If you've been following along with us during Draw Near's prayer week, you may have seen that today is focused on praising God with our prayer. We mentioned last week that when you share what He's been up to, it encourages others and propels their spirit that causes them to want more of Him too!
Praising God in prayer ensures that He is the one that receives the glory. Thats right, I'm talking about our Dad who is present here on this Earth and moving powerfully in our lives. When we praise the Lord for answering our prayers, we attribute the honor to Him that He is rightfully due. Too many times we forget this and accredit answered prayer to mere coincidence. But no! It's not just a coincidence- it's GOD. We praise and extol Him for who He is and for what He has done. Sharing and hearing testimonies will set faith on fire. It's all about Him, and only Him!
We've got a story of praise to share with you. Last week, the Draw Near team realized that although we had printed out 500 Draw Near booklets, we had nearly run out of all the material after passing them out at the previous Large Group. We did not have many remaining to give to people who hadn't gotten one, and the 30 days barely begun. While this was a praise in itself, it was also a tough situation because people were asking if we had any more booklets... and we didn't. We had already reached our budget for printing more. The anxiety level was just beginning to rise. Then that very weekend, one of our team members was given a donation for IVCF that she hadn't been expecting. Another team member got a check in the mail made out to IVCF the day before that hadn't been anticipated, either. Wait, what? It ended up being precisely the amount of money that was needed to print off another set of Draw Near booklets! One minute, we were stressing out that we didn't have enough. In the next, God showed us that He had already provided, He was MORE than enough. Sure, it could have been a coincidence. But really? We know it was all Him. Boy, you better believe we were praising Him even more that afternoon!
What are you praising Him for today? How have you seen God reveal Himself as actively and powerfully working to answer your prayers? What has He been teaching and speaking to you? Come out to the Commons today from 10am-4pm and share in each others' joy! We will have a prayer board out on which we invite you to come write out your answered prayers, praises, and words from God, which will be shared at Large Group tomorrow night!
God is moving! Let's give Him glory and also ignite the faith in others-- if He did it for someone else, He can do it for you. So let's talk about who He is and what He's done!
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