Pete Greig's visit will likely mark a catalytic moment in the life of the fledgling but forceful movement of the Asbury House of Prayer. The meetings held an apostolic quality, like a visitation from a new testament church planter/ evangelist/ encourager. He reminded us of messianic texts like Isaiah 60, 61 and 62 and how they are finding continued fulfillment in Christ in our time and exhorted us to get more intimately involved through "posting watchmen on our walls."
I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;
they will never be silent day or night.
You who call on the LORD,
give yourselves no rest,
and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem
and makes her the praise of the earth.
At the same time the Spirit used him to connect us with these ancient texts, we were also being connected more deeply with our own story. Pete led us back to Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf and a little refugee village called Herrnhut, rehearsing the story of a prayer meeting that began in the 18th century and didn't stop for another 125 years. Fascinating-- Herrnhut means literally, "the Lord's Watch." We remembered the Wesleys, their awakening and the subsequent awakening of all of England in connection to this move of the Spirit. Sometimes it takes a cousin from another land to more fully welcome us into our own family story. We can get so situated and oriented with our own story as "history" that we lose touch with the stirring way it would be told around a campfire at night. This visitation held that essence. Quoting John Wesley, he exhorted us ,
"God never does anything but in answer to believing prayer."
In saying this he spoke of how God hears and has heard every word we have ever spoken to him in prayer noting that our very presence and work here today is the fruit of another generation's prayers.
A small group of friends from IHOP (International House of Prayer) in Kansas City joined us for the past two days, spending most of their time in the AHOP praying and leading worship. Students from college campuses ranging from Tennessee to Ohio and throughout Kentucky converged on our campus to pray with us and to be encouraged.
On Thursday night, Pete led the gathering in a way of prayer many of us had never experienced before. Referencing the many places in the Scriptures where God's people are called on to "shout" to him, he called us into a time of "shouting" unto God. For almost five minutes, the here-to-fore quiet congregation, shouted at the top of their lungs, "Come On!" The chandeliers shook and the floor quaked and who knows what happened in the heavens. It was a cry of awakening. Just as quickly, we were to our knees and on the floor in silence and thanksgiving. Matt Lewis, our worship leader, began singing Let the River Flow and the joy became palpable. Ten minutes later, the people processed down the street to the AHOP, filling up virtually every square inch of floor space, and prayed into the small hours of the morning.
there's so much more to say. this is enough for the moment.
