A Citywide Night of Prayer, Worship & Encouragement

Author:  Susan L. Prince

I've never participated in the events of the National Day of Prayer. Katie was all excited to hear about an event planned for the evening out at a small ampitheater at Casey Jones Village, a quaint tourist attraction in Jackson. We decided to go and hope for a nice evening.

The event was billed as "'A Call to Come'" A Citywide Night of Prayer, Worship, & Encouragement from local speakers of all denominations" We were under the impression that the evening was going to be packed full of praise and worship music and a time to lift up prayers for our lives, our community, and our nation. The evening did bring together many people from all different denominations. It was a blessing to see all sorts of people and experience different forms of worship all in the same place. The speaker who started off the evening laid the "ground rules". She said that God calls us to worship and worship comes in many different forms. She asked people to respect the ways in which other people worship. "Some people shout, others are quiet, some will dance, some will simply tap their toes, some will raise hands, some will be still. As you worship we ask that you are respectful of those around you. If you choose to dance or use flags or banners, please move off into the areas set to the side to worship there. If you see others worshipping in ways that are different to you, we are asking you to respect that. Worship is for the Lord, so those of you who are not here to worship God, you may be offended by what you see. We are asking that everyone 'get over it'". At this time we were told to look to the person next to us and say "I'm over it" and this was used as a reminder throughout the evening that this time of worship was for the Lord and not some display for ourselves. I thought that was cool.

Next we heard from the band that provided the music for the evening. They played some popular praise and worship tunes that people seemed to really enjoy. Many people did choose to wave banners and worship God in that way and I had never seen that before. It was beautiful. Some danced, some shouted and all of it was pleasing to God I'm sure. These were brothers and sisters enjoying being in the presence of God.

The first speaker shared the testimony about how this night got put together and it was rather interesting to hear about the visions she was given years ago. She shared about the different steps that were taken, not only by her, but by others God had obviously guided through His Will to bring the community together for a "Prayer Center". Jackson now has a "Prayer Center" and it is "opening tonight" for all to "come". The ultimate goal of this prayer center is to eventually have Christians in Jackson praying for the needs of the people and the community and the nation 24/7. Starting now, on Wednesdays, the Prayer Center will be open to go to an to be prayed for or to pray with others who come. I think it is a great thing and it is not to be denominationally divided...it is simply a place to pray. No labels other than "child of God". Since Wednesdays are my and Katie's "God day" we may have to go check it out.

Now this is where the evening started to lose me. Hearing the testimony of how it all came about and seeing this "Prayer Center" idea was all pretty neat. Then we had someone stand and basically try to convince us about why this is important. Christians know prayer is important and those seeking God can see the happenings in the world and how bad things can get. We were given statistics about sexual abuse, about divorce, etc., and they were being used to persuade us to "come to the prayer center". Then we had a prayer that asked God to reveal his will and open the hearts of people to allow them to hear the call." It started to sound like what I call a "pray-fomercial". Maybe my heart is too critical.

We heard from the band again and about this time it was getting late, after all it is a school night and Katie's kids were with us. Many people started to leave, and we decided too as well. I have no idea how much longer the praise and worship continued and how much longer the event lasted. I thought the evening started out well and I hope that there are more opportunities for the entire community to come together to praise God for the awesome work he is doing in our lives and in our community. God is calling us to inherit this land! He is calling us to take it back from the thieves, the abusers, the wicked! We do need to pray! If we pray...He will move and we will hear Him! He will use us and He will do mighty things. We will get our families back! We will get our neighborhoods back! We will get our cities back! We will get our nation back! It starts when His people pray.