BLOGhttp://www.fragrantincense.ca/viewfromthepoint/en-US2012-02-11T17:12:25ZSquarespace Site Server v5.11.81 (http://www.squarespace.com/)An Incredible Evening of Prayer for Canadahttp://www.fragrantincense.ca/viewfromthepoint/2011/5/4/an-incredible-evening-of-prayer-for-canada.htmlJim Hall2011-05-05T02:34:43ZCanadian Election House of Prayer Edmonton general updates intercession prayerOn April 26 2011, House of Prayer Edmonton hosted a special evening of intercessory worship for the Canadian Federal election. We worked quite hard to spread the news and invite as many people as we could. As the evening got closer we had no idea how many people would show up: would people be stirred to gather and pray for the election or would apathy about politics prevail? The other question was how would people engage with the model of intercessory worship that would be quite new to the majority of people? We decided to set up the room for about 50 people, which is double the number that we can seat in marketplace chapel.  We soon realized that we would need to put out more chairs and set out another 50; as more people continued to arrive people went over to the main building of McKernan Baptist to find additional chairs. In the end we had about 120 people come and join us for two hours of prayer and worship for the nation.

So what do you do with 120 people who care enough about Canada that they pass up watching the Stanley Cup playoffs to come and pray? At the beginning we had a time of worship and then a number of the HoPE prayer leaders began to lead in prayer while the worship team played and responded in spontaneous song. Soon we invited people to come and line up at the microphone to offer 10-20 second prayers along the theme of God’s will prevailing in the national election. Immediately there was a long line of people eager to pray and from there people became increasingly engaged with the intercession and worship.

It was an amazing evening, filled with significant intercession for Canada and the Federal election. There were a number of people from across the Body of Christ who came together in unity to exalt Jesus Christ and celebrate Him as King over Canada.  We were thrilled to have a very wide representation of Baptists, Mennonites, Presbyterians, Alliance, Pentecostal, Victory Church, and independent charismatics.

I personally was very honored to be part of this evening. It was exciting to see so many people from such different church backgrounds come together and pray in unity for the will of God in our nation. This was truly in keeping with the prayer of Jesus in John 17, when he asked God the Father that the Church would live in unity!

I believe that this was the first of many future city-wide gatherings for worship and intercession. The Holy Spirit is stirring a desire in many believers for unified expressions of worship and prayer that exalt and honor Jesus Christ and work to establish the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven!

Our next special evening of intercessory worship will be on Thursday June 9, 2011 at Central Baptist Church. This is part of the AWAKEN 2011 CONFERENCE on June 9-11 that House of Prayer Edmonton is hosting. Maria Collett will be again leading the intercessory worship and Wes Martin, the main speaker at Awaken, will be preaching. I really encourage you to check out the conference website and to join us for this incredible weekend.

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]]>An Assortment of Thoughtshttp://www.fragrantincense.ca/viewfromthepoint/2011/4/25/an-assortment-of-thoughts.htmlJim Hall2011-04-26T03:59:33ZCurrent Events Prayer Psalm 33 reflectionsWell today at House of Prayer we began to look at Psalm 33 (each week we chose a different Psalm or a passage of Scripture to focus on in the devotional times of prayer).

The first 3 verses are an introductory call to worship and in verse 3 there is a familiar exhortation to 'sing to the Lord a new song'. Have you ever wondered why the idea of singing a new song is so common in the Psalms? What's wrong with the traditional songs? Why does God want a 'new' song? 

So consider this: a new song about God requires a new revelation of God. Now obviously I'm not talking about brand new concepts of God but when the reality of who God is strikes or impacts our heart in a new way.  The problem is that so often we rely on singing songs of other people that come from their own revelation of who God is. Sure, it's a catchy tune, but it requires virtually no personal revelation or encounter with God.

What God desires is to be worshiped with new songs of praise and the best new songs flow out of new revelation that come from growing in the knowledge of God.

Tomorrow is April 26 and the evening of prayer that House of Prayer Edmonton is hosting for the Federal Election. My previous post was about why we should gather to pray for the election. I'm quite excited about it and will keep you posted about how it goes. 

]]>Why Christians Should Pray for the Federal Electionhttp://www.fragrantincense.ca/viewfromthepoint/2011/4/23/why-christians-should-pray-for-the-federal-election.htmlJim Hall2011-04-23T22:45:43ZCurrent Events Prayer prayer prayer for the 2011 federal election praying for CanadaAs most Canadians know, we are headed to the polls on May 2 for a federal election and so I wanted to offer some thoughts about why it is extremely important for Christians to pray for the election. Recently I have been working with House of Prayer Edmonton to plan a special evening of intercession and worship for Canada as a nation and the forthcoming election. What has impacted me is the apathy and general absense of any sense of urgency related to praying for our nation at this time.

Consider this: as Christians we are under the glorious leadership of Jesus Christ, who is the King that rules over all other kings of the earth. The advent of his Kingdom rule on the earth was announced and began over 2000 years ago and ever since Christians have worked to see that Kingdom further established on earth as it exists in heaven. One of the principle ways by which this is done is through intercession for God's will be be done. As wonderful as a democratic system of government may be, the coming Kingdom of God is not a democracy. Jesus is King and his will is the only one that matters!

1 Timothy 2:1-2 is the famous Scripture (among others) that calls us to pray for kings and those in places of government. While this is important at all times, it is especially important at times when leaders are being selected through a general election.

We may or may not be personally interested or engaged with the current political dialogue that is happening in Canada, but as Christians we must bear this in mind: God is at work in Canada to bring everything into submission to the leadership of Jesus Christ. Jesus has an inheritance in Canada and God the Father is working to give him that inheritance. Beyond a duty, it must be our earnest desire to pray to see the will of God established and this is particularly significant when it comes to decisions related to who will govern our country.

We may or may not think that this election will change anything in the configuration of Parliament but that is not the relevant criteria for deciding whether or not we should pray for this election.

At a time of selection of the leadership of a national government, Christians must take their God ordained stand before the King of Kings and intercede that the Lord's will would be be established on earth, in Canada, as it is in heaven.

With that in mind, I would like to invite Christians from Edmonton and the surrounding areas to join together for an evening of prayer for Canada and the federal election.

Here are the details:
    Night of Worship and Prayer for the Federal Election
    Tuesday April 26, 7:00 - 9:00 pm
    McKernan Baptist Church - West Building
    11125-76 Ave.

Lord Jesus, may your Kingdom come in Canada and may your will be done, on the earth as it is in heaven! Amen! Come King Jesus!

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]]>A New Chapter of HoPEhttp://www.fragrantincense.ca/viewfromthepoint/2011/2/21/a-new-chapter-of-hope.htmlJim Hall2011-02-22T03:55:02Zgeneral updatesTomorrow night we begin a new chapter in the journey of House of Prayer Edmonton. We are beginning to open the prayer room every Tuesday night from 7-9 p.m.  I am excited that the time has come when we can have more evening hours that will accomodate a number of people who can't make it at the other time blocks. I am also excited about the special format that will happen on Tuesdays.

We are going to have intercessory worship from 7-8 p.m. each week with musicians and singers helping to lead the way. Then we will have a time of teaching at 8 p.m., followed by a time of individual prayer ministry.

Tomorrow night I will be speaking on "God's zeal for the House of Prayer".

We have sensed the Lord saying to us that it is now time to begin to lift our voice and proclaim and teach from the Scriptures the Lord's heart for the houses of prayer. We are living in historic times where all around the world God is raising up communities that have prayer and worship at their center. House of Prayer Edmonton is one small part in God's grand plan that is unfolding before our eyes! This is in direct fulfillment of Biblical prophecy and is a sign of a significant shift in the understanding and expression of the Church in the earth.

I know that sounds dramatic, but it simply is dramatic!

I will be doing a large chunk of the teaching on Tuesdays, along with other core leaders at HoPE. It really will be an exciting time. If you live in the greater Edmonton area I would like to extend an invitation to you to come and join us on a Tuesday night!

It all begins tomorrow!

]]>Preparing to Returnhttp://www.fragrantincense.ca/viewfromthepoint/2011/2/8/preparing-to-return.htmlJim Hall2011-02-09T00:43:28ZIHOP tripsThe internet access here at IHOP-KC is rather limited so it's been a bit hard to post many updates.

Today is actually when we are all returning home, so I'll try to share some of the highlights:

We have been quite overwhelmed by the generosity of the leaders that we connected with. It certainly exceeded our expectations. We were able to spend time with Wes Martin, Justin Rizzo, and Corey Russell who invited us to be part of the IHOP University weekly chapel service. We were also invited to sit in on Justin's team briefings which was fun!

As well we had a special time of prayer where two of staff from the IHOP prophecy teams came over for a special time of prayer over us as a team.

Pete and Colleen Jackson have shown us around to a number of local restaurants that we would never have known about.

Obviously the largest part of the trip has been spending time in the prayer room and engaging with God. Our team couldn't get enough and has spend many hours each day in the prayer room, enjoying the various worship leaders and blocks of intercession.

It has also been a long trip and we are missing our families and feel ready to come home. Overall it's been a great trip and I look forward to a lot of lasting impact and fruit from it. Probably the only think we have not enjoyed on this trip has been the weather. It certainly has not been much of a break from home in Edmonton! The temperature is slightly warmer but with the humidity the cold is very bitter indeed!

So that's about it. We have one last day here and the fly home tonight. Looking forward to getting home!

 

]]>A Chilly Visit to IHOP-KChttp://www.fragrantincense.ca/viewfromthepoint/2011/2/4/a-chilly-visit-to-ihop-kc.htmlJim Hall2011-02-04T15:18:39ZIHOP tripsWell I am here at the International House of Prayer here in Kansas City and it feels like it did in Edmonton! Cold and lots of snow! Okay, it's not nearly the same amount of snow as in Edmonton, but there still is a surprising amount. I'm currently sitting in the coffee shop (as that's where I can get internet) and I'm too near the door so I'm constantly getting blasted with cold air when the the door opens!

We arrived here without any travel problems at all. (Thankfully Maria and Troy arrived safely late last night, so now our entire group is here) I love coming here with people who have not seen the prayer room before. It's so much fun to watch them experience it in person for the first time. This time Daunavan and Georgina are here for the first time and loving it in every way!

For the most part we are spending as much time in the prayer room as possible. That may sound a bit boring to think of doing that for so many hours a day, but it's not. It is so easy to engage with God for long periods of time. Don't get me wrong: you still need a break now and then, but then you just want to go back in after a couple of hours away!

This morning I've arranged for our group to meet with Wes Martin and Justin Rizzo. They were the leaders at the Awaken conference that HoPE hosted in May 2010. We are obviously looking forward to that.

I'll leave it there and try my best to do another update soon.

FYI, I will be doing all of my 'travel updates' from this blog, so be sure to check back if you want to follow along with what is happening!

]]>More Seminars, Moving Rooms etc.http://www.fragrantincense.ca/viewfromthepoint/2011/1/24/more-seminars-moving-rooms-etc.htmlJim Hall2011-01-24T14:12:34Zgeneral updatesHere's just a quick update from this past weekend:

On Saturday Maria Collett and I led another seminar on the mechanics of the format of intercessory worship that we use at House of Prayer Edmonton. It was a great group of people who were willing to spend most of their Saturday getting into the nitty-gritty details of intercessory worship! This was the first time that we have done this training in a 'day-long' seminar format, so it was encouraging to have it go well.

I have to admit that after a full week, I was pretty drained at the end of the seminar!

On Sunday we began the long process (ok, it just feels long!) of moving Rebekah upstairs into her new renovated room. She's been in the downstairs guest room while we repainted her room. It was what she wanted for Christmas! I'm quite sure that when she asked for it she did not realize that she would have to do much work in terms of moving and organizing her stuff!

Next weekend is the Breakforth conference and Maria and I will be leading a couple of sessions on the Sunday morning. As well, next weekend I start co-leading a seminar style 'small group' on the topic of intercessory worship at St. Albert Alliance with my friend Nathan Carroll (who is the worship pastor at the church). So this will be another full week, but then next week I get to head down to Kansas City to IHOP-KC with a bunch of great people from House of Prayer Edmonton, so that is definitely exciting to think about.

That's it for now. Have a great week!

]]>Burning Down the House and Other Weekend Eventshttp://www.fragrantincense.ca/viewfromthepoint/2011/1/16/burning-down-the-house-and-other-weekend-events.htmlJim Hall2011-01-17T03:41:35Zgeneral updatesWell it's been an interesting weekend to be sure!

On Friday I and a small team from House of Prayer Edmonton were at Northgate Baptist Church, leading an evening of worship and prayer. Despite the fact that it was below -20 and snowing, there were a significant number of people that came out. We spent the evening leading people through a number of sections which began with a pretty standard, familiar format of worship and prayer and progressively added and combined new elements into the format. Our goal was to give the group a new experience of worship and prayer, seeing how you can bring them together in creative ways.

On Saturday we returned to Northgate and led a day seminar on developing prayer ministry teams. Once again there was a great group that came out and we had a good time growing and learning and praying for each other.

On Sunday night we nearly burned the house down though, when we accidently turned on the wrong element on the stove and then somebody else (okay, me) put some folded dish towels on the element and left them there! Not the brightest move!

I also wrote a new blog post for Prayer Journal about Billy Graham's thoughts on worship and prayer, which I encourage you to read! In the mean time, I hope you have a good week!

]]>In the Midst of the Snowhttp://www.fragrantincense.ca/viewfromthepoint/2011/1/9/in-the-midst-of-the-snow.htmlJim Hall2011-01-10T00:29:50Zgeneral updatesEvery winter here in Edmonton there are times when epic amounts of snow are dumped upon the city. In many other cities these kind of storms will shut everything and everyone down. Not in Alberta. Not in Edmonton!

This Saturday morning I was preparing for House of Prayer Edmonton's first 'Foundations Seminar'. It was a day long time of teaching and interaction around the foundational aspects of HoPE. I've been quite excited about it and have been working towards hosting this event for some time. Of course it was on the same weekend as the largest winter dump of snow that we have had this year!

Naturally there were some who couldn't attend because of the weather, however I was so impressed by the resolve of people to try to come! When I arrived people had already gotten stuck in the back alley of the church as they made their way to the parking lot. Cars were being dug out and the parking lot was being cleared. One lady was driving in from Sherwood Park and got stuck 3 times before deciding to turn back home!

I was moved by the faithfulness annd spiritual hunger that motivated these people to come out to the seminar on such a wintery day!

Next weekend I'm doing another seminar for a local church here in Edmonton. Hopefully the weather won't be quite as dramatic! Stay connected and and I'll be sure to tell you how it goes!

On another note, be sure to check out my other blog: Prayer Journal. I've started writing some entries on that as well, so I encourage you to check it out.

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]]>Upcoming Events in 2011http://www.fragrantincense.ca/viewfromthepoint/2011/1/1/upcoming-events-in-2011.htmlJim Hall2011-01-02T04:08:41Zgeneral updatesLike many of us, I'm thinking about the beginning of a new year (and a new decade). This blog post marks a new chapter for me in starting fresh with my personal ministry blog (A View from the Point) as well as my other blog 'Prayer Journal'.

January is going to be a very busy month. I will be teaching at seminars every weekend this month! On January 8 and 22 I will be leading all-day training seminars for House of Prayer Edmonton. On January 14-15, I'll be at Northgate Baptist Church to do some in-house intercessory worship and prayer training. Finally, on January 30 I will be leading two break-out sessions alongside Maria Collett at Breakforth 2011.

Then in the beginning of February, I will be leading a team down to visit the International House of Prayer in Kansas City (IHOP-KC).

So the next six weeks will be very fast-paced, to be sure.

Stay tuned, and hopefully I'll be able to post more updates as these events happen!

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