Worship - When I think about the Lord
Worship - Song
Vid - Prayer Journey Room (oops, tripped a little :P )
Dear Merciful God,
All praise and glory to You King Jesus! On day 3 of Urbana the organizers purposefully slowed down the tempo of busyness and that night we would have the opportunity to make a commitment to God regarding missions.
That morning's inductive study was cool. The 2 musicians sang their original composition of John 1, it was really good and I'm hoping to get the chords off of someone for that. I also made an observation--Jesus uses alot of Macgyver techniques when he does the miraculous. (or perhaps it's more accurate to say MacGyver takes his improvised solution techniques from Jesus). For example, when Jesus is about to do a miracle, he always looks at his immediate surrounding environment to see what he can use; be it--fish and loaves from the boy, 6 waterpots for wine carried by servants, mud to cause the blind to see--Jesus makes his glory known by partnering with us, and asks us what we have in our posessions that we can give to His kingdom causes.
I decided to visit the bookstore. Now I sort of have this mindset that since I work in the library, I don't need to buy books since I can just borrow it. But I saw a couple of books that looked good, then that turned into 5, etc. Okay so I ended up buying (at a good discount) a wide array of topics:
Atlas of Bible History
New Bible Dictionary
Global Mission Handbook
Unceasing Worship
Kingdom without borders
The Knowledge of the Holy / A.W.Tozer
Too Busy Not to Pray / Hybels
Jesus storybook Bible (just finished reading this one--love how each story foreshadows Jesus)
A Sweet Bitter Providence / John Piper (free book given at one of the booths)
I then decided to make my way to the prayer room which they encouraged everyone to go. Before I went there I stopped at the prayer journey room where inside, creativity could be expressed through art, or you can just meditate (see vid clip above). There was a global map where people could write prayers on sticky notes. Kind of reminded me of the 60's hippy movement, sort of. I then made my way to the prayer room where there were ministers there to pray for you.
It was a large room, and there were patches of people being prayed for, with sobs overheard. I picked a seat in the back and sat and prayed. I sensed the Holy Spirit in that place, so calming, so comforting, that my head bowed in prayer turned into tears of both joy and sorrow. Joy because I was with God the Holy Spirit. Sorrow because I felt for the people sobbing around me, who were being prayed for, and I too prayed for them, not knowing what their situation was, yet wanting to pray for them, so I did. A prayer minister ended up sitting with me and i told her my story, about how this whole calling thing needs clarification. She invited God the Holy Spirit to give me direction. As I bowed, closed eyes in prayer, in my mind I was singing that classic hymn, Holy Holy Holy, imagining all the nations praising King Jesus in heaven and then inside me--I felt an exploding inward to outward, swelling feeling of praise that I never had before! It was incredible!--like the Holy Spirit let me feel what real praise to Jesus in heaven was like--free from any hindrance! As i opened my eyes and let the prayer minister know what I felt, she sat back in awe of God. In hindsight, I didn't get "the calling" I expected, rather i got something else. Perhaps my experience meant 1 of 3 things: 1) Just fix your eyes on Jesus and your path will be His will 2) I will die soon and will see Jesus in heaven 3) God is sovereign, so whether I stay or go, God is with me no matter what I choose.
Armed with that knowledge, I decided to commit to at least short term missions (minimum 1 week I could definitely do, it made sense) So I did that night. However, I did it out of reason/rationale, not out of this inward compelling feeling to go anywhere (is that allowed?). I am assuming most Urbana participants who committed to missions felt that inward calling, or confirmed their calling.
Other notes I learned that day from different talks:
- it's about stewardship not ownership
- before you buy anything ask if it's a tool or a toy (I think I've been doing that since I still have yet no iphone)
- Live below your income (I don't spend more than I make)
- Make a commitment to a simpler lifestyle (no t.v. at home, prepaid cell)
- graduated tithe (I aim to)
The keyboardist on the worship team was Phat! In fact, I loved the Rahab play, and the India style worship song to Jesus. Wonderful to see Jesus being exalted through the arts.
Unfortunately, the way they scheduled all the seminars, I couldn't attend all the ones I originally chose so I went to the ones that were available. I ended up visiting another prayer seminar, plus spiritual warfare seminar. Notes below:
- books to read about prayer: "31 Days of Praise", "Face to Face", "Quiet times", "First Mornigns with God"
- Why pray?
- partner with him
- to be with God
- Fasting: intentionally sacrificing something to clear space/time for God
- Caution: don't think that if I fast, then prayer will be answered/something will happen=No. One time the speaker fasted but God rebuked her because fasting was her idea not God's.
- Fasting is a response to God's invitation to fast
- Be in the Word Ps 119:105
- i actually have the handout for this one so i didn't write any notes
- but this room was packed!
- But I do recall the stories he told about demonic encounters. For example, in Urbana 1990, one of the main speakers was about to talk on the uniqueness of Jesus when all of a sudden he felt this choking feeling and he couldn't speak. One of the Urbana staff then felt God's call to pray for the speaker, so she lifted her hands in prayer when all of a sudden a 7 foot angel jumps down from the rafters asking if the woman needs help lifting her hands in prayer. Then the main speaker was able to speak again! This got me thinking about the need to always praise God. Perhaps we need a praise/worship corner at tyndale or the new campus where every hour (ie: spiritual warfare through worship), a different worship team can lead in worship, whether or not people are in attendance. It also made me think about making a youtube video on the uniqueness of Jesus. I think Ravi Zacharias created a book on that topic. It also made me think about the importance of lifting up your hands in praise to God. One thing I found myself doing on the bus ride home, is that almost everytime i prayed, I would lift my hand now. Hmm, interesting.
- Note to self: if you witness that happening to a guy, just read the Word/Bible!
- spiritual warfare first begins in the mind. Don't sin lest you open a door.
Lord I've committed to at least a short-term missions trip, here I am Lord, I'm willing and available. In Jesus Name, Amen.
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