Last weekend a friend and I went to a mega church in Oklahoma City, OK for a women's conference featuring Lisa Bevere. It was great to worship with the thousands of women within the large walls of the church. The Presence of the Lord was there and many people were touched. Lisa had pertinent messages that spoke to my heart in particular.
One statement she made really ministered to me where I am now. She said that the Body of Christ needs the daughters who ask questions and the mothers who find the answers although they are the busiest ones but also the grandmothers who have the time to nurture and do works of ministry. At this point in my life I am 52 years old. I am a grandmother who also is available to my children to answer questions they throw at me. I try very hard not to offer unsolicited advice... I am in two of the generations although I lean more to the grandmother one. I am not intimidated by my age. I still have a lot to offer. The Lord has placed a desire on my heart to write good books until I die.
Many wonderful things happened at the mega women's conference. The women were moved to come to the front for prayer. There were so many who responded that the prayer team was told to just touch each one of the ladies so that they could move back to their chairs and give room for the others. The logistics of the day demanded that sort of response, but my heart broke for the women who needed more care.
On the way home my friend and I discussed the tragedy of the women who needed more... more time at an altar with sisters engaged in urgent prayer until something broke in the spiritual realm. My soul was grieved. The next day was Sunday. I guess you could say that I attend a "micro" church. There were less than 70 people present. We had a special speaker for morning and evening services. The call for prayer came at a few minutes until noon. People responded and stayed at the altars until 1 p.m. The people were in need of breakthroughs in their lives and there was time and room at the altars to stay until the needs were met.
Sunday evening was especially poignant. Many came to the altar and stayed but I want to focus on two young women in particular. The evangelist asked one of my friends, a 82 year old retired minister lady, to come and pray with one of the women. It was a beautiful picture of the grandmother nurturing the mother. Others were praying with the other young woman who had been seeking a special touch from God for weeks. She had an insatiable hunger that was not met. I joined in the prayer for her as well as my 82 year old friend and the young woman she had "prayed through" with. When the second girl broke through to victory a shout of praise erupted from every one's lips. We hugged and cried and rejoiced. I loved the intimacy of praying together with my sisters.
There is a Scripture that says "do not despise small things". I think sometimes we get frustrated with our small churches. Of course we want them to grow and reach more people and not to become a small exclusive club, but we can attempt to keep the small church care and concern for one another no matter how large we grow. I wonder what would have happened at the mega church if the women who had desperate needs knelt down and the leaders asked everyone to lay hands on them and pray until they had a breakthrough. I think the rejoicing would ring out in every one's heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment