00:01 Emcee:
Welcome to the Strategic Intercession Podcast where we share powerful prayer techniques, inspiring stories and tools to help you lead with wisdom and confidence. Hosted by Melanie Boudreau, a seasoned leader in focused prayer. Whether you're leading in church, government, or business shaping your industry, this podcast is for you. Now here's your host, Melanie Boudreau.
00:29 Melanie Boudreau:
Welcome to Strategic Intercession. I'm Melanie Boudreau, and in this episode, we're discussing a game changing strategy that can revolutionize your leadership and spiritual life. Hello, beloveds. Today we're diving into a crucial topic for your leadership journey, building your personal prayer shield, whether you're just starting out or looking to optimize your existing shield. This episode offers practical steps and insights to enhance your spiritual protection and leadership effectiveness.
01:01 Melanie Boudreau:
Let's explore how we can create and maintain a prayer shield that will transform your leadership. First things first. What exactly is a prayer shield and why is it so important? Simply put a prayer shield is a dedicated group of intercessors who consistently pray for you and your leadership. It's not just a nice to have, it's a biblical concept that can make or break your effectiveness as a leader. A powerful scripture that underscores the importance of a prayer shield is a Ecclesiastes chapter four, verse 12.
01:36 Melanie Boudreau:
The one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A chord of three strands is not quickly broken. As leaders, we're often on the front lines of spiritual battles, and having a team of intercessors backing us up can make all the difference. If you missed episode four, go back and catch that. It's titled Protect Your Leadership the vital necessity of a prayer shield. A prayer shield can be temporary or permanent. I populate those two types of teams differently.
02:08 Melanie Boudreau:
I construct a temporary shield to cover an event or a mission contrasted with a permanent shield founded to support a leader and the assignments God has entrusted to them. I am the missions coordinator for my church Victory Life Church in Colorado Springs. It is a wonderful, healthy fellowship of passionate believers. We are training a new generation of leaders partially through mission field experiences. Each traveler plays a central role in evangelization, teaching, training, and the activation of church members in the field following their own fresh encounters with God.
02:47 Melanie Boudreau:
A requirement long before our travel day commences is for each participant to submit the emails of three intercessors who will focus on praying for them as well as the team's mission. All the names are merged into a cohesive prayer shield to cover pre-trip warfare and readiness. The prayer shield is updated weeks in advance on the field. I send daily updates in a fast moving dynamic of challenges and extraordinary moves of God. We alert our prayer coverage of potential trouble spots, whether logistically, emotionally, or spiritually.
03:24 Melanie Boudreau:
While we may joke about Imodium, we intentionally keep these warriors on the front line with us. God instructed King David after winning the retaliatory battle, following the abduction of his army's women and children from zele to share the booty from the victory equally with those who stayed home guarding the baggage. Likewise, when we experienced big wins on the mission field, those victories belong equally to those who remained at home faithfully covering us as members of our temporary prayer shield.
03:58 Melanie Boudreau:
They are as much on the mission as we are. Now let's transition to some essential ideas to build your own more permanent prayer coverage. We'll start with structuring your prayer shield in his book Prayer Shield. See, Peter Wagner introduces the concepts of primary, secondary, and tertiary prayer shields as layers of intercessory prayer support designed to protect and sustain Christian leaders, especially those in ministry. These shields represent different levels of engagement and commitment among those who pray for a leader.
04:34 Melanie Boudreau:
The primary prayer shield is the most intimate and committed level of prayer support. It consists of a small group of individuals who are deeply invested in the leader's wellbeing and ministry. These are people with whom the leader has a close trusting relationship. Since most leaders don't have intercessory support, creating a primary prayer shield is an excellent place to start. For leaders with large spans of influence, I do recommend growing into establishing secondary and tertiary prayer shields as well.
05:08 Melanie Boudreau:
Members of the primary prayer shield typically pray often for the leader they are privy to the leader's most personal and sensitive prayer needs such as spiritual battles, personal struggles, and specific work or ministry challenges. The leader regularly communicates with these intercessors sharing detailed and often confidential information that helps them pray more effectively. In contrast, the secondary prayer shield is a larger group of intercessors who are committed to praying for the leader but may not have the same level of intimacy or access to personal information as those in the primary shield.
05:48 Melanie Boudreau:
These individuals are typically part of the leader's broader network such as members of the congregation, ministry partners or close associates. They focus on wider areas of need, such as the leader's, general health, protection from spiritual warfare and success in initiatives. A designated point person provides this group with regular updates focusing on specific areas where prayer is needed without delving into the most personal or sensitive details.
06:19 Melanie Boudreau:
Lastly, the tertiary prayer shield is the largest and most generalized level of prayer support. I have noticed how many leaders depend on this type of prayer shield, almost exclusively paired with a crisis intercession hotline. This strategy of using only a tertiary prayer shield does not offer adequate prayer coverage or the strategic intercession needed to overcome obstacles and troubling warfare. A tertiary prayer shield includes a wide range of people who may not have a direct relationship with the leader at all, but are willing to pray for them.
06:57 Melanie Boudreau:
This could consist of members of a larger church body, casual supporters, or even distant acquaintances who are part of the leader's broader spiritual community. Intercessors in a tertiary shield generally pray less frequently and focus on broader, less specific needs such as the overall success of the leader's ministry or kingdom assignment, protection from external threats and general wellbeing.
07:26 Melanie Boudreau:
Updates to this group are often less frequent and more general, possibly shared through newsletters, church announcements, or social media. The communication is designed to mobilize a large number of people to pray without requiring the close personal involvement that characterizes a primary or even a secondary shield. If you are a Christian leader and relying upon your newsletter, social media or church body in hope someone is actually praying for you, you have a tertiary prayer shield.
07:59 Melanie Boudreau:
We value every prayer, but understand that your tertiary shield will support your work, but it cannot open the path before you. Through targeted, informed strategic intercession, you need more. Dr. Wagner's concept of these three layers of prayer shields is intended to create a comprehensive and multifaceted support system for leaders. The different levels allow for a tailored approach where the most sensitive and critical needs are handled by those closest to the leader while still engaging a wider community in prayer for broader needs.
08:34 Melanie Boudreau:
This structured approach helps ensure that leaders are continually surrounded by prayer, reducing the risk of burnout and spiritual attack, and enabling them to lead more effectively. Unfortunately, many of today's Christian leaders lack any level of actual intercessory coverage apart from their own earnest prayers for the assignments entrusted to them By God, are you in this boat? I think we can agree the hour is late and you need targeted prayer in these tumultuous times to accomplish your mission.
09:10 Melanie Boudreau:
This episode will equip you to create an effective primary prayer shield to strengthen you, protect you, and empower your service to the glory of God. Next, let's move on to identifying potential prayer shield members. When selecting members for your prayer shield, it's crucial to look beyond the obvious choices. Ask God to spotlight potential members for you. You need mature believers who can handle confidential information and maintain emotional balance.
09:41 Melanie Boudreau:
John Eldridge in his book, get Your Life Back, talks about the concept of benevolent detachment. He says, benevolent detachment is the practice of giving everyone and everything to God. It's the act of saying, I am not responsible for fixing everything. I release it all to you God, and then choosing to step back from the intensity of life's demands. It's a way of staying connected to the peace of God and allowing him to be the one who carries the weight of the world.
10:14 Melanie Boudreau:
John encourages readers to embrace this practice as a way to reduce stress and regain a sense of peace. Eldridge emphasizes the importance of not carrying burdens that are not ours to carry. Suggesting that detaching in a benevolent loving way allows us to live more freely and stay connected to God, and I would like to add the skill of benevolent detachment to guard the intercessor from fear when the leader is taking God-ordained risks.
10:44 Melanie Boudreau:
I have a precious family member who would like very much to be included in my official prayer shield updates. She is a powerful intercessor and loves me dearly. When I was headed to Togo on a mission, she could sense the severe warfare awaiting my team because of her deep love for me. She found herself unable to pray at all. Instead fixating on her wish that I would not go. Although I am confident she would make an excellent prayer shield member for a different leader, she is not able to benevolently detach from my mission particulars when I appear to be at risk.
11:21 Melanie Boudreau:
If those you are considering for your prayer shield are not capable of benevolent detachment, when interceding for your pain, losses or risks, you may want to look at other potential members to ask. Now, let's discuss some guidelines for communication with your prayer shield.
11:38 Melanie Boudreau:
Updates are critical for targeted strategic intercession. There are different ways to engage your team. If you're working among persecuted people, groups, or sharing your company secrets, you'll need to consider which channel you are using to convey sensitive information requiring prayer coverage. Communicate the guidelines about confidentiality to your team at the onset. As for what and how much to share with your intercessors, what's important to emphasize is consistency of contact, manageability of information, and relevance to your mission.
12:16 Melanie Boudreau:
For example, you may have a lot of opinions on Mongolian yak farming, but unless your assignment is winning, that people group to Christ with feet on the ground evangelizing herdsman, I'd recommend leaving your prayer shield guessing about those viewpoints. As an intercessor myself, I've learned that brief focused updates are most effective. Lengthy emails can overwhelm busy prayer partners potentially delaying or even preventing timely intercession. Let's ensure our communication style keeps our prayer shield engaged and responsive.
12:50 Melanie Boudreau:
So the point here is to find that sweet spot where you offer enough information to inform and engage, but not so much that your reader becomes overwhelmed or bogged down in the details. Remember, God knows the details already. Your intercessors just need to know enough to be dangerous on their knees, enforcing heaven's bounty on your behalf. Lengthy updates are a temptation when too much time has passed between those updates. Instead, prompt your intercessors more frequently by sharing encouragement through answers to prayer and offering fresh focus.
13:25 Melanie Boudreau:
Prayer targets only allow lengthier gaps between updates when life is quiet on the home front, not when life is moving at a fast pace and you haven't made the time in your busyness. Procrastination affects prayer updates and actually sends a message to your intercessors whether consciously or subconsciously you believe your to-do list is more critical to your success than their prayers.
13:53 Melanie Boudreau:
I feel consistent updates reveal a leader's hand on the importance. They genuinely assign a prayer if it's updates to your intercessors that get neglected. Evaluate whether your prayer shield has become a religious checkbox rather than an earnest response to how God has invited you into partnership with him through dependency and authentic interdependency on others. I love Martin Luther's response to being swamped by responsibilities. He said, I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer Practically, I think for very busy kingdom advancers, a weekly update is plenty unless engaged on mission.
14:36 Melanie Boudreau:
When I'm traveling, I may update my intercessors daily on field dynamics, warfare and praises, but I also have quiet seasons where they hear from me only once a month. I don't want them to feel overburdened or swamped by my needs. Next, let's talk about avoiding or overcoming some common pitfalls in establishing a prayer shield.
14:59 Melanie Boudreau:
The first pitfall is the improper population of your team. It can be a temptation once a leader recognizes their lack of prayer coverage to attempt to automatically induct members onto their prayer shield and then later inform them of their new membership. And yes, this has happened to me. It felt like there was no consideration for my bandwidth or the leading I may or may not feel from God regarding whether to participate even on a temporary event-based prayer shield.
15:33 Melanie Boudreau:
Personally, I believe the attempt to induct prayer shield members is disrespectful even if unintentionally so. So I encourage you to ask God first who to invite and then carefully extend an invitation to serve with clear boundaries articulated upfront. How long will the commitment be, what is expected and the need for confidentiality? Ensure that potential prayer shield members understand they are not cashing out on you if they decline.
16:03 Melanie Boudreau:
A, A primary prayer shield is not a mass email newsletter distributing updates in hopes someone will pray like envisioning a Hail Mary pass being run in for a touchdown. An effective primary prayer shield is crafted with care and is a vital part of your leadership strategy. Members are carefully and prayerfully selected and maintained through feeding, updates, affirmation, encouragement, and deep, authentic appreciation. Indeed, a functioning effective prayer shield is a real treasure vital to your success as a leader.
16:40 Melanie Boudreau:
Spotlighting pitfalls is a way to illuminate your path so you hop right over trouble spots. The second pitfall I am highlighting concerns, the scope of coverage and the size of your prayer team. It's important to match the size of your prayer shield to your needs. If your span of influence is large, your prayer shield should match so your intercessors are not overwhelmed by too many needs.
17:05 Melanie Boudreau:
Necessitating prayer. Each member should have the freedom to read your update and respond to the area. Holy Spirit highlights for them when there are too few intercessors to ensure balanced coverage of your needs. Team members may feel obligated to cover more in prayer than their bandwidth comfortably allows. The scope should match manpower. If you are limited on shield, manpower voluntarily limit what they pray for. Start small delineating for the team, which aspects of your leadership are included in your expectations for addressing by your prayer shield.
17:42 Melanie Boudreau:
As your team grows, soak can coverage of your kingdom assignments with larger prayer shields founded to cover your expanded sphere of influence. You can create sub-teams within the larger context of your shield, asking members which aspects of your leadership they feel the most affinity. Then give members a specific focus while including all members on the larger context.
18:07 Melanie Boudreau:
Update to provide an integrated view of your particulars. For example, in accordance with the individual affinities of your intercessors, you may have several intercessors focusing on your family, several more focusing on your ministry, another grouping focusing on one business and others focusing on another business. This is another way to protect your team from being overwhelmed by large scale contexts as well as ensure every area of need in your life is addressed through strategic prayer.
18:39 Melanie Boudreau:
Now let's talk about longevity in your prayer shield. When I invite intercessors to join my prayer shield, I clarify upfront that the commitment is only for one year for my own ease. No matter when an intercessor joins, the team turnover is at the same time every year. I never want one of these precious ones to feel stuck or obligated. Priorities shift, schedules fill up, and even relationships change. Sometimes one of my intercessors may hit a rough season and adding my warfare to their own struggles is just too much for them.
19:16 Melanie Boudreau:
All I ever want to communicate is intense gratitude, so annually I thank them again and offer for members to either lovingly bow out now or to commit for another year. Because I love each and every member of my prayer shield, I desire to foster deep spiritual connections with them. I want their participation to actually feed them and not to drain them. Remember, a healthy prayer shield is a win-win arrangement. You receive prayer support and they grow spiritually through the process.
19:48 Melanie Boudreau:
So as I share updates, I also entrust my intercessors with my own personal spiritual eurekas and the edifying inner workings of my spiritual journey. I have been joyfully amazed by the longevity of service on my prayer shield with some members in place since its inception 15 years ago. Now let's wrap up with some final thoughts on unleashing your prayer shield's full potential. As we come to a close, let's recap the key points and talk about how you can take action today.
20:21 Melanie Boudreau:
Building and maintaining an effective prayer shield is a game changer for your leadership. Remember, number one, prayerfully select your team members looking for those who can practice benevolent detachment. Number two, structure your shield to match your needs, starting with a strong primary shield. Number three, communicate consistently and effectively finding the right balance in your updates. Number four, carefully craft updates to cover critical aspects of your leadership for targeted strategic intercession.
20:56 Melanie Boudreau:
And finally, number five, foster deep spiritual connections with your intercessors. I want to encourage you to take immediate action on what you've learned today. Whether you're starting from scratch or improving an existing prayer shield, every step you take strengthens your spiritual protection and leadership effectiveness. And that brings us to the end of today's episode. Thank you for joining me on this journey to build stronger, more effective prayer shields. Remember, you're not alone in your leadership. God is with you and with a solid prayer shield, you have a team of faithful intercessors backing you up every step of the way.
21:34 Melanie Boudreau:
Until next time, keep building, keep praying, and keep leading with divine wisdom and support your optimized prayer shield awaits.
21:46 Emcee:
Thank you for listening to the Strategic Intercession podcast. We hope you found today's episode inspiring and helpful. Don't forget to subscribe, share this podcast and visit strategic intercession.com for more resources. We're grateful to have you as part of our community. Until next time, blessings.
