Chapter 4
The Transformative Power of Praying for Friends
When God brings friends to mind persistently, it's often a divine alert to intercede. Dawson experienced this when she asked Loren Cunningham about his whereabouts during a specific fifteen-minute window. He recalled his plane near the Philippines suddenly losing altitude while passengers panicked-yet he felt surrounded by supernatural peace. At that exact moment, she had been compelled to pray intensely for his protection, engaging in spiritual warfare until the burden lifted.
God-given friendships are precious treasures requiring care through prayer. "To him who is afflicted, kindness should be shown by his friend" (Job 6:14a), and kindness begins with intercession. Jesus modeled perfect friendship by praying for Peter during his testing, preserving Peter's faith despite his failure.
When praying for friends in trials, we should ask for God's miraculous intervention, remembering His promise: "I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?" We must pray that God be glorified to the maximum in their lives, as His ultimate goal is conforming them to Christ's image.
Many friends sent encouraging letters, materials, and financial assistance during Dawson's prolonged illness after back surgery. Their prayers released God's grace to carry her through testing and confinement. Though healing didn't come when expected, her faith to endure was strengthened. She remained confident that God would deliver her when His purposes were completed: "The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me" (Psalm 138:8a).
When praying for friends, move from hope to faith, and don't give up when answers are delayed. That's when friends most desperately need continued prayers and encouragement. Dawson expresses deep gratitude for friends who persisted in intercession during her four-year illness, some even fasting and praying without seeing the expected recovery. "Be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded" (2 Chronicles 15:7).
Chapter 5
Praying for Those Far from God: The Heart of Intercession
When praying for loved ones far from God, we must be careful not to dictate God's methods. One woman prayed for years for her husband to attend church, believing this would lead to his conversion. Instead, he found Christ at home listening to teaching tapes while she was at church! We must avoid hindering God's work through our preconceived notions about how He should operate.
A major hindrance to answered prayer is impure motives-often wanting someone's conversion primarily because it would make our lives easier. We must ask God to purify our motives so we genuinely desire His glory regardless of personal cost. True intercession requires total surrender-being willing to die if that would bring someone to salvation, and relinquishing control over how and when God works. We must be prepared to say, "Use anyone, anywhere, under any circumstances" without prejudice about God's methods.
The ultimate test is truly surrendering those nearest to us, knowing God might take us at our word. This requires understanding God's character through His Word. He is absolutely righteous, just, infinitely wise, and unfathomably loving. Because of who He is, we can trust Him to act for the highest good of all concerned.
Our attitudes toward those for whom we pray are crucial. Often, those far from God have hurt us deeply. Praying fervently for years while harboring unforgiveness creates a major hindrance. Nine practical steps to achieve forgiveness include: realizing forgiveness is an act of will; understanding resentment's destructive nature; recognizing unforgiveness blocks God's forgiveness of us; considering all God has forgiven us; thanking God for blessings received through those who hurt us; considering their needs; asking for God's supernatural ability to love; seeking opportunities to express love in action; and becoming regular intercessors for them.
The more we allow God to work on us, the more His Spirit's power is released through our prayers for the lost. Humbling ourselves before both God and those for whom we pray releases tremendous spiritual power. We must ask God to reveal any ways we might have tempted others to rebel against Him, confess these failings, and make restitution as directed. Our broken and contrite spirits become powerful catalysts for bringing contrition to those for whom we intercede.
Chapter 6
Responding to a Generation in Crisis: Youth and Children
I marvel at God's ability to function flawlessly while coping with the pain of a fallen world. He emphasizes praying for youth because they're vulnerable, subjected to injustice, responsive to the gospel, and deeply loved by Him. God allows our hearts to break over children's needs so we can share in His sufferings and become more like Him.
In major U.S. cities, runaway youth reach epidemic numbers-Hollywood alone has 20,000-22,000, with thousands on the streets nightly. These disillusioned youth seeking excitement find desperation instead, becoming vulnerable to drug pushers and pimps. Dawson once visited a brothel in Hollywood with a converted former prostitute to witness to young women there. Though some were bitter about past experiences with Christians, they respected discussions about Jesus. Three weeks later, one prostitute was converted and joined YWAM, showing radical transformation.
Thousands of parents worldwide suffer with runaway or disappeared children. We must intercede for them: that they'll turn to the Lord, avoid resentment, seek God through His Word, experience His comfort and faithfulness, and believe He will restore their children in His timing. Our heavenly Father understands lost children-His own Son was forsaken so we never would be.
On a cold winter night in Los Angeles, Dawson joined thousands at the Shrine Auditorium where Victory Outreach, founded by Sonny Argonzoni and his wife Julie, had invited gang members to witness a drama about street life. The performance was shocking yet compelling-former gang leaders, addicts, drug pushers, prostitutes and pimps portrayed their actual lives before encountering Christ. When evangelist Mario Murillo invited the audience to choose Christ, hundreds rushed forward.
With 150,000 gang members in Los Angeles alone, where 90% are arrested by 18 and 60% dead or imprisoned by 20, imagine what would happen if Christians fervently prayed for gang members' conversion worldwide! When we truly care about human suffering, we become desperate with God in prayer. We need another Jesus movement of even greater proportions to show that God's power to draw youth to righteousness exceeds Satan's power to entice them to sin.
Chapter 7
Principles for Effective Intercession
In 1970, after receiving invitations from seven nations to teach God's Word, Dawson embarked on her international ministry journey with her husband's blessing. While teaching at YWAM's School of Evangelism in Switzerland, she found herself deeply contemplating the fundamental question that had shaped her ministry: what exactly releases God's power in intercessory prayer? Drawing from decades of experience praying for nations and seeing transformative results, she distilled her insights into ten essential principles that had consistently guided her practice:
1) Praise God through worship, especially through song, as it creates a spiritual atmosphere and activates God's power against enemies. She noted that singing spiritual warfare songs was particularly effective in breaking through spiritual resistance.
2) Ensure your heart is clean before God, particularly examining yourself for any trace of unforgiveness. This includes addressing both major grievances and subtle resentments that might block spiritual effectiveness.
3) Acknowledge your complete dependence on the Holy Spirit's enabling, recognizing that effective intercession flows from divine partnership rather than human effort.
4) Deal aggressively with the enemy using Christ's name and Scripture, standing firmly on biblical promises and declaring God's truth over situations.
5) Die to your own imaginations, burdens, and natural thinking, allowing God's priorities to supersede personal agendas and preconceptions.
6) Praise God in faith for the prayer time ahead, creating an atmosphere of expectancy and trust before specific intercession begins.
7) Wait in silent expectancy for God's direction, learning to distinguish His voice from other thoughts and impressions.
8) Take immediate action on what God brings to mind, whether through prayer, proclamation, or practical steps of obedience.
9) Have your Bible ready for direction or confirmation, using Scripture as both a guide and a weapon in spiritual warfare.
10) Finish by praising God, regardless of visible results or emotional satisfaction.
Dawson emphasized that power in prayer comes through personal purity and obedience. She shared a pivotal personal example when she confronted her own habitual speeding - a seemingly minor issue that had actually created a spiritual blockage. After genuine confession and repentance, she experienced an immediate restoration of power in her prayer life. This demonstrated how even "small" compromises could hinder spiritual effectiveness.
These principles, when implemented by a Pennsylvania church, produced remarkable transformation. Within eighteen months, they witnessed multiple breakthrough results: three new churches were established in their region, twelve members were sent as missionaries to various parts of the world, several significant moral victories were won in their community (including the closure of adult entertainment venues), and their congregation grew from 100 to over 300 members. The church's prayer ministry became so effective that other congregations began sending representatives to learn their methods.
Dawson consistently taught that these principles weren't merely theoretical but required practical application and persistent practice. She emphasized that intercession was both a discipline to be learned and a gift to be developed through faithful stewardship.
Chapter 8
Expanding Your Vision: Praying for the World
If your vision isn't world-sized, it's too small. God has "set eternity in the hearts of men" (Ecclesiastes 3:11), yet relatively few Christians have truly global vision. The measure of your vision for world evangelization is directly reflected in how your daily lifestyle contributes to its accomplishment. Though the Bible contains hundreds of references to nations, we can easily gather statistics about global needs without becoming personally involved, or focus exclusively on our local ministry without embracing God's heart for the entire world. Our vision determines our priorities, which in turn determine our destinies.
World vision requires action in three areas: intercession, response to the Great Commission, and financial giving. We must intercede not just for some nations, but for all nations. Jesus quoted Isaiah: "my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations." God instructs us to ask for the nations as our inheritance and promises radical results. Paul urges "requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone"-requiring a systematic prayer plan for all peoples worldwide.
The Great Commission demands our serious response to Jesus' mandates to "go and make disciples of all nations" and "declare his glory among the nations." To avoid hypocrisy, we must be willing to become part of the answers to our prayers for the nations. The Great Commission has no age limit, educational requirements, or stipulations regarding health or finances. We'll never know God's ultimate plan for our lives until we've responded to this clear call.
Even seniors can serve-like the octogenarians at YWAM's training school, or Keith and Bell Liddle who began missionary work in Indonesia at ages 65 and 62, or the remarkable couple who built sixty churches in Togo starting in their late 60s. As Psalm 92 promises, "The righteous will still bear fruit in old age." We can choose the boredom of retirement or the adventure of "refirement."
Jesus taught that "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." If we want world evangelization vision, we need to give regularly from our resources toward this purpose. God's heart beats with passion for reaching the nations with the gospel. We should examine how much of our offerings (beyond our tithes) are directed toward world evangelization generally, and specifically toward reaching the unreached.
Chapter 9
Praying for Nations: Strategies That Change History
Every intercessor has the opportunity to affect the course of history. When we pray effectively for nations, the greatest forces of power in the universe are mobilized. Our main focus should be on the Body of Christ within those nations, as God has shaped history around His people. The Church's responsibility toward nations now prepares us for our future role sharing God's authority over His eternal kingdom.
Dawson outlines a comprehensive strategy for praying for nations that includes:
1) Thanking and praising God for who He is and what He's already done in nations.
2) Praying for an unprecedented outpouring of the Holy Spirit, as seen in the Assemblies of God church in Pensacola where over 86,000 people responded to the gospel in twenty-two months.
3) Praying for God to unite the Body of Christ, as Jesus prayed: "May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me" (John 17:23).
4) Humbling ourselves before God and acknowledging that the Body of Christ deserves judgment, like Nehemiah identifying with the sins of God's people.
5) Praying for God to raise up spiritual leaders of integrity who fear the Lord, and for current national leadership.
6) Praying that the Word of God will be given its rightful place in society and families.
7) Praying that God will stir His people to see that obedience is the key to the Christian life.
8) Praying for the fear of the Lord to permeate all believers.
9) Interceding for children and youth to be given a chance to be born, hear the gospel, and respond.
10) Praying for God to thrust forth laborers into the harvest fields.
11) Asking God to stir spiritual leaders to teach about helping the poor.
12) Praying for a great spiritual awakening among the unconverted, especially leaders in positions of authority.
13) Asking God to name the major principalities over nations and waging spiritual warfare as directed.
14) Finishing by praising God and declaring faith in His promises.
15) Persisting in intercession, as Isaiah 21:12 encourages: "The watchman replies, 'Morning is coming, but also the night. If you would ask, then ask; and come back yet again.'"
Chapter 10
Jesus: The Ultimate Model of Intercession
The ultimate intercessor is Jesus, who excites, inspires, challenges, and encourages us the most to live like Him. Jesus' earthly life stands unique in human history as our greatest role model. Prayer was His absolute priority-He never needed a crisis to motivate Him to pray. Prayer brings God into every situation, changing it from natural to supernatural so God gets all glory.
Jesus prayed at His baptism before beginning His public ministry. God responded by opening heaven, empowering Jesus with the Holy Spirit, and audibly speaking His approval (Luke 3:21-22). Jesus modeled ministering to the Father before ministering to people, demonstrating that Holy Spirit power is essential for effective service and comes through prayer.
Jesus demonstrated His need for prayer even during times of great public acceptance. All four gospels record incidents of Jesus praying during His ministry of preaching, teaching, and performing miracles. Our greatest temptation to neglect prayer often comes during seasons of popularity and when God's power is most manifest through us. Jesus regularly withdrew to lonely places to pray-this was His way of life. After healing multitudes and casting out demons, Jesus would rise very early while still dark to pray in solitude.
To select His closest team members, Jesus spent an entire night in prayer with the Father. Whether God revealed all twelve names at once or gradually, Jesus sought divine guidance until receiving complete direction. He presumed nothing and tempted no one to presume by inviting them without first hearing from God. Much disunity in the Body of Christ stems from lack of waiting on God for specific direction regarding ministry appointments and assignments.
During a prayer retreat with Peter, John and James, Jesus was transfigured while praying-not while preaching or teaching. His face changed and His clothes became bright as lightning. Like Moses whose face shone after time with God, Jesus demonstrated that prolonged prayer transforms us: "we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory."
In Gethsemane, Jesus revealed His humanity by asking His closest friends to keep watch with Him during His intense anguish. He went "a little farther" to pray prostrate before God-demonstrating we can't lead others deeper with God than we've gone ourselves. Jesus faced the agony of separation from His Father while becoming sin as mankind's Redeemer. On the cross, Jesus demonstrated the ultimate example of forgiveness by praying, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Jesus lived praying, died praying, and ascended praying-modeling the thrilling and fulfilling ministry of intercession for all believers to follow.
Chapter 11
Beginning the Journey of Intercession
The journey of intercession begins with desire, determination, and discipline. Don't be intimidated by inexperience-just as runners learn by running, you learn to pray by praying. Bring yourself to Jesus like the boy with five barley rolls and two fish-an act of surrender, availability and remarkable faith. The Holy Spirit will multiply your effectiveness as you yield your repentant life to His control and direction.
When Dawson first began interceding alone, she could only pray for fifteen minutes, but she committed to return daily. The more she prayed for others, the more the Spirit enabled her with direction and energy. She discovered that praying for others accelerated her spiritual growth beyond anything she'd previously experienced-the more we pray for others, the less we need to pray for ourselves.
Effective intercession requires knowing our responsibilities and having a plan to cover them regularly. These categories can be spread across days, weeks or a month, depending on your life circumstances. Ask God to show you His plan for your prayer life. We need to intercede for family, friendships, nations, spiritual leaders, government leaders, the lost, youth and children, our church, missionaries, our city, disasters, new converts, and the poor and needy.
As you embark on this journey of intercession, remember that you're joining the ultimate intercessor-Jesus Christ-in the most thrilling and fulfilling ministry available to believers. Through prayer, you become God's partner in shaping history and transforming lives, including your own. The adventure of intercession awaits, promising both challenge and reward beyond anything you've yet experienced in your spiritual journey.
