for a minute,
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for a minute,
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One of the blessings that God has provided is a growing friendship with other communities of prayer. In particular, we've begun to spend time together with the friends from the Bridge Street House of Prayer and a new community of friends on Gold Avenue. While we want to bless each other in the particular calls that God has put on our communities, we also think that it is wise to join together as one prayer community and pray for the Westside as well as the city of Grand Rapids.
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She has done a beautiful thing to me. (Matthew 26:10)
When the woman broke open her jar, she poured out her life's treasure upon Jesus. In an act of extravagance, she created something beautiful—testifying to the worthiness of Jesus. This week of 24-7 prayer has brought pictures of extravagance. If one pays attention to the ebb and flow of these weeks of prayer, hints about the beauty of the Bridegroom can be discerned through the responses of His people.
It will become clear that these responses are not in-line with the world's responses. When the world looks at Jesus, they believe Isaiah 53. "He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him." Jesus is not beautiful to the world and often and sadly enough even to His Bride. Our actions indicate a marriage of convenience and absent passion for many of us.
This week of 24-7 prayer, with it's attention on beauty, has revealed aspects of a Bridegroom who has awoken the passion of His bride. We have a new friend at the Boiler Room who has been coming for about a month now. He had gone to school with a couple of Stockbridge regulars and came by to check out a Love Feast. After a couple of evening prayers, it seems as though the Holy Spirit has poured itself out on Him for this week of unbroken prayer as evidenced by him taking the week off from work in order to spend as much time as he can in the prayer room. The upside down extravagance of pouring out one's time—one's vacation time—convicts me (a time hoarder) to my core.
And God's beauty sometimes is revealed in a gleaming glance at extravagance and sometimes it is slowly revealed over months of time. April had been hanging around the Boiler Room for about five months before she left for Atlanta. But at the beginning of our 24-7 week, she sent us this testimony about how the beauty of God slowly and comprehensively changed her. Download apriltestimony.pdf This slow extravagance of a life turned upside down by the beauty of Jesus speaks just as powerfully to us as the quick turn.
Extravagance came in many forms this week. God brought pilgrims all the way down from Traverse City this week. They are part of a prayer community called Jacob's Well that is looking to explore a rhythm of prayer, community and mission. God's beauty grabbed their hearts and got them in the car. They spent time in the prayer room as well as sharing stories over coffee. Beauty clearly has no geographic boundaries. The world sees no reason to drive for hours. But our upside down friends saw things differently.
God's beauty has been revealed this week in the people that He's chosen to exalt. Our friend, Louis, lives on the streets and preaches the Gospel to everyone he meets. In recovery for 20 years now, Louis has a passion for the lost. And he's become a brother in the prayer room as well as at our dinner table. He pours out his life for Jesus and it was his ministry to a homeless and vulnerable eighteen year old that connected him with the Boiler Room and probably saved his life. 24-7 prayer week found Louis in the prayer room, continuing to pray. It is a beautiful thing to see God move through the extravagant care of Louis; who in the eyes of the world and maybe even in the eyes of the Church might not seem a likely ministry partner. But in the upside down beauty of Jesus, Louis is the one that God uses. And we praise God for His beautiful ways.
May we pour ourselves out at His feet, extravagantly.
::tony::
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On Monday, Jenn and I were reflecting back on the weekend as we walked Scout through neighborhood streets. More and more, we see this call to parent sons and daughters in our family and in our community to be one of the central expressions of the Boiler Room. Joe and Ben helped give us language to describe what's been our heart cry for a long time. We want to call other spiritual fathers and mothers to learn with us. We want to raise up sons and daughters to be sent forth from this community. We want to help parent other prayer communities as they seek to realize their call as sons and daughters.
And the greatest gift of the weekend happened on Sunday. After a wonderful brunch, we spent our final session together enjoying the Lord through simple church. Our prayer for more neighbors joining us continued to be answered. Louis came and loved it. But the Boiler Room neighbor whose participation blew me away was my own ten year old son. At simple church, he worshipped, he engaged with the Word, he laid down his burdens before God. And he decided that he wants to do this, every simple church night. My son, through the Holy Spirit and no work of my own, has found a community with whom He can run hard after God. And I praise the Lord.
May we all know the kiss of the Father.
::tony::
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