

		House of Prayer available 24-hours a day

Prayer Ministry

The prayer ministry of Cicero Christian Church strives to increase the time people spend in prayer.

The House of Prayer is a building on our campus dedicated to prayer, and is available 24-hours per day.
Participate in a several prayer events
Subscribe to the e-mail prayer chain and commit to pray for the requests.
Come to the altar during prayer time at a corporate worship service on Sunday morning

Prayer Gathering

weekly on Wednesday from 7-8p in the House of Prayer - contact Jody Wallace, prayer team ministry coach, for details, or just join us.

Prayer Requests & Praises

and church news and announcements

How do I submit a request or praise?

You may submit requests and praises for prayer by e-mail to prayer[at]reachteachserve.org, phone the church office at 317.984.4653 and speaking with any of the church office staff, filling out the bulletin prayer request form.

It is also very helpful to get information on those in the hospital, or deaths that effect our church family. Our ministry staff and elders strive to make appropriate visits when the information and time are available. If you don't tell us, we can't minister to you!

Who gets the e-mail prayer chain?

Only those who subscribe. You don't have to be a member or attender at CCC, but we do need to have your address. Currently, over 250 e-mail addresses receive the requests.

What format is used for the prayer chain?

In the past we have used simple group emails to send out the prayer chain. However starting in the summer of 2011, we began using a web based software package offered at icontact.com.

How can I receive the prayer requests?

via the internet

Beginning in the summer of 2011, all prayer requests are now available thorugh the icontact community on the world wide web. You may access the sent messages through the "prayer chain" button on the black bar on the home page of the Cicero Christian Church website (www.CiceroChristianChurch.org or www.ReachTeachServe.org), or you may go directly through this link.

In 2012, iContact.com stopped offering their online archive of sent messages. We've created our own. Unfortunately you can't access the emails from 2011, but click here for the sent archive from 2012 on.

Email Marketing You Can Trust

or through email

Currently, to receive requests or praises for prayer, you must have access to e-mail, as the "Prayer Chain" is via e-mail.

Subscribe by sending an email the e-mail prayer[at]reachteachserve.org, with "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject line. In the content of the message, please list:
   the e-mail address to receive requests
   first name and last name
   street address, city, state and zip

what if I don't have access to email?

The prayer requests are printed out on pink paper and placed at the information desk every week, or you can check the archive.

Two ways: at the bottom of your email message (sent via iContact.com from prayer[at]reachteachserve.org), there is a link to manage your subscription. If you EVER want to resubscribe, do NOT select the "never email me again" box, because that locks out that email address until the person uses the same link to resubscribe (so if you delete the email permanently, you're locked out permanently with that address). Instead, uncheck "Prayer Requests from Cicero Christian Church" unter the heading Keep me subscribed to the following selected lists.

Or, unsubscribe by sending an e-mail to the e-mail link above (prayer[at]reachteachserve.org), with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject line. In the content of the message, please list the email address that you want removed from the list.

How are the requests processed?

The requests received by phone, bulletin and email are processed by the administrative staff in the church office.

Phone messages - are sent via the e-mail prayer chain according to the information provided in the message. You may speak to Sherry, Lisa, Shirley or Beth in the office to relay a prayer request.

Bulletin requests - If you check the box on the back of the bulletin tearout that indiciates you want the request on the e-mail prayer chain, it will be added to the e-mail chain. Those requests and all others are taken to the house of prayer for review by our prayer warriors and usually replaced the following week with new requests.

E-mail requests - Requests received to the appropriate e-mail address will be sent via the e-mail prayer chain.

House of Prayer - you may choose to leave a note at the House of Prayer for the prayer warriors to pray over. Those requests are not processed on the e-mail prayer chain.

Your request may be edited for content (usually only spelling or removing information which is best left private).

The address of church members requesting or needing prayer is often listed in the email so that our church body can offer encouragement via mail.

The email prayer chain is sent "blind" so that your email address will not be viewable by other recipients.

The email comes from the church office - usually processed by Sherry, Shirley, Beth or a combination of the three.

What if I've stopped receiving the e-mail prayer chain?

If e-mail is sent back to the administrator of the e-mail list repeatedly, the recipient's address will be removed from the list. This may occur for several reasons - the address has changed, the mailbox is full, the e-mail address was input incorrectly.

Make sure you are not blocking the address of the e-mail prayer chain in your preferences, or make sure that you add the address to the accepted recipients in your bulk mail filter.

If you have been receiving the e-mails and they stop, send a request to subscribe again.

If you choose to "never receive email again" when you managed your subscription, the only way you can alter that is through an old message and the manage your subscription link. We can't change it, only you can.

Prayer requests are sent a couple of times during the week and occasionally on weekends.

House of Prayer

		Are you looking for a place for quiet prayer, reflection, or study?
			The House of Prayer is available to our church and community 24 hours a day Simply request an electronic keycard from church office and you can have secure access.

My House Will Be Called a House of Prayer

Isaiah 56:7 and Matthew 21:13

When we look at the life of Jesus we often overlook His amazing prayer life. Even though He was God Jesus spent a lot of time in prayer with His Father. Jesus was very intimate with His Father and He longs for us to experience that same intimacy (John 17). Take a moment to look at just a few Scriptures that give us a peek at the relationship Jesus had with His Father and that He wants us to have with our heavenly Father.

Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner."
John 5:19

I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.
John 17:20

Throughout His ministry Jesus was in prayer. He was praying at His baptism (Luke 3:21), He prayed before He chose His disciples (Luke 6:12), He prayed early in the morning (Mark 1:35), He taught that prayer must precede ministry (Mark 9:29), and after His disciples saw Jesus praying they asked Him to teach them how to pray (Luke 11:1). Jesus made it very clear that prayer is vitally important to the children of God.

Prayer is a time for us to come to the Father and be intimate, to call Him “Abba (Daddy), Father” (Mark 14:36). Jesus was a master at prayer and He invites us to imitate Him, will we accept the invitation?

Making Space for God

It’s so important to make space for God in our lives. We must do this for the same reason Jesus spent time with His Father: Jesus knew what the Father was like and He deeply desire to spend time with Him. We too must come to understand what God is like and follow the example of Jesus and spend time with Him often.

Jesus taught His disciples to find a secret place to simply be alone with our Heavenly Father. Have you ever thought of why Jesus said this? It’s because God longs for us to spend time with Him, to make room for Him in our lives. Our Heavenly Abba calls us to set aside the busyness of our lives, our fears and anxieties and come into His presence. After all He did create us for Himself!

Have you ever spent so much time with family, work, chores, and friends that at the end of the day you get a little feeling of guilt that says something like this, “I should have spent some time with God today;” then you promise to make sure to spend time tomorrow but the same thing happens? That little feeling of guilt is really God saying, “I created you, I love you, I died for you, I made you for Me. Won’t you come and be with me? That is why I created you.”

It is difficult to begin that practice of being in God’s presence but it is so very important. Jesus Himself knew it was important and He calls us to imitate Him. All of us need time with the Lord for solitude and reflection, for silence and meditation, for time in our Lord’s presence. We need them for the strength, compassion and wisdom necessary to live a God pleasing life. And they only come as we spend time in His presence. Won’t you come? His burden is easy and His yoke is light.

Prayer as Our Foundation

The future of a church is built on its prayer life for only in prayer can we discern the direction God has for us; and only in prayer can we clearly hear His voice and walk in step with Him as we pursue His heart and purposes. Jim Cymbala in Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire says,

If we call upon the Lord, He has promised in His Word to answer, to bring the unsaved to Himself, to pour out His Spirit among us. If we don’t call upon the Lord, He has promised nothing—nothing at all. It’s as simple as that. No matter what I preach or what we claim to believe in our heads, the future will depend upon our times of prayer. This is the engine that will drive the church.

The task of the church is to fulfill the longing of God’s heart which is to seek and save those who are lost: to save them into an intimate and mature relationship with Jesus Christ. This is something only God can do and He has chosen to do it by His Spirit and through His church. This is our mission and it’s a vitally important and huge task. In Making Room to Pray Terry Teykl states,

When God gives us a great task, He expects us to seek Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength before we endeavor to do that task, because we must realize completely that His Spirit, not our might or power, will accomplish the work (see Zechariah 4:6).

An Australian named Steve Smith says, “The definition of success is: finding out what is on Jesus’ heart, the doing it, when and how He says to.” And how can we find out what is on the heart of Jesus unless we are a people of prayer. Some may say, “All we need to do is look in the Bible,” and there is some truth to that. However, if we are going to connect the truths of the Bible to our hearts and not just our minds, and have them become a passion in our lives that is connected to and guided by Jesus we must be a people, a church, of prayer. If you think prayer is not that important then:

A look at Scriptures throughout the Old and New Testament reveal that although God is all sovereign, He chose from the time of creation to work on the earth through humans. He is in partnership with us, not independent of us. Scripture reveals no other way in which God intervenes in the affairs of earth.
Didn’t Jesus tell us to ask that His kingdom would come and His will would be done (see Mt. 6:10)? Why would He tell us to ask for something He was planning to do anyway?
Didn’t He tell us to ask for our daily bread (see Mt. 6:11)? Yet doesn’t He know our needs before we ask?
Why would He tell us to pray for laborers to be sent into the harvest field? Doesn’t the Lord of the harvest want this more than we do6 (see Matthew 9)?
There is only one logical explanation: God does nothing outside the realm of prayer and intercession. Is it any wonder the Bible is filled with multiple entreaties, urgings, and invitations for us to pray? Cheryl Sacks

It’s vital that we build a strong prayer ministry at Cicero Christian Church. When God looks at the history of a church the only history that pleases Him is that which is written from acts of obedience that flow from hearts that are deeply connected to Him, and that connection can only come from lives immersed in prayer and His Word. That’s what salvation is all about: knowing Him, loving Him, trusting Him and obeying Him. The passion that flows from His heart into ours and then works itself out in obedience are the only works that will last for eternity, the rest will be burnt up in the all consuming fire that will destroy the old earth.

www.cicerochristianchurch.org