24-7-520 Ten Years of Day and Night Prayer

Day and night prayer has been rapidly spreading across the globe as God’s people are waking up to fresh passion for seeking His plans and purposes for His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. One fellowship of believers, the Independent Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, has embraced 24-7 prayer as a collective journey towards asking God to give Jesus His inheritance of the nations: “Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession” (Ps. 2:8).

These churches (about 6,000 in the U.S. and another 8,000 internationally) are part of a ten-year prayer gathering that began at midnight on January 1, 2011, and will continue through December 31, 2020. Churches, Bible colleges, and mission organizations that are part of this fellowship are passing a “torch of prayer” from one to the next, each taking one week (168 hours) of day and night prayer. Because these churches are all independent with no physical “headquarters,” the movement of prayer is literally an organic, grassroots prayer meeting. Not every week is filled yet, but the hope is that by the end of 2012, there will be multiple groups signing up each week for the remaining eight years.

Unique Prayer Expressions

Participants have their own Holy Spirit-directed expressions of prayer through the week. Guidelines and training are provided online, as well as people available by email and phone to coach the groups. The goal is to honor God rather than to adhere to a legalistic set of guidelines, so each group’s week of prayer looks different from all the others.

A group begins on a Friday evening, receiving a virtual torch of prayer from the previous group either by phone, Skype, or in person if possible. The group passing the torch shares from their week, and then prays over the group that is about to begin the next week of prayer.

Each group is encouraged to set aside a dedicated prayer room for the week. Setting up creative prayer stations allows people of all ages to meet with God. Many have never had this kind of experience in prayer before, and even the most hesitant about praying for an hour find that time goes quickly when they are stretched to connect with God in unique ways. Prayer stations can include laying hands on maps of the world, journaling prayers, attaching Scriptures to pictures of missionaries as they pray for them using the Word of God, etc.     For training materials or examples of how churches are organizing their prayer rooms, go to restorationrevolution.com/almighty. Contact lightthefire@harvestprayer.com for more information.

(c) 2012 Prayer Connect magazine. To subscribe to Prayer Connect, click here.