I wanted to tell you about using Come Up Higher as a transition tool for our church. I’m on the leadership team of a local church in Europe. In the past year we’ve had the original pastor and his family return to our country and then our subsequent pastor found he wasn’t cut out for the job and left after about 6 months. We’ve been through quite a bit of turmoil as a body and have had to change locations eight times (various hotels, retreat centers & my house) in that time as well. Needless to say, we’ve been limping.
But the core team of people are really good and open to things of the Spirit. There have been a lot of issues of hurt, rejection, etc that happened as a result of the original pastor leaving. During our team meeting I suggested using the generational prayers for the church – they agreed to it and we met for several hours. Before going I felt the Lord point out specific prayers and who on the team should read them. We went through them slowly, identifying the issues that were linked to each prayer. The various ones took responsibility for each prayer (eg: Double-Mindedness, Inertia, Ungodly Elders, etc.), took it to heart and really seemed to identify with it deeply. As a result of our time together, God pointed out some actions He wanted us to take (financial remuneration to someone who’d been promised work, but actually was used for free). We agreed on an amount and had a check made out and someone from our team went and apologized, asked forgiveness for the misuse and hurt.
Long story short, we saw immediate results! People have been returning to us that have been gone for months. The flow of the service is filled with His presence again – in a new & fresh way. We as a team are more unified. There was clear change and our seems back on track.
Then it was my turn to preach (we rotate) and they asked me to speak about the generational prayers and the courts of heaven. I did, it was a super special time and I suggested a follow-up night of prayer at my place. We met last Monday evening and 15 people attended. We spent hours and used about 7 or 8 of the prayers as a group. People again identified with the spirit of the prayers, it wasn’t just rote repetition. As the evening wore on the sense of stuff lifting was amazing. The atmosphere became lighter and by the end it was like a party. I believe if we’d stayed longer we’d have seen the Spirit do indescribable things. People have asked for more; all in all I’m thrilled.
I’m sure you hear and experience the results and effectiveness of the prayers all the time, but I felt it important to give the glory to God in this and to say thanks to you for all the years of hard work. I find Come Up Higher is brilliant because it gives the background and history to the prayer and helps people understand what it’s all about, therefore identifying and going deeper. Thanks for that book in particular!