Persistent Prayer

We have just completed 21 Days of Prayer at Crossroads Church. What now?

1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing.” Notice it doesn’t say pray 21 days without ceasing. God has expectations on day 22, 23 and so on. 

Jesus taught His disciples in Luke 18 that we ought always to pray and not give up. He went on to tell them a story of an unjust judge who is petitioned by a widow and dismisses her, convinced he doesn’t have time to intervene in her case. However, because she keeps coming to him again and again, he finally gives her justice because of her persistence. He then draws the parallel between us and this story, not to suggest that God is an unjust Judge, but to point out that ours should be a prayer life that is persistent. Here’s why:

Persistant prayer is…

1. Faith’s priority.

The first fruit of real faith is faithfulness. It’s Job’s declaration, “Though God slay me, still I will trust Him.” (Job 13:15) Real faith says, “I don’t have to receive the answer to my prayer to continue to pray.”

2. Faith’s praise.

In Philippians 4:6, the Holy Spirit inspires Paul to admonish believers to offer prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Real faith says, “I don’t have to see results to believe God has heard and will answer my prayer.” Persistent prayer comes to God again and again, not asking for the same thing over and over, but thanking God for what was requested the first time we prayed. 

3. Faith’s partner.

Some would have us believe that faith is all that is required to receive something from God. Hebrews 6:12 demonstrates that this assumption is incorrect. The writer declares that it is with faith and patience that we inherit the promises of God. Patience postures us persistently in prayer however long it takes to receive our answer. 

I believe we have secured God’s attention through this 21 days of prayer but I also believe God is interested in seeing what we will do with the additional 344 days! Let us PERSIST! 

Doing Battle

For the past eleven days, our church has been gathering every morning to seek God together. We have averaged around 120 gathering at the church while another 200 or so have joined in through live streaming online. Many have also been engaged in different types of fasts, from meals to social media. God's presence has been so real each day and we are hearing amazing reports of answered prayer, divine guidance and spiritual growth. 

We're calling this prayer campaign the Sound of War. All around us these days we hear of wars and rumors of wars just like Jesus predicted. The most important battles are spiritual in nature. We are fighting on our knees! We are doing battle in the heavenly realms, claiming victory over an enemy that comes to steal and to kill and destroy! I believe God's ears are attentive to our cries. I believe when this 21 days of prayer and fasting are over we will experience some amazing break-through! Please let us know how we can be praying with you!

KatyMac's healing is what I have dedicated my fast to. Some miracles only happen by prayer and fasting according to Jesus in Matthew 17:21 and I have committed this time of fasting to that miracle!

For those of you who don't know Katie, she is the youngest daughter of one of my staff members and long-time friend, Richard Gaspard and his wife Daphne who is our Women's Director here at Crossroads. Katie is battling Myelodysplastic Syndrome and went through stem cell therapy some months ago. She is now suffering with GVHD (Graft Verses Host Disease) and really needs God to intervene.

We know that Katie's healing has been provided through the stripes that Jesus suffered and we are simply standing on His Word while we engage in the spiritual battle that is ensuing. Satan wants to rob Katie of her miracle but greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4)! Please join us in prayer for KatyMac and let's do battle together! 

Twenty-four

Today is my daughter Robin's 24th birthday. This is a picture of her in Uganda with one of her sponsor children. I love this picture because it captures so much of what is uniquely Robin: Her compassion, her sense of adventure, her love for God and people. We are very proud of this young lady! 

My kids have never bought in to a lot of the music artists I love, but one group we have always enjoyed mutually is the group Switchfoot. One of my favorite songs of their's seems wonderfully appropriate today. It's called Twenty Four.

That Happy New Year Smile!

So this happened last night! Robin is now engaged to Eli Price. They have been seeing each other since early 2015. He is the Admin Assistant of the Baptist Collegiate Ministries at UL. He is also on staff at a church here in Lafayette called Redeemer City Church. He is enrolled at the Baptist Theological Seminary in NOLA working on his Master's Degree and he hails from the great state of Georgia, just south of Atlanta. 

Dads are never ready for this kind of thing, but he is a great guy and we're very happy for them. He arranged for us to show up right after he popped the question. In a lifetime of smiles, I've never seen her smile bigger. 

Here's to a year of big smiles everyone! Happy New Year!