Patrem Invocatis

When Andrea and I visited the Cove in Black Mountain for a pastor’s renewal retreat, Jim Cymbala, pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, made a statement that has not left me. “When I don’t pray, what I’m saying is I don’t need God.” As if the wound wasn’t enough – he rubbed salt in it, “Proud people don’t pray.” Ouch! It’s not that I don’t pray, but I must admit, it is far too easy to get caught up in the busyness of ministry and count on schedule, meetings, study, planning and (choke) savvy, so that prayer is easily relegated to a checked box of Christian walk and ministry.

Do I acknowledge my utter dependence on God? Do I understand that this is HIS work – I am but an instrument in his hands and anything I have or can do is a trust – I am only a steward? Have I been captivated by his perfections in contrast to my limitations? When I consider that even Jesus – the very Son of God – invested serious time in personal communion with the Father, I am embarrassed at my hubris that I could employ prayer as a perfunctory or peripheral element of the Christian walk.

God is at work! You and I have the high calling and privilege to be instruments of his choice. The first question we must ask is, what is he doing? The second question is, how am I part of that? My calling in ministry as a steward of his reconciling mission requires me to call on him for his power to do his work. We are all in ministry. What is God accomplishing in the people of Grace? How is he working through us to touch lives? How can we pray for the people we know and love to be converted and transformed, to walk Godward?

We have set aside a time to call upon our Father – to invoke the arm of omnipotence – to do things that only he can do through his transforming grace. Our first Prayer Gathering is Wednesday, August 31st, 6:30 p.m. A necessary clarification is warranted here – there may be other scheduled meetings and get-togethers on Wednesdays. There is no expectation that they should be cancelled, or that Wednesday night is now officially set aside and nothing else can be scheduled. This is another gathering opportunity for those who want to focus on prayer. Starting September 21st, a Prayer Gathering will be scheduled every 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month.


Call on him as Father.

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