The Charltons

This past October as I was preparing to write my Fall Newsletter, the Lord enlightened my understanding to something important - I had neglected to share with many of my friends and family details about the type of ministry calling that my family now lives out.

The following is my summation from both the Bible and history as to what defines an "Intercessory Missionary" and why I am one.

 

The Tabernacle of David

As a man of "one thing" (Psalm 27:4), as an overflow of his heart,
and in response to the revelations he received about God and even
the pre-carnate Jesus, around 1000 BC David ordered that the ark
of the covenant be brought into Jerusalem on the shoulders of the
Levites. He placed it in a tabernacle and set 288 singers and 4000
musicians before it day and night "to make petition, to give thanks
and to praise the Lord." (1 Chronicles 15-17) David also said in
1 Chronicles 15:2 that God had chosen the Levites "to carry the ark
of God and to minister before Him forever." The tabernacle was later
"replaced" by the temple, but several times in the history of Israel
and Judah the Davidic order of Worship was reinstituted and
produced spiritual breakthrough, deliverance, and military victory.

 

-  King Solomon established worship in accordance with the worship of King David (Davidic Worship) in the temple.
   (1 Chronicles 8:14-15)

-  Jehoshaphat defeated Moab and Ammon by setting singers in accordance with the worship of David, and singers at the front of the army singing the Great Hallel. After he became King of Judah he reinstituted Davidic Worship in the temple.
   (2 Chronicles 20:20-22, 28)

-  King Joash established Davidic Worship after his coronation (2 Chronicles 23:1-24:27).

-  King Hezekiah cleansed and reconsecrated the temple and reinstituted Davidic Worship (2 Chronicles 29:1-36, 30:21)

-  King Josiah reinstituted Davidic Worship (2 Chronicles 35:1-27)

-  When returning to Jersualem from Babylon to rebuild, Ezra and Nehemiah reinstituted Davidic Worship.
   (Ezra 3:10, Nehemiah 12:28-47)

 

Historians have also speculated that around the time of Jesus, the Essenes of the Judean Wilderness reinstituted Davidic Worship in their search of communion with God and incorporated it into a lifestyle of prayer and fasting.

 

The Tradition of Day & Night Prayer

                                                                                                              There are numerous examples of the practice of laus perennis, or "perpetual                                                                                                               prayer", in the history of the church. Notable points in that history are                                                                                                                          Alexander Akimetes and the Sleepless Ones around 400AD, Comgall of                                                                                                                  Bangor in the 6th century, the monastery at Cluny in the 10th and 11th                                                                                                                    centuries, and Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians. I would love to talk                                                                                                                    about any of these ones who gave themselves to day and night prayer and                                                                                                                  worship, but I would most like to share with you the story of Count                                                                                                                                Zinzendorf and the Moravians.

 

                                                                                                             The Reformation of the sixteenth century saw much-needed reform enter                                                                                                                    the European Church, which also caused the closing of many monasteries                                                                                                                    that had become spiritually dead. Count Nicholas Ludwig Von Zinzendorf                                                                                                                 was born in 1700 to an aristocratic but pious family. His father died when he                                                                                                                was only six weeks old and the young boy was brought up by his Pietist                                                                                                                        grandmother. Growing up in the midst of such passion for Jesus, Zinzendorf                                                                                                                speaks of his early childhood as a time of great piety: “In my fourth year I                                                                                                                      began to seek God earnestly, and determined to become a true servant of                                                                                                                     Jesus Christ.”

 

In 1722, Zinzendorf bought the Berthelsdorf estate from his grandmother, and that same year Zinzendorf came into contact with a Moravian preacher, Christian David, who persuaded the young count of the sufferings of the persecuted Protestants in Moravia, and Zinzendorf offered them asylum on his lands. Christian David returned to Bohemia and brought many to settle on Zinzendorf’s estate, forming the community of Herrnhut, meaning “The Watch of the Lord.” The community quickly grew to around three hundred and a new spirituality now characterized the community, with men and women being committed to bands or choruses to encourage one another in the life of God. And then on August 13th of that year was what Zinzendorf called “a day of the outpourings of the Holy Spirit upon the congregation; it was its Pentecost.” Within two weeks of the outpouring, twenty-four men and twenty-four women covenanted to pray “hourly intercessions,” thus praying every hour around the clock. They were committed to see that “The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.” (Leviticus 6:13). The numbers committed to this endeavor soon increased to around seventy from the community. This prayer meeting would go non-stop for the next one hundred years and is seen by many as the spiritual power behind the impact the Moravians had on the world.

 

From the prayer room at Herrnhut came a missionary zeal which has hardly been surpassed in church history. The spark initially came from Zinzendorf’s encounter in Denmark with Eskimos who had been converted by Lutherans, and the count returned to Herrnhut and conveyed his passion to see the gospel go to the nations. As a result, many of the community went out into the world to preach the gospel, some even selling themselves into slavery in order to fulfill the great commission. By 1776, some 226 missionaries had been sent out from the community at Herrnhut. It is clear through the teaching of the so-called father of modern missions, William Carey, that the Moravians had a profound impact on him in regard to their zeal for missionary activity. It is also through the missions-minded Moravians that John Wesley came to faith. The impact of this little community in Saxony, which committed to seek the face of the Lord day and night, launched the modern missions movement and its effect has truly been immeasurable.

 

Prayer Unto Revival

Prayer and worship are integral to God's plans for revival and renewal in the world, and the history of the church shows this also to be true!

In 1857, riding the wake of the Second Great Awakening a man named Jeremiah Lanphier began an outreach ministry to the unchurched. One of his initiatives was leading a noonday prayer meeting each Wednesday, including everyone from merchants to businessmen. Attendance increased quickly, eventually reaching around 700 people, and the services included singing, impromptu prayers, testimonies, and scripture reading. As local newspapers began reporting the prayer services, churches among different denominations began conducting similar meetings. Because of the popularity of the prayer meetings, area businesses soon closed for an extended period around the lunch hour! Large numbers of individuals accepted Christ (in the tens of thousands weekly, including students in local schools and some college campuses), attendance increased at area churches, and an estimated total of 10,000 individuals attended the prayer services each day. Individuals from other states attended the prayer services and returned home to begin similar prayer meetings in their home states.

 

In Los Angeles, California in April 1906 William J. Seymour, an African-American

holiness evangelist, led a prayer group of individuals seeking the baptism of the

Holy Spirit in a home on Bonnie Brae Street. After individuals began to receive

the experience, the services were relocated to a small mission on Azusa Street.

News reporters soon began to publish reports of the revival’s happenings in

newspapers throughout the world. From 1906 to 1909, continuous services were

held at the Azusa Street mission, where people of various races, social status,

and denominational affiliations worshiped together with spiritual fervor and

received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. What happened at Azusa Street bridged

racial divides and helped renew Christianity, as many sailed to foreign lands as

missionaries to share the gospel message, bringing fresh vision and passion to

the Great Commission.

 

 

Why do I do it?

I am an Intercessory Missionary for three primary reasons:

1) There is a Biblical precedent, even mandate, for people who will dedicate themselves whole-heartedly to a lifestyle of prayer, worship, and fasting (I elaborated on this earlier). These ones are modern day Levites, people set apart to keep the fire of intercession burning on the altar of the LORD.

2) Prayer changes the spiritual atmosphere of homes, churches, families, cities, regions, states, and countries.

3) Jesus is worthy of unceasing prayer, worship, and adoration.

 

Prayer changes the spiritual atmosphere - over families, cities, regions, and countries. Ephesians 6:12 states that “…the battle which we are fighting is not again flesh and blood but against principalities and powers in the heavenly realm”. This is a foundational reality for an Intercessory Missionary. This means that the battle against abortion and human trafficking are not primarily being fought in the natural realm, but rather it is taking place primarily in the spiritual realm.

 

"And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:7-8) The parable of Luke 18 illustrates the correlation between the persistence of the one seeking justice (the intercessor) and the dispensation of justice. And just like there are missionaries who go to other nations and serve, the Lord is also raising up missionaries whose full time occupation is to pray, ask, seek. As an ‘Intercessory Missionary’ I have dedicated myself full time to the work of this ministry. One of the scriptural requirements for God to release the fulness of revival and return to the earth is day and night prayer. Scripture makes this abundantly clear and history also proves that God does not move in fullness apart from night and day prayer (Lev. 6:13; Ps. 149; Matt. 28:18-20; Lk 2:36-38; 24:49; Rev. 22:17). Of course, all of us as believers are all called to love Jesus and to have a prayer life, but He is specifically calling forth intercessors whose full-time occupation is to stand in the gap and minister before Him.

 

The primary reason I give myself to night and day prayer and worship is because Jesus is worthy of unceasing worship and praise. The greatest injustice there could ever be is that Jesus Christ, the one who laid down His life for all men, is not perpetually adored on earth as He is in heaven. As the lamb of God, the bread of life, the light of the world, the Good Shepherd, the resurrection and the life, the only path to salvation, the giver of indestructible joy, and the coming King He is worthy of men and women who will take up the mantle of the Levites and minister, pray, sing, dance, and worship before Him without end.