This season of prayer has had dramatic affects on many people’s relationship with God. Prayer has been the medium for intercession, the catalyst for revealing aspects of God’s character, as well as enabling humility and surrender in people’s lives. But the function of prayer that I want to focus on is its ability to enable us to walk with and abide in Him.

Life can be likened to walking through the woods at nighttime, where we don’t know exactly were our path is headed yet we are trying to progress through places where there are obstacles, distractions and hazards. This can be treacherous, first of all because one can stumble, fall, and get hurt, and secondarily (yet equally treacherously) because it is easy to get off the path and get lost.

Perhaps you’ve lived in the city so long that you have forgotten what it is like to walk at night without streetlights, but if you have walked through the woods at night without a flashlight you know how impossible it is to simply move from point A to point B.

The Bible uses this metaphor in Psalm 119 verse 105, which says, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

Only God can guide us safely through life’s obstacles and hazards and get us to the end destination of which only He knows. If we intend to stay on the path we need to stay close enough to Him to see His light.

Many people have expressed how different their day goes when they spend time abiding with Christ in prayer, how their time with God sets the trajectory for the rest of their day. As we finish this 40 day season of prayer, this could be the most important thing that the people of Crossroads take away: a realization of our desperate need to stay close to Christ in order to see his light and guidance for our daily lives as it is revealed through prayer, Word and church. May these 40 days of prayer be more than an event, may they be a movement of God in our hearts.

May we walk on, abiding in the light of Christ…

Today, our last day, we were unable to use the cards to enter the building. They did not work for us.

At first, we were kind of bummed but decided quickly to put in our worship CD’s and open the doors of the vehicle to blast the worship into the atmosphere. After blowing the shofar over the city of Grand Rapids, we entered into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise.

We have been praying for Crossroads and for the city that the walls holding God’s people captive to whatever they are captive to, would come down. Blowing the shofar weekly and declaring the freedom for the captives.

We have felt a ceiling on our prayers. Like there is a need to burst through and have an open highway between the throne of God and His kingdom here on earth. Calling His kingdom to earth as it is in heaven. Asking for Jesus, our daily bread, manna from heaven to show Himself to us in His fullness.

At the end of our time, we realized with a grin, that there is no ceiling outside. How like God to tossle our hair and tease us for our lack of vision. We are praying for the leaders of our church to enter in to the fullness of all God has as little children. Eyes wide and mouths open to catch the rain of His Spirit and be filled daily to the full with all He has for them.

Praying for revival and for revelation to hit the people of our church and our city that a flood of His love would sweep through and heal those who are hurting, and renew those who are weary.

May God and His praying people, continue this work long after the Jubilee prayer movement! Amen!!

Phyllis and Bob Cegelis

I have been excited about this season of 24/7 prayer at Crossroads ever since I first heard that we were doing it, and since it has been underway I have been involved helping out with the blog and leading open worship on Saturday nights. I want to share a little of what God has been doing in my heart during this season.

As I have been contemplating Isaiah 61 and dwelling in the words of this passage, I realized one simple fact about God’s Jubilee… it WILL happen. Take a close look at the language that is used.

In verses 1-3, Isaiah is sent to proclaim what God will do.

In verses 4 – 7 the word “Shall” is used 10 times (once per line)

In verses 8 – 9 the word “Shall” is used 2 more times and the phrase “I Will” is used 2 times.

And lastly in verses 10b – 11 God declares:

“As a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God WILL cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.”

There are no conditional phrases in this whole chapter. The certainty of this Jubilee is apparent in the words of Isaiah; God’s Jubilee Will happen regardless of anything or anyone else.

As I was reading this chapter I realized that God doesn’t need me in order to accomplish His Jubilee, yet I also realized that He will use me if I let Him.

It’s like a wave… sweeping across all generations and all nations

I have a choice to make. I’m either riding the wave of God’s Jubilee or I will be buried by it, but one thing is for sure, it can’t be stopped.

Geoffrey Buck

Exodus chapter 34 says,

“²⁹ When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD. ³⁰ When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. ³¹ But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. ³² Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the LORD had given him on Mount Sinai.

 ³³ When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. ³⁴ But whenever he entered the LORD’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, ³⁵ they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD.”

Being in the presence of the Lord changed Moses, it even showed on his face. The Israelites could tell that Moses had been with God just by looking at him.

Again in Acts chapter 4 we see the affect that the presence of God had on the apostles.

“Now when they (the Sanhedrin) saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.”

Peter and John’s time with Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives completely changed them. They displayed boldness and confidence not because of their education or personal wisdom, but because of the power that came from the presence of God.

Therefore

“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 9:23-24)

The presence of God allows us to know Him.

Throughout this season of prayer may we experience the presence and knowledge of God, and may that presence change us, so that with glowing faces we are God’s messengers to the world, boldly sharing the gospel, not by our power, but boasting in the LORD.

From celebration of sobriety to prayers for a spouse to prayers for healing, it is powerful and edifying to see the praises and the needs our community written down. Let us heed the words of Paul, written to the Romans, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, morn with those who morn.” (12:15) And let us continue to Praise God for His perfect blessings and pray for “freedom for the captives.”

Jubilee is both a time to celebrate God’s blessing, and a time to fight for justice for those who are captives of injustice.

The prophet Isaiah says,

“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.”    (Isaiah 61: 1-3)

This event is made possible by Individuals and families from our community, who have committed to pray for one hour slots, in the upper room (our prayer room upstairs at the office building). But we hope that this becomes more than just an event; we hope that prayer seeps through the walls of this building and manifests itself in the heart and life of the Crossroads community.

If you are not already involved, please join us by 1) signing up for a one hour prayer slot, 2) worshiping and praying with us Mondays through Saturdays 7-9pm in the upper room, but 3) most importantly, by seeking God – living a lifestyle of fasting and prayer, and keeping Christ at the center of your life.

Stay tuned for updates of how God is moving in our community through prayer….

As we journey together on our walk with Jesus, there are bound to be stories of awesome life changing moments, dramatic breakthough, and even dissapointing failures.  This blog will serve as a space where we can share those stories with each other for encouragement and more importantly to bring glory to the almighty God we serve.