An Incredible Evening of Prayer for Canada

On 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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Why Christians Should Pray for the Federal Election

As 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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Reflections on the Luke 18 Weekend

This past weekend, House of Prayer Edmonton hosted 72 hours of continual prayer and worship for the G8/20 summits in Toronto and Huntsville. This was part of a national prayer initiative called the Luke 18 weekend.

We met at Edmonton Worship Centre which was a wonderful facility. We saw the fragrant incense of prayer and worship rise up continually for 3 days! From 9 a.m. on Thursday June 24 until 9 a.m. on Sunday June 27. There were about 40 people who signed up on the schedule to fill the 36 two-hour blocks and there was continual stream of people who just dropped in over the days. I estimate that we had over 100 different people participate in the weekend.

It was awesome to be part of a national initiative of prayer. You can read a national report on the weekend here, from Sara Maynard who was the national coordinator of the weekend. 

There were so many amazing stories that came out of our Edmonton weekend. I wish I could tell all of them. 

This was easily the ministry highlight of the year for me. I was deeply honoured to stand together in intercession with so many amazing musicians and intercessors from around the greater Edmonton area.

Once again I am utterly ruined for the vision of seeing a 24/7 prayer room established in Edmonton, where the fire on the alter will never go out! 

If you were connected and/or involved in the weekend of prayer, please leave a comment to share about your own experience from the prayer room!

Quick Thoughts on Fasting

When I first heard about the spiritual discipline of fasting back in the early 90's, it was in the context of praying and fasting for a specific issue such a local church repenting of sin and returning to God in wholeheartedness, or fasting for wisdom in the selection of a pastor for a church. 

Later on I began to understand fasting as a spiritual discipline that expands our spiritual hunger for God. John Piper's book 'Hunger for God' is a classic writing on this type of fasting. 

Most recently I have come to view fasting a normal dimension of the Christian life; a discipline that Jesus expected his followers to engage in, and that fasting does not earn us anything but postures us to receive more from God. More revelation to our hearts of faith, hope and love and the knowledge of his will. 

Sometimes people go into fasting expecting God to do this or that or say certain things and they become frustrated when he doesn't meet those expectations.

The same is often true of prayer. People begin praying for something or someone and when things don't change quickly they become discouraged and often give up on prayer. For many people fasting is more challenging than intercession (probably because of the physical and psychological discomfort) and thus it feels more 'radical' and somehow more worthy of a direct and immediate response from God. I don't see that concept in Scripture.

When I engage in prayer and fasting I do so with a long term vision. I don't encourage people to measure the 'effectiveness' of prayer or fasting in the short term. We may see some degree of impact in the short term but we need to have a different vision of developing persistence in prayer and fasting. Jesus called us to this in Luke 18 when he asked the question, "but when the Son of Man comes will he find faith on the earth?" Will there be a people who have long term view of prayer and fasting that is motivated out of passion and hunger for Jesus? 

The primary motivation in prayer and fasting needs to be passion for Jesus, more than immediate, measurable impact in the natural realm.

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!