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Intention

To engage in prayer, because our prayers move the heart of God and His angels, even if they don’t seem to move us.

Scripture

“About three in the afternoon he distinctly saw in a vision an angel of God who came in and said to him, ‘Cornelius’. Staring at him in awe, he said, ‘What is it, Lord?’ The angel told him, ‘Your prayers and your acts of charity have ascended as a memorial offering before God.’”

­– Acts 10:3–4

Reflection

In July 1988 I had a life-changing encounter at a Saturday morning prayer meeting I had been leading for nearly four years. One Saturday I arrived around fifteen minutes early. The only two cars in the parking lot belonged to the young guys who were running the sound system.

As I approached the door to enter the building, I heard music that sounded like something from the “Hallelujah Chorus” in Handel’s Messiah. It was glorious and beautiful and very loud. I thought, “Oh no, the sound techs are playing with the sound system, and they will surely blow out the speakers by having the volume up so loud.”

I ran to open the door to ask them to turn the volume down, but when I opened the door, everything was quiet. I thought, “What is going on?”

Inside the sanctuary, the only two guys there were not in the sound booth but rather at the front of the sanctuary praying together. I was perplexed until it dawned on me, with a sense of awe, that I had literally heard angelic choirs.

The prayer meeting began, and I thought that at any moment the glory of God would manifest in an unusual way. Surely hearing the angelic voices was a sign that we were about to witness a dramatic breakthrough of God’s presence!

But nothing of the sort happened. It was as run-of-the-mill as it was on many other Saturdays. After the prayer meeting was over and everyone else had left the building, I sat quietly by myself and thought, “Hearing that angelic choir was one of the strangest things that has ever happened to me. What did it mean, Lord? Why didn’t something dynamic happen today in the prayer meeting?”

Suddenly the Lord gave me a very clear word. It came as an impression. The Holy Spirit said, “This is what happens every time a few of My people gather to pray.”

I understood in that moment that angelic choirs rejoice every time God’s people gather to pray, even in a small, seemingly uninspired or “unanointed” Saturday morning prayer meeting.

Beloved, our private times of prayer and our public prayer meetings may not move us, but they move the angels, and more importantly, they move the heart of God.

Video

Prayer

Lord, it is wondrous to know that our prayers can actually move angels to sing! Going forward, I will try to not take my private or public moments of prayer for granted. Amen.

Author Bio

Mike Bickle is the founder of IHOPKC, an evangelical missions organisation based on 24/7 prayer with worship. He is also the founder of IHOP University, which includes full-time ministry, music, and media schools. Mike’s teaching emphasises growing in passion for Jesus through intimacy with God, and doing evangelism and missions work from the place of night-and-day prayer.

Prayer Points for Wave of Glory

1. Pray for a wave of the “knowledge of the glory of the LORD” to sweep the globe and the WPA in Australia on 3–6 October. Isaiah 40:5
2. Pray for awakening for Australia and millions to find Christ. Isaiah 64:1–2
3. Pray for a global awakening for the world and billions to find Christ. Romans 10:1

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