Patrick O'Connell

Be Present

Be present...

breath...

enjoy God...

remain silent ...

in His presence...

be attentive...

and still...

and KNOW God...

pray...

without ceasing...

Amen.

 

A Day of Prayer for Reachout

Yesterday was my day off. I was able to respect that boundary, at least until the evening when I capitulated and started catching up on some administrative tasks.

But during the day I was able to spend several hours at the International House of Prayer here in KC. I prayed for Restore and more specifically, our Reachout ministry. I found the experience refreshing and energizing.

I am finding that more of my time, energy, and passion is being invested in our Reachout efforts. This is both exciting and challenging.

We dream of Restore being a church that makes a difference in the community, in the city, and the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). We are doing some pretty cool things already if you ask most .  And yet, I know that God will call us to that 'one thing' in the community where He wants us to make a difference. I prayed about this today. The fact that I was able to focus on Reachout (despite all of the other things that are going on at Restore and in my life) was encouraging.

What my day of prayer and contemplation at IHOP reminded me is that this 'one thing' will come to us through prayer. And so I am resolved to keep praying and praying and praying.

IHOP

On Monday my wife Nancy and I took I ride to check out the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City. 

Key take away: PRAYER.

The Prayer Room is the heart of IHOP. Here I found about 200 people praying and worshipping. I was truly moved by the overwhelming sense of the spirit that pervades the place. The focus of the Prayer Room is the worship band. While I was present a young man was leading with ferocity while another young man was speaking in tongues.

Although the 'Charismatic' aspect of worship was new for me, I saw people without distractions, letting themselves be authentic before God. IHOP has endured it's fair share of controversies, and some have questioned their beliefs, but there is no doubt that they are passionate about their calling to prayer.

The experience has  convicted me that prayer must become a greater priority in my life.

Heating my focus

I arrived to the high school this morning only to learn that we STILL didn't have any air-conditioning.

Complicating things was the fact that it was a scorcher in KC today.

But despite the heat, our team rallied. Our contributors made the best of it and we made sure to hand out plenty of water and fans to everyone.

The lack of air-conditioning was sort of like fasting. My discomfort from the heat fueled my focus on God.

Sort of a blessing I wasn't expecting.

Praying Aloud

Another reason church planting has been good for us:

My wife now prays aloud.

Up until our joining this church plant she has flat out refused to do this. But I've been noticing that she's been doing it more and more. Usually she will vascilate. Then we'll have a dialgoue like this; should I pray; I don't want to pray; I should pray; but I don't like praying; maybe I'll pray this once. And then, sometimes, she will pray. Other times she won't.

Sunday night we were gathered with our small group when our leader Cliff asked if anyone would like to pray. Mcuh to my shock Nancy said, "I'll pray," and started.

A year ago Nancy said she would NEVER EVER pray aloud. She told me that being a part of the church plant has changed this.

I guess she's learning that nothing is impossible with God.

Surrendering and Submitting Through Prayer

I came across these words from Phil Yancey on prayer. They are from his book, Prayer, Does It Make Any Difference?

Whether climbing a mountain or writing a book, I have a goal-oriented, accomplish-the-mission attitude toward life, and prayer stops me in my tracks. I learn that I cannot "fix" the people I am praying for. I cannot get everything I want in the time frame I want. I must slow down and wait. I have to present my requests in a manner that seems at first like surrender. I "give them up" to God, and through that act of submission God can at last begin to grow in me the qualities, or "fruit," that I needed all along: peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. The real value of persistent prayer is not so much that we get what we want as that we become the person we should be.

My family and I are in earnest prayer about a major issue. And it seems that God's being real quiet on the matter. Yancey reminds me that prayer isn't about what I want but that through it, I am growing more into what God intends me to be. I am really going to try and just surrender it to God.

How Devoted Are You to Prayer?

I found this on Desiring God. It's an exhortation from Dr. Piper to be devoted to prayer. He explains why...

Hope you find it useful.

Small Group Prayer

We had a really powerful prayer experience in small group tonight.

Life is really taking our small group in different directions. One of our longtime members Kim R. is moving. We moved from Thursdays to Monday nights--at least for the summer. We just finished a study, The Five Love Languages and begin another in two weeks. (Do you know your love language?)

Despite all of this, small group rocks. It's a great place to find 'calm' in the storm of our suburban lives. We come together once a week as people willing to share our lives and there is something really profound in that...God profound.

So back to the prayer. We prayed and well, we really felt God showed up. I can't give you specifics but it was one of those prayers where we stood in a circle and each of us prayed out something specific and His presence was all around us. (It was also one of the first times my wife prayed alound in a group setting--yeah!) We prayed for many things and when it was my turn to close I prayed for our small group in all of it's iterations. People have come and gone but the small group remains. I prayed that God would use our group to have an impact on our community. I prayed that we would all see for a moment what God must see all of the time: that is people making a difference in the lives of people. I prayed that He would continue to use us for the glory of His Kingdom. We make ourselves available to God when we come to group.

So the next time you're in your small group and your just not feeling it, remember that showing up is half the battle. You never know when God is going to use you to make an impact on someone.

Oh yeah...if you're not in a small group you should be. You have no idea what your missing.

A Prayer During Lunch

For several years I have made my way to St. Peter's Catholic Church on Washington in the Loop for an afternoon prayer. I try to go at least once a week although my schedule doesn't always cooperate.

Today I went there and was welcomed by once of the priests singing a prayer. I about fell to my knees right in the door. It was glorious. The pews were full of people. Sunlight was pouring in through the high stained glass.

You'd be surprised at the number of people who regularly attend Mass during the workday.

I am no longer a practicing Catholic, but I am grateful to have a place to go and worship God in the middle of what are my usually hectic work-days.

Three Days of Prayer

I recently participated in a 3-Day Prayer Journey at CCC.  Our church leaders asked that we join in a church-wide prayer journey focusing on NEXT. What is NEXT you ask? Well it's alot of things but really it's about helping the church (Christian Community Church in particular) in its mission of helping people find their way back to God.

I've spent a bunch of time praying for others and let me tell you it's been a remarkable experience.

Thursday I prayed with my small group. (We normally do this but we prayed extra hard for our church community.)

Friday, I prayed through a guided prayer the church had created. I don't do this often and found it to be quite moving. I especially enjoyed the use of Scripture in my prayers, something I trying to do more frequently.

And Saturday, I joined others at CCC to pray as a faith community. These were big, bold and audacious corporate prayers led by our leaders. We also broke into smaller groups and prayed.  At one point all of us got down on our knees and prayed as a church. AWESOME!

I have prayed more in the past 72 hours than I've prayed in a long time. Here are some of the things we've been asked to pray about and what I've done with them:

1. What's Next in my spiritual journey: What does a really a wild-full-bore-no hold barred-crazy-cool plunge for God really mean for my life and the life of my family?

2. Who's NEXT? Who are the people in my sphere of influence who I can impact for the Kingdom, whether by word or deed?

3. The NEXT 5000 People: We're praying for the next 5,000 people who will join one of the next 7 CCC campus. I am praying that they would come to know an authentic and vibrant community of Christians who are doing everything they can because they love God and want to see Him glorified.

I also added a prayer for my friends who are involved in Reachout Kansas City; that God would use them to make a real impact on that community and that they would help people find their way back to Him.

This prayer experience has been powerful for me personally. I am reminded that prayer is a gift from God and that when we do it corporately, we magnify its power. I will continue to pray that God works in our church community as our leaders dreamed He might.