So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, O LORD, have given me. (Deuteronomy 26:8-10)
In telling the story of God's provision, we would be remiss if we didn't testify about the wonderful friends that God has brought to the Boiler Room to seek the Kingdom. We have friends who come from all around the city. But there are six brothers and sisters who have covenanted to live and journey with us for a season seeking to love God, love our neighbor and love the world through bringing the Gospel. We wanted to share about the provision of these folks in the life of this community. Download InternProgram.doc
This first glimpse into the life of interns at the Boiler Room starts in the prayer room at 6a. You'll find our community gathered, many in blankets for prayer. Others join as well. We have friends from the Gold Avenue Community praying with us weekly in the morning. We also had some pilgrims from Western Seminary commute in from the lakeshore.
But this vision for starting and ending our day together in prayer came from our time this summer of listening to what God might be calling us to in the practice of prayer (one of six Boiler Room practices) As we shared the impressions that God had been putting on our hearts, we found a very clear theme. It started with this impression of God wanting more of our hearts, our firstfruits and raising the bar of intimacy with the Father. A number of people had images of sunrise. And as we tried to discern, it seemed wise to us to seek God as a community in the mornings.
Given the nature of the firstfruit of waking up, time is often spent in silent meditation, sometimes with a verse from Scripture to meditate upon, other times upcoming days are dedicated to the Lord, confession and repentance from the previous day are laid before Him. And sometimes people even fall asleep.
Still the obedience of this community to the call that the Lord placed in our lives, is a provision. I realize it takes a great deal of discipline to adjust one's life around prayer. But these interns are seeking to obey.
Given that our kids are not yet up, Jenn goes to morning prayer while I wait to welcome our kids downstairs. I heat up oatmeal. I feed the dog. I sip some coffee and read in the book of Luke. And I'm blessed; blessed to see that prayer room light on, faithful and shining in the darkness, blessed to think about disciples seeking to love God with more of their hearts, blessed to think that the firstfruits of our time are being offered up.
May we all learn more about offering up our firstfruits to the One who brought us out of Egypt.
::tony::
i might add that sometimes cups of coffee are brought into the prayer room to prevent some of us (ok, ME) from falling asleep.
Posted by: Brooke | October 21, 2008 at 01:48 PM