Dutch Sheets is the Senior Pastor of Springs Harvest Fellowship in Colorado Springs, Co. He is married, lives in Colorado Springs with wife Ceci and their two girls, Sarah and Hannah. He has traveled extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Central America, Africa and much of Europe teaching and ministering to the body of Christ.
      Pastor Dutch Sheets understood the desire for prayer in the late 70’s when he attended Bible College at Christ for the Nations in Dallas, Texas. “They emphasized prayer all the time,” he says, “It became almost a Holy fascination with thinking I can make a difference through prayer.” “Through prayer I developed an intimacy with the Lord which I think is the number one key to all successful prayer.” He goes on to say, “If prayer is approached as a responsibility or just based around our needs, you will never develop a consistent prayer life. If it is built around friendship, fellowship and intimacy with the Lord, then it never gets old. That’s what happened to me, I fell in love with the Lord. Prayer became a joy, not a job, not a work, not a legalistic responsibility so I would become a good Christian. I went to the Lord and said, “Teach me more about this subject and He did.”
      God had released a hunger about prayer to key leaders in the country who understood prayer, he placed a hunger in His people and God began to stir up that hunger, a fresh revelation of prayer. He says, “We have people by the millions now praying who ten years ago didn’t.” Pastor Dutch says, “My prayer is that the prayer movement becomes a lifestyle. Movements come and movements go. I pray it becomes such a lifestyle that it can not die.”
      When Pastor Sheets felt led to write the book, “Intercessory Prayer", he said he didn't even know

if it was a good book, or if anyone would read it but God’s favor was upon him. I asked Pastor to give some insight to new Christians who want to learn to prayer. He says, “Take the time to learn. There are things available today that wasn’t ten or twenty years ago. There are plenty of good books, do not waste your time with some of them, find a Christian that knows how to pray, ask them where to start, what they would recommend you to read.” Secondly he says, “It is always true that there’s more ‘caught than taught’. Find people that know how to pray, who are intercessors, and pray with them. You will never learn any better way than that. Find a good prayer group near you and pray with them.” He says, “The more I prayed with people with a great passion for prayer, something was imparted in me, a spirit of prayer.”

      Asking about the stronghold that seem to keep us from prayer, out of the throne room of God, his reply was, “Busyness! People get too busy; we are so comfortable we get complacent. We need to get disciplined. Satan fights spiritual discipline, prayer, fasting, our devotional life, spending time other believers. He probably fights prayer more than anything else because it’s such a threat to him.” He then stated, “There really is a theology that keeps people from praying, that is a subconscious, unconscious belief whether they admit it or not that, they believe that God is just God and He’ll get what He wants done. God can do anything whether I pray or not.” I asked him if he believes that God will not move unless we pray. He says, “I do believe that, I would never put God in a box and say He couldn’t or wouldn’t, but I believe as a rule, maybe never, does He do anything on earth until He is asked or invited to. He knows our needs before we ask but He says ask anyway.”
      Pastor Dutch feels praying in the spirit and in English are both appropriate, he says, “Certainly we are wise to pray as much as possible in the spirit because you just can’t pray more perfectly. The Holy Spirit will pray things through us; things

that we are not even aware that need to be prayed."      God has gripped Pastor Dutch’s heart for America. He says, “If America does not experience a genuine revival, a great awakening, we are in trouble, we are already in trouble. There is no other hope for this nation other than true revival. We are too far down the road from God. Pray for God’s mercy and a great awakening in this nation. After 911 there was a period of prayer and a turning to the Lord but it didn’t last very long, we rolled over and went back to sleep. I believe we have come out from under God’s safety and protection for America. I do not believe it is over. If this causes us to awaken and turn to the Lord and millions of people come to Christ, then in the end, it will turn out to be something the Lord used for good. Prayer is the key, Pastor Dutch has a lot of material to help us learn to pray, to get the heart of prayer. According to Pastor Dutch Sheets, our motivation for prayer will always be found in the power of love. Get to know the heart of God, spend time with the Lord, get to know Him, love Him, ask Him how to pray, He will teach you too.
      I was so blessed to have the opportunity to meet with Pastor Dutch Sheets. In 1999 a dear friend gave me a book, “Intercessory Prayer” How God Can Use Your Prayers to Move Heaven and Earth by Dutch Sheets. What a wonderful book, filled with answers on how to prayer, how to get into the throne room and why. I loved the book and then later tapes on “Intercessory Prayer, the Lightning of God” came into my possession. Packed full of vital information I highly recommend these and all of Pastor Dutch’s material. He truly has a heart for the Lord as well as knowledge on prayer through his own personal relationship with Jesus. You can find his material at Christian bookstores or online at: www.dutchsheets.org. If you’re a new prayer warrior, the book “The Beginners Guide to Intercession” will be just what you need.