MHOP Lifestyle of Prayer,p6

Manchester House of PrayerTeaching Notes

MHOP.org.uk

Cultivating a lifestyle to sustain night and day prayer

This is a brief overview of some lifestyle commitments we have chosen to embark upon in order to sustain Night and Day prayer. We believe that in this hour there needs to be people walking out a biblical lifestyle like those of John the baptist or Anna, so our intercession can be powerful and really make a change in this city and our nation.

Some may seem obvious to you or some may come away feeling like we are encouraging you to become rather legalistic. In Britain we are so anti legalism and anti religion that we have begun to believe that any biblical disciplines would be religious therefore we do nothing at all. It is all about Jesus and a relationship with him, we say, not about how much I read the bible or how many hours I pray each day. But the point is is that these biblical disciplines are tools that God has given us to gain a deeper intimacy with Him and to truly have the best relationship with Jesus we can possibly have. Why would we settle for anything less? If we are to sustain our vision for night and day prayer, the prayer has got to be enjoyable and it can only be enjoyable if we have cultivated a lifestyle of intimacy with Jesus.

Our vision is not to just simply fill up as many hours in the week with prayer, but we want to cultivate a culture shift that will move our hearts to seek God’s face and pursue all that he has for us personally and as a city and nation.

There are Seven commitments we are working on in our lives and that we are calling others to. These are definitely brief introductions to each of these as there is so much we could go into on each one but hopefully I can give you a taster and stir your hearts to join us on this journey into a biblical lifestyle.

Seven Commitments:

Pray Daily: connecting with God while changing the world by releasing His power.

Fast Weekly: positioning ourselves to receive more from God.

Do Justly: being zealous for good works of compassion and justice that exalt Jesus.

Give Extravagantly: experiencing the joy of financial power encounters as we sacrificially give money to the kingdom and support the prayer movement.

Live Holy: living fascinated in the pleasure of loving God that overflows to loving people.

Lead Diligently: taking initiative to minister to others and make disciples.

Speak Boldly: Being a faithful witness of the truth with allegiance to Jesus’ word.

This lifestyle is available to anyone who is willing to heed the call to decrease so that Jesus might increase in and through their lives.

MHOP Teaching Notes: Cultivating a lifestyle to sustain night and day prayer - Becci Ball 2

Manchester House of PrayerMHOP.org.uk

Pray Daily:

Prayer causes our spirit to be energised, blesses our circumstances and results in real changes in the world as more people experience Jesus’ salvation and deliverance from sin and injustice. Prayer is not about pleading with God to listen to our needs. God is pleading with us to pray so that we can connect with His heart in deep partnership and we are blessed by it.

For assuredly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain be removed and be cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. - Mark 11:23

God’s promises of this kind of blessing are not guarantees but invitations to partner with HIm in holy, believing , persevering prayer.

We are called to pray in order to cultivate our own intimacy with God, to intercede for revival and to pray for the sick to be healed. As we dialogue with Him in prayer, He reveals glimpses of His personality, giving us revelation of His thoughts and feelings for us. It is through this intimacy with God, we can begin to move in much more powerful prayer as we will begin to know His heart for His people and start praying for the things that move Him.

We must also understand the importance of speaking out our prayers. We must offer specific prayers, not just think about our needs with frustration. God knows all our needs but He desires for us to ask for them so that we interact with His heart. Verbalising our prayers helps us to control our thoughts and be more specific with our prayers.

Fast Weekly:

The New Testament church walked with such intimacy and power that I long to see us walking in now. They had this partly because they lived a fasted lifestyle. They walked in a spirit of fasting food, finances, use of their time, their words and their energy.

Fasting is in essence restraining some of our natural strengths in order to position ourselves to freely receive from the Holy Spirit. Fasting should be a part of normal christian life, but we have turned it into an optional extra.

When you fast... Your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly - Matthew 6:17-18

Jesus said ‘when you fast’ implying that fasting occurred in the regular course of a disciples life.

Jesus emphasised that the Father will reward fasting. Jesus calls us to fast because He knows that its rewards will far outweigh the difficulties. Some of God’s rewards are external as our circumstances are touched by Gods power. Some of our rewards are internal as our hearts encounter Him. We fast both to walk in more of God’s power to change the world and to encounter more of His heart to change our hearts.



Is this not the fast I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you - Isaiah 58:6-8

Fasting is to:

Loosen the bonds of wickednessUndo heavy burdensHelp the oppressed go freeGive bread to the hungryReceive the light of revelation in God’s WordFor emotional and physical healthThat righteousness would break forth.

Do Justly:

It is obvious today in the world we are in desperate need of God’s justice to be established. We are clearly in need of a deliverer as we look around and see abortion, poverty, world hunger, racism, disease and far too many other crises to name them all.

He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? - Micah 6:8

This is what God requires of us. We are called to be workers of justice and lovers of mercy with a spirit of humility.

We are called to be zealous to do works of justice and mercy that exalt Jesus. To be zealous of good works is to be intentional and committed to participating with others so that good works are done on a regular basis.

That He might... purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. - Titus 2:14

The revelation that we are God’s special people that He greatly loves and forgives awakens our hearts to God’s heart for all that we will become zealous for good works.

We are called to make God’s reputation known among unbelievers by doing good works.

You are... His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him... When they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God. This is the will of God, that by doing good you put to silence...foolish men. - 1 Peter 2:9-15

‘Good works which they observe’ - unbelievers accuse God of being indifferent to the suffering that is in this world. Unbelievers will listen to a believer because of what they do more than what they do not do. It is not enough to merely just avoid sin.



‘Glorify God’ God is glorified by good works because they testify that His power can transform our lives, from our natural desire to live selfishly, to embracing sacrificial love.

Jesus taught that the foundation of justice is first established in night and day prayer. The release of justice is most effective in the context of night and day prayer.

Now shall not God bring about justice for his elect, who cry to Him day and night...? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them speedily. - Luke 18:7-8

The justice movement that God is raising up will cry out day and night for justice, and from that place will overflow works of justice. We must never substitute prayer for works of justice and we also must not substitute works of justice for prayer. Without covering our works of justice in prayer we are almost saying that we can save people with our own might. Just think how powerful our works of justice can be if we have the power of God behind everything we do. We cannot move in this power if we do not ask for it.

Give Extravagantly:

There is great joy in giving financially in the awareness that God’s eyes are on us with pleasure.

When you do a charitable deed.. Your Father who sees in secret will... reward you openly. - Matthew 6:3-4

God really wants to bless us through our giving. All our finances belong to God and we should determine what amount of the money God has entrusted us with is ‘seed’ to sow in the kingdom and what amount is ‘bread’ to eat or to use for your personal life. Many have a pocket full of seeds, but without fruit because they do not sow the seed.

Now may He who supplies the seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness. - 2 Corinthians 9:10

The measure our giving will determine how far we will go with our walk with God.

He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. - 2 Corinthians 9:6

We should also be aware that it is not the amount we give that it is the issue, it is the percentage. It is about the sacrifice, but the amount it costs us. David refused to give an offering to the Lord that did not cost him.

I will buy it... nor will i offer... to the Lord... that which costs me nothing. - 2 Samuel 24:24



Live Holy:

We seem to have a pretty negative view of holiness nowadays. For most we think that if we are to live holy lives we must give up a lot of pleasurable things and follow a lot of negative rules. God calls us to holiness because He is holy. In being holy, He has the highest, most pleasurable and exhilarating quality of life in existence. He wants us to share in this with Him.

Holiness equips us to enjoy life together with God forever. It does not keep us from pleasure but equips to experience it. The power of holiness brings us freedom.

It really is possible to live a life of holiness in which we love God in every area of our life. We must choose day by day and choice by choice to love God with all that we are, because He loved us with all that He had. We can cultivate a fascination with Him and experience the pleasure of His love and live in 100 percent obedience to His ways.

Lead Diligently:

We are all probably leading at least one person. Whether you are an active leader in a church or ministry or you have people around you who respect you and listen to your advice or seek to imitate you are all likely to be a leader. The issue here is not whether you are a leader and in what capacity you are leading, the point is whether you are functioning in this role with diligence.

Having gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith... he leads, with diligence.’ - Romans 12:6-8

The definition of diligence is ‘The constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken with persistent exertion.’ Diligence includes zeal to invest our energy and time in serving, taking risks, and developing our God given skills.

The hand of the diligent will rule, but the lazy man will be put to forced labour... Diligence is man’s precious possession. - Proverbs 12:24+27

For us to reach God’s full plan for our lives we must not only be skilful in our leadership but we must be diligent. It doesn’t matter who is the most qualified or the most gifted, God is looking for those who will take initiative to invest in others to help them understand and connect with Jesus.

Speak Boldly:

The Lord is calling His people to be faithful witnesses with great allegiances to Jesus’ heart for the church, Israel and the Nations. Our witness for truth must be clear, bold, fearless and tender.

Our greatest example of this is through Jesus. Jesus did not hold back the negative or exaggerate the positive. He spoke with absolutely no regard to the criticism He knew He would receive. This is the most costly commitment of all as will affect relationships, our ministry reputation and even our finances. As Jesus did so we must be prepared to boldly proclaim His truths and prepare ourselves for situations where we will be persecuted for our faith.



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MHOP Lifestyle of Prayer,p6