Prayer: Why Our Words to God Matter

Corey Russell is one of the most faithful and committed intercessors I know. For years he has devoted himself to prayer, and his ministry is the product of his life of intercession. In this book he shares his insights and perspective on prayer, eternity, and the role of intimacy with God in sustaining a vibrant prayer life. This is a helpful resource for anyone looking to add fresh fuel to their intercession or seeking to understand their identity and calling in the kingdom.

—Mike Bickle, International House of Prayer

Corey Russell does not just talk about intercession. He lives it. Hours a day, dozens of hours a week. So when you read his book you, too, will be moved to live a life of prayer. Whether through the sound theology of intercession this book lays out, or through the powerful testimonies of how things in heaven and on earth are moved when people pray, or simply through the raw passion for intercession the author evidences, your desire to commune with God will be stirred. I highly recommend it!

—Stacey Campbell, Revival Now

There are few men I trust more in the area of intercession than Corey Russell. I have had the privilege of walking with him as a friend and witnessing firsthand his heart for prayer and revival. In the same way my heart was stirred as a young leader reading about Frank Bartleman and the Asuza Street Revival, Corey stirs my heart to believe and intercede for revival in our day. My prayer is that this book will ignite a new generation of intercessors who will give themselves to see the nations transformed by encountering the extravagant love of Jesus. Corey not only carries a message of prayer, he also carries the authority to release others into a life of prayer. His message is not theory, but birthed in the secret place of intercession.

—Banning Liebscher, Jesus Culture

The world will not be changed through politics. It will only be changed when believers become normal—normal as defined by the Bible. Corey Russell will show you how!

—Sid Roth, It’s Supernatural!

In Prayer: Why Our Words to God Matter, Corey Russell highlights the unprecedented growth of the prayer movement across the earth and reveals the individual significance this reality holds for believers everywhere. The Holy Spirit is drawing sons and daughters into the Father’s house—and His house is a house of prayer. At once profoundly prophetic and simply devotional, this book gets to the heart of intercession and answers the questions What is God doing? and How can I connect with Him? A must-read for anyone who desires to develop a life of prayer and connect to the bigger picture.

—Allen Hood, International House of Prayer University

Why does almighty God connect the release of His power and government to us simply talking to Him? Because He desires intimacy with us! My good friend Corey Russell unpacks this reality and many more in his new book, Prayer: Why Our Words to God Matter. After 2,000 years, Teach us to pray is still the resounding prayer from Jesus’ disciples, and this book is one of the answers to that prayer!

—Rick Pino, Heart of David Worship Center, Austin, TX

Prayer: Why Our Words to God Matter

by Corey Russell

Published by Forerunner Publishing

International House of Prayer

3535 E. Red Bridge Road

Kansas City, MO 64137

ihopkc.org

mikebickle.org

© 2013 by Forerunner Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recorded, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Forerunner Publishing, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

Forerunner Publishing is the book-publishing division of the International House of Prayer of Kansas City, an evangelical missions organization that is committed to praying for the release of the fullness of God’s power and purpose, as we actively win the lost, heal the sick, feed the poor, make disciples, and impact society.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Note: Italic text in the Scripture quotations throughout this book have been added for emphasis by the author.

ISBN: 978-1-938060-10-6

Cover design by George Estrada

Page layout design by Ian Barker

Printed in the United States of America

I dedicate this book to my son Josiah Nash Russell. He was born on June 26, 2012, and went home to be with Jesus on March 16, 2013. We named him after Daniel Nash, the intercessor who was integral to the success of Charles Finney’s revivals. Our Little Intercessor was the fulfillment of so many dreams and promises from God. Little did we know that this promise would be with us for such a short time. The date of his death, 3/16, has released such a cry in me for global harvest, and it’s my desire that this book would awaken prayer all over the earth for global harvest and the return of Jesus.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Preface

1. Awakening to Our Identity

2. Who Are You Talking To?

3. What Do You Want, God?

4. The Revelation of Intercession

5. Old Testament Intercessors, Part 1

6. Old Testament Intercessors, Part 2

7. Jesus: His Intercession and Our Union with Him

8. Teach Us to Pray

9. The Furnace of Prayer

10. Birthing Revival

11. Where Is This Going?

12. What Does This Look Like Today?

Acknowledgments

I want to thank Mike Bickle and Lou Engle for their lives of faithful prayer and fasting over the last thirty-five years. Their faithfulness in prayer has opened up a massive door for a whole generation to come into the place of intimacy and authority in intercession. Eternity will tell of the mighty movements and works in the earth birthed out of the prayer lives of these two men. Thank you.

I want to thank Jane Harris for faithfully carrying and stewarding this message with me. I could not have done this without you. Thank you.

Foreword

BY LOU ENGLE

Today as I look into the rearview mirror of my life and from there look on the panoramic view of the prayer culture arising in the earth, I’m in awe of God’s great faithfulness in taking a seed from which a great tree springs and fills the earth. As I am caught up in remembrances of my early house of prayer days—the dimness of my prophetic view, the absolute weakness of my heart, and the small community that dreamed with me—I realize I am privileged to witness the explosion of 24/7 prayer all over the globe. I stand amazed at a new generation of prayer leaders who are going far beyond what we in those days could have dreamed or imagined.

Corey Russell, a dear friend and fellow champion of prayer and revival, stands in blazing technicolor as one of those prayer generals who, having saturated themselves in the Word of God and spent countless hours in personal and corporate prayer, are now fueling the prayer movement worldwide. This book springs from the overflow of Corey’s spiritual encounter through a life filled with the Word of God.

I remember with great fondness my interactions in the 1990s with Mike Bickle, founder and director of the International House of Prayer. We were dreamers and activists for a coming prayer revolution. We were both talking about 24/7 prayer. Though I’m older than Mike, I secretly wanted to be like Mike when I grew up. I watched closely and was a student of his prayer teachings, but God was also kindling a fire in me. I remember longing to see 24/7 prayer in a place called Mott Auditorium in Pasadena, California. I wanted to do what King David did—night-and-day prayer and worship (1 Chronicles 9:33)—because that’s what’s going on in heaven, and Jesus is worthy. I was captivated by the one-hundred-year, 24/7 prayer vigil of the Moravians (began 1727) that helped launch the modern missions movement and has been an inspiration to many prayer ministries in the earth today.

One day in my office at Mott Auditorium, I read an article by a man named James Goll. He had recently returned from the Moravian settlement in Herrnhut, Germany. While sitting on one of the graves of the Moravian saints, he heard the Lord say, Son of man, can these bones live? (Ezekiel 37:3). In the article, James prophesied that God wanted to establish houses of prayer in many cities and cover the earth with His glory.¹ These houses of prayer would carry the same heart for prayer and missions as the Moravians. When I read this I was gripped with the burden of the Lord. I ran down into the auditorium wailing, Here, Lord! Mott Auditorium! Twenty-four-hour house of prayer! As I was crying out, the phone rang. It was a friend. I told him that at that moment I was reading James Goll’s article and crying out, Mott Auditorium! Twenty-four-hour house of prayer! My friend responded in excitement, Lou, that’s why I’m calling you! I’ve been listening to James Goll preach, and he just stopped and began to prophesy, ‘Lou Engle, Mott Auditorium, twenty-four-hour house of prayer’. I knew immediately that this prophetic whirlwind was a sign that bones would rattle all over the earth (Ezekiel 37:7), and the day would come when Isaiah 56:7 would literally be fulfilled: My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.

In January 1996, we established a 24/7 house of prayer in Mott Auditorium. The first morning, I was suddenly awakened at 5:15am. I knew the time pointed to a Bible verse, but didn’t know which one. I cried to God, Raise up a Moravian lampstand! Later that morning, the Lord riveted my attention on Matthew 5:15.

Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. (Matthew 5:15)

Then I saw it: God was going to take 24/7 prayer and put it on a lampstand, and the whole world would see the light. That little 24/7 prayer room in Mott Auditorium was humble in its beginnings, but God loved it, and it birthed TheCall—a ministry through which hundreds of thousands have gathered in city arenas to fast and pray.

Mike Bickle began the International House of Prayer in 1999, and this ministry, along with many others, is part of a Spirit-inspired, worldwide culture of prayer. Heaven is invading the suffocating atmosphere of earth, and Jesus is changing the expression of Christianity in one generation. Saints united in prayer are challenging the injustice of abortion and sex trafficking, and the fire of prayer is burning in all parts of the globe. Praying saints are none other than the welcoming party for the kingdom of God and, ultimately, the return of Christ. Arthur Wallis, the great father of the charismatic movement in England, once said, Find out what God is doing in your generation and throw yourself wholly into it.² By reading Corey’s book, you will find out what God is doing in your generation. Throw yourself into prayer, personal and corporate, and you will do the best thing for your life, because this is what God is doing right now.

Today, intercessors are joining God in writing the script of history, as prayer precedes manifestations of the glory of the Son of God on earth. Prayer teams are going into the hardest and darkest places on the planet to challenge hell and open heaven, even for the seven thousand unreached people groups that must hear a witness of the gospel before Jesus returns. Many today have been caught up in the great summons of Jesus to His disciples: "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out [Gk. ekballo] laborers into His harvest. Andrew Murray, on the strength of these verses in Matthew 9:37–38, forcefully stated, The number of missionaries on the field depends entirely on the extent to which someone obeys that command and prays out the laborers."³ We’re calling a million believers worldwide to pray this verse daily, so that laborers will be thrust forth to the remaining unreached people groups. Oh, what a privilege to partner with God in the last-days narrative and storyline of history.

I feel like I have been caught up in the great vision of His harvest, but vision without implementation cannot keep a generation on course, nor can it sustain or perpetuate a life of faithfulness.

Thank God for young men like Corey who have seen the vision and can write it in such a way that those who read it may run after it. This book is bread on which the hungry heart can feed. It unveils the glory of the intercessor in the life of biblical characters and prayer warriors of history. It calls us to something greater than prayer experiences that leave us unchanged. It puts a demand on a generation to walk in the shadow of the Great Intercessor Himself, who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross.

Friends, we stand today at the dawn of a historic fulfillment of Psalm 110—the mobilization of the last-days intercessory and worshiping army that gathers to the King-Priest Jesus and will see the enemies of the King crushed in His day of battle. Now is the time to give ourselves without reserve and in voluntary love to our Christ and to His global prayer advance. Read this book, and let it arm you with strength, fortify you with motivation, and summon you to heavenly encounter.

Lou Engle

Pasadena, California, 2013

Notes

James Goll, The Lost Art of Intercession (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image, 2007), 21–23. #

Simon Cooper and Mike Farrant, Fire in Our Hearts: The Story of the Jesus Fellowship/Jesus Army (Northampton, UK: Multiply Publications, 1997), 127. #

Norman Grubb, Rees Howells, Intercessor (Fort Washington, PA: Lutterworth Press, 1952), 210. #

Preface

In 1998 my life was turned upside down when I got my hands on a copy of Why Revival Tarries by Leonard Ravenhill. As I read it, I was wounded deeply by my prayerlessness, and I came face to face with my own barrenness. His statement that no man is greater than his prayer life wrecked me, and I began to evaluate my life in a new way. I also began to look at the Church differently. Ravenhill did not pull any punches when it came to his assessment of the Body of Christ, and the indictment he released in the 1960s still rings true today.

In fact, the crisis has increased in our generation. Our church buildings are growing larger, but our impact on the culture is growing smaller. Our children and teens are growing up in what many are beginning to call a post-Christian society, and we are losing the war for their souls. Why is this? We have neglected the place of prayer in our personal lives and our ministries. The power of the Holy Spirit has been replaced with marketing strategies and conferences—false growth that masks our true barrenness. In the face of the rising tide of godlessness, we have tried everything but the one thing necessary: prayer.

Prayer was the only ministry the disciples asked Jesus about: Teach us to pray (Luke 11:1). Charles Spurgeon, the man known as the prince of preachers, famously said he would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach. Prayer is the secret to unlocking the kingdom of heaven. It is our highest calling, our greatest weapon, and our deepest joy—yet we do not pray.

I am convinced the reason for this is that we do not understand prayer. Feeling the stinging rebuke of our powerless Christianity may stir us up for a few weeks or months, but in my own life I found that the pain was not enough to sustain decades of prayer. I needed a foundation—something to stand on when the fire of indictment began to burn out. I began to wrestle with basic questions in my attempts to understand why we pray—questions like, What is God really after? What does prayer do? What does revival look like? In the process, I discovered that Jesus is not only the prophet who wounds us with His assessment of our prayer life, but He is also the pastor who teaches us how to pray.

My desire in writing this book is to explore the answer to the cry that arose from the disciples two thousand years ago and is arising again in the hearts of believers today: Take us by the hand and lead us into the source of all power, blessing, and intimacy. Lead us into the prayer room. We will look at what God is doing in the earth right now, receive a fresh revelation of our identity, rediscover His heart and connect with His deepest desires, and uncover the source of divine government. As we walk through the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation, we will trace God’s plans to release the revelation of intercession to the end-time church and bring heaven and earth together through the power and simplicity of prayer.

I am going to use the terms prayer, intercession, and priestly ministry interchangeably throughout this book. All three refer to the simple act of talking to God. At its core, intercession is speaking God’s words back to Him. It is living with the awareness that we are walking under the open ear of heaven. When we tell God the things He tells us to, confident in the knowledge that He is listening, then everything changes. We are drawn into intimacy, protected from pride, spurred on to greater holiness, blessed by the law of sowing and reaping, anointed with power, unified with the Body, and trained as rulers in the kingdom. And the farther we go on this journey of prayer, the more we are conformed into the image of the eternal Intercessor (Hebrews 7:25). The power of speaking God’s words unites our heart with His and joins us to His life and ministry. Prayer is not only what we say in a meeting; it is who we become.

It is time for a new breed of leaders to arise who will give themselves wholeheartedly to prayer and disciple believers in intercession. Even now the Spirit is awakening us and calling us into the reality of communing with God in loving fellowship and releasing His power and His kingdom on the earth. My prayer is that through this book, you will be empowered to step into your eternal ministry as an intercessor and sustain a vibrant life of prayer for decades to come.

1

Awakening to Our Identity

Changing the Understanding and Expression of Christianity

Iwill change the understanding and the expression of Christianity in the whole earth