tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65060226170060289632024-03-12T18:45:53.687-05:00Experience Life Prayer BlogJesus said " My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations". This is a blog that chronicles the history of prayer at Experience Life.Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.comBlogger77125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-11098445742332643852011-09-28T14:15:00.003-05:002011-09-28T14:15:34.508-05:00Moving for the Moment<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hi everybody,<br />
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I am moving for the moment to a facebook page for corporate prayer. Come check us out at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/elifecorporateprayer">https://www.facebook.com/elifecorporateprayer</a></div>
Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-13069015077021569722011-09-01T11:08:00.001-05:002011-09-01T11:08:51.826-05:00What could be better than Monday Night Prayer ?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The only thing that I can imagine that would be better than the hour of corporate prayer we have on Monday nights is having two nights of corporate prayer. This past Tuesday we started the corporate prayer gathering at our Downtown campus, 1313 13th street, in Lubbock. We had 131 people come out and help us dedicate these new facilities to God.<br />
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We have seen the power of corporate prayer at our southwest campus and now we want to implement the very same thing at the downtown campus. In four years we have seen how corporate prayer has brought many people to commit their lives to Christ for the first time. We have seen how people are excited about getting baptized. The 646 we saw baptized the past two weekends could only be explained by God people coming together to pray consistently.<br />
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If you live in Lubbock and can't make it to our prayer gathering on Monday nights from 7:15 - 8:15 at the Sportsplex, now you can go downtown and pray at our downtown campus on Tuesday nights from 6:15 - 7:15. Childcare is provided.</div>
Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-67907594794713797622011-08-25T15:06:00.001-05:002011-08-25T15:06:49.367-05:00The Art of Giving Thanks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
There is some art to helping people express thanksgiving. I am learning more about that. When you have something really exciting to tell people, it is good to build up the anticipation a little before you share. We had the opportunity to share with our people this past week that we had 326 baptisms and 21 salvations the previous week. To help build toward some excitement, we shared some facebook posts from people who had been baptized and some comments put on comment cards in our services to stir peoples hearts. I then had everyone stand up and roll their necks. The thought was to loosen them up a little. I then had them roll their arms. I told them I was concerned about them hurting themselves when they began to cheer about the news I had. I also encourage them not to hurt their neighbors.<br />
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Then I had them hold applause until I had told them four sentences. The final sentence had the 326 total baptisms on it. Then I could say "Somebody need to give God praise." People were so excited about he baptisms and salvations that they went into cheering and clapping. The band was ready to take off on a fast song as that happened and we got to spend some great time giving God thanks for the remarkable things He is doing among us.</div>
Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-70139821520704506842011-08-04T14:59:00.000-05:002011-08-04T14:59:16.818-05:00A Corporate Prayer Gathering<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The corporate prayer gathering is part of our dna at Experience Life. It was the first meeting we had as a church and continues today as a primary weekly meeting. </div>
Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-77578488026898299252011-08-04T14:58:00.001-05:002011-08-04T14:58:49.769-05:00Famous Prayer Quote<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.6721399452071637" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The discipline of prayer and the discipline of Gods word must work hand in hand. When we give up one we are in danger of losing both. - John Wimber</span></div>
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Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-757118620199490712011-08-02T14:46:00.002-05:002011-08-02T14:47:21.589-05:00Highlights from Prayer Recently.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As I reflect back over the past couple of months, I am reminded that the key element of corporate prayer is communion with God. The whole idea of prayer is about us connecting with God on a personal intimate level. We come into His presence and are involved in a dialogue. He speaks to us and we speak to Him. We make requests to Him according to His will. The very nature of prayer is the communion of a relationship.<br />
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Here are some highlights from our corporate prayer gathering recently.<br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Seeing 100 or more people come up to the mics and give a one sentence of thanksgiving to God. (Seems like this is what church should be)</li>
<li>During worship seeing hundreds of people come forward and write the names of lost people they know on canvases so we can pray that each one would commit their lives to Christ.</li>
<li>Having jr high and high school students come forward and take a stand that they would be willing for God to use them this year in their schools and in their lives. (So cool to see tons of people surrounding about 50 students praying over them.)</li>
<li>Over and over hearing stories of answered prayer in peoples lives. People having "ah hah" and realizing they needed to be saved or being convicted of their selfishness and submitting their hearts more fully to God. We heard how high school students served the homeless and grew in boldness as they prayed for people in parks.</li>
<li>Having a local mission partner, the Dream Center, join us one night and being able to pray for them as they serve our city.</li>
<li>Seeing 732 people fill the Rink the first week in June giving us our largest prayer gathering so far.</li>
<li>Having a communion service at prayer and seeing people get prayed for by our prayer teams as they came up for communion. (Another picture of the body of Christ working as it should)</li>
<li>Seeing the continued results of salvations happening in our weekend services as we pray. (we understand there is a direct correlation between the numbers of salvations and our prayers.)</li>
<li>Seeing people commit their lives to Christ during prayer.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Closet prayer changes lives but corporate prayer changes cities.</div>
</div>
Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-91990873848662946992011-07-27T08:22:00.001-05:002011-07-27T08:22:41.558-05:00Famous Prayer Quote<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d;">Intercession executes the will of the King, ripping into the strongholds of hell with the two-edged sword of God's Word. - Jack Hayford.</span></span></div>
Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-22459103016246491782011-06-25T15:43:00.000-05:002011-06-25T15:43:05.280-05:00Thoughts on Our Prayer Gathering<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I think that Monday Night Prayer for me has not only stepped up into a new level of intimacy between me and the Lord in those corporate times, but it has overtaken my personal prayer life. Every answer to prayer we have seen corporately has awakened my heart to not give up on the thing the things that i have been praying for in my personal life. That persistency has taught me to completely understand that "holy stubbornness" Carl Toti talked about in his sermon. I want to see prayers answered in my life no matter how silly they seem to me letting go of my fear of migraines, seeing my dreams come true, and to the prayers are not so silly to me like seeing my family members saved, even the ones that seem to have the hardest hearts. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I do not know how long some people have been praying for some things to come to pass such as revival or their love ones to come to Christ, but I do know that God is walking among us. He is changing the heart of those willing to listen and seek his face and that excites me. There seems to be alot of attacks and tears being shed, but I think the Lord is using this time to draw us closer to Himself. What the enemy is meaning for bad the Lord is turning and using for good and his Glory. I think as we keep praying and seeking for revival and rain, the Lord is going to become evident and intimate to those willing to see Him. Mathew 6:33 says "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Erin Mullins (Elife prayer teams)</span></div>Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-39083121006105961752011-06-23T11:08:00.000-05:002011-06-23T11:08:03.812-05:00Famous Prayer Quote<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"></span><br />
<div align="left" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 15px; text-align: left;"><strong>William McKinley, Jr. (1843-1901), 25th President of the United States</strong></div><br />
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; padding-bottom: 10px;"><em>Let me repeat the oath administered by the Chief Justice: “I will faithfully administer the oath of the President of the United States…” This is the obligation I have reverently taken before the Lord this day. To keep it will be my single purpose and my prayer. Our faith teaches that there is no safer reliance than upon the God of our fathers…who will not forsake us so long as we obey His commandments and walk humbly in His footsteps.</em><span style="color: #993300; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px;"> From his First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1887</span></div></div>Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-47987266872306290792011-06-14T14:35:00.000-05:002011-06-14T14:35:52.167-05:00Multifaceted Nature of God<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I have watched this month as God has shown up in different ways at different times at our prayer gathering. You begin to realize how multifaceted God is. Two weeks ago there was such an excitement about the gathering. People would clap during a prayer because they were so excited about what was being prayed. You just sensed faith in the place where we gather. The energy of God was in the place as He was empowering and encouraging us. <br />
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<div>This past week though was so much more of a peaceful night. We had an acoustic set from our worship team and you could sense peace over the skating rink at the end of prayer. So much so I encouraged our people to take some time and just be still and let Gods peace encourage them. During that time I quoted some verses that came to mind like 1 Peter 5:6 & Matthew 11:29,30. The peaceful nature of God was the encompassing feel of the night.</div><div><br />
</div><div>I am glad God knows what people need and at the right time they need it. Some nights it is empowering, other nights compassion, some nights peace and others joy. I love is how multifaceted God is and how He comes each night with the part of His nature we need most.</div><div><br />
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</div></div>Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-79191067014823028062011-06-04T16:25:00.001-05:002011-06-04T16:25:51.146-05:00The Right Presentation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I went to a ordination service for a pastor in another denomination the other day. I realized in that place the appropriate </span>attire<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> for me to present myself with was a suit and tie. I rarely ever wear a suit and tie anymore, but it was the the right presentation for that day in that place. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I think there are appropriate ways to present ourselves to God in prayer. Humility is an important way to present ourselves to God when we come to prayer</span>.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b> </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b>2 Chronicles 7:14 says</b></span><b> "</b></span><i>Then if my people who are called by my name will <b>humble themselves and pray</b> and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land</i>." and <b>James 4:6b</b> - <i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“God opposes the proud but <b>favors the humble</b>.”<sup class="versenum" id="en-NLT-30304" style="font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; vertical-align: text-top;">7</sup> <b>So humble yourselves </b>before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. <sup class="versenum" id="en-NLT-30305" style="font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; vertical-align: text-top;">8</sup> Come close to God, and God will come close to you. ...<sup class="versenum" id="en-NLT-30307" style="font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; vertical-align: text-top;">10</sup> <b>Humble yourselves before the Lord,</b> and he will lift you up in honor.</span></i><br />
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</span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I am convinced that we learn to by humble before God. It is something we can equip people to do. We can't force them to do it, but we can help them understand how to go there. A few of the ways we try and help people practice humility as our Monday night prayer are: </span><br />
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</span><br />
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<ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Encouraging people to have postures of prayer. </li>
<li>We encourage people to kneel from time to time. </li>
<li>We let people know that raising their hands in worship is an expression that is welcome at prayer and is also biblical.</li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Letting people turn their palms up in an </span>expression<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> of "I need you God" is something we do from time to time. </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Letting people pray on a mic who will model humility. </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Encouraging leaders to model vulnerability if they are leading prayer.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Model authenticity in prayer (being real) and not posturing. This is a value we teach in our prayer training.</span></li>
</ol></div>Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-20683654890218269762011-05-04T09:17:00.001-05:002011-08-04T14:59:35.132-05:0024 Hours of Prayer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic1TXh7tVxQlxeJnJpOLVpUgZA9PIhLTVCtcX3EGuijiBFnC4Xjokpgda5v5bqdJDqt63d3KtIcb2p0WG7C5jCQgaBUtXQRxEMGf7Xr91p-ILAXGwCaWsRNFM2Cp595FhAcNuobxVrFcVo/s1600/IMG_1319.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic1TXh7tVxQlxeJnJpOLVpUgZA9PIhLTVCtcX3EGuijiBFnC4Xjokpgda5v5bqdJDqt63d3KtIcb2p0WG7C5jCQgaBUtXQRxEMGf7Xr91p-ILAXGwCaWsRNFM2Cp595FhAcNuobxVrFcVo/s320/IMG_1319.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
This past Easter season we wanted to stretch our faith and pray for 500 first time commitments to Christ. This is over double the numbers of FTC at last years Easter weekend. We knew it was a big prayer goal. An increase in prayer would be needed to meet this challenge God had put in our heart. We doubled our staff prayer times on the week preceding Easter and this year we added 24 hours of prayer during the weekend. We have intercessors praying during each of our services so we decided to have 24 straight hours of intercession. <br />
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We did sign ups for our whole church and had about 70 sign up to participate. We scheduled people on hour blocks. We had a handout in our prayer room that people went through as they prayed. So from 12:30 pm on Saturday to 12:30 pm on Sunday people were praying. In the night many would walk through the skating rink (place where we have worship services) and pray or would stay in our prayer room and pray through the agenda. We had live worship at two of those hours.<br />
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On Easter week and the following week we had well over 500 first time commitments to Christ. I think 24 hours of prayer will become an important part of our prepartion for key weekends where we target the lost.</div>
Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-26617197486982508502011-05-03T10:36:00.000-05:002011-05-03T10:36:39.985-05:00Pray with Patience in Trouble<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Romans 12:2 says “Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse;">I find all too often I think of trouble as a virus to dealt with and get out of my system immediately. Lately I have recognized that trouble can be a true catalyst for the maturing of my faith. I wonder if trouble is a tension to be wrestled with rather than a problem to be solved. If we recognized that trouble was a part of our existence, a part of our pathway to maturity we might be more apt to take Paul's advice in Romans 12. Be patient in trouble (it is maturing your faith) and keep on praying (not just to get out of trouble but pray to hear God on how you can mature in the midst of trouble.)</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Prayer is so much more than looking for God to be our cosmic Santa Claus giving us whatever makes us feel good. Prayer is encountering the God of the universe who wants to mature us into the image of Himself, an image that loves greatly, is rich in mercy, and willing to persevere to a wise end.</span></div>Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-89333126963084290462011-04-27T13:24:00.002-05:002011-04-27T13:41:36.314-05:00Getting People Involved in Prayer Gatherings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl6kTZQFmoCl8EDuXb-sLP4K6IyC5-HSFvL1zi2S0YdsbVm_MKx0iP_cYOJ-DDW9Ui0XKhtQj2iPG7aztPg0Kb5JJGgicVxnUrE1_MYyqVnQthDVO5Q_XQBatx2t80O3wvwTmasGbeSe2l/s1600/Prayer_1_31-43.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl6kTZQFmoCl8EDuXb-sLP4K6IyC5-HSFvL1zi2S0YdsbVm_MKx0iP_cYOJ-DDW9Ui0XKhtQj2iPG7aztPg0Kb5JJGgicVxnUrE1_MYyqVnQthDVO5Q_XQBatx2t80O3wvwTmasGbeSe2l/s320/Prayer_1_31-43.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Prayer gatherings are about getting many people involved in prayer and taking their next steps in growing in prayer. Here are a few ways we try and do that at our Monday night prayer gatherings.<br />
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1. Prayer Ministry Time<br />
Having people stand for various needs and all the people around them gather around them to pray. This helps everybody be involved. We usually encourage 1 or 2 of these people to pray out loud for that person. This involves the people praying out loud but also models for those who have never prayed out loud how to do that. We might pray for single moms one night or people dealing with hopelessness or people who are dealing with illness, etc. We often do this toward the end of our prayer time.<br />
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2. Open mics.<br />
We may pray for a particular topic for the night such as revival. We let people come to the mics at will and pray. We do have parameters. People are encouraged to pray sentence and paragraph prayers and not pray chapter prayers. We have some people assigned to mics to lay a hand on the shoulder of anyone who is going too long and straying away from the topic that night. On another night we may have people give thanks to God as we did this past Monday night. We asked people to pray sentence prayers beginning with "God I am thankful for..."<br />
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3. Specific people praying.<br />
We may pray through various topics in a given night. I may say take a moment and pray for people to get saved this coming weekend. We give everyone a few minutes to pray and then someone that has been asked beforehand will pray on a mic to close that topic. If you aren't a large prayer times you can do the same thing with just having those people specified to pray out loud.<br />
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4. Prayer Teams<br />
At the end of our corporate prayer we have teams of people up at the front to pray for anyone who wants to come forward and receive prayer. We have worship music praying in the background for 15 minutes after prayer has dismissed. Our prayer teams have gone through a 1 and 1/2 hour prayer training before they can be on a prayer team.<br />
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These are just a few of the ways we try and get people involved in our prayer gatherings. We know that Jesus said his house should be a house of prayer. We are trying to get as many people involved in helping that happen as we can.</div>Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-42541314721897904392011-04-18T13:14:00.000-05:002011-04-18T13:14:48.758-05:00Setting an Environment for Prayer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">We have found that a little preparation before the gathering on the environment makes a big difference in the gathering itself. One of the elements we put into play in our weekly prayer gathering is playing worship music 15 -20 minutes before prayer begins. We have found that this little thing begins to move peoples hearts towards a focus on God before we begin the corporate gathering. We have people that will come and just sit during this time and be with God or pray as they wait for the gathering to begin. Another thing we do is turn the lights down as the music begins. This helps the mood of the evening.</div>Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-89250178952999985742011-04-13T10:33:00.000-05:002011-04-13T10:33:03.486-05:00Highlights from this past month<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Monday nights at Experience Life continues to be the fuel that drives our engine. In the past weeks we have focused on larger topics God has given us to pray; salvation for our city, revival for West Texas, power for our local and foreign missions partners, and Gods continued guidance and empowering of our own vision. Here are some highlights.<br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Showed a video of the account of the Asbury seminary revival. People were moved by it. We opened the mics and people openly confessed sin and came up to pray.</li>
<li>Brought out canvases filled with people who we are praying get saved. Used worship time to come up front and pray for names</li>
<li>Prayed for couples going to unreached people groups</li>
<li>Shared a powerful email from a missionary who God delivered from the hands of bandits.</li>
<li>Began praying for an impossible request: 500 saved at Easter.</li>
</ul><br />
Some comments from this past month or so:<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Phenomenal! ..... I don't know why I even bother wearing makeup!</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">After the open mics for confession - Monday Night Prayer at eLife tonight was one of the most powerful times we've ever had together!</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Amen! To both most powerful and not wearing makeup :) lol</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">it was my first time i usually go on sat nite but we decided to go tonitw to try itvout i absoulutly loved it i have goose bumps the whole time i felt Gods presents there ....i will b there again on moday nite.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">3 people committing their life to Christ on Monday nights the past six weeks.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">such a good night at prayer...taste and see the Lord is good</span></span></span></li>
</ul></div>Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-41079970074058685262011-03-13T16:57:00.000-05:002011-03-13T16:57:55.200-05:00The Focus of Corporate Prayer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I read an article on prayer by Jonathan Graf recently. He made a point about corporate prayer that I thought was important. His article was on the focus of corporate prayer. Here is what he said.<br />
<br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Most prayer that takes place in church settings is <em style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">not</em> corporate prayer. It is more often individual prayer in a corporate setting. Let me assure you that individual prayer in a corporate setting is not wrong. It is an important, valid, needed kind of prayer. But it's not corporate prayer. True corporate prayer seeks God's face <em style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">as one body in one voice about one thing.</em></span></blockquote>How often do you hear people who gather for prayer praying about 1000 different topics. This is valid prayer but not corporate prayer. Corporate prayer is when the group has a focus and is praying together for that focus.<br />
<br />
I am convinced God wants the church to pray big focused prayers together. We should pray for salvations, we should pray for revival, we should pray for vision, we should pray for missions. This focus of corporate prayer will bring big results. Many times we are thinking too small as we pray. If we can get Gods heart for our corporate prayer times I think He will lead us into requests that are bigger than we could think of and bigger than we could complete on our own.<br />
<br />
Let your corporate prayer times be a time of being one body in one voice about one focus.</div>Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-10080673488972020982011-02-12T10:49:00.000-06:002011-02-12T10:49:34.427-06:00Specificity Helps Repentance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">From time to time at our corporate prayer gathering we have times of repentance and confession. We had one of these times recently and it seemed to go well. As i was talking to some of our prayer people they let me know they appreciated the specificity of the repentance time. I read from 1 Corinthians 13 about what love is. I would read a verse at a time: "Love is patient" then I would say "have you been impatient in the past week at any time?", then read "Love is kind" and "Have you been unkind to anyone this past week. People can review the week and think of specific situations when you give them some direction.</div>Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-18856860776668502082011-02-10T14:48:00.000-06:002011-02-10T14:48:06.847-06:00Monday Night Prayer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Here are some highlights of Monday night prayer this past month.<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Seeing hundreds write the names of lost friends, family, & hardest hearts in our city on a canvas so that we can continually pray for their salvation.</li>
<li>Hearing hundreds pray out loud for those lost ones.</li>
<li>Hearing Erin and Casey's story about a young relative who died and their remorse at not sharing with him the gospel and their new commitment to be involved in the lives of their families to share the gospel.</li>
<li>In worship singing "In their lives be glorified, in their world be glorified, in their love be glorified" as we prayed for the lost.</li>
<li>Having communion at prayer and inviting all to be prayed for by one of our prayer teams.</li>
<li>Having one of our prayer team ladies lead her first person to Christ while on the prayer team for Monday night.</li>
<li>Hearing of God speaking to various people at prayer.</li>
<li>Watching a clip of a Shelly Hundley video where she shares how she came to Christ. "I was the hardest heart on my campus". "Go after the hardest hearts".</li>
<li>Asking God to give us his understanding and heart to pray for the lost.</li>
</ul><div>Coming up at prayer</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Feburary 21st - our first extended prayer time of the year.</li>
<li>February 25th - Prayer training for intercessors, prayer teams, & anyone who wants to know more about prayer.</li>
</ul></div></div>Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-20571579652509680742011-01-28T06:42:00.000-06:002011-01-28T06:42:27.271-06:00Focus and Guidance in Prayer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Recently I was reading the story of a young black man growing up in the south. He lived in times of great racial prejudice which could have dramatically destroyed his life. This young man surrendered his life to Christ. He sensed God was giving him a life verse of Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." He was trained as a scientist. One day in the lab he asked God "What was the universe made for ?" He sensed an impression in his heart, "That's too much for your little mind. Ask for something more your size." He then asked "Tell me what man was made for ?" Again he sensed, "little man you are still asking for too much." So then he asked "Tell me why the peanut was made ?".<br />
<br />
This man who could have been overwhelmed by the life situations of the times ended up inventing 300 uses for the peanut. This young Christians name was George Washington Carver and he invented a little food product called peanut butter.<br />
<br />
God not only uses prayer to help us do impossible things in this life. God uses prayer to guide us to where he wants us to influence others.</div>Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-58665444760347662892010-12-22T09:34:00.000-06:002010-12-22T09:34:58.271-06:00We'll Give Him All the GloryOur last Monday night prayer of the year was a time of celebrating the answers to prayer for the past year and experiencing Gods continuing presence among us. Here are some highlights.<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Remembering the night we blessed single parents and seeing people in long lines to give financially and pray for them.</li>
<li>Lucys story of God speaking to her about how he put together all the pieces of her brokeness and made a beautiful mosaic out of it. She shared how vulnerable she felt sharing this, but how it had impacted many.</li>
<li>Loud applause as we announced that around 900 people had come to Christ this past year.</li>
<li>Erins story of how God spoke to her one night at prayer about how lovely she was to Him and how she was the bride of Christ.</li>
<li>Lora encouraging everyone that God uses all the things we have been through in 2010, good and bad, to grow us and to make us useful in the kingdom.</li>
<li>People who God is calling to take a next step in their lives standing for prayer and others surrounding them and praying for them.</li>
<li>Stories from our giveBIG outreach to the city. </li>
<li>Ending with the choruses of "Oh Come let us adore Him", "For He Alone is Worthy", "We'll Give Him all the Glory", and "We'll Praise His Name Forever".</li>
</ul><div>I am pumped about how God led us in prayer this past year and how people at Elife caught the vision of prayer. Our prayer gathering more than doubled this past year. I have a real God anticipation about how God is going to move as we pray in 2011. We are set up to have about 1000 commitments to Christ by years end. I am praying our prayer efforts double in 2011 so we can see at least double the commitments to Christ this year.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Jesus, your amazing and we give you all the glory for what you have done in 2010 !</div>Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-89287372149682579122010-10-26T13:22:00.001-05:002010-10-26T13:32:10.595-05:00Confession Flows<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQfypm9p5twbjzRZ7T8uZIXnCWv6biLQ7JReCwzqrvHIaHT7VMnJ2d4GM68sjF1TxNp5hnZhUDi81oNVBw9dAKZXCAdcsVC3XPWhronFPbJSicYvFDFC9GFJzYKWXK0GdxdOOT9ZNyhos1/s1600/mnp+3a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQfypm9p5twbjzRZ7T8uZIXnCWv6biLQ7JReCwzqrvHIaHT7VMnJ2d4GM68sjF1TxNp5hnZhUDi81oNVBw9dAKZXCAdcsVC3XPWhronFPbJSicYvFDFC9GFJzYKWXK0GdxdOOT9ZNyhos1/s320/mnp+3a.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>We are following an ACTS model on Monday nights for our prayer service. ACTS is Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, & Supplication. We try and incorporate all four of these types of prayer into the hour. Sometimes one of the facets will end up dominating the time. Monday night this week was heavy on the Confession side.<br />
<br />
James 5:16 says:<br />
<i>Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.</i><br />
<br />
I think all of us would love to pray prayers that have great power and produce wonderful results. I hear the last part of James 5:16 quoted often. Yet the first part of James 5:16 I think sets the tone for the last. Before we can have great power and wonderful results in our prayers we have to be willing to confess our sins and pray for one another.<br />
<br />
There is something about the confession of sin to one another that scares us. We are afraid of how we might be seen by others. In a public prayer gathering, isn't this someones fear, that their sins might become known or they would have to confess them.<br />
<br />
Monday night something significant happened. After a worship set, that was purposefully slower than usual, we asked for people to come to the mic if they wanted to confess sin, either something they did or we as a group had done. As the leader opening a mic for confession of sin is one of those times where you hope you are hearing Gods guidance well. No-one could come up or someone could come up and spend the hour on their personal sin list. Neither of these is a good option.<br />
<br />
I gave some guidance and asked our people to confess at the most two sins on the mic and if they had more then to spend time with God confessing others. It was one of those times that ended up leading itself. It took a minute for the first person to come up, but that seemed to release what God was doing and person after person came forward. A grade schooler asking for forgiveness for being disrespectful to her parents, a 40 something asking for forgiveness for taking over her life and not allowed God to be in control, a man asking for forgiveness for how he treated his girlfriend, a teen dealing with lust, a mom dealing with being ugly to her kids, another teen asking God to forgive the youth for getting distracted from following God, and on and on people came. They were vulnerable before God and each other.<br />
<br />
Obviously because of how we spent the time, the night was heavier, it was convicting, it was challenging. We finished with some prayer ministry time for people dealing with rejection and for our staff.<br />
________________________________________________________<br />
<br />
<b>Elements that worked tonight:</b><br />
Having a worship time that was more dialed down. This seemed to be conducive for a night of confession.<br />
<br />
Opening the mics and asking people to come forward and confess sin.<br />
<br />
<b>Memorable moments & phrases:</b><br />
To our youth: Take your place in this movement of God.Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-75569935970283166322010-10-20T13:32:00.000-05:002010-10-20T13:32:02.453-05:00Global Prayer<style type="text/css">
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<div class="p1"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmtduOmRWMCwCS3c2q3C23vep9-HkJ7VDoHqmniuMfkkuk5Lr4tVThTapcANOoVxCOEgVD6jcQ797myvd2i56us6xd5gLcSZuNwoHwcT4-axV7ckyBIcMI0U8r_S7zKt-0livPQkwYvdmH/s1600/indiv+praying.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmtduOmRWMCwCS3c2q3C23vep9-HkJ7VDoHqmniuMfkkuk5Lr4tVThTapcANOoVxCOEgVD6jcQ797myvd2i56us6xd5gLcSZuNwoHwcT4-axV7ckyBIcMI0U8r_S7zKt-0livPQkwYvdmH/s320/indiv+praying.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="s1">Each week at Monday Night Prayer there is an overarching theme. We have four key themes for our prayer times. First Mondays are vision prayer, second mondays are ministries focus, third mondays are missions focus and fourth mondays are for intimacy and revival. This week was week three and we focused on praying for missions.</span><br />
<span class="s1"><br />
</span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">We began in adoration. Our worship team did 3 songs. We then began sharing stories of answered prayer. We shared about a lady having God heal her ear last week at prayer. We shared about our weekend services, how many had committed their lives to Christ and some comments. We shared a prayer miracle that had happened in India recently with some of our missions partners there. We shared some comments off of Kale Yorks blog as he and a team from YWAM are in Thailand and India. Hearing how God is answering prayer encourages our faith as we continue to pray.</span><br />
<span class="s1"><br />
</span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">Then Coby Colley came up and shared with us what is happening in India with Asian Partners. We let everyone pray for three specific items related to their ministries. We prayed for Kale and his team and one other young man who was headed to YWAM.</span><br />
<span class="s1"><br />
</span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">We then asked people to come up to the mics and pray short prayers for missionaries they knew in many countries. We had 20 - 30 people come up and pray for missionaries. </span>We ended our time with a prayer ministry time. We asked those who needed courage for something they were facing to stand and we had our people gather around them and pray for them.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">What a privilege to support missions around the world in prayer. We desire to have a global awareness and be available for God to use us around the world in prayer or in obedience in any other way.</span><br />
<span class="s1">_____________________________________________________</span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p3"><span class="s1"><b>Elements that worked tonight:</b><br />
Having people greet one another at the very front end.<br />
<br />
<b>Memorable moments & phrases:</b><br />
Courage is not the absence of fear, it is going forward even though their is fear.<br />
</span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p3"><span class="s1">We are responsible for our generation - Keith Green</span></div>Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-90799488495166093872010-10-12T10:26:00.002-05:002010-10-12T11:14:59.086-05:00Nothing Compares to His Embrace<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO7P5gIity3pYHNZZPt7dnRSauz9c8nQUbjiZSMN8ucKaAndEeyfFIgu3dsQBnOKZst2n_cBq4mD02AqA_izfG9YlUMbE8dxYYuzYm-44X25vNAQ5moIFpAuszmFwtNPzW_wFCaTFikf6f/s1600/mnp+Oct.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO7P5gIity3pYHNZZPt7dnRSauz9c8nQUbjiZSMN8ucKaAndEeyfFIgu3dsQBnOKZst2n_cBq4mD02AqA_izfG9YlUMbE8dxYYuzYm-44X25vNAQ5moIFpAuszmFwtNPzW_wFCaTFikf6f/s320/mnp+Oct.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>You are more, You are more<br />
Than my words will ever say<br />
You are Lord, You are Lord<br />
All creation will proclaim<br />
You are here, You are here<br />
In Your presence I'm made whole<br />
You are God, You are God<br />
Of all else I'm letting go<br />
<br />
Oh, I’m running to Your arms, <br />
I’m running to Your arms<br />
The riches of Your love<br />
Will always be enough<br />
Nothing compares to Your embrace<br />
Light of the world forever reign<br />
<br />
<i>from Forever Reign by Hillsong Live</i><br />
<br />
The force that makes Monday Nights so powerful at Experience Life is the real and tangible sense of Gods presence with us. I think all of us who have come to pray recognize this fact. When the Lord shows up in tangible ways we all leave the time changed. Sometimes the change is encouragement, sometimes inspiration, sometimes fulfillment, other times excitement that we have prayed according to His will and believe we will see Him work.<br />
<br />
Monday night was one of those nights that seemed like His presence was a little more tangible than usual. When I walked in the rink to prepare I recognized that tangible presence. As our intercessors prayed before the time began, there was the reality of his presence, as the video played worship before we began there was the awareness that Jesus was there. Our 1 hour of prayer sailed by and even afterward encouragement from His presence. I got home around 8:45 and I just sat in my living room quiet or an hour because I still sensed God upon my heart. The conclusion I have about all of this is that God is among us and directing our paths.<br />
<br />
We opened with a scripture reading from Psalms and a prayer. We went into 3 songs, one was "forever reign" by Hillsong. Our people really connected as we sang. We finished with "worthy of affection". We then moved into a prayer ministry time. We prayed for ears that weren't working and for knees. We moved to some thanksgiving. This is the time we share how God has answered prayer the previous week. We then moved into corporate prayer topics such as praying for obedience to be in our churches dna, we prayed for people who were lost, we prayed for our lifehouse leaders (having them stand and surrounding them in prayer circles) and we prayed for the many requests we get each weekend.<br />
<br />
We concluded the time praying for anyone dealing with alot of fear recently. Clayton our lifehouse pastor came up and gave a final blessing and prayer. And people came to pray with our prayer teams up front at the end.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"></span><br />
<div class="post-body entry-content" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 528px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Elements that worked tonight:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Introduction of "forever reign" in worship.</span></span></span></div><div class="post-body entry-content" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 528px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="post-body entry-content" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 528px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Kneeling after worship for a time of confession and asking God to fill us and empower us in all we do.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Memorable moments & phrases:</span></span></b></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span> </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><div class="p1"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Vague confession equals vague forgiveness. You aren't really sure you are forgiven if you haven't confessed specifically.</span></span></span><span class="s2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">If we are not careful we judge the power of prayer on our past experience and not Gods word. </span></span></span></div></span></span></span><br />
<div style="clear: both;"></div></div><div class="post-footer" style="color: #999999; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em;"></div>Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6506022617006028963.post-58772192034928240092010-10-05T08:13:00.001-05:002010-10-05T08:21:33.661-05:00Show Me Your Heart, Show Me Your Way, Show Me Your Glory<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG7DaAMaVdmiUTbzaMfYpBW4zAXLMiiaLZBOdcmnpcmGzAPbA_pnBIgcE5rJ-TnMSioDrBQwCXqlGg8qaV_ri0Y2nr5wJhNYo0MNEE2NK8s_Os32sA6wgaiX67ynd6MRYxML1imH-Db-46/s1600/prayer+teams.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG7DaAMaVdmiUTbzaMfYpBW4zAXLMiiaLZBOdcmnpcmGzAPbA_pnBIgcE5rJ-TnMSioDrBQwCXqlGg8qaV_ri0Y2nr5wJhNYo0MNEE2NK8s_Os32sA6wgaiX67ynd6MRYxML1imH-Db-46/s320/prayer+teams.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Show Me Your Heart, Show Me Your Way, Show Me Your Glory is a line from one of the worship songs we did last night at Monday Night Prayer. This is a cry in our hearts as we seek God. We understand that if God doesn't intervene in our lives, in the lives of people in our city and in our area, we can not find Him. We understand that if we don't connect to God in prayer and see His presence and power move among us we are in trouble. Then we're left to our own devices, our own power and that won't get anything eternal done in this life.<br />
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Last night the challenge was not to pray little prayers to a little God, but to pray Big prayers to our Big God. He is the king of the universe. He is the one who reigns over all things. In Him is supreme power. Along those lines we prayed for God to bring revival to our city and our nation. We asked God for a break out of salvations all over our city, not just in our church.<br />
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We took time and prayed for our elementary, jr. high, and high school students. We prayed big prayers that God would use them mightily. We had people gather around them, put a hand on their shoulder and prayed for them, then someone would follow praying on a mic for the whole group.<br />
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I read Deuteronomy 32:11. The scene is the mother eagle stirring up her nest and teaching her young ones to fly. She does that in two ways. First she takes the soft portions out of the nest so the young eagles will not stay in the comfort of the nest and will have to come to the top. Under the soft parts are glass, thorns, and other sharp objects. The affect is making they young uncomfortable there and have to come to the top of the nest. Then the mother will beat her wings knocking the young ones off the nest. It is time to fly or die. But the eagle doesn't let her young fall to their death, if they don't fly she will sweep under the young and catch them to bring them back for another try. The eagle doesn't let her young just rest in comfort because she knows these eagles must learn to fly and feed themselves. They need to mature. We prayed for people who are in uncomfortable places in life because God is wanting to mature them.<br />
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For three straight months we have averaged more than 500 at our prayer gatherings. God is calling people to pray. It is a great feeling to know that 500 people have gathered to change history by praying to their Great God.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Elements that worked tonight:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span>Sharing the analogy of how a young eagle learns to fly from Deut 32:11 and then praying for people who sensed they are in a season of God taking them out of their comfort zone and challenging them with hard things.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Memorable moments & phrases:</span></b></span></span><br />
We didn't come to pray little prayers to a little God tonight, we have come to pray Big prayers to a Big God</span></span>.</span>Experience Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14578464863150789707noreply@blogger.com0