I was reading in I Kings this morning. The lives of Elijah and Elisha were filled with miracles and any miracle is awe and faith inspiring, but this morning the following story caught my attention.
"The men of the city said to Elisha, 'Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive.'
'Bring me a new bowl,' he said, 'and put salt in it.' So they brought it to him. Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, 'This is what the LORD says: I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.' And the water has remained wholesome to this day, according the the word Elisha had spoken."
There is something about that last line that stirs my heart. An entire community was effected by this bad water. It caused death and made their land unproductive. From the day Elisha threw salt and blessed it, it brought life. Not just to the people who lived in that area at the time, but for future generations as well. Oh, how I long to see God heal in ways that effect generations.
What are some of the things around us that bring death and stop productivity? Is it to much to ask God to allow us to bless those things so that they change and begin to cause life and productivity - cause them to become "wholesome water?" I would encourage you to wrestle with God a bit about this. Are there people or places that He is ready to bless through us? How?
I would love to hear your thoughts. For those of you no longer in Hawaii, please participate anyway. :-) I believe your input is valuable as well.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Monday, June 09, 2008
24 Hours of Prayer
This has been such an amazing weekend that it is difficult to know where to start! A friend of mine coordinated 24 hours of prayer at Calvary Episcopal in Kaneohe. I always try to participate in things like that because I feel like if we are willing to wait on God, He tends to show up. But my weekend started even before that. Thursday night, a friend of Vern's asked us to bless her bar. The following is from an email I sent out in response to that event.
"Thanks so much, Vern for inviting me to go and pray. I confess that after hearing Cecilia talk about Jordan I was a little intimidated about living up to that reputation, but they were all so gracious. And it was nice to feel the difference in the atmosphere after we prayed. Did you guys get the ghost stories? I didn't realize so many people who worked at the bar had actually died, but it helped me understand why there had been such a strong prompting to pray for hope and safety.
My favorite "chicken skin moment" happened while I was talking to Cecilia's son. I had just finished praying over a corner behind the kitchen and then gone out and felt led to spend time specifically setting aside a spot near the d.j. booth. It was just after that when Dave and his son started talking to me about the deaths. Dave walked off and the son told me about a day when he was completely freaked out because he watched a ghost he didn't recognize (apparently there had been others that looked familiar?) walk from the wall (same place I had prayed over in the kitchen, only the other side of the wall) to the place next to the d.j. booth (the other place I spent extra time praying at.) It reminds me that, while we do not always understand what we sense in the spiritual realm, it is still very real.
I enjoyed our time there very much. I have to laugh at your friend who doesn't believe in God pushing for us to host a Bible study there in the bar. hehe"
At 6pm the next evening, I found myself sitting in a pew waiting for the opening ceremonies for the 24 hours of prayer to begin. People from a variety of different nationalities opened with prayer and worship in their own language. I knew that God was up to something good. I had been able to feel the "juice" all day. I had to leave the building to go do a prayer walk/drive with our human trafficking team around 8:30pm, so I missed a few hours Friday night.
Before I left, a group of friends who have been starting a prayer team at their church came in and we had a few minutes to talk. They were hungry for more of God and were hoping to get prayer to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I knew I had to leave soon, but told them I would be back, with other Nightlifers, as we were supposed to lead worship from 2-4am. If they wanted, we would pray with them then.
When I returned I noticed they had left and was a bit disappointed, I thought it might have been for the best since for a variety of reasons none of the other Nightlife peeps were able to make it. Callie showed up right at 2am and we began to worship. At some point while we were worshiping, I realized that other people had come in. It was my friends from earlier in the evening! We worshiped together for a while and then I put on a CD and asked if we could pray together. Callie and I (later joined by a few others who saw what was happening) began to pray for them. There were 5 of them. The Spirit was so strong! (I am sure the desire for God that drove them out of bed at 2am fueled some of that.) Some of them fell to the ground, others simply enjoyed being filled with more of God's love and purpose, and a couple experienced some deliverance. We spent an awesome few hours together.
The word spread and the next day another of the girls from the team came to be prayed for. She had amazing breakthrough and a cool little adventure with God. Visions of Heaven and all. Neat stuff. Who says God does not still move today? :-)
"Thanks so much, Vern for inviting me to go and pray. I confess that after hearing Cecilia talk about Jordan I was a little intimidated about living up to that reputation, but they were all so gracious. And it was nice to feel the difference in the atmosphere after we prayed. Did you guys get the ghost stories? I didn't realize so many people who worked at the bar had actually died, but it helped me understand why there had been such a strong prompting to pray for hope and safety.
My favorite "chicken skin moment" happened while I was talking to Cecilia's son. I had just finished praying over a corner behind the kitchen and then gone out and felt led to spend time specifically setting aside a spot near the d.j. booth. It was just after that when Dave and his son started talking to me about the deaths. Dave walked off and the son told me about a day when he was completely freaked out because he watched a ghost he didn't recognize (apparently there had been others that looked familiar?) walk from the wall (same place I had prayed over in the kitchen, only the other side of the wall) to the place next to the d.j. booth (the other place I spent extra time praying at.) It reminds me that, while we do not always understand what we sense in the spiritual realm, it is still very real.
I enjoyed our time there very much. I have to laugh at your friend who doesn't believe in God pushing for us to host a Bible study there in the bar. hehe"
At 6pm the next evening, I found myself sitting in a pew waiting for the opening ceremonies for the 24 hours of prayer to begin. People from a variety of different nationalities opened with prayer and worship in their own language. I knew that God was up to something good. I had been able to feel the "juice" all day. I had to leave the building to go do a prayer walk/drive with our human trafficking team around 8:30pm, so I missed a few hours Friday night.
Before I left, a group of friends who have been starting a prayer team at their church came in and we had a few minutes to talk. They were hungry for more of God and were hoping to get prayer to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I knew I had to leave soon, but told them I would be back, with other Nightlifers, as we were supposed to lead worship from 2-4am. If they wanted, we would pray with them then.
When I returned I noticed they had left and was a bit disappointed, I thought it might have been for the best since for a variety of reasons none of the other Nightlife peeps were able to make it. Callie showed up right at 2am and we began to worship. At some point while we were worshiping, I realized that other people had come in. It was my friends from earlier in the evening! We worshiped together for a while and then I put on a CD and asked if we could pray together. Callie and I (later joined by a few others who saw what was happening) began to pray for them. There were 5 of them. The Spirit was so strong! (I am sure the desire for God that drove them out of bed at 2am fueled some of that.) Some of them fell to the ground, others simply enjoyed being filled with more of God's love and purpose, and a couple experienced some deliverance. We spent an awesome few hours together.
The word spread and the next day another of the girls from the team came to be prayed for. She had amazing breakthrough and a cool little adventure with God. Visions of Heaven and all. Neat stuff. Who says God does not still move today? :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)