Monday, September 14, 2009

God is still working on me....

Most of you know that God has been working on me in the area of prayer for several months now. If you are new to my blog, you can go here, here and here to read about it.

The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
James 5:16b

This is the verse He has been leading me to. I feel God is calling me to a deeper prayer life and opening my eyes to what a true intercessor is. And I am learning that true intercessory prayer....prays till it is finished, no time limits.

That is a scary thought in our age of "quick and easy" and our busy schedules. But God is showing me that this type of prayer has been lost.......and I am "trying" to be obedient and make this a part of my life.

My husband and I were invited to a Prayer Summit on Saturday.........6 hours.

I'll be honest, I thought (and I'm sure others did too) was "what will I talk to God about for SIX hours?"

The man leading the Summit answered my question right off the bat. He said "The question you should be asking is "what is God going to say to me for 6 hours?" And he was right!

I am going to attempt to explain it to you, but honestly it is something that has to be experienced.

It was organized in that the leader kept it flowing and yet completely spontaneous as the Holy Spirit was allowed to move. We started with a time of praising who God is by reading scripture aloud. From all over the sanctuary, people called out scripture that told of the mighty name of God. That flowed to a time of singing, which flowed to a time of finishing a line "because you are worthy Lord, I can....." There was confession, for ourselves and the church in general.

We had a 45 minute time of complete silence where we allowed God to speak to our hearts. After being in His presence and praising him for 2 hours, this was a very sweet time. God had a few things to say to me........one that I had to wrestle with. But it was so good.

We broke for a quick snack break..as in peanut butter crackers and granola bars! At first I thought "this is not going to hold me for 3 more hours", but amazingly it was all I needed!!!

After lunch, we broke into small groups of men and women. The morning mainly focused personal time with the Lord, this afternoon time focused on the church, our congregations and our city. Oh, I had the most wonderful ladies praying with me....our hearts were poured out at the feet of Christ and united in that circle. It was truly beautiful!!! Then we joined our group with another group and had double the voices praying for our city and the lost.

The day ended with communion. We sang several praise songs as each person came to the table when they were ready. Once everyone had taken communion, we all gathered around the table, close together and sang "All Hail the Power of Jesus Name".....

......this is what I expect Heaven to be like!!!

I could honestly imagine the throngs in Heaven joining with us as we sang this song......I could imagine my aunt and grandparents joining voices with me!!! Oh what a day that will be!!!

It was a wonderful day......one I won't soon forget.

It has also called me to an even bigger commitment to pray for ya'll. Most of you know had my blog redone so that I could add the Praying For You tab. If you need prayer, click over there and leave it in a comment. I am honored to pray for your requests every week!

The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
James 5:16b

12 comments:

Jill from Killeny Glen said...

Sweet Sara! I am inspired by your day of prayer!!! We had the most amazing message yesterday of similar topic...the need for prayer and the idea of prayer but do we DO IT? It has convicted me of when I say "I will pray for you..." that I MUST do this and I must do it with concentration and passion not looking at the clock!!!

Sara@iSass said...

Okay, now see, this is why in my post today I claim infancy. WOW.
Six hours, I struggle with keeping it locked in for six seconds. My mind wonders, I start listing the things I need to do.
Then I get down about it, shoot I'll try again tomorrow. Isn't saying "I try" a cop out for just doing it half way? Giving yourself a "feel good, atta girl." if it doesn't happen..."Well, I tired."
Sometimes I want to shake my self and say STOP trying and DO IT.
Hmmmm, I feel very blessed that we found each other in blog-land. When I started blogging it was weird how I was led to these different blogs that are now my daily reads and all of them are pastor's wives or women who work in the church. HELLO? Hi God, Sorry I can be so difficult or unavailable. I realize that you will get to me anyway you can and surely blogging has been your sneaky way have drawing me close without scaring me. :)

I have felt that the longer I go without being in study/ group the farther from my goals I get.
I want to be still and know God. I want to feel his peace in a raging storm. I want to glorify him in ALL things. I want to be obiedent.
So why is it easier to pray for others then pray for those things. Because he just may call me OUT!
Phew, girl shh, lets keep that between us ok?

Beverlydru said...

My husband has clearly been an intercessor ever since he met Jesus. He's disciplined and serious and can sit in quiet for hours. We are so different! God's been teaching me I'm an intercessor too... I worship and move into it that special place in different ways, including journaling. It is SO AMAZING what God does when we pray!

H-Mama said...

I love your sincere heart, Sara. :)

Cathy said...

I think I needed this today Sara. I need to ponder on it some more. Thank you.

riTa Koch said...

Such a wonderful opportunity and blessed experience. Thanks for sharing.

Lisa said...

Sounds amazing! We've been having church struggles for a while so we are really not "getting fed' there, though haven't been released either.

My soul is so hungry for such a beautiful, honest time of worship with other believers!

SmilingSally said...

This past weekend, we sang, All Hail... and I thought the same thing...that it must be something like this in Heaven.

LuAnn said...

My dear friend -
I am so thankful for your prayers for my family. I am also so happy that your heart has been moved to go even deeper. It also gives me inspiration. You are a wonderful Christian Friend. I praise God for you and your prayers!!!
Peace be with you !!!!!

Kim said...

What a special day! Thanks for sharing what God is teaching you. Our church spent a summer learning more about prayer on Wednesday nights (during the school year we run a children's program at that time) and it was so good! We did something different each week, focusing on various aspects of prayer.

Btw, the dress didn't have a price on it and we were afraid to go inside the store...it might have been contagious :-)

Anonymous said...

You're so awesome, Sara. :) I just needed to tell you that.

Jamie said...

Love hearing what God is doing in your heart! I love your heart...it inspires me!