Sep 29th 09 Posted by Natalie Nichols in Passionate Pursuit, Prayer

Is Prayer Really the Pits?

The shabby prayer life of the church these days could be termed “the pits.”  But I propose this term for a whole different reason.  Did you know that you play in an orchestra – or rather, you “pray” in an orchestra?

In June of this year, the Holy Spirit began speaking to me about starting the Passionate Pursuit season off right – with an evening of worship and prayer.  “Just for one night,” He whispered, “put away the door prizes, fancy food and decorations.  Let God alone be your focus.”

“Yes, sir,” I replied. “Our first Passionate Pursuit of the season will be solely an evening of seeking God’s face.”  The format He immediately brought to mind was a Concert of Prayer.  Simply put, an evening of prayer with interludes of worshipful songs. Just as instruments in a symphony orchestra come together for an evening in concert, we bring together the instruments of our voices in prayer.

As a music major, this concept is familiar.  It was a way of life for many years.  I never played in an orchestra, but I spent many hours attending performances.  Gorgeous ones!  Oh how beautiful the sound that still echoes in my ear today!

In the music school of the university, I witnessed countless orchestra rehearsals – woodwinds, brass, strings, percussion – all practicing together according to their kind.

Choir was a similar experience.  I remember spending countless hours alone singing through a musical score in the college practice rooms, or in my apartment (to my neighbor’s chagrin!).  At choir rehearsal I would practice in small groups – with the altos or sopranos – according to my part. If you sing in choir at church, you can relate.

But what if the music stopped there? What if the director had never instructed the basses, tenors, altos and sopranos all to come together and sing according to the composer’s score?  The entire purpose of the music would have been missed! The composer’s creation would never have been completed…at least not for our enjoyment.  Another choir might have reaped the benefits of the composer’s piece, but not us.

So it is with the Concert of Prayer!  We pray through the musical score – the Scriptures – in our prayer closet each day. We often pray in small groups at church too, as we will do at the Concert.  But we rarely ever come together as a whole as believers and combine our instruments in concert. Which leads me to ask the question: what are we missing? What Heavenly score written for our enjoyment and the will of the Composer is being missed?! Especially when prayer is the mechanism through which we do everything for God and receive all from God.  We cannot truly worship, if not through prayer.  We cannot walk, if not through prayer.  We cannot work, if not through prayer.  We cannot witness, if not through prayer.  Prayer is the oxygen of our life with Christ, individually and corporately.  God has written purposes into the “music” of our lives as an individual, a church, a community and a nation.  But these purposes will never be fulfilled in their entirety if our prayer life is neglected – individually and corporately.

A few days after committing to this concept of a Concert of Prayer, the Lord led me a step further.  “If you really want to experience a move of God, you will make prayer and seeking a priority as a group throughout the year,” He said.  “Have a weekly concert too.”

Each Thursday at 6:30 (our normal Passionate Pursuit meeting time) we will pause for 5-10 minutes of prayer.  No matter where we are or what we are doing, we will meet before God’s throne, praying in concert the Composer’s score. When we come together the first Thursday of the month and combine our voices in concert, what Heavenly music will be made!  What benefits we will reap because of both our private and public concert!

Our Passionate Pursuit Team has already launched the concert – praying for you, the church and the nation.  Last Thursday when we met together in person for prayer, God rocked the house!!!   We wept and prayed and wept and prayed, singing praises too.  The Holy Spirit gave us His prayers – prayers for the needs in each others’ lives as well.  God has already worked a HUGE miracle in the lives of one of the families as a result!  A bondage that no court battle could break and no amount of money could free was broken today!  As a result of prayer, the spiritual ground beneath the life of a little child quaked last week…Heaven moved and bondages broke.

No doubt, there is a child in your life for whom a spiritual battle is being fought. Come let us combine our prayers with yours on their behalf. Or perhaps Satan is attacking your marriage, your loved ones, your business, your health.  No matter the target, we know he is bent on destruction, but our God is mighty to save!  And He responds to the prayers of His people!  (If you are watching via webcast, you can enter your prayers in the social stream to join the concert.)

Later this summer, I began to research the place of the Concert of Prayer in history…and boy was I quickly amazed by what I found!  I had surmised that it was a late 20th century term.  Nothing could be further from the truth:

“The Concert of Prayer for the Conversion of the World” was first suggested by the leading revivalists in Scotland, in October, 1744, and resulted in the Scottish Awakening.  Jonathan Edwards echoed the call here in America.  In 1794, invoking Edwards’ call, a group of ministers agreed that beginning in January 1795, two o’clock on the first Tuesday of the four quarters of the year would be set aside for a concert of prayer in support of the new awakening.  Historian James Rohrer concludes, “From this perspective we might reasonably mark the beginning of the ‘Second Great Awakening’ at the renewal of the United Concert for Prayer in the early 1790s.

History is replete with examples of the impact of prayer united across denominational lines.  No revival in the world, the nation, the community or the church has ever begun without united, consistent, concerted prayer. God moves and reveals Himself in proportion to our prayers and pursuit. Scripture declares this truth. History echoes it’s principle.

Join us October 1st in Lufkin, TX – or at https://www.https://www.shadesofgrace.org for the live webcast!   And join us each Thursday at 6:30 a.m. and/or p.m. for a united moment of prayer.  I urge you not to wait – have your own concert of prayer and praise today!

I pray that To The Point, a new web page featuring quotes on prayer, will encourage you.  The Practice Room (below) is a prayer from my journal.  Since today is our Concert Day, I have posted a prayer from my personal concert with the PP Team.  This prayer was emailed to greet them as they began their concert day, Thursday, Sept 10th. Know that I am praying these words for you today.
Save the date: Thursday, October 1st, 7:00 p.m. Come be a part of an incredible evening, as we combine our individual “instruments” of prayer in concert.  How glorious and life changing the result will be as we pray the score of Scripture with the Holy Spirit as our conductor!  Join me in a Passionate Pursuit and let’s experience God’s promised reward.

“…for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” Hebrews 11:6 (emphasis added).

See you at the pit – the spiritual orchestra pit!   I look forward to praying with you there!

The Practice Room

May the Lord give you a day of feeling His heart, seeing what He sees – longing for and walking in more of His holiness.

May He give you a hunger for Him that grows with each passing moment!  Father, I thank you for my sisters in Christ, who have been such a blessing and encouragement to me…and to SO MANY!!!   Make your presence evident throughout their entire day today.  Speak to their need.  Be more real, more tangible and more known than any thing we hear, see, taste or touch today.

Father, among us we have prodigal daughters, ill husbands, hurting friends, financial needs, busy schedules, stressful jobs…and so much, much more.    You know what particular burden my sister woke up bearing today.  Will you speak to her specifically about it?  Work wonders and give her evidences of your work on her behalf.  Tenderly assure her of your loving Hand and distant eyes that are seeing her way through.

Lord, I thank you for the hunger you have placed in me recently, for the way it increases exponentially day by day.  But I want more.  I want to feel your love and your ache for the lost!  I want to see their eternity in Hell and be moved to boldness and compassion!  I want to feel your anguish!  I want to see what you see – see how ungodly I am living, not just the Church as a whole.  I want to see what a sewage of flesh and compromise exists in me!  I want to be holy as you are holy!  Remove every carnal, compromised, fleshly value and preoccupation in my life. No more games.  No more tempering of heavenly desire.  Possess me!  ALL of me!  Immerse me in the fire of your Word!  Show me things I have never seen!   Lord, I want to be entirely yours and entirely right before you today.  Not tomorrow…or next week or next month.  Today!  Let me live with eternity clearly, unavoidable, blindingly in view!!!!

Now bless my sisters, Father.  Give them a great day in You!  Give us all your prayers to pray today.  Father, I cannot begin to pray for the upcoming event if anything unaddressed remains between me and you.  So Father, purify me.  Prepare and enable us to be the spiritual influence upon the lives of others that you have called us to be.  In Jesus Name, So be it!

 
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