During the past couple of Sundays, we considered this question: What would it look like if a representation of believers, in connection with Jesus and with others, engaged in persistent, believing prayer, praying according to the authority which the Lord has given to them?
We wondered together if this kind of prayer could change our culture of fear and hatred, replacing it with faith, hope, and love, so that the will of God would be done here as in heaven.
Remember: Jesus could do no mighty works in Nazareth because of the atmosphere of unbelief (Mark 6:1-6).
I believe that the agreeing prayers of the people of God could change the spiritual atmosphere over our cities and nation.
In this post, I want to talk about one way to participate in prayer, so that the spiritual atmosphere over our communities, cities, and nations could change. (For the other ways to participate, click here for the sermon from 9’6’20 and click here for 9’13’20.)
Large corporate prayer emphases.
What did the Lord tell Israel to do in the midst of a national crisis? Let’s read about it in Joel 2:12 and following.
“’Even now,’ declares the LORD, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.’ 13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. 14 Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing– grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God. 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. 16 Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. 17 Let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep between the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, ‘Spare your people, O LORD. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” 18 Then the LORD will be jealous for his land and take pity on his people. 19 The LORD will reply to them… (Joel 2:12-19 NIV).
When you hear the trumpet blast, it is a call to mobilize and to respond. We respond as we have grace and we pray.
We are blowing the trumpet for prayer in this election season. There are a number of prayer initiatives over the next 40 days until the elections. We are joining one of those efforts. You will receive an email this afternoon about our day of prayer during a called 40 Days of Prayer.
The 40 Days of Prayer 2020 vision is to call for forty days of non-stop prayer from September 26 to November 4. This 40 Days of Prayer is led by our friend, Gideon Stanley of Gideon’s Army Ministries in concert with several other leaders in Houston. Several prayer ministries have come together to call the nation to a time of intense, non-stop prayer. They are calling for at least 40 churches to commit to cover one 24-hour period with non-stop prayer. Calvary has chosen 8:00am Monday, September 28, through 8:00am Tuesday, September 29. You may view the Calvary prayer schedule here.
Calvary, we are blowing the trumpet. We are asking as many of you as possible to choose a one-hour time slot to pray.
- For each hour time period, there are two slots available.
- We encourage you to gather together in person, pray over the phone, or use an online platform such as Zoom or FaceTime to agree together in prayer (Matthew 18:19-20).
- We hope that we can have at least 2 people praying per hour, in each time slot. However, we do realize this may not be possible, especially at certain times during our assigned 24-hour time period. That is okay. What is important is that we cover the entire 24 hour period with prayer and that each of pray during the slot(s) we’ve chosen.
- If we fill all available time slots within our 24-hour period, we will add more options for each slot.
- You are welcome to choose more than one time slot. All we ask is that you honor your commitment to pray during those times. An email and text reminder will be sent to you the day before, reminding you of the time(s) you signed up to pray.
Join in prayer as you can, either in person or virtually.
Imagine with me what it would look like if a representation of believers connected with Jesus and with others in persistent prayer, praying according to the authority which the Lord has given to us. I believe this kind of prayer could change our culture so that the will of God would be done here as in heaven. I believe that the agreeing prayers of the remnant church could change the spiritual atmosphere over our cities and nation.
How many praying people will it take to change the atmosphere of our cities and nation?
I don’t know. But, I want to step up. And, I want to invite us to step up.