There’s a buzz of conversation. People are chatting and laughing as they cluster around tables. Knives and forks clang against each other. Chairs scrape back and forwards against the wooden floor. The smell of spaghetti and meatballs wafts through the room. People play with napkins in their hands, rolling them and unrolling them, tearing them up, keeping their fingers busy. The sight really is something to behold, a group of people; diverse in age, ethnicity, socio-economic status and religion coming together to share in a meal. This is our weekly community meal, where anyone is welcome and everyone is equal. Regardless!
Tonight though, there’s a difference. In the corner of the room sits a big white Marquee, a tent. It looks a little out of place. Draped across the tent is bunting which reads “24/7 PRAYER”.
Before the food is served it’s announced that there is a space for prayer in the corner of the room. That this week our church family will be praying for 24 hours a day. The offer is made for people to wander through the prayer room, and someone will be in there, if they want prayer for anything at all. The meal is served and people eat.
No one comes into the prayer room during the meal seeking prayer. The buzz continues. It’s noisy. Yet, within the prayer tent … tranquillity and peace. It’s a little bit surreal. There’s this overwhelming sense of calm. Quietness. Stillness. The noise could be overpowering … but isn’t, at all!
For the last couple of nights, I’ve lost sleep with excitement. Excitement about what God has in store. And this! It exceeds my expectations!
His Presence is like a blanket, it covers with peace, rest, joy, hope and life.
As I look around the room, a Martin Luther King, Jr quote on the wall captures my attention: “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”
I breathe, I pray.
He is good. He is faithful. He hears our prayers. He responds.
People leave the meal and a small group of us gather for a time of corporate prayer. We are reminded that God IS 24-7. He never sleeps or slumbers. Where-ever we are, what-ever time, He is ready and available. Much of our time in group prayer is spent in silence as we sit … wait … soak.
We lift praise and adoration, we confess, we thank, we uphold others and their situations, we speak light into places of darkness, we make change in the spiritual realms and our Father is moved to action through our prayer.
As our time draws to a close we are acutely aware that although we leave this place of prayer, we don’t leave his presence. He goes before us, He hems us in from behind. We can continue in prayer, pick up where we left off, anytime, anywhere. We leave for the night, knowing that a fellow prayer warrior has taken up the prayer baton. That through out the night the prayer will continue. 24-7.
Thank-you Jesus for making the way for us to come to our heavenly Father in prayer. Let this week of prayer be for your glory. Let your Kingdom come, let your will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven. “And now, dear God, be alert and attentive to prayer, all prayer, offered in this place.” 2 Chronicles 6:40
