Category: Prayer
7800 New Souls…
As I sat downstairs in my office last night, I was burdened with this sense of prayer for the unbelievers. It started as just a simple prayer but kindled to a grieving for the lost. My prayer for the past 2 months was God give me a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26) I wanted the burning desire for the lost etched on my soul and God has lit that fire.
This morning as I was speaking with one of my brothers, I issued a challenged for us to pray that God would redeem 100 souls by the end of Feb. I continued to issue that challenged to other brothers, sisters and pastors around the country and they accepted the challenged as well. Some have issued the challenge to their local context to stay in prayer for a 100 souls for their church as well.
We know that God can surpass this number with ease if he so chooses but we still bow our heads in prayer for the lost. One thing that stood out to me was the fact that we all came from different denominations: Baptist, reform, Methodists and non-denominational. There was no apologetics ranting just believers wanted to pray for the lost. Yes, we all may have some difference of opinions and interpretation but one consistent theme is that many folks need to hear the gospel.
My hope is that 7800+ new folks come to Christ by the end of the year -that we impact folks through our prayers and engagement with the gospel; that we spend time outside of our churches evangelizing the community and neighborhoods.
Jan.- 100 souls
Feb. – 200 souls
March- 300 souls
April- 400 souls
May- 500 souls
June- 600 souls
July- 700 souls
Aug.- 800 souls
Sept.- 900 souls
Oct.- 1000 souls
Nov. -1100 souls
Dec.- 1200 souls
Grand Total for the year=7800 new souls…
Folks God can do this and we can be in prayer for these folks like never before. .. I don’t know any other way for things to get better other than God make a change. I am asking you to link up with me prayer and let’s believe God for new souls in the Kingdom. Also let’s engage the unbelievers with the gospel as if their life depends on- it because it does.
We started the day with 6…
Jedi Mind Tricks: Athletic Perspective of Prayer and Study
The mind tricks the body, body thinks the mind is crazy-Buckshot Shorty of Black Moon
Can you imagine what would happen if we lived out scripture by serving God with our mind, body and soul?
There is such a primal connection between our physical bodies and the intellectual state of our minds. I would venture out to suggest that all athletes have a level of intelligence superior to most. They have the ability to perform in chaotic situations with levels of perfection unlike the average person. The ability to call upon an inner strength to enhance their abilities is a mythical phenomenon that is often glanced over by fans.
It is that will to perform when bones are broken and the body is injured that separates athletes from most of their fans. (I admit that the money does not hurt either.) My objective is to show that the ability to summon an inner strength is unparalleled in high quality athletes. The willingness to push their bodies to endless efforts to maximize their talents is rarely seen in most other arenas. The endless training and repetition that occurs in athletics is a pedagogical tool that most disciplines would shudder to embrace. Could you imagine studying a text or a book until you faint? Could you imagine praying with such intensity until you bleed?
Athletes have learned to trick their bodies into action. They do this by endless training and preparation. This is not done off the cuff but is built upon- layer by layer through training. It is with this same intensity that we as believers and students should engage our study times. Study with reckless abandonment until we are exhausted with information. Pray with vigor as that of Jesus as he prays for his disciples. When we are able fortify this type of level in prayer and study, hard times will seem effortless to endure.
The Reality of Quiet-Prayer
I am convinced that we have camouflaged reality and sold it off as creativeness. We have taken the pride of being authentic and sold it to the highest bidder for a “sparrow and 2 cents.” Life has recollected the sewage of our experiences and put them on display for unscripted laughs. We are left to re-define the meaning of value and truth.
What is important? What is life really about? Here are existential questions that Paul Tillich would deem brings about “existential doubt”-doubting for the purpose of trying to understand. It is such basic questions that have left us in a query. A brother and myself wrestled answering the question: What can I be in prayer about for you? A simple question you would think one could garner a quick response but it troubled us to answer.
Though, I responded fairly quickly, my mind really did not register the magnitude of what he was asking. We have used the term with such ambiguity that the very essence of its meaning has been aborted as useless rhetoric. But as I wrestled with the thought, long after our conversation, I was amazed at how superficial many have made prayer- that intimate interconnected space of convening with God to engage in dialogue.
I concluded that we really do not have a problem with prayer or God but we have a problem with ourselves. It can be a scary thing to find out that you are really not all that and prayer is just the place where that happens. We have grown accustom to noise in order to drown out the sounds of our souls that scream with anguish because of our maltreatment toward ourselves. Noise, that allows us to escape the reality of life and become an imaginary member of the Kardashians.
But what is lost in the noise is the meditative soothing of the soul in quietness-that peace that passes all understanding. Noise has become so normative that quiet eludes us with leprous intentions to evade. But it is the still, quiet that God begins to really unearth and chisel at the hearts of men. It is in the quiet where the monologue of self transforms into dialogue of love and God becomes real. There is no need to view reality because you experience it in the quiet.
Syncopated Hustle 