Keith Marsh writes from New Hampshire: "The Executive Board of the New Hampshire Alliance (NHA) gathered during the first week of January and took a day to seek the Lord regarding this invitation and our future plans. Born in our hearts on that day was what we are calling "The New Hampshire Challenge." Our strategy is modeled on Jonathan Edward's essay "A Humble Attempt..." Open an edited pdf of the essay. "After the successes of over 27 regional "Warfare through Worship" gatherings (with each having from 6 to 17 churches in participation), we are excited to now launch The New Hampshire Challenge on every "Fifth Friday" until revival breaks out: "Until revival comes, let's consecrate every Fifth Friday for the purpose of united prayer for revival. Community prayer meetings should be organized on a county basis. Testimonies will be emailed to every church the following day with an invitation to join with this prayer effort for a few minutes during their Sunday morning service. Our faith for multiplied prayer meetings will be tracked on our websites until He comes." The New Hampshire Alliance kicked off its "Fifth Fridays" prayer initiative on February 29. Read the exciting reports from six counties. The next "Fifth Friday" falls on May 30th. Why don't you take the New Hampshire Challenge? Contact us and we can help you with publicity materials. |
Mamdouh Riad writes from Cape Cod: The Lord is calling for us in 2008 to Refer to: Joel 2:15-19 and Jeremiah 23:22. Our greatest need today is to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to the church in New England. In Jeremiah's time, there were two voices in the land. The voice of Jeremiah who had stood in the council of the Lord, understood his times, and realized that at the time Israel was at a critical point. He called his people to corporate repentance to avoid God's discipline/judgment in the form of the Babylonian captivity. The other voice was that of the false prophets, who did not stand in the counsel of the Lord, did not understand their times, and thought they were in "business as usual" times. We want to be collectively like Jeremiah, stand in the counsel of the Lord, hear and obey what the Holy Spirit is saying to us. Many across the body of Christ share a sense of urgency, similar to the the sense of urgency in the above Joel passage, to move forward with plans to "blow the trumpet" and impart the vision of "When New England Prays" culminating in a New England Solemn Assembly to the wider body of Christ in New England. The way out of our spiritual Babylonian captivity necessitates calling the body of Christ in New England to such a journey, where we corporately acknowledge that the reason we lack the Glory of God in our midst is our own sin and compromise. We must call for repentance and return to the Lord in the spirit of Daniel 9 and Nehemiah 1, and start rebuilding the ruined walls. Many of us share a sense that we have a window of opportunity to do this and prepare ourselves and the body of Christ in New England, before difficult times ahead, as the Holy Spirit is indicating to many of us. This is what the Holy Spirit is sounding everywhere across the globe. We cannot bypass this step and move on to other things. If the pastors and leaders of the body of Christ in New England don't call their people to return to the Lord in repentance and wholeheartedness, who will? We have a responsibility before God to be faithful in proclaiming what He is saying to us. "But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned......his blood I will require at the watchmen's hand. so you son of man, I have made you a watchmen for the house of Israel; therefore, you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me" (Ezekiel 33:6- 7). Let us give ourselves fully to what the Lord is stirring us with, and let us prioritize our activities, and organize our time and effort accordingly. We want to be about our Father's business. |
