Join YWAMers around the globe in praying and hearing from God. He is inviting you!
The Founders’ Circle and other senior elders in YWAM have sensed an urgency to call YWAM to a Global Prayer Initiative for the whole month of September. This will be launched September 1-3 with YWAM elders/leaders and their networks across the world participating. Throughout September everyone in the YWAM family and friends are invited to join in unity together in this initiative.
In line with this, we would like to dedicate our regular monthly prayer, The Invitation, on September 10 to this focus.
During this time to seek God we want to pray on behalf of the nations we are in and to pray for our calling as a missionary movement in preparation for a renewed commissioning and anointing to be His agents of hope. In the days ahead we propose that we focus our prayer around four themes: Remember, Repent, Realign, and Release.
For personal preparation, pray that all of us in YWAM would remember our assignment in intercessory prayer for the nations and we would be a people who uphold God’s unchanging character. Pray also that we would examine our foundational vision, values, covenants and legacy words and realign where there has been drift, and from this time of prayer there would be a new empowering of God’s Spirit.
If you have a longer time to pray, or if you are praying with a group, please see below how you can pray deeply around these four themes.
Thank you for being part of The Invitation. We would love to receive stories from you regarding how you prayed. You can email us at prayer@ywam.org.
Prepare to Pray:
As you gather to pray, or as you prepare to pray on your own, take a moment to begin by listening to this three-minute video from one of YWAM’s elders, John Dawson, as he explains how to enter into this prayer time:
As a further exercise to help you begin this prayer time, read Daniel 9:18-23. Then listen as John Dawson draws out prayer principles about bringing to God the needs of a time and a people, asking for God’s mercy, and the power of a humble prayer (a seven-minute video):
O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolation, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”
Daniel 9:18-23 (ESV)
Pray for YWAM:
We trust the Holy Spirit to lead and direct you sovereignly in your location/ministry/team/sphere. By God’s grace, we are spread throughout the nations, in every kind of context. Let us make ourselves available to see, hear and feel as God does at this time.
We expect that the themes of repent, remember, realign and release will emerge in a cyclical way as the Spirit leads.
Please don’t rush through these themes. Be prepared to set other times aside to continue as needed.
Repent
As members of the Body of Christ called to serve in a specific place (village, city, nation or sphere), listen to the heart/groans of the Spirit. Listen for an invitation to identify with the suffering and respond in lament (2 Chronicles 7:14-16, Nehemiah 1 and 9, Romans 8:15-30).
Listen for an invitation to identify with the sins of the people, repent and cry out for mercy.
We invite you to spend time throughout inviting God to reveal more of His character/heart (Exodus 34:6-7) and to teach us His ways.
Remember
Just as Paul exhorted Timothy “I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well” (1 Timothy 1:18), we invite you to remember (recall) the covenants, prophetic words and assignments God has given to your team corporately or to you personally in your journey of faith when He called you to be faithful to Him and serve Him in specific ways to fulfill His purposes on earth.
Realign
Likewise, there may be prophetic words, covenants and assignments for your people, city or nation which you remember and can realign with.
God has called YWAM as a stream within the Body of Christ and He has given us specific assignment to do our part in partnering with Jesus to fulfill His purposes. These have been recorded in our foundational vision, values (www.ywam.org/about-us/values) and legacy words (www.ywam.org/for-ywamers/documents-for-ywamers). Prayerfully read through these and as you do so:
–Listen for affirmation from the Spirit about ways you are in alignment with the foundational vision, values and legacy words. Celebrate and give thanks for the joy of loving God and serving Him in this way.
–Listen for conviction from the Spirit about ways you are falling short or drifting. Repent and realign as appropriate.
–In this broader context, be sure to remember specific prophetic words or assignments God has spoken to you. Celebrate and give thanks for what has been fulfilled. Pray into what has yet to be fulfilled. Perhaps repent if needed and consider any areas of pruning and realignment that may be needed.
Release
God is inviting us to present ourselves personally and together to receive a fresh impartation of faith, hope and anointing for this new season. Consider God’s invitation to you (team or personal). This is a time to agree with God with bold prayers and commitment to action in nations like never before.
–We invite you to ask God to affirm and expand/deepen ministries/assignments that are to continue and ask for a “double portion” of anointing along with a greater ability to do God’s work in ways that express His character.
–We invite you to ask God for a fresh assignment, something new, in light of the burden God carries for a people/nation/circumstance that has come to your attention.
–We invite you to request boldness in preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and testifying about the power of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 59:19, Acts 4:29-31).
–The Holy Spirit may want to set some ministries aside and have the people commissioned to new assignments (Acts 13:2-3).
Throughout this process, ensure there are no areas of unbelief, doubt, inferiority and fear in our lives that might hinder us from moving into a new level of faith and exploits.
Photo credit: YWAM Facebook
Take Action
- Pray intentionally as noted by the Global Prayer Initiative.
- Share on facebook.com/youthwithamission, post a picture and add a comment about how you prayed.
- Go to twitter.com; search for #praywithywam and tweet about your prayer time/post a picture. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
- Send an email to prayer@ywam.org letting us know how you prayed and what God revealed to you.
How We Prayed
August 2020 – Fear of God
- Sister A. prayed to have the fear of God and that God would reveal how to fear Him to her.
- Several individuals sent personal prayer requests, many dealing with emotional challenges during this challenging time.
- An individual from outside YWAM gave glory to God when he saw this topic. This same individual prayed that YWAM would be blessed through the Holy Spirit who is guiding us with every step.
Future Topics:
- October 8: YWAM’s 60th
- November 12: Haiti
- December 10: Loneliness
Don’t Miss The Invitation:
- Sign up for prayer updates. Go to ywam.org, find the “Stay Connected” box on the home page, put in your email address and click “Sign Up.”
- Download prayer updates in a specific language. Go to ywam.org/theinvitation. (Currently available in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, Korean or request other languages.)
- Join the conversation about how God is leading in these prayer times. Comment on the Facebook page on the second Thursday at facebook.com/youthwithamission or on Twitter @ywam, hashtag #praywithywam. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
- You can now listen to The Invitation as a podcast. To sign up or listen to past episodes, go to: ywampodcast.net/prayer.
- If you sense God giving you a word or a direction for YWAM’s prayer, please contact us: prayer@ywam.org.
