Thank God I'm Forgiven! PTL! What are you thankful for ? Tell God and share your joy and thankfulness with some others!
Good Morning Revival-Bringing Prayers! I had all kinds of ideas of what God may want me to share . Things about our true ID in Christ, God's unfailing love, and His transforming love that wants to love through you and me. Check out your devos and dwell with in through those and open Bibles during you prayerful quiet time . Maybe even record some by journaling. God sure uses that for me to focus and recount.
Then I came to the Connection blogs! Our call to become a House of Prayer for the Nations and to pray for revival and to stay connected to God as we go and be able to join Him in prayer and action comes alive through the Connection Blog below. Dwell in that in prayer and thank God for your forgiveness and for that of those to come! He loves you, forgives you and wants to love through you. Let Him! Ask for good fruit as you join Jesus throughout and keep praying for revival for us and our neighborhoods!
One last note! I am well on my way to being healthy (at least in my mind) PTL! I see the cardiologist for the first time since my discharge. Pray they help me continue to heal physically and for God to restore me mentally as He refreshes me and renews my thinking. Maybe there's someone else you can pray these things for as well. Rejoice for you are God's, He calls you by name, forgives you, loves you and has great plans for you. Yes and rejoice! Amen
- Responding to Our Times
In the United States, the revivals known as the Great Awakenings came in response to Christians gathering for extraordinary prayer. Often called "Concerts of Prayer," God used these times of prayer to bring awakening to His people. Robert Bakke in his wonderful book, The Power of Extraordinary Prayer writes, "It (the Concert of Prayer) was born out of convictions that say with certainty that, regardless of how bright or dark the hour we live in, God is about to do something greater than He’s ever done before. Furthermore, it said that God would not move forward with His ever-increasing and ever more marvelous plans until Christians agreed with Him and agreed with each other about what He was going to do. A great and lucid vision of Christ’s earthly reign was before their eyes--with every nation, people, tribe and tongue united as one company before the throne of God, Christ the Son, and the sevenfold Spirit. It was a compelling vision that would not let Christians rest or let go of God until the rule of God held sway in every aspect of life." (Pg.133)
Read again that last sentence from Bakke: "It was a compelling vision that would not let Christians rest or let go of God until the rule of God held sway in every aspect of life." Have you ever made a decision to pray like that? Not merely God bless us or even God protect us--but a life-changing commitment to pray until the "rule of God held sway in every aspect of life"? This should not just be a response made only by individual Christians. Has your church made a decision to pray extraordinarily for the working of God’s power? The key to the Concert of Prayer was for Christians to gather together for times of extraordinary prayer--as was the practice of the early Church.
We are living in times that are not "normal." What has been normal for us in our prayer life and experience of Christianity will not suffice for this hour. God is calling us to extraordinary prayer! How will you respond?
Lord of the Nations, my heart longs to see the fullness of Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven! May Your Church be willing to do whatever it takes to draw near to You. Help us to seek Your face in this crucial hour of history. Position us as watchmen on the walls and allow us to be able to discern the times in which we live! Give me a deep desire to take my prayer life to the next level…so that what is ordinary becomes extraordinary!
Praise the Lord Jesus, who will be “revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels” (2 Thess. 1:7).
Thank him that he will come to restore justice and righteousness in the earth.
Confess the times when you have not lived in awareness of Christ’s coming again in power and judgment.
Ask him to help you desire and look forward to his coming, and commit yourself to preparing yourself and others for “the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all who have believed” (1:10).
Ask the Spirit to give the churches in your community a sense of urgency in bringing the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection to the unchurched and unbelieving in their neighborhoods.
Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend. This book is available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount.
