Introduction

SECTION OUTLINE:
Overview
The Ministry of the Holy Spirit
A Prayer
Paul’s Prayers for Spiritual Wisdom, Revelation, and Growth
Two Paraphrased Prayers

Ministry Guide Introduction

Overview

We were created to partake of God’s holiness, to live for and with Him, to know and love Him--but because of our sinful nature, we have been unable to seek God’s holiness, or to appreciate His love and desire for man to live with Him. Through His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus broke the curse and the power of sin over all of mankind.

When God raised His Son Jesus from the dead, He exalted Him to be Lord over all, and to be Christ (the Anointed One) for those who come to Him. Now Jesus, reigning in glory, is able to complete the work He began while on earth. His suffering and death accomplished our reconciliation with His Father.

Now His heavenly life can come into us, bringing healing and holiness into our spirit. We can live on this earth in the power of His life. We can be partakers of the Divine Nature of God, empowered with the presence, power and holiness of His Holy Spirit. We can have victory over sin. The guilt and shame caused by our sin can be removed; we can be forgiven. We can receive God’s grace to forgive others. We can be healed of the spiritual wounds we have received through abuse, abandonment, molestation, and the like. We can live in God’s peace and comfort, freed from depression, anxieties, loneliness, fears, insecurities, addictions, and so forth. We can be freed from Satanic curses placed over us, our families, our generations and our dwelling places. We can have relationships restored, God’s purposes for us realized, and our hearts renewed. We can participate with God in His plan to bring all the nations under the dominion of His Son.

Kay and I have personally experienced God’s mercy, forgiveness, power and love to bring healing of wounds, freedom from addictions and sinful patterns, deliverance from family curses and sin patterns, and an understanding and personal experience of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We have ministered these truths to many over the last 20+ years.

We have used a Spiritual History Information Form (SHIF) to help identify the areas of a person’s life that might need ministry. Two copies of this form (1 before part A, for you to fill out, and 1 at the back for you to copy for use with others) are included in the Ministry Guide, which addresses the areas covered by the Spiritual History Information Form. The Ministry Guide is a companion tool to provide practical insight for those who minister to others.

The following areas are covered in each part:

     A. Foreign gods, Occult, and New Age Practices
     B. Relationships—Family and Church
     C. Personal History – Sinful Bondages, Spiritual Wounds,
           Spiritual Encounters, and Discipleship Needs
     D. Curses, Vows, and Generational Sin Patterns

We have included some of the Biblical principles, sample prayers (in plain boxes), suggested procedures (in gray boxes), and spiritual revelations we have found helpful over the years. The Ministry Guide does not cover every need, nor does it provide an in-depth strategy for every need covered. Rather this is to be used as a guide for getting started in ministry. As the reader gains more experience, he will realize that God is able to direct the prayers of His people, and that He will give specific revelation concerning the path to follow in bringing His people into freedom. As a review, we have incorporated a brief section on The Ministry of the Holy Spirit, and Paul’s Prayers for Spiritual Wisdom, Revelation and Growth. These are included to remind us that our goal for those we pray with is not merely for them to have confessed every sin, but rather that they would be filled with the Holy Spirit and walk in the power of Christ’s righteousness living in them. The confession of sin is the emptying. The desire is that they be filled with all of the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19).

THE MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit seeks to impart to our spirit--to our heart--a sense of the supreme beauty and sweetness of the holiness, majesty, and glory of God's moral perfection or righteous character. He seeks to give us a love of the nature and character of God. Jesus said (of the Holy Spirit):

"He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you." (John 16:14-15 KJV)

The Holy Spirit will show us "pockets of unholiness" in our heart. He will show us sinful attitudes and bitterness that are there. Why? He will do it so that our old ways can be brought to death, so that our hearts can be purged and cleansed, and so that the love and glory of Christ can fill all areas of our heart.

The Holy Spirit seeks to bring us to an end of our "self-improvement programs." He seeks to show us our need for absolute dependence upon God's life--upon His righteousness. Jesus said, "He [The Holy Spirit] will reprove [convict] the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." (John 16:8 KJV , brackets added)

The Holy Spirit shows us the old sinful ways so we can confess them, bring them to the cross of Christ and mortify them, and so that we cry out for and receive more of Jesus--more of His glory and His life. Paul warns the Christians not to continue in their old ways, but to bring them to death through following the Holy Spirit. Then the life of Christ in the Christian will grow.

"For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify [literally, "are putting to death] the deeds of the body, ye shall live." (Romans 8:13 KJV)

As we follow the Holy Spirit, letting Him renew us and show us the glories of Christ, we will be changed into His glory. We will experience more and more of the glorious life into which Jesus Christ has entered. As more of the Divine nature of Christ "takes hold" within us, we find ourselves wanting to do God’s will. We find that the lustful attractions of the world have lost their power. We find ourselves witnessing to the world the blessedness and joy of living a holy, righteous life. Speaking through Peter, The Holy Spirit says:

"…ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." (2 Peter 1:4 KJV)

The life of Jesus becomes desirable through the Holy Spirit. The life of Jesus increases in importance to us as the Holy Spirit reveals our deep sin and our need of a changed life--a holy life- a righteous life--God's life.

A Prayer

Holy Spirit, help me to see Jesus, to worship His character, and to seek His glory, which He wants to impart to me. Help me to do what You lead me to do. Help me to become totally dependent upon Jesus, to know Him as my Lord and my Christ. Help me to minister these truths to others. Amen.

Paul’s Prayers for Spiritual Wisdom, Revelation, and Growth

Part of man’s being is his spirit--an inner voice, perception, or sensing. Because of sin and satanic oppression, our spirits have become impoverished, weakened, and often dysfunctional. God, being a Spirit, communicates His love, nature, and power to us through our spirit. The Bible says:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:3 KJV)

"…ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, ‘Abba, Father’. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." (Romans 8:15-16 KJV)

"But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14 KJV)

This is why Paul prays for spiritual revelation and growth for his people. In Ephesians 1, Paul records one of the prayers he regularly prays for his people:

"Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that fills all in all." (Ephesians 1:15-23 KJV)

Underline & number each of the things Paul is specifically praying for.

Another of Paul’s prayers for his people is recorded in Ephesians 3:

"For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:14-19 KJV)

What is Paul specifically praying for in this passage? Underline and number each item.

A paraphrase of each of Paul’s prayers follows; I recommend your using them regularly for yourself, for those God brings to you, and for family members and others close to you.

Father, I thank you for (Name of person). Thank You for his/her faith, and for his/her love for all the saints in Christ Jesus. I pray that You would give to ______ a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of You.

I pray that You would enlighten ______ so that he/she would know the hope of Your calling, the riches of Your inheritance in the saints, and the immeasurable greatness of Your power available to us who believe; the same power which was operating in Christ when You raised Him from the dead and set Him at Your own right hand in heaven. In Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen.

Father, I thank You for (Name of person). Thank You for sending Jesus to die for him/her. I pray that he/she will be strengthened with might by Your Holy Spirit in his/her inner being. I pray that the life of Jesus will grow in ______ and that, being rooted and grounded in Your love, he/she will understand with all Christians the greatness of Your love for him/her. Lead him/her to cast away all wrong attitudes, feelings, and thoughts, so that he/she can be filled with all of Your fullness. Thank You, Father. Amen.

Cyrus Ministries International (CMI)

Serving God as He Unites Heaven and Earth in Christ