What if a prayer for mercy results in great calamity?

As I was praying this morning, my prayers began to focus upon our nation. I began to cry out for mercy for our nation. I prayed that this nation will know and understand the true meaning of mercy and that through that revelation it will return to its foundational roots. Christ, love and justice.


And then, the Word of the Lord came to me so softly it was barely whisper. In my prayers, I almost missed it.

"What if My mercy came in the form of great physical calamity for this nation?"

Whoa!

Many in the Body of Christ have been sensing the very same thing. America hangs in a balance. And while we cry out for mercy, He's answering our prayers.

The concept of mercy has been a fuzzy one and one that has been objective, at best. We consider mercy the act of being spared from what we consider pain (tends to be more physical and circumstancial rather than spiritual) instead of understanding things from an eternal view.

He's more concerned with our eternity than our now. As I cry out for mercy, I am crying out to be saved and molded into His image. In His Sovereignty, if He should decide calamity will save my soul and return me to Him well then, He is acting in mercy.

As I continue on my journey as an intercessor and I pray for world events such as what's going on Egypt and in this nation, I learn that His ways are always higher and never match up to what I think they should be. Oh, but what a glorious thing! To serve and to love a merciful God...

"gracious, slow to anger and rich in love!"

Prayer List

So, I've been on this journey, reading through the book "The Seven Commitments of a Forerunner" by Mike Bickle (a review soon to come) and one of the charges of an intercessor is to Pray Daily. Now, this is not new information, nor am I just establishing such practice, however in his expounding of the charge Mike Bickle suggested putting together a prayer list to facilitate your prayer time. He says, "I have discovered that using a prayer list is not less spiritual, or cumbersome, but that it is a helpful tool that keeps my mind focused as I pray. A prayer list helps us to remain focused on the Lord, so that we may connect with Him in a deeper way."

So not deep prophetic revelation, nevertheless not a practice I emphasized much on, after all we are to be led by the Spirit, correct? I've got to admit my prayer life was not so out of whack that this above suggestion was the answer to a prayer, after all I always covered the important ones every time... but it was a challenge to go deeper in the Lord in a manner of order and organization. I started thinking, and became excited. How many more people can I pray with if I utilize a prayer list that covers every base every time? How much more will I grow as an intercessor if I have a list of things already written down that I can use to engage with a spirit of intercession every time? How much easier will it be and how much more effective will my time with the Lord be? So, I created my very own prayer list and will begin utilizing it stat. :) Just thought I'd put out the challenge for those who do not have a prayer list to create one that works for you.

Mike specifically speaks of three prayer themes and three prayer focuses that we are to be conscious of as we come up with our prayer list. Here's a quick summary, check out the link for the notes below!

Prayer Focuses:
1) Intimacy: Focuses on giving our love and devotion to God. Includes worship, meditation on the Word, including prayer-reading it, and fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit.
2) Petition: Asks for God's blessing on our personal lives && ministry. Breakthroughs in our inner man (heart), circumstances and ministry.
3) Intercession: Asks for God's power or justice for others and for strategic issues in society (abortion, human trafficking, natural disasters, etc)

Prayer Themes:
1) Gifts of the Spirit: God's power & favor released
2) Fruit of the Spirit: God's character formed in us or others
3) Wisdom of the Spirit: God's mind imparted to us.

Check out the notes here!

How would establishing a prayer list help you in your time with the Lord?

seventy.two hours

Today marked the beginning of a 72-hour project to see human trafficking abolished in Florida. TheOrlando House of Prayer began praying at 6am and won't relent until Sunday at 6am. Granted, they will give the Lord no rest until His justice is released, but we are going 24/7 officially until then. At the same time, Tomas Lares with Florida Abolitionists is training and taking teams out to help law enforcement release God's justice on the streets of Orlando. I was privileged enough to prayer lead today and the Lord truly gripped my heart. I have always carried an intercessory burden for human trafficking, and I desire to see liberty released on behalf of the sex-slave victims. A team from FCC, Florida Christian College, came out and we moved heaven to earth in intercession. They began leading a chorus that said, "We believe You, you'll set every captive free. Lead us to them, lead us to the captives.". Phewww. I believe the Lord was so pleased at the faith in that room, at that time.

(falling asleep, more in the morning)

Midnight Intercession

I find myself up... (again!) Super early. Part of it is that I have a gorgeous two month old baby who needs her mama, though she never ever wakes up twice in the middle of the night to eat. The other part of it is that I believe the Lord ordained me to get up an pray for an hour. Right smack in the middle of the night. I began praying for all kinda of things. I began praying for human trafficking victims, and asked the Lord to release justice on behalf of the victims oppressed, then I prayed for friends & a few family members. Then the Lord began to grant me a spirit of intercession, praying against this upcoming Halloween. Now, I've never ever been a fan of Halloween (ever!) and I'm praying to the Lord that both my daughters are reared the same way. But I began to speak against the powers of Halloween, and all that jazz. Though I was whispering after having fed my sweet girl, it was a powerful time of intercession and I believe the Lord will have me pray for that again and again, until Halloween is over! (Can I just please make a request Lord and may it be at a more convenient time? Say six am, maybe? Nevertheless, Your will be done, not mine) I encourage you God fearing Christians out there to seriously spend some time in prayer over the youth & overall purity and covering of your city. I'd even say to go as far as speak to your local church about it and see if they'll not hold a prayer meeting for it. This is a serious thing, and a holiday that is anything but holy. Members of the occult delight in this day and use it to truly seek out evil and release demonic principalities over our youth. And with things like HHN at Universal and such, you better believe evil is running rampant and people are opening the doors to them like good ladies and gentlemen. If you live in Orlando, and are stirred to pray on Halloween know that the Orlando House of Prayer will be hosting a six hour prayer meeting on Halloween. So come, stand for righteousness.

PS. Kairos Forerunners has a great post on the truth about Halloween. Go check it out!