Bridging the Gap Presents…
Prayer Updates
December Prayer Update
Dear MN prayer warrior! The following is a monthly prayer update published by the Briding the Gap prayer team. Our goal is to facilitate MN women encouraging MN women as we pray together for our families, communities and state.
Bridging the Gap Prayer Team
Just a reminder that all are welcome to join BTG prayer at the district office every first and third Thursday of the month from 9:30-11:00 a.m. For more info, contact Judy at hapnjud@mailstation.com
If you would like to be a part of our intercessory prayer team and receive prayer requests from around the state, or if you have a testimony, prayer resource to recommend or prayer request, please contact Jolene at jacassel@northcentral.edu
"Pray MN" Prayer Focus
--Ezekiel 37--
"Dry bones, across the state of Minnesota...in our homes, churches and communities, listen to the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'Look! I am going to breathe into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscle on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then, you will know that I am the Lord!'"
MN Testimony
"Just over a year ago we began an intercessory prayer meeting on Wednesday nights called Adventures in Prayer. We are seeing exciting answers to prayer. One of our intercessors led an acquaintance from another part of the state to the Lord over a month ago and this lady has been sending weekly reports of how the Lord has been answering our prayers for her on a continual basis. We also have had two financial miracles for individuals who came into the prayer room with desperate financial situations. One had a goal that needed to be met by Oct 31st, which she was less than a 3rd of the way to reaching. On Oct 31st, the Lord poured out blessing upon blessing so that she not only exceeded her goal for the month but has greatly expanded her business base. The next week she joined in praying with us for another young man whose wife had just had her hours cut in half at work. Tonight he called me to tell me that instead of his wife having to get another job, his boss (that he has only worked under for a month) gave him a $3.00 an hour raise plus additional benefits. The praise reports continue to come in as we are faithful to bring our requests before Him." (Kathy Krueger, Heritage Church, Baxter)
Devotional Thought
Malachi 3:9-10
“‘Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will now throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.’”
I think there is a lot more to this scripture than simply a lesson in tithing. This verse can be applied to every area of our lives. Many times I think we doubt or simply are blinded to the extravagance of our God by our unbelief. We serve a God who wants to go above and beyond to bless those who fear and love him. My pastor preached a sermon on the extravagance of our God and few weeks ago and for the first time I really pondered the depth of that truth and it completely blew me away.
For the past year my main struggle has been with my faith in God as my provider and truly trusting him with every area of my life. I tend to be a control freak, so laying every last aspect of my life at his feet and saying, “Father, do what you will” isn’t necessarily the easiest thing for me to do. When my pastor preached this sermon it was like a bullet into soul and my eyes were opened. I wept at the altar afterwards and asked my father to forgive me for my unbelief and doubt.
This is his promise! If we bring our whole tithe; our dreams, our desires and yes even our finances and lay them at his feet he will throw the floodgates open and bless us beyond belief. I believe God wants each of us to be free to walk in the fullness of his plan for us and live a life of spiritual, emotional and financial freedom and abundance. If we will just have faith we will begin to see this truth manifested in each of our lives.
“How great are your works, O Lord, how profound your thoughts! The senseless man does not know, fools do not understand.” – Psalms 92. Lord, I don’t want to be a fool. Break me from my unbelief! Help me to endlessly lean on you for every last aspect of my life and stand firm in the truth that you will be faithful and provide, not minimally but in extravagance. Thank you God that I can always know I am in your hands and will be blessed abundantly!
(Mandy Dobbelmann, North Central University, Minneapolis)
Reflections on Intercession
The circumstances of a saint's life are ordained of God. In the life of a saint there is no such thing as chance. God by His providence brings you into circumstances that you cannot understand at all, but the Spirit of God understands. God is bringing you into places and among people and into conditions in order that the intercession of the Spirit in you may take a particular line. Never put your hand in front of the circumstances and say--I am going to be my own providence here, I must watch this, and guard that. All your circumstances are in the hand of God, therefore never think it strange concerning the circumstances you are in. Your part in intercessory prayer is not to enter into the agony of intercession, but to utilize the common-sense circumstances God puts you in, and the common-sense people He puts you amongst by His providence, to bring them before God's throne and give the Spirit in you a chance to intercede for them. In this way God is going to sweep the whole world with His saints.
Am I making the Holy Spirit's work difficult by being indefinite, or by trying to do His work for Him? I must do the human side of intercession, and the human side is the circumstances I am in and the people I am in contact with. I have to keep my conscious life as a shrine of the Holy Ghost, then as I bring the different ones before God, the Holy Spirit makes intercession for them.
Your intercessions can never be mine, and my intercessions can never be yours, but the Holy Ghost makes intercession in our particular lives, without which intercession someone will be impoverished.
(From My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers)
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