Prayer

[hjael79]

Last winter, I attended a conference in KC called "One Thing." Some of the things that I heard there really reignited a desire to impact my city (Minneapolis) in prayer. I'd done several prayer walks around the neighborhood where I lived, petitioning the Lord to remove barriers between my neighbors and Himself and to deeply move in and upon the community. However, I bega to feel a call for a more dedicated schedule of prayer for my city.

In two weeks, I'm going to become involved with a prayer group at the Bible study where I've been involved on and off for the last 6 years. We will be reading a book by the mystic St. Teresa of A-something for 8 weeks and meeting weekly before Bible study.

Not only do I want to encourage you all to spend time in conversation with the Lord on your own, but I really do want to ask you to be praying for me throughout this summer. I've decided to take a sabbatical from teaching high school, and dedicate this season to cultivating and growing my relationship with God. I would appreciate any and all support you can offer me during this time.

Please also post any concerns and requests for prayer here, so that I can support you as well.

[chasingsophia]

My guess would be St. Theresa of Avila, the mystic whose visions form the extrabiblical material in Mel's "Passion..." movie.

I will indeed include you in my prayers.

You could pray for my sister and her children. Her heart remains hard to the Gospel and her boyfriend left her last week.

[hjael79]

Avila, that's it.

I'm also reading a book by Mike Bickle of the Internat'l House of Prayer in KC. It's titled Passion for Jesus. I'm having a difficult time comprehending and/or accepting the idea that God is delights in me even when I fall short or am completely out of his will.

I want to believe this, but it is a completely foreign concept to me. I cannot relate to this joy - I certainly don't live out that sort of attitude towards those that I love. If they screw up, I'm pissed or disappointed. How can one delight in the thing that disappoints and falls terribly short?

[chasingsophia]

I don't know if I didn't see your response, HJ, or just forgot about it.

I think that your struggle to comprehend God's delight in His people is entirely reasonable. What would make the One who is alone to be worshiped above all delight in an inferior, rebellious creature?

To back it up a bit: What should that all-worthy One delight in at all? If He is the most supremely valuable Person in and outside all the universe, what would be His first priority?