Sorry I’ve been infrequent with my blog updates. A lot of the same thing happens up here in the sense that God is continually moving and delivering and healing. That compounded with my lack of internet doesn’t promote very frequent updates. That being said, I was able to take part in a historic event this weekend. 85 evangelical prayer ministries called up IHOP (regarded as charismatic which is basically the opposite of evangelical.) and wanted to host a 66-hour prayer meeting using our prayer room. We agreed to provide the prayer room, students who are eager to pray, and the worship bands and we would let them guide us in 66 hours of intercession (praying for others). Needless to say, it was mind-blowing. To be sitting within feet of Glenn Shepherd, Dick Eastman, Vonette Bright, as well as other was phenomenal. The fact that Glenn Shepherd (YWAM) has had over 1,000,000 missionaries sent out through his organization, Dick Eastman’s ministry (Every Home for Christ) is quoted as having accidentally planting 25,000 churches as well as being on their third cycle of door-to-door preaching in India (that’s twice they’ve gone to EVERY house in India with the gospel and they’re working on number 3.), and Vonette Bright (Campus Crusade for Christ) and her late husband Bill Bright, who are responsible for so many prayer furnaces on college campuses, have a combined total of souls attributed to their ministries that is mind-numbingly large was enough. Within three hours of them being here with us, they said they wanted to pass on their mantle, so to speak, to us. They asked for all the young people to come and stand in the aisles and then proceeded to lay hands on us and pray for our future ministries and bless us. To say it was a blessing from God would be a severe understatement. It was easily the most life-changing thing I have ever partaken in. Through it, I had a few brief conversations with Glenn Shepherd who refused my thanking him for coming and blessing us by saying that it was us who were blessing him. I am currently exploring the possibility of going with him to Nepal on a short-term missions trip. It was such a blessing. For the first time in my life I felt like a part of the body of christ on a bigger scale than my home church back in Wichita.
It was phenomenal that all of these 85 organizations, as well as IHOP, could put aside their minor doctrinal issues and theological qualms with each other and band together and see the bigger picture. That it’s not about Pre-Millennial or Post. It’s not about baptism. It’s not about speaking in tongues. It’s about a world of hurt and a mandate from the living God to spread to the gospel to all corners of the Earth. That was not a suggestion, that was a mandate. It’s about the fact that one day, Jesus WILL return to this Earth (for the record, most of these 85 Evangelical ministries as well as IHOP believe that it will be within my generation or the generation after mine’s lifetime) and that we want to be the bride that He deserves and the only was that we can do that is through corporate prayer, fasting, and intercession. Christ did not ask for a body of believers that disagrees with each other, bashes each other’s view on minor doctrinal issues, but a body of Christ that can look past all of these differences and pray in unity for the burden that is on God’s heart, rather than passively praying selfish prayers. Now, that’s not to say we shouldn’t pray for ourselves, because we need all the help we can get, but we should NEVER neglect an opportunity to join together with a body of believers and seek God’s will for our church, for our city, for our state, for our nation, and for our world. God has an opinion on all of these things and He’s dying to share it with you. Are you brave enough to ask Him? This is a perfect time to proclaim this message. We are on the brink of two MAJOR event that draw the body of believers together through prayer for our communities and further. I’m not sure what order these occur in but one is See You At the Pole. There should not be one professing Christian that attends a school, or teaches at one, that does not show up for this event. What a better chance to see the professing Christians at your school so you can hold them accountable as well as to join together in your prayers as you all, regardless of denomination, pray for the same thing. For teachers, it’s an amazing way to stand before your students as a believer and open up the door to become a spiritual father to them and encourage them in their prayer life and their walk with Christ. The second event is the National Day of Prayer (there is also a World Day of Prayer but I’m not sure if that is in the fall, or when it is. Do some research). There should not be a confessing Christian who does not participate in this to some degree. Whether it’s tuning in to IHOP’s webstream as we participate and praying with us, or whether it’s looking for your city’s event. I know in Wichita they usually host a prayer meeting at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. Get involved. Do not treat these events passively. If there’s anything I learned at the prayer watch this weekend it was the fact that when you pray with fervor and come together with events such as these, your prayers feel ten-times more effective, and I’m almost certain they are. It’s easy to get with your youth group and pray for your church. While these are great prayers, and God hears every one of them, there is a bigger plan on His mind. Tapping in to cross-denominational prayer meetings connects you deeply into the heart of God and His desire on a bigger scheme than you’ve likely been made accustomed to, or cared to pursue. This is a great time to change that. So that’s my call. Get out there and pray. Organize prayer meetings in your school, in your work place, in your city, in your state. Dream big and God will fulfill them in His timing. I hope God is moving deeply in all of your lives as you continue to press in wherever you may be. God will meet you there if you continue to run the race and don’t give up no matter what. God bless.
~CJ Heintz
