Saturday, I spent a good chunk of time at “The Call”. If you read this blog regularly, you know that there has been a fair amount of discussion about “The Call”. I’m not going to re-hash all that.
The big question that lots of people had was how much of this event was really about prayer & how much of it was going to be political. Certainly this event was linked to the efforts to pass Prop 8. But from the very beginning I sensed that Lou Engle & some of the people who are leaders in the intercessory prayer movement who I thought might be brought in would keep the primary focus on the prayer & fasting end of this, that they would focus on the spiritual issues behind this. I believed that they would helps us fix our hope not on the passage of legislation but God’s ability to break strongholds & move in the hears of a state or even a nation.
Eureka! This sense, this hope was confirmed the moment I walked in. I took the Trolley in & had a great conversation with a Catholic couple who work at a school in Pt Loma. Then I went looking for some of my buddies from Fresno that came down to pray. Of course they are on the other side of the Stadium from the entrance I used. As I’m walking in (I got there about 12:45 or so) I hear Lou begin to lead us in prayer for our children – for those that are far from God, lost in sin, on drugs, in broken relationships AND – this was cool – for those that are “good kids but have no fire for God.” BAM! My ex-youth pastor soul, filled; I felt a lump in my throat & that sense that here is a guy who is much in God’s presence. I loved the get it factor. This is about hearts for God, not bunkers against that evil world out there.
The day looked like this for the most part: various speakers who spoke for 5 minutes or so, lots of worship & prayer themes with different people leading in prayer. There was an interesting & I think good assortment of local & national figures, Christian theological perspectives, styles of prayer.
Personally, I loved praying with some really good friends from Fresno that are very high on the prayer IQ scale. Both Paul Haroutunian & Dave Moats are faithful, fervent prayer people who have spent much time in fasting & prayer.
There were a couple of speakers there who I really like, but they stretch me on the “Holy Spirit”, signs & wonders end of things. I’ve heard them before & always profit. They know how to pray!!!
Mike Bickle said a couple of things I wrote down on my iPhone.
Judgment of god an expression of Gods’ commitment to remove everything that hinders love.
God won’t do our part; we can’t do his part!
Lou has the grace on him to be long hrs in the presence.
The point of the arrow of the move of god is the praying church.
The one word I kept feeling in praying for our nation at this critical time was MERCY. One of the good moments for me was when one of the prayer leaders just started crying out: MERCY! I sensed we were really dialed in.
Now, honestly if you were opposed to Prop 8, there was enough there that you probably would have had a hard time. There was some talk about “getting out there & passing prop 8” mostly from the local leaders. Note also that I didn’t stay to the end, so I guess I have to say I don’t know what happened after about 6:00. But the underlying tone was prayer, seeking God & looking past the specifics to God’s heart for people.
I’m glad I went. May God keep us on our knees!
