http://goo.gl/7jUspH (for print version)
This can be followed by one person, two or three people, or a large group.
Please prepare for the Concert of Prayer by reading information about Belgium.
We give you various suggestions as how you can pray and songs you might sing with each other, but obviously you are free to be creative and make changes according to your personal experience and situation.
Normally the Concert of Prayer will last for an hour with time planned for beginning, giving instruction and wrapping up.
The concert of prayer has five parts:
- Praise for who God is for His people
- Confession of how we have fallen short of God’s purpose for His people
- Thanks for what God has done for His people
- Requests for what we are asking God to do for His people
- Declarations of dependence upon God’s provision
Prayer leaders can suggest a number of different ways to pray (as in, the physical manner of praying).
Here is a list of possibilities:
| Groups of two or three | Bowing | Hands raised |
| Hands open in receiving | Looking towards heaven | Holding hands with others |
| Hugging | Silently | All aloud at once |
| Brief sentences or words | Singing | Reading scripture |
| Each person as they will | Praying the promises of God | Whole group one at a time |
| Write your prayers out on paper. | Kneeling | Sitting bowing in a circle |
| In a circle standing with your backs to the middle as protectors | Laying prostrate on the floor
(or at night go out and lay and look at the stars as you pray. |
Each person taking a turn in a circle |
General Prayer requests for Belgium (to be used to inform your prayers with the guide below)
| Unity among christians.
Desire to love God above all else. Willingness of believers to serve. Generosity and hospitality to flourish. Believers to love God’s word. Honesty and fairness with money. Quickness to forgive one another. More partnerships between churches. More youth leaders. More missionaries. |
More church leaders.
More praying people, praying together. New Churches to start. Christian artists to do concerts in Belgium. The Bible to be recorded in Flemish. Another person to work in HGB Genk. A Bookkeeper (missionary) for the BEM. More home bible study groups to start. Financial support for ministries in Belgium. |
Guide for Praying for Belgium
Praise for who God is for his people
| Leader:
Use this time to bring the group into the Throne Room of God. Recognise His character. Discipline yourselves to focus on who God is and why He alone is worthy of praise. Frame your prayers in relation to the country of Belgium and who God is for the Belgians. This time is appropriate for more gathered and large group activities. |
Read 1 Samuel 2:1–10
V8b For all the earth is the Lord’s, and he has set the world in order.
God the Father had planned for the salvation of the people of Belgium.
Jesus died for the people of Belgium.
The Holy Spirit is given for the comfort of the church in Belgium.
The Bible reveals Jesus to the spiritually hungry of Belgium.
God is able and willing to bring revival to His church in Belgium.
God answers prayer and will bless those who pray according to His will.
We will grow in the knowledge of God’s grace and truth as we serve one another through prayer.
Song options: How Great is Our God (Chris Tomlin); There is a Redeemer (Melody Green); Glorify Thy Name (Donna Adkins)
Confession of how we have fallen short of God’s purpose for His people
| Leader:
As you turn your corporate gaze from God to man, you will see your need and are right to confess that need. You may want to encourage kneeling or other postures that are in keeping with humility and submission. This time is appropriate for both personal, individual confession and corporate responsibility. |
Read Act 3:19-20
19 Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. 20 Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah.
We are sorry, Father, for allowing America to export a vile and damaging cultural example through the entertainment industry.
Dear God, forgive us for only running to the rescue of Belgium in the times of war but not in the steady and devastating spiritual decline.
We are sorry, Lord, that have not been concerned for the desperate spiritual poverty of Europe and Belgium specifically.
Please forgive us, Father, for not sending missionaries to share the gospel with Belgians.
We confess we have wilfully confused economic wealth with spiritual health.
Lord, we admit that we have been more impressed by history, scenery and architecture than the true health of the church.
Oh God, our forefathers fled the persecution of faith in Europe and have not considered the spiritual needs of the lands they left behind, thinking only of themselves.
Song options: Grace that is Greater than all our Sin (Julia Johnston); Come as you Are (Crowder); How Deep the Father’s Love for Us (Stuart Townend)
Thanks for what God has done for his people
| Leader:
We build on a recognition of what God has done. That you are even reading this or thinking of leading this prayer time for Belgium is something to be thankful for. Encourage people to be thankful for everything and anything. Try to guide their prayers to be stated with Belgium in mind as the time of thanksgiving gets moving, but don’t limit them. You may find it helpful to begin and end this with a jubilant song. |
Read 2 Corinthians 4:15
15 All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.
Thank you Father for the work of Ralph and Edith Norton during WW1 in establishing the Belgian Evangelical Mission. Thank you for 100 years of missions work through the BEM.
We are grateful, God, for the work of church planters like Richard Haverkamp and Johan Lukasse.
Father in Heaven, thank you for the much larger number of youth and volunteers that went to OM’s Teenstreet from Belgium.
Lord thank you for Youth Church the Revolution and the encouragement it is to youth in Belgium.
We appreciate the SportQuest ministry in Belgium and the fruit for your kingdom that it is bearing.
Song options: This is Amazing Grace (Phil Wickham); Jesus Paid it All (Elvina Hall); Mighty to Save (Hillsong United)
Requests for what we are asking God to do for His people
| Leader:
Please discuss this time with your group. Remind each other of relationships, news and information. Take time in the sharing to stop and pray immediately as requests are stated. Another way is to share and pray in small groups and then some things share again in the larger group. Building lasting connections and partnerships in ministry is done by owning these prayers! Make these very well informed and personal prayers. Plead on Belgium’s behalf! Go to war for us in the spiritual realms. |
Read
John 14:13 -14 You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!
John 15:7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!
Lord God, please raise up more Belgian Christian leaders.
Father, we ask that You give the people of Belgium a vision for what You want to do there.
Lord, please fund the work of Youth Church the Revolution and its leaders, Tim and Karlien.
Savior and Lord, please rescue the marriages of Belgium and make your people an example of grace.
Heavenly Father, give Your people in Belgium a hunger and a thirst for Your Word. Make the Bible come alive for each believer.
We ask, God, that Christians in Belgium would be examples of righteous and upright living and would strive to pay taxes honestly and not to work in “zwart”.
Please, Jesus, help Belgian Christians be quick to forgive others and not to hold grudges.
Lord of the Harvest, please raise up many Belgians and others who will labor in the spiritual harvest of Belgium. Strengthen and supply the BEM and other missionaries.
Song options: Shine, Jesus, Shine (Graham Kendrick); Be Thou My Vision; Build Your Kingdom Here (Rend Collective)
Declarations of dependence on God’s provision
| Leaders:
We need to pray in faith. We need to declare the promises of God. We need to believe that God is at work and will do amazing things. Please help the prayers to anticipate the work of God. Often the most significant work of God is changing us and keeping us faithful in prayer. DON’T GIVE UP! It may be appropriate to make appointments to keep praying in small groups and couples and mentoring relationships. When is the next Concert of Prayer for Belgium? Is it a regular event on the church or group calendar? Could it be? |
Read out: James 5:13-18
Lord God you will build your church. Please use us as you see fit we are yours.
We confess Lord that you alone can change hearts and we trust you will begin with ours.
Father God we wait in expectation of your deliverance for Belgium.
Jesus you are Holy and righteous and the source of all that is good.
Fill our cup Lord, fill it to over flowing, For in you are the springs of eternal life.
Song options: Your Grace is Enough (Matt Maher); I Need Thee Every Hour (Annie Hawks); I Will Rise (Chris Tomlin)
Zendings Bode 