5 Steps to a
Neighborhood
Prayer Walk
Through an interesting stream of events, God showed me what the power of prayer and the importance of faith can do.
What if our big God is calling you to step out, literally into your neighborhood and start praying on the battlefield, not just for the battlefield? As you step out in faith into your neighborhood in prayer, God will bring other like-minded neighbors to form a mighty prayer army fighting and winning your neighborhood for Christ.
It may seem complicated but it’s not when you just take one step at a time, figuratively and literally. Use this simple guide to get moving and see what God is about to do.
Step 1: Show Up
“...if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable...” II Corinthians 8:12
When we complicate things, we put a lot of unnecessary rules and standards on ourselves to do it “right”. God doesn’t want perfection. He wants a willing heart. Don’t think you need a plan, a group, all the answers to people’s questions. You only need to show up. When you show up, God shows up. The Holy Spirit will fill in any gaps or holes you think there are and God will do the work, but you have to show up.
Bible Verses
-
II Corinthians 8:11-12
-
Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.
-
-
II Corinthians 12:9
-
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
-
Step 2: Clean Up
“Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD? ... The one who has clean hands and a pure heart...” Psalm 24:3-4
No special gifts are needed to pray for your neighborhood. We are all broken, saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. But a key to intercession is confession. Keep nothing between you and your source of power, God. Take a moment before jumping into your neighborhood prayer, get right with God before you get walking.
Bible Verses
-
James 5:16
-
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
-
-
Nehemiah 1:6
-
Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you.
-
Step 3: Speak Up
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”
I John 5:13-15
Jesus says in John 14, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask for anything in my name, and I will do it.” Speaking up on behalf of your neighbors, praying for salvation, physical healing, demonic deliverance, mental clarity, safety, etc, is all in our battle plan to fight for our neighbors. “Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” (John 16:24)
Bible Verses
-
James 1:5
-
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
-
-
Luke 6:28
-
Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
-
-
1 John 5:13-15
-
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him.
-
Step 4: Rest Up
“Come near to God and He will come near to you.” James 4:8
You need to spend time with Jesus, listening and learning at His feet before you can go out on behalf of the neighborhood. Jesus often withdrew from the crowds and even from His closest friends to spend time with the Father. We need to follow His example and do the same in between our neighborhood prayers. Spending time with God renews our spirit and mind. Gives us the ability to take the burdens of our neighborhood and put them on him so we can be refreshed and ready for battle again on our prayer walk.
Bible Verses
-
James 4:8
-
Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
-
-
Exodus 33:14
-
The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
-
Step 5: Repeat
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12
There will be days when you don’t feel like going out to pray. Instead of looking at it as, “I have to go pray.” See it as, “I get to go pray.” After you are done, you will have a renewed spirit. God will bless you in very practical ways. I’ve been given more time in my day, help when I didn’t know I needed it, and answered prayers right in front of my eyes. Be faithful in prayer.
Bible Verses
-
I Thessalonians 5:16-18
-
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
-
-
Isaiah 30:18-19
-
Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you.
-
Communities
4 Christ
My Prayer Walk Story
"I pray miracles over your life in Jesus Name."
- Kate Nicole, In Jesus Name
I know humans complicate things, because I do. I figured if God is all powerful, why would He need me to pray. What I learned from walking through this simple 5 step process was that God didn’t need me. He was inviting me and one of my neighbor friends to participate in His will. He had a plan for not just the neighborhood, but a plan to increase our faith to know that prayer works, evil loses, and Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords. The story really started though with us just showing up.
I live in a picturesque little neighborhood in the suburbs. One of my neighbors, a gentleman who lived three doors down across the street, was rarely seen outside his house the past few years. He would prove to be the inspiration for God calling me to pray for my neighborhood.
One snowy morning, the gentleman who lived three doors down across the street started screaming 70’s song lyrics at 6am. This erratic behavior went on for weeks, with the police being called for wellness checks weekly. As time went on, his behavior started to include abnormal dancing.
There was some harassment happening as well. The erratic behavior from the gentleman three doors down across the street was more direct to a nearby neighbor, Roy, who lived directly across from the gentleman. He would stare and shout rude and inappropriate comments about Roy, his wife and his children. The harassment along with the erratic behavior continued to the point where Roy’s kids and the other neighborhood kids were afraid to walk on the street putting parents on a constant high alert.
At this time, my neighbor friend, Hannah and I decided to start praying for the cute park that was central to our neighborhood. The first Saturday in the park, we met with no real plan; we both just felt a burden to pray for the park to be a place for neighbors to come together and for God’s will to be done. That first Saturday, we also discussed what was happening in the rest of the neighborhood. We decided to pray every Saturday for a focused 15 minutes so we would stay consistent week in and week out. Our prayer at first focused on:
-
Protection for Roy and his family
-
Exposure of evil in the neighborhood
-
Embolden God’s people with strength and boldness
-
Unite our community
Three short weeks after that first prayer meeting in the park, heaven moved and evil was exposed. My husband and I work from home so we saw first hand the daytime escapades of the gentleman singing, dancing, and even on rare occasions, walking about the neighborhood.
One afternoon, my husband texted on his way home from a lunch run. He had just driven past the house of the gentleman three houses down across the street that now had three police cars parked outside. The gentleman was being taken to the nearest squad car in handcuffs. The evil that had been lurking in our neighborhood for a few years now was exposed in three short weeks after Hannah and I began praying.
Earlier in the day, the gentleman had been outside on his porch screaming “I hate this neighborhood.” “I want to kill everyone starting with Roy.” The evil was no longer hiding in the dark, the gentleman was threatening the entire neighborhood in broad daylight. One of our neighbors approached the porch to diffuse the situation but quickly realized the gentleman had an ax. At that point, conversations were done, the cops were called, but not for the typical wellness check. At one point, the gentleman went back into his house and came out with large kitchen knives. As the police approached the gentleman’s property, he began yelling at the officer to stop. Still holding the ax, the gentleman continued to yell and engage with the officer who called for backup. The police officers had seen enough, the State would be bringing a case against the gentleman. The court date was scheduled for the following month.
Our confidence soared! Hannah and I had only been praying for three weeks. God exposed the evil in a wild way, not how we imagined and surely not in the timing we anticipated. But we shouldn’t have been surprised, 1 John 5:14 tells us, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”
The gentleman three houses down across the street was safely put away where he couldn’t hurt himself or others, but our battle was not done. Hannah and I continued our weekly prayer meeting now on the street right in front of the gentleman’s house. Prior to this, I had not felt anything but my burden to pray. No fear, no anxiety, nothing. 1 John 5:18 - 19 says, “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”
The first Saturday on the street in front of his house, there was a wall. Not a physical wall, but a wall of heaviness with a chilling presence stood right in front of me. But something happened when we prayed. Hannah literally wrote her prayer out (See Page 16), which sums up everything that we laid before Jesus that first week at ground zero.
I felt what I call the Holy Ghost shivers going through my body. I knew that we were meeting head to head with darkness. But in the presence of light, darkness has to flee. The presence of God came in and destroyed the darkness. I don’t remember the heaviness being there again. I do remember week after week, the Holy Ghost shivers came. I’d love to say, Hannah and I knew exactly what we were doing. We didn’t. We just spoke up and consistently showed up.
God continued to work. He had a plan and it wasn’t complete. We were still in a battle to win our neighborhood. The house represented evil and darkness. The past few months we had seen a demonic force exposed right on our street. We prayed God would do something with this house and land. Hannah and I had our ideas of what should happen with the property, but God had other plans, “higher” plans. Meeting in rain or shine every Saturday, Hannah and I continued to pray at ground zero.
Continually Answering Prayers
One week, as I walked past the gentleman’s house, I heard the sound of rushing water. The next day I heard the sound again. My husband thought I was crazy, until the following day when the firemen were at the gentleman’s house. Roy had heard the water for two days as well and called the police to check it out. Because of the recent thaw cycle with the weather’s temperature changes, the water pipes had burst on the top floor of the gentleman’s house. The water had been freezing and thawing over and over again, making the house uninhabitable.
As the weeks went on, Hannah and I kept praying every Saturday. In the beginning of the following year, the drama was coming to a close. The court case was done and the verdict was in. God had been strategically working as we prayed week in and week out. Because of a small paperwork error, the gentleman was kept in prison for the precise time God wanted to put everything else into place. Timing to allow the house to be inhabitable, the mortgage company to foreclose, and the house to be sold. God’s will was done and not how we had imaged it. We may never see the full extent of His will either.
It may seem that this is the end of the story, but it’s the beginning. Hannah and I have continued to pray each Saturday. We continue to pray for our neighbors, their families, our unity, and most importantly their salvation. And we pray that other followers of Christ will take the first step to walk in their neighborhoods praying for the community around them. God has put us each in our specific place for a reason. And that reason is to be part of His will. Take action. It doesn’t take training, it doesn’t take hours, it only takes a willing heart.
1st Prayer for My Neighborhood
Heavenly Father,
We come before you in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, interceding on behalf of “Roy’s” family and our troubled neighbor, “the Gentleman”. Lord, we acknowledge that you are the ultimate judge and that you have the power to convict the wicked and change their evil ways. We ask that you would intervene in this situation and bring conviction to “the Gentleman’s” heart so that he sees the truth of your love and salvation. We ask that you would reveal yourself to him in a powerful way, showing him the error of his ways and leading him to repentance.
Father, we also lift up “Roy” and his family and pray for your protection over them. Shield them from any harm or negative influence that may come from “the Gentleman’s” actions. Your word assures us in Psalm 91:4 that you will cover us with your feathers and under your wings we will find refuge. We trust in your protection and ask that you would surround “Roy” and his family with your divine shield.
Lord, We declare your victory over this situation. We thank you for the power of your blood and the fire of your spirit that fights against the forces of darkness. We stand firm in faith, knowing that you are greater than any evil that may come against us. Your word reminds us in Romans 8:31 that we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us.
In Jesus’ name, we pray for a transformation in the heart and life of our neighbor, “the Gentleman”. May he come to know you as his savior and experience the freedom and forgiveness that only you can offer. We know you have already begun your work in this situation. We trust in your perfect timing and your unfailing love.
In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.