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On January 9, we began our annual 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. In conjunction with this, we held special services on each of the Sunday evenings during the fast called, Thirst. The purpose of these special services was to gather corporately as the body of Christ to seek after God. We sought Him in song, dance and prayer. What better way to start the New Year!

Week 1

Here are some key phrases that express the essence of our first Thirst service for 2010:

Deliverance from Addictions

One of the main words spoken was God’s supernatural power to break addictions. Those who wanted true freedom from any addiction were asked to raise their hands. Many hands went up! Pastor Coleen prayed that everyone would receive the healing of the Lord. If you missed this Thirst service and are struggling with any addiction, you need to know that the Lord wants to deliver you from ANY and EVERY addiction that you may have.

Prayer for our Youth

Our teenagers – the next generation – were called to the altar. Everyone else stretched out their hands and covered our teenagers in prayer. We claimed them for the Kingdom! A powerful prayer was prayed by one of our teenagers, and another youth did a dance dedicated to the Lord. Our teens are on fire for God! What an awesome example they are setting for the adults!

Baptism in the Holy Spirit

Have you received the baptism of the Holy Spirit? This was the question asked by Pastor Dennis. Anyone who had not was invited to the altar, where a number of pastors and leaders laid hands on them and prayed with them to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  If you haven’t done so yet, you can come to the front after any of our services and ask one of the altar ministers to pray with you for this.

Dancing for Jesus

Do you recall the scriptures that speak about David dancing? Why do you think he danced? He was dancing for his God! During Thirst, Pastor Dennis led by example as he joined others on the stage and danced for God! We dance because we are FREE!

Freedom in Christ

2 Corinthians 3:17 (Amplified): Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom). We are free from sin so that we can know, love and serve Him! When you go to the Lord, go Thirst y, but also go in expectation – knowing that the Lord will fill you. Be encouraged! God’s love is available 24/7!

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Week 2

The second week of Thirst was AWESOME!  An evening filled with powerful prayers, singing, dancing, jumping for joy and praising the Lord.  As the Spirit led, Pastor Colleen prayed that we would learn how to come before the Lord courageously and allow Him into our hearts.  That was a powerful prayer.  It even touched our teens and school age members.

We were also reminded that we should never feel helpless and say “all we can do is pray.” Rather, the most effective thing we all can do is Pray.   We all know prayer changes things. It’s not dependency but interdependency, God depends on us too, and we have work to do.

Pastor Colleen referenced John 15:4-8.With this on our hearts; specific points of prayer were made on behalf of the Republic of Haiti.  Pastor Dennis invited Haitian members and guests with ties to Haiti to come and stand as a proxy for those in Haiti.  One powerful prayer followed after another as we lifted Haiti up in prayer in every area we could speak of.

Pastor Dennis boldly made a request that the Spirit of the Lord fall down on us.  As we all stood to our feet to dance before the Lord, Pastor Colleen told the teens and children to be bold about Christ.  She invited them to come down to the front of the sanctuary and on stage to dance before the Lord.

We danced boldly before the Lord with our future evangelists, prophets, disciples, ambassadors for Christ and ministers. Then, this Thirst came to a close as our teens prayed over each and every child that was present…it was Awesome!

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Week 3

A spirit of seeking and surrender.  An atmosphere of expectancy. Lovesick worshippers crying out for the Lord to come down.  Many seekers reminding the Lord of His promises.  Some kneeling, some walking with their Bibles open, some laying prostrate. These phrases describe the scene at the final THIRST during our 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting, a time set apart for us to worship and seek the face of God corporately as a church, crying out for fresh encounters with His presence and for more of Him in our lives.

As these things continued, Pastor Colleen prayed over ministers who had become discouraged in their calls, and they gratefully received.  Joyous worship and dance gave way to prayer over V•Group leaders, for more of God’s manifest presence and gifts to operate in their home groups.  Those leaders were released to pray over those in need of employment, with Pastor Dennis declaring that the answers to these prayers would manifest swiftly.

Pastor Dennis spoke about the anointings of priest and king that had both rested upon David, and then had the “priests” of Victory (our ministry leaders) anoint our “kings” (owners of businesses and leaders in the marketplace) with oil, praying that they would prosper in order to release resources into the kingdom of God.  Pastor Colleen read the mighty decrees in Proverbs 8, declaring that this is the word of the Lord for our kings.

Pastor Dennis charged us to be faithful stewards of all that God has given us, going on to proclaim the greatness of our God even in the face of apparent impossibility.  The leaders prayed over those facing natural impossibilities in their bodies and finances. Then, we departed, worshipping as we went with the assurance that our mountains had surely been “threshed and beaten small” in the presence of the Lord.