After a little bit of study, I discovered exactly what a Concerts of Prayer meeting is all about.  It seems it is a pretty intense and organized session of praying and receiving to God the Father through the Holy Spirit.  I found a couple of formats, a 1 hour and a 2 hour format, on ethat includes kids..

Credit: Nate & Paula WIlson

C.O.P. FORMATS DEVELOPED BY NATE WILSON

2-HOUR FORMAT

30 min. WORSHIP

• Music (Majesty, Thou art Worthy, Ascribe Greatness, Ain’t no Rock, Show me your Ways, Lord You Are, Through our God, You are my Hiding Place, Lord of Love, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord)
• Scripture: Psalm 100: 1-2, Job 37:14

10 min. CONFESSION

• Pray in groups of 1 or 2
• James 5:16 and Isaiah 1:16-18
• End singing “The Blood Flows”

20 min. THANKSGIVING as a whole group

• Read Psalm 40: 9-10 and Heb 13:15
• Praise God for attributes, Give testimony, or Thank Him for something

50 min. INTERCESSION

• For the CHURCH

Read Rom 12:11 and 1 Peter 4:7-8

Pray for ourselves (individually 5 min.)

Pray for the renewal of the church world-wide (group, 10 min.)

Sing “Spirit of the Living God”

• For the LOST

Read: Colossians 4:2-3 and 1 Sam 12:23

Pray for the mission of the Church, including current fellowship you are attending as well as home church, missions organizations, the church worldwide. (groups of 2, 10 min.)

Sing “Shine, Jesus, Shine”

Pray for missionaries, the lost, and the unreached peoples–Pass out missionary prayer letters and unreached people cards (large group 25 min.)

• Share testimony of the power of prayer in missions

10 min. CLOSING (large group)

• Share any testimony of God’s work through this meeting
• Offer ourselves as living sacrifices to build the kingdom of God
• Sing: “In My Heart, Lord, Be Glorified”

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1-HOUR FORMAT (includes children!)

6:45 Intro:

1. Children are welcome, don’t worry with a little crying or whispering, but, if they’re crying so loud that people can’t hear or if kids are starting to play and get foolish, or if baby needs nursing, you can take them across the way to the bedroom.
2. Concert of Prayer format: sing, pray on a specific topic, close with song, then pray on a new topic, etc. We’ll be going through the themes of the Lord’s Prayer this evening and ending around 7:45
3. Respond quickly: You only have 3-5 minutes to pray in groups, so there is not time to discuss things; if you have something to share, just share one simple prayer request and make it concise. When we break into groups of 2 or 3 adults, quickly re-group, grab a couple of children, and go right to prayer.

“Our Father Who art in Heaven, hallowed by Thy Name”

6:50 SONGS:

“Come Thou Fount”

“Hail Jesus, You’re my King”

“Our Father”

6:55 Large group: Prayers of worship, focusing on:

• Fatherly nature of God
• Heaven
• Holiness 6f God
• Names of God

7:00 “Thy Kingdom Come”

VIDEO: Dungan People of Kyrgyzstan (From Caleb Project)

7:05 Pray for Dungan in four groups (4 corners of room)

• that they will realize the rituals they perform are empty and bring them no closer to God
• that they will open their hearts to the Gospel, despite their strong identity with Islam
• that they will soon have the Scriptures translated into their own language
• that God would send out missionaries to live in their villages and share the Good news in a way the Dungan can understand.

7:10 Pray for God’s kingdom to come in the lives of non-Christians you know

· neighbors

· friends

· family

SONG: “Jesus Shall Reign Wherever the Sun”

7:15 “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven”

Two Groups: Pray for our local church and for Christian friends to do God’s will.

SONG: “Psalm 9:1 Will Praise”

7:20 “Give us this day our daily bread”

Groups with only two adults :One adult shares brief prayer request, then group prays for them and for a child in the group

7:25 Other adult shares brief prayer request, then group prays for them and for child (if applicable)

SONG: “Seek Ye First”

7:30 “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”

Kneel and pray individually

• Examine your heart Confess your sin to God
• Ask forgiveness for sin
• Ask God to deliver you from these sins Thank God for His forgiveness!

7:35 SONG: “The Blood Flows”

“Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen.”

Large group: Prayers of worship, focus on God’s:

• Kingship
• Power
• Glory

7:40 SONGS: “Now Unto the King Eternal,” “Be Thou My Vision”

Dick Armey (house majority leader from 1995-2003) offers his perspective on Barack Obama.

Credit: OneNewsNow.com

Simple words, in which we exchange back and forth throughout our daily lives. Do we know what it means? We print it on our money, most of us stand behind and up for it. Really, though, how many of us truly trust in God as it says we do on our money. This is big! Our nation, founded on godly principles and men of godly character, understood it when it became part of our national motto, but it seems has completely lost sight of it. Now we say American Pride.. etc, etc.. The thing is, you can be proud, but when pride pushes aside trust in God.. well we’ve seen many many great nations, full of pride, crumble to nothing, swiftly.. at the loss of trust in God. Ask God to reveal the message in Romans 1:21-32 and then read it. Idolatry doesn’t mean that we build a statue and kneel down before it, it is simply putting something other than God first.. The very money we print this motto on has become an idol in America.. The American Dream.. Do you have a dream that you would sacrifice everything to realize? Think about it..

update:  The mere consideration of the following means we’ve gone to far:

Pray to GOD
Pray through Christ
Pray in the Holy Spirit