Praying for Fire

Dear friends,

I first and foremost would like to thank the Lord for granting us His presence in our last prayer meeting on the Thursday of this week. It was a time when, even though there were just 7 of us, we could even almost tangibly sense His Holy Spirit among us and speaking to each one of us. It is truly a privilege to be in His presence.

Revival. I look back on the year so far, and realise that I had started the year with much hope. With the Year 5's coming in and just the freshness that comes with each new year, I really looked forward to starting this year with Christ. In terms of this ministry, I also had great expectations that God would accomplish something awesome. Revival is often something many prayer groups yearn and pray for; in fact, it is a favourite word for most Christian groups. Yet, I realise that it is something that is so easy to get excited over and pray about when everything looks right, as it had been at the start of the year, but appears cold and distant after a while. Now that we're all the way in Term 1, Week 9, revival appears so far away, and no longer holds the attraction it initially had.

Why? Why is it that revivals often do note take place, even after so much excitement at the start? Outside of just revivials, why is it that our passion for the Lord often fizzles out? Christians will be familiar with this pattern: end-year camp, super "worship" on the last night, spiritual high, plateau, backslide, and then the cycle repeats. So coming back to revival, or the burden to spread the name of Christ in our school, why is it that our passions often die out after a while?

The answer is simple. Because we do not pray.

"And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor." (Isaiah 59:16)

What an interesting verse. Can you imagine: God "wondered" that there as no intercessor. The New International Version translates this as "appalled". When the spiritual condition of the place around is so dry, God wonders why there is no one, not a single one, to rise up and intercede.

I believe we have strongly underestimated the power of prayer. Nothing moves except by prayer. "Satan laughs at our wisdom, mocks at our toiling, but trembles when we prayer." In our hearts maybe there have been small burning coals of desire to want to see the name of Jesus lifted high. But because there has been so little prayer, after a while, these coals in our heart burn out into dying embers, and soon we find them doused by Satan. Only when we gather together and pray, and seek the Lord earnestly, then will He move.

Many will hesitate at this point. What if I do not desire revival, or why should I even participate. The state of my own walk with Him is good; I need not concern myself about the matters of others. It is the will of the Lord that none should perish. The Lord Jesus Himself wept and cried for His own people while here in earth, praying that they might not fall to Satan. Such urgency and desperation! If our Lord did this, and wills that none should perish, how much more should we have this desire, being made in His image! Yet we look at our hearts and see cold, wavering faiths. From any point of view, it is certainly our Lord's will for the name of Christ to be preached to the people around us. His Great Commission after all, is to "make disciples". But ask yourselves how many disciples you have made, or at least how many people you have shared the Word with, this year? I confess that for myself, though I have made a few attempts, they have been weak and feeble, and less than the fingers of one hand.

Are we obeying His command, following His call?

Desperate times calls for desperate action. In the prayer meeting this week, I felt the Lord leading us to do this: to spend one whole week in fasting and prayer for His fire to spread in the school. For the whole of next week (wk 9), we will be gathering at roundabout to pray for our school during both our recess and lunch periods. This will truly be a test of our faith as it will show much we are willing to forfeit for Him, in terms of our own time as well as whether we are willing to be seen in a public place, worshipping His name. I hope for those reading who are in the school that you would be able to join us in this, as we pray for those around us in His name, that an awesome work would be done. Only if we pray, will we see His hand stretch out.

Hope to see you there! Roundabout, during every lunch and recess period for Yr 6 Non-intact periods.

Love,

Alastair

(This is a post from alistair's blog, please read it :), it meant alot to me, im sure it will to you too

let us fire up our prayer lives. and make satan trembleeeeeee!