Intercessory Prayer: How God Can Use Your Prayers to Move Heaven and Earth (Large Print 16pt) Read online

  P R A I S E F O R

  INTERCESSORY PRAYER

  Intercessory Prayer is one of the best books I have ever read on the subject in more than 34 years of walking with Jesus. I specifically want to encourage all young people to read this foundational and revolutionary book on prayer.

  Che Ahn

  President, Harvest International Ministry

  Senior Pastor, Harvest Rock Church

  Intercessory Prayer is illuminating and motivating. Dutch Sheets sheds fascinating light on this sometimes mysterious subject. Readers will want to pray more, and they will see more results.

  Dr. Bill Bright

  Founder and President

  Campus Crusade for Christ International

  My heart flooded with excitement as I read Intercessory Prayer. What a blessing it is to have this instructive, God-inspired manual revealing the ways God works through His people. The Body of Christ will be richer in knowledge and depth of intercession, equipped to hit the bull's-eye.

  Bobbye Byerly

  Former U.S. National President, Aglow International

  Intercessory Prayer is bold, visionary and pushes us out of our comfort zones. Read it, read it again, and then get on your knees and expect God to move heaven and Earth through you. Thank you, Dutch, for your inspiration to believe God for miracles and then watch them happen. I'm praying for revival in Hollywood, and I know that we'll see God bring it.

  Karen Covell

  Founding Director, Hollywood Prayer Network

  TV Producer and Author, How to Talk About Jesus Without Freaking Out and The Day I Met God

  If you are looking for a textbook on prayer, this is the best! Dutch Sheets's fresh insights will inspire your faith, deepen your understanding, and equip you to fulfill your destiny as one of God's praying people.

  Dick Eastman

  International President, Every Home for Christ

  Intercessory Prayer has deservedly become a popular classic. This engaging and practical book has contributed enormously to the prayer movement of the last decade. Although thousands of books have been written about prayer, I tend to recommend just four titles wherever I go: Letters to Malcolm by C. S. Lewis, Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home by Richard Foster, The Soul of Prayer by P.T . Forsythe, and the book you are now holding in your hands. May it impact your life the way it has impacted mine.

  Pete Greig

  Cofounder, 24-7 Prayer

  Author, God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer

  Dutch Sheets is one of the most exciting teachers I have ever heard. He explains God's heart for prayer in a clear, concise, powerful way. Dutch makes praying with impact something that is within everyone's reach. I heartily recommend it.

  Jane Hansen

  International President, Aglow International

  Every praying Christian and intercessor should read this book! Intercessory Prayer will revolutionize your prayer life. It contains a depth of revelation found in no other book about intercession.

  Cindy Jacobs

  Cofounder, Generals International

  This book is for those who need answers from God, which as yet haven't come. Why? Sheets clearly explains the struggle of prayer that enforces the victory of Calvary. Authority is the issue. Warring and winning are born of worship and waiting. This book shows that the choice is ours.

  Freda Lindsay

  Cofounder/Chairman of the Board Emeritus

  Christ for the Nations, Incorporated

  Few times in history does an author capture the heart of God and create a classic that will affect generation after generation. Dutch Sheets has accomplished that with intercessory Prayer. I was privileged to go with Dutch to all 50 states of our nation. What he writes in this book was demonstrated in every state. I do not know anyone who has an intercessory burden like Dutch Sheets. After you read this book, you will understand how to stand, make decrees and become the lightning of God in the earth.

  Chuck D. Pierce

  Author, God's Unfolding Battle Plan

  Biblical, practical, workable, humorous and God-honoring-Dutch explains the why and how of effective intercessory prayer. You will want to refer to this as a resource book many times as you draw closer and closer to God. I read it through without stopping!

  Quin Sherrer

  Author, Lord I Need to Pray with Power

  I am always amazed at how practical and understandable God's Word is when it is explained by Holy Spirit-anointed teachers. I believe God has inspired the truths shared in this book to release an army of intercessors to strategically and powerfully work together with God at this time. I strongly recommend it to all who want to make a difference for the kingdom of God.

  Willard Thiessen

  President of Trinity Television and Host of It's a New Day

  INTERCESSORY

  PRAYER

  How God Can Use rur Prayers to Move Heaven and Earth

  DUTCH SHEETS

  To the Sheets team-Ceci, my wife and best friend; Sarah and Hannah, our two precious daughters; and yours truly-lovingly dedicate this labor of love to Jesus. "Thank You, Sir, for the price You paid and the passion that still motivates You. You're our Hero. It is fun and a great honor to serve and represent You on the earth. We look forward to many more wonderful times and days with You!"

  P.S. "We hope You like the book-we did it for You!"

  CONTENTS

  Acknowledgments .................................. 10

  Foreword ......................................... 11

  By C. Peter Wagner

  Chapter One ...................................... 14

  The Question Is . . .

  The right answer begins with the right question.

  Chapter Two ...................................... 21

  The Necessity of Prayer

  God chose, from the time of the Creation, to work on the earth through humans, not independently from them.

  Chapter Three ..................................... 36

  Re-Presenting Jesus

  Intercession can be summarized as mediating, going between, pleading for another, representing one party to another.

  Chapter Four ...................................... 49

  Meetings: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

  Intercessors meet with God; they also meet the powers of darkness.

  Chapter Five ...................................... 63

  Cheek to Cheek

  He put His tear-stained cheek next to ours and "bore" our punishment for sin.

  Chapter Six ....................................... 80

  No Trespassing

  "No dumping allowed, Satan. Trespassers will be violated."

  Chapter Seven ..................................... 97

  Butterflies, Mice, Elephants and Bull's-Eyes

  The Holy Spirit empowers the Butterfly Anointing so that we don't confuse the mice with the elephant.

  Chapter Eight ..................................... 113

  Supernatural Childbirth

  There is a prayer that births, bringing forth spiritual sons and daughters.

  Chapter Nine ..................................... 142

  Pro Wrestlers

  Step into the ring and face the powers of darkness.

  Chapter Ten ...................................... 168

  Most High Man

  The sin of pride, passed on from Lucifer to humans in the Garden, is what Satan uses to blind humanity.

&nb
sp; Chapter Eleven ...................................190

  The Lightning of God

  We let the "Son" shine forth through us, directing His light to desired situations, allowing it to "strike the mark."

  Chapter Twelve ................................... 206

  The Substance of Prayer

  You must release the power of God inside of you on a consistent basis.

  Chapter Thirteen .................................. 227

  Actions That Speak and Words That Perform

  Our words or actions impact the heavenly realm, which then impacts the natural realm.

  Chapter Fourteen ................................. 247

  The Watchman Anointing

  To the degree we are ignorant of our adversary, he will gain on us, prey on us and defraud us of what is ours.

  Discussion Leader's Guide ........................... 275

  Endnotes ........................................280

  Bibliography ...................................... 286

  Scripture Index ................................... 290

  Subject Index ..................................... 293

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Thanks ...

  To Jesus for being and giving us so much to write about.

  To my wife, Ceci, and my daughters, Sarah and Hannah, for believing in me and loaning me to this endeavor. I love you more than you'll ever know.

  To my secretary, Joy Anderson. Thanks for the many extra hours and excellent editorializing.

  To the rest of my great staff: Bob, David, Warren, Gerri, LeRoy and Linda, for picking up the slack while I "vanished" into a book.

  To the many who have helped birth this book through prayer.

  To the church I pastor, Freedom Church, for aiding me in this endeavor through prayer and moral support; for allowing me to disappear for a few weeks; and just for being all-around great sheep.

  To Karen Kaufman, my editor at Regal, for the many hours of diligent labor trying to satisfy this rookie writer and bring alignment between my conversational communicative style and Regal's formal grammatical style. Thanks for your expertise, for understanding my reasoning and for helping make this a better book.

  FOREWORD

  The modern prayer movement began around 1970. True, it had been burning brightly in Korea for some decades previously, but it was around 1970 that it started to spread worldwide. In recent years the expansion of the prayer movement has been exponential. Quality of prayer is increasing along with quantity of prayer. Flames of prayer are being lit in virtually every denomination on every continent. Pastors are giving prayer a higher priority, children are praying fervently and effectively, prayer movements and prayer ministries are proliferating, theological seminaries are introducing courses on prayer, and even secular magazines have been featuring cover stories about prayer.

  I am one of those who has been deeply touched by the contemporary prayer movement. Up until about 10 years ago prayer was boring to me. Oh, I knew the Bible taught that we must pray and that God answers prayer. I also knew prayer was included as a normal part of the day-by-day routine of Christian individuals, families and churches. But I would look forward to a prayer meeting with about as much enthusiasm as I look forward to visiting the dentist. No longer!

  It was the sovereign hand of God that drew me into what would become an intense involvement with the worldwide prayer movement in 1987. Since then I have researched prayer diligently. I have improved my personal prayer life greatly. I do prayer seminars and teach seminary courses on prayer regularly. I help coordinate prayer activities for the A.D. 2000 Movement and I have written several books on prayer. The reason I mention these things is not to blow myself up as some sort of spiritual giant, which I am not. It is rather to display some credentials as a backdrop to a statement I am about to make.

  As a professional scholar, I accept the responsibility of keeping abreast of the literature relating to prayer to the best of my ability. My personal library currently includes nine shelves of books about prayer, and the number continues to increase rapidly. Looking over that section of my library, which I can see from where I am now sitting, I see no book that compares to this one written by my good friend Dutch Sheets.

  I know every book has its own unique features. But Intercessory Prayer is in a category by itself. In my opinion, Dutch Sheets has provided, more than any other contemporary author, what could be considered the standard biblical theology for the worldwide prayer movement of the 1990s. I was thrilled as I read page after page of solid biblical teaching about the many facets of prayer. As I did, I was pleasantly surprised to come across concept after concept that I had not considered before. Few things I have read have turned on more lights than Intercessory Prayer.

  It is a danger, I realize, to classify anything as "theology." To many, reading theology is about as interesting as watching lawn bowling. But Dutch Sheets is one of those theologians who are also dynamic communicators. Instead of making simple things complicated, like some theologians, he knows how to make complicated things simple.

  Sunday after Sunday, Pastor Dutch preaches to hundreds in Springs Harvest Fellowship, one of Colorado Springs's fastest growing churches. As he does in his sermons, Dutch brings to life every point he makes through real life stories, some about his own experiences and some about the experiences of others. Every one of them shows how God can be glorified through the prayers of any believer.

  If you want new power in your prayer life and in the prayer life of your group, you have the guidebook you need in your hands. Your prayers will have more power to the degree they have more substance. You will not read far before you realize you are absorbing some of the most substantial teaching about prayer available today. As I have done, you will thank God and thank Dutch Sheets for this outstanding book.

  C. Peter Wagner

  Presiding Apostle

  International Coalition ofApostles

  C H A P T E R O N E

  THE QUESTION I S . . .

  No Hope

  I knew the person I was going to pray for was very ill. What I didn't know was that she was comatose with a tracheostomy in her throat, a feeding tube in her stomach and had been in that condition for a year and a half. Seeing her for the first time was like expecting a prescription and receiving brain surgery. Her sister, who had asked me to visit this young lady, had not given me the whole story for fear I wouldn't go at all. She knew if she could just get me there once, I'd probably go back. She was right!

  The doctors gave Diane (not her real name) no hope for living, let alone coming out of the coma. Even if she did regain consciousness, she would basically be a vegetable because of her extensive brain damage, or so the doctors believed.

  Have you ever stood beside someone in this kind of condition and asked God for a miracle? To stand beside death and ask for life can be intimidating. It can also teach us a lotabout life, about death, about ourselves and about our God. Especially when we stand beside the same person 60 to 70 times, for an hour or more each time, throughout the course of a year.

  Confronted with the Unexpected

  It didn't work out as I expected. Life rarely does, does it?

  I expected the Lord to heal this young lady through our prayers in a dramatic, easy, quick way. After all, that's how it happened with Jesus.

  • I didn't expect to invest three to four hours of my life each week for a year (including the travel time).

  • I didn't expect humiliation and insults from the staff of the nursing home where she stayed.

  • I didn't expect to cry so much.

  • I didn't expect to be so bold at times.

  • I didn't expect to be so intimidated at times.

  • I didn't expect it to take so long.

  • I didn't expect to learn so much!

  The Miracle

  Yes, God restored Diane! He healed her brain, the outer layer of which the doctors said had been totally destroyed by a virus. Ever
y part of it was covered with infection. "No hope," they said.

  The front page of the Dayton Daily News (not the real place or newspaper) read, "Woman Awake, Alive, Healthy After Two Years in Coma." The doctors called it a "medical miracle." "We have no explanation," they said, though they stopped short of giving God the glory.

  It actually happened on a Saturday morning when she was all alone. Earlier that week Diane had been moved from the nursing home to a hospital for treatment of an infection. After administering more tests, the doctors determined her condition had grown worse and informed her family that she would probably die soon.

  When Diane's sister relayed this information to me, I dashed off to the hospital.

  Knowing comatose people can often hear and understand everything happening around them, I spoke much to her. As we later learned, because of the damage to her brain Diane was not hearing me. But on this Wednesday afternoon, I spoke to her as usual.

  "This nightmare is almost over," I said with tears streaming down my face. "Nothing can keep us from receiving our miracle. Nothing!"

  The memory is forever imprinted on my mind. As I exited the hospital weeping, I remember saying to myself again and again, "Nothing can keep us from our miracle. Nothing!"

  It was not just a strong hope I had at this point but a great faith. I had turned to God many times throughout the course of that year asking Him if He had really sent me to this little girl. Each time I received His assurance: "I sent you. Don't quit."

  The Power of Persistence

  Now, I've been accused of being quite a stubborn fellow, and I suppose that's true. In fact, I've "stubborned" myself into a lot of trouble, including two major concussions playing football when a couple of fellows had more size and muscle behind their "stubborn" than I did.

  Stubbornness, however, can be channeled into a righteous force called persistence or endurance. I've found it to be one of the most important spiritual attributes of the Christian life. Charles Spurgeon said, "By perseverance the snail reached the ark."'