation. And, you know, as you get to know the people that work there, maybe you even ask them, as you're checking out, how can I pray for you today? And I think that really changes your prayer life again, because you've got specific ways in which to request and intercede for these people.
[00:20:31] Speaker A: Awesome. And then there are places of life and death service, as Chuck says. And basically what he's talking about are places like hospitals, fire stations, police departments, prisons, funeral homes, cemeteries. We're all going to drive by these or walk by these each and every day.
The Gospel as we know is the key to eternal life.
So we want to pray for those who deal with life and death issues every day.
Pray that they would be open to the gospel.
[00:21:09] Speaker B: And then as you probably is going to be when you wrap up your drive or your walk, pray for your own home and workplace. I think we can get so focused on praying for everybody else that we forget to pray for ourselves. And so maybe as you pull in your driveway or walk into your driveway, pray for your home. As you get to work, pray for your place of work. Pray that you and the people inside your home and inside your workplace will be salt and light and that you will be a witness for the Lord inside those places.
[00:21:41] Speaker A: Awesome. Hey, we're going to include Chuck's article in the show notes of this episode. I've also got two other articles that, that I put together that we're going to include.
One of those I wrote several years ago, as a matter of fact, both of these, I did these at the same time because the last church that I pastored, prayer walking was a major part of the strategy we had of loving our community, knowing our community, and serving our community and being very intentional in praying for those who did not know Jesus.
So one of these articles I've entitled Taking Prayer to the Streets. It's prayer walking tips and there's just some practical things there. But then there are also some suggestions on how to pray for the lost. It's a two page article and basically what I did there, I just took some scripture and one of my favorite ways of praying, Clint, is just to pray scripture back to God.
We pray to God and when we're praying scripture, we are praying in accordance with the will of God.
That's his revealed will in his word. And so I've always found that to be a very useful tool for myself and for others. Just gives you some prayer points.
I don't know. There's eight or 10 of those on this page. I don't have them numbered. I just have the bullets there. You can count while I'm talking if you'd like to.
But it's just simply titled how to Pray for the Lost. And it's part of that Taking Prayer to the Streets file that we're going to include. One of those things that I've included in that it is a bullet that says the key is for the lost person's heart to be changed by the saving power of Christ, the acrostic heart. H E A R T will help one remember what to pray. Pray for receptive Hearts pray for spiritual eyes to be open. There's the E. Pray for the person to have God's attitude towards sin.
Pray for the person to be released to believe. And there's scripture to go with each of these. And then pray for a transforming life.
That second article is one that I wrote about the same time as this first.
And I had been introduced to an evangelism concept from Fred Luter called frangilism. F R A N we hear about evangelism. Frangelism was Dr. Lueder's take on this fram, another acrostic. Friend, relative, associate, neighbor. And each year I would lead our church to identify who those four people are. And these are the four people do not know Jesus. A friend, a relative, an associate, a neighbor, that I am going to ask God to use me to get the gospel into their life, to share Jesus with them. And so these are 11 prayers that I've printed there that you can pray specifically in interceding for the salvation of one of your friends, of somebody that you know you already have a relationship with. They're solely based on scripture. And I would just encourage you to take a look at that. Okay, so those will be in the show notes.
We encourage you to take a look. If you've got questions, get with us. Prayer walking, very important component of our mission strategy within our church.
[00:25:45] Speaker B: Yeah. And you know, I think we can minimize that because it's really, you boil it down, it's real simple ministry.
And so, you know, we, we have, I think maybe move past saying, well, all I can do is pray. No, that's the most important thing you can do. But I have found myself even in trainings of talking about like our spring outreach strategy that's coming up to say if you can't do anything else, well, at least you can pray walk or prayer walk. Well, no, it's not. Not minimal, you know, top of the list. Exactly. Yeah. And so I share the story and I'll share it, and then you can wrap us up, Dr. Sam. But, you know, and that over however many years ago, over 20 years ago, when I got to Swifton as a single guy, my first pastorate, I was way overweight. And you were probably thinking about that, you know, talking bad about that big kid that was up at Swifton now. But anyway, I started walking and through long story made short, you know, over about 10 months, I lost 80 pounds and all I did was walk around town. Well, it doesn't take long to walk around Swifton. And so those of you don't know where it's at, pull it up on your phone now and you'll have to enlarge the dot to find it. But it, you know, I was bored, obviously, walking, and I'd never been introduced to prayer walking. And so I just thought, you know what? I could start praying for these people. And so I started doing that. Just those I knew I prayed by name. Those I didn't. As I got to know them I could. But, you know, I'd catch somebody carrying their trash out, catch somebody just out in the yard and, you know, as I began able to walk more and more, the joke then became, hey, is this new preacher like Joshua? Does he think this is Jericho? You know, how many times is he going to walk around town? But I got to see walls fall down, though.
[00:27:37] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:27:38] Speaker B: And I found some groups of senior adult ladies in the chur that also were walking and I shared with them what I was doing and they started doing the same. And you know, I had. That's probably the most fun I've had in ministry. I've said that before. Loved those people there. Still love those folks. I look back at what God did in my time there and I attribute that because not just me, but several people in our church were prayer walking. And so, you know, we, in previous years, we had an emphasis in January called Pray first. And we're at the end of January now and there's been just one little short emphasis on that because hopefully we have ingrained in our churches and I've seen from several the importance of taking January to pray. I want to challenge you, make prayer a vital part of your church all the time. But right here at the first of the year, as we begin to get toward a time where natural outreach in the spring, let's just stop and, and let's pray. Let's do some prayer walking and prayer driving and let's see God work.
[00:28:42] Speaker A: That's so important. Let me remind you about what Oswald Sanders said. Prayer is more important than armies. It was the weaponless hand of prayer that controlled the issues of battle in Exodus chapter 17. Hey, as a church leader, if you're looking for a resource to help develop focus and intentionality in your church, the mission team has designed a tool to help guide you and the church in that direction. We call it developing an Acts 18 mission strategy. Now, that consists of four components. Clint. One of those is pray. The other's Give Go Send. We would welcome the opportunity to meet with your leadership team or your mission team. Walk through that tool with you. If you have an interest, hey, reach out to
[email protected] that's developing an Acts 18 mission strategy, especially that component on how to develop intentional prayer in your church, how to intercede for those who are lost, for those who are serving and make prayer a mighty focus in 2025 in your mission strategy.
[00:30:04] Speaker B: Hey, that wraps us up for today. Thank you for joining us. We look forward to hearing what God does in you and in your church and through your church as you prioritize prayer this year. We look forward to being back with you in two weeks. We'll have some exciting news in our next episode, so be sure you catch that and until then, give us a rating, a review and just continue to know we're here, cheerleading you, supporting you to help you missionize, to do the work of missions.
Thanks for joining the missions guys today. If you liked what you heard, rate and review us on your favorite podcasting platform. And to keep up with what is happening in Arkansas Missions, visit absc.org missions it.
