Here's what God did after 22 prayer warriors prayed for an entire city, one by one, name by name.
The time – September, many years ago.
The place – Ogdensburg, a small city in upstate New York.
The Vision – In a city of a little over 13,000 in northern New York another far-reaching effective and efficient method and methodology has been launched to carry out the “Great Commission” – it’s simply called PRAYER EVANGELISM and it works.
In this campaign to reach the populace of this city, 22 intercessory prayer warriors, led by one man, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and the Senior Pastor, who has a heart for God, of one small church in a small upstate New York city made plans to pray for every individual (by name) who lived in this city, all 13,014 of them, some 7,168 households – a somewhat daunting task.
They reasoned that rather than talking to people about God . . . they would talk to God about people.
What gave them the courage to try to reach the community for Jesus Christ was the belief that the Holy Spirit had led them to take action in addition to the full knowledge of the scriptural mandate that Paul gave the people in I Timothy 2: 1-4 – that supplications, prayers, intercession and giving of thanks be made for ALL MEN.
- “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men.
- For kings, and for all that are in authority; that wemay lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
- For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
- Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Emboldened and encouraged by the prospect of a positive outcome for their community, 22 prayer warriors from that small church in northern New York took the inspired idea and ran with the example stated in the Daily Bread article.
They found an effortless way to get the names of all the people via the Internet and started dividing their city into lists of names from A to Z.
Each volunteer committed to praying for three of their fellow citizens on the list a day, one by one, name by name.
They lifted each one up before the Lord as the Holy Spirit would lead them.
They would have to pray for over 13,000 people and over 7,000 homes to reach their goal of praying for the entire town, each person in the city, each individual one by one.
Each intercessory volunteer was to pray daily, asking the Lord to intercede on behalf of each person on the list.
But as time went on and the number of volunteers dwindled, the task became even more daunting.
As more prayer volunteers dropped out or failed to finish their list, the prospect of finishing the task seemed like it was doomed to fail.
Would they ever finish?
After 5 1/2 months and thousands of people prayed for, the momentum has been lost.
The man and his wife who started this PRAYER EVANGELISM INITIATIVE left that church.
It appeared that most of the prayer warrior volunteers who started praying had dropped out.
They weren't seeing many results to their prayers.
It was a huge task for the 22 and it was taking too long.
The remaining couple had become weary of praying as well.
They had backslid and became discouraged as well because they did not know what kind of impact they were making.
Or if they were even making an impact on the community at all.
The two had completely stopped praying for their target list of three people.
The fifteen minutes they spent opening themselves up to the Holy Spirit to pray for their neighbors seemed like it was unfruitful.
Even though their prayers were being answered, God’s Spirit was moving behind the scenes.
But one day, the man who started the PRAYER EVANGELISM outreach, prompted by the Holy Spirit, began rechecking the lists and realized there were only 300 names left to pray for.
It was a far cry from the over 13,000 names they started with.
With only 300 names to go, he realized they could reach their goal of praying for the entire community, one person by one person, one name by one name, one family by one family.
With renewed enthusiasm, the man told his wife that regardless of how long it took, he was going to not give up and continue the PRAYER EVANGELISM outreach.
Even if he was the only one praying, until everyone had been prayed for.
Once she heard there only 300 names left to pray for, she eagerly agreed to help him.
And so, they started once again to pray.
This time the finish line was in sight.
Their goal could be achieved.
Both could see light at the end of the tunnel, 300 names were easy, a short sprint, a walk in the park and not the daunting marathon they had already endured.
With only 300 names to go, the couple tallied their results, checking off each name as they prayed.
Sometimes they took time over the weekend to pray all day for 10 or 20 people.
More than just the three per day they targeted as a daily goal when they started.
It was the hardest work they had ever done, six months had gone by.
He was stirred by the Holy Spirt to finish praying for everyone in that city as they set out to do.
The heavy burden was to finish praying for the list of 13,000 even though he and she weren’t even from the community.
But in his spirit, he knew that God wanted this task completed.
Only months later did the couple find out that another couple who had volunteered, but lived in Florida part of the year, had continued praying as well.
They also found out that previous evangelists involved in a great spiritual revival that swept through New York in the 1800s were told not to even bother with the city, to bypass it completely.
There were strongholds in the city that had been present and had lasted many years.
The day finally came when the praying couple realized that it would be the very last day they would have to pray for the community.
There were only 5 names left on the list.
Had they remembered everyone?
Were all the A to Z lists prayed for?
Had they missed a letter of the alphabet with more names yet to pray for?
After thoroughly checking the list, they realized they had finally finished praying for all the names on the list.
Every member of the community had been prayed for.
What happened after they finished praying?
What did God do to glorify himself and answer their prayers when they had finished what seemed like a daunting task?
Not only did God answer the prayers of those who were prayed for, but God is still answering prayers for that city, it’s people and those intercessory prayer warriors who stayed the course.
What happened after almost 6 months of praying was nothing short of miraculous.
After all the work had been done, God showed up and showed out.
Things happened that only God could orchestrate.
He did answer the prayers of His people, as He said He would.
Miracle upon miracle.
Some miracles were made known, the multitude of which may never be known as His Spirit continues to move over the entire city and surrounding community.
• Many received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior one Saturday, led by two from the church’s music ministry team.
That Saturday meeting was the last meeting they were holding for the summer. The parents had been invited and attended with the children.
The two from the church's music ministry teams decided to hold an alter call and 12 accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior.
• The man’s wife received a $100,000 settlement from a lawsuit against the world’s largest retailer.
They fired the lawyer and handled the case on their own, led by the Holy Spirit.
• Not one, but two major employers, Lowe’s and Walgreen’s built retail stores and provided employment for the people.
• The city was named a finalist in the nationwide All-American City competition.
• Many, many physical healings that can only be attributed to God.
• The community had scores of people from the surrounding community, hungry for God, begin going to church again.
• So many miracles the man didn’t hear about aren’t event listed here.
If you’ve followed along, you may be thinking how you too and your community be blessed now.
You may be thinking you’d like to start your own PRAYER EVANGELISM INITIATIVE Outreach, by doing something for God and being blessed.
Would you like God to show His glory and answer your prayers for others?
God is waiting to hear YOUR prayers for your community, for your friends, neighbors, people you know and people you don’t know.
If you decide to TALK TO GOD ABOUT PEOPLE RATHER THAN TALK TO PEOPLE ABOUT GOD, you will be assured of His blessing and total success.
God doesn’t fail to answer His people’s prayers for others.
What you do for others, God will do for you.
Why not start your very own PRAYER EVANGELISM in your own neighborhood, community, town, city, street, church, or family, anywhere you feel led to start, and BE BLESSED NOW?
God’s waiting for you to take the first step.
You don’t even have to get out of your pajamas, memorize a scripture or say one word to anyone to be a blessing to God, to do something for Him.
Simply open yourself up to the Holy Spirit and let him direct your prayers.
Of course, it certainly wouldn’t hurt if you did talk to others about His glory.
He is always there, waiting to hear directly from YOU, as you stand in the gap and pray for others.
For what are we waiting?
You can do something important for God and be a blessing to Him and others by simply asking Him to send His Spirit to minister to others and draw them ever closer to Him.
You can do this.
Be a blessing to Him and be blessed right now.
The choice is yours.
He’s anxiously waiting to hear from YOU!
To discover more about how to start or enhance your own PRAYER EVANGELISM INITIATIIVE for your community, simply click on the START PRAYER EVANGELISM INITIATIVE page on this web site.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Pastor Phil Caruso (Passed on to glory) New Life Assembly Of God Church in Ogdensburg, New York USA was responsible for initially leading this Prayer Evangelism Initiative and Outreach.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: The beautiful watercolor painting of the BeBlessedNow.Org Airship was painted by Nancy R. Gonzalez.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Author Ronnie Schmidt, CEO, Marketing Consultants Group, LLC (800) 330-8908 Ext. 807 Ronnie.Schmidt@MarketingConsultantsGroup.com