T.W.I. (Thanksgiving, Worship, Intercession) is an Antioch style of prayer that makes space for the Holy Spirit to move/ lead us in intercession. We believe that as we take time to thank and worship God, he will reveal himself and show us what’s on his heart and how he wants us to pray. Learn more at EyesOnHim.co.
LEADERS: HOW TO PREPARE
- Pair up: if you can, find someone else to lead together with. To make it easier, you may want to assign one person to lead the worship section, and one for intercession.
- Prepare ahead of time: take time with the Lord to ask what’s on his heart, and where he wants to take this (Ex: your city, a nation, a need in the community, etc.) and some specific aspects he wants you to focus on (people, places, or areas that need Jesus to intervene).
- Don’t put pressure on yourself about leading! Your main role is to invite the group to focus on Jesus and tune into his heart & what he’s interceding for (Romans 8:34). We are simply joining him in this!
- Prepare your heart: before the meeting, come early, and take time with the Lord so he can fill you up…don’t just show up right before the meeting!
1. INTRO (~3 minutes)
- Share your vision for what you’d like to focus on in prayer today.
- Example: “We are here to encounter Jesus together through Thanksgiving, Worship, and Intercession, led by the Holy Spirit. Today we are also going to focus on praying for_______” (ex. city, people group, country, etc.).
- Interactive: Remind the group that this is an interactive prayer space, so we want to hear prayers from everyone! (if it’s a group of 12+ people, consider breaking people into smaller groups so more people have the chance to pray). Invite full participation: If you tend to be quieter, we want to hear from you! If you tend to share/pray a lot, make space for everyone to pray, etc.
- Music: You can play soaking worship music, or invite a person/people to lead worship songs.
- Begin with a prayer welcoming the Holy Spirit to lead and guide. You set the tone: how you pray is how others will follow.
2. THANKSGIVING: Thanking Him for who He is and what He’s done! (~10 min.)
Have someone read, “Enter [God’s] gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.” (Psalm 100:4)
- Invite the group to begin thanking God for anything and everything! (These can be short).
- Example: “Let’s begin by taking turns thanking God for anything and everything…from a hot shower to the Cross! Let’s thank Him for who he is and what he has done. If you have something you’d like to ask him for, let’s pause on that until our time of intercession later.
- Then, invite people to thank the Lord using what we know of him from the Word (we want Scripture to be central to what we do/what we hear)
- As a leader, listen/watch for the Holy Spirit to highlight a specific attribute of His character that He wants you to meditate or focus on. (Many times, Jesus’ characteristics highlighted here can continue as a focus for the Worship time.)
- You can also start out with playing a worship song of thanksgiving, and invite people to reflect on what they’re grateful to God for.
3. WORSHIP: Our response to a revelation of who God is (~30 min.)
I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom & insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. (Eph. 1:17)
- Ask the Holy Spirit to highlight ONE aspect of God’s character to focus on.
- Example: “Does anyone feel the Holy Spirit highlighting a theme about himself today?” or “I feel the Holy Spirit highlighting that Jesus is…(merciful, full of justice, etc.). Let’s respond to this and worship Him for that together. We can take turns offering prayers of worship.”
- Take 20+ minutes to worship God through declaration of who he is, songs, Scripture, etc. focusing on this one characteristic.
- Example: “Let’s take time to speak out prayers directly to God, and declare his character (You are Light, you are Wise, etc.)”
- “You can also read out scripture aligning with this, or share a testimony of how God has met you in this aspect of his character. If there’s a song that comes to mind around this characteristic, feel free to lead us in that or find a worship video we can sing to.”
4. INTERCESSION: Our response to what God wants to do (~20 minutes)
Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. (Ephesians 6:18)
When we encounter a specific attribute of His character, it’s not just for us but for the world around us. If He is revealing something to us, He also wants to release that through us.
When we encounter a specific attribute of His character, it’s not just for us but for the world around us. If He is revealing something to us, He also wants to release that through us.
- Lead the group in interceding for your chosen topic, using the revelation Jesus gave you during worship to fuel your intercession.
- Example: “Now we’re going to move into a time of intercession. From this place of encountering Jesus as _______, let’s pray for ______. Let’s take turns praying for this attribute of Him over _______.”
- Example: If you focused on his characteristic of faithfulness, you can pray, “Jesus, you are faithful! Please reveal your faithfulness to…”
- Share a few specific sub-points to intercede for.
- Ex: if you are praying for your city, pray for the government, the schools, and churches in your community).
- Closing prayer: Thank God for all he did. Then, thank the group for being part of this, and tell them when the next prayer time will be.
A FEW OTHER TIPS
- Keep it engaging: try different variations of prayer, “1, 2, 3, big group” - (individual, pray in pairs, groups of 3, and as a big group)
- How to help people feel connected in the space : Consider how the size of the room/space impacts group dynamic: the smaller the room, the more intimate and might mean more people participating. If you're in a large room, consider putting the chairs all on one side of the room (in a circle), or use an object to block off one end of the room to encourage people to stay closer together.
- If you have a lot of points you want to pray for, try prayer stations (have people pray in different corners of the room for different topics, keeps the flow going).
- Smaller groups (5 or less): If the prayer gathering has fewer people, change up the style/rhythm so people don't feel pressured to pray more: Play worship music, invite people to share scriptures to inspire, etc.
Photos by Fa Barboza, Alexa Fotos, Patrick Fore, Cason Asher, Jon Tyson