At a recent Staff Meeting, we listened to one of Dutch Sheets' videos.  As we listened, we felt drawn to a time of prayer. So we prayed, we worshiped, and we shared scripture together. The Presence of the Lord was so strong.  It was a holy time.  

One of the scriptures we shared is the familiar one found in John 17:17. It is where Jesus is saying to the Father, “Sanctify them by Your truth....”  That is what He is saying in this hour.  

As Jesus' followers we know He is speaking to us, but there is a sense of “What are You saying to me? Is there anything You want to adjust in my life?” I would say He is bringing our attention to something again. It may be that what the Lord is saying this time is taking a different direction, but the essence of the truth is there.

The scripture goes on to say, “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”  Imagine what your reaction might be in hearing the Lord say, “I am sending you.”

You might reply, “I'm not going anyplace.  I leave work and I go home. I go to the grocery store, but I don't really go anyplace because we are in lockdown. We can't go anywhere.”  

Maybe there is a message in your reply; something in our lives personally, right in our own home, our own dwelling place, our own working place. The places that we have become accustomed to and places we can’t run from. He is saying, “I've got you right here. Hear My voice. Listen to Me. I want to make some changes.”

That just makes me want to cry. Because it is a very precious thing God is allowing and doing in our lives.

Just recently I received such an encouraging word from a leader in another nation who felt directed by the Lord to be in prayer for the United States of America on election day. This leader took a group of prayer warriors and went to their nation's U.S. Embassy. They stood in front of the Embassy in the rain and interceded for the United States. That so touches my heart! It is so humbling and it is so beautiful. It is so needed.

A Foundation of Prayer

From the beginning, Aglow has built a foundation of prayer around the world. Positioned geographically and spiritually, we are confident that God hears us when we pray, releasing the will of Heaven on earth. What we declare matters. Along with the urgent stirring within my heart to pray, my thoughts went to an old hymn that we are all familiar with. Listen to these words.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ Blood and Righteousness,
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus’ Name.
On Christ the Solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand

And the chorus repeats that line again, ALL other ground is sinking sand.

There can be times when the enemy tries to thwart your ongoing ministry by whispering to you that “you are not effective.”  You may feel that what you are doing…or the lack thereof…is not yielding the fruit you would like to “see.” 

Listen to this wonderful example, a story told by Jamie Buckingham at the New Orleans International Conference in 1991.

He started by sharing the Scripture out of Acts about Peter walking with his eyes on Jesus and how they brought people out to the streets in the hope that Peter’s shadow would fall on them and they would be healed.  (Acts 5:15)  Jamie then went on to encourage each one of us to walk with our eyes on Jesus and our shadow, too, would fall and have an influence. 

Jamie shared how he was in Israel doing research for a book.  He was planning to be at the summit of Mt. Sinai by daybreak for a prayer meeting.  He had spent the night at the foot of the mountain.

About halfway up the mountain, a tribe of aborigines passed him, some of them elderly, some barefooted, with a white man.