Corporate PrayerFoundations for Revival

God is building a foundation of prayer in our church to bear the weight of the visitation of the Spirit and the needs of the many people who will come as a result of the visitation!!Without significant corporate prayer we will not be able to bear the weight of his glory that is coming upon us!!!

The Power of People Together in Prayer!Every religion encourages corporate prayer to

influence their god. All spirits—even evil ones— like corporate worship & prayer by their followers. !

!Many religions command their people to fast & pray

together. !!

Seven corporate gatherings were commanded in the OT for special days to honor God: Feast of

Unleavened Bread, Passover, First Fruits, Pentecost, etc.

Why do all gods request corporate prayer?!!Greater numbers = Greater honor to the god!

The gathering shows the seriousness of their request!!The agreement of corporate prayer intensifies the prayer by all. !! ! Takes more prep and sacrifice to do, adding value to the request. All gods honored by the sacrifices of their followers!!Our God loves unity and mutual love and mutual submission and anything that makes us dependent on each other as a Body!

• God Waits for Corporate Prayer before He Does Great Events!

• FIRE FALLS FROM HEAVEN

• GOSPEL IS SENT OUT TO THE GENTILES

The Fire FallsNow when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house. The priests could not enter into the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. All the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave praise to the Lord, saying, “Truly He is good, truly His lovingkindness is everlasting.” (2 Chron. 7:1-3)

First Visitation of the Spirit• After 10 days of corporate prayer in upper room

“These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer…”

 “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4)

Gospel Sent to Gentiles

Acts 13:2-3: “ While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.”

Spirit Shakes & Fills“On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. 31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. ( Acts 4:23-31)

Promises for Corporate Prayer

Matt. 18:19-20: “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.

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For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” ~~ KPC Trailer Meetings, Vineyard Sat Night Meetings

THIS VERSE SAYS that agreement in prayer strengthens our prayer.!!The power of our agreement in prayer on earth brings a response in heaven. Heaven is waiting for earth to ask in agreement.!!Just gathering in Jesus name brings the Presence of Jesus in a special way even though He lives in us by His Spirit. !!Then those who feared the LORD spoke with each other, and the LORD listened to what they said. In his presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and always thought about the honor of his name. (Mal. 3:16)

Most of the greatest moments in my spiritual life have come during times of corporate worship & prayer!!I was baptized in the spirit and Japan in 1973 during a small prayer meeting. Spent 6 hours in a trance on floor in 1994 at Toronto!!Jean Allen and a dozen other local Christian leaders in the trailers at KPC weekly. God would come and transform us from glory to glory in corporate prayer. A birthing room. Refreshing teams with pastors.!!In the early 90’s, in the Vineyard church we would have Saturday night prayer meetings that was so intense they are often better than the Sunday morning meetings. !!No pleasure or no power is greater than the presence of God who comes in response to corporate worship and prayer!!

Harmony in Agreement• Two or more agree (symphōneō) = symphony: people

in harmony via real Christian love.

• The power of God will come to a people only if they are walking in humility, forgiveness and love toward one another ( marriage, family, church, city, nation)

• Jesus taught us: shortest way to the house of God is by the house of the offended brother. Reconcile first, them pray. Unreconciled believers can hinder corporate prayer.

• A couple that prays together will stay together

• A family that prays together will stay together

• A church that prays together will draw the Presence of God

• A group of churches that pray together in a region will draw the Lord to that region

• A city of churches that pray together will draw the Lord to that city.

Why We Don’t

• Devil fears corporate prayer & evangelism: the two things most churches don’t do.

• Exactly the opposite of the early Church: “Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. ( Acts 2:46-47)

There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer.

1858-1860

Following the second great awakening, which began in 1792 just after the death of John Wesley and continued into the turn of the century, conditions again deteriorated.

The country was seriously divided over the issue of slavery, and second, people were making money lavishly.

In September 1857, a man of prayer, Jeremiah Lanphier, started a businessmen's prayer meeting in the upper room of the Dutch Reformed Church Consistory Building in Manhattan on Fulton St. In response to his advertisement, only six people out of a population of a million showed up. But the following week there were fourteen, and then twenty-three when it was decided to meet everyday for prayer. By late winter they were filling the Dutch Reformed Church, then the Methodist Church on John Street, then Trinity Episcopal Church on Broadway at Wall Street. In February and March of 1858, every church and public hall in down town New York was filled.

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Then a landslide of prayer began, which overflowed to the churches in the evenings. People began to be converted, ten thousand a week in New York City alone.

The revival raced up the Hudson and down the Mohawk, where the Baptists, for example, had so many people to baptize that they went down to the river, cut a big hole in the ice, and baptized them in the cold water. When Baptists do that they are really on fire!

When the revival reached Chicago, a young shoe salesman went to the superintendent of the Plymouth Congregational Church, and asked if he might teach Sunday School. The superintendent said, 'I am sorry, young fellow. I have sixteen teachers too many, but I will put you on the waiting list.'

The young man insisted, 'I want to do something just now.’ 'Well, start a class.’ 'How do I start a class?'

'Get some boys off the street but don't bring them here. Take them out into the country and after a month you will have control of them, so bring them in. They will be your class.'

The name of that young man was Dwight Lyman Moody, and that was the beginning of a ministry that lasted forty years.

Trinity Episcopal Church in Chicago had a hundred and twenty-one members in 1857; fourteen hundred in 1860. That was typical of the churches. More than a million people were converted to God in one year out of a population of thirty million.

Then that same revival jumped the Atlantic, appeared in Ulster, Scotland and Wales, then England, parts of Europe, South Africa and South India anywhere there was an evangelical cause. It sent mission pioneers to many countries. Effects were felt for forty years. Having begun in a movement of prayer, it was sustained by a movement of prayer.

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• Everything Jesus was born for can be accessed and released in a more intense way when we pray together.

• God desires His people to pray and work together

• Jan 2014: 21 day fast and prayer time. We have to pray more together if we want all that God has for us as individuals and as a church.