“God honors bold prayers because bold prayers honor God.” – Mark Batterson

I had an extraordinary week, sandwiched by two historic events, one in northern New Jersey on Mon Aug 12 and the other in Culpeper VA today. Each day something extraordinary happened and it was obvious the LORD was involved each time.

Here are two “attention grabbers” demonstrating the sovereignty of God:

1) What is love? (1 Corinthians 13)

About two months ago, I began participating in the new Culpeper Toastmasters club that meets twice a month. On Wed Aug 14, my responsibility was Table Topics – to call on three different people, asking a different question to each person. The first question I chose to ask days beforehand was “What is love?”

Before calling on the first person, I said “As a life and leadership coach, I like to ask people powerful questions that get people to think about the deeper things in life. How would you respond if someone asked you ‘What is love?’

I then pulled out a sign from home that read “Love is being owned by a chocolate lab” and the audience laughed. I continued, “On a more serious note, ‘Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. Love keeps no record of wrongs.’ (1 Cor 13:4-5)”

Three days later (on Sat Aug 17), I chose to watch TV for a little while after spending most of my day creating a private website for members of the Reach More People With Life Changing Webinars training. While looking for TBN, I stumbled across another Christian TV station. It turned out the lady on that was teaching a message called “What is love” using 1 Cor 13.

Then this afternoon (Sun Aug 18) at the official dedication of the Culpeper Christian Community Center, Lisa Lyons sang two songs. It happened the first song was an original one she recently wrote based on 1 Cor 13.

So in a span of four days, the LORD brought 1 Cor 13 to my attention three times. I believe this is a message not only for me, but for you as well.

2) Mark Batterson and Mountain Moving Prayer

In the past few weeks, the LORD has been prompting me to spend more time interceding (praying) for people and organizations.

This morning at Mountain View Community Church, Damon Lomison, preached a great message titled “The Sovereignty of God” based on a book by AW Pink. This was Damon’s first message preached at this church. His normal role is worship leader.

A few hours later at the official dedication of the Culpeper Christian Community Center, Mark Batterson was the guest speaker. Mark is the lead pastor at National Community Church in Wash DC, recognized as “one of America’s 25 most innovative churches.” Mark spoke about bold prayers from his New York Times best-selling book “The Circle Maker.” This was the first time I met Mark in person and the first time he ever preached in Culpeper. The story of how he ended up in Culpeper at this event was incredible.

It’s interesting that my first (Jan 6) Sunday Inspiration of 2013 was titled “Mountain Moving Prayer” and that I subsequently wrote a series of six Sunday Inspirations about the Wild Goose Chase: Reclaim the Adventure of Pursuing God by Mark Batterson.

Here are a few things Mark said today that stood out for me:

• God honors bold prayers because bold prayers honor God.
• When you step out in faith, God does incredible things.
• If it’s not crazy, God probably is not in it.
• When you pray to God regularly, some irregular things are going to happen.
• If you get into an argument with God and you lose, you win. If you win the argument with God, you lose.

 
The Circle Maker Group Bible Study by Mark Batterson

 
Blessings to pray bold prayers!