Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Dave 7
On Tuesday of last
week we experienced a crazy miracle.
Glen Echo Baptist Church signed over the deed to their property to
National Community Church. Not only are they gifting a piece of property worth
north of $1 million dollars. They are giving us the cash that is left in their
checking and savings accounts. And they
are selling another property valued at $400,000 and giving us the
proceeds. Are you kidding me?
How does something like that
happen? My one-word answer: prayer. Every miracle, every blessing, every divine
appointment has a genealogy. If you
trace them back, you’ll find agenesis prayer that set in motion the Sovereignty
of God.
Wait, are you saying that God can't
do it without us? I'm not saying He
can't. I'm saying Hewon't. God has
decided in his omniscience and omnipotence that there are some things He will
only do in response to prayer. In the words of Jesus, “You have not because you
ask not.” If you don't ask, God can't
answer. The greatest tragedy in life are
the prayers that go unanswered because they go unasked. I don’t pretend to understand where
theSovereignty of God and free will of man meet, but it motivates me to work
like it depends on me and pray like it depends on God.
Back to the miracle genealogy.
Here's the prayer genesis. It was nearly
two years ago that I felt like God put a prayer in my heart: "Lord, do
something unprecedented." It was a
scary prayer because it means giving up a measure of control, a measure of
predictability. But it's become a prayer
mantra for us. I believe the miracle of
Glen Echo Baptist Church can be traced to that specific prayer. I have no other explanation! Let me state the obvious: Baptist churches
don't give their church buildings to non-Baptist churches. It's
unprecedented. And that's precisely what
we prayed for!
