Arise! Cry Out!: A Worldwide Day of Extraordinary Prayer for Children & Schools

Wow!  What can I say . . . today was a life-changing day for me!  I went to a Moms in Touch telecast called Arise!  Cry Out!  I received teaching on prayer today that I have never heard before in my life.  I learned how to actually put on the full armour of God before starting my day.  And I learned the importance of corporate prayer and worship!

Moms in Touch (MIT) celebrated their 25th anniversary this year!  MIT started in Fern Nichols' living room with five other women in California in 1984.  And Fern was the Master of Ceremonies today.  She is an absolute hoot!  But she is so in love with Jesus, and I want to have that same passion for Jesus that she does.  Today that vision Fern had back in 1984 has grown to 1600 countries where MIT has an active organization.  Ordinary moms commited to meeting once a week to pray for their children, their children's schools, and the faculty and staff at each school.  Ordinary moms praying to an extraordinary God!

Eleven of us gathered this morning at First Baptist Church, Celina, to watch a video of the actual prayer day held last month in Poway, California.  Today there were over 700 MIT groups, like ours, across the world praying . . . bombarding God's throne on behalf of our children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews,  future descendants and "foster" children -- children whose moms never pray for them.

Fern started with Scripture reading: Revelation 7:9-10 Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb and Psalm 20:3:  We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God.  May the LORD grant all your requests.  It was so thrilling to see women from 16 countries (the Country Coordinators and International Regional Directors) stand and openly praise Jesus in their native tongue.  It made me think of the coming day in heaven when people from all different races will stand before God's holy throne and worship Him forever and ever.

We then went through times of Praise, Confession, Thanksgiving, and finally Intercession.  Scripture reading was interspersed throughout, with times for small group sharing/praying and times for us to worship our King through song.  A special prayer time, for me, was when Kristy, our MIT leader on Friday mornings, said she wanted to have a special time of prayer for me.  I have never felt more loved or more empowered through prayer as I did today.  We also enjoyed a special message by the pastor of the church where the telecast was filmed.  His name is Miles MacPherson and he was a professional football player for the San Diego Chargers.  He was a hoot too!  But even though his style is comical, his message was straight from God's Word.  He talked about the Tower of Babel and this amazing truth:  In Genesis 11:6, God said, " If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them."   If a pagan people who were commited to a common goal, were harmonious in their thinking, and God said that nothing was impossible for them to accomplish, how much more would that be true if it's God's people, commited to Him, in one accord with a common goal, find that nothing was impossible for them in prayer!   He shared three reasons why corporate prayer is so important.

1. Corporate prayer offsets corporate opposition.  Ephesians 6:10
2. Corporate prayer ensures comprehensive prayer.  1 Corinthians 2:9
3. Corporate prayer empowers the person praying.  Galatians 6:2

And Miles closed with a profound truth; one that I don't think I'd ever thought about before.  Pray FROM a frame of reference of victory, not FOR victory.  Think about it . . . Jesus has already won the victory and we are children of the King.  We don't have to ask for victory, He's already given us victory. The sad thing is is that some of us don't realize we've already gotten the victory!  

We ended the four hour program of prayer and fasting by praying individual Scriptures over our children by name.  We broke up into groups of two and we were able to read every Scripture and insert our chldren's names into the blanks.  It was wonderful and freeing!

So thank You Lord for allowing me to be Your daughter.  You accept me just the way I am, but You love me too much to allow me to remain that way.  Fern had us visualize Jesus cupping our face in His hands and it was so comforting and real.  His love is tender, incomprehensible, never-ending, so vast, and He showed it to me by dying for me.  His precious blood flowed over me, filling every nook and cranny, washing me thoroughly from my sin.  And because of what He has done, I am perfect in His righteousness.  I can come boldly into His very throne room and ask whatever I desire.  Of course, my desire must line up with His plan if I'm to receive the answer I want.  But just imagine, the Creator of the universe invites me to be in relationship with Him.  He willingly adopted me into His family, His body.   Lord, let me never be the same.  And never let me forget what I learned today.

My chains are gone, I've been set free,

My God, My Savior, has ransomed me,

And like a flood, His mercy flows,

Uunending love, Amazing grace . . .