A Special Inauguration Day Newsletter

1.20.09

Prayer Surge NOW!

"Being an Effective Intercessor for President Obama & America"

This Special Inauguration Day Newsletter Includes:

5 of the ways to becoming a more effective intercessor

Today's Justice at the Gate Newsletter by Alice Patterson

"A Prayer for Barack Obama" by Kimberly Daniel

It's now official.  Barack H. Obama is the 44th President of the United States of America.  President Obama, his administration, the 111th Congress & the nation are in great need of prevailing intercession.  God is looking for success in "His House" even more than in the White House or the State Houses of America.  We are God dwelling place and His Holy Temple.  We are called to intercede with hearts full of purity, love & faith for ALL, especially our leaders, so that ALL would receive opportunities to come to know Jesus (1 Timothy 2:1-8).  God is looking for partners to bring His Greatest Awakening to America & ALL the nations of the world.

Please take time to read the rest of this letter, including the resources for effective prayer:

1.     Find a prayer group and/or partner in your community.  Begin with praying for at least one intercessor passionate for the Lord for at least one hour a week.  Pray with the Bible open and allow the Holy Spirit to guide to pray the Scriptures selected by our High Priest, The Lord Jesus.

2.    Prayerfully read classic books on intercession such as Rees Howells Intercessor by Norman Grubb & With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray.  Go to www.ccel.org and receive free "downloads" of books written by Andrew Murray, Charles Finney, John Wesley, Watchman Nee and more.  Visit www.sermonindex.net and listen to some of 16,000 revival messages.

3.    Connect & partner with national/global organizations such as: Men for Nations (www.menfornations.org); Intercessors for America (www.ifapray.org); Presidential Prayer Team (www.presidentialprayerteam.org); National Day of Prayer Task Force (www.ndptf.org); Global Day of Prayer (www.globaldayofprayer.com); Justice Foundation/Operation Outcry (www.txjf.org, www.operationoutcry.org); Justic at the Gate (see today's newsletter below); and Spoken Word Ministries  (see Kimbery Daniel's "A Prayer for Barack Obama")

4.    Join local/state intercessory groups such as: Pray California Connect (www.praycalconnect.org); Arlington Prayer Net (www.pophop.org/arlington-prayer-net); Governor's Prayer Team (www.governorsprayerteam.org); and House of Prayer movement in your area.  

5.    Join us each Satuday morning, 4:30-7am Pacific/7:30-10am Eastern, and Prayer Surge NOW! with intercessors across the nation for the purpose of "Partnering with Christ for Revival in the Middle East & America."   For details of the weekly conference calls, please go to www.prayersurgenow.blogspot.com and/or E-mail us at prayersurgenow@gmail.com. 

Building strategic partnerships to mobilize Christians to pray effectively and to vote righteously

 

January 20, 2009

 

Dear friends,

 

Today is a momentous day with the inauguration of our 44^th president and first black president in the history of our nation.  Today Barack Obama will place his left hand on Abraham Lincoln's Bible and raise his right hand to take the oath of office that ends in "so help me God."  We will each watch the proceedings today or the news about them tonight through our own personal lenses.  For mine – I'm a believer, a worshipper, a reconciler, an American, the granddaughter of a former Ku Klux Klansman, a pro-life, pro-marriage voter, a former grassroots organizer for the Christian Right and a Republican.  Should I be angry?  Afraid?  At war with our new president?

 

I've tried to watch the news through the eyes of black Americans.  Senior citizens and children alike – who never thought this day would come in their lifetime.  Tears steamed down the faces of little children waiting to get a glimpse of President Elect Obama when he made his train ride into Washington DC this weekend.  Bill Cosby related on Meet the Press that he took the pictures of his mother, his father and his brother, who had all passed on, into the voting booth with him.  He closed the curtain, laid the pictures out and said, "Now we're going to vote."  Hope is at an all-time high for some Americans, especially black, Hispanic and young Americans. 

 

For others – especially pro-life, pro-marriage activists, there is concern that campaign promises to undo every pro-life bill through the Freedom of Choice Act will be fulfilled.  We're standing on both sides of the Grand Canyon of breaches in America – between white and Hispanic evangelicals who are mostly Republicans and black evangelicals and Hispanic Catholics who are mostly Democrats.  It's racial and it's political.  If we let it, it will cause us to be bitter against each other. 

 

I don't have to tell you that we are admonished in I Timothy 2:1 to pray for "kings and all who are in authority."  I've been meditating on Hebrews chapter 12 lately.  It's a good time to "lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, to run the race set before us, looking unto Jesus, who endured the cross, despising the shame…who endured hostility from sinners against Himself, lest [we] become weary and discouraged in [our] souls."  Many are weary and discouraged.  There's something worse than weariness and discouragement, however.  It's bitterness.  Hebrews 12:14-15 says, "Pursue peace with all people, and holiness without which no one will see the Lord, looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble and by this many become defiled."  We watched bitterness over the election of 2000 between George W. Bush and Al Gore grow into anger and hatred against President Bush.  The same thing must not happen against President Obama.  Bitterness is a horrible thing that infects the soul of the bitter person as well as those around him.  It's infectious and deadly.

 

Some of you may have seen the FOX News special aired several times recently about the story of Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of a Hamas leader from Gaza. Yousef had his eyes opened about Hamas in an Israeli prison when he witnessed Hamas killing their own people.  When he got out of jail, he accepted an invitation to a Bible study by a young man he met on the streets of Jerusalem.  During the Bible study, he was struck by the words of Jesus, "Love your enemies…"  Those three words led to a study of the Koran and the Bible side by side for several months and his eventual acceptance of Jesus Christ as his savior.  Love your enemies!

 

I was Field Director for Texas Christian Coalition in 1992 when Bill Clinton was elected president.  I wept and wept on the floor of my bedroom as I watched the election returns.  I couldn't believe God would let him be elected.  The fact is, God didn't choose Bill Clinton.  The American people did, but God let them.  Bill Clinton's lifestyle and political beliefs were the opposite of mine.  I despised him.  I would never say, "President Clinton."  When I spoke his name, it was through clenched teeth and a hiss – "Clinton."  I remember the day God convicted me of my heart attitude toward the president that I would never call my president.  I was leading Pray Texas by that time.  I had left the political arena (or so I thought) and was encouraging pastors to pray together across denominational and racial lines for transformation in their city.  It was at an Ed Silvoso City Reaching conference in Houston around 1998.  I was teaching about repentance and forgiveness yet I hated my president!  God took notice and convicted me of it.  I confessed my sin with brokenness before the group of about 1,000 pastors, and Ed opened the altars for corporate repentance.  God broke many that day.  "But President Clinton was an adulterer.  He was pro-abortion, enacted 'don't ask, don't tell' in the military and was even impeached for lying under oath."  True.  At that point, he was my enemy.  And God commands us to love our enemies and pray for them.   

 

Luke 6:27 Jesus said, "But I say to you who hear:  'Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you and pray for those who spitefully use you." 

 

Today is a day to rejoice with black Americans, especially senior citizens who lived through Jim Crow and were one or two generations removed from slavery.  We can and must stand against policies that are against the Word of God.  But we must be careful to not curse any person. 

 

In Romans 12:9-21 Paul exhorts us to let love be without hypocrisy, to be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another.  He says to "bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse."  Here's a word from Paul about today – "Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep."  Our role is to bless.  It's God's role to dispense vengeance. In fact, if we bless someone who deserves judgment, our act of blessing -- even feeding our enemy or giving him drink -- will heap coals of fire upon his head. 

 

It's important for us today to watch the proceedings – to rejoice with the millions of black Americans – young and old alike – who see today as a 2009 Emancipation Proclamation.  Slavery is over.  The sky's the limit.  It's important for us to pray for President Barack Obama – to bless him.  President Elect Obama has already received several security briefings.  He's changed some of his campaign promises because of what he's learned.  Thank God for that.  Although he believes all roads lead to God, he has confessed Jesus Christ as his savior.  Ask the Lord to build upon that confession. 

 

Join me in prayer.

 

"Dear Father, we come to Your throne of grace today in the name above all names, the name of Jesus Christ. We worship You as King of all kings, the Righteous Judge and the Lawgiver.  Lord, I ask you to give us clean hands and a pure heart so that we can be intercessors – so that we can answer Your call to stand in the gap -- the wound, the breach – before You for our land.  Forgive me and my ancestors for racism, bigotry, hatred and pride.  Forgive me for not loving and honoring men who are made in Your image.  Cleanse us from feelings of superiority and insensitivity. 

 

I lift up soon-to-be President Barack Obama to you.  I pray that as he places his hand upon Abraham Lincoln's Bible and lifts his other hand to swear an oath in Your name, that You would fall upon him.  I ask you to bless him, Michele, Malia, Nasha and Michele's mother who will be living in the White House.  I pull on the confession from his own lips that he is a Christian.  I ask You to speak in a way that he can understand, dear Father.  In the name of Jesus I break every curse spoken against him and prayed on him.  I ask You to flood him with Your presence, Lord.  I pray that the mantle of Abraham Lincoln would fall upon him.  I pray that the prayer of Abraham Lincoln would be President Obama's prayer, "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds."  And Father, I pray that these words will be true our lives as well.  Let us see the right.  Let us be known by Your love.  Love this president through us, Lord.  Let us be encouragers.  Let us be repairers of the breach.  Let us be the ones who lift up the arms of our leaders, to bless them, encourage them, and pray the best for them. 

 

Father, I pray for the safety of President Obama and his family.  With the increase in the KKK and white supremacist organizational membership on the night of his election, we ask You to forgive us for hating each other – especially in the name of Christ.  Together with thousands of Christians around this nation and the world, we lift up a shield of faith around the Obama family that Satan's fiery darts cannot penetrate it.  We intercept any plan for assassination and harm to this president.  We pray that President Obama's life will be modeled after Abraham Lincoln but that he will not die in office.  We pray for Your protection, for Your wisdom, for Your grace, for Your strength and for Your blessing upon our president.  Be good to him, Lord.  Let your goodness lead him to You.  I pray for an encounter with You deeper and stronger than anything he's ever experienced.  I pray that you keep us watching and praying for this man.  We pray for change, Lord.  As we bless him, we ask that You would rearrange his thinking and his plans on key issues of concern to those who are agreeing in prayer at this moment.  We pray that the gains to protect human life and marriage will not be overturned.

 

We release blessings upon our new president, but we turn our eyes upon You.  We worship You, Lord.  Our trust and hope are in You.  Our worship is toward You, the Lord of Glory, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Let the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer – in Jesus' name.  Amen."

 

Thank you for agreeing in prayer with me.  As you watch history in the making, continue to bless.  A blessing is more powerful than any curse.  Let's be blessers.

 

We are blessed to live in a nation whose transfer of power is peaceful.  We pray that America will continue to be blessed, that she will stand for righteousness and justice and with Israel.

 

Gratefully,

 

Alice Patterson
President
Justice at the Gate
www.justiceatthegate.org

Monday, January 19, 2009     Editor's Note: In light of the presidential inauguration tomorrow, we are sending out a prayer composed by Kimberly Daniels, overseer of Spoken Word Ministries in Jacksonville, Florida, that we encourage all believers to use to intercede for our incoming president, Barack Obama. Daniels is the author of several books, including her most recent, Delivered to Destiny (Charisma House). A Prayer for Barack Obama By Kimberly Daniels Father, You instructed us to pray for those in authority, and we lift up Barak Obama. We thank You for the anointing that has abided over the office of the president of the Unites States since the time our forefathers dedicated this country to Jesus Christ. We pray that our new president will abide under that same covering. We extend the common honor to Barak Obama that has been ascribed to all in his position. God, we thank You for placing favor on the highest office in our land. We ask for Your protection for Obama and his family during the upcoming presidential inauguration. We bind every attack from the Arian Nation, covert Nazi organizations, skinheads or any other racist group that specifically hates and targets people of color. We bind all terrorist assignments from local, national and international conspiracies against our president, government and other political leaders. We bind the resurrection of the Black Panthers (specifically the New Black Panthers). We break the power of demonic influences from any race retaliation groups in the inner cities of America. We turn the words of their demonic doctrine and declare that black people are not taking over America. We break the power of revenge from these groups against the president because he did not put all black people in his cabinet. We decree that innocent black people will not be terrorized in their neighborhoods by white supremacists, and innocent white people will not be terrorized by black supremacists. Father, we ask You to reveal Your Son Jesus to our new president as the only way to God. We ask You to cause him to have a Saul-to-Paul experience. Release the pricks and goads upon his heart at an accelerated pace so that his heart will turn to the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Deliver him and let him experience a genuine new birth in his spirit. God, deal with our president about the innocent bloodshed of the unborn and the sanctity of marriage. Open doors for true prophets to speak to Obama in the White House. We bind the ministry of psychics, the teaching of black liberation theology, and every New Age and secular humanist doctrine away from the White House. God, put Your angels around the White House. As the president is escorted down the streets of Washington, D.C., during the inauguration, let there be no breaches in security. Let the angels fill in the gaps, in Jesus' name. Anoint the secret service agents with a double portion during the inauguration and throughout the rest of Obama's tenure. We bind the spirit of the double agent. We come against the Judas spirit in the secret service, CIA, NSA and FBI in the name of Jesus. Lord, we come against every stronghold that keeps the president from the truth. We break every soul tie and vow that has been established between him and Harvard, secret societies and the illuminati. We declare that even the cabinet that is around him will bow to Jesus. We plead the blood of Jesus over Obama's head so that the pressure of the office will not keep him up all night. Every tormenting spirit sent by a witch or warlock is bound in Jesus' name. Lord, expose the work of every witch, sorcerer, spiritualist or person from the dark side operating through his cabinet members or through anyone else closely associated with him. We block the power of the influence of the Yoruba religion and all other groups of black people who worship their ancestors, in Jesus' name. We put barriers around the Unites States that will bind and block the witchcraft coming from Kenya to influence our president in Jesus' name. Let the power of every dedication of his past be broken, in Jesus' name. Keep and protect our new president, his wife, his children and his mother-in-law from kidnappings, assassinations, harassments and any other kind of attacks while they are in the White House. Let every hidden secret and dark thing operating behind the scenes be exposed expediently, in Jesus' name. Let every hindering spirit that would oppose the progress of our country be removed—now—in the name of the Lord. Father, we pray that our president will not sit in the counsel of the ungodly. We bind all alliances that would hinder the peace and protection of our country. Let all the covert plans of the enemy be infiltrated with light. Put people in the path of our president who will tell him the truth and speak the word of the Lord. We ask You, Lord, to shut the door to every spiritual leader who desires to frequent the White House for fame and glory. Shut the doors and shut their mouths. Let their words hold no weight in the Spirit. Remove every compromising, lukewarm Christian leader who wants to whisper sweet nothings in our president's ear. Send spiritual leaders who have kingdom mind-sets and hearts for the nation. We break the iron rod of hatred, racism and prejudice in the United States. We apply the blood of Jesus over our nation. We decree that disunity concerning Obama is being uprooted in the church, and the church will find common ground to stand in the gap concerning the matter. Lord, help us to build up the walls around our nation that were destroyed during the recent presidential election. We pray that our enemies will not launch a sneak attack on us while we are distracted. Wake up the sleeping church. Let us make supplication, prayers and intercession, and give thanks for all men, especially all who are in authority over us, so that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in America, in godliness and honesty (see 1 Tim. 2:1-2). As we pray, let every ungodly and dishonest thing be exposed and dealt with by the Holy Ghost. Lord, we know that our prayers and supplications concerning this matter are good and acceptable in Your sight because it is Your will for all men to be saved and to know the truth (see vv. 3-4). We drown every spirit traveling from overseas to wreak havoc. We bind the spirit of havoc and chaos from birthing martial law in the land. We bind spirits that would cause us to lose our constitutional and civil liberties. We declare that the gospel and those who preach it shall have free course in the earth. We break all agreements between Obama and the nations of the Middle East that would cause America to turn its back on Israel. We decree that a love for Israel will be released in America like never before. Lord, Your Word says that You will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse that nation (see Gen. 12:3). We bless Israel! Father, we ask You to move over Barack Obama and America. Keep and protect him. Your Word says that the heart of the king is in Your hand, and like a river You turn it wherever You will (see Prov. 21:1). Father, turn his heart in the direction of Your favor, timing and plan. In closing, Lord, we ask You to supernaturally intervene concerning the laws that will affect the civil liberties of believers. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.