Happy Fourth of July!

This week as we celebrate our independence, God is also calling us to re-examine our foundations. It's easy to see that our nation's foundations are crumbling, in light of the recent Supreme Court decision and the slippery political and economic slopes we are traveling. Is there hope for America as we know it? 

I had a dream several nights ago about the Fourth of July. On this day, as a parade marched by waving our flag, I saw military and police officers assembling on the tops of several tall buildings in Boston. One military man in dress uniform was shooting down into the streets, attempting to rout out a terrorist who planned an attack on our city. I saw all this from a vantage point inside my church, where I was sitting. Suddenly, from the basement below me (the foundation of the building), a bomb went off. The explosion threw me into the air and across the room, and our church began evacuation with the help of both natural and angelic authorities.

Two days after having this dream, I learned that the military had indeed thwarted an attack on police in the city of Boston - just days earlier. Scary? Yes. Wake-up call? Definitely.

What does it all mean?

It is no accident that the foundation of the church was shaken. (Note that it was not destroyed!) Aside from its immediate relevance, I believe the dream holds a prophetic picture of what the enemy is trying to do in this hour. We know the devil is busy trying to overthrow the foundations of our nation. Yet the enemy desires to overthrow our spiritual foundations as well.

It's true that the gates of hell CANNOT prevail against the Kingdom of God. However, that does not mean the church can sit back and relax while the world crumbles. While we are here on earth, there are still human lives at stake, both inside and outside the church, and we have a job to do. 

I believe there is hope for America, but only if the church rises up in prayer and proclamation. What should we proclaim? That homosexuality is sin? That our leaders have led us astray? These things may be true, but they are not the declarations God has asked His disciples to focus on. 

Instead, we are to both pray for and proclaim the key attributes of our lasting, spiritual foundations: repentance, faith, and the words of the gospel. (Hebrews 6:1). The prophets of old did this, John the Baptist did this, and Jesus did this.

2 Timothy 2:19 tells us that God's foundation stands firm, sealed with a two-dimensional inscription:  "The Lord knows those who are His," and "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness." As one commentary notes, the foundation of our faith includes not only God's election, but also man's holiness. The definitive test of our foundation's integrity is whether we are IN HIM and departing from evil ourselves.    

A Word for our Times: Psalm 11

The Lord brought me to Psalm 11, which asks, "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" (Psalm 11:3). Far from being a cry of resignation, the psalm goes on to focus on the Lord, who is still in His holy temple in heaven, still on the throne. He sees the wicked and tests the righteous. He is righteous, He loves righteousness, and he beholds those who are righteous (11:7). When our nation's foundations are destroyed, we need to do the same. 

This week, it is clear to me that what we MUST do now is repent of any unrighteousness within ourselves, and make sure that our lives are tightly intertwined with Jesus, our righteousness. Apart from Him, our lives are full of dead works.

Please join me this holiday in praying more fervently for the protection of our police and our military, who devote their lives to defending us, even from secret threats we never see. Pray for repentance and faith to re-emerge in a crumbling society and a sleepy church. Cherish and pray for your loved ones as you get together, asking God to give you His love for them. I will be praying, too. 

Gratefully, 

Deborah Perkins

His Inscriptions








Key Thought: 

The definitive test of the integrity of your foundation is whether or not you are abiding IN HIM.

 Recently in my Bible reading I read the following Scripture which I found challenging, as a grandparent. The Israelites were living in the Promised Land, Joshua had just died, then in Judges 2:10-15 we read  (The Message (MSG.)

• “¹⁰ Eventually that entire generation died and was buried. Then another generation grew up that didn't know anything of God or the work he had done for Israel.
• ^11-15 The People of Israel did evil in God's sight: they served Baal; they deserted God, the God of their parents who had led them out of Egypt; they were helpless before their enemies.”

Our children and grandchildren do not inherit salvation by birth into our families. Nevertheless, we can pray their hearts will be prepared for when they are presented with an opportunity to step into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  

God has placed our children and grandchildren in our lives so we can be their prayer warriors. He has given us the awesome opportunity to partner with Him on their behalf. He has given me and my husband, 3 sons, 3 daughters-in-laws, 12 specific grandchildren and 3 greats to pray for. He has given you your family members.

A family’s faith can be lost in one generation; however, we as parents and grandparents can be defenders of our faith.  We have the opportunity to powerfully touch the lives of another generation for Jesus Christ. That is why our children and grandchildren are our mission field and our responsibility. So they will not be helpless before their spiritual enemy.

This is why Christian Grandparenting Network is declaring the National Grandparents' Day as a Day of Prayer for our grandchildren and our families.

NOW we are calling all grandparents to join in prayer in their churches, community and around the world for an intentional day of prayer on behalf of the next generation.

To indicate participation in the movement or organize a time of prayer for grandparents go to http://www.grandparentsdayofprayer.com. You may find additional information and order promotional resources on the website.

You will want to view this promotional video to learn more about Grandparents’ Day of Prayer.

 https://vimeo.com/130942706

Please email me at for additional information.

Lillian Penner, Grandparents’ Day of Prayer Coordinator

This week I would like to share a prayer written by a grandfather for his grandchildren. 

A Grandfather’s Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, Your Word proclaims that children

are a gift from God.

My children have blessed me with many grandchildren,

and I thank you for each one.

I pray that I will carry on your hope to our future generations.

My prayer for each grandchild is that they will experience

your fullness in their daily walk with You.

May they desire to live for You, guard their steps,

and draw near to You, experiencing your love for them.

In times of testing may their hearts and minds be drawn to you,

causing them to remember your Word,

and give them a way to escape as you promise.

In addition, help them to honor you through the life

you’ve given to them.

Help me, as their grandfather to reflect a clear image of You

through the life you have given to me.

I trust You to give me patience and love to influence,

and encourage them into your grace.

I commit each one of my grandchildren into your care and blessing.

In Your precious name, I pray, Amen. 

Written by John Penner, Oregon, 2009

 In January of 2015 I was in Phoenix, AZ for the semi-annual meeting of America’s National Prayer Committee.  The host church, Central Christian, and their Prayer Pastor, Paul Covert, asked me to make an audio podcast for their web site, which is on that site during June.  If you have any interest in a 17½ minute discussion on why one should pray, go to the following link and scroll to “Why Pray” by Dan Crawford - http://discipleallnations.us7.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=0fedf52a277f7258cd10cd8a7&id=ee59d057d3&e=18db4a3b3d.

It was break time during the Prayer Conference when a participant said to me, “I like everything you are teaching us, but sometimes I just don’t feel like praying.” Do you ever refrain from praying because you just don’t feel like it?  It’s Ok to pray because you feel like it, but not OK to refrain from praying because you don’t feel like it. Indeed, life would be a mess if we only did that which we felt like doing, and refrained from doing those things we did not feel like doing. Feelings are fickle, and are easily influenced by circumstances, health, relationships, moods, morale, and the even the weather. Prayer is too much of a priority to be put at the mercy of feelings.  At Gethsemane, Jesus told His disciples to, “Watch and pray” (Mark 14:38), but they didn’t feel like doing either.  They felt like sleeping, and so they did, until Jesus returned and found them in that condition. Sleeping, watching, and praying are all important, and none should be ignored due to lack of feeling.  Sleep on, or pray on, but do not refrain from either due to a lack of feeling.

"It's a cultural change that needs to take place," said Sheriff John Rutherford, who was joined by several pastors. "...We cannot arrest our way out of a murder problem or violence problem. We have to start changing hearts." The Sheriff is correct. The only real solution to the culture of violence in this city is to change people. And, the only way to change people is through a transforming encounter with God.

We would like to invite you to join us in a movement with the goal of giving every person, young and old, in Jacksonville the opportunity to be authentically loved by at least one committed follower of Jesus Christ by the end of the year 2020. This authentic love involves followers of Jesus praying for their streets and neighborhoods, loving their neighbors in practical ways, and eventually sharing the Gospel with them. We call it the LoveJax2020 Challenge. This movement is drawn from a question asked to Jesus recorded in Matthew 22:36 and following.

"Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?"

Jesus replied, "'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments."

God can use you to begin loving your neighbors into the kingdom as a vital part of Transform Jacksonville & NE Florida​'s LoveJax2020 Challenge (visit http://www.lovejax2020.org/ for details.) We encourage you to Adopt-Your-Street - Jacksonville. Start by taking periodic walks through your neighborhood and quietly pray for your neighbors. Then, look for opportunities to express Christ-like care for their physical or "felt" needs. Lastly, look for ways to share the Good News of Jesus. It is as simple as, pray, care, share!

Those of us accepting the challenge will seek to be conformed to the standard of loving God with all of self and to love those around us with the same degree of care with which we attend ourselves.

We believe those who honestly, humbly, seeking, praying, and confessing engage the LoveJax2020 Challenge will emerge on the other end changed. And, when a group within a community is changed, the community will begin to be changed. And so, the ripple can go...all the way to changing a city.

How about you? Do you have the courage to take the LoveJax2020 Challenge? Our city is at stake.

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story/news/crime/2015/05/05/jso-operation-pie-outreach-initiative/26932843/

"Stop calling some neighborhoods good and some bad!.... It categorically denies the dignity, worth, and value that God places in every human being, meanwhile, minimizing the ugliness and sin that exists in our own hearts and the lives of those who live in neighborhoods we think of as good ones," says our friend, Ruth Arnold, the Director 2nd Mile Ministries.

If we read and absorb this blog, I believe we will find that Ms Arnold has pulled a fast one on us–showing that the “edge” of culture is actually the Center of the Kingdom. It takes a woman to know that, and it takes faith to believe it!

http://allpeople.blogs.efca.org/2015/05/good-neighborhoods/

Grandparent’s Day of Prayer- September 13, 2015  

  I want to share a special event with you that will be taking place on Sunday, September 13, 2015. Christian Grandparenting Network is asking grandparents all over the world to unite in prayer for their grandchildren on Sunday, September 13, 2015. This date is the official United States National Grandparents Day designated by a Senate proclamation signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1978.

Our grandchildren are living in a desperate moral and spiritual climate navigating in a world hostile to truth. Satan has launched an aggressive attack on all fronts using media, technology, education, social influences and political pressures to desensitize and cloud the boundaries of truth and righteousness that hold nations and families together. Perhaps at no other time in our history is a call to prayer more urgently required than it is today for our grandchildren.

The mission of Christian Grandparenting Network is to promote effective grandparenting, which is intentional about helping our children and
grandchildren know and follow Christ wholeheartedly.

NOW it is calling all grandparents to join in prayer in their churches, community and around the world for an intentional day of prayer on behalf of the next generation.

To indicate participation in the movement or organize a time of prayer for grandparents go to http://www.grandparentsdayofprayer.com. You may find additional information and order promotional resources on the website.

Please email me at lpenner@christiangrandparenting.net for additional information or questions or go to  www.grandparentsdayofprayer.com

Please share this blog with your friends.

May God show favor on your grandparenting,

Lillian Penner,
National Prayer Coordinator
Christian Grandparenting Network

We pray that by the year-end of 2020, every person in Jacksonville would be authentically loved by at least one follower of Jesus.

We believe that the greatest gift we can give a person is an opportunity to know that God loves them and cares deeply about them. Such love is not an emotion, but a choice.

Followers of Jesus do not love on the basis of how we feel because real love is not a transaction based upon performance, but upon a relationship.  This understanding of love lead us to view loving God and others more as the purpose of life itself rather than a rule to be obeyed.

We believe the commandment to love comes to us from God, who is Holy Love.  This means our ego is not the gatekeeper of love, but that our lives are the channels through whom God’s love reaches the world.

Jesus’ words, “Love one another as I have loved” (John 15:12) make the command one of opportunity, not obligation–one of privilege, not pressure.  Our will to live is itself fueled by love–we love because he first loved us (1John 4:19). 

Give love a try! When we are transformed by God’s love, this experience saturates us, we cannot imagine not loving, and we lose interest in trying to decide when, where, how, to what extent, and whom to love.  In fact, we realize that the most soul-wearying thing we can ever do is to be the self-appointed managers of God’s love. 

The impact of love in the New Testament is altogether consuming. After all:

• It never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8);
• It covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8);
• It casts out fear (1 John 4:18);
• It speaks truth (Ephesians 4:15);
• It lays down its life (John 15:13);
• Nothing can separate us from it (Romans 5:35);
• It is unconditional (Romans 5:8);
• It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things (1 Corinthians 13:7);
• Faith works through it (Galatians 5:6);
• It operates in the invisible world (1 Peter 1:8);
• It is the first fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22);
• We are to pursue it until it overtakes us (1 Timothy 6:11);
• It is sincere (Romans 12:9); and finally
• It gives the best (John 3:16).

If we get into the habit of asking God to make His love real to us and to those we encounter, love will become the most powerful weapon in our arsenal. If it is not relevant to our city, then it is not relevant to any city. Without the power of Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection, we may have a good history, but we will not have good news.

Our prayer for the church at this hour is for love to simply be demonstrable, tangible, if you will. That’s why Transform Jacksonville & NE Florida has joined with the Mission America Coalition in sounding a trumpet call to bring God’s people to a simple and powerful lifestyle of praying, caring and sharing the love of Jesus Christ with those around us. Every Christian can be part of this loving lifestyle –loving regardless, loving anyway, and loving nevertheless.  This is not a knee-jerk, unconsidered love, but rather it is a Spirit-anointed love made possible by grace.  It is a love marked by passion for God and compassion for people.

http://www.lovejax2020.org

I just listened to a message by John Ortberg entitled "Who Is This Man?".  It's about the three-day story from Good Friday to Easter.  Ortberg characterized Saturday as the "day of silence" - of the three; it's the day that no one studies and no one knows much about.

This made me think a bit about the analogy to prayer, especially the prayer that arises from pain or crisis.  In practice, these prayers are rarely answered instantaneously. There's always a wait of some kind - a "day between" the prayer and the answer.  Sometimes it's a short "day" - sometimes the "day" lasts for years, or even a lifetime. Sometimes, in fact, we don't see the answer this side of heaven.

It strikes me that, if our prayer lives were compared to the three-day Easter story, we spend much more of our time in Saturdays than we do in Fridays or Sundays. Whether we wait for the answer to a prayer about healing or for the answer to a prayer about the gospel going to the nations - we wait. We have no choice but to wait, because the answer is not in our control.

But we do have a choice how we wait. Do we wait in despair and hopelessness, as the early disciples did? We skip over Saturday so quickly when we read the Easter story, but think for a minute about what they must have been going through. We can hardly fault them for losing hope - they hadn't read the end of the story like we have. Sure, they had Jesus' predictions about rising from the dead, but the actual event was so far beyond their experience that they didn't understand the predictions.

Or do we wait in eager anticipation, not knowing exactly how God will answer, only knowing that he will? Do we allow the evidence of history - the evidence of God's faithfulness - to bolster our own faith so that our waiting, far from being torture, is more like the anticipation that comes before Christmas?

If I'm honest, most of my waiting is somewhere between these two extremes. Not total despair, because I can quietly trust that God will answer - but also not the eager anticipation of someone who just KNOWS that that answer will be "immeasurably more than all I ask or imagine". God has some work to do on me yet, to make the most of my Saturdays. How about you?

 Would you like suggestions of how to pray for your elementary aged grandchildren? This week I will give you some suggestions to help you pray intentionally for your elementary-aged grandchildren.

Suggestions to Pray for ELEMENTARY - AGE CHILDREN,

Pray they will:

 Discover their God-given gifts and talents.

1. Develop a sense of satisfaction and enjoy using their skills.
2. Be motivated, disciplined and challenged in their learning experiences.
3. Treat others with respect.
4. Stand firm for what is right and refuse the wrong with a positive attitude.
5. Choose friendships wisely.
6. Obey their parents.
7. Understand their need for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
8. Develop a strong and healthy self-esteem and self-confidence.

10. Have a safe, healthy classroom environment.

11. Be protected from the deception of the enemy

12. Develop a hunger for God’s Word.

Taken from the prayer card ”Suggestions to Pray for School Children.”

By Lillian Penner

©2009

This article is excerpted from the Campus Renewal Magazine at

http://www.campusrenewal.org/revival-at-william-mary/

The College of William & Mary was chartered in 1693 and has rich history embedded within its well-worn brick pathways and aged brick buildings. It is said that students who go to William & Mary enter in with aspirations of changing the world and leave with the ability to do so. Within the nation, the university is known as an academically rigorous “Public Ivy League” and a very liberal school. By most people’s standards, revival and Williamsburg, Virginia are two of the last things that would ever go together.

And yet, God is moving.

The Beginnings of a Movement

“It’s quite difficult to describe how exactly this got started on our campus, simply because it’s difficult to describe what exactly this is,” says Jena Gray, a junior at William & Mary. “The best I can do is say that this is a very clear move of the Lord and that joy and freedom are racing each other throughout our campus, laughing the entire way.”

Though she has been a Christian for many years, Gray says she only truly began following Jesus during the second semester of her freshman year. Since then, she says the Lord has directed her heart towards her campus and she has been praying for revival, freedom, and joy for about a year and a half. Sophomore year, she says, felt dry and barren and much like a season of “pruning”. But this semester, things started to change.

“The state of Christianity on our historic campus has been viscous to the onlooker, seemingly stagnant but upon close scrutiny, there was movement – slow and steady,” Gray says. “Yet like all viscous liquids when heat is applied, energy increases, and similarly, the fire of the Holy Spirit has been fueling a movement and the flow of Jesus-lovers has been pouring out into all areas of the campus this semester.”

Worship, Prayer and Everything In Between

According to Gray, many opportunities for united worship and prayer have been springing up on the William & Mary campus. On Wednesdays at 9pm, students gather together in one of the campus buildings for “Worship Wednesday” – a gathering where Christian students can meet, worship and pray together. Birthed out of a prayer night held in March 2014, “Worship Wednesday” launched last Fall and has since become a weekly event that many students look forward to.

A partnership has also formed between W&M students and students from Christopher Newport University, a neighboring campus about 25 minutes away. “One Sunday night I called up one of my friends at Christopher Newport University,” says Gray. “I asked John if he or anyone from CNU could lead worship the following night at 8pm and Monday evening, 9 CNU brothers and sisters showed up. It was a beautiful time of worship with 9 CNU students and 10 W&M students in my friend Catherine’s living room.”

Gray believes God is working to cement the relationships between CNU and W&M students. “I was overwhelmed by how much God wanted this to happen and by how much of a bond [Christian] brothers and sisters have – that these friends and Jesus-lovers from CNU would pile into two cars on a Monday night to worship with us,” she says.

Missional Living

Gray and her friends have also been looking for ways to be missional and provide alternate settings where Christians can express their faith, while creating a safe place for non-Christians to attend, ask questions and hopefully encounter God.

“Catherine and I began ‘Creative Space’ at the Hearth (the name of Catherine’s house),” Gray explains. “The heart behind having people over to The Hearth is to have an open gathering for those interested in all art forms: poetry, baking, knitting, painting, instruments, and the like; to create a platform through which authentic conversations can be sparked, eventually leading to relationships founded on the commonality of art in order for the Gospel to be shared.”

“Basically, we want to reach the hipsters on our campus,” Gray says with a smile.

Once again, CNU students teamed up with her, and brought art supplies and canvases to The Hearth. But it hasn’t been without challenges. Gray says she found herself disappointed when not as many students showed up as she would have liked. It was on a trip to a local campus coffee house that her perspective started to shift. “As I walked inside the small house entrenched in darkness and despair, I knew this is where the people I most wanted to reach were. I felt the Lord say to me, ‘Jena, how do you expect people to come to you if you don’t go to them?’”

Being The Church

That opportunity soon presented itself on a frigid February Monday night when their regular prayer gathering coincided with a roommate’s party at The Hearth in celebration of classes being canceled the next day.

“Charlotte knew we were having worship from 8pm-10pm but it was fine with her that we were going to worship while her friends were over,” Gray recounts. “As Christian after Christian poured in, the non-believing hipsters poured drink after drink, staying pretty much in the kitchen or on the porch smoking all sorts of things. As our friend Jeremy began worship, everyone was slightly uncomfortable. No one had ever been in a situation quite like that before,” Gray says in bemusement. “All in all we had 26 Christians there worshipping and there were about 15 of Charlotte’s friends in a small house on a snowy night.”

What could have remained an awkward situation soon turned into spontaneous collaboration as one of the non-Christian guys picked up a violin he happened to have brought and joined in the worship. Over the next two hours, intrigued by the worship music, some of the non-Christians drew near to the living room, allowing for spiritual conversations to ensue.

At the end of the night, as the group transitioned to an a Capella rendition of “Nothing But The Blood”, the entire house fell silent. “Absolutely no one was talking but everyone was listening to us singing ‘Oh precious is the Lamb’ at the top of our lungs,” Gray says. “It truly felt as if the strongholds on our campus were being shaken loose from the sheer volume of our voices. Upon the final verse, I closed us in prayer and I distinctly remember not a single sound as everyone, all 40 people were listening to me talk to God about the life, joy, and freedom that is found in Him and how I was praying for our campus to discover those things in Jesus Christ.”

A Campus Awakening

In the last year, Gray has joyfully watched as the Christian community on her campus has grown from her and 2 friends fervently praying for revival to a thriving group of 18 students continuously interceding for the campus. Lives are being transformed, and they have even seen things stirring among athletes as 2 senior football players and a junior female lacrosse player have surrendered their lives to Christ. In total, there are over 300 Christians spread across 14 campus ministries, of which 20 student leaders meet regularly to pray and worship together outside of their regular ministry meetings. According to Gray, the number of students who label themselves as Christians far exceeds 300, but currently, 300 are active members of a church and/or ministry on campus. And Gray is confident that this is only the beginning.

“God is pouring out His Spirit over Williamsburg, and William & Mary will never be the same,” Gray says. “Laughter will replace stress; life will replace suicide; and joy will replace depression. Most of all, Jesus will reign over our campus now and forevermore. Revival is here.” Most recently, Gray has signed up with Campus Renewal, pledging to personally pray daily, pray weekly with others, fast monthly and host an annual gathering on her campus.

“I chose to ‘join the movement’ because God is doing a big work here and any resources that He can provide us through Campus Renewal are vital and will be put to use,” she says emphatically. “Our campus is being transformed by the Lord through prayer and worship so we are joining the movement alongside other believers and other campuses and declaring that the movement of the Holy Spirit is welcome here at the College of William & Mary.”

Written by Kimberly Chung

Kimberly Chung is the founder of the National Media Department at Campus Renewal and served as National Media Director for 8 years. She now serves as the Student Leadership Development Director, helping to develop and mentor student leaders who she hopes will impact the next generation for Christ. She is also the editor-in-chief of the Campus Renewal Magazine and enjoys writing and reporting on stories of what God is doing on college campuses around the nation.

While teaching a class on Prayer at the Hong Kong Baptist Seminary, I quoted Isaiah 30:15 to illustrate prayerful meditation, “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” The blank look of the faces of the students told me I needed to stay on this subject a bit longer. Facing me was a classroom of Chinese students who lived in a city where “quietness” was non-existent. So if a source of strength is silence, and you live in 24/7 noise, how can you be strong? I went back to my apartment following class that evening, certain that I had failed to adequately answer the blank stares of my students. By the next class meeting, I had concluded that “quietness” does not always mean the absence of noise. Sometimes, it means the disciplined focus of the mind. Who has not lived in the midst of noise, near a railroad track, by a busy freeway, adjacent to an airport runway, or just in the midst of loud people, without learning how to block out the noisy? Familiarity with noise often breeds inner silence. So whether you are in a quiet place or a noisy place, be confident of this one thing: strength is available to you, at the price of self-discipline.

Last week I began a series of blog posts calling for extraordinary prayer that in the power of God might sweep the earth. Such extraordinary prayer will need to come from several fronts. One of the most important focuses of our prayer needs to be Bible colleges and seminaries. If we look back through history at times when God moved mightily on human society, we see that He always raised up men to work through. So it stands to reason that if we want to be a part of an end-time revival, we should direct extraordinary prayer toward young people who sense the call of God on their lives.

We have begun this on one campus of a large multi-site seminary on the west coast. The students, faculty and staff were given questionnaires with questions about how we could pray for them. We also invited volunteers and support staff to fill out prayer questionnaires. Janitors and secretaries play an important part in what God is doing on campuses. They are often used by God to impact the lives of students. Brother Laurence touches lives to this day. He was a dishwasher in an obscure monastery.

We compiled the answers given, put them on flash drives and asked people at a regional denomination meeting to commit to pray for the seminary. People signed up pray leaving their e-mail addresses where they could be sent additional prayer requests. All of our prepared flash drives were given out before the program could be announced on the floor of the meeting.

This ministry could be contagious. Students could be sent to speak in churches asking people to commit to pray for the students and the school. Pastors’ could encourage church members to sign up. People who have hardly prayed for anyone but themselves could catch the vision to pray for a new generation of spiritual leaders.

Please pray for me as I write college and seminary presidents to present this idea. Pray that they will be receptive. Pray that they will become passionate for this. This will require busy staffs to take on new responsibilities. This will cost time and money. Pray for God to provide. And such an undertaking will certainly arouse spiritual opposition. Pray for spiritual protection for schools, students, and churches we will ask to become involved. And watch with me as God glorifies His name by raising up a mighty spiritual army to touch the world in these days.

PrayerShop Publishing is soon releasing a new book, Pray the Word for Your Church, which is a 31-prayer guide of Scripture prayers to pray, plus a journal to keep you on target in praying for the leaders and ministries in your church. Here is a sample prayer:

Speaking Truthfully with One Another

Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. Ephesians 4:25

Heavenly Father, I come to You today confessing my great need of the work of the Holy Spirit in the deepest places of my heart.  It is written in Your Word that You desire truth in my inner being, so I ask, Father, that truth be found at the core of who I am.

I know the words that I should bring into Your presence, but the falseness of my heart so often escapes me. O God have mercy on me I pray. Shine the spotlight of the Holy Spirit on every corner of my heart, expose all darkness and every lie. (Pause and be still in God’s presence).

I come to You, Father, on behalf of my church community and ask that in the hearts of my brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, truth would also be found. Jesus said that it is out of the overflow of our hearts, that our mouths are fed with words to build up or to tear down. So I ask, Father, that we might be people of truth deep within our hearts.

May we put off everything that is less than truth I pray. 

Destroy exaggeration, deception of all kinds, false flattery--every expression of falsehood.

May the ways that we lie to protect ourselves, or to avoid admonishing one another, be put to death. 

Instead, teach us to speak the truth in love to one another that we might encourage one another to grow up in Christ and continue in our pilgrimage with Him until we see His face.

In all things, in every opportunity, may we be those who encourage and build each other up as we speak truthfully with one another.  Do this I pray that Jesus, who is the Way the Truth and the Life, would be seen and proclaimed with greater freedom and joy among us. Begin with me Lord, for this is the desire of my heart.

I ask this in submission to Your Word, O God, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Psalm 51:6; Isaiah 29:13; Luke 6:45; Colossians 3:9; Ephesians 4:15; Hebrews 10:25; 1 Thessalonians 5:11

It takes more than a great church to reach a city, it takes a great movement of churches. This video featuring an interview with Tom McLeod reminds us all that the Church's core mission is to offer people creative ways to bless your neighbors.

From the very beginning, God’s way of reaching and restoring the world has always been through what I would call a blessing strategy…how do we in a very practical way that’s theologically grounded explain to people how they could bless people in places they are incarnating?

The answer is found in Luke 10:1-9. In this passage Jesus instructs His disciples to go into cities and do four things:

Bless
Speaking peace to the people they meet: “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house’.

Fellowship
Listening to find out where the pain and brokenness: “Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you, for the laborer is worthy of his wages.”

Minister
Talking to God about someone else's problem: “Heal those in it who are sick.“

Declare
Letting it be known that the kingdom of God is near: “Say to them, the kingdom of God has come near to you.”

We see in these four steps a movement toward incarnation in which we not only "march for Jesus" but we "move in" for Jesus and immerse ourselves in our communities, not just our "churches."

BLESSING opens the door to unbiased fellowship. Begin with prayer. We want you to ask, ‘God how do you want me to bless the people in the places you’ve sent me to?’ You cannot change what I do not embrace.

FELLOWSHIP. Don’t talk, but listen to people, their struggles, their pains, in the places God sent you. You can’t just check this off. It’s not quick.You cannot fix what you don't know is broken. You have to have a meal with people or a cup of coffee. It builds relationships and establishes a level of trust, allowing our neighbors to share with us their felt needs.

MINISTER. If you listen with people and you eat with people they will tell you how to love them and you’ll know how to drive them. Pray for their felt needs so that you connect their need with God's resources.

DECLARE. When we intercede for our neighbors, the kingdom of God comes near them in a tangible way. Say to them, "The kingdom of God has come near to you’” (Luke 10:9) and then confirm that the power and presence of God is "in the neighborhood" as you share the story of how Jesus changed your life.

Simply put, this blessing strategy, is talking to God about our neighbors before we talk to our neighbors about God. It is our hope that the pattern and possibility of Luke 10 can be expanded throughout Jacksonville. That is why we have set the goal to have each of the over 15,000 streets in this, America's geographically largest city, adopted and being actively and regularly prayer walked by the end of the decade.

Genesis 12:2-3 says, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

http://vimeo.com/118424181