Posts tagged ‘prayer’

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11 April, 2012

God Still Speaks…Are You Listening?

by cubfann

A couple of weeks ago I was sitting in church and I had a prompting.  I felt led to invite a specific guy and his family to dinner at our house.  I hadn’t ever talked with him, never met his wife, and only knew that he had a son around my sons age.  I either very rarely receive promptings from God, or (more likely) very rarely am listening and recognize them.  Well, I had recently watched Bill Hybels teach on promptings from God in his small group study, The Power of a Whisper.  I decided that whether or not it was from God, it was a good idea, so I invited him to dinner.  There was nothing earth-shattering about our dinner, or what I did.  He and his wife have 2 boys around the same ages as our two sons.  They had recently moved to Michigan from New York and didn’t know many people.  We connected and plan to get together more often.

But this experience definitely has moved me to be more attune to God’s “whispers”.  I have wanted to not discard any feeling that I had, and I’ve wanted to be more intentional in my prayer to listen, not just talk.

In The Power of a Whisper, Bill Hybels shares his history with whispers from God as well as his filter for deciphering whether or not the whisper is actually “heaven-sent”.  His five filters are:

  1. Is it from God? (consistent with God’s character)
  2. Is it Scriptural? (is there a specific passage that refers to your whisper)
  3. Is it wise?
  4. Is it in tune with how God made you?
  5. What do trusted friends advise?

Hybels talks about whispers that he received from God: leaving his family business to plant a church; starting the church in a movie theater; launching a training organization for leaders.  To watch the first session of The Power of a Whisper, go to YouTube here.  There are also over 80 other sessions from other small group studies on YouTube here.

What whispers or promptings have you received and responded to from God?

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10 February, 2012

Offensive Prayer

by cubfann

Wednesday, Mark Batterson wrote about storming the gates of Hell through bold, audacious prayers.  He spoke of 30+ Circle Maker groups at his church and working through it as a sermon series.  Your church can do the same thing.  The Circle Maker is designed as a churchwide campaign.  It’s time to be on offense against the gates of Hell, and our greatest weapon is prayer.

Begin a church experience where your whole congregation learns together how to claim God-given promises, pursue God-sized dreams, and seize God-ordained opportunities and through it all bring glory to God.  The Circle Maker is a four-week church-wide experience and small-group video study, in which you and your congregation gain a deeper understanding of prayer and, in turn, make a more consistent practice of prayer.

The Circle Maker gives viewers new vocabulary and methodology to pray with a holy confidence.  It will help participants dream big, pray hard and think long.  According to Mark Batterson, “Drawing prayer circles around our dreams isn’t just a mechanism whereby we accomplish great things for God. It’s a mechanism whereby God accomplishes great things in us.”

You can launch a churchwide campaign at any time.  This four-week preaching and small group study is especially effective for those times of the year when you would like to reach out to your community through a special series.

Visit thecirclemaker.com  for preaching resources, free downloads, and samples.  Watch the full first session of The Circle Maker on YouTube here.

Would knowing that your prayers will be answered change the way you pray? The Circle Maker shares powerful insights from the true legend of Honi the Circle Maker, a believer who prayed miracles would happen to the people of God—and then they fell from the heavens like rain. Bring your God-given dreams into being through bold, tenacious prayers that honor God and make the impossible come true.

Visit www.Zondervan.com/ChurchSource or call 800.727.3480 for case quantity discounts of 40-50% off.

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8 February, 2012

Storming the Gates of Hell

by cubfann

This is a guest post from Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church, and author of The Circle Maker.

One of my prayers for The Circle Maker is that people would NOT read it by themselves!  It’s best read in community as prayer partners, small groups or book clubs.  The ultimate goal is for readers to form prayer circles and one of the best ways to do that is to leverage the DVD and participant’s guide for small groups. Both are included in The Curriculum Kit.

Check out session 1 of the curriculum here.

We’ll launch 30+ Circle Maker groups this week at National Community Church.  And that comes on the heels of The Circle Maker sermon series and 21-Day Prayer Challenge.  We’re going all out and all in.

Jesus talked about the power of spiritual synergy when he said: “If two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.” Obviously, it needs to meet the two-fold litmus test for any and every prayer. It has to be in the will of God and for the glory of God. But if it meets that two-fold test, then all it takes is two!  When two people agree in prayer, they have formed a prayer circle.

What would happen if two or twenty or two hundred people formed prayer circles?  I’ll tell you what would happen: we’d storm the gates of hell and they would not prevail against us!  I’m amazed at the miracles God has done at National Community Church in the last few years.  His blessings have blown us away!  But I feel like God has done that despite our lack of corporate prayer.  I can’t help but wonder what would happen if we genuinely, humbly, fervently started praying like it depends on God?  I intend to find out.

It’s the beginning of a prayer movement at NCC.  The Circle Maker has given people acommon vocabulary and a common challenge to take their prayer lives to the next level. It’s a new day. It’s a new normal.

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3 February, 2012

Super Bowl Sex Trafficking: Join us in Prayer

by Andrew Rogers

I’m sure you’re aware of the staggering numbers of women and children who will be trafficked this weekend into Indianapolis as a result of the Super Bowl. If you are not, Google it. Several major media channels have articles posted. (Links: USA Today, Fox News, Chicago Tribune, CBS News) The number of victims will break your heart.

As believers in Jesus Christ we can pray, plead, and beg for God’s mercy and justice to be poured out on these victims.

Would you please write a short prayer for these victims and post it below? I’ve asked a number of authors and publishing professionals to write prayers too. I’ll be posting them here throughout the weekend. Updates will appear on this post and on Twitter. Together we can try to flood the ‘blogosphere’ and the throne of heaven with prayers.

I’m simply compelled to try and do something to aid these victims. You and I have the ability to pray and to pray without ceasing. That may be small, but we know how powerful prayer can be.

Will you pray with us?

A prayer from Dan Kimball

Psalm 36:12  ”See how the evildoers lie fallen—
thrown down, not able to rise!”   Please Lord bring safety to your children and cease the evil happening.

A prayer from Scot McKnight

Father of the fatherless and Protector of the unprotected, our prayer is that you will act through your Spirit, through your people, and through our law to block, prevent and end the destructive and injustice of trafficking innocent and young girls and boys and the abusive exploitation of women in our culture. Through Jesus our Messiah and Lord.

read more »

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2 October, 2010

Interview with David Beach: One Way to Pray the Psalms

by Andrew Rogers

How often do you pray the Psalms? I try to pray something from scripture (often a Psalm) on a daily basis. When you are encouraging or counseling others, do you encourage them to pray the Psalms?

In the interview below David Beach talks about one method for doing this, particularly as it relates to counseling others.

Will you encourage others to try a “copy change” method? It seems like that is an easy way to make scripture intensely personal, and a way to engage with God that’s very (even painfully) honest.

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15 April, 2009

burning out in ministry

by cubfann

i got a copy of rev magazine in my box today and as i paged through it i saw a page devoted to burnout in women’s minsitry.  it listed some of the top reasons women burnout in ministry, but these can be applicable to men and women alike:

  • lack of communication
  • not enough delegation
  • unclear vision
  • mixed up priorities
  • lack of encouragement

inspire-burnoutthe page also offers 5 ways to “burn-proof” your minsitry.  the first one was to pray.  in reading anne jackson’s book, mad church disease: overcoming the burnout epidemic as well as wayne cordeiro’s leading on empty, prayer is vital to your life as not only a minister, but a christian.  obvious, right?  well, maybe i’m alone on this, but when i am overcommitted, misunderstood, de-energized, and have clouded vision, prayer is forgotten about.  

in reality, all else should be forgotten about.  wayne cordeiro says “i needed God to quiet every voice but his own.”  when i communicate well and often with kate, we click.  when i don’t, we don’t just not click, we break.  anne jackson says in mad church disease,

“God knows us even more intimately than our spouces do.  and he designed us to express our deepest thoughts and longings to him…when we break away from prayer, whether we consciously realize it or not, we’re also breaking away from our natural design to talk and listen to our Creator.  and without that line of communication flowing in both directions, we’ll begin to burn out.”

take some extra time to pray today, allow that line of communication flow between you and your Maker.  and just like with your spouse, you don’t even have to always be saying something to communicate.  just be with Him.

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