At our Core Team meeting last night we began to talk about the Jim Cymbala (Pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle) book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire. The team has been asked to read the book over the next few weeks. Some people will be reading this book for the second or third time. I felt that it was important for us to read this together and see how it may speak into the planting of The Compass.
This is a continuation of what I said in the last blog. If we are going to be a church that stands on prayer, which is one our core pillars (Ephesians 6:18), we are called by the Word of God to pray at all times in the Spirit keeping alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.
Our conversation kept us in the first two chapters. We first understood that this is not a book about how to pray but a book on how he (Pastor Cymbala) committed to a life of prayer for the ministry that had been given to him.
I believe that one of the greatest points of the book is found in the first chapter. Here’s the quote, “I discovered an astonishing truth: God is attracted to weakness. He can’t resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need him.” Did you catch the truth? As God’s people we need to understand that we need God’s hand on us to succeed. Not my hand as pastor, not the hand of those that would lead worship, run children’s ministries, work with young people, be board members for Phase II life, handle the finances or the many that would sit in the seats on Sunday morning. We need God’s hand on us.
We must also live our lives despairing at the thought that our lives might slip by without seeing God show Himself mightily on our behalf. This means staying in prayer at all times in the spirit. We should want a ministry that goes beyond reading about the power of God’s Word and Spirit to a ministry that is seeing the power of God’s Word and Spirit at work. Lets hunger (as stated by Pastor Cymbala) for God to break through in our lives and ministry.
The second chapter opens with this statement, “From this day on, the prayer meeting will be the barometer of the church. What happens on Tuesday night will be the gauge by which we will judge success or failure because that will be the measure by which God blesses us.” I have personally taken this as a challenge. People will come to Sunday morning worship, but would they give up another evening to come before God in prayer to cry out for His help? We (the church) have forgotten that we are called to gather together in prayer. When we gather in prayer as one body God seems to move. This is what happened for the early church as they waited on God in prayer. God showed up, His Spirit fell down and the church blew up. If we are going to be a church of unity for the city we need our God to show up, if we are going to be a church that sees lives being transformed, we need God’s Spirit to fall and if The Compass is going to blow up as a church, we need to wait on Him in prayer.
I shared one of my most favorite scriptures with the group last night. Genesis 18:14, which states, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” This is after Sarah is told that she would have a child. Knowing that she was old and Abraham was even older she began to laugh. Is anything too hard for the Lord? There is so much that needs to happen to see The Compass come into reality you may feel like laughing or crying out of not know how in the world it is all going to come together. So I will leave you with what is a statement of fact and not a question. IS ANYTHING TOO HARD FOR THE LORD!
Please feel free to give me your thoughts and comments on the power of prayer. Our homework is to continue reading Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire as we drive this truth deep into our foundation.
Peace, Pastor T
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4 comments:
What is meant by praying "at all times in the Spirit."?
This is a great question. What is meat by praying at all times in the Spirit? This whole question can be answered with just one word.
"Relationship"
We are not heard by God for our many words. We are heard by God because of our connection to Him. So the praying in the Spirit is about a continual drawing closer to the Father by way of the Spirit. Here's the picture. Our phone receiver is always off the hook awaiting the Father to speak a word for us to hear. Here's a question, if you knew God would say something at some point would you walk away from the receiver? I happen to think that we would do everything that we could to remove all the distractions, we would clear our calendars and we would put up a do not disturb sign. My point is this, in order to pray at all times in the spirit we must build our relationship with the Lord up and we must make room in our lives so that we can hear Him speak.
May God bless you and keep you,
Peace
Is there room in The Compass for those who "speak in tounges"? If so, under what restrictions?
Yes there is room for speaking in tongues. But here's the deal. I think that it has its place in the contexts of worship. It's clear that God gives the gift of tongues. 1 Corinthians 12:10 When we are in corporate settings there should be someone who has the gift to interpret the tongues so that the body will be built up. 1 Corinthians 14:5-6, 14:19 Scripture is clear that tongues are not the most important gift to have. Prophecy is seen as the gift that befits the body the most. I hope this gives you a little look at what I think about tongues.
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