 Okay, ready everyone? Fine. Good morning. Let's pray and begin today. So, anyone from the on-campus batch to pray? Thank you for this opportunity. We will learn, we will be faster, we will tell, we will teach, and you guide us and give your knowledge so that you could understand your word properly. I give you all honor, all glory and submitter in your hands. And this prayer in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thank you. So, we were talking about intercession and deep form of intercession, which is known as travailing in prayer. And today we will continue to pray, continue to speak about praying for others. But we look at different categories, you know, like praying for others. How do you actually pray for your family? How do you pray for the church? How do you pray for other believers? There are certain scriptures that we can look at in the word of God and we can pray on the basis of those scriptures. But in the beginning, I just want us to understand that God has given us this opportunity to serve with prayer. We've seen prayer as a way to commune with God or to speak to God, to ask God for what we need. We've also talked about the fact that prayer is a way in which we can exercise our spiritual authority. But another aspect of prayer is that prayer is a ministry. We can pray for others and we can serve others through our prayer. And when we talk about praying for others, we can consider a particular individual in the Bible. His name is Epaphrys. Epaphrys was one of the leaders whom Paul trained up and this training happened during the third missionary journey of Apostle Paul. And this man Epaphrys was from a city known as Colosse. So if you know the book of Colossians. So Epaphrys is from that city of Colosse. He had come to Ephesus where Paul was teaching and that's where he trained up this man Epaphrys. But one of the things about Epaphrys that we study is that he was a man of prayer. He was a man who prayed for his own people in Colosse or the Colossian people. But there are two more cities which are listed whom he prayed for. Herapolis and Laudacia. These are two more cities that are close to Colosse and we find that Epaphrys was a man who prayed for these places. Now think about this. When it comes to prayer, right? Epaphrys praying for Colosse or Paul praying for the cities whom he established. Now Apostle Paul, he could have planted something like 20 churches when we read his journey and his ministry and he always says that I'm praying for the churches. I'm praying for the churches. Now these churches were far away from wherever Paul was Paul was still traveling and he was traveling a lot. But the beauty of prayer is that there is no distance in prayer. So Paul was somewhere but he was praying for cities which are somewhere far away. Epaphrys was praying for certain cities and it's possible to be anywhere but to touch a particular place or group of people or people whom we care for through prayer. And that is the privilege or the advantage which we have. So we can pray, we can pray for anyone. We can pray for people who are far away and there is no limitation as far as prayer ministry is concerned through distance. And so today I just want us to consider this ministry of praying for others. Now we all pray for other people but what we are talking about is to go to the next level. So praying for others a little bit here and there in our daily prayers or when somebody asks us to pray for them that's good. But we can go to another level. What is that level? To intentionally pray for others. It becomes a ministry, right? It becomes our service. So I remember I was just trying to learn about one particular subject about the subject of fasting. So I was looking at different resources. I was reading different articles and listening to some people. So there was one lady whose interview I was listening to one very elderly lady and she was talking about how she practices fasting and prayer. And I was so amazed to learn that in her daily lifestyle for maybe about a year or something like that it's a little extreme, okay? I don't recommend it to anyone. But God put a burden in her heart for a certain place. These are people that she does not even know. But because she had a burden for those people she was sharing about how she was skipping a meal every day for one year to pray for those people. Now she does not even know those people. They are not even her relatives or nobody to her. But I was so blessed to see that there are people like that who have a burden to pray for others whom they don't even know. They have no benefit by praying for such people. But she was sharing about how she has been doing it for about a year because she felt God wants her to pray for those people. So she's fasting and she's praying. So you see that sometimes God calls us to pray, to stand in the gap in prayer. So when we read about all the missionaries, we read about men and women of God who have been part of the awakening, the great awakening or the revivals. You'll find that there were a lot of people who invested time in prayer because prayer is very key to see the move of God. Without prayer nothing happens. So we'll read later on. I've been telling you about this person called John Hyde. He's known as Praying Hyde. So he had come to Punjab, Sialkot and over there he spent many years of his life and the only primary thing that he wanted to do was to pray for that region of Punjab. So he spent a good amount of time his life in prayer and he also invited people to come join him for prayer meetings. So they would have prayer meetings, it'll go on like morning to evening, it'll go on. So why all this? Not that this is his city or his country, nothing like that, isn't it? But there is a ministry in prayer which we can pursue. So when God puts something on our hearts, maybe he can put a region, he can put a place or he can put a group of people, we may feel like we want to pray for ministers of God, we may feel like we want to pray for the poor or something else. You can just consider the women, the children. So some burden which is on our hearts, we can go from just praying normally during our prayer times into something known as a prayer ministry where we invest time in prayer and we touch them through our prayers. So prayer ministry is at another level. Are you all understanding what I'm saying? Okay, normally we all pray, but that's not what I'm speaking about. I'm speaking about practicing it like a ministry prayer. So it is possible to pray that way and have a ministry in prayer and bless people. So it's a great ministry to pray because we are partnering with God to see God's power released. We are overthrowing the powers of darkness through our prayer. All these things are happening, but it's also a very challenging ministry. Why? Anyone? Why is it challenging? Let's say God calls us for ministry in prayer. Why is it challenging? What can be some of the difficulties or, you know, like it's a, how do you say? It's not easy. What makes it difficult? Prayer ministry. Sister, because Satan hinders it. Okay, yes, Satan hinders it. That's true. Anything else? Weaknesses. Weaknesses meaning? Yes, the weakness of our flesh. It's not easy to push in prayer. Somewhere we feel like, okay, I'm tired or I'm not able to focus. So our flesh, it hinders us. That's a reality. Yeah. So we have to push past that to engage in prayer ministry. Okay. Anything else? Anything else? We don't see it in the natural. We don't see it in the natural. Okay, fine. We have to trust God. We have to, we need faith, right? To continue in prayer. That's true. We don't see it in the natural. We need to wait to see the results. All this can be very tough. Anything else? Anything else? Which makes prayer ministry hard or tough. Main thing is flesh. So our flesh doesn't like it. You remember Jesus' disciples? They slept off, right? And Jesus had to tell them, what is this? You know, you can't even pray for one hour. You can't even help me in prayer for one hour. Okay, so overcoming the flesh is one of the biggest challenges over and above anything else. What, okay, compare it with other ministries. Something like preaching, teaching. Compare it with that prayer ministry. Yeah, yeah. No, but if God calls us for prayer ministry, let's say he says, okay, you, I want you to be an intercessor. So you'll also have to spend time like a, like a preacher or a teacher. No, you have to put that kind of time into prayer. So does it make sense? Yeah, so the same thing, because it's important. God is calling us for that. Okay, it looks like you can't think of any other hindrance. But what about, you know, when people are preaching, teaching, they're at the pulpit, people know them, right? So there is a sense of whether you like it or not, some sense of reward. Like, oh, people know my name. They think I preach well, I teach well. So people's appreciation, you know, people's recognition, it's kind of there in other ministries. Like, let's say we sing or we do some social work. People will know, oh, this brother is doing such a good work. There'll be some appreciation. But when it comes to prayer ministry, it's hard because nobody may know how much you're praying. You're praying inside, okay? Only before the Lord. So when it comes to recognition, we may lack recognition in prayer ministry. That makes it even more hard. We should have a lot of, what can I say, strength of character, where it doesn't matter. If somebody knows I'm praying and they appreciate me, or if they don't know at all, let's say that I'm praying so much, I've set aside time for intercession. It's fine. So when we are in that place, we have very strong spiritual, you know, like that inner person is very strong, very mature. So that is required. Otherwise, what happens is, we feel bad. I'm praying so much, nobody is appreciating me. Whereas you get that in other ministries where people see you. But in prayer ministry, nobody sees you. Got it? So that makes it even more hard. For a person to engage in prayer ministry. But we need to be obedient to God. If God is saying, no, I want you in the prayer ministry, you will be obscure, cut away from the view of people, but you still got to do it. Because that's what God is calling us to do. So that is another challenge. Even though it's a great ministry, recognition by men is something that we may not get. But what should make us happy? No recognition from men. But recognition from God. So God is watching us all the time. God is hearing us all the time. That is what we are happy about. That should make us very happy. So that is something about prayer ministry. Now when we are talking about ministering in prayer, Sister Gertrude has a question You have a question, sister. I can see your hand raised. Yes, sister. Not a question. I just want to testify. I used to have a ministry for children. And I used to get funds and I used to provide for their education books like the early piece for the poor children. But somehow this ministry was there for six, seven years. But many people discouraged me and they said, No, you can't do this and the government authorities will check and all that. But the other day and I stopped it and the other day when I was online with prayer group one pastor prophesied he said, you had a ministry and you did so much and Jesus liked your ministry though people did not like your ministry. So it was a confirmation from God that at least he liked my ministry. So this is I just wanted to say, sister. Sure, sure. Thank you. Thank you, sister Gertrude. So the same point that we were making God must recognize. Imagine if people say everything is good but God says I don't like your ministry what's the point? Thanks for sharing. So whatever we do must be pleasing to God. And brother Sanjay says here about prayer ministry it calls for discipline and sacrifice like top performing athletes. So true. So it requires that kind of focus. Now let's think a little bit more about the prayer ministry engaging in prayer as a ministry and we will look at this man Epiphras Paul writes to the church of the Colossians he hasn't gone there but he writes a letter okay. So in Colossians chapter 4 verses 12 and 13 he mentions Epiphras. He says Epiphras who is one of you a born servant of Christ greets you always laboring fervently for you in prayers understand perfect and complete in all the will of God for I bear him witness that he has a great zeal for you and those who are in Laudecia and those in Herapolis I'll read one more scripture which is also given in our notes Colossians 1.7 where he says as you also learn from Epiphras our dear fellow servant who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf. So at this point what is happening is that Epiphras has come to visit Paul he's with Paul when Paul writes a letter to the Colossians and then he will sort of send the message with these men so he's writing about Epiphras and what does he describe this man as look at that he says Epiphras who is one of you he uses the word born servant of Christ okay that is the description for a man who is in prayer ministry we don't read about Epiphras as a preacher teacher nothing like that prayer ministry but he's using the term born servant of Christ what else does he use to describe this man he says he's laboring fervently for you in prayers that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God then what else so he's laboring fervently the third one is he has a great zeal he has a great zeal for you and for the people of Laudacia and Hierapolis so he has a great zeal and later he says fellow servant faithful minister of Christ on your behalf so the reason why I am reading all this is see usually when you see the writings of Paul he he'll say an apostle and a born servant of Christ so born servant of Christ is generally used for somebody who is in you know some kind of notable ministry like an apostle okay but why is it that Paul is using born servant of Christ for a person who is in prayer ministry because in our minds prayer ministry is kind of secondary you know what I mean we feel like apostle is great prophet is great teacher pastor evangelist these are all mighty men and women of God they have the anointing the calling somebody who is in prayer ministry yeah it's okay you're not part of the 5-fold ministry but the respect that Paul gives epiphrase he says epiphrase born servant of Christ meaning he's giving equal respect the respect that he may have given to somebody in the 5-fold ministry offices okay so the point is those whom God calls for prayer ministry it's a very special ministry okay it's not something low something not important no then why is Paul saying born servant of Christ you got it so it is a very important ministry if God calls us for prayer it's a very very important ministry then what else does he say he says laboring fervently we think people who are teaching the word people who are pastoring people who are apostles they are the ones who are working very hard they are the ones who are laboring right but he says this man epiphrase born servant of Christ laboring fervently so is it possible to work hard in prayer is it possible what do you think yes laboring fervently so here is a man who is working hard in prayer can you all recall I told you a story about Father Nash how he went to pray for many weeks and months they used to pray pray pray and then Charles Finney he saw a great number of people come to Christ because of the laboring fervently in prayer so it's possible to work hard in prayer also you got it so this is what we understand from prayer ministry and what else does Paul say he says laboring fervently for what laboring fervently for you in prayers so that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God so if we compare it with let's say teaching ministry or pastoral ministry what is our responsibility teaching pastoral ministry anyone yeah yeah preaching God's word but what should be the result of preaching the word okay we may preach you know Sundays we may preach one hour one and a half hours depending on where you are right some places they like long sermons some places they like short sermons so yeah someone's preaching regularly teaching regularly but what should be the result of preaching and teaching I am not able to hear you very clearly Nelson it's echoing whatever preacher is teaching to the believers so he will hope for from them to they will they must means whatever he teach they will walk on that or they will catch those things okay they'll catch those things I agree with you what should be the final outcome let's imagine there's a preacher is preaching for whatever 20 years and he has a congregation they're listening to him for 20 years what should happen at the end of those 20 years just must come out from the believers okay leaders must come out okay then what is the ultimate goal to preach a lot of sermons to write a lot of books okay but what should be the result I'm asking you what should be the outcome okay people's heart should change share the word of God with others all correct answers I'm saying ultimate ultimate result people should be saved for the kingdom of God that's correct people should be saved come into the kingdom of God lots of answers here discipling the people equipping the saints spiritual growth drawing clothes to God prepare for heaven okay yeah very true fine all correct answers but you see ultimately what we want is we'll see that scripture in Galatians 419 Paul says that Christ may be formed in you understood so the result of everything is to become more like Jesus Romans 829 ultimately to be conformed into the image of Christ so the labor teaching preaching what is what is that labor to produce it should produce a people who are like Jesus in character and in power everyone got it so that is the reason why let's say the teacher of the word so how should we teach we should teach in such a way that people can understand they can learn they can grow they can move closer and closer to becoming more like Jesus so how should we pastor same way we guide the people we counsel the people we nurture the people so that they can go closer and closer to becoming more like Jesus then of course there are many other things like for them to identify God's purpose for their lives each one has a purpose isn't it so we need to help each one recognize what is God calling us to do and then we help them to grow to mature then they should become people who will disciple others so this whole process continues so all this labor in other words what is labor hard work hard work when it comes to say your pastoral ministry or teaching ministry or apostolic ministry it's all towards this discipling people raising them up in their full potential in the calling that God has given them so that each of us all of us together can be more like Jesus in our character in the power through our lives okay but notice Paul says that epiphrase is laboring fervently so that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God so the same way that we expect 5 fold ministry offices to serve us to become more like Jesus even through prayer ministry it is possible understood that's what it means the labor of one man in prayer is leading people to become more like Christ so the point that we are trying to make is prayer ministry is not second class ministry got it this is also very important and that is why Paul is saying same labor laboring fervently so that you may be perfect in the will of God even someone who is praying prayer can affect us in that way got it so that is why we should not look at prayer ministry as something weak or you know sad oh why is God calling me for prayer if he would have called me to be something else right if you would have called me to be an apostle great he is telling me you do prayer ministry what is this ministry you shouldn't think like that it's a very important ministry values it there is great impact and influence through prayer ministry and another thing we see is great zeal it talks about the zeal that Epipharus had to pray for people not just in Colosse but also in other cities now zeal means enthusiasm so hopefully people who are in various ministries let's say 5 4 ministry take for example a prophet he is enthusiastic about his ministry he or she they are very enthusiastic about their ministry about hearing from God prophesying you know making a difference in people's lives even somebody who is given prayer ministry can be very enthusiastic they are very excited about praying for people so as in when you hear needs as in when you hear prophetically revelation remember we said sometimes God will put things in our hearts why to pray so that enthusiasm is required even when it comes to prayer ministry so these are all requirements and we see that Paul speaks very respectfully of someone who is in prayer ministry so let's continue to look at a few more things about prayer ministry do you remember when we talked about Jesus Jesus's teachings on prayer we said in Matthew 6 I will read ok maybe somebody can read Matthew 6 verses 5 and 6 we have already seen this passage but we will do it again Matthew 6 verses 5 and 6 yes and when you pray you shall not be like the hypocrites for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets that they may be seen by men I certainly I say to you they have their reward but you when you pray go into your room and when you have shut your door pray to your father who is in the secret place and your father who sees in secret will reward you openly ok so when it comes to prayer ministry again God invites us to the secret place ok so we spend a lot of time in the secret place speaking to God hearing from God, laboring for people but we should always remember whether it is personal prayer or it is ministry we are praying for others prayer ministry God will reward us openly ok so that is the privilege of prayer we spend time in secret but what is God's promise he will reward us openly ok so this must be a motivation for us that ok no problem nobody knows me I am doing this ministry but one day God will reward me openly that is a great motivation for us when it comes to prayer ministry right you can trust in God that he will give us the results now we will learn a lot about prayer there are so many more chapters and a lot of depth when you know we consider prayer for now I will just touch on some of these truths about prayer we find that prayer is like an incense incense I don't know what you call it in Hindi anyone like a fragrant smoke kind of a thing when you look at the temple that is how they used to keep the incense in the temple in the presence of God where they will light it and it used to go up in the presence of God so it is a fragrant sort of a smoke it would go up in the presence of God so you see the psalmist he says in Psalm 141 verse 2 let my prayer be said before you as incense the lifting up of my hands so it is somewhat like this when we pray to God it is very pleasing or it makes God happy whenever we pray our prayers are pleasing to God it goes before him like an incense so in the tabernacle in the temple what did God say let the incense burn you shouldn't stop it let it keep rising up so our prayers today are the incense that go before God so every time we pray every time we intercede we can imagine all our prayers are like incense it is going up before the Lord okay there are other passages from the book of Revelation would somebody please read Revelation 5 and verse 8 can I read sister yes yes sister get room Revelation 5 verse 8 now when he had taken the scroll the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints hmm so this is a picture in heaven sister can you read again please if you don't mind now when he had taken the scroll the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints okay thank you so it paints a picture in the presence of God and it shows us that in heaven there are golden bowls full of incense in God's presence okay so there are golden bowls full of incense what is that incense what is that incense answer is there only prayers of the saints correct so it's right there the answer is just in the continuing statement there golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints so it's almost like our prayers are getting collected in the presence of God and it is like incense before him it makes him happy okay so that's how God looks at our prayer and our intercession now let's read one more passage Revelation 8 verses 3 and 4 who would like to read this one ma'am Revelation 8 verses 3 and 4 then another angel having a golden censor came and stood at the altar he was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar altar which was before the throne and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saint ascendant before God from the angels hand thank you so same thing no there's a golden bowl the prayers of the saints are collected as incense and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascend before God from the angels hands so the point that we want to make is our prayers are not unnoticed because we cannot see our physical eyes immediate results through prayer sometimes it can be very tough for our flesh because what does our flesh wants it wants to see it wants to feel but when we are engaged in prayer ministry we need to have faith that the prayers that we are praying God is listening to them our prayers are going up as incense intercession it is going up before the Lord as incense and that God is watching God is listening God is hearing so can you imagine if you close your eyes and see a picture of heaven and the smoke right going up from the golden bowl before God it's going up those are all your prayers those are all my prayers okay and God keeps the intercession before his eyes is happy about it it's very pleasing to him so these are all encouragements for an intercessor when we pray behind closed doors the God who sees us in secret will reward us openly that is a motivation second our prayers are like incense they go up before God that again is a motivation so we can go ahead and keep praying now there are a couple things that we want to also touch on and that is when we are engaged in prayer ministry there can be some attitudes or some behaviors which may not be correct okay so we will touch on that what do you think is there anything that a person who is in prayer ministry could do wrong you can think of something you can share okay I think it's similar to all other yeah Nelson you have a point suppose I prayed for someone and he received the answer then I may feel like because of me he got the answer so I think that is there in all ministries that sense of pride we want to take pride we want to have feel proud for any results whereas we should actually give God the glory okay so yeah we may feel that way that you know we take the glory God's glory for what has happened in someone's life so that we should not do even I've heard many times you know people say something like even to some political things they'll say oh I prayed I prayed for this man that's why he became prime minister I feel like only your prayers is it? only because of your prayers he became the prime minister it's not like that now we don't know who how many people are praying we don't know right because prayer ministry is done in secret so for us to try to take credit oh I prayed this person got a job I prayed they got married I prayed they had children that's not very nice to you know show off or brag about our prayer ministry that is something we can avoid because it's not very Christ like to you know brag about ourselves in prayer ministry in any ministry because whatever we do we do by the grace of God right and we thank God for the opportunity that we got the opportunity to pray or to minister or to serve so in a humble way God expects us to serve so never go around you know proudly stating I prayed so this happened I prayed that happened so that is something we can avoid anything else good good thought good answer anything else to avoid it comes to prayer ministry wrong prayer sister okay yeah to pray right prayers aligned to the word of God sure yeah that's also something to note Sonia says to be judgmental Sonia could you please elaborate how to be judgmental yes maybe when one receives a request for prayer may not be something in our opinions that is right you know I mean it could be something that could be judged and so maybe perhaps we should not judge that person's situation for why they are requesting prayer in that particular situation sure sure that makes sense to just be open right so they have a need to share it with us we'll just go before God and pray that whatever is the right thing God will do it in their lives okay sure to not be judgmental about people thanks Sonia thank you for that point anything else that comes to your mind that we should not do when we are in prayer ministry okay sometimes along the lines of you know being proud or bragging about ourselves we can we can use that identity to promote ourselves for example you know we go somewhere we meet someone we may like to say hey I'm a pastor so that people will look at us oh pastor and then they'll give you the respect right but actually there's no need you can just mention your name you can just be like a normal person because there's no need to mention where it's not required similarly when it comes to intercession to promote ourselves we could tell everybody you know I'm an intercessor God has called me for intercessory ministry I'm an intercessor I'm an intercessor so when we do that what are we trying to do yes there is a right place to mention that but if we are mentioning it everywhere it's just promotion like we are trying to promote ourselves we are trying to get people's attention that you know I God has called me for intercession and you need to respect me because of what God has called me to do so promoting ourselves like any other ministry you know let people decide if truly through our lives let's say prophecy prophetic right when we are prophesying we don't have to tell that we have a prophetic gift people will recognize oh this person very accurate they have a prophetic anointing that people tell you got it that's the right way of growing in our calling instead of making people tell that I am an intercessor I am a pastor I am a prophet right so we avoid that we don't self promote ourselves just do the praying if God wants people to recognize that you are an intercessor they will because they will see the impact of your prayer life like today we are talking about you know John Hyde father Nash they did not go around saying I am an intercessor I am an intercessor but through their lives we have seen the impact that is why today we recognize them as intercessors so the self promotion is a problem in every ministry and we must avoid that even in prayer yeah and the bible says that when we pray for others we receive a blessing on our own lives so that again is an encouragement yes I can hardly hear you yes yes yeah reach out to people for what hmm yeah see inform yeah fair enough fair enough see information and promotion there is a very thin line so we just have to be very discrete and judicious okay to know when to share and how to share so I you will figure that out yeah so I am not saying don't tell anyone at all I am just saying stay away from self promotion does it make sense or doesn't okay great so the last point that I was making was when we pray for others God blesses us so in Job 42 and verse 10 it says and the Lord restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as had before so when Job prayed for others what did God do God bless Job twice got it so again this is a motivation because it's a tough job intercessory ministry is very tough there is no recognition in it but when you think of the rewards or the benefits it motivates us okay it's not a waste of time somebody is being impacted plus God will bless me right we will receive blessings when we pray for others okay so with that I am going to stop but if you have anything to ask maybe after the break okay so we will stop right here can go ahead take a break please come back at 11 o'clock and we will proceed from there thank you