Atmosphere of Prayer

Atmosphere of Prayer

Our staff and Church Board have been going through a study on prayer by Jim Cymbala called, “When God’s People Pray.” This study has challenged me to take a hard look at our church in the area of prayer. Many wonderful things are happening in our church. We are seeing new people come and join our fellowship, many lives are being touched by the hand of God, relationships are being mended, and many other things that won’t fit in this email. But as I look closer, could we see more transformational things happening if our church was a house of prayer? What does that even look like? I don’t want it to show up in the form of another program. Programs come and go. Prayer is a direct line to our Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ. We need to follow the mandate Jesus laid down when He said, “My house will be called a house of prayer.” in Matthew 21:13.

We desperately want great things to happen as we pray and seek to open the floodgates of fresh grace and revelation. We don’t want to copy how others are doing it; we want to be authentic and new as we seek the heart of God. If you were to attend Brooklyn Tabernacle on Tuesday nights, you would have to stand in line to get in. Hold on to your seats. They are not standing in line to attend a concert; they are waiting to attend a prayer meeting. We must give God room to operate. He is the Great Physician. If there is going to be a heart surgery (which there needs to be), I choose to let God be my doctor over anyone else. Programs tend to produce earthly, temporal results because they begin with us. But if we begin with God, eternal and transformational results are the norm. Call me selfish, but I want that in my life, in the life of my children and wife, in the life of this church, in the life of this community. Findlay, Ohio, needs to have a church on fire for God. I want to be in the middle of a church that is seeing Biblical outcomes.

“The feature that is supposed to distinguish Christian churches, Christian people, and Christian gatherings is the aroma of prayer. It doesn’t matter what your tradition or my tradition is. The house is not ours anyway; it is the Father’s… I have seen God do more in people’s lives during ten minutes of real prayer than in ten of my sermons.” Jim Cymbala in Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire pg. 71

So pray with me as we truly seek the heart of God as a church. Pray that we will become a “House of Prayer,” and that people will experience a fresh anointing from the Holy Spirit.

This Sunday we will continue our series, “Not a Fan.” Come with anticipation, filled with prayer, ready to respond to the deep love of the Father who embraces fully, devoted, committed, followers of Jesus Christ.

Come tonight at 7 and see what God will do if you clear your schedule. This is the last night of our revival services. The teens will be meeting at 6 p.m. for pizza and fellowship in the Family Life Center before the service. I have enjoyed the worship led by Thom Sneed and the spirit-filled messages by Rev. Kevin Seymour. God is on the move.

By the way, I’m looking for some people to join me for prayer at 6:30 pm in room 202 on the north side of the church (across from the office).

Joy in Jesus!

Pastor Mike