Be of good cheer!

God is helping us! God is working on our behalf! How? An easy answer, the prayer movement continues onward under God's care and inititative. Read the following article by Wendy Andrews of 24-7:

The name is telling in its singularity. Though the university students participating in the forty days of prayer that began Sunday, April 1 hail from all over the state, they are putting geography and rivalry aside to worship and pray and move together. From Xavier, to Bowling Green, to Ohio State, to the University of Cincinnati and beyond, these students are joining together as one people, one body, one campus. Campus Ohio.




+++ Help us, Jesus! Breathe on Your people in this hour... fill us with the knowledge of Your will! Release the gift of faith by Your speaking to us again! Holy Spirit, accelerate your mission to see Jesus exalted on the earth. Save the lost, heal the sick, raise the dead at the sound of His Name; prepare us for these works, incite a riot of love for the Savior in the hearts of the saints that removes every other mountain in and among us. You are so great, mighty to save! Amen +++

Good Friday: the best and worst of all days

Gaze, meditate, worship in awe, then repeat

'Lord of the Ring': Zinzendorf biography

The Count Zinzendorf biography by Phil Anderson of 24-7 becomes available in the US (Regal books) today. I'm juggling it with a couple of other reads so I'm not finished with it (a copy of the UK publishing already found its way to my hands by a kind friend). He quotes James E. Hutton's History of the Moravian Church regularly (which is entirely available for download here). Here's a quote, detailing the harsh circumstances of young Zinzendorf's boarding school experience:

The tutors took his [Zindendorf's] mother's warning and their own assumptions to heart, and set out to break him of his pride. He was given menial tasks and beaten for the most trivial offences. The punishments were made into a form of public entertainment: 'Next week,' ran one announcement on the schools noticeboard, 'the Count is to have the stick.' To avoid any sense of academic excellence he was placed into classes below his ability and when he became demotivated was accused of laziness. On one occasion, imitation donkey ears were placed on his head and he was forced to stand at the front of the class with a sign saying 'lazy donkey' on his back.

If the tutors were harsh with the young count, his fellow pupils were cruel in the way that only children can be. he had been brought up in a sheltered environment, surrounded by women, and had inherited his father's relatively weak constitution. None of this equipped him for the touch and ruthless environment of boarding school life. His noble origins only added to the problem. He easily outranked his peers in wealth and status, and they took every opportunity to bring him down a peg or two. 'With a few exceptions,' he says sadly, 'my schoolfellows hated me throughout.' Among the many taunts and practical jokes, they would frequently knock his books into the gutter, then zealously report him late for school while he picked up the mess.

It amazes me how God prepares a vessel for His service. God takes great risks in leading them through seasons of adversity and difficulty, sending them to circumstances where accusations against God's love and goodness can run rampant. Look at Joseph's unjust years in prison which are described in the bible... also consider Moses: forgotten and alone in the backside of the desert. I am sure one reason is so that "ministry success" will not ruin that person... for when God comes in power and your gifting is anointed and He is clearly moving alongside, above, and beyond the human agent in partnership with Himself the potential for human failing is great. Not that He is intimidated by human failing, but that He cares so much for our growing into the likeness of His Son: cf. the gifts and fruit of His Spirit.

I believe that if a person can weather seasons of trauma and gain a perspective of their weakness and not fall out of love with God (or, worse, lock their heart in bitterness against Him) He will be able to entrust them with more. By more I mean: more influence, more power, more whatever. Those who have seen themselves throughly enough to know that they are themself their biggest problem (for we all tend to become famous in our own minds with the slightest whiff of 'success') and will instead 'come up out of the wilderness leaning on her Beloved'. When I used to work with Ed Silvoso and the Harvest Evangelism team during our years in California, Ed would regularly warn us: 'Treat success like you do perfume: you can sniff it, but don't drink it'. So I read this detail of Count Zinzendorf's adversity and simply marvel at Jesus' leadership... He is marvelous in His care for us and is brilliant as He tempers ambition so that 'more' will not so easily move us away from waiting on Him, following His leadership as He builds His church.

Some John Wooden quotes

Here are some quotes by legendary coach and mentor John Wooden:

• Never mistake activity for achievement.
• Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
• Be prepared and be honest.
• Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.

Quotable

"Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night" - Charles Spurgeon

Ascent

Tonight in the ZHOP prayer room the Tuesday night team from MorningStar is leading their usual 8-10PM set. Their team tonight includes the team leader who plays both electric and acoustic guitar, a guy playing hammer dulcimer, an electric saxophone player and a drummer. Its a strong team, going to record this next time...

@ ZHOP

Presently in the ZHOP prayer room we are streaming the GBF (Global Bridegroom Fast) webcast from KC IHOP. There are 9 people in here, all are either worshipping or praying or reading the bible. It is glorious! The reality of this room, lights burning night and day, is such an outrageous gift to this city. +++ Thank you, Jesus, for your love for Charlotte! We believe You will come like the rain!!! SO LET IT RAIN! +++

Oh happy Day!

Yesterday was Palm Sunday, one of my favorite celebrations in the church calendar. The reality that Jesus came once and will come yet again evokes wonder and awe in me: come quickly, Lord Jesus!

It was a good weekend; I had more navigating room, schedule wise, since the internship is over (another one begins in May).

On Saturday morning I led a prayerwalking effort in the "economically fragile" Optimist park neighborhood as part of the 24-7 justice project, preparing the way of the Lord. We had a modest team, size wise, but God was with us for the morning time as we walked the streets, blessed homes and met and prayed for a number of people we meet while out in the neighborhood.

Yesterday I went north and participated in the Sunday morning fellowship at CityChurch. I thoroughly enjoyed the teaching and the fellowship. I'm hoping for a connection with them and see what God might be up to as I was sure He led me to be with them yesterday.

Following is part of the newest article by Francis Frangipane, still one of my favorite teachers in the Body of Christ at large:

Now the idea that Christ seeks to perfect our faith makes a fine doctrine, but in the practical outworking of our lives, we deeply resist the idea. For we know that faith, in order be perfected, must be tested.

When I speak of faith, I do not mean a thorough compilation of Bible facts or an intellectual assent to our need of salvation, both of which are elements of spirituality but not the very substance. To amass biblical knowledge primarily takes time; to possess true saving faith, I will tell you again, takes courage. Christ desires we obtain a trust in Him that can actually withstand and overcome the terrible storms of life - faith that brings the reality of heaven to earth.

Faith, therefore, is more than head knowledge; it is our lock upon the goodness and power of God so that no matter what we face outwardly, inwardly we stand secure. And no matter what the world looks like outwardly, it has the potential to be transformed by our faith. As Hebrews 11 makes clear, all those who possessed true faith changed the world around them.

Read the entire article here.