Praying Together for Increased Unity

Thank you to those who were able to make it to our prayer meet up last week! I knew it was going to be wonderful to be together and pray, but of course as God works beyond our imaginations, our meeting was just that! 

As we listened, there were some themes God brought forth. Witnessing the unity of our hearts through the communication of the Spirit was powerful and so encouraging.  After the meeting, we took a minute to marvel at how these things were woven together from previous Leadership Council meetings, to articles read, to revelation as we prayed in the building, to specific verses shared, and it was incredible to see God bringing it all together.

One thing we all felt coming forth was the theme of being unified as a family.  I listened to a podcast on prayer this week, an interview with the late Eugene Peterson (author, pastor, and well known for his translation of scripture into The Message).  He talked about going to church to “get into relationship” with the people there. The teaching is important, the worship is important, but he goes to church to have real life with real people in his community. 

This is the passion of Living Waters, it has been for a long time, and we felt God reminding us of that foundational cornerstone as we prayed.  Even in our prayer time, it was coming to be amongst those of us who were there!

As it is with all things, this kind of unity begins between each one of us and God, then spreads to families and communities and our church and our city. It infiltrates relationships, participating, giving, engaging, and receiving. 

This week as we are praying for the month’s finances (we finished last month about $20,000 shy of our monthly expenses), let’s pray together for increased unity between God and his kids and then between all of us as a family.  

Thank you all for your deep love for this body! 

Sommer

(In his novel, So Brave, Young and Handsome, Leif Enger describes an overheard prayer in a way that is fueling me in my own prayer life. 

“I woke to Glendon’s voice. He was talking—praying, it turned out, though I couldn’t tell at first since he didn’t speak in the fraught inflections common to prayers, at least my own. It was more as if he were relating to a good listener the details of his day…In Glendon’s tone were sadness, acceptance, and finally humor…”

Praying our times in prayer this week have this kind of flavor and full expression of ourselves to the One who is truly this; a Really Good Listener.)