I usually try to record these podcast episodes in such a way that they’re timeless in a sense that I know people listen to these at different points. Not everybody listens to them right when they come out on that particular day. But today I want to just reflect as we pray on something that’s going on right now in my life and in the church family I’m a part of.
McLean Bible Church Impromptu Prayer Gatherings
On Sunday, just a few days ago, we were in Isaiah 55 and God’s invitation to seek him, call on him while he may be found. And I invited people to do that and just left some space for that to happen. And in that particular gathering at 11 o’clock on Sunday where we normally end by 12:30.
That gathering continued till almost four o’clock with people just staying and praying and confessing sin and worshiping and seeking God in such a way that the next morning I was just sensed in a strong way that we needed to gather again on Monday night.
And so we invited people to gather, impromptu gathering, and 700 plus people showed up to seek God more. There was a hunger for God that was palpable in the room. And I felt like the only way I could stop that gathering from continuing was if we worked to make it possible to gather again the next night. So we did. And I just see a hunger for God and more of God. We’ve read about this in places like Asbury and other college campuses, and I’m seeing this in different ways across the church. I just want to encourage you today on this Pray the Word podcast to seek God in your life, in your family, in your church family.
And don’t hold back. I don’t say that just because the book I just wrote has that title, but because that’s what God’s word says in Isaiah 54. “Do not hold back from God in all that he has for you.” And believe God’s spirit is moving in a powerful way right now, certainly in specific places, but God can be sought in every place where we are.
Luke 15:20 Pictures a Father who runs towards His Children
And today, I want us to pray according to Luke 15:20, in light of that, the parable, the Prodigal Son, when Jesus gets to the point in that parable and he says, “While he was still a long way off this wayward son, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him.” Wow, what a picture of a God who pursues us, a God who seeks us, a God who sees you and me has compassion on you and me, and runs toward us, embraces us, loves us.
So how much more should we in response to God? We’re talking about God doing this toward us. How much more should we be eager to run toward him to see him with love for him, to pursue him? So God, I pray over every single person that’s listening to this right now. Even as we’ve been praying in our church family over the last couple of nights, we want to know you more. We want to seek you with all our hearts. Lord, we want to experience you and more and more and more of your glory. We want to see you more clearly. We want to love you more all heartedly. God, we want to trust you more fully. We want to pray with faith and hope that when we pray, you hear us and you answer according to what we ask.
So God, we pray for this kind of love relationship with you that Luke 15 so beautifully and powerfully illustrates to grow in each of our lives.And God, I do pray that we would not hold back, that none of us would hold back from running toward you. The God who runs toward us, whatever that means in our lives, whatever that means in our churches, you got to help us to seek you with all of our hearts. And God, we pray that the fruit of that would be the spread of your love through us.
Praying for the Karata People
And God, we pray for the Karata people of Russia today who don’t know you, don’t have your spirit in them, to lead them to pray like this. They need the good news of your son. Please God, awaken your church here. Revive your church here in a way that spreads your grace and your glory to the ends of the earth. We pray for mission movement for sending to the nation’s because of revival by your spirit and your church here. God, we pray all of this in light of what your spirit’s doing right now in so many different places. Pray for that in whatever place we’re in, all according to your seeking love for us in Luke 15:20. And in Jesus name, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
