by jeff Tunnell
www.bigbearchristiancenter.org
Hallelujah! Thine the glory, Hallelujah! Amen. Hallelujah! Thine the glory; Revive us again! The words kept running through my heart and head. Sitting to write I couldn’t shut off the familiar tune rolling over and over in my spirit and so I yielded. It was a cry coming from within after reflecting on the subject of prayer again. Revival is bringing back to the “normal” state something that is waning toward expiring.
Oh how much we need this in our worship of the Almighty.
Prayer, the outpouring of the heart to our Father, needs this reviving. Unrestrained worship as lifestyle, not simply a duty-filled, compartmentalized practice that fits neatly into a segment of my day. Prayer without ceasing; love without restriction. Comfortable conversation with Jesus and power-filled intercession guided by the Holy Spirit.
To come again as the child with faith that is simple and trusting. Believing once again that our Father in heaven can do anything in response to believing prayer. Pastor Mario Vega’s blogs on this subject are stirring me. Prayer dependency is a waning area of spiritual discpline in the western church. We can operate celebrations without much prayer in them. We know how to choreograph the meetings to look good and flow pretty seamlessly from beginning to end – but where is prayer? We have songs with words about US and how God meets OUR needs, but when do we lean into our need for Him?
Make us like children, revive us again to the simple dependency of faith in the Greater One!
Happy Thanksgiving (whether in the USA or not!)
Jeff, I feel your heart cry for prayer!
I visited a large church (at least a couple thousand in attendance) while in Florida recently and the worship before the pastor’s sermon was very professional. The last worship song was sung by a man with a great voice. An orchestra and full choir accompanied him. The people were sitting politely and watching, however there was no spirit of worship in the people.
In contrast, I visited a small church outside Washington D.C. this week. One member got up and sang a worship song without any accompanying musicians of singers. The presence of the Holy Spirit enveloped everyone in the congregation. We all felt the peace and love of Christ in a tangible way. Everyone entered into a sweet time of worship that lasted for quite some time. Could it have been the prayer life of the singer that made the difference?
Charles
Thank you Charles! And maybe the prayer life of the congregation was the invitation extended to the Holy Spirit to attend the service as well. Let’s become one of the people who, while yet on the way to service, are asking God to attend and be glorified in our midst!