Listen to this article
NEW PRAYER INITIATIVE
BY JUDY SMITH –
What does the year 2000 have in common with 2002? Both emphasize PRAYER!
Commissioner David Edwards is once again leading the Western Territory into a time of prayer…not just for an eight to ten week period of time, however, but for the entire year. 24-7 Prayer Initiative will be the vehicle of choice for this territory.
24-7 Prayer Initiative was ‘born’ in England and has impacted both the ‘church’ in England and Europe, as well as The Salvation Army in the United Kingdom Territory and many European territories.
While it is not a program, 24-7 Prayer Initiative enables and encourages corps/churches/groups to commit to non-stop praying for a week (24 hours a day for seven continuous days).
With this in mind, the Western Territory claims 2002 as our Year of Prayer, allowing 24-7 Prayer Initiative to carry us into God’s throne room with the wonderful opportunity to “get down on our knees, pray for our nation, and pray for our territory and leaders!”
The exciting part of 24-7 Prayer Initiative is the freedom that is built into the initiative. Once a corps or group decides to participate, the leader makes contact with THQ (evangelism department) to sign up for a seven-day period of time within 2002. A helpful resource packet will be sent and a consultant will be assigned. The group leader will be encouraged to designate and dedicate a prayer room, in consultation with their corps officer, followed by enthusing and encouraging soldiers and friends to sign up for one, two or more hours to pray in the prayer room. The location of the prayer room and its decor will be totally up to you and your local needs!
You will then join other Salvationists and friends who also will sign up for 24-7 (week), thus covering 2002 with continuous prayer.
What are you waiting for? What does God want to do in your corps, your town, your life? Isn’t about time that we get on our knees and seek God’s face and heart? Well, 24-7 Prayer Initiative is just for you…keep your eyes open for more information and details to come your way this is definitely your year for radical prayer!!
Mercy Seat?
Is this the mercy seat,
This manger place
Which seems so full of love,
Of good, of grace?
And will God talk to me,
Tell me his will,
Here, wrapped in silences,
So soft, so still?
I touch this tiny hand,
I see this face;
The God I’m looking for
Is in this place.
My heart prepares itself
Its Lord to greet,
And kneels with joy before
This mercy seat.
And must I bring a gift,
Some worth, some wealth?
Is it enough for me
To give myself?
Give him your yesterdays,
Tomorrows too.
He asks for nothing else
But you!
Just you!
–John Gowans
