21. PRAYER WALKING: TEN STEPS
1. Submit to God: Put on the whole armour of God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. (James 4:7, Eph 6:10-18, 1John 3:8)
2. Praise: Lift up your holy hands and bless His Holy Name everywhere. Thank God for giving you the people as your inheritance and the land that you tread under your feet as your possession. (1Tim. 2:8, Deut. 10:17, Ps. 2:8, 66:1 -5, 141:2, Josh. 1:3, Rom 16:20)
3. Preach: The whole creation is travailing for the revelation of the children of God. Preach the good news that Jesus shed His blood to reconcile all creation. Ask the heavenly hosts, the trees, the birds, the beasts, and everyone to clap their hands and sing praises to God. (Mark 16:15,lsa 55:12, Col 1:20, Rom 8:19)
4. Speak to the city by name just like Jesus prayed for Jerusalem and bless those who serve us by providing food, water, healthcare, security, transportation, communication, sanitation, electricity, education, and other essentials for living. (Luke 13:34-35, Prov 11:11, Jer. 29:7)
5. Be a blessing and pray for the redemption of neighbors: We have been blessed to be a blessing to all the families of the earth. Bring the kingdom of God and reign on earth by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, adopting the orphans, wiping the tears of the hurting, visiting the prisoners for gospel’s sake and showing the path to the lost. (Gen l2:3,Luke 10:5, Matt 25:3l-46, Gal 2:10)
6. Repent for all the atrocities, injustices, murders and other iniquities, both present and past: The blood of Jesus has made you priests and kings of the city and the nation. Identify with the sins of the people which have defiled the land. Pray until the city repents, curses are broken and the nation is healed. (Lev. 18:24-28, Ez 9:4-6, Neh 1:5-7, Rev 5:9-10, 2 Chron 7:14)
7. Proclaim the manifold wisdom of God to the principalities, powers and the rulers of darkness. Break their power and expel territorial spirits because Jesus has defeated the Devil on the cross. (Eph 3:10, Col 2:15)
8. Take possession of the city by setting the captives free from all mental, social, cultural and religious, centers of iniquity with mighty spiritual weapons. Adorn your city as a bride, to welcome the king of kings. (Matt 12:29, 2 Cor 10:3-5, 1Cor. 15:24, Rev 21:1)
9. Seek the ‘man of peace’: Heal the sick, cast out demons. Freely you have received freely give. Let your prayers be like the incense and the lifting of your holy hands be like the evening sacrifice. Offer Gentiles as sacrifice and plant a church in his house. Disciple, baptize, equip and send them as fishers of men. (Matt 10:8, Luke 10:5-9, Psalm 141:2, Is 66:20)
10. Reign on Earth: Pray for rulers and usher the kingdom, that all may lead a quiet, peaceful, honest and godly life. This is good and acceptable to God. Prayer walking must result in numerical growth and geographical expansion of the church. (1Tim 2:1 -4, Rev 8:3-4)
22. KINGDOM PRAYERS
1. Ask for nations: God said, Ask of me and I will give you nations for an inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession’. Find out all the castes and communities around you, visit their habitation and intercede for them. You are called to be a blessing to all the families of the earth. (Psalm 2: 8, Luke 10: 5-9, Gen 22: 17-18)
2. Pray for the city: God has kept you in the city to pray on its behalf for your own welfare. Believers must stand and pray with lifted hands everywhere and saturate the city with prayers. Prayer is the best way to claim our inheritance. (Jer 29:7, 1Tim 2:8)
3. Pray for intercessors: God is looking for people who will stand in the gap between God and the perishing so that they will not be destroyed because he does not want anyone to perish. (Ez 22: 30, 2 Pet 3: 9)
4. Pray for the out pouring of the Holy Spirit: God promised that in the last days he will pour out his spirit on all flesh, men, women, sons, daughters and servants. Pray that his holy servants will speak his word boldly and that signs and wonders will be done in his name. (Acts 2: 17-18, 4: 29-30, Eph 6: 19-20)
5. Pray and Prepare laborers: Jesus said that the harvest is ready but the laborers are few, therefore pray to the Lord of harvest to send forth laborers to reap the harvest. Billions are ready but there are only a handful of church planters. (Matt 9:37-38)
6. Expel the demonic kingdom: Identify, bind and expel the territorial principalities, powers, rulers of darkness and other spirits who blind the mind’s eyes and rule through deception and lies. Expose all deception and break every yoke, destroy the works of the devil and set the people free. Pray that people will not pray to gods who cannot save them. (Dan 10:13, 20, 2 Cor 4:4, Is 56:8, Rev 12:9, 1John 3:8, Jer 10:11, Act 17:29-30)
7. Pray for mystery of the kingdom to be revealed: That Gentiles will become fellow inheritors of the kingdom. That from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, his name shall be great among the Gentiles. (Acts 13:26, Eph 3: 5-10, Mal 1:11)
8. Pray for politicians: Pray that apostolic/prophetic people will rule the nation through our intercession for our politicians and rulers and set them free from wickedness. Make a list and pray for them daily, by name. God loves it because it will bring the kingdom of peace, godliness and dignity. (1Tim 2: 1-4)
9. Pray for families: Husbands, love your wives otherwise your prayers will be hindered. Fathers love your children, or else God will smite the earth with a curse. The key to evangelization of the world begins with right relations at home. (1Pet 3: 7, Mai 4:6)
10. Pray for each other: Submit to each other and pray for each other, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. (James 4:16)
23. RESULT OF PRAYER-LESSNESS
1. Why is there so much lack of peace, justice, equality and love in our nation? Why do the nations fight with each other? Because we do not pray for the nations. (Ps 2:8, Matt 24:7)
2. Why is there so much bribery, corruption, filth and lawlessness in the city? Again because we do not pray for the city even though we have been commanded to pray specifically for the peace of our city. Jesus prayed for Jerusalem by name. (Jer 29:7, Matt 23:37-39)
3. Why are there so many floods, famines, hurricanes, earthquakes and natural disasters? Every international homosexual rally and every time the US government pressurizes Israel to give some land to Palestinians, as peace process, is followed by natural disaster. (Mark 13:8)
4. Why is terrorism flourishing in the world with so much unnecessary death and destruction, all in the name of religion or an ideology? All because Christians do not pray to clear the blindness from minds of the terrorists. (Luke 21:11, 2 Cor 4:4, Acts 26:18)
5. Why is so much occult, idolatry, pornography, homosexuality, alcoholism and worship of mammon, prevalent in the world? Jesus told us not to limit worship in the temple but Christians must go to every place and lift up their holy hands and plunder the houses of ill repute. (John 4:20-24, 1Tim 2:8, Matt 12:29, Ps 141:2, Ex 9:29,33)
6. Why is so much of the world still un-evangelized? Jesus said the harvest is ready but there not enough skilled laborers. Again this is because even though we have been specifically commanded, we are not praying to the lord of harvest to send forth laborers into his vineyard. (John 4:35, Luke 10:2)
7. Why is it that the church is not growing as it did in the New Testament times even though they had few resources and why is there so little ‘fruit that remains’? Again this is because even though we have been chosen to go and bring forth abundant fruit, we have not even prayed for fruitfulness. (Jnl5:8,l6, Matt 7:20)
8. Why is there so many disputes, dissensions, denominationalism, heresies, sexual and economic corruption in the church? This is because we have made ‘houses of sermons’ even though Jesus said that “my house shall be called of ‘house of prayer where all nations can ‘pray together and find salvation”. (1Cor 11:18,19, Gal 5:20, Mk 11:17, Act 2:46)
9. Why adultery, divorce, single parenting, spouse and child abuse are rampant in Christian families? Family breakdown has cascading consequences on the world. We know that a family that prays together stays together. (Josh 24:l5, Eph 5:3-5, 2l-33)
10. Why our politicians, judges, police and rulers so corrupt? Because we disobey the command to intercede for those who rule over us. God promised that if we Christians will humble themselves and repent, pray and seek him then he will heal this nation. The destiny of our nation does not depend on the politicians but on the intercessors. (1Sam 12:23, 1Tim. 2:1-4, 2Chron 7:14)
24. THE MINISTRY OF FASTING
1. Moses fasted for forty days and nights and God gave him the Ten Commandments and the first five books of the Bible. He became the greatest of all the prophets. (Ex 34:28)
2. Jesus fasted for forty days before starting his earthly ministry. He rose up early in the mornings to pray. He finished his earthly ministry with the most agonizing prayer at Gethsemane and triumphantly marched to the cross for the lost human race. (Matt 26:40-41)
3. Anna the prophetess, a widow for 84 years who had been fasting and praying, had the privilege of holding baby Jesus in her bosom and blessing him (Luke 2:36-38). Elizabeth fasted and prayed and the barren woman became the mother of the greatest man (John) born of a woman. (Matt 11:11)
4. Daniel fasted and defiantly opened his window for all the world to see and prayed. God made him the ruler of a foreign country, under four kings, shut the mouth of the lions and revealed to him the mysteries of the last days in dreams and visions. (Dan 9:3, 10:1-3)
5. God said ‘if my people will humble themselves and pray…then I will heal this nation’. Humbling to the Jews implied ‘fasting’. David humbled himself with fasting. The secret of healing of nations lies entirely in the hands of those who fast & pray. (Ps 35:l3, 2Chro7:l4, Jam4:10)
6. Queen Esther fasted and prayed for three days, then bravely took action and saved a whole nation of Jews from being killed. The king and the people of Nineveh fasted and saved the whole city. (Esther 4:16, Jonah 3:6-10)
7. Jesus says that certain kinds of devils can only be expelled through fasting and prayer: (Matt 17:21, 12:45, Mark 2:20)
8. Through the ministry of fasting and prayer Paul and his colleagues turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6, 2Cor 6:5, 11:27). New Testament missionaries were sent and elders were appointed with fasting and prayer. (Acts 14:23, 13:3)
9. The fast that God has chosen for us is very dynamic: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that we break every yoke? To give our bread to the hungry, and bring the poor to our house? To cover the naked. Then shall our light break forth as the morning, and our healing shall spring forth speedily, and our righteousness shall go before us and the glory of Jehovah shall accompany us wherever we go. (Is 58:6-8)
10. Prophet Elijah was an ordinary man but he fasted and prayed and the Lord destroyed 400 prophets of Baal through him. While King Ahab feasted, Elijah prostrated and prayed an effectual fervent prayer and the rain poured out after 3.5 years and the earth sprouted. (James 5:16-18, 1King 18:42)
25. SPIRITUAL WARFARE
1. The whole world is infested with demons: But demons are not the problem. They are like rats who only come in where there is rubbish. We only need to clean up the rubbish and the rats will go away. Jesus started his ministry with spiritual warfare with fasting and prayer and the word. “Man shall live by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God.” (1John3:8, 5:l9, Luke4:l-6, John1:1)
2. Jesus won victory over death and disarmed principalities and powers of darkness and made a public spectacle of them. (Col 2:15)
3. Jesus is building his church to demolish the gates of hell: He gave power and authority over all the power of the devil and commanded every believer to cast out demons and heal the sick. (Matt 16:18-19, 10:1, Luke 10: 19, 9:1, Mk 16:17, 1Jn 5:18, Gen 22:17-18)
4. Jesus then raised us up and made us sit with him in the heavenly places, far above all principalities, powers, might and dominion and authorized us to crush the devil under our feet. (Eph 2:6, 1:21-23, Rom 16:20)
5. The Church is the army of Jesus: The battle is not with the evil people but with the devil’s army. We must put on the whole battledress, including the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation and sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. As his soldiers, we must always be ready to punish all disobedience. (Eph 6:10-17, 2Cor 10:6)
6. A farmer destroys the weeds before he sows the seed, otherwise his farm will be run over with weeds. Jesus told us that we must first plunder the “strongman” (guardian spirits of the village/region) and destroy his strongholds only then we can establish God’s kingdom. (Matt 12:28-30, Dan 10:13&20)
7. The devil’s weapons are lies and deception: He makes legal entry through idolatry, occult, pornography etc. His real strongholds are in the minds of the people. Using the Name, the word, the Blood of Jesus, and our own testimony, we can expel all evil thoughts and imaginations and set them free. (2Cor 4:4, 10:3-5, John 8:44, 10:10, Rev 12:9-11, Jer 23:29)
8. Declare the manifold wisdom of God to the “prince of the power of the air” and the commanders of his evil army. Through praise, worship and prayer walking, remind them that Jesus is king of kings and Lord of lords. (Eph 3:10, 2:2, 1Tim.2:8, Rev 19:16)
9. Through fasting, prayer, binding, losing and preaching the gospel, we must break all yokes and bondages of the unbelievers, to open their eyes and make them inheritors of the kingdom. (Matt 18:18, Eph 3:5-10, Acts 26:18, Is 58:6-9)
10. Love is the most powerful weapon against our enemies. Love is not an option. It is the only new commandment Jesus gave. The best way to destroy the devil’s kingdom is to love each other, even our enemies. Then the kingdoms of this world will belong to our Lord. (John 13:34-35, Matt 5:43-48, Dan 7:18, 27, Rev 11:15, 20:6)
26. DIVINE HEALING
1. All healing comes from God: If you will diligently hear my voice, do right in My sight, hear my commandments, keep my statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon you…for I am the Lord that heals you”. (Ex 15:26)
2. By his stripes we are healed: He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. (Is 53:5)
3. Without faith, healing is not possible: Jesus said to the centurion about his servant, the blind man, the woman with issue of blood and many others, ‘your faith has healed you’. He said, ‘if you have faith nothing will be impossible. You can even move mountains’.” (Matt 6:8&13, 9:28-30, 17:20, Mark 5:34,36, 11:22,23, Heb 11:6, James 1:6-8)
4. Forgive others: Un-forgiveness is the root cause of diseases like hypertension, insomnia, migraine and many other psychosomatic diseases. Anger is sin and provides legal entry for demons to come and torment. (Matt 18:32-35, Mark 1:25-26, Eph 4:26,27)
5. Obedience: The key to being healed and remain healed, is obedience. Naaman was furious but later he obeyed and took seven dips in the river Jordan and was healed of leprosy. If you are obedient then not only the fruit of your body but even the produce of your ground and your flock will be blessed. (Ex 15:26, Deut 28:1-4)
6. The power of agreement: If two of you agree concerning anything, then it will be done by my father in heaven. (Matt 18:19)
7. Prayer of faith: Is any sick among you? let him pray and call for the elders of the church, who will pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your sins to each other and pray for another that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man achieves much. (James 5: 14-16)
8. Preaching and healing: Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease among the people. He authorized his disciples to do the same. (Matt 4:23-24, 9:35, 10:7-8, Mark 3:14-15)
9. Spiritual warfare: Much of the illness is due to demonic oppression like the epileptic boy and the woman bent for 18 years. Casting them out leads to deliverance and healing. (Acts 10:38, Matt 17:15-18, Luke 13:12&16)
10. Be persistent: Like the Siro-Phoenician woman. Faith is not feeling but trusting the word of God. Many people cannot receive healing because they do not feel anything. Daniel fasted and prayed but it took three weeks for the angel to appear even though God had sent him on the first day. The ultimate aim of God is the healing of the nations. (Mark 2:3-4, 5:27, 29&34, 7:25-30, 10:48-50, 2 Chron 7:14, Rev 22:2)
27. TITHE
1. God is all sufficient: He does not need our money. He wants our heart. Tithing is a love affair with God. We offer ourselves and everything we own, to our beloved. (Rom 12:1,13)
2. Tithe means “tenth” but the Jews gave 20% every year and 30% in the third year. They offered grain, wine, oil, flocks, free will and special offerings. (Deut 26:10-13, 12:11&17)
3. Hunger, thirst and nakedness are curses for those who did not serve the Lord joyfully: The best way to break the curse of poverty is to give just like the widow of Zarephath did by feeding her last morsel to the prophet Elijah. Jews gave dutifully but Christians give cheerfully. (Deut 28:47,48, 2Cor 9:7)
4. The modern church collects for “empire building”, while the NT church shares for “kingdom building”. Jésus did not tell the rich young man to sell and give his wealth to the temple but to the poor. Christianity’s greatest sin is to preach to the preached and neglect the neglected and sinfully spend 99% of the budget on itself. (Mark 10:17-30)
5. Giving to the poor, the fatherless, widows and refugees is the highest form of tithing: The NT church needs little money as it has no staff or buildings to maintain. (James 1:27, 1Cor 16:15, 1Tim 5:17)
6. God gives us strength to earn wealth to fulfill his covenant, made with our forefathers, to be a blessing to the Gentiles. Sacrificial fat was God’s portion. The lean meat was for devotees. Wealth is for our ‘daily bread’ while the excess is for redeeming our inheritance, the lost souls. (Gen 12:3, Deut 8:17-18, Lev 3:16, Ps 2:8)
7. There is no provision in the NT for taking collection every Sunday. Paul collected for the famine stricken people in Jerusalem on the first day of the week, which was Saturday night. It was only once but he never started a tradition. World evangelism was never “tithe driven”, with greedy leaders chasing filthy lucre. Apostles never chase mammon but all necessary resources come to their feet. (1Cor 16:1-4, Acts 20:7-12, 1Cor 1:26-31, Act 4:37, 1Pet 5:2, Matt 6:24)
8. Whoever leaves his loved ones and property for his sake, shall receive a hundredfold, inherit eternal life and judge in the regeneration. Providing for your family and hospitality to the itinerant missionaries, from your income, still has the best return on investment. (Matt 19:27-30, 1Tim. 5:7, 1Cor 16:15)
9. In God’s economic system, he gives wisdom and joy to a man who is good in his sight but he makes the sinner sweat, which is sign of the curse, to gather and give it to him who is good before God. (Ecc 2:26, Gen 3:17-19)
10.Jesus said the harvest is not the problem. It is ready but the laborers are few. The church must inject the tithing DNA’ in every believer to mobilize those beautiful feet who take the gospel of peace to the lost. Generous sowing results in bountiful harvest. (Luke 10:2, Rom 10:13-15, 2 Cor 9:7-15)
28. BREAKING CURSES
1. Our God is a jealous God: Worshipping other gods can result in being cursed up to third and fourth generation. (Ex 20:3-5)
2. Curses are mentioned 330 times in the Scriptures: Deut 27-28 has only 13 vs. of blessing and 52 vs. of curses. Like Nehemiah and Daniel, we must confess and revoke the curses coming down from our forefathers, for full freedom. (Neh 1:4-11, Dan 9:3-20)
3. Reconciliation through repentance is the key principle of Christian faith: John the Baptist (Matt 3:2), Jesus (Matt 4:17, Luke 24:47), Peter (Acts 2:38, 2Pet 3:9), Paul (Acts 17:29, 30) all emphasize repentance. No one is exempt. Preaching diluted gospel is the curse of modern day Christianity. John called the religious Jews, a brood of vipers and told them to repent. (Matt 3:7-9, 1Cor 16:22)
4. If you or your ancestors have participated in idolatry, sorcery, astrology, palmistry, horoscopes, wearing amulets, chanting mantras, sacrifices, meditation, yoga, psychic healers, witchcraft, mediums, ancestor worship, offering babies to demons, offering food to idols, covenanting with evil spirits, reading Harry Potter, son of a warlock and a practicing witch, however innocently, can bring a curse. (Deut 18:9-14, 20:1-5, 32: 17-35)
5. Dishonoring parents, discrimination against widows, orphans, lower castes and not giving proper wages, bring curses. (Deut 20:12, 27:19, Matt 15:9, Prov 28:27, James 2:2-8)
6. Adultery or abortion, which is murder, bring curses: (Deut 27:20-23, Lev 18:22). Criticizing a believer is murder and needs forgiveness. (1John 3:l5, 4:20, Matt 5:2l-24)
7. Abstaining from giving tithes amounts to robbing God: (Zech 5:3-4, Malachi 3:8-11). Cursed are those who teach extra-biblical traditions and rituals. (Gal 1:8, Rev 22:l8-l9)
8. A house may have been built on a land cursed by shedding of blood, or practice of occult, or breaking of a land covenant or even a dispute between the father and the sons. (Num 35:33, Gen 4:10-12, Is 24:5-6, Mal 4:6) ‘Familiar objects’ like the idols, calendars, trinkets, rosaries, necklaces with symbols of abominations bring curses. Evil spirits can get attached to them. Visiting and venerating shrines can open doors for legal entry of evil spirits unless they are bound. (Deut 7:25-26)
9. Avoid cursing yourself by complaining about your body or your family or calling menstrual periods, a monthly curse. Do not curse your children by calling them a devil, otherwise the Devil will eventually get into them.
10. We are called to be a blessing to all the families of the earth. Those who bless will be blessed and those who curse will be cursed. All the curses can be broken in the mighty name of Jesus and cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. All we have to do is to confess all our sins and repent because God will not despise a broken and a contrite heart. (Gen 12:2-3, Num 22:6, 1John 1:7-9, Ps 51:17)
29. UNREACHED PEOPLE GROUPS (UPGS)
1. Jesus commanded, “Go and make disciples of ‘ta ethne’ (Greek for ‘all nations’). He shed his blood to save all nations, tribes and languages. (Matt 28:19, Rev 5:9-10)
2. God says “Ask me and I will give you ‘goy ‘ (Hebrew for gentiles, heathen, foreign nations, and peoples) for an inheritance. (Ps 2:8)
3. God’s vision is that all nations, tribes and tongues will stand before his throne and worship him. (Rev 7:9-10)
4. There are over 7 billion people living in 234 geopolitical nations on planet earth with over 16,000 ethne or people groups (PG’s). Of these, nearly 7,000 PGs are forgotten people, mostly in the 10/40 window countries.
5. Unreached means, PGs lacking in indigenous community of believers having adequate resources to evangelize their own PGs.
6. Reasons for least reached are: 1. Geographic barriers, like harsh climate or nomadic people, 2. Linguistic barriers, like illiteracy or non-availability of the Bible in their own language, 3. Political barriers, like restricted access or hostile environment, 4. Cultural barriers, where Christianity being viewed as a foreign religion, 5. Apathetic church, where the local church is simply unaware of her responsibility to the great commission.
7. Jesus said. “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world as a witness, then the end will come.” World evangelization of all people groups is inevitable. (Matt 14:6)
8. The church must first lift up her eyes and see the harvest (John 4:35), and then develop research and information based strategy. This includes, harvest field and harvest force data. Information about major strongholds and other factors, which hinder expansion of the kingdom. Then develop indigenous apostolic/prophetic teams, including women and non-literates to go and make disciples and plant sustainable, multiplying churches in the local cultural context. All this must be bathed in prayer.
9. Prayer points: Pray in obedience to the father to send forth laborers into his harvest. (Matt 9:36-38). Ask for nations as your inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth as your possession. (Ps 2:8, Act 26:17-18). Ask for outpouring of the Holy Spirit. (Luke 11:13, Acts2:17-18). Ask the father to reveal his plans to you. (Mk 4:l, Eph 3:4-6, Col 1:26-27, Amos 3:7). Pray for the effective doors to be opened. (Col 4:3, Act 14:27, 1Cor 16:9, Rev 3:8, 20). Pray that abundant resources be made available. (Act 4:32-35, 2Cor 9:6-12). Pray for multiplication of indigenous disciples. (Act2:47, 6:1&7, 2Tim2:2, John15:8). Pray for grace, peace and love among the believers. (1Pet 1:2, 2Pet 1:2, Jude:2, 1Cor 3:9)
10. The whole church must take the whole gospel to the whole world: Only strategic harvest outreach focused on the unreached people groups (UPGs) can finish the task of world evangelization.
30. ORALITY & STORY TELLING
1. Jesus was a master story teller: He never taught anything without parables. His disciples did not have the New Testament, yet Christianity spread throughout the heathen world through story telling. (Matt 13:34)
2. Jews from every nation under heaven came to celebrate the Passover and Pentecost: They saw the crucifixion, resurrection and birthing of the church. They heard the ‘wonderful works of God’ in their own native language. They returned and shared the story of Jesus throughout the world. (Acts 2:5-12)
3. 75% of the world is illiterate or only functionally literate and belong to the oral tradition. The Western bookish culture can reach only a small fraction of the third world. The Bible is God’s story book. Only 10% is abstract theology and even that can be told in stories. Jesus knew the Hebrew language, but he spoke in Aramaic, to communicate effectively with common people. (Matt 13:35, Ps 19:3)
4. Godspell or Gospel means “a good story”: The Latin word evangelium means “a story whose telling has power”. Sermons are multipoint monologues and cannot be reproduced. While stories are interesting events, participatory and easily reproducible. Literate or non-literate, everyone loves a good story, which multiplies rapidly by being repeated by others. (Ps 45:1 )
5. The aim of storytelling is not entertainment: Rather, the stories should be so interlinked that they result in dialogue, discussion, baptisms and church planting. (Acts8: 34-38)
6. All major religions have been transmitted through the ages, in songs, skits and stories: Anointed Peter skillfully intertwined prophecy and eschatology into Jesus’ story, resulting in repentance, the baptism of 3,000 people and the saturation church planting of Jerusalem. (Matt 13:36, 51-52, Acts 2:14-47)
6. Parables being flexible can be contextualized but must not lose the essence, while historical events must be biblically accurate, otherwise, errors will multiply. Stories are self-explanatory and need expounding only when asked. Difficult words, like, redemption justification, sanctification, righteousness etc. should be avoided. (Luke 8:9, Jer 6:16)
7. Story telling is an acquired skill and needs researching the local culture to contextualize. Stories must be repeated often to become part of the culture. Effective storytelling is a very powerful tool for discipling the nations.
8. Today, 80% of the new harvest is being reaped by non-literate grassroots oral story tellers, mostly housewives, in the 10/40 window countries. (Ps 126:5-6)
9. Oral bible: Through hearing of sequential Bible stories, memorizing and repeating them, a non-literate becomes an ‘oral Bible’. All they need is a good chronological story teller to teach an ever-increasing number of stories, in their own dialect and cultural context. An “oral Bible” is authentic Scripture. Master story tellers are in great demand. (Rom 10:8-17, Luke 24:13-35)