Sunday, June 22, 2008

Practical Ways Intimacy can Lead to Influence

These are the practical steps that I outlined in my message on how our intimacy with God can begin to intersect our daily lives and lead to influence. This is the Great Commandment leading to the Great Commission!

1) Cell Phone Intercession. Use the contact list in your cell phone as a digital prayer list. When you're in line at Wal-Mart or waiting for your ticket after lunch, find someone in your address book to pray for! If you're technically minded, you can create a quick text that simply says, "I prayed for you today" (or "I prayed 4 U 2day" :) and send it to whomever you prayed for!

2) Say the Blessing! No, not "God is great, God is good..." When you are at a family or social gathering and it's time for someone to pray over the food, volunteer to do the honors and use the time to pray a blessing over those who are present. If you're at lunch with a friend, ask him/her what you can pray for on his/her behalf and then spend some time in prayer for them during the blessing. You can even do it if you're eating alone - think of someone who could use a prayer and lift him/her up as you ask God to bless the food. Most of us pray every time we eat... let's make the "blessing" a real blessing for someone else!

3) Leverage Existing Influence. You probably already have someone in your life over whom you hold some amount of influence already. Use that influence to pray for them. Not sure what I mean? For instance, I teach nine music students. As their teacher, I have a weekly time where I can pray for them at the beginning of the lesson. I use my influence as teacher as an opportunity to intercede for them. Maybe you're an employer, a supervisor, a parent, a carpool driver, or a friend. God wants to use your existing influence to impact others for the Kingdom.

4) nineFifteen Prayer & other Prayer Meetings at the Prayer Chapel. If you attend Heritage Church, I encourage you to attend some of the prayer meetings that are already happening all around us. You can meet with me and about 6-10 other folks every Sunday morning at 9:15AM in the Cry Room in the corner of the sanctuary for our nineFifteen Prayer. We pray for the speaker for that Sunday and then go and pray over every chair in the sanctuary. We're always done in time for LifeTouch at 9:30AM. If you can't make it on Sunday mornings, call the front office of the church (891-321) and ask Mrs. Patti to tell you what prayer meetings are scheduled in the Prayer Chapel (there are at least two every week). These are great opportunities to get away in a great atmosphere for prayer and reflection and simply talk with God. If you would rather pray privately, Mrs. Patti can schedule a time for you to pray alone or with a few friends. She'll give you all the instructions you need to use the Prayer Chapel.

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