Add Fasting To Your Praying

 

Hello everybody, my name is Dean Davis and this is “Multiply,” the podcast that

provides a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

You have been hearing a lot about the 90 Days of Prayer, Fasting, and Church

Planting that our Director, Pastor Claude, has declared for August through

October of this year. Prayer, fasting, and church planting are three God-

honoring activities that we will practice together. They are not magic. They do

not obligate God to act. But they are powerful.

First of all, by praying, fasting, and going out to plant churches in villages

without churches, we declare our utter dependence upon Almighty God. We

recognize that this is His work, not ours. He is our Leader; we are his helpers.

We are co-laborers with Christ and we are dependent upon him. We are weak,

but He is strong. So we pray. We remember the promises of God. We confess

our own weaknesses. We remember how he empowered the apostles of the

new Testament. We trust Him to empower us in the same way.

But our 90 Days of prayer, fasting, and church planting are not simply days of

praying for God’s power. They are patterned after the days, described in Acts 1

and 2, that Jesus’ disciples spent in the Upper Room before the Day of

Pentecost. First they prayed, then they were filled with the Holy Spirit, then

went out and proclaimed the wonders of God to people who had not yet

accepted the Good News. Finally, the Lord added to their number daily those

who were being saved.

So why do we add fasting to our prayers? Fasting is not magical. It does not

obligate God to work. But is it helpful? And if so, how?

Fasting is helpful. It is humbling to abstain from food for one or more days to

seek God. But we know that God meets us when we leave our pride behind and

humbly seek him. He is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Jesus expected his disciples to fast, but the primary instruction he gave about

fasting was to avoid fasting that was designed to win praise from men. We do

not fast to gain the approval of others. We fast to devote ourselves to God, to

hear his voice, and to accept his guidance in our lives.

During the 90 Days of Prayer, Fasting, and Church Planting, no one will obligate

you to fast. Fasting is a voluntary activity. But if you are new to fasting, and

you are in good health, I encourage you to give fasting a try. Seek the Lord

with your whole heart. Express your love to God with your whole self. As you

express with words your dependence upon God, show it, for a time, by seeking

God while abstaining from food. During your fast and especially after your fast,

God will meet you. He will guide you, he will empower you. And God’s

empowerment is always a wonderful thing!

This has been “Multiply,” and I’m Dean Davis asking, “Who will you share this

encouraging word with today?

#EncouragementForVillageChurchPlanters #FastAndPray

Use The Prayer Guide

 

This is Multiply, a podcast that encourages village church planters, pastors, and Christian leaders. I am your host today, Daneille Snowden.

There have been over 10,000 Village Church Planters in thirty-two countries mobilized since 2020.

We believe that God has prepared men and women of peace in all of these villages, to receive the Good News.

Our Village Church Planters are facing many different challenges as they answer the call to bring the Gospel to these remote places.

There is a need for all of us who are like-minded in this vision of church planting, to be joined together in prayer, coupled with a powerful agreement (as we pray). Thus, the Prayer Guide that has been written in detail for the 90 days of prayer titled: 90 Days of Prayer, Fasting and Church Planting Initiative,  this is a format to help us all as we pray.

As we fast and pray, we focus on each day and the prayer that is presented, notice that it has a scripture with the prayer.

I want to encourage you to pray and know that others are praying these daily prayers as well as quoting the promise scriptures at the top of the prayer guide.

Take each prayer, meditate on it, look up the verse that is with the prayer. Wait on the Lord, then simply pray this over your mission, your church planters, leaders, churches, pastors and yourself. We encourage you to do this twice a day, alone and then with your training centers when you meet, as well as your churches. Make sure to pray, meditate, and wait on the Lord to listen to Him. This should be a time when God will give you some promises, vision, and direction.

Be diligent, and stay focused for the scripture says; “Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame” (Isaiah 50:7).” Have a complete confidence in God and declare that indeed you will not shrink back from God’s mission He has for you!

Thank you for listening today! Did you know we have a website; vcpencouragement.org? We are also on many podcast channels, and you can find us on Facebook: and YouTube called: ‘Encouragement for Village Church Planters/Multiply.’

 

This has been Multiply, thank you and God bless!

Focus On What Is Essential

 

Hello this is Multiply,  a podcast to encourage village church planters and leaders I am Brad Snowden and I would like to read Hebrews 12:1-3; “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

We are preparing for our 90 days of prayer and fasting and what God wants to do in us during this time. This is a time for the Lord to impact our hearts and lives infused with His Spirit as we seek him. This scripture focusses on much of what we need to be during this time. Oh, church planter, leader follower of Jesus Christ we have a time together no matter where we are to join together in fasting and praying for God to move in us. It is a great reminder of how to accomplish this in our hearts. Laying aside casting every sin and hindrance far away from us as to allow God to speak to us. There are so many distractions that would like to get our attention and get our eyes off the mission. We have this opportunity alone and together with other brothers and sisters in Christ to guard this time as sacred and important. There is a race to run but we cannot do it without God getting our attention so our hearts can refocus on the essentials. “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith”. The focal point of our existence is Christ Jesus so let us focus on Christ and all we do to focus on His sacrifice He is willing gave for us. 

The sacrifice we can give is laying down everything that would try to hinder us from spending time with the Lord to hear His voice. We need Jesus to work in our lives, we need Jesus to work in our lives, and we need Jesus to work in our lives. That work He wants to do will help us to refocus upon His heart to run the race that He has set before us and the urgency for fulfilling His heartbeat for souls to know him and to see lives, families, and villages changed by His truth. My prayer is for you to meditate upon Hebrews 12:1-3 and allow the Lord to speak into your lives and then cast off anything that would try to hinder you from His presence and plan for your life. This has been a word of encouragement for village church planters.

 Lord bless you as you pray and fast.

Mobilize Intercessors

 

Good morning, everybody!

Good morning, dear pastors, dear church planters. This is Multiply, the podcast that provides a Word of encouragement to all church planters.

I’m Pastor Douti Claude VCP Director.

Last time I spoke about humility in church planting.

Since sometimes now all our words of encouragement are focused on our 90 days of fasting and prayers and church planting.

This morning, I want to talk about intercession. To mobilize intercessors.

In this moment of 90 days of fasting and prayers and church planting I want to encourage you dear brothers and sisters to mobilize the maximum of intercessors.

What is an intercessor?

An intercessor is the one who places himself between God and men to plead the cause of men. As intercessor you are a helper who stands beside someone.

We must present VCP vision to our fellow churches, to our brothers, in every church, in all Africa, on tik Tok, on Facebook.

Let us talk about prayer. It’s prayer that can save us. It’s prayer that can save Africa.

Nowadays, our leaders in our African countries come out with a lot of lows which do not help churches but hinder them.

Our strength in this time should be intercession, prayer to stand in God’s presence and God will touch the heart of all decision makers, transformed all decision makers so that people maximally give their lives to Jesus so that Africa should be saved. Intercession is powerful.

The Great Apostle Paul requested prayers from churches. He sent a letter to the church of Ephesus in the book of Ephesian 6 :18-19 “Praying at all times in the spirit with all prayers and supplications, to that end keep alert with all perseverance. Making supplication to all the saints and for me. That words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the Gospel.”

Brothers and sisters. I encourage you by these words to mobilize a greater number of intercessors even if some of them may not be able to fast, let them all be in prayers in these 90 days for Africa. It’s for the salvation of Africa.    Planting a greater number of churches means to bring solvation to a greater number of Africans.

I encourage you to do this with pure zeal, with a big love. To mobilize intercessors for your churches, in your houses, with your friends. Why watched podcasts of things that don’t benefit you on tik Tok where people only talk about politics, about purchased weapons, where we only see wars, but we can stop wars and give peace again to Africa through our prayers, through fasting and prayers, through the strength of the church. I encourage you dear brothers and sisters to position yourselves for intercession.

May the Lord bless you

May he gives you strength in these 90 days of fasting and prayers and church planting to see intercessors results.

Shalom

Humility and Church Planting

 

Good morning, dear brothers and sisters, Church planters. My name is Pastor Douti Claude VCP Director.

This is Multiply the podcast that brings words of encouragement to church planters.

I want brothers and sisters to encourage you about our 90 days of fasting and prayers and church planting.

I want to encourage you not to take these 90 days lightly but be diligent to it and humble yourselves before the Lord.

I want to talk to you about humility in church planting

Humility is important in church planting.

Humility before God and humility before the people that you serve humility among servants of God.

What is humility?

Humility is willingly bringing yourself down; humility is to humble yourself before God and before men.

It’s the time that we keep ourselves fasting in prayers. It’s the time when we keep ourselves far away from this world, and attach ourselves faithfully and humbly before God.

James says in the book of James 4 :4, that friendship with this world is enmity with God, but God loves the humble. God gives more grace to the humble. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble in verse 6 of James 4.

Humble yourselves before God in these 90 days, then you will see more God’s grace in your live, villages will be reached, you will have more increase in your ministry, you will see improve your ministry.

Peter is repeating the something to the elders IN 1 Peters 5 :5 he is talking about the grace that God gave to the humble and he opposes the proud. Brother be humble in this moment of 90 days of fasting and prayers before God.

Overview of the 90 Days of Prayer

 

Hello everybody, my name is Dean Davis and this is “Multiply,” the podcast that provides a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters. 

Have you heard about the 90 Days of Prayer, Fasting, and Church Planting that will be observed across 32 countries in Africa between August 1, 2024 and October 29, 2024? I am so excited about this opportunity to humble myself and call out to God for his grace, favor, and salvation to be poured out in villages without churches all across Africa.  I am so excited about 13,000 churches planted by VCP church planters like yourself becoming maybe 26,000 churches in the next few months.  

When you heard about the 90-day period devoted to church planting, starting August 1, what did you think?  Were you hopeful?  Were you fearful?  Were you confused?  Maybe the announcement was a little bit confusing.  Why are we going to stop normal classes in VCP training centers to focus on prayer and fasting?  Why do we need to all do this at once?  Why 90 days?  That’s a long time!  Do they really expect me to fast for 90 days straight?

Let me answer some of these very important questions. VCP Director Claude Douti has instructed us to suspend normal classes in VCP Training centers so that all VCP church planters, trainers, coordinators, supervisors, and church multiplication facilitators can humble ourselves and focus our hearts in prayer. We will call out to God for each church to start a daughter church. We rejoice in all the churches that have been planted since April of 2020 when New VCP was first implemented.  But we long for more people in more villages to know the love of Jesus and experience a new birth into the family of God. We are glad for what we have done to plant churches but we are burdened by what is still undone. We need God’s power and strength. We need open doors and open hearts. We need to find more persons of peace. We need to demonstrate through fasting that it is not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord that the VCP vision will be fulfilled.

So we suspend normal classes, and focus training during the month of August on reviewing the Field 1 and Field 2 ministries of prayer walking, finding persons of peace and sharing the Good News. And we pray. Alone. In small groups and in large groups.  We organize prayer meetings in our own churches and in the churches of our partner denominations. And, if we are in good health, we fast as we pray by abstaining from food. Sometimes we fast with others, sometimes alone.  Sometimes for just a few meals, sometimes for several days. Sometimes we take a break from fasting to begin a fast again the following week. We are not under the law, but under grace.  Fast as you feel led. Humble yourself before the Lord. If you are not in good health, do not fast. Pray.

In August, work with your trainer to identify villages without churches where you and your colleagues will go to look for persons of peace. Then, along with your daughter church planters, spend as much time as you can in those villages during September and October. Find persons of peace. Pray for the sick, share your testimony, share the 3 circles. If you can, share the JESUS Film. Help the new believers meet together to feed on God’s word and worship the Almighty. 

And remember, across Africa 13,000 church planters are agreeing in prayer with you. In America, intercessors are agreeing in prayer for you to help each church you work with to start a daughter church. So be filled with hope. Be filled with the power of the living Christ. He who has called you is faithful! He will not leave you or forsake you!

This has been “Multiply,” and I’m Dean Davis asking, “Who will you share this encouraging word with today?

#EncouragementForVillageChurchPlanters #90-Days #FastAndPray

90 Days of Prayer & Fasting & Church Planting

 

Hello everybody, my name is Dean Davis and this is “Multiply,” the podcast that

provides a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

Have you heard about the 90 Days of Prayer, Fasting, and Church Planting that

will be observed across 32 countries in Africa between August 1, 2024 and

October 29, 2024? I am so excited about this opportunity to humble myself and

call out to God for his grace, favor, and salvation to be poured out in villages

without churches all across Africa. I am so excited about 13,000 churches

planted by VCP church planters like yourself becoming maybe 26,000 churches

in the next few months.

When you heard about the 90-day period devoted to church planting, starting

August 1, what did you think? Were you hopeful? Were you fearful? Were you

confused? Maybe the announcement was a little bit confusing. Why are we

going to stop normal classes in VCP training centers to focus on prayer and

fasting? Why do we need to all do this at once? Why 90 days? That’s a long

time! Do they really expect me to fast for 90 days straight?

Let me answer some of these very important questions. VCP Director Claude

Douti has instructed us to suspend normal classes in VCP Training centers so

that all VCP church planters, trainers, coordinators, supervisors, and church

multiplication facilitators can humble ourselves and focus our hearts in prayer.

We will call out to God for each church to start a daughter church. We rejoice

in all the churches that have been planted since April of 2020 when New VCP

was first implemented. But we long for more people in more villages to know

the love of Jesus and experience a new birth into the family of God. We are

glad for what we have done to plant churches but we are burdened by what is

still undone. We need God’s power and strength. We need open doors and open

hearts. We need to find more persons of peace. We need to demonstrate

through fasting that it is not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the

Lord that the VCP vision will be fulfilled.

So we suspend normal classes, and focus training during the month of August on

reviewing the Field 1 and Field 2 ministries of prayer walking, finding persons

of peace and sharing the Good News. And we pray. Alone. In small groups and

in large groups. We organize prayer meetings in our own churches and in the

churches of our partner denominations. And, if we are in good health, we fast

as we pray by abstaining from food. Sometimes we fast with others, sometimes

alone. Sometimes for just a few meals, sometimes for several days. Sometimes

we take a break from fasting to begin a fast again the following week. We are

not under the law, but under grace. Fast as you feel led. Humble yourself

before the Lord. If you are not in good health, do not fast. Pray.

In August, work with your trainer to identify villages without churches where

you and your colleagues will go to look for persons of peace. Then, along with

your daughter church planters, spend as much time as you can in those villages

during September and October. Find persons of peace. Pray for the sick, share

your testimony, share the 3 circles. If you can, share the JESUS Film. Help the

new believers meet together to feed on God’s word and worship the Almighty.

And remember, across Africa 13,000 church planters are agreeing in prayer

with you. In America, intercessors are agreeing in prayer for you to help each

church you work with to start a daughter church. So be filled with hope. Be

filled with the power of the living Christ. He who has called you is faithful! He

will not leave you or forsake you!

This has been “Multiply,” and I’m Dean Davis asking, “Who will you share this

encouraging word with today?

#EncouragementForVillageChurchPlanters #90-Days #FastAndPray

Relationships Are Important

 

Hello this is Multiply the podcast to encourage village church planters and leaders I am Brad Snowden.

Today, I want to share with you something the Lord showed me concerning the realm of disciplining. This is not an easy task at all pouring into lives the word of God, walking through life’s challenges, helping to work through tough subjects. I will be honest with you sometimes I don’t know if it’s even worth it because in the moment I don’t see the fruits and I have to question why am I sacrificing to keep the relationship going? Relationship is so very important for each one of us and especially when it comes to being able to pour into lives of others. Jesus sacrificed many things in order for true relationship to happen.

 Jesus had many disciples and yet when it came down to effort many walked away because of that fact, they didn’t want to put forth that effort. Relationship takes sacrifice of time, sometimes money, planning rearranging of schedules, etc.….  We need to understand the importance of relationship because Jesus did and his desire was for each one of us to have relationship with him and with that then we have relationship with the “Father” as His prayer in John 17:22-23  I have given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one, just as we are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected and completed into one, so that the world may know without any doubt that You sent Me, and that You have loved them, just as You have loved Me."

Relationship= discipleship is not just for the moment but building a relationship for the future, many teaching moments those times we can pour into lives comes down the road. It is because of the investment into a person’s life the investment of time in the relationship that we then have the right to speak truth into their lives. If we have not given of the time investing into them, if we have not been engaged in their lives what we pour in will simply run off because the heart will not receive. 

Oh brother and sister, lives hang in the balance and how effective we are comes in and through who we are and what we give in our relationships with one another. It is my prayer that you hear my heart today that these words have encouraged you as much as they were a revelation to me as I wondered about my effectiveness in pouring into lives and was the sacrifice of keeping relationships alive. I now can say yes it is very important to be engaged in a relationship because I don’t know when God will open the door for His word to take root.

 Is has been a word of encouragement for village church planters. Who will you share this with today?

The Trademarks of God's Leaders - Nehemiah a Motivator, Not a Manipulator

 

This is Chuck Rapp with Multiply, a podcast to provide a word of encouragement for village church planters and leaders.

Today we continue our series on the leadership qualities of Nehemiah and his skill as a masterful motivator.

In our last episode I observed that Leaders inspire their followers to a common goal and motivate people to do things they wouldn’t normally choose to do on their own. This was certainly the situation as the Jerusalem walls were being rebuilt. Recall with me that priests, goldsmiths, perfumers and men and their daughters worked diligently.

Such are the results when followers are properly motivated. This can be contrasted with the flawed approach of trying to manipulate people. Leadership expert John Maxwell says that “When I manipulate people, I move them for my personal advantage. When I motivate people, I move them for their personal advantage.” Another author wisely observed, “when you motivate a person, you are laying the foundations for them to be inspired from within.”

As servant leaders, let us motivate our followers and avoid trying to manipulate them. Followers see through attempts to manipulate, and this often results in resistance and resentment.

Nehemiah’s ability to motivate the people helped them to remain focused upon the task.

Chapter 4 recounts the verbal attacks from Sanballat and others. There was also grumbling within. We read about this in verses 10 and 11. “Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.” [This is grumbling from

within.]

Also our enemies said, “Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.” (this is verbal attacks from without)

In the midst of this potential discouragement, Nehemiah once again demonstrates good and godly leadership for he points his followers toward the Lord.

After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” (4:14a) You likely know the outcome of this story. Moving ahead to chapter 6, verse 15 tells us “So the wall was completed … in fifty-two days.” It was a remarkable achievement!

Nehemiah:

 Motivated the people

 Did not attempt to manipulate them

 Pointed the people to the One who was the Source of their strength

Be like Nehemiah; motivate – don’t try to manipulate - those whom you lead.