Dear Praying Friend:
Thank you in advance on behalf of the Deeper Still Arkansas Team for taking the time to partner with us in intercession prayer for the Spring retreat, July 25-28, 2024. Please select one or more “Prayer Watches” from the list below. If you will commit to praying for a 15-minute period during the watch you have selected, it will make a huge impact on our retreat and an eternal impact in the lives of our participants.
Please read over a brief description of each watch and make your selection below. Don't forget to hit the submit button at the bottom.
Watch # 1 – Thursday Day and Evening – Team & Retreat Preparations - Our Deeper Still Team spends the day packing up our vehicles, driving to the retreat venue and setting up. We need a lot of strength, energy, grace and organization.
Thursday evening, we eat dinner together and spend the evening preparing ourselves for the retreat. We do a prayer march around the grounds and pray over the retreat building and each room. We spend time in worship and ministry to each other. The retreat facilitator gives an exhortation and final instructions. As a team we need to be bound together in love, unity, faith and purpose. We also need protection and health.
Watch # 2 – Friday Evening - The participants share their stories in small groups. For many, this is the first time anyone has asked to hear his or her story and the first time they have had the courage to be vulnerable about their hidden secrets and shame.
Watch # 3 – Saturday Morning – We do a teaching on God's perfect plan and the sanctity of human life. Following that is a teaching on Isaiah 53, the sufficiency of the cross and what the suffering, stripes, and blood of Jesus did for us. We also lead the participants through a prayer time of forgiveness and breaking free of shame.
Watch # 4 – Saturday Afternoon – We walk the participants through a tangible way to grieve for their aborted child(ren) and to experience reconciliation with these children. We also place on women the “Mother Mantle” (a symbolic robe) and on men the “Father Mantle” (a symbolic sword and staff). This is to reaffirm their “office” of Mothering and Fathering. This section is particularly emotional as their hearts connect with this healing.
Watch # 5 – Saturday Afternoon – We minister individually with the participants and take them through prayers to bring down spiritual strongholds still hold them captive. We also pray individually over each participant for spiritual encouragement and edification.
Watch # 6 – Saturday Evening - By Saturday evening, the participants have shed off so much weight that they are ready to rejoice and celebrate in a special time of worship. They not only have a new-found freedom, but they now have a new level of faith to ask the Lord to restore all that the enemy has stolen or that has been surrendered to him through sin. Just 24 hours earlier, they could never have imagined this night.
Watch # 7 – Sunday Morning – A beautiful Memorial Service is held. The participants can finally memorialize and honor their child(ren) lost to abortion. They get a garland of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a mantle of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
Watch # 8 – Rear Guard, starting Sunday Afternoon – until the following Sunday - The week following the retreat is a vulnerable time for both participants and for the team but maybe even more so for the team. It seems like we are the first line of defense standing in front of our participants so the enemy seeks to launch a counter attack. We are not ignorant of his schemes, nor are we afraid of him, but we do need others to pray defensive prayers on our behalf and for our families. Please ask the Lord to bring us to your mind throughout the week, and as He does, just lift a prayer of protection and victory for us.
Thank you in advance from the bottom of our hearts for your faithful prayers and intercession on our behalf and on behalf of the women and men who are coming to our retreat to drink from the fountain of life.
Gratefully and on behalf of the Deeper Still Arkansas Team,
Courtney Beck
Chapter Leader
Deeper Still Arkansas