Oct 26, 2018
By Nicholas J. Kersten
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the
world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons
of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to
demolish strongholds.
—2 Corinthians 10:3-4
For most of my life, I have been fascinated by military tactics. Beginning around my early teen years, I became persuaded that the tactical decisions made by those on the battlefield have been the hinges of history. The generals who have made these critical decisions have had the history of the world swing on those precious moments in which the outcome of the battle hangs.
We know that in spiritual battle we are not to use the tactics of the world (as noted above)—we would be foolish to think that there are no tactical pieces to our Christian walk. Through God’s giving of spiritual gifts, talents, and abilities to His people, He makes sure that His church is prepared in every circumstance.
An important part of God’s provision for His people comes in the form of prayer. Beyond its many spiritual values in building spiritual sensitivity in us and intimacy in our relationship with God, prayer is a means that God uses powerfully in our world to affect His purposes. Throughout Scripture, we see God responding to and using the prayers of His people to bring about His plans and accomplish His will. Through prayer, the blind have their sight restored and the seeing have their sight taken (2 Kings 6:17-18), the sick are healed (1 Kings 17:20-22), cities are saved (1 Chronicles 21:26-28), demons are cast out (Mark 9:28), and faith is imparted (Mark 9:24). When the apostle Paul lays out the so-called “Armor of God” in Galatians 6:10-18, he concludes with an admonition to his audience to, “…[pray] at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,” before also asking them to pray for him personally.
We neglect prayer for ourselves, our families, our churches, our General Conference, our communities, our nation and our world at our peril. It is a powerful tool which God wants to use. If you are not availing yourself of the privilege you have to go to God in prayer, I encourage you to rectify that lacking immediately—your continued spiritual growth in Jesus Christ depends on it.
But beyond that general encouragement to prayer for all of us, it also seems the case that God specifically gifts and calls some people to pray at length for others in an extraordinary way. These gifted intercessors often feel a burden to pray for hours at a time and in very specific ways or for very specific people or situations. These people are often somewhat private about their ministry, as they know it is for the Kingdom, and they are not seeking the plaudits of people in it.
As we enter a season of new ministries for our General Conference—in evangelism, in church planting, in outreach, and in the training of new leaders, and as we continue in a time of disturbance and difficulty in our nation and world, these prayer ministers are incredibly important tactical pieces of God’s work in our time. The Christian Education Council is hoping to build a list of those who are doing this important ministry in the coming days so that we can distribute prayer lists to our dedicated prayer warriors. Then those called to this ministry can render their tactical prayer support to our shared work as Seventh Day Baptists. If you are called to this work (and especially) if you are already doing it, we would like very much for you to contact us by phone, letter or email (nkersten@seventhdaybaptist.org) so that we can add you to a list of people who will discreetly receive a regular list of prayer requests from our churches and ministries. We are calling in the artillery in the form of our prayer warriors—please contact us so we can help direct your prayers!
