Prayer Trigger – Prayer Target

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At the beginning of last year, we experienced many problems with both our car and our computer. They were problems that I considered ‘out of the ordinary’, unusual. These problems were causing us a lot of inconvenience and money. Around that time I had been listening to a teaching from Arthur Burk ( about a missionary couple who had shifted to an inner city rough area and who were experiencing a lot of graffiti on their wall and dog poo on their grass. They had decided that daily when they went out to clean up both the graffiti and the dog poo, they wouldn’t complain but would use that time to pray for the local gangs in the area. Within a fortnight, both issues had stopped – no more graffiti, no more dog poo. He said it was like the devil had put a huge barrier of demons around their bit of grass to keep dogs away. In fact, dogs wouldn’t go near their bit of grass anymore.

I found this very interesting. I realise that I have minimal concept of what actually occurs in the spiritual world when I pray but I definitely know stuff happens. Thus, I began to change the way that I handled our car and our computer issues.

Whenever something went wrong with the car or the computer, I would pray a one sentence prayer for help with fixing it but then I would always pray for the local drug lord and all the brothel owners in our area to have an encounter with God’s love. I didn’t want to pray any ‘controlling’ prayers, but I wanted them seriously to have an encounter with God’s love since when you encounter that, you find it hard to stay the same. I would always seem to find that within a short period of time, the car or the computer issue would be fixed.

I called this my prayer trigger, prayer target. The problem was the trigger, the target was the local brothel owners and drug lord.

I have not heard of any dramatic outcome in this area, except that people are being evangelised and becoming Christians in the normal local drug hangout area. I do know that our car and our computer issues decreased significantly. Above all, I know that my prayers for the local drug lord and brothel owners are not wasted & that I wouldn’t have normally thought to pray for them to encounter God’s love.

Co-incidence? Not sure. (I always declare that there is no co-incidence with God). I do know that I have a prayer target (local drug lord and brothel owners to encounter God’s love) that I can immediately turn to when there seems to be a nagging issue that is out of the ordinary and costing time and causing frustration. I don’t have to spend time thinking about it. I naturally just pray for them now whenever something is frustrating me or has hit my prayer trigger.

What is your prayer trigger? Prayer target?

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:



1. Children / Families Activation: Begin with a time of prayer and worship. Then ask everyone to imagine they are with Jesus. That Jesus has walked into the room and has stopped in front of them with a huge smile on His face. Jesus is bending down on his knees to be at their face level. He is looking into their eyes, wanting to answer any question they have. Encourage them to ask Jesus how He sees them and how He sees their parents. Encourage them to ask Jesus a question they have on their heart that they would like to know the answer to. Have paper and crayons/pencils handy so that they can then write down or draw what they sense/hear/see Jesus communicating.

2. Group Activation: Get into small groups of 4-5 people. Share how the Bible says that we prophesy in part (1 Corinthians 13:9). Each group to select a person outside their small group to give a prophetic word to. Let every participant have 5 minutes to wait on God and hear/see/sense what He is telling them about that particular person. Then have every member of that group share within their group what they received. As a group pull all parts together and then deliver a unified prophetic word to the selected person. Then debrief about the process and about prophesying in part and needing others for a fuller picture.

3. Beginner Activation: Put on some worship music and spend time with God imagining you are with Him and He has His hands over your head. Imagine that from His hands flows a waterfall. It is flowing over you, refreshing you, giving you life. Enjoy the splashing, the colours, the feel, the cleansing. Ask God to refresh your spiritual eyes and ears. Ask God how He sees you, what He wants to tell you, what He wants you to know, what He wants to refresh inside of you. Ask Him any question you want. Draw close to Him. Then ask God is there someone else who needs to hear something from Him also. Ask God who it is and what He would like you to tell them.

4. Intermediate Activation: Think back over the last week. Is there anyone who caused you any angst this last week or frustrated you at all? Now focus your thoughts and affection on God. Give God that person and ask God to bless that person. Spend some time with God thanking Him for that person and asking God how He sees that person and how He wants to bless that person. Pray for that person. Write down what you hear/see/sense God saying and communicate it to that person in a relevant and timely manner.

5. Advanced Activation: Spend time with God asking Him what His heart is for Donald Trump or his wife Melania and how God sees him/her. Write it down in an encouraging, edifying and comforting style. Phrase it using “I sense” not “I believe God is saying…” or “God says…”. Pray through it and then mail it to them at c/o: Attention Donald Trump, C/O The Trump Organization, 725 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10022.