My Take on our African Over Night Prayer Meeting
If you hadn’t caught my twitter feed you probably didn’t know that I spent Friday night (New Year’s Eve) and Saturday Morning with my friends from Full Grace Ministries as they held their over night prayer meeting.
If you’ve never been to Africa, let me explain the idea of an “over night prayer meeting.” First of all, while there is prayer that goes on, it is not just a prayer meeting. When I’ve been in Africa in the past, a common question they ask is “Where do you pray from?” What they mean is, “Where does your church gather and have their meetings at?” So an African over night prayer meeting is more like an extended church meeting that goes through the night. My first over night was in Uganda. The rest I’ve participated in here in America with Full Grace Ministries.
My job, as I understand it from the Lord, is to continue to encourage my African friends who gather that they have something to offer us in America. They carry a deposit of Jesus that we cannot understand as Western Americans apart from their help. So, I join them as often as I can and when the Lord allows, I encourage them to become everything Jesus designed them to be.
That said, here is my take on what happened on Friday night:
What I Learned
This particular night I was able to hear a number of speakers who where truly African in their message and their mindset. One of the things that I noticed about these speakers was that their version of Christianity is a very “now-centered” Christianity. They do not wait for God to move some time in the future. They believe God is a God who acts now.
How God Met Me
I knew that there was the potential for me to end up addressing the gathering. I was also somewhat nervous after hearing the first two speakers. They were definitely fiery and it was obvious that their style of preaching was more what the folks gathered there were used to. I even leaned over to my buddy Sean (who has joined me for previous over night prayer meetings) and said “Now I understand why everyone is so quiet whenever I talk.”
But God met me, ironically, during the intermission. John, a new friend of mine, came up to me and introduced himself. He went on to tell me how last year when I spoke, he said to himself, “This man is quiet but the Lord is with him,” and how excited he was that I was back. It was encouraging to hear that my friend could hear the Lord even without me changing my speaking style. It definitely gave me courage when it was my turn to speak.
What God is Doing
One of the things I was privileged to share with Full Grace Ministries was that God has placed them very strategically where they are. They carry a genuine prophetic African anointing that we Americans know very little about. I believe the Lord desires to use them as messengers and missionaries to a declining American church and an increasingly secular culture. We need the spiritual DNA that they carry and I strongly sensed the Holy Spirit empowering them to be a voice to us that night.
Summary
I’m thankful for everything the Lord did. I believe that what happened will be a picture of what you can expect to see increasingly in the years ahead: Americans receiving from the Lord things our African brothers walk in, while we get to come alongside and encourage them as well. The result will be a stronger church in America, empowered by the Spirit to be a voice and to walk in the supernatural power of Jesus.
Photo Credit: Africa in Hearts by futureatlas.com
Food For Thought: A New Move of the Spirit Edition
Every week here at Pursuing Glory I try to bring together the best posts I’ve found that will equip the end-times church to operate in her God-ordained destiny. These are the best blogs, articles, books and other resources related to our purpose here at this site. Feel free to visit, comment, and make use of the resources found at each site.
I’m super excited for this week’s Food For Thought. I found a blog by Kevin Matthews who we’ve featured here before that I feel captures the essence of what we’re working towards here at Pursuing Glory. I don’t know that I’ve seen a prophecy like this anywhere before and its accuracy is amazing. You can read more about the man gave the prophecy here. The spirit of the prophecy, I believe, is the aim of all the posts featured here and what we contend for here at Pursuing Glory.
A New Move of the Spirit Kevin and Lorna’s Daily Devotional features a prophecy by Smith Wigglesworth about a move of the Spirit after the charismatic movement and the church planting movements. It describes exactly what we’re believing for.
Tim Keller on Movements Steve Addison @ Movements That Change The World does a nice job of condensing a post by Tim Keller on the nature of movements. Any serious movement should wrestle with his thoughts.
Thursday is for Thinkers: Rice Brooks on the Evangelist and the Missional Church Missional guy and evangelism guru Ed Stetzer hosts a guest post on his blog by Rice Brooks about the necessity of evangelists to the missional church. Much needed wisdom at Ed Stetzer’s blog.
Why Simple Churches Don’t Work #7 Ross spends a post looking at how lack of apostolic ministry hinders house churches. This issue needs addressing. You can see this and other hindrances at thejesusvirus.
Why compliments help in planting a simple/organic/house church Felicity Dale looks at the Luke 10 principle of pronouncing peace on houses you enter. This is an often missed part evangelism in the West. More at SimplyChurch.
It’s Not Rocket Science Katie @ Backseat Driver looks at the centrality of family to our definition of church and explores how it can transform our congregational life.
Photo Credit: Design Probes – Food for Thought by centralasian.
Wolves in the House: A Prophetic Dream
[Editor’s Note: From time to time I hope to publish dreams that are relevant not only to our house church but to the larger body of Christ. This dream which was shared in the meeting mentioned in my last post, was shared by Aroea, a member of our house church. You can check out my thoughts below.]
[My husband and I] were living in a nice house in a small town. A large car dealership had bought out a small business much to the town’s protest. The dealership assured the town that it would be fine and said they would keep the manager of the local business on as an act of good will. The towns people gave in but the dealership didn’t keep their word with the manager. In addition they were keeping a large pen of wolves in the town next to the fancy dealership. The people began to protest again. It was as if this had
happened before.
The slick talking agent from the dealership once again assured the people that everything would be fine and that the wolves were harmless. I knew differently. I also knew that the cattle in the fields were protected and so the wolves would be rummaging through our garbage cans and trying to get into our homes. I began to go around my house locking the doors. There were three doors upstairs and one downstairs. As I went around locking the doors I saw a black wolf cub in the backyard. He was beautiful against the snowy backdrop. I hurried downstairs to lock the last door and then started cleaning. Upon entering the storage room though I found the little wolf cub had made it into my house through the vents and was rummaging through my Christmas gifts. He’d also torn open a package of animal crackers. I quickly alpha-rolled the cub and made it lay in my arms, on it’s back like a baby.
Soon a couple people from town showed up and wanted to put me on the news. They were hoping to rally people against the dealership by showing how the wolf had made it’s way into my house. However I warned them we couldn’t. I knew that putting the cub on TV would actually work against us because it was so cute. The dealership would be able to argue that it had done no real damage and show how easily I had handled the cub. It would actually invoke sympathy for their cause. I was adamant that we could not fight them that way or it would backfire. I also knew that no matter how cute the cub looked (even to me) it was going to grow large and fierce.
Editor’s Thoughts: One of the things that struck me about this dream was the danger that false teachers and prophets will pose to the whole body of Christ at the end of the age. Obviously the wolf is a symbol of heresy that starts out small and “cute” but can grow into something much more dangerous. These wolves could get in through the smallest openings in a house (spiritual family) and prove deadly. The obvious argument (especially in early stages) is that these wolves are cute and harmless, but this lulls the people into a false sense of security.
How should we prepare to deal with false prophets, false teachers, and heresy? What does this mean for you and the church you are a part of? Is the Lord speaking to you about anything in this dream? The answers to any of these questions can be left by clicking “Leave A Comment” below this article.
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