Revolutionizing Your Prayer Life: God's Locker Room, #3

By Steve Biddison

For several decades, Christians have been praying for God to send a revival to our nation and move in  ways that return us to those legendary years of our forefathers.

Now in the second decade of the 21st century, many are calling on God to step into our daily world and send another revival. They want to see the signs, the miracles, the healings all over our nation that would usher in the next great revival.

I believe this time God wants His people to be doing something to prepare the way. I believe that God wants us to be the Church that He called us to be and when we begin being that Church in our world, we will start seeing revival happening.

This book is based on a project I began working on as God was bringing me out of a spiritual depression. God brought me to the great prayer Jesus prayed in John 17 and began to show me what my prayer life should look like.

As He began to show me these things, I knew I had to share it with others. That is when I believe God reminded me what  the Church should be doing to usher in the next move of God. It is nothing new. It’s what Jesus talked about in the Gospels. Unfortunately, if you are one who wants the big bang to happen with a great and wonderful sign that glows from the mountain tops, announcing to the world that the next great revival in our country, you are going to be disappointed. I personally do not believe that God is going to work that way this time. Instead, I believe that God’s next move is going to be bringing us back to what He originally wanted us to be. He wants His Church to be full of praying people.

This book is not simply a book about prayer  to read and put away, but it a call to action for those who want to see their prayer life transformed or revolutionized into what God wants it to be. You will get a lot out of it only if you read and put into practice the ideas presented, but I truly believe it will start revolutionizing your life (and perhaps your church) in a much larger degree, if you read it as a small group. This book can be a great small group resource for a six week study. It calls for a commitment by those in the group to change their prayer habits for at least six weeks. It’s designed with the hope that any one single church will commit to having all of their small groups work through this project at the same time. It is my belief that if each person, in each small group, of any particular church, will seriously learn to pray the way Jesus prayed in John 17, then in six weeks’ time, that church will be transformed in a way that makes all its ministries powerful.

Think, if the majority of churches in a community go through the same process, what God will do in that community. Can you imagine if every church in your community begins to pray and thus become the church God wants them to be, what would happen in that community? What about your state? Do you see where I am going? It would have the potential of seeing a move of God unparalleled in our lifetime.

However, it is not going to be something that changes our nation overnight. It is going to start with one person and one small group. If you look at the big picture, it will seem overwhelming. Just look at yourself first and then perhaps your small group. Do you want to be the kind of prayer warrior that makes a difference? Does your small group want to be everything they need to be as a small group? If your answer is yes, be prepared for an exciting six weeks of praying. We aren’t going to just talk about prayer. We are going to pray. If all you do is read about prayer or even discuss praying with your small group, it will mean nothing. Pray and watch for God’s answers. Are you ready? Then let’s not delay. It’s time to revolutionize your prayer life and then revolutionize your church, one praying person at a time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Steve Biddison
• Release date: Aug 26, 2014
• ISBN: 9781502252517

Book preview

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to the small group I am part of in my church.  Although I have always known prayer should be an integral part of the Christian life, it was not until I became a part of a small group in our church, that I began to really see what how prayer not only is part of the heartbeat of God, but is also how prayer is used to encourage our faith.

INTRODUCTION

For the past several decades many Christians have been praying for God to send a revival to our nation and move in such a way that returns us to those legendary years of our forefathers.  The Christian historians will point to some of those incredible moves of God in this nation where Heaven and Earth seemed to meet and God’s Word spread in unprecedented ways.  From the First Great Awakening to the Azusa Street Revival all the way to the Jesus Movement, God has stepped into the ordinary world and in an extraordinary way made His presence known.

Now well into the second decade of the 21st century, many are calling for God to step into our daily world and send another revival.  They want to see the signs, the miracles, the healings all over our nation that would usher in the next great revival.  Yes, that may happen.  Who am I to say that God will or will not work in that way again.  Those historical revivals were great and perhaps God will revisit us in much the same fashion.  However, he might not.  Are we to just sit around, basically doing nothing, hoping something great and miraculous will one day happen?

I don’t know about you, but I believe this time God wants His people, His Church, to be doing something to prepare the way for what He wants to do.  I believe that God wants us to be the Church that He called us to be and when we begin being that Church in our world, we will start seeing revival happening. 

However, being the Church is not about the pastor doing anything different.  It’s about you and me, the regular people of the church, stepping up and doing what Christ wants His house to be.

This book was originally based on a project I began working on as God was bringing me out of a spiritual depression.  Through it all, God brought me to the great prayer Jesus prayed in John 17 and began to show me what my prayer life should look like.

As He began to show me these things, I knew I had to share it with others.  And that is when I believe God reminded me what we  the Church should be doing to usher in the next move of God.  It is no surprise and nothing new.  It’s what Jesus talked about in the Gospels.  Unfortunately, if you are one who wants the big bang to happen with a great and wonderful sign that glows from the mountain tops, announcing to the world that the next great revival in our country is happening, you are going to be disappointed.  I personally do not believe that God is going to work that way this time.  Instead, I believe that God’s next move is going to be bringing us back to what He originally wanted us to be.  He wants His Church to be full of praying people.

This book is not simply a book about prayer for you to read and put away, but a call to action for those who want to see their prayer life transformed, or revolutionized, into what God wants it to be.  You will get a lot out of it only if you read and put into practice the ideas presented, but I truly believe it will start revolutionizing your life (and perhaps your church) in a much larger degree, if you read it as a small group.  This book can be a great small group resource for a six week study.  It calls for a commitment by those in the group to change their prayer habits for at least six weeks.  It’s designed with the hope that any one single church will commit to having all of their small groups work through this project at the same time.  It is my belief that if each person, in each small group, of any particular church, will seriously learn to pray the way Jesus prayed in John 17, then in six weeks’ time, that church will be transformed in a way that makes it powerful in all aspects of its ministry.

Then think, if the majority of churches in a community go through the same process, what God will do in that community.  Can you imagine if every church in your community begins to pray and thus become the church God wants them to be, what would happen in that community?  What about your state?  Do you see where I am going?  It would have the potential of seeing a move of God unparalleled in our lifetime.

However, it is not going to be something that changes our nation overnight.  It is going to start with one person and one small group.  If you look at the big picture, it will seem overwhelming.  Just look at yourself first and then perhaps your small group.  Do you want to be the kind of prayer warrior that makes a difference?  Does your small group want to be everything they need to be as a small group?  If your answer is yes, be prepared for an exciting six weeks of praying.  We aren’t going to just talk about prayer.  We are going to pray.  If all you do is read about prayer or even discuss prayer with your small group, it will mean nothing.  Pray and watch for God’s answers.  Are you ready?  Then let’s not delay.  It’s time to revolutionize your prayer life and then revolutionize your church, one praying person at a time.

GETTING STARTED:

It takes a vision to start a revolution

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I am glad that you have decided to go through this prayer journey.  As we examine the greatest prayer ever prayed, the one Jesus prayed in John 17, my prayer is that your prayer life will be enriched and you will start to see it revolutionized.  I have to warn you though, if you are someone who feels your prayer life is right where it needs to be, there might be some things that could offend you.  Just be forewarned that I am going to ask you to make a few changes to your approach to prayer.  However, I don’t apologize for it because I am not going to ask you to do anything that God hasn’t already asked me to do.

If at first, you are unsure about what I propose or  it makes you a bit nervous, that’s okay.  I only ask you to commit to trying it for six weeks.  If at the end of that time, God tells you not to continue, then by all means stop.  However, I seriously doubt God will tell you to stop doing something that helps take your prayer life to the next level. 

So here is how it works.  We all know the verse in Proverbs, Without a vision, the people perish (Proverbs