Captains of Thousands
I awoke with a dream of thousands of men—mobilized men—gathering in
force with the same enthusiastic passion like men display when their
favorite team is winning in a sports stadium. I saw someone pointing
out three men as they entered an elevator and I heard him say about
them with pride, “Those men are Captains of Thousands. The older man is
only 40 and his team has 50,000 men; the younger man is 35 and he has
4,000; the youngest is only thirty and he already has a thousand.”
I thought, “What teams? Captains of what?” Then insight came to me.
This was the Lord’s call for men to join up as soldiers in his army, to
battle and to win the holy war of Jesus against sin, the devil, and
their own frail flesh. It is a daily battle any man can wage from any
arena, and he doesn’t have to quit his daytime job to do it. It is a
prayer-war!
The Bible says, “I want men to pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands
without wrath or dissension.” Men have great power…when they pray.
This is especially true if they pray after dealing with their issues of
anger or divisiveness. And what man is there, if he’s got any drive or
sense of dignity, hasn’t had some occasion to stumble in these areas?
Satan knows this, so he uses a variety of attacks to keep us men from
praying effectively.
If we deal with our sin first, then our hands can be lifted up in
prayer or praise without shame. Faith in Christ to save us and faith in
Christ to cleanse us when we confess our sins gives us confidence to
pray. Our uplifted hands or our raised voices can become mighty
anointed weapons of nation-shaking life-changing prayer!
The Bible says, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much.” Two questions occur: Are we righteous? Are we praying
fervently? Realize: prayer can accomplish many good things…if. Yes, we
are righteous, if we are trusting in Jesus. That’s justification by
faith, and it is a gift of grace. And, yes, we are righteous, if we
have confessed and forsaken any sin that shames us. That’s simply
living right based on obeying God’s word. That’s how simple it is.
That’s how God qualifies us to become prayer warriors.
If prayer is so powerful, then how do we deploy it for maximum effect?
Then an idea flashed into my mind as a tactic for men to use. How can
we pray when we are all so busy, especially if we want to harmonize
with other praying men? Well, let me ask you: Have you ever made a cell
phone call while you were driving in your car? On during your lunch
break?
One of the secrets to effective prayer is what Jesus described in
Matthew 18:19. I call it, “the power of small numbers.” He revealed
this secret about prayer when He said, “If two of you agree together in
my name…” The secret to powerful prayer is not in giant gatherings, but
in small agreements. Like a tiny mustard seed, it can grow to have a
huge effect.
I saw men in my dream using modern technology-- cell phones-- to
connect with other men, then sometimes using three-way-calling to bring
a third man on line. These three men could pray one after the other on
the phone, using short one-sentence prayers which the other men could
say “amen” to. That is simply the “prayer of agreement.” There is
nothing more powerful in God’s arsenal, except perhaps fasting coupled
with prayer.
In my dream, these men prayed for three things: 1) for Christ’s kingdom
to advance through the gospel; 2) for the blessings of God to prosper
their business; 3) and for their family members to be equipped to fill
the earth with a new generation of leaders.
I heard the Lord’s heart as He said to us men like a coach challenging
his team during the championship season, “Take back what Adam
forfeited. Fill the earth with the seed of the righteous. Regain
dominion in the name of My Son. Believe in what I’ve told you. Claim
the inheritance I’ve promised you. This land is your land. Give glory
to the Coming King who has redeemed mankind with His blood.”
If we prayed three times a day like Daniel did, we could easily create
a network of thousands who unite in prayer. One man calls three, then
those three men can call three, then those three can call three, etc.
It multiplies without effort! We can make one call in the morning, one
at noon, and one in the evening. We can connect with 2 or 3 men each
time, and each time we do it we can extend a network of prayer.
Mobilized men using mobile telephones, elevating their issues to an
agenda of prayer, boldly asking in faith for God’s will to be done on
the earth and in their families and their work.
What if every man who loves Jesus simply called his friends in order to
pray on the phone together for our nation and prayed for the right
people to be elected? What if they in turn did it with their contact
list? I’ve done this myself for years: long-distance praying with my
partners in the work of Christ. Touch base, then pray.
We can use our cell phone to create prayer-cells! We can multiply the
power of small numbers by each one calling one, and so on, and so on,
until we have tens of thousands in our down-line and heaven takes
notice and calls us, “Captains of Thousands.”
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© 2004 by Ron Wood, President of Touched by Grace, PO. Box 12749,
Wilmington, NC 28405. Visit us at www.touchedbygrace.org. We are
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