Friday, March 19, 2010


  Our week of 24-7 non-stop prayer is almost here!!!  The theme is "The Kingdom, The King:  ENTER IN!"  As some of you know, my family has come through a very busy and in many ways challenging season.  God has been faithful to continue to remind me, over and over through the theme of our week of prayer, that HE IS KING, He is sovereign and in control, He is the One Who holds all resources in His hands, and bottom line, me, my life, and all I love and hold dear.  Which, by the way, includes our dear church family, and our wonderful annual week of prayer.
Preparations are under way, and there too, I see the Lord at work, challenging our teams to trust Him for His vision and provision.  Whether they are leading and recruiting for our servant teams, creating prayer stations, or other aspects of our week of prayer prep, I see them love and honor one another in the process of stepping out in faith to trust God.  What a joy to serve with these wonderful brothers and sisters, in seeking to invite and facilitate others coming to be with Jesus.

This year, we will have a total of 185 hours of prayer to sign up for.  So why sign up for one of them, why not just drop in, which you can do?  Because as wonderful as it is to just drop in, it is a very sacred and sweet and powerful thing to be one of the 185 who are going to, together form the unbroken, hour by hour ‘round the clock chain of prayer.  It is like an ongoing relay of purposeful communion with God – as one person is leaving after their hour of prayer, the next is arriving, and so on, and so on, right in our sanctuary, for over seven straight days.  The wonderful Presence of God, and the atmosphere of prayer – of our hearts opening up in worship, intercession, and just talking with and wrestling through stuff with our Heavenly Father - becomes tangible.

By the way, don’t let the term “week of non-stop prayer” fool you.  This is not an event for the super saint.  No religious know-how is required or expected.  This week and this room becomes a haven for the weary, the washed up, the forgotten, the “faking it but still not making it,” the overwhelmed and overworked, those in doubt of God’s provision, and those in need of God’s salvation.  Come needy.  Come doubtful.  Come purposefully; come reluctantly:  just come.  You will be welcome, and we pray you will be blessed and find in some measure what you need, which after all, has always been Jesus.

Radical things begin to happen when we get intentional about being with Him.

So how does our week of prayer happen?  It is not an event that is put on by any one ministry or group.  It is a gift we give ourselves and one another.  Come to the prayer room to not only sign up for an hour of prayer, but also sign up to serve.  It takes literally a couple hundred of us, each giving an hour or so, during the week of prayer, to help facilitate this special, set-aside time, simply by doing things like providing security for an hour, or bringing snacks, or lighting candles and setting up communion.

Open Door Fellowship’s week of prayer is a corporate invitation to an individual meeting with God, a family pilgrimage back to what’s most important and real – being with Jesus.

Don’t miss it.  ENTER IN.



No comments: