When God says, "No."

There is no church sponsoring 24 hour prayer today in Gainesville. Think about getting your congregation involved.

I have heard people say, "God answers prayer every time. The answer is either yes, no, or not yet." A pretty simple concept, but what happens when life is complicated? What do you do when it seems like God has said "no," and there is no where else to turn?

Judges 10:¹⁰ Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, “We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals.”
 ¹¹ The LORD replied, “When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, ¹² the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites^[c] oppressed you and you cried to me for help, did I not save you from their hands? ¹³ But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. ¹⁴ Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!”
 ¹⁵ But the Israelites said to the LORD, “We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now.” ¹⁶ Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. And he could bear Israel’s misery no longer.

 The Lord told the Israelites in no uncertain terms that the answer was "No." He even told them why. But the Israelites admitted their fault, put away their false gods, and threw themselves on God's mercy. And it worked.

The Lord wants to deliver our city. He wants to save us from our troubles. It remains to be seen that we are desperate enough to own our faults, admit our slackness, and show God that we are serious.

Tebowing for Dummies

This weekend, for the first time n DECADES, I watched a regular season NFL game. Why? Because of Tim Tebow. This is a first. No great athlete, Christian or otherwise, has been able to get me to watch NFL games. And I am one of those people who finds it a bit irksome that people will pray for a field goal with more earnestness than any other prayers. It's just football.

But this phenomenon is too big to ignore. Tim Tebow is all the rage, not for being the greatest quarterback ever, but by being sub par. But, he wins games, all the while he is glorifying God for wins that nobody else would use to make a highlight reel. Some people hate him. Some people love him. He is the spotless lamb that his detractors are sure is infested with ticks. He also inspires hope as he wins games while posting really unimpressive numbers (except for maybe this week).

I was reading the Twitter feed a couple of weeks ago, and saw one that said, "I am an atheist, but even I think God is helping Tim Tebow." It appears that it is Tim's faith, humility, and below averageness that has even the ungodly pulling for him.

I believe the lesson we should be learning here is that most of us are too proud to risk looking bad by taking big risks. Most Christians play it safe, lay low, and expect little from their prayer life. Tim Tebow has been the subject of endless criticism and disparaging comments in public, and then walks out before national television audiences to be judged. Was he afraid of making God "look bad" by failing? Was he afraid of being mocked for is signature prayer stance? He was mocked, but he kept on bowing his knee to God.

Until now, I have never though the football field was an authentic proving ground for anyone's faith. But it's hard to argue with results. It's not even the winning. It's the conversation he has inspired. God is glorified in him more than if he threw for 300 yards per game. It is the adversity that makes his example matter.

I want to thank Compassionate Outreach for covering this day with 24 hour prayer!

Cyber Monday

First, I want to thank Grace at Fort Clarke for giving their effort at 24 hour prayer today!

Before shopping til you drop this holiday season, let us pray before we commit our resources to the purchase of more consumer goods. I'm not saying you can't spend money during the Christmas season. I am just saying that we should be open to the idea if the Holy Spirit wants you to do other things with your money. And we won't know that unless we pray.

The webmaster speaks!

First, I regret to inform you that no church had today covered with 24 hour prayer.

I have decided to start using social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) to promote Operation Rolling Thunder. Of course, I will be doing this locally, but a part of the wonder of the Internet is the fact that I will inadvertently help spread this idea around the world as well.

I have been making YouTube videos for several years. They are almost entirely about owning a window cleaning business. One day I went to check my YouTube stats and saw that I had over 270,000 viewings of my videos! That is really pretty impressive for such a boring subject of little consequence.

I believe a big reason for my modest success is that I don't drone on endlessly. I get to the point and say what I have to say in 4-5 minutes. If you talk longer than that, you lose people. I am also pretty good at simplifying things, and I have a pretty dedicated fan base. One guy wrote me to tell me he spent all night watching all my videos one after another. I was amazed.

Below is my first one about 24/7 prayer. I thought it was marginally OK, but my charm is authenticity and simplicity. I will make more about the seven spheres of influence and how and why we pray for them.




I am using Twitter with each blog post now. The blog software I am using allows me to post automatically, and it begins with the blog's name. It starts "Gainesville Prayer Aggregator" and then lists the link to the post. Well, I put a hash tag, the # symbol in Twitter-speak, in front of the first 2 words. That means it starts, "#Gainesville #Prayer Aggregator."

What does this do? It means that people who follow those hash tags, #Gainesville and #Prayer, will be automatically notified of these posts! It will attract like-minded people and increase the size of our army.

God bless you and see you tomorrow!

Permission Slips for Angels

First, I want to thank Countryside Baptist for their commitment to 24 hour prayer today!





I came upon this video today and heard Intercessory prayer being taught on in a different way. David Edgren is a storyteller and he relates this story about finding his mother praying in the middle of the night. This is David's YouTube channel, and here is his blog.

Let us stir ourselves

First, I want to thank Oak Park Baptist Church for sponsoring this day of 24 hour prayer. Brothers and sisters, we thank your for your steadfastness.



What gets you in the right frame of mind to pray? I know that we can pray any time and any where and that we are even told to pray without ceasing, but for times of focused, purposeful prayer, do you make preparations? James writes that the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16). I don't know about you, but I am always up for knowing how to be more effective and righteous.

I have never been one to put on music while praying, but I recently stumbled on this group that specializes in music that puts all other things out of your mind. At least, that is how it acted on me. They are called the The Lilly Band, and they also have a YouTube Channel. Try them out and see if inspiration strikes!

Happy Thanksgiving

Although there is no sponsor for 24 hour prayer today, I do take some comfort in the fact that more than the average number of people are at least giving thanks to God.