Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 17

Today I spent most of the day just saying hi to people. I saw a lot of people I've talked and prayed with before and they all waved hi to me while some stopped to chat for a minute or two. Even more, there was an usual amount of people today who initiated greetings with me by waving and/or saying hi to me that I never met before. All in all, today was a day of rest for the most part. I got to see my friend Jeff today which I was happy about. Jeff has been having some health issues as of late and I usually see him at least once a week while I'm out on the street but I hadn't seen him for a couple weeks, so I was very happy to see and talk with him. 

Another highlight of the day was seeing Bridget and Stephanie, a couple girls I met and prayed with when my friend Tyler joined me on DAY 10. They are art students who would consider themselves "spiritual" but not religious in anyway. We talked at length about faith and life and I shared my story with them and the many spiritually supernatural experiences of God's Kingdom of light breaking into the darkness of my life. I really enjoyed talking with them because they were honest and genuine. They believe people are spiritual beings and they pray to the universe and believe that a higher power may exist, but wouldn't call this higher power God. I shared with them my heart of wanting to be more light than heat with the Mobile Prayer Station and they said that that's why they came back to talk to me. They appreciated that I listened to them and wasn't trying to force them to believe in Jesus, but was still willing to talk about spiritual things with them. I did ask them if I could pray that "If God is real that He would personally reveal Himself to them" and I was thrilled when they agreed. 

We had some good laughs together about the fear of being converted by Christians. This may sting a little, but honestly, I share some of their fears.  You see, I have quite a few tattoos and when I'm wearing a t-shirt sometimes I get nervous when I visit a church I've never been to before or am hanging out at Starbucks or some other place that I know Christians hang out because I'm afraid that I'll be a victim of "drive-by evangelism," where someone comes by and shares the Gospel with me without any real interest in cultivating any sort of relationship with me. They drive-by hurl bible verses at me and then drive away leaving me feeling like I just got mowed down with a bunch of information that virtually makes no sense to me. Now hear me on this, I love sharing the Gospel with people and especially enjoy talking about Jesus, even jump at every opportunity that someone allows me to do this. But, from my experience and what I've heard from far too many people is that rather than feeling like they've been heard and really engaged with, people say that they mostly feel talked at by Christians who come off having an "I'm right and you're wrong" attitude.

I don't know about you, but when I read through the Gospels about the way Jesus lived life, I see Him sharing Himself with people. He opened His life up to people. He took the time to cultivate deeper relationships with people who were interested. Sure He shared hard truths with people, but He was also willing to relationally engage with them. Even reading through the book of Acts, the disciples were also willing to open up their lives to the people in their community. I believe this is what's been missing from the church, the willingness of believers to open up their hearts and lives to the lost children of God. Sure, we all say that we love our neighbor as long as that neighbor is another Christian. I believe we all need (and I include myself here) to ask God to both enlarge our hearts to love and to reprioritize them because many of the found children of God have entitlement issues and messed up priorities within our hearts. What we need to do is to ask God to come and turn our worlds right side up and establish within our hearts and lives greater Kingdom of God values and passions.

But, the sad reality of this is that we may all say yes and amen to this, but when God actually starts doing this and He begins smashing the idols of our hearts, we scream bloody murder. Being refined to do great things for the Kingdom of God takes sacrifice. It means accepting that Jesus is worth sacrificing for, even suffering for. I mean isn't He? Please, if none of this applies to you, than just let it fly. But, if it does, hear my heart on this. I'm not here to lay a bunch of guilt on you. That is definitely not my intent. My intent is to spur you on to be honest with yourself and to get real with God. It's time to stop brushing God off as He taps us on the shoulder. It's time to ask God for the grace to stop being complacent, the grace to want to change even if that means making us uncomfortable and the grace to love more fully. It also means admitting that we do have messed up priorities and idols within our hearts. It means admitting that our love is shallow, even selfish at times and admitting that we desperately need Jesus to de-compartmentalize our lives and transform us into fully integrated followers who's faith permeates every aspect of our lives. 

Ok, I'm done preaching and I hope that I haven't offended you too terribly. But, I don't know, maybe it's not so much about trying to not offend people because honestly, I don't think this can be totally avoided no matter how hard we try. I believe it's more about being in relationship with people, leaning into more of God's love and being willing to open up our hearts and lives, so that we can by God's grace work through these offenses with a humble spirit, a listening ear and an open heart. It's about loving people unconditionally all the time and withholding our judgments of them all the time, especially when we disagree. Because not only does Jesus command us to not judge others (John 7:1), but our love should never be based on whether we agree or disagree. It should be based on who we are as people made in the image of God and who are precious to Him and never on what we do, think or say. 

Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 16

Today had a pretty good flow to it. God opened up the opportunity to for me to pray with 8 people. Also, my friend Victoria came out to see me and got to pray and prophesy over Kelly who came by with her friend Christina. Maybe it was the crystal that Kelly wore around her neck or the gentle nudging of the Holy Spirit (probably both), but while talking with them I felt that I needed to tell them that we were Christians and that we prayed in Jesus name. They said that was ok and off we went before the throne of God. One thing I will mention about this prayer time was that I felt moved to pray for Jesus' kingdom of light to break through the darkness around Christina's life.

Before giving you the very highlight of the day, let me tell you about the most discouraging part. It came with three people (Eric, Katie and Alejandro) who came bounding up to me and well to put it bluntly were pretty combative. They were sarcastic and a bit mocking with their prayer requests. I did end up praying with them mostly for revelation of God and His heart towards them. The sad part of all of this was that after the prayer they claimed to be Christians and wanted to proved it by singing a Christian rap song they wrote which I'm not too sure really glorified God. Later on I got to ask one of them which church they went to and Katie replied that she doesn't go to church. Nonetheless, I'm glad I got to pray with them. I'm not out here to judge, but to love and serve. It just amazes me that of all the people I've interacted with, the most discouraging moment has come from those who claim to be Christian.

Now to the very highlight of my day which happened early on when Jessy started hovering around the Mobile Prayer Station corner. I sensed in my spirit that she was interested but was a bit unsure. So, I immediately started interceding for her. She ended up sitting a little ways away in the grass in the park and whenever I glanced over to her she was staring my way. This went on for about a half hour until my friend Denise came by and was screaming about something. Denise struggles with alcoholism and hangs out with the homeless in the park. She came up to me and asked if I could pray for her, her son and her sister because they were fighting. So, I did. I guess that was all Jessy needed to see because it wasn't more than 5 minutes later that she came strolling by really slow and asked what I was doing. 

I shared with Jessy my heart for prayer and began listing off things I could pray for her on; she zeroed in on emotional healing. Sensing her nervousness and tenderness, I suggested we step off the busy sidewalk to stand in the shade of a nearby tree. I prayed with her, asking God to come near to her and begin healing her heart. I asked our Father in heaven to release love, forgiveness and the power to let go both in Jessy and in the hearts of the other people involved. I prayed that God would reveal His heart towards Jessy and His deep love for her and His desire to see her made whole. It got a bit emotional and I'm believing that was because God was working. Afterwards, she thanked me and gave me a hug and I couldn't help but see a little spring in her step to match the smile on her face as her walked off. God is so awesome!

At the end of the day, what I've come to realize is that making myself available to God and to the community with this Mobile Prayer Station means that I'm all in. No matter what the day brings, I'm in. Whether it's precious moments like with Jessy or combative and discouraging ones like with the dynamic rapping trio of Eric, Katie and Alejandro; I'm in and I must have faith that God will give me strength and carry me through which He did (thank you for your prayers). What I learned today is that God's heart is bigger and His zeal (passion) to heal, save, redeem and restore people is greater than we could ever imagine. Being out here has really helped open up my eyes (and heart) to the reality that for us to really know and experience fully God's heart and passion for us, we will need all of eternity. That's how deep, wide and great His heart truly is for us.

Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 15

I was only out for a little over an hour today. It rained on and off during the day, but then the sun came out around 5:30pm, so I headed out. I was having some coffee with a friend in the area, just in case. I guess I could've skipped today, but today was more about obedience and commitment. I know God wants me out on the street everyday (weather permitting) and so even though I was only out for a short while I knew I needed to be out in keeping in obedience to God. I've also committed to making myself available to the community for prayer for the summer. 

Honestly, I've come to enjoy being on the street. I've come to enjoy talking to the people who pass on by. I especially enjoy getting to know the people I get to see on a more regular basis. It truly is a blessing to be with the Mobile Prayer Station, both for me and the community. It is a win win situation. Sure each day is unique and stretching at times, but at the end of each day I can't ever remember saying to myself, "well that was a waste of time." On the contrary, at the end of each day I'm always praising and thanking God for my time on the street because everyday God happens and His heart towards people is revealed!

Today, I got to meet and pray with Dan, who grew up in the Lutheran faith and who's dad is a both a well known Lutheran pastor and prolific author. I prayed for guidance and direction for him and his family as they are in the process of moving out of the area and that God would also guide them to the right church. He said he's been seeing me out more and more and decided to stop and say hi. It just goes to show you that commitment pays off. What I've also noticed is that the more people see me talking and interacting with people on the street, the less crazy and intimidating I become. They get to see my heart and more importantly God's heart. Keep praying! Together by God's grace we can!

Mobile Prayer Station: MEMORIAL DAY 14

To be honest I was dragging my feet a little to get on the street. I couldn't really put my finger on why, but I actually spent quite a bit of time praying and asking God to motivate me and give me the strength to go. I thought I had a pretty good excuse. "Well Lord, it's a holiday and none of the buses are running so I'll have to carry the sign all the way to the train and my back's been really acting up. I mean most everyone will probably be barbecuing or at the lake front anyways." But, then the Lord reminded of the 88 Higgins bus which I normally wouldn't take, but could catch about 2 blocks away which I took as confirmation that He wanted me out on the street. 

Today was a hot one and I think everyone was out and about which kind of gave the day a bit of a different feel. Normally, people are on errands or getting off work or taking their kids to the park or going out for dinner, etc. But, today everyone was off work and ready to relax and blow off some stream. Lots of people were drinking at the outdoor restaurant on the corner, even on the street corner. People seemed overdue for a hot day after the many cold and rainy ones which seemed to put many people in a good mood. I spent most of the day saying hi to people while quietly praying for revival for the area and asking God to spark Divine curiosity in people. 

I am always encouraged when I see people I've prayed for before and today Ryle came back around and asked me to pray for encouragement for him as he was going to spend the day reading in the park. I did and also included a prayer about enjoying and being amazed at God's creation. That's typically how I pray for people, I pray for their requests but also pray for the things that the Lord places on my heart to pray for. Later on, Sara and Jordy came up to me and said, "So, we decided to come back and ask you about what you're doing." This has been happening more and more often, people will walk by and then circle back around. For Sara and Jordy, I had the honor of praying for God's peace for them as well as for a balancing of their lives. 

Now for most of the day I was engaged in conversation with an interesting gentlemen who I first met on DAY 3 and have been seeing on and off since. Dave and I talked on three separate occasions today about religion. He was on his bike, so what would happen is that we would talk for about 15 minutes or so and then he would ride off. After a little while he would ride on back and we would talk some more. Let me just this about Dave, he has been through quite a lot and well is a very vocal and opinionated man. Long story short, he says he is very political and has numerous complaints against various law enforcement officers which he says don't take too kindly of him. He actually told me that if the police see him talking to me may begin to harass me. What Dave doesn't realize is that my God is greater than him and the police combined. 

After listening to him share about how against he was of organized religion, I had the opportunity to talk about Jesus, rather than church. I think there are so many people who have been hurt or burned by the church that to convince them that the church is anything but evil would be near impossible. Or people see the many abuses within the church by preachers and pastors particularly it terms of money (which was Dave's complaint) that again in their minds they're like "Religion, what a joke." And whose to blame them. That's why instead of talking about church, I talk about Jesus and what He says it means to follow Him and be His disciple: loving and worshiping God genuinely and honestly, loving people unconditionally and not judging them and helping people and serving the world. 

While talking with Dave, God showed me a picture of dark and looming clouds hovering over him. God further revealed to me that this deep darkness has been over his life for a very long time and I began to sense various curses over his life. So, I asked Dave, "If he believed in a spiritual realm?" He didn't because he said it wasn't quantifiable. So, I shared my story with him which seemed to take him back a bit. I could see that it sparked something, so I pressed him further and asked him I could pray for healing for his carpal tunnel and the pains of his heart. Surprisingly, he said yes but asked if I could not be too flashy about it. So, I prayed on the down low with him. I prayed for healing for his carpal tunnel, healing for the pains of his heart and then I broke off the dark cloud that's been overshadowing his life, in Jesus Name. 

All I have to say is that something happened. Dave's demeanor changed. He became very excited. It was almost like there was a surge of energy flowing through him which I'm believing was the Holy Spirit doing some work. He kept thanking me which was bit odd and then with a quick see you later, sped off on his bike. I mean Dave is a bit ADD to put it mildly, just from talking with him I can tell his mind races at a high velocity. Regardless, I'm looking forward to seeing him again and getting an update about what's going on with him, how his wrist is doing and to also discern for myself if there's some change with him. So, remember Dave in your prayers. Pray that God's kingdom of light would continue to take more ground in Dave's life and that God would bring greater revelation of Jesus to him. Thanks.