"Points of Light" is a ministry of prayer where a number of families commit themselves to open their homes each week on a specific day at a specific time to pray over a very focused number of requests which are updated every week. With enough volunteer homes, it is easy to find a gathering of prayer partners within minutes of your own home. What a beautiful way to build fellowship, unity, and support in the body of Christ!

It is simple! Pick a Point of Light according to your schedule, and then go pray! All groups meditate on the assigned Bible passages and devotional thoughts and pray over the shared requests plus those additional needs as mentioned within the home group. No frills, no long meetings, just brothers and sisters to pray and occasionally fast, at their option.

The intention is to help us gather and effectively pray with as little distraction as possible. As James instructs, “The fervent effectual prayer of a righteous person does much”.

Fervent Effectual Prayer

Holiness or Hardness Toward God?
“He wondered that there was no intercessor ” (Isaiah 59:16).

The reason many of us stop praying and become hard toward God is that we only have an emotional interest in prayer. It sounds good to say that we pray, and we read books on prayer which tell us that prayer is beneficial—that our minds are quieted and our souls are uplifted when we pray. But Isaiah implied in this verse that God is amazed at such thoughts about prayer.

Worship and intercession must go together; one is impossible without the other. Intercession means raising ourselves up to the point of getting the mind of Christ regarding the person for whom we are praying (see Philippians 2:5). Instead of worshiping God, we recite speeches to God about how prayer is supposed to work. Are we worshiping God or disputing Him when we say, “But God, I just don’t see how you are going to do this”? This is a sure sign that we are not worshiping.

When we lose sight of God, we become hard and dogmatic. We throw our petitions at His throne and dictate to Him what we want Him to do. We don’t worship God, nor do we seek to conform our minds to the mind of Christ. And if we are hard toward God, we will become hard toward other people.

Are we worshiping God in a way that will raise us up to where we can take hold of Him, having such intimate contact with Him that we know His mind about the ones for whom we pray? Are we living in a holy relationship with God, or have we become hard and dogmatic?

Do you find yourself thinking that there is no one interceding properly? Then be that person yourself. Be a person who worships God and lives in a holy relationship with Him. Get involved in the real work of intercession, remembering that it truly is work—work that demands all your energy, but work which has no hidden pitfalls. Preaching the gospel has its share of pitfalls, but intercessory prayer has none whatsoever. -From "My Utmost for His Highest", March 30.