The Precursor to a True Breakthrough
So I went a visited a friends church last night, and it was mind blowing.
I'll be honest it didn't have any special programs or super awesome media and music. It's worship was the norm for most Apostolic Pentecostal churches. It really wasn't anything special during service. The preaching while very good and anointed was comparable to most Pentecostal preaching going on around the world on a Wednesday night. It really was a typical service for a Pentecostal church.
But I arrived about 20 mins before service started, I arrived during prayer time. Now my whole life I've attended Pentecostal churches and my entire life I've been to pre-service prayer. And it's generally goes something like this, "Lord bless this service, God move in this place, help the singers and musicians to play well, and help the preacher, amen", now where are my friends so I can socialize. But this prayer service was the truly mind blowing part of the service, it really is the only part I remember. I don't walked in to a Prayer Meeting. These people weren't just praying for the service, they were speaking in tongues, they were spending time with God. They built this atmosphere of praise and worship that was staggering. And then the friend that I went to visit walks in. And he comes and says "hey man, glad you could come," but then he says something that catches my attention and has held it ever since. "I'll be back, but first I'm going to go pray through before service". Wait a minute, pray through before service, what is this weird concept. My entire life praying through happens at the end of service in the alter call, after God moves. It showed me, wow we really have it wrong, we as a church have got this mentality of God you move, God you anoint the service, then I'll come pray through.
How wrong is that.
2 Chronicles 7:14 says
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.
2 Chronicles 7:14-15
It doesn't say I will heal their land and then they'll pray. It doesn't say, I'll move and then they'll pray. No it says they pray then I'll move. They pray then I'll heal their lands.
Mainstream Christianity has largely missed the mark in this respect. We expect God to work then we will have faith. I myself have questioned God, Lord do this or do that and I'll have faith in you. No. That is not how it works, we have faith in God and then he works. It doesn't say that he will move the mountain and then we have the faith of a mustard seed.
The thought running through my mind is what if the church as a whole decided to start pushing, praying until something happens. We would change the world. What happened to powerful prayer meetings and prayer rooms before church services, did they die out with the older generations. We were supposed to pick up the mantle not replace it. We were supposed to build upon it, we were supposed to take it to the next level, not let it die out. What next will we start to allow to die out, our holiness, our salvation?
It's time to start taking back the traditions and standards, and I feel that we should start out with the prayer rooms.
We all talk about this great desire for a revival, we all talk about how we want to see the miracles and days of old. The modern churches all lament about how they desire to have the movings and power of God that our grandparents had, but we aren't willing to put in the work that they did. We aren't willing to seek Gods face in a prayer room, we are not willing to push and break down walls and totally sell out before the service ever starts. The modern church had built this large facade of truly being God seeking people, but we are more willing to just wait until the hyped up emotionalism at the ending of the service move us. But we should be moved long before we ever get to that point. The word is supposed to be the planting of the seed, so where is the plowing at, why do we wait till the end of service, after the seed has been sown to actually began to prepare the spirit to receive it. No we need to bring back prayer rooms, we need to get back to broken and Malleable souls to come into church prepared to receive the seed. Last year at camp one night it flooded, so most of the girls couldn't leave their dorms to get to the service, well most of the boys and some girls and the preachers were in the tabernacle already. So we had a prayer meeting, and I'm talking God moved in that building before service ever started. We made a connection to God and we got our hearts right and stepped into the presence before the service started. Then the girls arrived and we got to have real service. That night the worship team sang the same songs, they followed the same order, nothing really changed, but we didn't have to usher in the spirit, it was already there, and then one of the preachers began to prophecy, and it broke out. The spirit poured out in ways that I have rarely seen. Fire fell that service, and we can discuss what caused it, but I will always maintain that it was because we had already opened our hearts before service. We had already prayed through, and then God could finally move in the way he wanted. We began service with breaking barriers and preparing the soil of our hearts, so that we could finish service on a whole other level.
All I ask is what if we began to move the passionate prayer and soul searching and praying through to before church, then the whole service will become purposeful and we won't spend the first two songs getting warmed up. What if? Why not? Why not have passionate prayer beforehand, why don't we began to reintroduce ourselves to the prayer room? Why not is all I ask, try it and see the difference.
Mainstream Christianity has largely missed the mark in this respect. We expect God to work then we will have faith. I myself have questioned God, Lord do this or do that and I'll have faith in you. No. That is not how it works, we have faith in God and then he works. It doesn't say that he will move the mountain and then we have the faith of a mustard seed.
The thought running through my mind is what if the church as a whole decided to start pushing, praying until something happens. We would change the world. What happened to powerful prayer meetings and prayer rooms before church services, did they die out with the older generations. We were supposed to pick up the mantle not replace it. We were supposed to build upon it, we were supposed to take it to the next level, not let it die out. What next will we start to allow to die out, our holiness, our salvation?
It's time to start taking back the traditions and standards, and I feel that we should start out with the prayer rooms.
We all talk about this great desire for a revival, we all talk about how we want to see the miracles and days of old. The modern churches all lament about how they desire to have the movings and power of God that our grandparents had, but we aren't willing to put in the work that they did. We aren't willing to seek Gods face in a prayer room, we are not willing to push and break down walls and totally sell out before the service ever starts. The modern church had built this large facade of truly being God seeking people, but we are more willing to just wait until the hyped up emotionalism at the ending of the service move us. But we should be moved long before we ever get to that point. The word is supposed to be the planting of the seed, so where is the plowing at, why do we wait till the end of service, after the seed has been sown to actually began to prepare the spirit to receive it. No we need to bring back prayer rooms, we need to get back to broken and Malleable souls to come into church prepared to receive the seed. Last year at camp one night it flooded, so most of the girls couldn't leave their dorms to get to the service, well most of the boys and some girls and the preachers were in the tabernacle already. So we had a prayer meeting, and I'm talking God moved in that building before service ever started. We made a connection to God and we got our hearts right and stepped into the presence before the service started. Then the girls arrived and we got to have real service. That night the worship team sang the same songs, they followed the same order, nothing really changed, but we didn't have to usher in the spirit, it was already there, and then one of the preachers began to prophecy, and it broke out. The spirit poured out in ways that I have rarely seen. Fire fell that service, and we can discuss what caused it, but I will always maintain that it was because we had already opened our hearts before service. We had already prayed through, and then God could finally move in the way he wanted. We began service with breaking barriers and preparing the soil of our hearts, so that we could finish service on a whole other level.
All I ask is what if we began to move the passionate prayer and soul searching and praying through to before church, then the whole service will become purposeful and we won't spend the first two songs getting warmed up. What if? Why not? Why not have passionate prayer beforehand, why don't we began to reintroduce ourselves to the prayer room? Why not is all I ask, try it and see the difference.
Truly an incredible lesson learned and one that should definitely be put to use in many churches including our own.
ReplyDeleteThe sanctuary is very empty and, like you said, more of a "God touch this service" sort of prayer, during prayer time at our church. Now, nothing wrong with this kind of prayer, we need to pray over our services and call upon God to pour out an anointing on our church.
But it gets tot the point where, like you said, it becomes mainstream. We desire revival but we don't want to work hard at it even in the prayer room. Tilling up the soil in our hearts is more than just saying, "Okay God I'm here and I'm ready for your presence so come on in!" but it should defiantly be something deeper.
Growing up in Greenville church, this kind of prayer was had during their prayer time and also at the Benton church in Arkansas. Now that I think about it, they really desire to prepare their hearts for the Word and as you said, have a yearn to pray through before service.
I think I church could use this kind of praise before service. What say you if I told you we could most certainly bring it to our church? We can totally do it, but like you said, their needs to be a hunger.
Amazing stuff Mike and very inspiring! Kind of tough to hear, but that's the meat of the Word. Can't live off milk forever if you want to change the world right? Haha! Awesome stuff man I love it!
-Brad
Also, you should teach about this one Sunday morning ;)
Thank You Brad.
ReplyDeleteI agree, We need to dive deeper and deeper in to more passionate prayers. At the Savoy church where I grew up we had prayer services that never ended before church, we would walk out of the prayer room and take the prayer service into the regular worship service with us and the Holy Ghost would move in unprecedented ways. I agree that our church could totally use this. I think that we should talk to pastor about us using his office before services and start out by getting the youth in there. I may ask Trey about it.