Your Kingdom Come: The Reign of Christ's Kingdom in the Earth

By Intercessory Prayer Ministry International, McKenzie Pier, CB Peter Morgan and 3 more

LIFE-TRANSFORMING TRUTHS FOR A POWERFUL PRAYER LIFE

Having a powerful Prayer life proves challenging for many believers in the church today. In Your Kingdom Come: The Reign of Christ's Kingdom in the Earth, David Bryant, Joseph Campbell, Newton Gabbidon, and CB Peter Morgan explain and apply vital truths from the Lord's Prayer to help believers experience a powerful prayer life.

In this helpful guide, you will discover that the starting point for a powerful prayer life is to be found in a solid relationship with God as Father motivated by love for Jesus Christ. The believer's love for Christ finds its most profound expression in a passionate pursuit of His Kingdom and the outworking of His will here on earth.

As the writers lay the foundation for a powerful prayer life, the truths they share with you in this book are anointed, refreshing, inspiring, and thoroughly based on the Scriptures. They also challenge you to reflect through questions at the end of each chapter.

Whether you are praying alone or in a group concerning personal challenges, the needs of a family member, friend or neighbor, or for the transformation of your community, city, or nation, the truths you discover in this book will help you persevere in prayer until God answers. This book will become a reference work for pastors and intercessors around the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9780966873085

Book preview

Pier

Introduction

The Intercessory Prayer Ministry International (IPMI) has a stated mission to promote and facilitate prayer and fasting among individuals, churches and other Christian organizations in order to foster spiritual renewal and transformation of families, communities, cities, and nations in furtherance of Christ’s Kingdom. One of the strategies that IPMI has employed, in light of this mission, is to provide Schools of Prayer for churches and interested individuals. The goal of these schools is to inform and inspire the participants so that they may adopt a lifestyle of prayer and become effective practitioners of prayer- prayer that evidences tangible results.

This book, then, intends to be a companion volume to the curriculum of the various Schools of Prayer that IPMI conducts. It offers collateral reading to complement the instructional sessions and serves as a theological reference for the benefit of the student. Four celebrated Christian leaders, who have demonstrated their commitment to the practice and promotion of effective prayer, collaborate to write this work. They are Bishop CB Peter Morgan, Dr. David Bryant, Rev. Dr. Joseph Campbell, and Rev. Newton Gabbidon. These Christian thinkers address subjects that any person who has taken a keen interest in understanding prayer in order to practice it more effectively would want to know.

The contributing writers have freely brought their different styles of communication to the work, as well as their different approaches to the subject, thus making it a truly eclectic book. By this eclectic format, the work highlights the fact that the subject of prayer embraces, equally, different people in their ecclesiastical and cultural diversity. Further, it points to the fact that there are indeed different but equally valid approaches to the subject, which are all worthy of understanding and of being given serious consideration. The reader will find a book that is rich with testimony and references to particular situations, persons, places, and things from the lived experiences of the writers. There is therefore a ring of authentic, lived credibility in the writing. In fact, this feature of particularity implicitly permits the student to reflect deeply on their own situation as they engage for themselves the subject of prayer, and to move from the particular of the writer’s experience to the general application that, in the light of Scripture, may be drawn.

One thing that stands out in this book and unites it with clear consistency is the confidence in the canon of Scripture that is shared by all the writers. For them, Scripture is the fundamental basis for this book, Scripture is the warrant for all its arguments, and Scripture is the location of its final authority. In the final analysis, then, this book on prayer is not merely a collection of human experiences, ideas, and opinions; it is also a serious study of the word of God – in order for the reader to be instructed by that word and to experience God’s grace in the obedient exercise of the incredible privilege of prayer.

Bishop CB Peter Morgan is a well-known leader of Christian thought who has been instrumental in the formation of significant Christian movements and their resultant communities. His influence extends from his native Jamaica to the Caribbean and across the world. He has mentored many Christian leaders, and is an important voice as an original theological thinker. His Biblical insight is a major factor in the approach that IPMI takes in promoting and facilitating prayer. Bishop Morgan has a reputation of demonstrating that the Christian Faith is reasonable and is relevant to the issues of contemporary life. He has also distinguished himself professionally in the academic community as an educator, and holds a place of esteem in religious as well as nonreligious circles. In this volume he addresses fundamental theological and practical questions relating to prayer. He sheds light from scripture on, among other subjects, the relationship between total devotion to Christ and an unswerving commitment to hallowing God’s name.

Dr. David Bryant is a highly respected scholar, author, and Christian thought leader. He has been Minister-at-Large for Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, and is internationally recognized as having given iconic leadership to one of the most historically significant prayer movements - Concerts of Prayer. His passionate conviction is that a proper understanding of the Supremacy of Christ is critical to effective Christian living, and that this applies to every area of life. In this book he helps the reader to appreciate the present reality of Christ’s exalted position, and shows that a clear understanding of this fact becomes the valid context for practicing effective prayer.

Rev. Dr. Joseph Campbell is a practical Pastor/Theologian. He is the Senior Pastor of Cross Creek Church, Lebanon, Missouri, and his stated focus as he leads this church is to equip, empower and release people to fulfill their purpose and destiny in God. Pastor Joe is a serous scholar whose grass roots experience with the challenges of life, personally and pastorally, uniquely qualifies him to bear witness to the power of prayer, the critical importance of intimacy with the Spirit, and the absolute reliability of God in answering our prayers to supply all of our needs. His discussion of the seminal issue of forgiveness as it relates to effective prayer in this work, is thorough and extremely enlightening - a subject that the student of prayer must grasp and grasp well.

Rev. Newton Gabbidon is the founder and President of Intercessory Prayer Ministry International. He evidences, uniquely, a vocational call to the ministry of prayer, and to go with that call he exemplifies a lifestyle of prayer. Before emigrating to the U.S.A., Newton Gabbidon founded and was president of the National Intercessory Prayer Network of Jamaica which is now an established and thriving prayer ministry.

Rev. Gabbidon sees prayer (and particularly intercessory prayer) not only as an activity to be done, but also as a posture which one takes as a position before God’s face. His teaching on prayer is a rich blend of his breadth of practical personal experiences of prevailing prayer, his scholarly references to the history of the role of prayer in revival, and his deep reflection on scripture with the employment of painstakingly careful exegesis. He believes in prayer because he has experienced its value to change his life situations; he believes in Scripture because he has been convinced of its truth; and, he believes in God because he has encountered God’s delivering power. Rev. Gabbidon is a serious student of Church history, and has taken a keen interest in revival and its relationship to prayer.

This book contains a wealth of information. Readers of this book will know a great deal about prayer from the perspective of these careful, committed, Spirit-filled practitioners. However, the book is more ambitious in that, to convey cognitive truth, it intends to inspire people to become participants in an incredible provision. It wants to bring transformation. It seeks to be a resource that will empower the reader to engage this powerful grace that the Bible refers to as the effectual fervent prayer (James 5) and to experience tangible results from this engagement.

– Rev. Dr. Samuel Carl W. Vassel

I

Prayer is something I should be doing though I don’t yet do it regularly

What is prayer?

– Dr. CB Peter Morgan

This chapter will focus on the definition of prayer, the purpose of prayer, and the Biblical approaches to prayer, with special reference to the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9–13, the model prayer upon which the basis of the theme and remaining chapters of this book rests. Scholars tell us that for centuries the Church has adopted the Lord’s Prayer as a part of public worship; they have cited its use in the early church from the Didache, a second-century local church manual. It is an appropriate way to structure a program for personal prayer.

TEXT: MATTHEW 6:9-13

One of the most common practices of mankind in every age, in every culture, and in most circumstances, is praying. By whatever name we call it, the evidence is overwhelming: both the religious and the non-religious, the saint and the sinner, the believer and the atheist, the child and the adult; they all pray.

Think of it: the secular person in society is excessively curious and pursues research until they discover the source of their answers. The sinner habitually swears and uses the name of God in his frantic appeal for help or relief. The atheist is one of the most ardent believers trusting in himself, in his possessions, or in others, in his quest for truth, and in his desire for personal comfort and intimacy. And of course, the child spontaneously asks with pleading and tearful cries for its felt needs to be met from its earthly father or mother.

What does all of this have to do with prayer? The common tendency is to try to define prayer in an academic and sometimes traditional way. But we will never understand What is Prayer? until we address the question as to Why do people pray? It is this which brings us closer to explaining the behavior displayed in the examples given above, whether or not we call it prayer in the traditional way.

WHAT, AFTER ALL, IS PRAYER?

In its most pristine definition, prayer may be understood as the human cry for help out of a sense of being overwhelmed by doubt, fear, anxiety, frustration, and helplessness. It is like a man fallen off a cliff, hanging on a branch and yelling out, Help, is anyone there?

In the biblical account it is clear that in his pre-fallen state in the Garden of Eden, man had within himself the confidence of the spirit of eternal life, with all the necessary resources available to him and with a sense of purpose in life. But in his separation from God and his exile from his all-sufficient environment, he became conscious of his own inadequacies, insecurities, and sense of abandonment from the One who is the Source of his life, the God of Creation.

It is in this context that in a conversation with Cain who had killed his brother Abel, God declared:

What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground ... A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth (Genesis 4:10-12).

And Cain’s response:

My punishment is greater than I can bear! ... it will happen that anyone who finds me shall kill me (v. 13-14).

Then after Adam and Eve had another son, it records:

"And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord" (Genesis 4:25-26).

Interestingly, in all the subsequent interactions between God and man, they were recorded as conversations initiated by God, not as man’s cry to God, until God’s covenant contract with Abram in Genesis 12:

Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, To your descendants, I will give this land. And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord (Genesis 12:7-8).

In the covenantal intimacy that was established, this interactive conversation continued between God and Abraham- as it were, bargaining between friends, which make interesting reading in Genesis 15 with clearer instructions from God expressed in chapter 17:

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward. But Abram said, Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? Then Abram said, Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir! (v. 1-3)

So the conversation continues:

And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. Then He said to him, I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it? (v. 6-8)

God gives instructions:

"This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you" (v.10-11).

Then, Abraham pleads with God for his son who was born out of wedlock:

Oh that Ishmael might live before you! (v. 18)

In Abraham’s journey with God, the experience of praying takes another leap with a bold and sometimes presumptuous bargaining with God. It begins with God’s expressed confidence in Abraham as His partner in covenant:

And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him (Genesis 18:17-19).

But when God determined that He would destroy Sodom where Lot and his family were living, Abraham took an unprecedented step with God. As the angels moved along, Abraham began to challenge God:

Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. And Abraham came near and said, Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? (Genesis 18:22-23)

Another interesting incident with Abraham introduces for the first time in the Scriptures the actual word for prayer ("palal"). On this occasion, God initiated a dialogue with Abimelech who had, in ignorance, taken Abraham’s wife.

And God said to him in a dream, "Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. Now, therefore restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours" (Genesis 20:7).

The story ends:

So Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children (Genesis 20:17).

I have identified these early experiences to trace what we may describe as the etymology and early practice of prayer in the experience of mankind. It is clear that it begins as a dialogue initiated by God through which He gradually avails Himself to man in a manner that encourages man to become aware of Him, that He is accessible, and of His desire to succor him and to work with him personally, within his family, and among his people. As such, note the following:

1. The early calling on the name of the Lord is suggestive of the frantic cry for help as if to summon His aid.

2. The name of the Lord eventually becomes One with whom man can relate, who responds to the cry saying, I am up here.

3. God establishes a covenantal context within which a Suzerain Potentate can interact with His Subject-creature.

4. As Subject, man prays through supplication or pleading to God, making either a personal petition to Him or intercession on behalf of others.

5. Though God is accessible through prayer, there are instances where His Subject-creature may perceive Him as detached, transcendent, or distant.

6. The prayer access is often through dreams and visions or through the intermediary of angels.

While prayer developed as an ongoing personal and corporate experience through the covenantal relationship with Abraham, there is evidence that it had gained traction in the lives of Isaac and his household, and in Jacob and his large family, which were eventually identified as the twelve Tribes of Israel. What would become the period of slavery and oppression in Egypt was preceded by a significant prophetic prayer of blessing by Jacob (renamed Israel) upon Joseph, who at that time had become Governor of Egypt. It was a Kingdom blessing for the nation sons of Israel.

And he blessed Joseph, and said: God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has fed me all my life long to this day, The Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads; Let my name be named upon them, And the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth (Genesis 48:15-16).

THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF PRAYER IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

The dispensation of the Mosaic covenant saw a significant development in prayer after the deliverance of the people from slavery, the entry into the wilderness, the shaping of the nation under the law and commandments, the emergence of community leaders, and the establishment of Judges to govern the people. But foundational to the success of all this was the establishment of the Tabernacle of God, placed outside the Camp, and the provision made for the entire people of God to relate to Him through individual and corporate acts of prayer.

The institutionalization of prayer was necessary to protect the people, newly delivered from 400 years of slavery and oppression, lest they trespass upon the presence of God and violate His holiness. He is not like the false deities of Egypt and the presumed divinity of Pharaoh. In fact, in their first exposure to God, as He came down from the mountain, the people were so scared they fled from the sight and declared to Moses that he needed to visit the Lord himself, and then report His message to them.

From then, Priests of the tribe of Levi were appointed to represent the people before God and to offer on their behalf expiatory sacrifices to atone for their sins. Once a year the High Priest went before the Lord in the Tabernacle on behalf of the people and the Nation. The Priest offered:

1. Burnt Offerings to purge the sinful acts of the people.

2. Grain Offerings, representing gifts of the people unto God from their labor.

3. Peace Offerings as thanksgiving to God and fellowship with their neighbor.

4. Sin/Guilt Offerings as substitutes where restitution was not possible.

5. Trespass Offerings for lesser