TheCall DC 2008

I just got back last night from TheCall DC. I met up with a church group taking a bus to DC from Dallas last Thursday, and after 30 hours on the road (whew!), we arrived at DC. After a couple hours of late sightseeing, I headed back to the hotel for some z’s before the big day.

The Call was awesome, and there were many times when I was just gripped with intercession, to the point of crying out in groaning and tears. I also loved breaking into the small prayer groups… It’s awesome to pray with some zealous intercessors! There was much needed repentance and rending of hearts there. I pray that those who went (especially myself) are marked forever, and will never again succumb to “walking as men.” (spiritual mediocrity and slumber)

I really wish that more went, but I am thankful for 70,000… I believe that number means more in the heart of God than 500,000, 1,000,000 or 1,500,000 would mean to me.

The busload of people I went with were some of the most awesome believers I have ever met. I really fell in love with that group, and their love for one another (and others) and their culture of prayer was absolutely breathtaking.

On the way back, God decided to really mess us up. Just a few hours into our trip back, our bus broke down in Lexington, Virginia. At first, the fact that we were stuck in this small city frazzled us (we weren’t sure if we were anywhere near civilization at first), but as we started rolling with the punches, God’s plan unfurled. We did some sightseeing of Stonewall Jackson’s grave, and we all sat down to pray and discuss the prophetic meaning of “stone wall.”

That night, we had a prayer meeting that I won’t soon forget. The bus company put us up in a hotel owned and operated by an awesome christian family. They let us use the back room after they closed down for our prayer meeting. One of the members of our party was a paralytic, who was confined to a wheelchair. After several minutes of intense and prevailing prayer, she regained feeling in one of her legs and was able to stand with help, but not walk yet. I went back to the hotel, and on the way up to my floor, someone shouted that she was now walking! We all lost it and started worshipping Jesus at the top of our lungs, screaming “Hallelujah!!” as we ran back downstairs. I saw this sister who had been confined to a wheelchair with incurable paralysis walk, run, dance and worship Jesus with no physical limitations… we were all beside ourselves, and several people were kneeling in the grass, weeping and praising God.

The next day really ministered to me as well, as several believers prayed for my healing, physically and emotionally. I really met the Lord there and my heart was really refreshed. Oh, the glory of a prophetic company!

On the bus ride back, I was literally weeping… All I could think about is coming back to a barren environment in my city and my church, and other situations in my life that seemed to have a lot of death. I dreaded it, but the Lord is still meeting me as I set aside time to talk to Him.

I sure miss the fellowship, though.

I hope to have links to some of my videos of The Call posted soon.

Consistency

The Lord has been speaking to me about consistency…

So many times, my walk with God is up and down. Recently, He’s been smoothing out the curve a lot, and I’m very thankful for that. A lot of that has had to do with me coming into a sold understanding of my identity in Him.

A simple encouragement the Lord gave me today was:

Don’t fret about how soon you feel like you’ve cooled off of a high from a conference or encounter. Just press into Me.

So, I am endeavoring to pursue Him more consistently. I am so thankful for His wonderful presence which rushes to meet me every time I draw near to Him. I am carving out a place on my desk where I an just seek Him out in His word, with prayer. I feel like I’ve been well trained (by Him) in how to seek Him at church, in prayer meetings, in worship services, and out in the field when He calls on me to go somewhere to intercede. But I have been very lax in my pursuit of Him in the simplicity of my prayer closet. I’m thankful for the grace to be able to remedy that.