Years ago---in the year 2000, to be exact---I started a website on Yahoo's now defunct Geocities called Pray Hard. Prayer has always been my main ministry in The Body (I'm shy, I'm feeble and I'm certainly no speaker!) I had been studying intercession around that time and had one of those godly callings in the middle of the night. You know? Those times when you're fast asleep and are suddenly awaken by a fully formed idea that pops into your head uninvited. One that is too wise to have been formulated on its own and that, other than in the case of divine intervention, has no business being there.
Well, the revelation that caused me to get out of bed and write it down in the middle of the night, lest I forget it by morning, was that we simply don't pray enough for others. Maybe we pray for a selected band of others; our families, our loved ones, those people with specific requests on those pamphlets they hand out at church... and, of course, ourselves. But, what if everyone in the world had someone praying for them. Regularly. Not just people you know. Not just people you like.
Well, being the sometimes overly-organized person I can be, I immediately devised a system. With I Timothy 2:1-2 as my mission statement: "I exhort therefore, that...intercessions, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty." the Pray Hard system was set into motion.
It's a simple system. But, to really work, it's a system that takes commitment. I implemented it in my own life and set time aside for it every morning, still, these twelve years later. Are you ready?
Here's how it works [lifted and abridged from the old website]:
THE IDEA: If every believer would pray for a different 20 people every day, within 28-day cycles, we would each cover 560 people a month in prayer. If 100 people would commit to doing this, 56,000 lives would be touched. 1,000 people would reach over half-a-million lives! But, don't worry about the math, I've got that covered. You say you don't even know 560 people? Keep reading...
THE BENEFACTORS: This system covers so much more than just your inner circle. Each day you're to include: Five family members: Don't forget extended family and the in-laws; Five friends: People you converse with on a pretty regular basis; Five aquaintances: People you may not be as close to as your regular confidants. These can be co-workers, neighbors, people you grew up with but have lost contact with, people whose names "ring a bell"... any name that can be placed with a face; One church leader: Your pastors, teachers, mentors, Christian organizations you may be involved with (ie. Church camps, your alma-mater, charities, missionaries) and their administrators; Three public figures: Movie stars, tv personalities, musicians, political figures... go for the gold here. They may just seem like faces on billboards to you, but they're people too. And, they're included in the "all men" that I Timothy mentions. Be sure to use people whose work you admire as well as people you can't stand hearing about. Add some Christian entertainers to the mix too. They could certainly use our spiritual support, being all out there, exposed, targeted by the enemy; One stranger: You may not know their names and that's fine. God knows them personally. It can be a homeless person you tossed a dime to, a woman you saw crying in the restroom, a friendly store clerk, a person you saw on a talk show that you just took pity on... doesn't matter. Be creative, be compassionate, be sincere.
THE PROCESS: Realistically, you're going to have to write this stuff down. Reserve a notebook strictly for your intercessions. Have a page for each day of the cycle. (Remember, a cycle consists of 28 days. Four Mondays, four Tuesdays, four Wednesdays... you get it. A month!) Label the top of each page from "Monday 1", "Tuesday 1"... all the way through "Sunday 4" (ie. Monday of the first week through Sunday of the 4th week.) and fill in the names of the people you're going to be praying for each day. It is hard to think of 560 people at first, so feel free to recycle names. You may have a small family and not have five new names for all 28 days of the month, so go ahead and repeat if you need to. Praying for somebody more than once a month doesn't hurt! New names will come to you as you get into the groove.
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| Prayer Book sample page |
I use a small spiral notebook for my prayer book that I keep in my nightstand for easy, early morning, access. You may prefer a Word doc, a spreadsheet, a computerized task list or... is there an app for that? As long as you jot it down somehow. You will not remember 560 names on recall. I don't care if you're Rain Man. Just, make your life easier and write it down!
Praying for twenty people a day, you'll find is quite bite-sized. It can take a mere few minutes, using a simple sentenced prayer for each person, or you can spend as long as you like in time and detail.
I've seen amazing things happen over the course of my twelve years of praying hard. It doesn't take up much of my day, but it has a great effect on it! Seeing prayers answered is such a sweet feeling. It's a particularly new feeling when you begin to see people on your Public Figures lives changed. Some celebrities on my list have shocked me by going to rehab (when I didn't realize they had a problem), made public confessions (when I didn't know they were hurting) and made professions of faith (when I didn't know they were searching). Don't get me wrong, I'm not taking the credit. After all, it wasn't even my idea! But, when you begin to pray for anyone on a regular basis, you form an unspoken bond with them where you can't help but cheer them on. Even the ones I made you put on your list that you don't even like!
In the past, people have contacted me through the old webpage to see if they could borrow this system for their Sunday School classes or church prayer groups. Yes! This is not intellectual property. Remember, it wasn't even my idea! The whole purpose is to get as many people committing to their 560 people as possible. Use the system if you feel called to. Share it, tweak it, improve upon it... Then, go forth and pray hard!
(And, if you have a fun or inspiring "answered prayer" story, share it in the comments field below. Because, everybody loves that kind of stuff!)
