8 Simple Reasons Why We Go to Spain to Pray Instead of Just Praying Here

Number One:
Because if we go to Spain we actually pray for Spain four to six hours a day, for 12 days. That’s between 48 and 72 hours of prayer per person. If we multiply that by 40 people, that’s between 2,000 and 3,000 hours of prayer for Spain. It just doesn’t happen without actually going.

There are some few people who are able to pray effectively for lengthy periods of time for nations at a distance. In my experience, they are very few. C. Peter Wagner, who has taken on tremendous leadership over the past twenty years in the worldwide prayer movement, has concluded that people with this kind of gift of intercession is less than 5% of the church.

Our goal as the Vineyard—our understanding of God’s goal for the church—is to “get everybody to play.” It is the understanding that the power of God is multiplied as we add people to the “doing” of the works of the kingdom. If we support one gifted evangelist or release 100 people doing the work of evangelism we’ll see a lot more power and fruitfulness from the work of the 100—no matter how gifted is the one. Of course, God’s strategy includes both, and that’s a whole lot of power!

Taking people to Spain has released more prayer power for that nation than any other thing we have done in these last 15 years. Hands down! To be there, to see the streets and the people, to eat their food and rub shoulders with their daily lives—those are the things that give us tangible stuff to pray about both there and here!

Number Two:
Someone in the worldwide prayer movement coined the term that to go to a nation in order to pray allows people to “pray on site with insight.” This means that being on the actual soil, in actual cities, with actual Spanish people, opens us up in a much clearer way to hear from the Holy Spirit about what to pray. This is a natural/super-natural issue. We hear, we see, we process our experiences, and we are tuning in to what the Spirit is saying. In this sense it’s very similar to praying for a person. As we interview them and process in a natural way what we need to pray for, we’re also tuning in to the Holy Spirit and listening to what He tells us about what to pray and how to pray.

Number Three: We’re following Jesus’ model of ministry—the Incarnation. He didn’t call out to us from a distance—he traveled the distance to meet us on our own home ground. He didn’t walk above us—he visited with us on our own level and in our own culture. That’s what he asks us to do as his witnesses…going into all the world.

Number Four:We also create opportunities for God to draw people to us through the music and praying. Over the years we have seen a number of people give their lives to Jesus, or encouraged to seek God further, during our outdoor worship and prayer sessions. In addition, God has given tremendous encouragement to Spanish believers who have watched and participated with us. They have received a major increase in their faith for God’s breakthrough in their nation.

Number Five: We also have opportunities to minister to, in and with Vineyard churches & conferences along with other church seminars and events. That can only happen because we are committed to spending one or two weeks traveling to different cities in Spain. As a result, how many people have been healed, delivered, brought into the kingdom, and impacted by the Holy Spirit all across Spain? The number is in the hundreds!

Number Six: The spiritual impact on every participant – and upon their return, on their respective families and churches – has been awesome. In fact, this result alone would make the trips worthwhile. I have never personally been involved in anything that so consistently and powerfully affects people’s lives for the Kingdom.

Number Seven: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35) Imagine investing four to six hours daily praying for something you’ll receive no return from. It isn’t going to directly bless your church, your community, your finances, your family or your welfare. There is some intangible blessing God sows into your spiritual man—something that changes you. It has to do with the blessing of giving while not expecting a return.

Number Eight: It results in a unity in the churches which participate in partnering together both on a pastoral and a grass roots level. You can’t partner together as pastors and lay people from different churches for one to two weeks outside your “comfort zone” in prayer—living together, traveling together, eating together, sharing stories together, being sick together and not be changed as a region! It makes us a family and a team.