I had a friend and longtime fulltime prayer warrior of 50 years, (Jerry Kirk of Cincinnati Ohio) leave me a voice mail the other day stating that he had a word from the Lord for me and if God had ever spoken clearly to him this was it.
I listened as Jerry told me the message that he received:
- You are more important to God than you think
- God loves you much, much more than you think
- You are more important to God for what he intends to do in your community and city and in His world than you think.
He ended the voice mail by saying God bless you Bob Williamson you are cherished by God and by me.
Hmmm . . . Jerry has a prayer ministry called the 40 Day Prayer Covenant. The gist of it is that consistent prayer with an accountability partner is effective. Jerry has been in over 9000 individual prayer covenants. His own life has been profoundly changed and formed by prayers of those people praying for him including Prayer Covenants with members of his own family and seeing three subsequent generations transformed by it. And his ministry has profoundly impacted those covenant partners for whom he has steadfastly prayed day after day.
I should know I’m one of them. I was introduced to Jerry by co-founder of Campus Crusade, (CRU) Vonette Bright, widow of Bill Bright. Subsequently I entered into a 40 day prayer covenant of my own with Jerry that ended several months ago. I got busy and distracted, but Jerry kept right on praying for me past the 40 day covenant that we made. I had not heard from him in several months when he called with the foregoing “word from God” for me.
Naturally I was quite thrilled that God would speak to my friend about me in such an encouraging, loving, and clear manner, and I’m determined to do my utmost to be obedient to God to do my part in fulfilling whatever role He has for me.
Good things happen when prayer is faithfully performed. Jerry’s word for me from God came (as things like this always seem to do) at just the perfect time when I needed to hear it the most.
The program is quite simple and can be found on his website http://theprayercovenant.org/ I’ve listed some of his guidelines below:
- Consider praying this prayer for 10 days before sharing it with others
- Ask Jesus to forgive your sins, and help you stop your sin patterns
- Invite the Holy Spirit to guide and empower you to pray
- Select a quiet place and time to pray unhurriedly
- Find at least one prayer partner and hold each other accountable
- Ask God to show you others whom you might invite into this Prayer Covenant
- Ask your Heavenly Father for lifelong growth in prayer, wisdom, maturity, and love.
I would suggest that you consider giving it a try. I’m on the hunt to find a new prayer partner that I can form a new 40 day prayer covenant with today and urge you to do likewise.
Psalm 107:28
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven
October 15, 2015 – Click here to listen