The prayer revolution has transformed New Life Church, to say the least. One of the good men from our church was away on course with his career for over 2 months. We met for coffee on the Monday after his first service home. He told me that when he attended church on Sunday it was absolutely incredible what he felt and experienced in the service. He told me that he was so tired, physically, but that the presence of the Spirit of God was so powerful that he could hardly believe it.
Month by month, the manifestation of the Spirit of God is getting stronger and stronger in our church.
Jesus taught, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6). Whether a person has been serving the Lord for a matter of mere weeks or decades, this promise is pertinent. Pastor Paul Graham was visiting and preaching for us a few weeks ago and he preached a very powerful lesson on “The Blessing and the Curse.” The basic premise of the lesson was that you may have either, but not both. I so desire the blessing of God and I know how to get it. It’s attained, not earned, but received, freely as we hunger and thirst after righteousness.
The most blessed church on the planet is the church that makes prayer a priority. Pastor Graham said this: ”If we don’t pray, nothing will work. But if we will pray, almost anything we do will work.” It’s not the program that produces apostolic revival and harvest for an apostolic church; it’s prayer! Now you may disagree with me on this next point, but I really don’t believe that all we need to do is pray. There are other biblical disciplines and “Jesus things” that we must do along with prayer. There are ministries that govern the mission. ”And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues” (I Corinthians 12:28).
The problem is that sometimes we attempt to “drive the car” without taking the time to pull up to the pumps for gasoline. Prayer is the fuel. We will get nothing done, of eternal consequence without prayer.
Just sayin’: When a pastor along with the God-called leaders call a prayer meeting, I just don’t understand how Holy Ghost filled people just simply “stay home”! Or just go the mall to do some shopping! Or, just cuddle in and read a book! Or, just surf the net or go visit Aunt Mabel! I CAN’T DO IT. I just cannot, for no serious reason such as sickness or I’m flat out ‘out of town’, just simply stay home and do my own thing. I just cannot do it. I can’t. I’ve got to be there. Why, you ask? Maybe you feel like I’m living under some sort of serious guilt, or I’m trying to perform enough good deeds to gain God’s attention. Come on. Oh Please. I have been serving God for 31 years and I’m not a novice. Spiritual maturity teaches us that prayer and church and evangelism is more important NOW than EVER BEFORE. That said, we have one prayer meeting going on every week and it’s called “Warfare Prayer.” Clearly, this prayer meeting is not for everybody. We have made that very clear. But the “whole church”, Saturday night prayer meeting is for everybody. But surely you don’t expect children and teens to attend? I have been told all my life that a human being learns the greatest majority of all that he/she will learn during the first 5 or 6 years of life. If this is true, why in the world would a godly parent NOT want to immerse the small child into the most powerful place where the saints of God meet every week, the prayer meeting. But they are tired. So? But they will whine. So? But they will cry. So? But they need to go to bed. Oh, really. Don’t tell me that a late night prayer meeting or powerhouse church service will damage a child because he doesn’t get his rest. I refuse to swallow that, 100%! Does God not have the power to give rest to a child the next day after a prayer meeting or church service that stretched on a little later than usual?
When our family pioneered the church in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, prayer meetings, evangelism, door knocking, teaching home Bible studies was a lifestyle for us. Our kids were small but they sat in on home Bible studies being taught in our home and the homes of others 100′s of times. Our kids have grown up, immersed in prayer, church and home Bible studies. They have not been perfect but they watched Sonia and I live our lives as evangelists, prayers, home Bible study teachers. They watched us teach and win many people to God through home Bible study. I remember once when our Kyle was about 6 and Corey was about 4 years old. I had a stack of invitations, hundreds of invitations printed, advertising an upcoming evangelistic services event. We came home from church one Sunday at noon, ate our lunch, and decided to go for a nap, before getting ready for the evening service. I woke up after a bit and discovered the house to be very quiet. I quickly searched the house and my boys were nowhere to be found. I was terrified. I ran outside and down the street. To my amazement, there were my boys; Corey, at 4 years of age was the “carrier.” He was standing at the bottom of the steps at somebody’s residence holding a stack of fliers. The fliers were messed up, and almost falling on the ground. His job, under the direction of his 6 year old brother was to carry the stack of fliers, and then hand the flier to Kyle once they reached the next house. Kyle’s job was the receive the flier from Corey and stuff the flier in the mailbox. This scene is one I will never forget. I asked them, “what are you boys doing?” –it was obvious! ”Dad, we’ve got to get these fliers out so that people will come to church and hear about Jesus.” Talk about mixed emotions on my part! These boys were simply doing what they were watching their mom and dad do on a daily basis.
Children and teenagers are watching their parents do a lot of things with their lives. Apostolic children and teens need to be watching their parents fight time constraints, fatigue, and apathy as they fight to get to the PRAYER MEETING.
If the prayer meeting at your church, or your personal prayer time is boring, dull, and predictable, I have a word for you: If you will obey the word of God humble yourself, pray, and seek his face, and STAY WITH IT, you will enter a brand new world of spiritual power and demonstration. For example, prayer meeting tonight was one of our smaller crowds, perhaps 10 to 12 people in attendance. For about the first half hour, it was good, and then the “suddenly” happened, as it almost always does – there was a powerful, Holy Spirit ignited, breakthrough. People began to weep, laugh, rejoice, dance AND one guy (I had my eyes opened and saw it) ran and plowed, head first, right into the couch! Fanaticism? Nope, not a chance. My feet are on the ground!
I am absolutely loving the prayer revolution. Go after it, In Jesus Name!
Ed