C. Peter Wagner - Prayer Shield: How to Intercede for Pastors and Christian Leaders

It is imperative that we learn how to pray effectively for our leadersin churches, in organizations and in prayer movements. Prayer Shield is both timely and definitive. Theres nothing else quite like it, designed to equip all of us to bring the covering of the Lord upon the servants of the Lord, by prayer. This is a book that must be read, now more than ever.

DAVID BRYANT

Leader, PROCLAIM HOPE!

Author In the Gap and With Concerts of Prayer

Prayer Shield is the most inspirational book I have ever read on the subject of intercession.

SUZETTE HATTINGH

Co-founder, Voice in the City

I want to give this book to every member of my church.

RICK WARREN

Senior Pastor, Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, California

Author, The Purpose Driven Life

1992 C. Peter Wagner

Published by Chosen Books
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
chosenbooks.com

Chosen Books is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
www.bakerpublishinggroup.com

Chosen edition published 2014

ISBN 978-1-4412-6897-6

Previously published by Regal Books

Ebook edition originally created 2012

Ebook corrections 07.17.2014

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

All Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Prayer Shield is a book very dear to my heart. Intercession for Christian leaders has grown to be one of my favorite topics. I began to understand these things and put them into practice back around 1988, and I am still very excited about them.

As this second edition goes to press, I have now reached the age where I have a good deal to look back upon. Im not through by any means, but after logging over 60 years of ordained ministry so far, I can say that Ive run a fairly good race. Hopefully Im not arrogant or boastful by saying this; I am trying to evaluate as honestly and objectively as I can. I do not pretend to be anywhere near to being the number one Christian leader, but I think its safe to say that I have maintained an above average standing in doing Christian ministry.

Let me put it this way: My lengthy career as a Christian leader has drawn me into some arenas of unusually high intensity, especially over the past 20 years or so. I am often asked questions like this one: Peter, what you have been doing obviously is very upsetting to the devil. How do you cope with all the spiritual warfare that you must experience?

My response may surprise some: Actually, I really dont mind dealing with spiritual warfare. This statement, naturally, begs an explanation. This book gives a full explanation of why this is so, but let me give a short summary here.

I have no doubt at all that I am high on Satans hit list of enemies who are combating his realm of darkness. I know that he would like to bring me down. I know that powerful demonic forces have been assigned to me and unleashed to terrorize me physically, materially, emotionally, socially and spiritually. Yes, I have been forced to confront some of these forces and deal with them directly from time to time. I do sense that these episodes of serious, personal spiritual engagement have been relatively few and far betweenat least in light of the rather startling testimonies of some of my peers. I feel that I have been very fortunate, and I attribute this good fortune to two things. First, I have been a grateful recipient of Gods favor and His grace. To God be all the glory! Second, I attribute my good fortune to the influence of my personal intercessors, who open the gates of heaven so that Gods grace can continually flow into my life and my ministry. I am positive that I would not be where I am now without them. After our immediate family, Doris and I regard our personal prayer partners as the closest relationships we have. I think so highly of them that I have their pictures pasted on the inside of the front cover of my Bible!

Knowing that my prayer partners are on the front lines on my behalf, I sleep well. I go to bed around 10:30 P.M ., spend a peaceful night, and awaken around 6:30 A.M. My intercessors, on the other hand, have told me of some of the nocturnal battles they have fought for me. I remember one conversation that I had a few years ago with Beth Alves, one of our personal intercessors. She greeted me by asking how I was, and I responded that I was very wellthanks to her. Beth got a playful look in her eyes and said, I know what you mean! You should see the spiritual black and blue marks I have all over me because of you! We both laughed, but each of us knew that what she had just said was very true. One of her assignments from God was to do spiritual warfare on my behalf. Because of Beth and my other prayer partners, it is very rare that the devils attacks get through to me. That is why this book is titled Prayer Shield.

During the 1970s, the Holy Spirit began to speak clearly to many Christian leaders about the need to cover in prayer those who were engaged in Christian ministry and related activities. This was the beginning of one of the most far-reaching changes in modern Christianity. Never before in living memory had prayer been such a high agenda item for apostles, pastors, Christian leaders, ministers in the workplace and other believers. As these leaders obeyed Gods call, the Church was brought to a new level of impact, from which we continue to benefit today.

During that first decade, I was one of the Christian leaders who, unfortunately, was unaware of what was happening. That was actually a time when I was entering the most prayerless season of my ministry. Thankfully, in the early 1980s, when I started my adult Sunday School class at Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena, California, I began to turn and experience the power of prayer. It was a slow process at firstlet me explain.

In 1971 I began a 30-year tenure as Professor of Church Growth at Fuller Theological Seminary. One of my responsibilities was to analyze the factors contributing to both the growth and the decline of Christian churches worldwide. It gradually became clear that the interaction of institutional factors (which the church could control if it wished) with contextual factors (sociological conditions that churches could not control) answered most of the questions concerning church health and vitalitybut not all of them. I think I might have been the first among my colleagues in the professional field of church growth to suspect that spiritual factors needed to be added to our list of determinants.

In 1987 I began giving major attention to prayer, even though I knew relatively little about the topic. I built a rather extensive library on prayer and read scores of volumes in order to give myself a decent grasp of the subject. My objectives were (1) to attempt to determine the areas of prayer that were adequately covered by the literature and (2) to discover any areas that were relatively under-developed. I felt like the Lord was assigning me to work in areas that would come to light by way of the second objective.