YFC International

// 7 KEYS TO HOSTING AN EFFECTIVE YFC TEAM PRAYER MEETING

John Wesley said, “God, does nothing but in response to prayer.” We believe, John
was right! We are also aware of some of the challenges that present themselves when
coordinating a prayer meeting. The following keys, will provide tools to host a prayer
meeting for lost youth.

1. / Nourish Faith

2. // Lean towards Thanksgiving and Praise

3. /// Keep it Biblical and pray truth in your prayer meeting

4. //// Don’t let the Devil set the agenda

5. ///// Respond, obey and listen for the Holy Spirit

6. ////// Pray for Lost Youth

7. /////// Celebration and JOY!

1. / Nourish Faith
Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he that comes to
God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek
Him” (emphasis added). Faith, “see’s” with clarity who God is. God is a rewarder of those
who seek Him. Faith is the doorway into relationship with God and the currency of heaven.
Faith both moves and pleases God.
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Faith is not found in striving or petition driven prayer. Prayer that begins to beg God or
contend for spiritual breakthrough can diminish or eliminate faith. If your prayers have
sweat on them, you have left faith and entered works. Again, those who “come to God
must believe that He is.” Faith sees what is available in Christ and through relationship with
God, we learn to receive from Him. Faith see’s that God is able and willing to move with
power and authority. History proves this. Christian revival leaders and missionaries saw
what was available in Christ and laid hold of it in prayer. The result was the salvation of
people, the reformation of religion and social transformation.

Community wide transformation is possible through the Gospel (Acts 13:44-52). Nourish
faith in those praying to believe that God can do the miraculous and change the spiritual
environment of an entire community. Faith makes a demand on the resources of heaven (in
Christ) to be expressed on the earth. Believe and trust God for great(er) things.

When leading a prayer meeting find creative ways to nourish and inspire faith:

• increase your expectation: lead a prayer meeting by inviting people to grow in their appetite for
Gods presence and transformational power

• Read faith scriptures: start a prayer meeting by reading scripture that highlights how faith moves
and please God (the Gospels and Hebrews 11 are a great place to start)

• share testimonies of healing, salvation and Gods provision with your team that lead towards
thankfulness and confidence in the Gospel

• show a video or read a story of how God answered in response to prayer

• use historic revivals, church and missionary leaders as examples to highlight what God can do in
answer to prayer

• in small groups pray for your personal needs, ministry needs, and lost youth from a place of
confident faith

• share vision in prayer: enlarge your prayer vision and faith to believe that entire communities can
be transformed by the Gospel (Acts 13:44-52). Lay out a world map or regional map and have
your team gather around it to pray. Leadership Goal: share your prayer vision again at the end
of the prayer meeting

2. // Lean towards Thanksgiving and Praise

Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.” God
specifically instructed the Israelites to remember His power, miracles and works on their
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behalf. He instructed them to share these testimonies with the next generation. When the
Israelites forgot Gods works they often fell to their enemies because they forgot that God
is able (read Psalm 78: 5-7, 9-11, 41-42). Thanksgiving and praise focus us to remember
what God has done in our past, growing us in confidence to what He will do in the future.
Thanksgiving and praise assure our hearts and build confidence in faith to face current
obstacles and challenges.

Exhibit thanksgiving and praise in a prayer meeting by:

• remembering personal encounters with the Lord. Remember when/how He saved you,
transformed your heart, provided for your ministry, transformed a friend, youth or family member

• invite thankful participation: have your team speak out loud in prayer to the Lord what they are
thankful for. Have your team declare from in thankfulness their trust in God’s ability to guide,
protect, counsel and transform

• incorporate music: invite a worship leader to lead music that expresses thankfulness for God's
presence and praise for His ability to act, heal and restore. Feel free to move back and forth
between intercessory prayer and music

• be creative and share prayers of thankfulness and praise by having your team, write them down,
paint them, express them in song or creative arts

• celebrate communion together, remembering what Jesus did by dying our death so we may live
in His resurrection. Express thanksgiving and praise while receiving the elements of bread and
wine/juice

3. /// Keep it Biblical and pray truth in your prayer meeting

Communion with God and effective prayer do not originate in feelings but truth. Knowing
the truth of God found in Christ sets us free. Jesus said in John 8:32, “you will know the
truth and the truth will set you free.” The word of God is true. The word of God defines you
as a saint, royal priest-hood, child of God and the body and bride of Jesus Christ.

Christians may struggle to engage with God at a deep level as they feel un-worthy or
sinful. Look for ways to strengthen your team in their acceptance as the Children of God (1
John 3:1-3). Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal truth to those present.

During your prayer meeting build your teams confidence and assurance in Christ by:

• reflecting on scripture: have your team reflect on a piece of scripture individually and in silence
that unpacks their identity in Christ. After a selected amount of time, invite your team to share in
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small groups what impacted them from the scripture reading. Romans 5-8, 2 Corinthians 3-5,
any chapter in Ephesians, Col 1:9-29 & 3:1-17, 1 Peter 2:4-10, 2 Peter 1:1-11, 1 John 3-4 are
great scriptures for reflection

• in small groups declare in prayer the truth of God’s word over each other

• declare God’s truth in prayer over lost youth you are connected with. Pray that they may come to
know Jesus

• pray God’s word by literally praying and agreeing with scripture. Here is an example:

“Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:9-10). You can then pray something like, “Father, thank you
your word is true and you desire for earth to be just like heaven. I pray asking that the decisions of
our community/city/government/individual would reflect the values and authority of heaven. As
there is no sickness in heaven we ask that you would move with power and heal so that you may
be glorified and many would come to know Jesus as their saviour!

4. //// Don’t let the Devil set the agenda

Jesus coming into the world, was God on the offensive. God was taking back (redeeming)
the world from the enemy through His son. The Devil, would love to set the agenda for
your prayer meeting. The Devil would love the motivation of your prayers to be formed in
fear, inadequacy, doubt, dis-unity, skepticism and unbelief. Prayer not founded in faith
cannot move or please God. God has called and provided us a higher place to pray. In
Christ we pray from victory, not for victory. Jesus was never moved to prayer by the
enemies assaults or schemes. Jesus never allowed the enemy to set His agenda. His
agenda was set by what He saw the Father doing (John 5:19). Never in the Gospels do we
find Jesus responding in prayer saying, “the devil is at work here” or “this community is too
spiritually dark to reach.” Jesus, the light of the world prayed with a view of what God
could do, not in response to what the enemy was doing.

Personally, when discerning spiritual warfare I never call a prayer meeting with a
motivation of fear. I will pray for the Lords strength to lead and protect but I work to
guard my prayer from being motivated and formed by fear. If a situation seems dark, or if
someone says, “it’s spiritual warfare,” I am never impressed or caused to respond in fear. I
cannot afford to allow my prayers to be moved to the defensive. A prayer meeting formed
on the defensive has stoped looking at Jesus and has began to look at the situation or
spiritual attack. We are in Christ and able to pray to our Father who called us “out of
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darkness and into His marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9). I pray from the provision and victory
Jesus purchased through His cross, not the distracting roar of a fallen foe (John 12:31).

Spiritual warfare can certainly ‘thump’ us and I am not proposing that spiritual warfare is
easily navigated. I am proposing that spiritual warfare CAN be navigated when you know
Gods truth in Christ. In spiritual warfare, I seek to strengthen myself by prayer in view of my
identity in Christ and Gods ability to securely keep me. By knowing and standing in truth I
am better equipped to identify and deflect the lies and scheme of the enemy. Partnering
with the enemies lies is debilitating and a huge disadvantage. In spiritual warfare I am
called to ‘stand’ (not worry, fear or partner with the enemies lies) by applying the whole
armour of God (Eph 6:10-20). Having people pray for me in these seasons provides a
wonderful opportunity for me to be strengthened to stand in Gods provision of Christ and
His armour.

Once, while on a prayer walk in Canada, a number of us sensed the strong presence of
demonic spirits over our city. We responded by celebrating the finished work of Christ to
save souls no matter how “dark” it felt spiritually. In prayer, we stood firm in truth that Jesus
had indeed overcome sin and the Devil and now holds the keys to hell and death (Rev
1:18). As we prayed on the streets together, a young man was walking past. In response
to us asking how we could pray for him, he responded that he had terrible pain in his
shoulder. We prayed for him and the Holy Spirit healed him instantly. We were able to
share the Gospel with this young man and invited him to come learn more about Jesus. If
we had allowed the sense of spiritual warfare to distract us and cause fear, we may have
never prayed for that young man.

When it comes to spiritual warfare, we in Christ, are on the offensive.

In your prayer meeting:

• pray from victory and rest, not for victory

• respond to God’s leading when calling a prayer meeting. If you sense to call a prayer meeting
about spiritual warfare, do so in faith, not fear

• guard the motivation of your prayers from fear and unbelief

• read and grow in the confidence scripture gives us (Ps 91, Isa 54:11-17, Luke 10:19-20)
regarding the enemy

• identify challenging ministry, personal or community situations. Write them down and pray for
them knowing God is not intimidated by the devils schemes
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5. ///// Respond, obey and listen for the Holy Spirit

Leader and mega church pastor Bill Hybles once said, “every new ministry we begin, starts
with a God whisper in a prayer meeting.” Prayer is a catalyst for mission, creativity and
ministry strategy. In prayer, we learn to respond, obey and listen for the Holy Spirit. The
Holy Spirit is active and is speaking. He desires to lead, inspire, convict, counsel and
empower your team when they gather to pray.

During your prayer meeting:

• Write down and reflect on scriptures that are read or prayed. If these scriptures resonate with
you or your team, ask the Holy Spirit if there is a command to observe or obey that applies to
you or your team

• Listen for God whispers. God often speaks through people. It is a wise practice to listen to
others while they pray for you. Learn to practice discernment as you listen for God’s leading

• don’t hype the Spirit up, He comes down. Jesus fully paid through His death, that you would
become the recipient of the counsellor, the Holy Spirit. The Spirit doesn’t come through hype,
music or formula. He comes in trusting relationship when we live by truth and faith. Make room in
your prayer meeting to simply respond to the Holy Spirit’s available presence.

• Instruct your team to ask the Holy Spirit how and what they should pray:

- ask as individuals or small groups, “Holy Spirit, who do you desire me to pray for? Who is
on your heart today?” Instruct your team to pray for those people

- ask the Holy Spirit, “Is there anything you desire to speak to me about my life, my
relationships or the ministry of YFC today?”

- ask the Holy Spirit to fill you and your team with His power and love for the lost

6. Pray for Specific Lost Youth

God is inviting His Bride to pray for those who don’t know Him. Make a list of specific
youth (and their families) who do not know Jesus. Pray for these youth during your prayer
meeting by name.

7. /////// Celebration and JOY!

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The Kingdom of Heaven is “righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirt.” (Romans
14:17, emphasis mine). A prayer meeting should conclude with celebration, joy, and
confidence to share Jesus (Acts 4:27-31). As you conclude your prayer meeting, look for
ways to celebrate what God is doing. Celebration and joy are necessary to sustainable
prayer and intercession.

• speak and share encouraging words with one another

• celebrate the ways you sensed God leading your prayer time

• allow your team to continue in prayer for one another if it is appropriate, needed or edifying

• write down in a shared space what you sense the Lord doing

• join hands in prayer and declare God’s ability to reach more people in Christ

• sing together a final song that brings glory to God

• prepare a fun snack and good coffee/tea to conclude your prayer meeting

Prepared by: Adam Shepski

Global Prayer Catalyst
YFC International

“Every lost teenager depends on our prayer.”

Your prayer moves God.

In faith, prayer, and scripture you will find that God withholds nothing from those who
believe.

The impact of the Gospel in your family, community, and country hinges on a heart yielded
in prayer and obedience.

It is not arrogant to say, “Prayer shapes history.”