Praying for Divine Order in Your Life

Posted on 7th Sep 2011 by Alison

A few weeks ago, I came across a blog post from Justin Rizzo, one of the main worship leaders at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City where he shared about how he has prayed a prayer for divine order in his life for 2 years now and how it has transformed his life.

I, personally, had felt out of order in my life for a few months now and, after reading that blog post, I thought that I should commit to praying this prayer and tweak it for my own life. So a few weeks ago, I began praying this prayer (below) and asking God to bring divine order in my life, no matter what the cost. Better that my life gets shaken and ruffled up a bit, than for me to live a disordered life and remain unchanged. Read the prayer and then continue on to hear of how God has radically shifted my life below!

Here’s the prayer I’m praying (and am committed to praying daily for the next year or, ideally, the rest of my life!) Download the PDF Prayer here or read it below: Continue reading →

Remembering 12 Years Ago…

Posted on 1st Jul 2011 by Alison

God has blessed me tonight. I am swimming in the sea of the joy of the Lord, basking in the joy of my salvation. God is so detailed. He loves me.

So, tonight, in our Friday night prayer meeting at the Tauranga House of Prayer, we had a visiting family from the House of Prayer in Malaysia come share about what God is doing in Malaysia, and humbly asked us to pray for them and for their nation. I have not crossed paths with any Malaysians in the past 12 years… nor been in a prayer meeting in the past 12 years focused on Malaysia. We prayed for the calling on the nation of Malaysia to have intimacy with God in prayer, overflowing into radical missions and the salvation of multitudes.

It hit me suddenly, Continue reading →

Mt. Athos: A visit to the Holy Mountain

Posted on 29th Apr 2011 by Alison

I’m inviting you to go on a little journey for 30 minutes that will mesmerize you, in silent awe.

Recently over Easter, the CBS TV Documentary show ’60 Minutes’, was able to get extremely rare access to the monasteries at Mt. Athos, perhaps one of the most sacred places in Christianity. They aired special coverage of the monasteries on Mt. Athos, that have remained in continual prayer and worship and simple, monastic life for over 1000 years. I watched both video clips, MESMERIZED, and in silent awe. I want to bring you into this world that I have just had a mini glimpse of, through these 2 video clips. Continue reading →

The Monastery is Burning…

Posted on 21st Apr 2011 by Alison

I am always drawn to anything that mentions monasteries. I read about them in the writings of Christians throughout the centuries and have a special love and admiration for these mysteriously beautiful places. The beautiful mystery of a monastery, where God divinely gathers a community of people who voluntarily come to live simply and uncelebrated, under religious vows, out of devotion to God.

Maybe that is part of my motivation in joining a mission community in the furthest country from my birthplace, to join my heart with other Christians devoted to the worship and adoration of God day and night.

Continue reading →

The Call to Anguish: God’s Call to His Church

Posted on 3rd Apr 2011 by Alison

This morning, I went to Bethlehem Baptist Church, and the guest speaker was David Pierce, author of the “Rock Priest” from Steiger International. He floored me, with his raw passion for God, and his fierce commitment to the Cross of Christ, humility before God and reaching the lost in the world. He ended his sermon with this video from David Wilkerson called “A Call to Anguish”. It has wrecked me. By the end, most of the congregation was weeping, and on their knees in deep repentance before God, sprawled on the floor around the altar, crying out to God for mercy and for His transforming forgiveness to change our cold, hard unbroken hearts.

If we watched this video once a week for the rest of our life (AND THEN RESPONDED TO GOD), MAYBE just MAYBE we would have a glimpse at the all-consuming power of God to change the world, one human heart at a time…. If you want to continue on with the “SAME OLD, SAME OLD” in your Christian walk, DO NOT PRESS PLAY and watch this 7-minute video. It has undone me and it will undo your own heart.

In the church (the Bride of Christ), we have lost our anguish. Anguish unites us to the agony in God’s heart, compelling us to pray and weep for the world, carrying God’s own burden and His own anguish in our own hearts.

I think this is KEY in the season we are in as the nation of New Zealand (and the rest of the world), in light of the disasters, as God is trying to break the heart of the Bride of Christ, so she will respond in brokenness, humility and repentance and return in wholeheartedness to her Bridegroom God.

Take 7 minutes to watch. And then let us all personally respond to Jesus Christ.

“All true passion is born out of anguish. All true passion for Christ comes out of a baptism of anguish. A true prayer life begins at the place of anguish.” (David Wilkerson)