Hearing Answers to Prayer

Our Prayer time a week ago focused on a trip to India that some Experience Life people had gone on earlier this year.  We had our usual time of worship, went into some prayer topics for people to pray where they were.

The India team shared about the warfare that happened at the beginning of their trip, how God honors true obedience and how God is stirring in them a heart for peoples of the world.

As time has moved on at Experience Life we are getting to see answers to prayer we prayed in times past come to fruition now.  We have prayed that God would use us in reaching nations.  And going on two and a half years of age as a church, we have seen people go to China twice, India twice and Southern Mexico.  This year we have more trips planned to Mexico and Guatemala.  We pray that we can serve the gospel in other countries as well as our own city.

Another area that we see prayer making a difference is the number of first time commitments to Christ.  Since before Christmas the number of people that are taking that step in their lives has almost doubled from the norm before that.  It encourages us to continue to pray.  Individual prayer changes us and corporate prayer changes our cities, regions and even nations.

Our prayer target this year for Monday Night Prayer was to have over 300 in attendance.  The two previous weeks we did that.  We aren't focused on numbers, but we get excited that people are hungry to pray and seek God.  Great revivals always begin with prayer.

My House shall be called a House of Prayer

We began the evening praying for the individual prayer cards that we get each week in the services.

We showed a video of Jim Cymbala speaking on prayer tonight. It is a powerful video. Some statements he made were:

• The church was born while people prayed.

• The earmark of a true believer as seen in the Bible when Annanias was being convinced that Paul had become a believer. It was said that "he prays"
  
  
• Paul told Timothy first of all prayers and supplications should be lifted up for all men.
  
  
• How you do Gods work (through the power of the Spirit from prayer) is as important as doing Gods work.
  
  
• The minute prayer ends in a church, the Spirit lifts.
  
  
• Gods house should have the aroma of prayer about it.

The final portion of our time was spent as people called out to God to let Experience Life be a house of prayer. There was a real sense of Gods presence as we prayed.

Answers to Prayer
One testimony tonight came from a lady within our body who had been walking with a walker for the past three years who God touched and she is walking without her walker now. We had seven first time commitments to Christ this past week and 8 recommitments.