On the last Friday of every month we have a day of prayer and fasting for the Inspire Movement. There is an amazing group of pray-ers who bring requests and praise to God and are constantly seeking God for what He wants for the Movement. There are gifted individuals within the Movement with a specific gifting or focus on different types of prayer like listening prayer or healing prayer. Once a month an email is sent out called the ‘Prayer Bowl.’ We call it that from the verse in Revelation about the prayers of all the believers being like golden bowls of incense. (Subscribe to the Prayer Bowl below).
All of this and more really excites me but it is also a bit daunting to say the least! One thing I have increasingly felt would be an encouragement to others, and another way of people connecting in to the Movement, is gathering together to pray. Inspire has a growing number of regions of activity, Great Britain, Ireland, USA, Europe, Asia … Gathering together in person would be tricky even without COVID restrictions! Zoom is not a substitute for gathering together and praying in-person but in situations like this it is an amazing tool that allows believers around the world to connect together and to connect to God. Thankfully our connection to God doesn’t rely on good WiFi!! We have had two gatherings so far and the next one is 31st July.
At the first international prayer gathering in January, we left a time of silence for us to quiet our hearts and minds to hear from God. All of a sudden I felt like a total idiot! Why had I gathered people together on a world wide call to all sit in silence?! Everyone must have been thinking I was completely ridiculous! Then an image came to mind of the world all dark and gloomy, each person sat in silence on the zoom call was like a spot light shining up in the gloom. I thought to myself ‘yeah, but they could all be connecting with God without a computer screen in front of them’. As I sat a bit longer I noticed each spotlight was shining sideways as well, two or three near each other were connecting and then strands of light were connecting even the furthest apart ones. A web of light was beginning to grow across the gloomy earth. That’s why gathering together on Zoom was important…not because our individual prayers don’t reach God by themselves but because together we can encourage one another in our prayers and create a broader and brighter light to shine.
At the April gathering we focussed on Inspire Missioners who give of their time to advocate Inspire in their everyday lives. There are 56 Missioners across the world. Some are in secular employment or Christian ministry, some are full time parents who are not in paid work, some are giving part of their time to Inspire, and some are raising funds to be able to dedicate more time to serving God through Inspire. We lifted all the Missioners to God and thanked Him for the impact they have already had and will continue to have as they carry on missioning day to day. God prompted a number of specific prayers for individual Missioners. Afterwards it was a joy to be able to email them and say, ‘God brought you specifically to someone’s mind and we prayed for you…this is what we prayed.’
If you would like to join in with the International Prayer Gatherings, be a part of the Inspire Prayer group on Signal Messenger, or ask for prayer for yourself or someone you know, then do contact me: [email protected]
Rachel is the Prayer Coordinator for the Inspire Movement. She and her husband, Matt, are fund-raising support so that they can give their undivided attention to ministry through the Inspire Movement. Could you help us advance the prayer ministry of Inspire by becoming a regular donor to the Movement so that we can support Rachel, and Missioners like her?
