day 21 - brokenness

I’ve had conversation after conversation this weekend, with all manner of people involved in the Ring, and to the very last one of them – unsolicited - we all have this sense of urgency to pray - to come together physically in prayer. I’ve said that He’s told me to pray without ceasing. He has not stopped.

Can you imagine what that would look like? How glorious that would be? Can you imagine His people coming together, broken before Him, praying this church into existence? Can you imagine the power that could be unleashed if we would just stop, take a time out, and beg Him to reign His Kingdom down as a community of believers? As a Body, we are corporately crying out to the Lord, raising our voices in unison every day to Him. That is such a beautiful snapshot of what a community of believers is supposed to look like. How much more so if we came together physically? "Where two or three are gathered in my name..."

A good friend of mine said that He has shown her to pray for brokenness. He also showed her that the spiritual activity going on is allowed by Him for a reason and we should be thanking Him for the attacks against us, that we should be grateful for the brokenness being brought about by these attacks – some very intense and personal. That is a pretty hard concept to wrap your brain around – and what’s even crazier is that she is definitely not the only one who He has told that to.

I quipped in the last post, thanking Josh for praying for brokenness, because I am at a breaking point. I don’t think it’s the same type of brokenness that they are praying for – I’m at my wits end, not being able to hear anything specific from Him other than an intensifying urgency to pray AS A BODY. Serious, concentrated prayer – a good, old-fashioned prayer meeting is what He is showing me.

Dare I say it? Could it possibly happen? Could we really walk the walk? Here’s my question – What’s to stop us from praying for the next 20 days, together, as a Body? What are 20 days compared to what He could accomplish through us? What are 20 days out of our lives in the grand scheme of things? What are 20 days worth – are they worth us praying into existence a healthy, functioning baby church, such as the Elders have been envisioning for 8 years?

I’m not suggesting that He can’t make that happen without us having a prayer meeting for the next 20 days – He absolutely can. But what an opportunity to be a part of something so much larger than ourselves! What a privilege to be allowed to be a part of unleashing His Spirit all over this church and this Body! We are participating individually in the 30 Days of Prayer, and this is definitely not meant to demean that, or to take away from the power and sincerity of those prayers, but how much more could we be a part of what’s happening if we came together in prayer? Like the apostles, we say we desire to devote ourselves to prayer...

I’ve come to a place where He is demanding more of me, and I don’t know what it is. He wants to communicate with me on a deeper lever, and I am at a loss where to start. One thing I am sure of – He is faithful, and He will show me what He wants. I believe He’s already set that in motion. We’ll see.

The Scripture for today is Philippians 3:12-14 – one of my favorites: “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do. Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

It wraps beautifully in with what He has laid so heavily on my heart. Prayer is work. Birthing a church is work. We cannot do it without Him – I would not normally be so bold, but this I am sure of – we do not want to do this without Him. I want to press on – to press into HIM – I want to take hold of what He called us to the Ring, and to HIM, to accomplish. My Spirit is straining toward Him. If that’s the brokenness my friends have been praying for this Body – to be unified in that brokenness - then I’m in.

Lord, let it be so.