Stuggling in Prayer for Others

During my coffeetime with Jesus this morning I read of a brother in the Lord name Epaphras, a Colossian Christian in prison with the Apostle Paul. I am amazed at what Paul writes about him in Col 4:13. Listen to this:

"Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God."

Amazing. Epaphras really believed the power of God could work through prayer. He believed this so much that he was willing to struggle on behalf of others so God's good purposes could be realized in their lives. Epaphras' prayer life was not one merely sweet with the aroma of God's good presence; his prayer life in part at least, was a struggle, a fight. And he was willing to fight on behalf of others so God could do whatever He needed to do them, so He could do whatever He wanted to do through them.

Please join in me in struggling in prayer on behalf of all who will attend the ARC Gathering, "The Empowering Presence." Join me in struggling in prayer so those God wants to attend this gathering - ARC member or guest - will in fact be there and will not give in to any temptation to not attend. Join me in struggling in prayer for those whose intellect may be getting in the way of receiving whatever God wants to do in their lives. Join me in struggling in prayer for those who need God to blow up their God boxes in any way so they can experience more fully who He is. Join me in struggling in prayer for those who need a breakthrough of any sort in their relationship with Holy Spirit. Join me in struggling in prayer for those who need any healing of old wounds that are still impacting their present in unhelpful ways - especially wounds from any charismatic heresy or practice they've experienced in the past.

Please join me in prayer. Let's fight the good fight. Let's be like Epaphras.

Thanks for your gift of time, and your willingness to struggle, on behalf of others (including ourselves) that we might encounter, experience, and receive whatever God has for us during these days we gather in Huntington Beach.

Praying for The ARC Gathering: The Empowering Presence

God's grace and peace to you all,

This morning during my coffeetime with Jesus I found myself moving into prayer for Lee Grady, Dave Householder, and all of our workshop presenters and worship leaders for the ARC Gathering on June 17-19. Please join me in prayer for these brothers and sisters, that they might hear a word of revelation from God as to what it is He wants to speak and do through them during the gathering. And please join me in prayer that God might be preparing our hearts to receive what He has for us.

As we move toward the gathering let us join in the prayer: "Lord, do whatever You need to do in us, so that You can do whatever You want to do through us." We pray for God's Spirit to fall upon us and be stirred up within us these days and to manifest His presence in whatever ways He knows we uniquely need. May He grace some of us with a spirit of repentance that turns us away from pursuits that feed our own ego. May He grace some of us with freedom from besetting sins that we have not been able to shake for years, even decades. May He grace some of us with healing for old wounds of the past that have still been influencing our present in unhealthy ways. May He grace some of us with a stirring up of His presence and power within us to enable us to serve Him even more effectively wherever He chooses to send us. May he nurture the growth of the fruit of His Spirit that we may become more and more like Jesus in who we are, not merely in what we know. Come Holy Spirit, come in power and in freedom and have Your way with us!

Let us pray that we all go home different than when we came. Let's pray that for ourselves and all those from our congregations who attend. Is there someone from your church body the Lord wants you to specifically invite to be there? Listen for the Lord's prompting and as He may bring someone to mind, dare to invite them. This gathering of course will not be the only place someone can have a God encounter. However, it may be God's appointed time and place for some; so, please listen and then act as you're prompted by God's Spirit. I remember experiencing this shortly after I came to The Master's Institute Seminary to join the staff. We were taking students on a missions trip to Mexico and I was prompted by a thought to invite a staff member to join the students on the trip. At the time, I wasn't sure if this was God or not, but the thought would not go away so in the end, I did invite the staff member. That staff person said yes, came on the trip, was powerfully impacted by the Holy Spirit, returned and became a student at MI and this Saturday, will graduate. Is there someone God is bringing to your mind, putting on your heart, to specifically invite and encourage to attend?

It will be fun to see what the Lord says to us, does in us, and then does through us as we go home to continue the ministry of Jesus in the world today through the power of Holy Spirit.

In God's Unshakable and Extravagant Love,

Mike