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Thanks for the great message. I do believe God is calling us to experience intimacy with Him through prayer, scripture, just spending time in His presence. He's looking for purity, holiness, obedience--the whole nine yards! We've all been guilty of 'playing church' and virtually ignoring God and His commands. No wonder the church is in such a state today. We can't just do the same old same old, especially after 911. Intercessors can reveal what's going on and thwart the enemy's plans. When we don't spend time with Him, we not only cheat ourselves, but we cheat our nation. God's not done with us yet. He made American great because it was founded on Christian principles. We have been a friend to Israel and we must continue to do so. To do otherwise is to invite disaster to our beloved shores. We are in the spiritual battle of our lives.

I can empathize with your search for a Christ-centered church. I, too, was a Methodist for many years, then a conservative Baptist. It's not that I didn't learn anything from them, because I did, but I wanted to go deeper in the things of the Spirit myself. The church we go to now is pentecostal but not wildly so. Some speak in tongues, some don't. Some raise their hands to worship, others don't. Everyone is at a different place in their walk with God. Nobody looks around to see who is doing what. I like that.

I'll check out your site at some point. Thanks! Love, Maryxxxx

Mary, I could write for hours about what I've learned regarding prayer since the 2000 election. Suffice it to say that I've learned that God indeed cares about this nation and its direction; that He does make His will known to those who seek it (no more need to pray, "Lord, IF it be Thy will...." -- there's no more "if" about it when one gets serious about prayer); that God will do nothing in this world unless someone prays it down from heaven (but even here, God is sovereign, and will move one to pray according to His will); and finally, that prayer is perhaps the most important "work" of ministry because unless what the rest of church does is bathed in prayer, those efforts will have the stench of human effort and the will of man around them.

I, too, was a Methodist for many years, then a conservative Baptist. It's not that I didn't learn anything from them, because I did, but I wanted to go deeper in the things of the Spirit myself. The church we go to now is pentecostal but not wildly so. Some speak in tongues, some don't. Some raise their hands to worship, others don't. Everyone is at a different place in their walk with God. Nobody looks around to see who is doing what. I like that.

You and I have walked the same path. Amazing. This sounds like the church we are attending.

I'd be interested to hear more about how God developed a hunger for Himself in you. For us, He used an awful church situation, and a revelation of His deeper will for His people through the writing of people like Andrew Murray, A.W. Tozer, Charles Spurgeon, Watchman Nee, the life of Hudson Taylor, and the ministry of Ian Thomas of Torchbearers to awaken my soul to the possibilities of a deeper walk with Him.

Have you heard of Graham Cooke? I believe that Graham is truly an apostle of the deeper life in Christ. He splits his time between a church in his native England, and a church in the US. The church we attend now in California is his home church here, and he's technically on staff with the church. It's his base of ministry here in the US, and we first saw him at that church a year go this month. That's when we decided that if the church believed what Graham Cooke teaches, it is the place for us.

BTW, I consider Isa. 62:1, 6-7 as my "life verses": "For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not keep quiet, until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, and her salvation like a torch that is burning....On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; All day and all night they will never keep silent. You who remind the LORD, take no rest for yourselves; And give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth." These are great verses which illustrate the ministry and purpose of intercessors, whom Isaiah refers to as "watchmen." Interestingly, I discovered a couple of years ago that my first and middle names -- Gregory Mark -- literally mean "Watchman" and "Warrior." I am pleased to offer myself to God to be an intercessor doing spiritual battle in our day, as He gives me the grace and power to fulfill that purpose.