24-7 Prayer movement. They are growing all over the world and also here in Canada. They have also totally redesigned their website recently. The Vancouver 614 group that lives, ministers and prays in the Downtown Eastside is an inspiration. Here's part of their introduction to themselves from the official website ... "In our five years, we've learnt that the purpose of prayer is not intercession or petition (though these are parts of prayer, whether we know how they work or not), but rather intimacy and obedience. Prayer takes our attention off of ourselves, refixing our gaze on the only one worth looking at (Colossians 3). He receives our prayerful attention, and then teaches us to see the people around us, often for the first time. As we grow in this discipline of intimate attention, we see with Kingdom eyes, seeing evidence of life and beauty where others see only death and ruin. We become aware of the seeds of the Kingdom that Jesus has sown around us already, in unlikely places and among unlikely people, and we get to witness its growth. The Kingdom, Jesus tells us, starts small, invisible and even buried, but it grows and eventually covers the whole garden. We've seen the Kingdom growing, bringing release from captivity, freedom from oppression and hope for change. We've seen some of these people inspired to become re-builders, restorers, re-newers. When prayerful community is formed along these lines, with people from all kinds of differing backgrounds and experience, the Kingdom seed sprouts and spreads branches in surprising places. Prayer is the main thing. Honouring the father was the primary passion in Jesus' life. It must be ours as well. Prayer is no add on, nor something we use to make our programs more effective. Coming before God in thanksgiving, humility and praise, desperate for intimacy, is the greatest pursuit of our lives. When we're in the busy places of ministry, despair and obvious need, we can easily sideline prayer. We trust that God knows and cares for these things more deeply than ourselves. In an intimate encounter with Jesus, we learn to be obedient to his commands, capture something of his plan of renewal for the forgotten places." Read the full description of the Vancouver 614 community's vision for prayer here. For the official Vancouver 614 website go here.
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