Prayer meetings

Matthew 21:

¹² And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
¹³ And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
¹⁴ And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.

I have been considering what it would take to start a regular prayer meeting at our church. I am a fairly new member there, so I am trying to do things in the approved way. I am not always successful.

Since I am the children's Sunday School teacher, and my wife is the pianist, we have a key to that building which is used for both Sunday School and choir rehearsals. It would be a small thing to just start having a prayer meeting the hour before Sunday School. I mentioned it to one of the men there, and he expressed a desire to come! My wife also will be coming, so we are off to a roaring start.

Of course, what will be the point and what will we be doing? The point is to submit ourselves to God's will and to invite Him to interfere in our lives and in our gathering. Our hope is that the Holy Spirit will be manifested in power to save, heal and deliver from the power of the devil. That means that we will not only have to pray, but to act. 

James5:
¹⁴ Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
¹⁵ And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

If the sick come to our meetings, we will certainly pray for them at that time. But if they do not, we should pray prayers of preparation, so that the power of God is available during the service. How often do we see Jesus or the Apostles simply command or declare healing and deliverance without much prayer in evidence? I believe the prayers occurred before the event, just as Paul wore cloths on his body and was prayed for so that the cloths brought healing where they were sent.

Acts 19:
¹¹ And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
¹² So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.

If your church does not have a prayer meeting, consider starting one. If you cannot have one at the church, try doing it at home. Then be faithful and tell us what happens!

Lifting the blog blackout

I cannot believe I have not posted on this blog since around Easter, but there is something to be gained from that fact: the devil opposes prayer and those who pray.

Shortly after my last post, we sold our house, moved, changed churches, and generally went through a lot of turmoil. And it was not too long after a couple that I have known for many years warned me, "You have to be careful when you get into spiritual warfare. You will come under attack."

I had found that pretty negative and discouraging; the kind of thing I distance myself from, but was well worth heeding. But it's important to take notice of the fact that slacking off on spiritual warfare did NOT cause the devil to leave me alone. So, this only brings me back to the fight. And I will do all in my power to let the Lord be my strength.

I have read a couple of books recently. My wife got me into reading, 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess, by Jen Hatmaker. We got seriously involved in streamlining our lives before we read it. We now live in a two-bedroom, two bath apartment with out two Chihuahuas. Our last house was a big one with two rental units downstairs. We did not do all the "7" experiment, but it did cause us to look at our default habits and means of consumption.

I am about halfway through, The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical, by Shane Claiborn. It's both inspiring and provocative in some ways that I am having a hard time with. He's more political than I think he is aware, but I believe he still has some important things to say to us right-wingers. We're all wrong about something, but he is actually bolstering my courage to be more radical. I strongly recommend it.

Cindi and I are also volunteering with Child Evangelism Fellowship. We have been stunned to learn that there are Bible clubs in our public schools! I did not know this was possible, but just a couple of weeks ago I prayed with a little boy to receive Jesus in his school. If this excites you and you want to get involved, please call Steve Carlson at 352-378-0949. Or email them at cefofncflorida@gmail.com.

So, please pray for us, and please leave your comments and let us know how we can pray for you!