Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 40

What can I say? Today was exciting. Forty days of the Mobile Prayer Station, "it's biblical." Now when I was first starting out forty days of prayer wasn't even on the radar. Personally, I think I was thinking I'd be out more days, but then again what the Lord impressed on my heart throughout this whole adventure was love over obligation. I will write another blog focusing more on reflections and lessons learned throughout the whole of the forty day experience so stay tuned. 

I got to see lots of people today that I've been growing in relationship with from the community which was nice. I've been slowly telling people of my plans of travelling overseas so I've gotten to say some goodbyes. What I've been slowly learning over the years is the importance of saying goodbye. The more I'm able to say goodbye the better I've become at saying hello. I got to do this with quite a few people today which was sad, but also endearing. In saying goodbye I got to reflect and remember just how the other person has impacted my life, how close we've grown and how I will miss them. Saying goodbye has the power to draw us into the depths of our hearts if we allow it. 

There were a few nice surprises today as I got to interpret a dream for Maureen who is the girl I buy my ice coffees from each day. Jose came by to say goodbye and we ended up praying for one another. My dear old friend Glory stopped by whom I haven't seen in like eight years and spent some time together talking and praying. I prayed with a few other friends today from church, as well as, an old childhood friend who just happened to be walking by. So cool! The day ended with Sean, who is a card carrying Coexister who said that he has constructed his own personal religion from lots of other ones. We talked for a bit about faith and life. I ended up praying for him and he started to weep. I told him that he was feeling the presence of God and he agreed. He shared a dream and I asked God to bring interpretation and He did. I love it when God includes me when He draws near to someone. The dream was from God and highly revelatory, I actually saw the lights go on in his eyes as we talked through the interpretation. God is so good!

Lastly, I ended up giving the Mobile Prayer Station sign to my friend Scott Venable who is the pastor of Mosaic Church. We talked and prayed for one another and then He tells me that he will definitely put the sign to use. He shared how he was going to get a street performer permit and continue on with the Mobile Prayer Station. YES! It truly warmed my heart to hear that the vision God gave me has been passed on to someone else who will carry it which is something I've been praying in my heart for over the last few weeks. Thank You Lord! He even said that he was hoping to get some other people in his church to get street performer permits so that they could rotate people through. Wow! Gotta love multiplication. I love the missional focus of what Mosaic Church is doing and have a prophetic feeling that God is going to move mighty through this church to bring spiritual awakening to the area. 

At the end of the day, I know that Jesus used my presence with the Mobile Prayer Station to impact lives both directly and indirectly. I pray that you, who are reading this, were also encouraged and your faith was strengthen as you read how God drew near to people. He loves people and is eager to be in relationship with us. I am definitely looking forward to when I finally get to see Jesus face to face and have Him tell me exactly what He did through the Mobile Prayer Station. Well, this chapter of my life is finished, but there is another one ready to be written/read. I head out to Brisbane, Australia in two days! I've had so much to do in getting ready for this trip and if you continue to read my blog you will discover with me all that God has planned for me while I'm there. Though the future is unknown to me, I find peace in knowing that it is known to God and that my life is in His able, loving, caring Hands. Peace, Gerry.

Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 39

The only thing that motivated to be out on the street today was the fact that the only way that I could finish 40 days with the Mobile Prayer Station was to be out today. You see, I am preparing to leave in a few days to spend one year overseas. So today and tomorrow are the only real days left before I travel overseas. But, even so, the Lord is so gracious and though it was a battle to even be out today, the Lord drew near to me as I cried out for His presence and grace. 

What profoundly stood out today was the sense of loneliness in people. As they walked by, the Holy Spirit let me feel their loneliness and then moved me to ask the Lord to draw near to them. I believe one of life's true horrors is the feeling of loneliness because we were created by God for relationship. This is why hopeless gains such a quick foothold in a person's heart and life when loneliness grips them. We were created out of love, for love, to be loved and to give love. One of my favorite bible verses is 1 John 4:16: "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them" (NIV). Really spend a minute to take this verse in. So amazing!

So even though I wanted to go home immediately after I got on the corner, God released grace to me and brought people for me to prayer with. First Jose and Crystal came by on their way to a youth night their church was throwing. I've gotten to talk and pray with Jose on a few occasions so it was nice to see him and pray with him again. But then God gave me a prophetic picture for his cousin Crystal which I shared with her and then prayed into. God has really brought these two through such tremendous trials which only speaks of such favor and incredible destinies on both their lives. God is so good! Next, I got to speak with a woman walking her dog who stopped to ask about dream interpretation (if you're interested on reading about my biblical grounding for dream interpretation read here). She couldn't remember any dreams and was a bit hesitant in receiving formal prayer from me, so I just spoke a blessing prayer over her as we talked. She was appreciative. Yes, I will sneak in a prayer even in conversation. 

One of the highlights of my day was praying for a dad Sergio and his stepdaughter Elisia. He kept his request general and asked for resolution to some issues happening within the family. The Holy Spirit guided my prayers and I respectfully touched on a few prayer points while still honoring the family. Next, I prayed for Elisia that God would bless her creativity and give her the courage to walk into her God given gifts and talents. It's funny, one of the first things Sergio said to me was that they were having a pretty weird day and well why not keep it going by asking me for some prayer. I love it! Rather than getting offended I just ran with the God given opportunity to pray for peace, healing, kindness and grace for this hurting family. Thank You Jesus for Your compassion, love and humility. Only by Your grace Lord!

Lastly, I got to talk and pray with Seneca, who came up to me and said that God had given him a vision sometime in the past of me and my prayer sign and told him he was to have me pray for him. Wow! Are you kidding me? So we held hands and prayed. Right when I started praying Seneca started praying in tongues. I prayed for many things for him from healing to deliverance to revelation. I won't go into too much detail, but I will say this, after Seneca left I literally heard the Lord say to my spirit that one of my prayers was the one He's been waiting for someone to pray. God is so amazing! Here I am not even wanting to be out praying with people and God releases such grace and revelation to me. Talk about a Divine appointment. Before Seneca left, he did pray for and bless me which was a bonus! I love God's amazing grace! 

Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 38

I can't believe that this is already day 38, two more days until 40. What an amazing journey this has been. For most of today, I was deep in thought and in prayer for the community. I long for Jesus to encounter people and awaken their hearts to the reality of His Kingdom. If there's one thing that I can't pray enough of it's that God would stir in people Divine curiosity. Because if there's one thing that the world is relentless at, it's dulling people's minds to the reality of a spiritual realm, to the reality of God. 

Maybe I'm reflecting on this today because only one person stopped for prayer today, my friend Jeff.  Jeff has some health issues, specifically his lungs. So, I love praying that God would heal Jeff's lungs. Over the summer I must have prayed for Jeff's lungs to be healed at least four times (if not more). It's funny when I asked if I could pray for his lungs today, Jeff said, "again?" In which I answered, "yes, again." I am believing that every time I pray, God heals Jeff's lungs a little bit more. He did say that his lungs seemed to be getting better, but then again he also says that it's hard to tell unless they get inflamed and irritated which they haven't for a little while. Again, I'm believing God is bringing healing until shown otherwise. Overall, nothing super major today, just a good old fashioned day spent in intercessory prayer for the community which is always good! Thank You Jesus!

Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 37

Well, the day started off with a bang. Denise, a regular who hangs out in the park, came by cursing and screaming about something and someone. Without missing a beat, I called out to her and asked her if I could pray for her. She agreed and we enjoyed a few moments of peace as I prayed that the Lord would give her a change of heart and help her to love her enemies. I am so grateful to the Lord for opening up avenues of prayer with some of the regulars of Wicker Park and even allowed me (at times) to be able to speak truth and life to them because the growing compassion of the Lord that dwells within me needs an outlet. 

Whenever I read about Jesus' life and the way He interacted with people, I'm always impacted by how He had compassion on the masses of people who came to Him to be healed (Matthew 9:36; 14:14; 15:32; 20:34). Over the last many days, the Lord has used my time being on the street with the Mobile Prayer Station to cultivate more of His compassion within me. Just the other day I was spending time with a group of friends and one of them said that there was something different about me. She literally asked me if God had healed me or something because she said that there was a softness about me that was new. At the time, I really didn't understand what she meant. But, in reflecting on this now (I feel like the Lord is connecting the dots for me even now as I write this), the softness that she was sensing from me was the compassion of the Lord growing within me. Praise God! 

The highlight of the day came with three teenagers who must have passed by me three times before they stopped and we started talking about dreams. Without any delay, Gabriel, Gerard and Ashley started sharing dreams that they had in the past with me. Many of them were dreams of demonic visitations where dark shadow figures would come into their bedrooms inciting terror and fear in them. Now, this is something I am very familiar with, so I took this opportunity to talk about the reality of angels and demons and the cosmic battle between good and evil. While we were talking I felt like the Lord gave me a word for them: that He has placed an incredible destiny on their lives, but the devil was currently trying to steal their dreams, kill any sense of hope in them and destroy their awareness of God's destiny for them by instilling fear in them. So, I shared this with them and asked if I could pray into God's destiny for their lives. They excitedly agreed. Let me just say that it was probably a moment that these kids will carry with them for a very long time. Thank You Jesus! 

I love how God meets us all right where were at. The seed of faith that was planted in these kids hearts and mind today was the reality that God has a destiny for their lives and that He will fight for this destiny to happen. That's where the good soil was within their hearts. Sometimes, I feel like good intention believers end up blindly throwing seeds of faith against brick walls in people's hearts and minds because they fail to spend the time in discerning where a person is at on this journey through life, where the Lord has someone on their faith journey and where the good soil actually is within their hearts and minds. What this takes is a sensitivity towards the Holy Spirit, but also a compassion towards people. To be like Jesus means to embody both. And the Good News is that both of these graces are available to a believer because we are in Christ. Maybe today is a good day to start meditating on what it actually means for you to be in Christ and all that that entails...

Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 36

As you can see, my friend Nobuki visited the Mobile Prayer Station for the first hour today. While he was there, an old college friend of his just so happened to be in the area. Coincidence? I think not. From what I gathered, this friend hasn't met the new creation Nobuki, but only knew the old Nobuki who did drugs and partied. So, Nobuki had a chance to share about his new life in Jesus with this friend. Very cool! The timing couldn't have been better because Nobuki is currently on a "short-term" mission trip back to his old art school to visit friends and to share about his new life in Jesus. Prophetically speaking, I believe that this divinely appointed meeting was like a foretaste of what was to happen on this coming trip. 

Throughout the rest of the day, I talked and prayed with Cindy, who is becoming a friend; Matt, a Greenpeace volunteer who also gave me some encouragement; Cassandra, a social worker spending the summer in Chicago; as well as a dad and three kids. Each was a special moment because what I'm beginning to really understand is God's deep desire to be near His children (both lost and found). The more that I talk and pray with people while on the street, the more I'm impacted with the reality that God has such plans and purposes for each of His children. But, the sad reality is that sin and the evils of this world weigh people down from actually going after their destinies. In some instances they are completely blinded from actually even seeing God's destiny for their lives because satan, the god of this world has truly blinded their eyes from seeing their amazing destiny in Christ (2 Corinthians 4:4). So, if there's one thing that I love to do, it's to pray that God would set people free, open their eyes and reveal their God destiny to them. 

God has a wonderful plan for everyone's life. He has a wonderful plan for your life. There's a Scripture verse that has eternally impacted me: "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,' declares the LORD" (Jeremiah 29:11-14a NIV). God has an amazing destiny for your life. I know that at times it may be hard to believe. But, it's in the rough patches of life that we need to all the more remind ourselves of this Truth: that "God has an amazing plan and destiny for my life." So, this is my prayer: that the Holy Spirit would ignite these words of truth in the very core of your being and release faith into your heart to believe and receive these words of grace, hope, truth and love. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 35

Today, even before setting up the prayer sign, my friend Nate and I spent a few minutes singing "I love You, Lord." It felt right to be standing on a corner in Wicker Park singing to the Lord. After today, I've decided to start each day like this, from a place of worship to the Lord; from a place of love and adoration towards Him. I can't tell you how singing a simply song of love to the Lord can tenderize your heart and draw the presence of God near to you. 

Overall, today was pretty amazing. I was so glad that Nate was by my side. The day started with Harry (see Day 34) and then Jeff, who has become a good friend. In praying for Jeff, I really felt the Holy Spirit's strong leading and hit some things that I was glad to have prayed for because it just seemed exactly what was needed. Even Jeff got pretty excited after the prayer. Next, came Eleven and his girlfriend Susie, who are a couple of traveling kids, looking for some dream interpretation. I was a bit nervous, but reminded myself that God reveals and interprets when we ask Him. The dream was another flying dream, but with a twist. After praying aloud in asking God for interpretation, I felt like God was wanting to bring spiritual breakthrough into their lives, but was also speaking directly against their current belief in astrology and their understanding of the universe as being god (pantheism). Nate felt like God was also going to bring change into their lives. They were very receptive to the interpretation and we ended up talking for a bit, until the rest of the friends came by.


Next, came William, who received prayer on Day 34. My friend Dave and I talked with William for probably a hour and prayed for him on three separate occasion. First, we prayed for some things that he lost, which he came back today to tell us that he got back what he had lost. Praise God! Now, from William's own mouth he said that he is angry with God and his chief complaint was that God wasn't talking to him. William has a faith, but it is distorted. So, the second time we prayed we prayed that God would bring revelation to him and prayed against the curse of addiction over his life. After this prayer time, I saw in my mind's eye a veil being lifted off of William's head. He even said that he felt lighter and more at peace. In this instance I felt like God lifted whatever was keeping him from receiving the blessings of God in his life. Today, when he came back he shared that the day after we prayed for him, he passed out in the park and woke up with a cross necklace around his neck (when we were talking he kept admiring my cross necklace) and was so thrilled that God had given him his own cross necklace while he was sleeping. Also, he woke up with money on his chest that someone had left on him. So amazing! Lastly, I felt like God gave me a word of knowledge about what was hindering William from freedom. So, we prayed for that and I truly feel like in that moment, God set William onto the path of healing and restoration. Go God! 


Next, a woman came by who was pushing a cart filled with various things and who also had a street performer permit hanging around her neck. She came by asking if I was a dream interpreter which I told her yes and asked her if she had a dream she wanted interpreted. She said, "No." I then asked her what kind of street performing she did and she said that she was a tarot card reader. When she said this my spirit got excited because this was such an opportunity to show her love and to share Jesus with her. So, I told her that I was also out here praying for people and asked if she needed prayer for anything. She immediately said her marriage was falling apart, but also asked me how I prayed. So, I told her I was a Christian who prayed to God and in Jesus Name. She said that she also was a Christian (but was obviously mixing witchcraft with her Christianity). Regardless, she agreed to me praying for her and so I prayed. It was a powerful moment. The peace and love of God was almost tangible in the air. After the prayer time I asked her how she felt because she was obviously impacted and a little emotional. She just nodded her head and said "Wow" in more of a gasp. But, before I could say anything else she grabbed her cart and started walking down the street. I don't believe it was because she was offended or anything, but because God met her in a very powerful way and left her speechless. Thank You Lord! 


If this wasn't enough, the day ended very sweetly. While I was packing up the prayer sign a very effeminate man came bounding up and blurted out "So you interpret dreams? How very neat. But, are you done for the day?" I told him if he had a dream I had time to interpret. But, he sadly told me, "I never dream, is that bad?" Without really answering his question, I told him that I could pray for him and ask God to give him dreams which he got very excited about. So, I said a very short prayer, asking God to give him dreams of his destiny and reveal to him the purpose he was placed on this earth. It took all of 30 seconds. Afterwards, Justin left just beaming and very excited about the prospect of dreaming and hopefully of being just loved through prayer. From what I gathered this was probably the very first time anyone ever prayed for him because before we prayed he literally said "I've never done this before what do I do?" Seriously, the day couldn't have ended any sweeter. I'm believing that though Justin has long road ahead of him, today his name and image was brought before the throne of God's grace and Jesus has now got His eye on Justin. Thank You Jesus! 

Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 34

What can I say about today? Well, my friend Dave came out today. He is on staff with the campus ministry InterVarsity and works predominately with the art schools in Chicago. After giving Dave a little "orientation" about the Mobile Prayer Station we chatted until God drew Hilda to us, who came up inquiring about dream interpretation. When, we asked her about her dreams she said she didn't really remember any of them, so we asked if we could pray for her. During the prayer time Dave got an image of a drawing of a butterfly that looked like it was drawn by a kid. We found out later that she actually works with kids. When he shared this image with Hilda she was amazed. It was obvious that butterflies hold some significance to her. But, then she started to ask Dave if he had any kids and if they drew pictures, maybe even of butterflies. What I believe Hilda was doing was trying to find an answer in the natural realm for the supernatural prophetic revelation. But, isn't that what we do? When something unexplainable happens, our immediate reaction is to try to find some sort of logical explanation for it, rather than accepting that maybe something supernatural did just happened. Hopeful I will see Hilda again. 

I did get to do one dream interpretation for a man who was with a couple teenagers who were on a one day mission trip in the city from a church in Elgin. It wasn't really a recent dream he had, but still - he shared that he was flying in his dream and then all of sudden started falling, but God took hold of his hand and pulled him up. While he was talking, I was silently asking God to bring revelation and interpretation to the dream. This is what came up, I told the man that him flying meant God was planning to give him some sort of breakthrough in his life and that he could trust that God will carry him through which was highlighted by God catching him when he was falling. It was a seemingly straightforward interpretation which I was grateful for (being my first one out here). I asked him if that seemed right in thinking back when he had the dream and he said it seemed right. Very cool! I also got to pray for him and the kids before they left while Dave had his hands full talking with William. What can I say about William except that Dave and I spent at least 30 minutes if not more talking with him about faith and life (Dave must have talked with him for a solid 30 minutes before I joined the conversation because I was talking with some other people). Let me say this, William has some issues with God. But, rather than start the story here, I think I'll retell the whole story on Day 35 because not only did we pray for William but God actually answered our prayers for William and did some pretty amazing things which he came back around to tell us. So stay tuned...


There were a couple more people who I got to pray with (while Dave was talking with William). First, there was Jeff who I know and while I was talking with Jeff, Harry came up. So, the three of us were talking when Jeff said he had to go, but before he left I prayed for rest for him and that God would give him dreams of his destiny. After he left and I turned back to Harry, who looked straight at me and said, "you need to pray for me." He shared how he felt that God was calling him to be bolder in his faith and to even preach the Gospel. Very cool! So, I prayed into this and some other things that the Holy Spirit brought to mind. Afterwards, he said that he felt like my words were coming right from the Holy Spirit because I hit everything that he's been holding in heart hoping to get prayer for. I just love it when God just shows up and loves on people. Harry's story also doesn't end here, but also continues on into Day 35. I love it when prayers are answered and people actually come back to share them with me. But, rather than make you wait on this one, I'll finish the story here. So, on Day 35 Harry came back around and said that since we prayed together, his faith has increased and he has been feeling more confident in God's presence in his life. Some of his fears are still lingering, but he doesn't feel immobilized by them. Praise God! My friend Nate who came out got the words baby steps and shared with Harry that he can trust that God will walk him through these first few small steps. Thank you Jesus!

Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 33

Although this is Day 33 of the Mobile Prayer Station, this day marks the first day that I have begun to offer dream interpretation to the community. I must say, even though I was only out for an hour during this time I noticed an exaggeration of a look I am all too familiar with, a look of perplexity. Now, mind you since starting this I believe I have seen just about every kind of look from people, but the look of perplexity is common. People are typically taken by surprise by the Mobile Prayer Station in general but now add dream interpretation and this has seemed to up the ante on people's wonderment. In the hour I was out (which was intentional I wanted to test the waters so to speak with this), I had no takers on prayer or dream interpretation, but I am hopeful and truly feel released by God to do this. 

Now, throughout the bible there are numerous examples of God communicating to people through dreams and in certain instances He has even sent a person to interpret these dreams. The most prominent dream interpreters in the bible are Joseph and Daniel. Dreams are an important avenue in which God speaks to people. Numbers 12:6 says, "And the Lord said to them, 'Now listen to what I say: 'If there were prophets among you, I, the Lord, would reveal myself in visions. I would speak to them in dreams'" (NLT). Also, Job 33:14-15 says "For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it. He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds" (NLT). Also, in Acts 2:17 Peter quotes the prophet Joel, "'In the last days,' God says, 'I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams" (NLT). It is clear that God speaks to us through our dreams. 


More so, Divine revelation comes to us through dreams. All through the bible there is example after example of God communicating to people through dreams: the dreams of Abimelech (Genesis 20:3), of Jacob (Genesis 28:12; 31:10), of Solomon (1 Kings 3:5-15), of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2:19), of Daniel (Daniel 7:1), of Joseph (Matthew 1:20; 3:13), and Paul (Acts 23:11) unless this last instance is interpreted as a vision given to Paul, rather than a dream. Again, the bible makes it clear that God speaks to us through dreams. But, not all dreams are from God. From what I've heard from other Christians that I've heard teach on dream interpretation (and from my own experience), the devil and other evil spirits can cause dreams (more nightmares), and there's something called soul dreams where our souls express and project things to us from both the past and present (this is where I believe the New Age Movement has built their camp). But, regardless of the origin of our dreams (God, the devil or our own soul), we must remember that God is the Creator of all things and in Him is all wisdom, knowledge and understanding; and if we seek Him to bring insight and interpretation to our dreams, He will give it. 


God is still speaking to people today through dreams and there is a great need for the people of God to rise up and seek the grace, wisdom and understanding of God in discerning the meaning of dreams. But, the sad reality is that the New Age Movement has in many ways hijacked dream interpretation claiming it as their own when it is and always has been something that has deep biblical roots and foundations. I believe that if we ask God for revelation in interpreting dreams, He will give it. Isn't that what the prophet Daniel did? There is a grace for dream interpretation and what I've come to understand is that some believers are uniquely gifted by God for dream interpretation. Being gifted in words of wisdom, words of knowledge, discerning of spirits, prophesy (1 Corinthians 12:8-10), even mercy, creativity and encouragement (Romans 12:6-8) are a great help when it comes to dream interpretation. If God has blessed you with some or all of these gifts then you should be asking God for the grace for dream interpretation and stepping out in faith. 

Jesus Culture (feat. Melissa How): Oh Lord You're Beautiful

What has been burning on my heart lately is letting my service to Jesus come from the overflow of worship to Him because when it does my service comes from a place of love and adoration towards Jesus. I don't know about you, but when I'm serving from a place of love, the burden of service lessens. The reason this song has so captured my heart is because it helps me refocus my gaze back onto the beauty and majesty of my Beloved Jesus. It helps remind me that, "yes He is with me and that His gaze is upon me and that He is extending me His grace." My favorite line of this song is "For my reward is giving glory to You" because it reminds me that my life is not about me striving to make some name for myself here on earth, but about living a life that expresses my gratitude towards Jesus for giving me an eternally new life in Him and giving Him the glory He deserves because of this.

Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 32

So my friend Rachel came out to the Mobile Prayer Station today. We had a great time talking about faith and life with each other. Throughout the day, we said hi to people as they sped on by. Some were friendly while some were not so friendly. In total, two people stopped for prayer. I had the great honor to be able to pray with Cindy, who had first stopped by last week, about some relational things happening in her life while Rachel got to pray with Greg, who was a bit nervous about us praying for him, but he did stop nonetheless. What I've learned over these past weeks is to be gentle yet direct with people. 

I was very glad to see Cindy again. If there is one thing that I really do enjoy is when I get to see people more than once. It's always better after the first relational encounter because of the inevitable awkwardness that comes from the newness of relationship. It's funny how connected you can feel to someone after you've prayed together. For me, I am always overwhelmed by God's heart towards His creation. He truly is a loving Creator who cares deeply for those whom He has created. That's why I will always pray for greater revelation of God's Hand in a person's life because (I know I must say this a lot but) knowing God is more than just knowledge, it's also experience. 

I've just spent the last three days at the Jesus Culture Awakening conference where the focus was on revival. There was much that went on and I know that I have been forever changed because of how God drew close to me during my time at the conference. There is something unique that happens when people gather together to worship God. It's like God releases a corporate anointing on those gathered that doesn't happen when we are worshiping God privately in our homes and rooms. But, what I wanted to share with you was a statement that Kim Walker, one of the members of the band Jesus Culture, said "If you're not passionate about Jesus it's because you haven't experienced just how much He loves you." What an amazingly true statement. Knowing God is more than just knowledge, it's also experience. 

If you haven't experienced just how much Jesus loves you, than I highly suggest that you ask Him to personally encounter you with His love. I would even add that you ask someone you know to pray with you. Maybe even asking Jesus to encounter you both with a life changing encounter of His love. Believe me, you will not disappoint. Jesus is faithful and if there's one thing that I've learned over the years is that Jesus loves to draw near to those who ask Him.