A while back I was talking with a woman who is a world class intercessor about the development of a prayer ministry. My leadership gifts were kicking into gear, and I was thinking, “Okay, we need prayer. So how do we go about creating a system for making that happen? How can we mobilize enough intercessors?”

Meanwhile, her intercessory gifts were kicking into gear and she responded, “You know, your prayer strategy needs to be birthed in prayer.”

Oh duh. I was trying to plan a prayer ministry without having prayed about it. How about I slow down and ask God what he wants to see happen?

Now, I can still be intentional about that and use my strengths. So I scheduled some regular meeting times where our group spent time in listening prayer, asking God questions. We started by asking, “Dear Lord, what should we be asking you?” and the rest of the meeting was nothing but questions. Only after we had spent time asking God questions could we move into discernment. And our resulting prayer ministry was much stronger than anything I could have diagrammed out on my own.