Book nine here.
Book eight here.
Book seven here.
Book five here.
This is a continuation of my practice to take notes on what I prayed.
Chapter One
1. Rev 19:10 Worship God, because the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
- Jesus is the origin for all true prophecy.
- Jesus is where all true prophecy points. Jesus, release Your Spirit of prophecy in our church.
2. Prayer does not need validation. Answers are not required. Recognition is irrelevant. A person can pray in a complete vacuum for years or decades. The fact that You hear our prayers and do what You want with them is enough.
Nevertheless, Your pressing call to us as a church is to pray together.
3. I realize that we need to be "prayed up" entering the fast.
4. It's a mark of revival when a church dedicates to passionate prayer.
5. How would my prayer life change if You started answering every prayer right on the spot? I would never stop praying! I think I need some more faith, more passion to pray.
6. Isa 40:3 Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.
This is the primary duty of the intercessor in these last days.
7. Snow! We are moving into the winter season. It doesn't need to be a time of dryness or unfruitfulness. Holiday distractions. Depression or sadness. Holy Spirit, would you move in this season?
8. Psalm 103:14 For He knows our frame; He is mindful that we are dust.
You know us, how fragile we are, how weak we are. My weakness reveals your strength. Would you renew my desire, my passion for Your presence, my vigor for your kingdom?
I don’t want to grow weary. Help me to keep my stride as I run the race. I don't know how long to the finish line, so I want to make the most of it.
9. Jesus has done everything for me. It is finished. Yet there must be more.
Yes, more. More Holy Spirit. More healing. More salvations. More holiness.
More. I want more.
10. Eph 3:20-21 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Father, I'm looking for your glory to fill the church in these last days.
11. The Last Day is coming, a glorious and dreadful day.
Joel 3:16 The LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the heavens will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.
Rev 5:5 ...the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered...
12. Lord, may we be faithful and wise servants.. Matt 24:44 ...be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect. 45 Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household...
The need for diligence, steadfastness, and sober faith weighs upon me. What will the master find when he returns? Will he find a church a mile wide and an inch deep? Father, may we comprehend the depth of your power and glory and not remain babes drinking milk.
13. If we truly understood what you've called us to, things would be a lot different, in our church and in our families.
14. I think a time is coming when you are going to move in us collectively and not so much individually. Many of us view salvation and matters of faith as things for individuals. But the Body, coming together in unity of kingdom purpose, vision, and action, will be where we see your power displayed.
Chapter Two
1. I'm not here to gather information or gain clever sayings. I keep that clearly in mind. I'm here to connect to my creator and savior, to know you more, to worship you, to learn your ways, and to be transformed.
2. May it never be that my worship wanes.
Worship without the Spirit is a desert.
Our worship must carry your empowering presence. We must be supernaturally moved to worship. Our hearts must be stirred.
Psalm 45:1-2 My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer. 2 You are the most excellent of men and your lips have been anointed with grace, since God has blessed you forever.
Literally, "You are fairer than the sons of men."
3. Most excellent one, holy and exalted, fairest lord Jesus, you are beautiful, glorious, you have done great things, you are always good, and your ways are perfect. In your great kindness you show mercy and you forgive.
Your blessing on this church is amazing. Despite our missteps and foolishness you remain faithful. Now, father, would you move us along in faith? Whether with gentleness or forcefully, we need you to make us into the people you want us to be.
4. How ingrained in me is church "stuff?" Is the worship we do really worship? What about prayer? What about all the Sunday morning stuff?
I do all this without a second thought. It's not necessarily bad, but it might be habit, tradition, or even presumption.
5. Just now I sat here for 20 minutes without praying a word. Various thoughts just floating through my mind. Then I thought, "I'd better get praying." But maybe I was praying.
Prayer is not talking at you, it is connecting with you. So is worship. So is obedience. So is generosity.
6. I've been in this church for 14 years. From day one I was pushing prayer. I was on the worship team pushing prayer. I was an elder pushing prayer. I was on the pursuit team pushing prayer.
Now I'm a nobody, still pushing prayer. Holy Spirit, something's gotta break in this church, so I'm going to keep pushing.
7. You are the giver of gifts, and we are a blessed people. We have received many benefits.
Eph 4:7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
How big is the "measure of Christ’s gift?"
I think of your perfect sacrifice on the cross, and how it turned away the father's wrath. I'm no longer under death. Your gift is the defeat of death. Grace (your desire to be near and bless) is given to us according to Christ’s gift.
8. It's time for us to move on in mature faith. No more milk, no more coddling, no more compromise.
Holy Spirit, fan this church into flame.
9. Gillian: "Lord Jesus, forgive us for any perversion of the prophetic in our church. Jesus, may it be all about you, your mercy and your goodness. Jesus be our shield, our glory and our hiding place. Take perverse lips and false glory from us, that we may praise you with clean hands and pure hearts."
10. We should be both bold and humble before the throne, but never groveling.
Chapter Three
1. What things bind us or hold us back? Certainly hardship, sickness, demons, and other things are obstacles. But mostly, it's our own thinking.
More than anything, our attitudes, emotions, intellect, assumptions, and preconceptions define and limit our access to greater faith.
2. The greatest impediment to knowing you is our doctrine.
3. Knowing you is a series of supernatural events over a lifetime.
4. I had the flu over the weekend, but I never thought to pray for my healing. As I thought about it I realized that healing is not the goal, it is one of the ways you work out your purposes. Healing should take us somewhere.
Have I confused the means with the goal?
- Excellent worship, the means, not the goal.
- Burdened prayer, the means, not the goal
- Anointed sermons, the means, not the goal.
- Spirit-enlightened study, the means, not the goal.
- Selfless serving, the means, not the goal.
- Lavish generosity, the means, not the goal.
5. 1 Cor 9:26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.
"Aimlessly:"(adélós) - actions or situations that are not clear or are done without a definite aim or purpose.
You have a purpose for this church. This church isn't the purpose, it's the means to accomplish the purpose. We can't be adélós.
6. It weighs on me. Having good church cannot be the goal. Having a healthy church is not the objective.
WHAT IS THE REASON WE DO CHURCH? Father, open our eyes. Give us revelation. Allow us to conceive new understanding, new thinking.
7. The biggest retail event of the year is Christmas. I'm not sure it has ever been an actual honoring of the birth of Christ, but certainly it is far removed from that at this point.
However, if there is a remnant of worship yet remaining in it, I pray that you would be honored by it.
I don't pray for better version of Christmas, I pray for a better version of Christians.
Would you give us a revelation of you this Christmas season?
8. Sometimes I think that I'm past my prime and just old. Many of my hopes and dreams are just not going to happen. I've had a hard time making the shift from youthful, sometimes reckless energy to overly cautious but experienced older man.
I'm sure I have a lot to give, it's just that what I can give is different than what it used to be. I'm just not sure where to land on this.
I remember hearing you tell me not to call myself old. So I'm not giving up my dreams just yet.
9. I am happy for this church. There are things you have empowered us to overcome, and doing so has released us into things we could not do before. There are still challenges before us, however. In order for us to be the church you want us to be, we will need to get serious about the kingdom.
10. Prayer, discipleship, extending the community. I'm not sure what this looks like, but I am sure you are working in us.
Chapter Four
Last week's prayer notes:
Last week's prayer notes:
1. Pastor Michael, last Sunday: "We want revival, but are we building for it?"
That's the question. Are we building for revival? If not, why not? How do we build for revival? These seem like questions the leadership and pastor could answer.
Top of the list: prayer. Every revival has started with burdened, persistent prayer.
Too many in the American Church slumber while just a few toil in prayer. The pressing call is for for us to become a house of prayer. In this late hour the Church must rise up in powerful, prevailing prayer.
We will never be the church you want us to be without a top to bottom commitment to prayer. Father, would you fan into flame an all consuming desire to pray?
2. My heart aches for this church. I can barely stand it. My tears are no comfort for my soul. My weeping descends into anguish. Where are you, father? Will you not come? Will you not move? Will you not save?
When will this church see your glory? Have we missed our chance? Did you call and we didn't answer? The thought haunts me.
Why am I weeping? I'm sitting here, all undone, and I don't know why.
Why have I so rarely wept for this church? Where is my passion?
3. Prayer is so hard sometimes. So often I leave the church emotionally drained. But I'm okay with that. I'll be here tomorrow and the day after just to do it again. I know it's worth it.
4. For years I've stood firm on your promise of revival. I've always believed that it will come to the Gallatin Valley, and I believe this church will be in the middle of it.
I have to believe you, even if there is no evidence. My faith does not rise and fall based on what I see.
I don't even know if I will personally see revival.
But if somehow I can plant the seed in the younger generations, if I can keep praying that you will fan into flame their faith and vision, maybe they will take hold of the revival I'm praying for.
And if I get to see it, well, that's a bonus.
5. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD. Ps. 40:3
Revival and the fear of the Lord. I must meditate on this.
6. So many people are alone. Even in church. In connect groups. Families. There are so few who have real relationships. I wonder about rejection, where the non social, awkward types are pushed to the margins. We inflict pain on people and don't even know it.
7. Matt 5:46-47 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even Gentiles do the same?
Father, I don't want my friends just to be the friendly ones. Give me relationships with the introverts and cast-asides, the unloved and unwanted.
8. Do we create doctrines to explain our experiences or non-experiences? On one hand most of the contemporary church is largely powerless, and on the other some churches are "moving in the supernatural." Each creates doctrines to explain their status. This should not be.
9. Father, would you reveal the true kingdom power in us? It must be you, or we don't want it. If it is you, we want more.
- What would it be like for you to take over a church service, Holy Spirit?
- What would it be like for there to be spontaneous healings and salvations?
- What would it be like to see mass repentance with weeping?
- What would it be like to worship with no sense of time passing?
- What would it be like to have 6 services but be unable to tell where one begins and another ends?
- What would it be like to have lines of people waiting for the church doors to be unlocked?
10. Haba 3:2 Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.
Hmm. Revival and the fear of the Lord again.
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