In the last weeks I have been seeking the Lord about prayer strategy for us for Japan. I feel He told me to share this with you…

“Four Strategic Times of Prayer (40 days – September 11th through October 20th)”

I want to challenge you to begin 40 days of praying 3 or 4 times a day. Daniel prayed three times a day. Ps 55:17 says, “Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud…” I feel that as intercessors of Arise Japan begin praying this way, much, much breakthrough will come. In the early years of his ministry, John Ekhardt led people to pray during his early morning radio broadcast. The result was revival in his region and his church exploded. We will start with a 40-day period. I expect great results. I know the Lord will then give us the next step.

There are basically 4 prayer times each day. You only need to pray for a few minutes or however long you feel led. I will give you some scriptures to explain each prayer watch as well as some scriptural examples of what happens during these times. We can visualize these things happening for us as we pray.

Morning prayer (anytime between 6 am and 9 am):

Ps 101:8 - During this time, God wants to destroy the wicked (demonic forces) and stop the work of wicked people. “Early I will destroy all the wicked of the land…” As we pray in the early morning, the Lord wants to shake out the wicked (Job 38:13). Forces of wickedness keep the gospel from spreading and cause Christians to be worn out.

Other things we can pray for in the morning are:

• God delivering His people from various problems (Ex 14)
• Pray for people to be fed spiritually (Ex 6:12)
• Pray against occult plans against the people of God (Num 22:21)
• Pray for Christians to cross over the Jordan River into the new spiritual places God has for them (Josh 3:1)

Noon prayer:

Noon is also a time when we should pray. Here are some Biblical examples:

• Bind the spirit of destruction against you, your family, your church at noonday (Ps 91:6)
• It was around noon when Peter received his vision of going to the Gentiles. This opened a whole new field for the gospel (Acts 10). You can pray for God to open new fields for you.
• Acts 22:6 – Paul met the Lord on the road to Damascus. Thus you can pray and expect people, even hardened ones like Paul, to be met miraculously by the Lord.

Evening Prayer (anywhere from 3 pm to 9 pm):

This is a very important time of prayer. Is 17:14 says that the Lord wants to come against the wicked, so that by morning, he no longer exists. Again, as we pray in the evening, expect the Lord to push back the forces of darkness. It is these forces that are holding back revival. Lets destroy them by prayer. See also Ps 91:6. Significant events happened in the evening. Here are some samples of things you can pray for:

• Angels were sent to rescue Lot (Gen 19:1). Therefore, as you pray, perhaps the Lord will send angels to rescue and help those who need spiritual rescue
• Acts 3 – the lame man was healed. We can pray for healing miracles to begin to occur in our cities
• Acts 10 – the angel opened Cornelius eyes resulting in him hearing the gospel. Your prayer will open people’s eyes for salvation
• Gen 3:8 – God sought out Adam and Eve for fellowship – pray that people in your city will begin to have Divine encounters

Midnight prayer (perhaps 11 pm to 3 am):

First we must recognize that not only the day, but the night also belongs to God (Ps 74:16), and there is much that He wants to do. Therefore we need people praying during this midnight watch (“At midnight I will rise to give thanks to you” Ps 119:62). As we praise and thank God and intercede, much judgment happens against the enemy.

• Paul and Silas sang and praised and an earthquake happened that resulted in revival in the city (Acts 16)
• The siege of Jerusalem was broken and Assyrian army destroyed (2 Ki 19:35). As you pray, the siege around your city will be broken. See also 2 Kings 7:9
• 1 Sam 5:13 – the idol of the false god, Dagon, fell and was broken. Your prayer will break power of false gods

I urge you to pray during some of all of these 4 prayer watches daily. As I said earlier, each time may only be a few minutes. But pray. If you are pastor, please teach your church and have them join in. Let this be informal. Do not become religious. Some days you may pray all 4 times, other days just once or twice. But do it as much as possible. After two weeks, I will release another short teaching with more material for prayer. Also, do not be religious about the 40 days. As pastor you may want to teach first and then start. Be flexible. But above all, pray.

“Four Strategic Times of Prayer” – The original teaching and outline are available on CD and will soon be available by podcast. (Prophetic partners, Network pastors, Apostolic Pledge donors, contact us for a free copy – ciajapan@ciasia.net.) Otherwise you can order it through our online shop: http://ciasia.shop-pro.jp/