"CRY OUT TO GOD!"


CALLING ALL PRAYER TEAMS!!!
Today in my prayer time I received a firm prompting from God to gather our teams together for a time of unified prayer soon. The awareness was so clear and definite, it literally shook me. We need to pray before the May 14th council meeting, which will be covering extremely important matters that night, and the May 21st congregational meeting, where crucial decisions for the future of our church will be made. Can we meet for an hour on:
MONDAY, MAY 4th - 7:00 p.m.
We will see what the Holy Spirit has for us...
Thanks - Pastor Dan
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This is the postcard that I sent out to my prayer ministry partners after what happened last Thursday morning during my prayer time. The postcard was simply my obedient response to what I heard that God expected me to do.

I don’t know exactly why this occurred when it did: Thursday, April 23rd. It was a pretty normal morning: up at 6:45, went for my run, cleaned up and had breakfast (when I do my Bible read-through and devotional books), then to my chair for prayer and meditation. I will admit I’ve had some pressing issues on my mind. My previous blog about “new wine in old wineskins” is sort of characteristic of things I’m thinking about, concerned about, and processing. My work on the Veritas Team has me wrestling with all kinds of church/ministry/faith/mission issues and, more broadly, with the “Church and culture” realities that are so vital for congregations to get their heads around today. A number of major items are on the agendas of our pastoral staff and church council right now, and decisions will be forthcoming at the May council and congregational meetings. Day-to-day ministry responsibilities are ongoing; ever before me. And so forth and so on...


As I often do, I brought all of these matters to the Lord in prayer on Thursday, releasing them into His Hands and trusting Him to lead and guide our church as we deal with all of these matters in the weeks ahead. I didn’t feel particularly anxious, nervous, or upset by any of them; I just acknowledged them and gave them up to God. I had moved on to some other things on my prayer list--and then it happened.

I don’t know how it is with you when the Holy Spirit wants to grab your attention and make a point. Perhaps it is a “still small voice” within you. Maybe it’s through the words of another person. Or in the written Word of Scripture. Or maybe you have even been privileged to hear God’s actual, audible voice tell you what He wants you to know. (I’ve only experienced this twice.) The Spirit has spoken to me in all of these ways at various times in my life.


But there is another way that God has communicated with me a number of times in more recent years. He comes to me as a pressure; like a weight coming down on me, over me, heavy and relentless, but not uncomfortable or painful, pushing me, almost, into my chair. He renders me immobile, for just a few seconds, in order to let me know whatever it is He has for me. Then the pressure is released--and I KNOW I have been in the Lord’s presence in a unique way!

This is what I experienced as I was praying last Thursday.

And the message from God was simply this: “Gather the prayer teams together. It’s time to pray together. Cry out to Me together in prayer.” That was it. Plain, uncomplicated--but oh! So powerful! And clear as a bell. I realized what I was to do all at once; as one completed action, not as a process or series of activities to go through (this is a bit hard to explain logically...). I sort of “saw” the whole deal at once; as God intends it to “be,” not as something I have to organize and work to make happen. It was like God meant: “I want THIS to occur!” As a fait accompli. As His deep desire. As if it is bound to happen, no matter what, regardless of me, in spite of me (ah! This is impossible to describe!).

Anyhow, the clarity of the message was sharp, brisk, and absolutely thrilling! Some of you know how important, powerful, and deeply meaningful prayer has become for me over the past 10 or 12 years. It became one of my ministry responsibilities in 2006. Prayer is also the most important component of our “Friends of the Persecuted Church” advocacy group. We have held 24 hour prayer vigils and offered creative prayer experiences (labyrinth, prayer stations) for our church. Most recently, we have put a “prayer request” tear-off strip on the end of our weekly worship bulletin so people can share concerns and needs that they would like prayer for. These are distributed among the 11 prayer teams that are currently active at HCC. The response has been amazing! Beyond anything I ever imagined. On the very first weekend these prayer request strips were available to our congregation, over 20 individual prayer requests came in--and this has continued ever since! The HCC prayer teams are being inundated with prayers from our people!

Perhaps all of these things together have brought us to this crucial point when God decided it was time for a catalytic event of prayer to occur, engaging not only the prayer teams, but our entire congregation. We're coming to a pivotal point in the life of our church. It seems that God is gifting us with “pre-vision:” letting us see all at once that with prayer, the critical, crucial decisions and actions that lie ahead for HCC are going to unfold just fine! That even if the future seems hard, stressful, disturbing, and uncertain, the end result is going to be glorious! Prayer will be the key; the undergirding of everything we are going to go through in coming days. Which is exactly how it should be! In this call to prayer, God is just reminding us, showing us, and actualizing for us the essential place of prayer in our relationship with Him and in our life of faith. So often we forget it, neglect it, avoid it, see it as a burden, doubt it, treat it as a throw-away phrase (“I’ll pray for you...”). Now, on May 4th, Hilmar Covenant is being called up, invited, and challenged to DO together what we SAY and BELIEVE is important, but often times seldom actually do: pray. Perhaps it’s even a kind of ultimatum. We have said we want to move from being a “critical moment” church into vitality and health in the future. Are we truly willing to actualize this intention? If so, it must begin with prayer. Together. Not just one or two, or a few, or the prayer teams alone. No; the congregation must come, united as one, and show forth our mettle! Display our full, true desire and intention as a church. If we get this right, we will be on course to proceed into the unknown future, fortified to meet whatever lies ahead for us.


Those of you who know me know I can tend to be overly dramatic with things sometimes. Indeed, I could be reading much more into this “call to prayer” than God intends. However, I am confident that this gathering is a result of God’s will. I am also confident that God has some kind of important purpose in store for us. Knowing our situation here in Hilmar, I do believe that we are on the cusp of something highly significant and pivotal in the life of our congregation.

I am ready to grab hold of it--whatever “it” is. And what better way to do so than with prayer?

Holy Spirit, we give ourselves to you. Lead us forth. Amen.