The conundrum is resolved! I am including the final draft of my one page (double spaced) article on prayer for any and all who would like to see what I would write to a church that has no paradigm for IHOP. It's not much, but it'll do.
Once again it’s time for the Nightwatch at the International House of Prayer. Settling into my blue chair, I prepare for another six hour shift. From midnight to six a.m, I pray, worship, read the Word, and declare that the night belongs to the Lord. What would ever posses a person to pray all night? Two main motivations thrust me into this life of prayer.
The first was the realization that many who are up from 12-6 a.m. are not engaging in godly activity. This gives me a sense of urgency to pray for my generation, that they will stop giving themselves to darkness and come into salvation through Jesus Christ. The second motivation is that most people who are awake at night are blaspheming the name of God. Because of this, I want to be one of the few who will bless the Lord and love Him in the night. Psalm 134 says, “Behold, bless the Lord all you servants of the Lord who by night stand in the house of the Lord!” I am called to see who God has revealed Himself to be through His word and bless Him for it. God wants me to worship Him and to minister to His heart as much as He wants me to pray and minister to others around me.
As National Day of Prayer draws near, I would like to give you a few helpful hints about prayer. The first is that your prayers don’t have to be long and wordy to be heard. Five and ten second prayers count significantly. Each time that you turn your heart to the Lord and ask Him for something, He hears and He will move on your behalf. The second is the power of praying scripture. The bible is chock full of promises that the Lord has given us for every situation. If you are confused, then you can pray for wisdom and revelation (Eph 1:17-19). If you need to know that God loves you, then you can pray to know the depth of God’s love (Eph 3:16-19).
These two things have helped me stay in the place of prayer more than anything else. I have seen that things really do change when people pray. It is crazy but true. He can’t help but answer His bride crying out for His kingdom to come. I bless you guys as you continue in your life of prayer, and I am praying for you!
Sincerely,
Charity Bates
Intercessory Missionary IHOP-KC
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7 comments:
Wow! That must have been hard to whittle down 2 1/2 years of prayer to simply. . . that. I thought it was beautifully simple and accurately precise. Easy to understand and comprehensively deep. You're awesome and I hope you get some rest after battling over what to write. I'm sure you're analytical brain is not done thinking about it, though :).
bravo...(*standing ovation*)
I think you conveyed the reality of prayer quite well. Perhaps it will bait people to look at their own prayers as not insignificant, but as you said that they "count significantly. It's so easy for us to discount our own efforts because we truly can never do enough, yet He doesn't want "enough" -- He just wants us. As Terri said yesterday in class, "We don't need more of Him; He needs more of us!"
Again, bravo... well said...
Chock...
To be able to communicate what we do in so few Words...Excellent.
Can I steal it (and give you full credit) and use in my support letter? I'll even suggest that the supper wealth on my list donate to you!
Hi...not to be too off topic here, but I was wondering--is this the Charity that came down to Houston with the ministry team about 2 years ago to minister at Encourager Church? If so, I'm one of the folks ya'll ministered to...hope you and your friends are doing well and being continually pierced by His love !
This was well written Charity! I even want to copy it and hand it out to help motivate people to pray!
hope things are well in KC, make sure you keep Jared in line for me, k? Give him a nice sisterly-punch every now and again and tell him I told you to do it :D
Hello! My name is Alan and I'm a missionary in Panama with my wife and son. To be brief, I have been feeling recently like God wants me to go be an intercessory missionary in IHOP and I wanted to know if you have any advice on how I could raise the support? I live on support here in Panama of course, but IHOP requires far more than I recieve and I know that I'll lose a lot of it when I tell those who do support me now that I will be leaving Panama. They support me because they have a heart for this country. So, that's all, I just wanted to ask if you had any advice on that, thanks for your time and many blessings in Jesus name!
Alan
alan.crookham@gmail.com
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