The Furnace Room

I wrote recently of a trip to New Hampshire to visit the Higher Ground Baptist Church.  I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to share with 29 leaders on Tuesday night.  I was blessed to serve at a prayer tent at the Deerfield fair.  I was especially blessed to learn that the idea had grown out of a breakout session at Keep the Fire Burning.  In God's providence, I was able to be there and minister with the people the very week of the fair.  I also was blessed to be able to preach three times on Sunday.

The secret to me of the Lord's hand upon Higher Ground is the prayer ministry.  The pastor is a man of prayer.  He doesn't just talk about prayer, he prays.  He doesn't just challenge the people to pray, he prays.  In fact his wife encouraged him to show me his 'prayer room'.  Most never see it.  In fact I was only the second or third to ever be given a glimpse.  We walked up the stairs into the attic of a two story house and there was a small room - perhaps six by six, devoted to prayer.  I knew in that moment the secret of a life well lived, and a ministry that was experiencing fruit and the hand and favor of God.  I was struck by the simple but profound decor of the room, and humbled by the diligence and focus of prayer that must take place in that room by that pastor.

Wednesday night, I attended the prayer meeting called 'the school of the Spirit'.  The crowd was small, but that was not an issue.  The Lord was there.  I would simply call it the most satisfying unhurried, focused time of prayer I have shared with other believers in a long time.  We began around 7.  The prayer meeting ended at 10:20.  The people were earnest, the word was shared, prayers were offered and the face of God was sought by His people.  I know the Lord strongly dealt with me in a couple of ways that night.  It felt like the first time in a long time I have been unhurried and undistracted in prayer.

I told the pastor that the prayer meeting was the furnace to his ministry.  I was not telling him anything he didn't already know.  I just wanted to affirm what to me was obvious.  I left Nottingham, New Hampshire feeling like a first grader when it comes to prayer.  Now there is nothing wrong with being in first grade, unless you are 53 years old and have been saved for 38 years.  I've got a lot to learn.  I'm not sure I will ever be the same - and that's a good thing.  So you want to keep the fire burning?  Stoke the fire in your own personal prayer quarters and spend time praying with the people of God.