Monday, May 16, 2011

The Eve Before My Grandpa's Memorial Service

Playing some Youtube videos (see one link I shared on facebook) and being prayerful as I close out my day. Thanking God for rest today and for family. We're having a memorial service for my grandpa tomorrow at 11am in Marion, IA. My cousin Meghan will be leading our newly formed choral group of cousins (special for grandpa-I think he would be delighted) in singing his favorite hymn, "How Great Thou Art." There's several prices of the service I'm not quite aware of, but they've asked me to read a scripture too. I've chosen Ecclesiastes 3, which my grandma thought was very fitting. I'm anticipating a beautiful day as we put my dear dear grandpa to rest - celebrating his life, saying goodbye, and resting in the fact we know he's in a better place now and no longer suffering, as he has been towards the end of his time here on earth.

Psalm 116:15 KJV "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints."

Friday, May 6, 2011

Reflections from the Prayer Room at the Baltimore Prayer House

Keeping the fire burning on the altar here at the Prayer House. :-)

During time in prayer & saturating in the Word today, I read some awesome stuff from the Christian Growth Study Bible by YWAM in partnership with Zondervan. Here's a quote from the introduction they give to the book of Habakkuk, "Habakkuk begins with despondency but ends with powerful nor grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls YET I WILL REJOICE IN THE LORD, I WILL BE JOYFUL IN GOD MY SAVIOR.' (3:17-18, emphasis added). Consider how you too might look beyond the circumstances of life to the character of God. As you come to know the One who will establish his perfect justice on earth, you will find reasons for worshipping Him.

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Special thanks to David & Christine Hamilton for giving this Bible to my mom & dad years ago, and now it's found it's way into my hands! It's been such a huge blessing and has really opened up the scriptures to me. As I'm reading, part of me longs to be a part of YWAM's School of the Bible and sit under your teaching, David! ;-) I have my mind set to come visit you with my mom & dad if you make it back to Harrisburg, PA again this year. That's only a couple hours from us in Baltimore! And if you want to come by Baltimore while you're in the area, we'll totally put you up and provide some opportunities for you to minister, fundraise, or just enjoy our company - however the Spirit leads. I'd love to have you connect with my ministry the Prayer House and the move God's doing here. Why I can't really do a School of the Bible right now - God's telling me to stay & work here for the time being. And I do love the work here oh so much! I'm blessed to know that I'm in good company with the Disciples who were "untrained ordinary men". :-) Yet, I've had some real great training over the years with Teen Mania Ministries in '07-'09 & World Trumpet Mission who I now work a lot with in Baltimore ('09-present). God is good. And of course, the Holy Spirit is the best teacher of all, & i get His classroom most of the time in-between times of training with others He provides every now and again. I trust His leadership and only want to do what He says when He says it!!! :-)

Well, there it is...a lot of stuff that just welled up in my heart as I spent time in the prayer room this morning, and some other things that have just come out...lol. Praise God!

:-)

Thursday, May 5, 2011

The National Day of Prayer


Thursday, May 5th, 2011.  The first Thursday of May.  The day that has been recognized as the National Day of Prayer for 60 years now.

I dressed in my patriotic attire and headed out the door to a glorious spring day.  Enjoying the 10 minute stroll down the road to the bus stop, breathed in the fresh air and smiled, thanking God for a beautiful day and all that He had in store.  The bus, of course, was late, but having gotten used to the system, I planned on some extra time.  I boarded the 15 with no problem.  I feel very cultured for having the skills which I definitely did not hold in bus riding several months ago.  The bus was full of people - people God loves - people who need to hear of His love.  As I sat down I prayed and asked God to move.  He urged me to just be quiet before Him along the bus ride and read my Bible, so that is what I did.  He was preparing my heart for the things to come.

Disembarking from the bus, I had a good 15 minutes before the National Day of Prayer Convocation would begin on the plaza outside of City Hall.  So, I took a walk around the area, praying, and asking God to prepare the ground.  Just one block south of City Hall, I found myself at The Block.  My stomach churned and my heart ached as I saw the ads for Club Lust and etc.  I won't even go into more details than that.  But, I walked the full length of the block and prayed and cried out to the Lord to tear down the human trafficking that went on there.  I looked into the eyes of some of the woman, pimps, and all your every day Joe's that strolled along the street.  I began to proclaim the Lord's name over the street and cry out against the strongholds of darkness.  Keeyanna came to my mind as I remembered her and all the other women and their families we ministered to around Christmas time.  She, along with many of the others we had gathered, worked at The Block.

I kept walking and praying.  As I approached the War Memorial Park leading up to the plaza in front of City Hall, my heart went out to all the people scattered across the park.  I walked past several of them and invited them to join us in prayer.  My eye caught one woman in particular, who I ended up sitting down and chatting with a bit.  Frances.  I praise God for her!  Please join me in prayer for her.  I was able to share the Gospel message with her and the hope that we have in Jesus for an assurance of eternal life after death, and the power of the Holy Spirit while we are still here on the earth.  She repeated the words of a prayer that poured from my heart, and I believe she was truly saved on this day.  She didn't want to come to the gathering on the plaza, so I left after giving her a huge hug and telling how much of a pleasure it was to meet her.



The worshippers were drawing the presence of God and I joined right in, as the time of prayer had already begun.  I joined in and delighted in joining hands with those from the street, and those from their workplaces, and those from various ministries in the city, came together to pray.  We pressed into the presence of God and worshipped Him.  Then, partnered with His heart regarding 7 key sectors of our society: Government (praying out of 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Church (praying out of John 17:23), Military (praying out of Psalm 91:5-6), Family (praying out of Mark 3:25), Education (praying out of Proverbs2:3-5), Media (praying out of Philippians 4:8), and Business (praying out of Deuteronomy 25:15).  For more on the national day of Prayer go to www.nationaldayofprayer.org

As the time of prayer continued, it was wonderful to join with some of the others in the gathering to witness to the men and woman off the street, some without any shelter of their own, and give them the hope of the Gospel.

God did a great work in connecting some of us after the gathering dispersed as well.  I'm excited for some of the people that I meet and the relationships we are going to build to further the Lord's Kingdom and His heart to see His Name lifted high in our city through prayer and service.

Only 5 weeks and a few days we will be convening another gathering for 24 hours of non-stop worship and prayer called the BurnWagon.  And it will all be on the cusp of 21 days of fasting an prayer to prepare an atmosphere in our hearts and in the land for a God encounter.  I am excited and ready to get some of these things off the ground!  : )  I've posted a blog (which this article will probably be posted on) at http://burnbaltimore.blogspot.com.  Check that out for all the latest updates.  Not much is up at this moment, but more will come soon!  Thank you for your prayers!

For more on the movement of prayer God is stirring in Baltimore, visit www.partnersfortransformation.net.  They are stewarding a big part of what God is doing here and it has been a blessing to work with them as part of my mission in Baltimore!