The Beginner's Guide to Intercession

Let it suffice to say, my copy of this particular book is dog eared, highlighted, underlined, and well read! This is a great book on intercession! It is a very easy read and surprisingly, quite humorous in appropriate places.

Dutch Sheets is a wonderful author and teacher. He easily conveys God's truths in everyday language and plenty of life stories to illustrate his points. This should be a must-read for every Christian.

I read the Spanish translation of this book. I've read this book several times. I intend to read it again with pad and paper at hand. It has had a noticeable effect on my personal prayer life as well as my outlook on the Christian life, churches and accomplishing the Great Commission. I first noticed the positive effect that it was having on me when someone found it necessary to wake me up in the middle of the night to ask me to pray. Although it is identified as a Beginner's Guide, it seems very comprehensive as far as the extent that it discusses Biblical doctrines with respect to prayer and intercession. It provides a good foundation for prayer. First and foremost, the author makes it clear that the absolute foundation of intercession is a relationship with God. The intercessor should make that the absolute priority for without that you might as well not even go on to Chapter 2. Other topics discussed are perseverance, group intercession, faith, intercession for non-believers, and the ever asked question, "Why?" Why is prayer necessary given that God knows what we are going to ask even before we ask it? Also, it should be said that the principles outlined in this book are totally Biblical. The author can perhaps be described as leaning towards the Charismatic/Pentecostal persuasion in Christianity, but this book does not fixate on that persuasion. It is not extra-biblical, and the principles taught in this book can be understood and applied by people who are of the Charismatic/Pentecostal persuasion and by those who are not. It's a very Biblically sound book. One topic that is disappointingly not discussed is the act of "abiding". "If you abide in me and my words abide in you..." What does it mean to "abide" in Him? I think a chapter should have been devoted to that. But even with that absent, the book is tremendous, and applying the Biblical principles in this book has had a startling effect on my prayer life.

I read Dutch Sheet's other book "Intercession" and Cindy Jacob's book "Possessing the Gates of the Enemy" and others before my pastor asked me to teach college age students from this book.I found this book less enjoyable, but more rigorous and foundational than his other book, "Intercession". Between this book and the other two I mentioned, it is impossible for me to say which book is the best.Everyone is called to pray, but not everyone has the gift of intercession and not everyone is called to the office of an intercessor. I would recommend this book for teaching a basic but rigorous beginners class on intercession.If you find you are very uncomfortable spending less than an hour per day in prayer, chances are you may have a gift of intercession. If that is so, I recommend reading the other two books mentioned before first, then C. Peter Wagner's series on intercessory prayer.One other book that I found precious is "That None Should Perish" by Ed Silvoso which focuses on prayer evangelism.Tom Tenney's "God Chasers" and "God Catchers" are also very good reading--enjoyable and challenging, but not as foundational as the others mentioned.Also, one other book that helps build a solid foundation for intercessory prayer for all regardless of gifting is Charles G. Finney's Revival Lecture Series.Now that I've given a two or three line review of all the other books, this one deserves a little more specific attention. If you examine the table of contents, you will see what I mean when I say this book is rigorous. I don't mean difficult--just very thorough.When I taught from this book, I tried to get the students to remember each theme of each chapter. For example, Chapter 1 is "The Priority of Intercession", and when you read it, you find it is "Relationship". The whole chapter hangs on that. Chapter 2 is "The Plan of Intercession" and that is "to use people to accomplish His will", and so forth. Each week before I would start teaching I would ask them about the themes of the chapters before. I found myself challenged as I had to learn the material to teach it.This book should be considered vital if you are being used by God to build a team of intercessors in your church. No church should be without such a team properly constructed well trained and prepared to serve. Many churches go into this without proper preparation and training and end up with gossips and strange mysticism rather than effective intercessory prayer.I cannot stress hard enough how important this kind of preparation is.

"God shapes the world by prayer. The more praying there is in the world the better the world will be,..." ~ Dutch Sheets I recently had the chance to go on a mission trip to England. While over there a good friend of mine recommended I read this book. This book is amazing! Through the coarse of reading this book it has changed my life and outlook on my personal relationship with God. Now understanding much more about God's call for us to become intercessors, I have found a new and amazing freedom as well as understanding and POWER in my prayer life! God has reveled amazing truths and principles in this book that we need to enforce in prayer. The book covers topics on how to intercede for everyday situations as well as very specific ones, such as the Salvation if our lost brothers and sisters. Sheets tell many spiritually encouraging stories and miracles that have been witnessed through the prayers of Spirit lead people. I truly and sincerely recommend this book to any who are looking for a deeper, more exciting and more powerful prayer life with our blessed Savior and Father. This book has the power to change your life!! "Your prayers and mine can make a difference. We must become convinced of this. Our prayers can be irresistible to God and indefensible to Satan." ~Dutch Sheets