I give you an invitation: If you are thirsty, come to the living waters. Do not waste your precious time digging wells that have no water in them. If you are starving and can find nothing to satisfy your hunger, then come. Come, and you will be filled. You who are poor, come. You who are afflicted, come. You who are weighted down with your load of wretchedness and your load of pain, come. You will be comforted! You who are sick and need a physician, come. Don’t hesitate because you have diseases. Come to your Lord and show Him all your diseases, and they will be healed! Dear child of God, your Father has His arms of love open wide to you. Throw yourself into His arms. You who have strayed and wandered away as sheep, return to your Shepherd. You who are sinners, come to your Savior.”

                                                  —Madame Jeanne Guyon, French author (1648-1717)

What a glorious invitation as we embark on a new year full of spiritual possibilities. Is there an element of this invitation that caught your attention? For me it was the reminder that God’s arms of love are open so wide to me that I can simply fall freely into them. Is there a more practical way to freefall than through a deepening prayer life? 

It has been so heartening to see prayer grow throughout our ministries in a very organic way. Intercession honors God, cultivates unity, increases evangelism, and matures our movements. Here’s a suggestion for you: Ask God how he wants to grow your prayer life in 2010. Take a day or a half day with the Lord, keeping that question as your primary focus. This can be done personally; as a local, regional, or national team; or in families. God just longs to answer the simple prayer, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). This month’s  Prayer Page offers practical suggestions for a half day with the Lord spent walking around the ongoing development of your prayer life.

Another suggestion is to begin 24-7 prayer rooms. Quite a number of our regions and campuses have started them and found the results to be nothing short of remarkable. Mark Gauthier and I met recently with the leadership of Campus America, an organization that is spearheading prayer rooms on many campuses. We found it to be a humble, godly group of individuals who simply long to see students pray for revival, purity, freedom, etc. We could have prayer gatherings for high school students, on college and university campuses, and with faculty. See the links below, if interested, for creative and inspiring ideas: 

http://campusamerica.org/sections/1-home/entries/89-video

http://campusamerica.org/assets/159/original/start_up_pack.pdf