Continuous Prayer is Reaching across Denominations and Saturating Arizona
We know that the fuel of revival is prayer and that in order to bring and sustain the move of God that is just birthing it will not just take prayer, but non-stop prayer.
The following report by Debbie Fritch—founder of Lite The Fire—is an update on the "AZ Pray" 24-7 prayer movement that is growing exponentially in Arizona.
(Arizona, USA)—We are now in week 30 of non-stop prayer in Arizona. It has been amazing to see how the Lord has worked as He has brought different churches and ministries to participate in this historic prayer initiative. All but the last two weeks of the year have already been taken by different churches. There has been participation from churches of all denominations including Pentecostal, Charismatic, Bible, Non-Denominational, Southern Baptist, Assembly of God and Nazarene! There have been weeks hosted in churches, homes, a radio station, a school, a university and even a local hospital.
The testimonies continue to roll in. One local pastor said that "In 25 years of ministry, the week of 24/7 prayer is one of the most significant things I have personally participated in. It impacted our church in many ways including raising the level of faith and building community to a new level. I was amazed at the high level of dedicated participation."
During the week at Banner Estrella Medical Center in its Meditation Chapel and Healing Garden, AZPray was well received by the staff. At a debriefing meeting at the end of the week senior chaplain, Jerrye Champion said, "Every time I am in the prayer chapel, I feel God's Presence; but this week, God's presence was more pronounced." Many staff members at the hospital had approached the chaplain asking when this would be happening again. Jerrye's excitement was such that by the end of the meeting she was asking the coordinator if the week of prayer could be an annual event at the hospital. Needless to say there were many glorious opportunities for those stationed in the prayer room to minister to staff, patients and visitors.
Every two years a prayer conference called "Prayer Quake" (hosted by BridgeBuilders Int'l Leadership Network) is held in Arizona. 24-7 Prayer was one of the center pieces of this year's conference with the host church, City of Grace, hosting AZPray during the conference and Pete Greig, the author of Red Moon Rising and one of the founding members of the 24-7 Prayer Movement being one of the key note speakers. As part of AZPray there is a special service every Friday night where, much like a relay race, the "torch" of non-stop prayer is passed from the church currently hosting the week to the next church. At Prayer Quake a special "torch passing" was held and nearly 40 representatives from the various host churches and ministries throughout Arizona packed the platform as a visional representation of the unity of prayer that is happening throughout Arizona. At the end of the ceremony candles were handed to individuals representing 40 states to take the "torch of non-stop prayer" back to their state!
We know that the fire of non-stop prayer in Arizona is not to go out and are currently preparing for 2009. We are also prayerfully seeking the Lord on how to take what is happening in Arizona and train and equip other cities, states or regions to do the same!
On a side note, the Lord has been speaking very clearly to us as a ministry that our mandate is to train and equip others to do the same. We know that the fuel of revival is prayer and that in order to bring and sustain the move of God that is just birthing it will not just take prayer, but non-stop prayer. Along with that, to quote Jill Austin, "Revival and war are running mates." And we also believe that along with birthing and sustaining the coming move of God, it is also a frame work to mobilize for crisis intercession.
