Announcing the Launch of 'Prayer Journal'

I am VERY excited to finally be able to announce the launch of my new blog Prayer Journal!

In the summer I began to bounce around the idea of doing a more 'professional style' blog that would be focused on prayer and how to develop our individual prayer life. Over time I worked on it here and there and tried to develop something I'd be happy with. Finally the time has arrived for a public launch!

Here are a few details about it:

• It's hosted separately from Fragrant Incense because I wanted to offer it as a 'stand alone' blog rather than one that is integrated in a website (such as this blog, A View from the Point)
• I also wanted to keep A View from the Point going as a more informal blog, and you can't effectively have more than one blog on a website!
• A View from the Point will be more informal, but it won't be a super personal 'diary' style blog. I have lots of thoughts and ideas that are not specifically 'prayer' oriented, so there will still be lots to View from the Point!

 I'd love for you to check out Prayer Journal if you haven't already. I also hope that you'll keep connecting to A View from the Point as well!

The Battle Over Night and Day Intercession

This week there were two events in Edmonton that stood out to me as clarion reminders as to the spiritual battle that is continually being waged in our city and why night and day intercession is so important in that battle! Both occurred at West Edmonton Mall, which is where we, at House of Prayer Edmonton have been holding monthly gatherings of 24 hr. prayer for over a year and half.

Last Saturday morning, just after midnight a young woman was physically assaulted by two 15 yr. old girls who also videotaped the assault on their cell phone! (read the Edmonton Journal article here)

Two days later on Monday at around 4 p.m. a young man was taken to hospital for a drug overdose on ecstasy at a rave party at West Edmonton Mall. (read more here)

These two such events at WEM last weekend are not completely surprising to me since last week was the launch of the 'Nine to Noon' prayer initiative. The HoPE prayer room is now open Monday - Friday, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon, in addition to the already existing Friday night prayer from 7-9 p.m. and the 24 hours of prayer on the 3rd Friday of each month. Prayer and worship always experience profound spiritual resistance:

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  - 1Peter 5:8

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. - Eph. 6:10-12

The impact of prayer on this spiritual battle is made clear in Daniel 9, where God pulls back the curtain and shows Daniel some of the warfare that rages and how his prayers directly changed the battle:

While I was speaking and praying... and making my request to the LORD my God--while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight. He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given..." 

Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. 

We need men and women who will be like Daniel and stand in the place of prayer! 

I want to be clear: the focus of House of Prayer Edmonton is always to exalt Jesus and to see the spiritual light of His Presence shine in the darkness. The focus is not on casting out the darkness. If you want to get rid of darkness you turn on a light; therefore our primary mandate is to seek our Father in heaven for a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit to exalt Jesus on the earth!

Now is the time to come and stand together in the House of Prayer in holy, believing, persevering prayer and worship! We have an opportunity for 24 hours of continual prayer this weekend at West Edmonton Mall and to pray for the Presence of God to be released in that place and all over the capital region.

Here are some tangible opportunities to get involved:

• Friday Oct. 16 @ 7 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre praying during the 're-surgence' gathering
• Friday Oct. 16 @ 7 p.m. - Saturday Oct. 17 @ 7 p.m. at HoPE at the WEM Marketplace Chapel (24 hrs. of prayer)
• "Nine to Noon" initiative: Every Monday - Friday between 9 a.m. - Noon @ the HoPE prayer room
• Every Friday night from 7 - 9 p.m. at the HoPE prayer room

This is worship and prayer for the release of the Holy Spirit over the Capital region and for the establishment of the Kingdom of God all across the Capital region.

I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest, and give Him no rest until...   -Isa. 62:6

How to Grow in Faith

This morning as I looked through my Twitter feed I was taken to school by the Lord on the issue of faith!

There were several tweets from evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, one of which read: "...a great outpouring from God. We are believing for heaven full, hell empty!!" I can just hear him saying that with his great, thick German accent!) My immediate thought was 'that's totally unbiblical'. Jesus made that clear in talking about the narrow and the broad roads (Matt. 7:13)

I continued to scan through the tweets and came across a few more from Reinhard: "We are in Afiko Nigeria for the next Gospel Crusade this week. The crusade starts tomorrow. Please keep us in prayer." It was this next one that really got me: "...effort? Nothing less than the salvation of this world is at stake. We follow His footsteps! Are YOU with us?"

I sit in my comfortable desk chair in my comfortable office debating in my mind whether Reinhard is off the mark in his exegesis of the Scriptures regarding salvation, while he's out there on the front lines giving all he's got to see people come to faith in Christ!! 

Last week during 'Nine to Noon', one of the things I was praying through was Matt. 6:30 vs. Matt. 15:28. In 6:30, Jesus says to the people "O you of little faith" but in 15:28 he says "woman, you have great faith", and I was praying that God would help me be a man of great faith instead of little faith.

Today I am reminded of that prayer and recognize the Lord working in me, leading me to confront the areas of my heart that are 'of little faith'.

One of the simplest ways to increase our faith is to pray and ask the Lord for the increase. 

I still may not agree with Reinhard about 'heaven full, hell empty', but his genuine great faith is evident in his continual pouring out of his life for the work of the gospel, and I need a whole lot more of that in my own life!

So here's a question to ponder today: Where in your life is God looking to create an increase of faith?

Urgent Time to Pray for Muslims

Tomorrow, Friday September 25 there will be a gathering of approximately 50,000 Muslims on Capital Hill in Washington D.C. The purpose is to demonstrate the Muslim faith and "manifest Islam's majestic spiritual principles" and to worship allah.

This is obviously a very important event not only in the natural political realm but much more in the spiritual realm. You can read more on the official website for the event.

Lou Engle who is one of the main leaders in the Christian prayer movement in America has written:

This is the exact word of one of the Sheikhs who is leading this historic gathering: "Muslims should march on the White House. We are going to the White House so that Islam will be victorious, Allah willing, and the White House will become into a Muslim house."

You can also get more information here.

I want to extend a call to all those who are connected with House of Prayer Edmonton to take time tomorrow to pray for the Lord to move among the Muslims who are gathering in D.C., as well as Muslims in Canada and Edmonton. 

There is a great deal of spiritual warfare surrounding this event. Again in the words of Lou Engle: "Our fight is not against Muslims, it is again principalities, powers, and the forces of darkness" 

The urgent need of the hour is for the Muslim people to receive a revelation of the person of Jesus Christ. 

In recent related news there has been a great deal of attention on the saga of Rifqa Bary, who is a young woman from a Muslim family who had a radical encounter with Jesus Christ and has given her life to Jesus. Her father is said to have threatened her life because of her conversion and there is major legal battle underway as she seeks freedom from her family. You can read more here.

The purpose of my post here is NOT to promote controversy or debate but to call us to PRAY for the Muslim people.

There are many ways to effectively pray for the Muslim people, but here are general guidelines:

1. pray for the release of God's divine light to open the eyes of the Muslim people to who Jesus is
2. pray that Jesus would supernaturally reveal Himself to the Muslim people

PLEASE take even a few minutes on Friday to pray for the Muslim people. 

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Stop Robbing My Joy!

The title of this blog post is in honor of my friend Al who told me a humorous story of an encounter where he was telling a Christian lady that he wouldn't be able to do a particular project for her, to which she responded by becoming visibly upset and stating, "You're robbing my joy"!

Yesterday morning during my time of intercession I felt God's Spirit stirring in me on the theme of joy and the restoration of joy. I sensed the Lord say to me that one of the major strategies of the enemy is to rob us of joy - specifically the joy of the Lord, meaning the joy that comes from our relationship with God.

Many of us know the phrase 'the joy of the Lord is my strength', but it's such a common phrase that I have to admit I needed to look it up in order to find the Scriptural reference for it! I quickly realized how much of a 'fridge magnet verse' it was to me when I was stunned to find it in Nehemiah 8:10! (a humbling admission)

In my prayer time I was directed mainly to David's famous cry in Ps. 51:12, "restore to me the joy of your salvation"; as I began to pray that verse for myself and others, I sensed the Lord showing me the robbery in our lives of the joy that God has designed to strengthen us. (I admit that I found the concept rather humorous, but then God does have a sense of humor!)

I think that one of the reasons I've often struggled with the concept of joy is that I've equated it with silliness, and as those who know me will readily agree, I am not that into silliness. (although thankfully my kids often say that I am, so I'm getting better!)

Today I want to encourage you to pray for a greater level of joy in your life. Don't start singing 'I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart. WHERE? Down in my heart, down in my heart.... " (remember, no silliness allowed :)

God is saying that He wants to give us divine strength through the joy that comes from our relationship with Him. There is new strength for us today if we will but ask Him.

Here are 3 passages that you can pray for yourself and for those around you (family and friends):

• Psalm 51:12 - God restore to me the joy that come from my relationship with you
• Galatians 5:22 - Holy Spirit come. Fill me today and produce new joy in me.
• Isaiah 61:3 - Father give to me today the oil of gladness. Pour it over me.

I encourage you to take a moment right now (before you get distracted) and pray on this theme of joy.

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