Changed . . .

January 31st, 2016

He is Mighty to Save.

So today I am still standing in awe of everything I watched God do this weekend.  I can say that after watching God show up over and over the last few years, it never gets old.  And yet, it continues to surprise me and astound me.   

About six months ago a number of us from our church, along with our pastor, began meeting at 6:30 am to pray in what started out to be 30 days of prayer.  Which turned into 40 days of prayer.  Which turned into praying through the Psalms.  Which turned into a morning prayer group that has no foreseeable end in sight.  Corporate prayer is a thing of beauty.  For me, learning to pray out loud was a practice that took time.  Then, there was learning to pray kingdom sized prayers.   The wise and godly men and women from this morning prayer group have changed me and taught me so much about how to pray.  No longer do I see prayer as big lofty hopes for my dreams to be reality, no longer are they just requests for the little things that impact my day to day life or even the pleas to God for the people in my life in desperate situations. No kingdom prayers are unique.  They call to the God of the Universe to reveal Himself. . . to make known His name among the nation. . to draw His people to Himself. . . to live and move and breathe among us in ways that we can see and feel and experience first hand.    We pray for Him to inhabit our worship and to make himself known in real and tangible ways among us.  

We have prayed for many things. . . . We have prayed as a church to have a heart of repentance,  for a renewed spirit, for restoration of our communities, for redemption of God's people.  But mostly, we have prayed to catch a greater glimpse of God moving.  Moving in our own lives, in the lives of those close to us, in the families that attend our church and in the greater body of believers in Southern Chester County.    

We pray because prayer changes things.  And the most important thing I've seen it change. . .is ME! Somewhere along these last six months I learned that the best way to start my day is in praise and prayer.  And the best way to end my day is in repentance and thanksgiving.  

I don't think I can use words to describe what it looked like to witness the Spirit move through our congregation this past Sunday.  Between the two services, there were over 50 people who got up declared their faith in Christ and obeyed the Lord's command to "Repent and be baptized" from Acts 2 as we were learning that morning.  I spent the majority of the morning with my hands raised in praise and my eyes flooded with tears.  The Spirit's presence was tangible in a way I have never experienced before.  Without words. . .  I just took to music to express the joy I felt in my heart watching the Lord draw people to a deepening relationship with Himself.

Jordan Feliz's song captured it best and my favorite line of that song is .Let's go down to the river. . . You will leave changed. . . never the same!

There's not a soul who entered that worship center this past Sunday who did not leave changed!  Praise God!