August 2006 Prayer Archive

Dear MN prayer warrior! The following is a monthly prayer update published by the Briding the Gap prayer team. Our goal is to facilitate MN women encouraging MN women as we pray together for our families, communities and state. Blessings!

In pondering what I might write for the August women’s “devotional”, I keep coming back to one thing: The need to be abandoned to the Spirit of God. To live in a level of surrender- of complete surrender- where God can move us wherever and however He desires. I’m not sure that I have yet truly come to that place of reckless abandon to the Spirit of God, but I know that it is becoming more and more a reality that following Christ in this way is more of a command than an option. The theme for the BTG Fall Retreat revolves around “contentment”, and I have found that even I as of late have struggled with being content with my own life at times. I find that I am constantly striving for things which are out of reach for me, rather than resting in where God has me now. A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting and praying on one of the docks at Lake Calhoun. I had been asking God for a while what His purpose for me was, and I had had much anxiety over this issue. It was at this point that God simply responded, “My purpose for you is not about what you will do or what job you will have. You will never be fulfilled until you find that your purpose is to be in My presence”. It’s true. It’s so easy to strive after hundreds of things than it is to sit down and just be with God in His presence.

Minnesota needs the presence of God. God is already here, but Minnesota needs to be made aware of the reality of the presence of God. So many strive after so many things, only to find that what they are looking for is not in the things they chase after. It’s an unending cycle, even in places in the church. How many Christians really know what it means to walk with God? How many have walked with God as Elijah did? How many walk with the Spirit of God the way that the disciples walked with Christ? We need to find ourselves abandoned to His presence so that the church and then the lost will have a hunger to do the same. The lost are chasing after mirages that the enemy dangles in front of them while the church holds the truth. We have been given something great. When I reach heaven, I wonder what kind of steward I will find that I have been- not just with my “talents”, but with the gospel. Contentment comes from finally reaching that point where you are lost in the presence of God, with no where to turn…like Job, who, after having lost all, found himself face to face with God….and that was enough….more than enough… “Even if he slays me, yet will I trust in Him”- the Psalmist/ proverbist claims. Can we say the same? To have the same abandon to the Spirit of God to say, “Do with me what thou wilt, only do not take your presence from me”. I am excited to see what God will do through the upcoming conferences and other women’s ministries. We have an amazing opportunity to truly “bridge the gap” and push the doors open to Minnesota so that God may move in the hearts of the people. May we be like Livingstone in our day, claiming, “Lord, when will the wound of Minnesota’s sin be healed?"

The Life Model : Living from the Heart Jesus Gave You, by James Friesen and E.James Wilder

Target audience: Leaders of the church and wounded members of the church community

Excerpts: "Your journey will go well if you live from the heart Jesus gave you. While you are living from your hurt, you may not be able to discover the characteristics of your heart. As God heals the hurt , and is invited in to every area of your life, you will be able to discover the nature of your heart... When you are living from your heart, you are truly being yourself." "The Life Model is about receiving and giving life,reaching a higher level of maturity, receiving healing for life.s inevitable traumas, and having your life governed by the joyof the Lord. But this process does not happen in isolation. It takes family and it takes community, as you will learn in the pages ahead."

Recommended by Mary Charpentier, BTG Prayer Coordinator

(Can be ordered through Rare Christian Books 19275 Highway 28 Dixon, MO. 65459 573-336-7316)

“If John Knox had prayed, ‘Give me success!’ we would never have heard of him; but he prayed a self-purged prayer- ‘Give me Scotland or I die!’- and his prayer scored the pages of history. If David Livingstone had prayed that he might split Africa wide open, as proof of his indomitable spirit and skill with the sextant, his prayer would have died with the wind of the forest; but he prayed, ‘Lord, when will the wound of this world’s sin be healed?’ Livingstone lived in prayer, and literally died upon his knees in prayer.”

“Who can tell the measure of God’s power? One might estimate the weight of the world, tell the size of the Celestial City, count the stars of heaven, measure the speed of lightning, and tell the time of the rising and the setting of the sun- but you cannot estimate prayer power. Prayer is as vast as God because He is behind it. Prayer is as mighty as God, because He has committed Himself to answer it.”

Interested in serving on the prayer team at the Fall Retreat? We need volunteers in the areas of prayer counseling, intercession and altar ministry. If you are interested and have already served at a previous conference, contact Jolene at jacassel@northcentral.edu. Otherwise, download an application from the web, or email Jolene to request one.