I received the following email yesterday, and believe that this is a good email to re-start communicating again. With our new website up and running and some new tools available. This is probably as good a time as any to start encouraging again.

With all that said, here is yesterday’s email:

    Hey Mark, My name is…You came and spoke at our church and I enjoyed it very much. What i am writing to you about is a question that you covered but i must not have written down the scripture. I was talking to a guy i work with and he asked me “Why do we have to pray when God already knows what we want and need” I know that God wants to hear from us but i did not have the scriptures to back it up. If you could help me out with this question it would be greatly appreciated. Also, Just wanted to thank you for your weekly prayer sheet that you send me each week, I am so glad I signed up for it.     Because of Him

Below is my response:

Great question my friend!

I often begin talking about this subject this way, in keeping with your friend’s thoughts, “Why should we pray? It doesn’t make any sense! We are asking God, the One who spoke the words and the worlds lept into existence, about something something that He already knows how He’s going to answer, even though we have NO CLUE, what we’re even asking for yet! It doesn’t make any sense!”

And yet, the end of James 4:2 tells us that “we do not have because we do not ask.” Amazing! That’s all I can say, “Amazing!” What’s so amazing about it? That God is telling us, and this is the answer to your friend, that He, the creator of the universe, wants us to participate in what He does. It’s just that simple.

I believe that it is because of His love for us, which draws Him to WANT a relationship with us. Is that not amazing?

I hope that this email is an encouragement to you. Don’t forget the following tools:

Prayers from Psalm 119 and the Book of James

GBC Prayer Initiative and our weekly prayers

Daily Radio Spots

And of course my new book

In His Name, with great thanksgivings,

Mark S Mirza

When talking about a “Pulpit Ministry” I hear potential pray-ers say things like, “But we will miss our preacher if we pray for him, while he is preaching. We love his teaching.”

Recently I was talking to a pastor friend of mine in Morven where he shared the following incident…mind you, this is a church with around 100 in attendance on Sundays…He shared the following:

It was the ladies week to pray while he was preaching and a couple of them had stopped going to their prayer room. But one lady in the pew saw another heading for the prayer room and said to herself, “Oh, I can’t let sister so-and-so pray by herself, I should go back there and join her.” Another woman in another part of the church saw the first one and said the same thing. Somehow, before anyone knew it, there were 6 (six) maturer ladies in that room praying up a storm.

After church a couple of them came up to the pastor and said, “Pastor, don’t take this the wrong way, but we had church in there!”

Gotta love what happens when people pray.

Last night’s Associational spring meeting in Dry Branch was focused on 1 John 5:14-15. I teach on this passage often, regarding the confidence we are to have when we pray. Last night I spoke twice and so the first session was on sin and it’s effect on the confidence we should have when we pray, and the second session was on confidence that we have, praying scripture.

During the first session, and the focus on sin, we went into A Solemn Assembly that was truly that, solemn. There were many encouraging comments afterwards, during the break. But what I want to share in this blog, was what happened earlier in the day that brought this issue, sin in our life, “front and center” in my life and mind.

I had to deal with a “needling, plaguing, persistent” sin. Admittedly, it is persistent, because I am allowing myself to be drawn to it. But what was interesting and exciting, and to some extent, troubling, was how, at one point in the day, I completely submitted to the Lord. I believe that the Lord reminded me that when I am in sin, I cannot be empowered by the Holy Spirit. I realized immediately that I needed to “cease and desist” or, speak tonight in the power of Mark. Maybe I should say, in the power of mark, instead of Mark.

John 10:10b says, He came that we might have life and have it (in the Spanish, ABUDANTE)…abundantly. Friend, are you not living the abundant life? It begins with you submitting to God, not in the sense of getting saved obviously, if you are already saved, but in the sense of giving up YOUR will and submitting to the Lord, which in my case today meant turning from my temptation.

Praise God, He was the power tonight, (not Mark, I mean mark) and many folks were blessed. I got to experience living the abundant life tonight, serving God and loving it…and people were blessed…praise the Lord!

Same Bottom Line

Naida and I are sitting in the Erie airport awaiting our late flight. As I reflect on these last three days I am intrigued and humbled by the exciting time that we have had up here.

Both churches were given two distinct messages, but the “bottom-line” was the same in both. One church, Lake Pointe in Erie, was a prayer conference, while the other, today, was an All-Day Intensive.

Both pastors told me that this was just what their churches needed. Both said that their churches are on a journey and this was EXACTLY what was needed for this date and time, in their journey.

Both of them also said this, and this is the bottom line…”Come back.” I always pray Colossians 4:2-4, for each church that I visit. Please pray this for them as follows:

Lord, we trust that thru this teaching, this weekend, that these congregations will commit themselves to prayer and that they will find a renewed thankfulness and watchfulness as they pray. Father, cause them to pray, trusting, that You are already opening doors for me to return and serve their needs.

Thank you for praying with us.

WELL, TWO SEALS ACTUALLY

I have shared on FB that when I scheduled this weekend of events, in the North, in February, there were a number of people who said, “You’re crazy! Don’t you know what the weather will be like?”

I usually responded with, “I’m in the prayer business and so I don’t worry about those kinds of details.” But today, I remembered that I did reach out to Pastor Ashely, who was confident that it wasn’t a problem. And so, since he wasn’t, I wasn’t concerned either…because I’m a “prayer-guy.”

But as you may have seen, by my FB pictures, the weather has been beautiful! And AFTER the last session today, after everything was in the car and I was on my way to the used bookstore in town…it started to snow. It was like the Lord was putting His seal on the event.

Actually, there was another seal He put on the event, it was at the end, when we all stood in a circle and different ones prayed. Some publicly confessed short-comings, some prayed publicly about personal challenges, and then, as if the Holy Spirit was adding His seal, there was much weeping and brokenness.

A very special time.

Thank you for your prayers.

I am speaking at FBC Conneaut OH tomorrow. Continue to pray for deep repentance and unity among the brethren.