Great Day of Prayer Scheduled for This Sunday
Sunday, July 4, 2010 is a “Great Day of Prayer!” in Church of God congregations!
Doug Small, Liaison for Prayer Ministries is partnering with the Family Research Council in their effort to call the nation – congregation by congregation to their knees on that Sunday Morning. Imagine every congregation in America – 325,000 of them – on their knees on the same Sunday, praying for the nation. That’s the vision of “A – The Call 2 Fall.” Nothing fancy. No slick program. No big production. Just a definite time during worship on July 4, 2010 when you call your people to get on their knees and faces before the Lord in repentant prayer for God to reshape our lives and renew our land.
Every Christ-follower in America can join in. Every Church of God should. Multiplied millions realize that America is in trouble and that neither Washington nor Wall Street has the answers. The goal is 40,000 churches will join in a corporate act of humility, repentance, and desperate prayer on our knees before the Lord in worship centers, store-fronts, homes, and various other places all across America. Believers are encouraged to kneel for 5 minutes before the Lord wherever they may gather that day.
When is the last time your congregation – the whole assembly, went to its knees? It is time to pray for America, on our knees.
The “Call 2 Fall” is set July 4, 2010, the Sunday we celebrate our “Independence.” 2 Chronicles 7:14 calls for humility and prayer if a nation is to be revived. The First Continental Congress called for a day of public humiliation, fasting, and prayer throughout the Colonies on July 20th, 1775 just after war for independence broke out. James Warren wrote Samuel Adams: “Three millions of people on their knees at once, supplicating the aid of Heaven, is a striking circumstance, and a very singular one in America . May the blessings of Heaven follow in answer to our prayers…”
He did. Maybe He will do it again.
Go to www.call2fall.com to sign up, watch the video or get more information.
IMMEDIATE ANSWERS TO PRAYER
By Doug Small
One morning at the Mississippi Camp-meeting, I had people pray with me the HEARTS prayer. It is a simple acronym useful in praying for someone who needs Christ. First, – “H” – pray that their head and heart would be open to the good news of Christ love. Then – “E” – for ears and eyes to hear and see their need for God. For – “A” – an awareness of their spiritual condition. For an awakening in their heart and soul. For – “R” – grace to repent. For reminders of God’s goodness. For redemption to touch them in some way. For them to be turned – “T” – to God, transformed, totally changed. For them – “S” – to be saved, sanctified and filled with the Spirit.
That morning, as we prayed, a pastor was drawn to pray for his daughter-in-law who was not serving God. As he began to pray, to actually call her name in prayer, his cell phone vibrated with a text message – from her. As he was praying for her, she called! Coincidence? He called her later and connected. That night, she was in the camp-meeting altar and gave her heart to Christ. The next morning he shared the answer to prayer with tear-filled eyes.
In Kentucky, I had the entire congregation of hundreds of folks pray the HEARTS prayer on Tuesday evening. Pastor Danny Morris and his wife of the Valley Station Church of God in Louisville, Kentucky were led to pray for a daughter who now lives in New Jersey. Her name is uniquely spelled, Melynie (pronounced Melanie). At 16, she became pregnant and kept it a secret until he could not hide her pregnancy. She prayed and felt God leading her to offer the child for adoption. She named her son Adam and released him to Chosen Children for placement. She never saw him again or had any contact with the adoptive parents. For a few years, she sent pictures. Chosen Children would forward them to the adoptive parents providing only a first name. She never knew if Adam saw them. She never heard from him.
On Tuesday night of the Kentucky Church of God camp-meeting, as people all over the tabernacle chose one family member for prayer, it was Melynie that came to mind for Danny Morris and his wife. That night they cried out to God for Melynie. She is not a Christian.
The very next morning, Melynie called! Imagine that? She had some exciting news. She had received an e-mail with an attached picture, asking if she was the girl in the photo. She was – but she didn’t know the inquirer. She wrote back “Yes, why? Who are you?” To her amazement, the answer came back immediately – “Hi, Mom.” The message was from Adam Freeman, her 20 year old son. Due to the unique spelling of her name, “Melynie,” he had been able to locate her on Facebook. Three women spelled their name that way and he had contacted all three.
Here is the really good news, the even more unusual answer to prayer. Adam is a Christian, raised in a Christian home. And he is now witnessing to his mother about the Lord. Danny Morris and his wife exclaim, “Oh, if we could only appreciate how powerful prayer is!” Indeed, it is!
BULLETIN INSERTS
The bulletin insert for this week is a call to pray for Provision!
Prayer Focus: Provision
Prayer: “Father, in an age when the economy of whole nations is in peril, we ask for provision from the table in heaven. Feed us. Care for us. Tend to your vision. Provide for your church. We are so close to finishing our obligation to the Great Commission. Fuel us with power that propels us forward. Fill us with the energy and want-to, to move forward. May those among us who are so anxious to ‘go’ not be held back by lack. Open the windows of heaven. Provide for your bride partner, your representative people in earth, the Church!”
Daily Prayer Points:
MONDAY – We ask you to embolden our faith to believe that you are the God who still may rain manna from heaven for those who follow the cloud (Ex. 16:35; 78:24; Rev.2:17).
TUESDAY – As we act, in obedience to your commands, provide for us and our mandated mission (Gen. 22:8).
WEDNESDAY – We want to see, in our generation, every tribe and tongue, every people group reached in fulfillment of the Great Commission (Rev. 7:9; Mt. 24:14).
THURSDAY – We do not ask for comfortable lives, for provisions that allow us to be at ease in Zion. We ask for the fare to Ninevah (Jonah 3), the open door to Macedonia (Acts 16:9-10), your favor through the fire (Isa. 43:2; Lk.10:3).
FRIDAY – Today, pray not only for God’s provision for yourself. Ask how you can be God’s provision for someone else (Acts 4:36-37; Phil. 2:24-26).
We continue to struggle in getting the word out! If your state does not have a eblast for pastors – start one. Every state prayer team needs a list of pastors and key prayer leaders in the local church to be able to get out our calls to prayer. Recently, in one state campmeeting, I asked how many were using the bulletin inserts – or even knew about them. The answer was dismal!
Let’s keep spreading the word.
TWO BIG ONES COMING UP!
The 8 Days of Awakening/Consecration: September 5-12 with the Noon Rally on September 11 at the county courthouse. This is a part of the Cry Out America prayer effort.
The 8 Days of Action: September 19-26.
The two seasons of prayer and action are a part of the SEPTEMBER PRAYER INITIATIVE – 30 DAYS OF PRAYER for CHURCH OF GOD CONGREGATIONS AROUND THE WORLD!
Go to www.awakeningamerica.us or www.praycog.org for more information.
