Global Prayer

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.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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.
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Elements that worked tonight:
Having people greet one another at the very front end.

Memorable moments & phrases:
Courage is not the absence of fear, it is going forward even though their is fear.

We are responsible for our generation - Keith Green

Short Term Trips & Short Leashes

Monday night prayer this past week had a missions focus.  We had a team that had been to Guatemala just a couple of weeks ago.  We used what they learned on the trip to encourage prayer for other countries as well as our heart for the world.

Giving God adoration and praise was first at prayer last Monday.  I love to see how our front rows and sides are filled with the young who aren't afraid to express themselves in worship.

We moved into a brief time of confession next.  I shared a story I had heard from Keith Craft, a pastor in Frisco.  Keith told of a friend who had a dog named Gwhiz.  Gwhiz loved to jump over fences into the neighbors yard.  The owners decided to fix this problem by putting Gwhiz on a leash.  With the length of the leash, Gwhiz could make it over the fence but not make it to the ground in the next yard causing himself major difficulties.  It didn't take long for Gwhiz to learn he had a new boundary and he couldn't just jump into the neighbors back yards.  I also told a story of how it seemed anytime I tried to get away with something in high school like sneaking off campus during lunch I got caught.  I think someones prayers had me on a short leash.

We asked God to put us on his short leash so that our own flesh nature couldn't take us far from Gods best for us.

Our Guatemala team then shared about our trip.  We prayed for our missionaries Mike and Terri McCombs and the 31 Bible extensions they are over.  We printed the names of the extensions on cards and handed them to people at the door.  We also prayed for anyone who had a heart to go on a short terms trip this coming year.

We prayed for people in the education profession during our ministry time.