The Harvest part 1
Praying and Fasting for the Harvest
Matthew 9:36–37
Mark 4:26–29
Luke 10:1–3
John 4:31–38
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2 Corinthians 9:6–13
6Now this I say, HE who SOWS SPARINGLY will also REAP SPARINGLY, and HE who SOWS BOUNTIFULLY will also REAP BOUNTIFULLY. 7EACH ONE must do just as HE HAS PURPOSED IN HIS HEART, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for GOD LOVES A CHEERFUL GIVER. 8And GOD is ABLE to MAKE ALL GRACE ABOUND TO YOU, so that ALWAYS having ALL SUFFICIENCY in EVERYTHING, YOU may have an ABUNDANCE for EVERY GOOD DEED; 9as it is written,
“He scattered abroad, he gave to the poor,
His righteousness endures forever.”
10Now HE who SUPPLIES SEED to the SOWER and BREAD for FOOD WILL SUPPLY and MULTIPLY your SEED for SOWING and INCREASE the HARVEST of your RIGHTEOUSNESS; 11YOU will be ENRICHED in EVERYTHING for ALL LIBERALITY (Generosity/Bigheartedness), which THROUGH US is PRODUCING THANKSGIVING to GOD. 12For the MINISTRY of this SERVICE is NOT ONLY FULLY SUPPLYING the NEEDS of the SAINTS, but is also OVERFLOWING through MANY THANKSGIVINGS to GOD. 13Because of the PROOF given by THIS MINISTRY, THEY will GLORIFY GOD for your OBEDIENCE to your CONFESSION of the GOSPEL of CHRIST and for the LIBERALITY (Generosity/Bigheartedness) of your CONTRIBUTION to THEM and to ALL, 14while they also, by PRAYER on YOUR BEHALF, YEARN for YOU because of the SURPASSING GRACE of GOD IN YOU. 15THANKS be to GOD for HIS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT!
Thanks be to God for His Indescribable Gift!
He who SOWS SPARINGLY will also REAP SPARINGLY.
He who SOWS BOUNTIFULLY will also REAP BOUNTIFULLY.
EACH ONE must do just as HE HAS PURPOSED IN HIS HEART,
not grudgingly or under compulsion, for
GOD LOVES A CHEERFUL GIVER.
GOD is ABLE to MAKE ALL GRACE ABOUND to YOU,
so that ALWAYS having ALL SUFFICIENCY in EVERYTHING,
YOU may have an ABUNDANCE for EVERY GOOD DEED;
as it is written,
“He scattered abroad, he gave to the poor,
His righteousness endures forever.”
Now HE who SUPPLIES SEED to the SOWER and BREAD for FOOD
WILL SUPPLY and MULTIPLY your SEED for SOWING
and INCREASE the HARVEST of your RIGHTEOUSNESS;
YOU will be ENRICHED in EVERYTHING for ALL LIBERALITY (Generosity),
which THROUGH US is PRODUCING THANKSGIVING to GOD.
For the MINISTRY of this SERVICE is NOT ONLY FULLY SUPPLYING
the NEEDS of the SAINTS,
but is also OVERFLOWING through MANY THANKSGIVINGS to GOD.
Because of the PROOF given by THIS MINISTRY,
THEY will GLORIFY GOD for your OBEDIENCE to your CONFESSION of the GOSPEL of CHRIST
and for the LIBERALITY (generosity) of your CONTRIBUTION to THEM and to ALL,
while they also, by PRAYER on YOUR BEHALF, YEARN for YOU
because of the SURPASSING GRACE of GOD IN YOU.
THANKS be to GOD for HIS INDESCRIBLE GIFT!
WOW! How can it be more complete than that?
Interactive Prayer:
Father, I pray for an amazing harvest this month. I pray for a harvest of compassion. I pray that we will become the most compassion church in the city. I pray that our compassion will move us to action. I pray that the heart on the hand becomes a lasting symbol of our compassion. I pray that our people will enjoy serving more than they enjoy anything in life. I pray that You will give us a harvest of the seeds that we are planting at Overton. I pray that we will see more parents come to Christ, more teachers come to Christ and more students come to Christ.
I pray that You will give us a harvest of laborers. I pray for our staff to become experts at equipping people in their spiritual gifts and employing people to use their spiritual gifts. I pray for the body of Christ at Highpoint to truly be operational. I pray that You will help us to know our roles and responsibilities and to courageously live out our faith. I pray that we will truly be great at winning people to Christ, growing people in Christ and sending people out to serve Christ. I pray that Highpoint will be great at what matters most. I pray that Highpoint will be great at loving God, loving people and making disciples.
I pray for harvest during our response time. I pray for people to repent of idolatry and turn toward You. I pray for You to give people the gift of repentance and faith. I pray that people will repent TOWARD God. I pray that people will see what they are gaining. I pray that people will see the surpassing value of Christ Jesus my Lord. I pray that people will focus on LOVING MORE instead of SINNING LESS. I pray that people will see and understand that when they LOVE MORE, they SIN LESS.
I pray that people will fall deeply in love with You. I pray that people will repent of their divided hearts and ask You to give them undivided hearts. I pray for casual believers to become courageous believers. I pray for consumer believers to become contributing believers. I pray for our believers to become more than believers from the head, but that they will become believers from the heart. I pray for a harvest of people from the middle. I pray that people will hate the middle like You hate the middle. I pray that people will refuse to be lukewarm. I pray that people will see what could be, what should be and what must be. I pray that people will redefine their lives by Your standard of ALL instead of their standard of SOME. I pray that we will be ALL IN!
Father, I’m going to take a word from one of our members and pray for the number twelve. I pray for at least 12 people to be saved every Sunday. I pray for all the people who are saved to follow the Lord in baptism and go to the Ignite Faith class. I pray for at least 12 people every week to repent of American Christianity and commit to ALL IN Christianity. I pray for the commitment, for the leaders and for the resources to disciple people right now. Father, we don’t have a curriculum yet, but I pray that You will provide us the leaders and mentors to disciple people to Love God, Love People and Make Disciples. Father, show me how to improve and perfect “My Priority Time” and make it doable and usable for everyone. Father, show us what are the absolute essentials that people need to know and do in order to be an on-mission Christ-follower.
Father, I pray for the right staff person for Connect, Equip, Serve and Give. I pray for that person to take hold of this area with conviction and relentless passion. I pray for this person to attack this area with complete and total commitment to make us the best discipleship church in the world, yes the world. Give us the ability to capture the legacy of Clyde Cranford in my life. Father, forgive me for not doing what I need to do and what we need to do in discipleship. Father, forgive me for being too busy, forgive me for being distracted, for me for not making it an absolute priority backed up with commitment. Forgive me for not leading strongly enough and clearly enough to demand that we attack this area and become successful at it. Father, we become successful at whatever we decide to do with total commitment.
Father, I commit to You that I am committed to us becoming great at loving God, loving people, and making disciples. Father, those three values represent the definition and the disciplines of discipleship. Father, I pray that You will give us the absolute right person to take this position and to attack it with dedication and determination. I pray for You to speak to this person in a clear and definitive way that You have prepared them for such a time as this. I pray that You will speak to whomever You want in this role through the Word, prayer, wise counsel and circumstances. I pray that this person will have a holy calling to fulfill this role in the body of Christ. I pray this person would be sent out by You and commissioned by You. I pray that they will have a calling for this position in the same way I have a calling to be the lead pastor of Highpoint. I pray for this person to see and believe that You can do exceedingly, abundantly more than they can ask or think according to Your mighty power that works in and through him. I pray that You will receive the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus.
I pray this person to see this position and this calling from Your perspective. I pray that they can see it to be so much bigger than connect classes and groups. Classes and groups are nothing as programs, but they are something all-together different if they are led by godly men and women. I pray our groups will be so much more than introductory connect, even though that is important, I pray that will turn into the individual mentoring relationship or one-on-four mentoring groups. I pray for the groups of this church to become serve groups. I pray for the groups to have the impact of Roger Greene’s group. What would it look like if our classes and groups could duplicate the influence and impact of Roger’s group? What would this past Friday night have looked like if Halle Stadium was filled up with groups instead of individuals? What could our impact be upon Overton be if our classes and groups were created and trained to be on-mission?
Father, I pray that we will not accept less. I pray that we will not say it can’t be done. If it can be done with one group, why can’t be done with multiple groups? If Jesus chose twelve people and formed them into a group for His strategy to change the world, why can’t we do the same? Can you imagine what could happen at Highpoint if we complemented our worship services with a strong discipleship strategy through Connect, Equip, Serve and Give? Can you imagine what could be if we truly started one new healthy group per month, 12 groups a year? Where would we be today if we had 96 healthy connect/serve groups? What would be the harvest today if people were growing and serving? What could the vision of Highpoint be with a strong discipleship commitment? What could the vision of Highpoint be with a strong process to grow people to love God, love people and make disciples.
I pray for someone to take us to the next level. I pray for this person to dream and think lock and step with me. I pray that they would take all that you’ve taught me about discipleship and take it out of my past and bring it into our present. I pray for someone to be a visionary leader. I pray for someone to follow my vision but to strongly contribute to my vision. I pray for someone to surpass me as the visionary and expert for discipleship. I pray for someone who is always bringing ideas to me instead of me always bringing ideas to that person. I pray for that person to care more about the spiritual journey of every person that goes public than I do. Father, forgive us for not having a better follow up process for the people who Go Public. Father, forgive us for letting the enemy come in and steal the seeds of many people who have gone public. Father, forgive us for not being more diligent to help this new babies in Christ go from milk to meat.
Father, please give me someone who will own this instead of me so that I can focus on Your vision, so that I can focus on increasing my faith and the faith of our church to do great and mighty things. Father, meet this need and the other needs in our church for us to go to the next level spiritually, numerically and financially.
I pray a harvest for the prayer team, use Matthew’s class to build an army of prayer warriors. I pray for people will intercede for me, for our staff, for our leaders and for the unsaved. I pray for people to pray for our church and for churches in this city to humble themselves, to pray, to seek Your face and to turn from their wicked ways. I pray for people to pray against the enemy and spiritual warfare. I pray for people to pray for protection of the seeds of the Word of God from the enemy and that the seeds will fall on good soil. I pray for people to pray people out of the middle.
I pray for people to pray for my pursuit of God. I need people to pray for me to fully surrendered to the Lord, pray for me to be filled up with all the fullness of God, pray for me to be filled with the Holy Spirit, pray for my faith to be strengthened, pray for me to be sensitive and obedient to the Holy Spirit, pray for me to have the faith to move mountains, pray for me to have the faith to lead us to revival and spiritual awakening.
Father, show us Your glory. Father, pass by in front of us and cause us to make haste to bow low toward the earth and worship. Father, give us Your Holy Spirit. Do in us what we cannot do for ourselves. Give us the desire and decision-making ability as church to go ALL IN. Give us the privilege and responsibility to reap Your Harvest. I pray that will start reaping tomorrow morning.
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