The E-mail

Hey guys,

The following is a summary of what took place this past Thursday (Nov. 8) at noon in the chapel outside of Saga...

At 12:05p.m. a few moments were taken to meditate on the gravity of what we were doing, or supposed to be doing...praying. Is prayer powerful? If so, are we, in any way limiting its power...His power to work through it. Are we limiting the relationship we have with God by not engaging in prayer in the MOST profitable way for our spirits? Are we praying in a way that pleases God? After engaging these questions in silence, the proposition was made to do the following:

1) Take a period of time to pray individually, asking God "What do You desire for us to pray for, to ask for, Lord?"

2) Write down all that you believe the Spirit is prompting (let no hesitancy keep you from writing everything...don't worry about "it might just be my own thoughts..."

3) We regrouped after the period of listening to God's answer (understanding that we prayed ahead of time regarding that our intention was not to place God in a timeframe within which He had to answer).

4) All the individual prayer-covered sheets of paper were collected.

5) Paul Mueller and I (David Stehlik) went through the sheets, isolating all of the prayers which were unified throughout the group; that is, we looked for prayers that were similar and began recording them and expanding upon them as different sheets added specific related requests.

6) We were challenged to spend time actually praying these prayers inside and outside of noon-day prayer...

Following is the list of prayers.

Remember, the purpose of this prayer list is that we would be stronger in prayer...that we could hear more clearly...being more in tune with the Spirit, and therefore more exhibitive of Christ and His victory...the challenge is not to pray everything you can for as long as you can...it's about having hearts of intercessors...being people who actually care, and therefore, being people engaged in prayer

Try to select one or two of these and pray in unison throughout this week...also, ask God to increase the clarity of the prayer He desires us to pray...WRITE IT DOWN and bring it to noon-day prayer on Thursday as we can praise God for His faithfulness.

That there would be an intense unity of ALL believers on campus...not just "HCF" Christians...that He would move us to encourage by the Spirit rather than by our minds (not what we think, but what He knows)...that our perspective would be a Kingdom perspective (often we can become focused on our ministries and not God's ministry, losing sight of those to whom we are privileged to minister - which includes other ministers)...that our families would be unified in Christ

That we would make ourselves humble...that we would act with authentic selflessness (not hypocrites speaking God from our lips but far from Him with our hearts...being willing to submit to Him (not begrudgingly but desirously)...that we would be deliver ourselves up to be broken (REBUKE US!), that we might be rebuilt....story of rebuilding Jerusalem...

That we would seek direction with greater vigor...that we would care where we are and where we're supposed to be headed (Discovering God's will for us as individuals is what we often prayer, but we also desire to know where we are to head as His body)

That we would persevere in the faith and not lose heart or become hardened and cynical, that we would not "cling to worthless idols and forfeit the grace that could be ours"--->getting serious about our faith, and His faith in us--->being disciplined (spiritual disciplines not to become more holy but to maintain the holiness He's imparted to us)---->that we would take a break to reflect and meditate on God....Pause

That God would develop in us an incredible fear for Him and deliver unto us great understanding to handle all situations in a manner worthy of one who bears His name...that we might develop Wisdom by His Spirit providing for us in this manner

Leaders...that we first recognize that God is the Leader...and all His followers are servants...and that we pray for those servants--à who can only be effective if empowered by the Spirit.

Note: What preceded was by no means suggesting that petition is the only way can and ought to engage in prayer (see Phil. 4), but it was emphasized because the purpose of this "exercise" was and is to recognize that our knowledge is severely limited, and He has the answers, desiring for us to be in harmony with His will.