Day 86: BBQ On The River - A Day Of Prayer

This week was the 16th Annual Paducah BBQ on the River and mmmmmm mmmmm mmmmm was it as tasty as ever. Chandra and I started the day off eating a BBQ sandwich at one of the booths. It was really good. We then walked the perimeter of the event, about 2 city blocks squared, where Chandra partook of a strawberry shortcake. I just partook of carrying the camera and her drink around while she ate her desert.

There were thousands of people in the downtown area today. I have heard a couple of accounts, from some of the BBQers, that yesterday was busier than previous years. They said that they set sales records. Not sure if it was because they had more customers or if they charged higher prices. Either way several charities brought in some serious cash for this years sales.

After we walked around we headed out to the mall area to take advantage of some great $10 freebie coupons from a couple of places. We then headed back down to the BBQ to meet Bobby and Tina from our church. We serve on the Evangelism team for Oak Grove and used today as the first setup of our Prayer Request Station. We could not set up within the confines of the actual event, so we set it up on the opposite side of the floodwall, in the parking area used by many attenders.

The Prayer Request Station is modeled after the Prayer Stations from YWAM. We took it upon ourselves to get the banner and made all of our own literature, but YWAM also has all of that available of your ministry would like to check into it. We, at Oak Grove, would also be able to assist you in what we have done, so that you may get one of these into ministry within your own community. To say today was a blessing would be a big understatement.

I am normally not a very vocal person when witnessing, but this is a lot different. This is a very non-confrontational was to spread the gospel. Everyone needs prayer and all you are doing is asking to join in prayer with them for whatever needs they may wish to share. We had a wide range of requests today that we prayed together with about 90% of those that stopped by. The other 10% said they just wanted us to pray, but not with them, so those requests will join the others that will be prayed over by our prayer ministry at Oak Grove.

We had requests by parents that had incarcerated children, those that asked for salvation to be granted to their children, others had physical needs, medical concerns for others and various other needs. We do not take any of these needs less serious than the others. We did and will pray over those in financial need just as fervent as we do those in need of a healing touch from the Lord.

We realized that this is going to be a well received ministry to our area very quickly. The Lord blessed us with this and we praise Him for allowing us to join Him in working in and through prayer for these dear souls. Today's "trial" run, or inaugural run as I'd rather state it, was a huge blessing to us all. We all had no idea what the Lord had in store for us, but we were pleasantly surprised as He ministered to us as we ministered to our community. We now see that this is a way to reach out to the people in our Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. We are reaching out to those that God places in our paths, to pray with them and to ultimately share the Gospel of Christ with them. The reception to this was overwhelming in a very good way. We only had a very few naysayers that said they were "all prayed up for now" or one young man told us that he was "trying to quit".

I know it is a humbling experience to admit you need prayer, especially to someone you do not know. But God will use this outreach to make an impact. It is His will that we pray for others, saved or not, for whatever needs they have. We believe He will answer, because He delights in our delight in Him. We are not naive to think God will answer our requests in the way we request Him to, but He will answer. We also know that our faith in Him can allow Him to work in non-believers as Jesus did in Matthew 8 with the centurions faith, Matthew, Mark and Luke's accounts of the man let down through the roof to Jesus for healing and Jesus healing the nobleman's son in John 4. These were all because of the faith of others, not those being healed. This is where we get our basis to pray for others, no matter what their spiritual condition. WE should pray for the lost so they can see God working in their lives, so they may come to a saving faith themselves.

It was obvious that not everyone that stopped knew God. But we do and we have access to His throne room to bring our requests and lay them at His feet in belief that He will answer them to glorify Himself. Our hope is not in our prayer or us, but on the One that can work in these peoples lives. What a wonderful thing it is to be able to boldly approach the throne of the living God and ask Him to work in others lives.