16 to 1
Okay... here is another senario for you to picture:
There are about 15 of us in a room that used to be an office of 10 story apartment building. The office has paisley carpet and red walls that don't go all the way to the ceiling but have support beams about every five feet. The walls are mostly glass with white blinds over each one. This building called "Clyde Manor" is home to about 15 tenants all living significantly below the poverty line, all related in some way or another (cousins, second cousins, uncles, etc,) In our prayer meeting, there are 8 of us from IHOP, various ages, sizes, and temperments. The other 7 are people who live in the building who come to pray with us ranging in age from 14 months to 50 years old. Slim... who is 7 feet tall (NOT an exageration) and pretty much blind... on down to his granddaughter dayday, who is 14 months and the most adorable black child I have ever encountered! Sorry I am rambling...
That is the picture. Got it? Okay, now add a pounding on the main entrance door... Jeremiah, one of the tenants opens the door to two police men who are looking for one of the tenants. Jeremiah responds with... "I don't know where he is... but I'm in a prayer meetin!" After the officer laughs, JEremiah comes back in the room and we keep praying. As we pray... 2 more police show up... followed by two more... followed by two more. (that makes 8 if you aren't counting).
We keep praying... although, because the walls don't go to the ceiling... we can hear everything they are saying, and they can hear us. They are looking for "Zeke". We know Zeke, but hadn't seen him that day, so again we keep praying. One of the other tenants comes down in the elevator... sees all the cops and screeches! To which we all laugh and giggle... 4 more cops show up! By this time there are 6 cruisers surrounding the entrance and from what we hear 4 more cruisers by the back entrance. Slim leans over and says... "last I heard, Zeke was on the fourth floor with a shot gun..." We pray harder.
Amazingly the police NEVER entered the room we were in... they heard us praying, singing, and praying some more and they left us alone. Next thing we know... "Zeke" (not his real name) is being escorted out of the building hands cuffed behind his back surrounded by 6 of the now 16 police men surrounding the building. And we kept praying.
At one point, with all the comotion going on, it was loud and extremely distracting, but Lisa, who heads up this get together/pray meeting in the inner city, says: "If we can keep praying through this chaos, we can pray through anything!" And pray we did!
But it struck me that she was absolutely right. There is always chaos in our lives of some sort or another (hopefully not involving 16 police men and a shot gun!) but we are called to keep focused and praying through all of it. That was helpful to me in more ways than I can say! I love being back in the city. I find such life there. And I LOVE that our strategy right now is simply to feed them on Monday... build community with the same group (who all live in these huge near empty apartment buildings) and have as many as want to join us for prayer on Tuesday. I love too, that the prayer meeting is ALL about them... praying for them, calling out destinies, praying for healing, studying scripture with them and seeing them grow! The kids are starting to come now too... and of course I love that too!
There are about 15 of us in a room that used to be an office of 10 story apartment building. The office has paisley carpet and red walls that don't go all the way to the ceiling but have support beams about every five feet. The walls are mostly glass with white blinds over each one. This building called "Clyde Manor" is home to about 15 tenants all living significantly below the poverty line, all related in some way or another (cousins, second cousins, uncles, etc,) In our prayer meeting, there are 8 of us from IHOP, various ages, sizes, and temperments. The other 7 are people who live in the building who come to pray with us ranging in age from 14 months to 50 years old. Slim... who is 7 feet tall (NOT an exageration) and pretty much blind... on down to his granddaughter dayday, who is 14 months and the most adorable black child I have ever encountered! Sorry I am rambling...
That is the picture. Got it? Okay, now add a pounding on the main entrance door... Jeremiah, one of the tenants opens the door to two police men who are looking for one of the tenants. Jeremiah responds with... "I don't know where he is... but I'm in a prayer meetin!" After the officer laughs, JEremiah comes back in the room and we keep praying. As we pray... 2 more police show up... followed by two more... followed by two more. (that makes 8 if you aren't counting).
We keep praying... although, because the walls don't go to the ceiling... we can hear everything they are saying, and they can hear us. They are looking for "Zeke". We know Zeke, but hadn't seen him that day, so again we keep praying. One of the other tenants comes down in the elevator... sees all the cops and screeches! To which we all laugh and giggle... 4 more cops show up! By this time there are 6 cruisers surrounding the entrance and from what we hear 4 more cruisers by the back entrance. Slim leans over and says... "last I heard, Zeke was on the fourth floor with a shot gun..." We pray harder.
Amazingly the police NEVER entered the room we were in... they heard us praying, singing, and praying some more and they left us alone. Next thing we know... "Zeke" (not his real name) is being escorted out of the building hands cuffed behind his back surrounded by 6 of the now 16 police men surrounding the building. And we kept praying.
At one point, with all the comotion going on, it was loud and extremely distracting, but Lisa, who heads up this get together/pray meeting in the inner city, says: "If we can keep praying through this chaos, we can pray through anything!" And pray we did!
But it struck me that she was absolutely right. There is always chaos in our lives of some sort or another (hopefully not involving 16 police men and a shot gun!) but we are called to keep focused and praying through all of it. That was helpful to me in more ways than I can say! I love being back in the city. I find such life there. And I LOVE that our strategy right now is simply to feed them on Monday... build community with the same group (who all live in these huge near empty apartment buildings) and have as many as want to join us for prayer on Tuesday. I love too, that the prayer meeting is ALL about them... praying for them, calling out destinies, praying for healing, studying scripture with them and seeing them grow! The kids are starting to come now too... and of course I love that too!
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