CUNA – All Night Prayer Vigil

On June 8th, 2006 our family did an all-night prayer vigil specifically seeking GOD for clear direction regarding a trip to the South Western United States to minister on Native American Reservations. We'd been challenged by “Jerimiah 29:11 Ministries” another family to go where most ministries don't want to go cause the offerings are small and the hearts are tough. So we sought the LORD all night long. The task was simple: We asked our children to pray about a fall trip and anything else that comes to mind. We also encouraged them to read HIS word and write down any verses that they believed the Holy Spirit led them to. JESUS says the Comforter AKA Holy Spirit is given to us to guide us and give us council. Now before you start thinking, how spiritual we are.... let me bring you down to earth. All eight of us participated but it was a tag-team approach. We started at 9ish letting Rachel and Bethany kick things off before going to bed. Then the rest of us took one-hour time slots before waking the next person up. My first shift was around 2 AM. It was easy for me, after getting about four hours of sleep. I forget who woke me up but it was easy to pray during that hour. But the second shift was harder as I had only been asleep for an hour. I got up and went outside to let the cool night wake me up, but I still struggled the last fifteen minutes to keep awake. Others in our family fell asleep while on duty, but I won't mentioned any names! All in all, we are very glad we did it. The next day some of us were dragging as if in a fog, but GOD is faithful and did HE ever speak! At devotions we all presented our thoughts and scriptures. I took two pages of notes! That morning things didn't seem as clear as they did a few days later when we printed out the scriptures and then went over it again. WOW! Did GOD ever speak and make it clear! Almost all of the scriptures were turned to by the leading of GOD, not sought out to prove someone’s point. Most of us just closed our eyes and said...

LORD speak specifically about whether we should go to the New Mexico area or not. And if not, then what do we do this fall?

Now some of you, may think this is a mighty poor way to run a ministry. Let me clarify this by saying, if a Christian is reading the Bible and praying on a regular basis, they are going to learn to hear the 'still small voice' of GOD speaking through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells every BELIEVER the nanosecond upon receiving CHRIST. However, there are times when decisions have to be made and a Christian doesn't know the best way to go. It is at these times, that seeking godly council and seeking GOD's WORD is acceptable in my mind. GOD has honored this method over and over again not only in our ministry, but for many other Saints as well down through history. GOD tells us in Psalm 119:105 and in other places that...

HIS WORD is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

This clearly tells me that GOD's WORD, the Bible, will guide us so we know where to go. A recent survey was conducted on Christians who go to church on a regular basis, who read their Bibles, and who pray. Out of this group, sadly only one in ten consult GOD about major decisions in their life! No wonder when trials hit, we are left second-guessing our decision as well as the input of others rather than KNOWING GOD has spoken!

The infamous missionary to China, Gladys Aylward, was a simple maid from England, who as you may recall, GOD put into her heart to somehow help the dear people of China learn about their CREATOR. Gladys was told flat out she was not missionary material by the “experts” but she went anyway. She ended up one of the most respected women in China leading hundreds of orphans to safety during a war. One such time she was caught literally in the crossfire of the enemy approaching her city. She had hundreds of children hiding out in the forest and didn't know which was the best way to lead them to safety. So she prayed to GOD for wisdom, then closed her eyes, opened up her Bible, and placed her finger on Psalm 121 which gave her GOD's answer...

I lift up my eyes to the hills— where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven

I believe you will agree from the scriptures listed below that GOD indeed spoke to our family confirming HIS will that we were to humbly go to Southwest and to minister among the First Nation Peoples.

One of the scriptures Kerisa was impressed to write down comes from 1Samuel 14:7-8...

Do all that you have in mind

Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul.

All that we had in mind about the fall was going to New Mexico and Arizona and here GOD was confirming through HIS word for us to go!

One of the scriptures Jasmine got was from Isaiah 45:18-22...

For this is what the LORD says— HE who created the heavens, HE is GOD; HE who fashioned and made the earth, HE founded it; HE did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited— HE says: I am the LORD, and there is no other…. Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood, who pray to gods that cannot save. Declare what is to be, present it—let them take counsel together… And there is no GOD apart from me, a righteous GOD and a Savior; there is none but ME. Turn to ME and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am GOD, and there is no other.”

WOW! I believe this is a word for the Native Americans! As you may know, many Indians worship various spirits of the earth. The part about ‘let them take counsel’ jumped out at me, because on reservations you have ‘Tribal Counsels’!

Abby presented some scripture, 2 Corinthians 13:1...

This will be my third visit to you. Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

Another WOW! The only place that would fit a ‘third visit’ would be a trip to or through the Midwest!

Abby felt led to another passage from Psalm 107:1...

Give thanks to the LORD, for HE is good; HIS love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the LORD say this— those HE redeemed from the hand of the foe, those HE gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south. Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and HE delivered them from their distress.

Can you say another WOW! This passage can easily be a definition of what an Indian Reservation is. Those people have been gathered from the lands they used to live on, from the east, west, north and south and put in desert wastelands! I believe many have been crying out to the LORD and HE wants us to bring them some Living Water!

Mary Ann received these scriptures, one from Lamentations, 3:25...

The LORD is good to those whose hope is in HIM, to the one who seeks HIM; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

Here I believe GOD was saying to us, since our hope is in HIM and we are seeking HIS council by quietly waiting on HIM to speak during the all night prayer vigil, HE will be good to us and HE will provide a solution as to how, to whom, and the where!

Then from Hebrews 13.1-3...

Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

We can say the Indigenous People are our brothers and sisters, but to go to them in love and identify with their suffering is a whole other story. JESUS has come to set the captives free whether they are in prisons with physical walls or one of an unseen border called a reservation, or a spiritual prison.

Another passage that Mary Ann received was from Ezekiel 35.1-11, which talks about Mount Seir and a place of desolate waste where people harbor ancient hostility. I looked up the meaning of Seir and it means ‘the place where the Indians live!’ Can you say WOW!

Josiah received some scriptures, one from Mark 6:11...

Jesus left there and went to HIS hometown, accompanied by HIS disciples. When the Sabbath came, HE began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard HIM were amazed.

I was born in Colorado which borders Utah, New Mexico and Arizona, so one could say going to the Southwest would be like going home! In fact we dubbed this region the CUNA Area which stands for those four states!

One of the scriptures GOD gave me was from Romans 11:25-12:3. The first words got my attention real quick as I was sitting on the bus praying with my Bible spread out on the table with my Palm Device turned on and I read these words...

I want to lay all this out on the table as clearly as I can, friends.

WOW! That was exactly what I was doing! Romans goes on to say...

This is complicated. It would be easy to misinterpret what’s going on and arrogantly assume that you’re royalty and The This hardness on the part of insider Israel toward God is temporary. Its effect is to open things up to all the outsiders so that we end up with a full house. Before it’s all over, there will be a complete Israel. For GOD’s gifts and HIS call can never be withdrawn. So here’s what I want you to do, GOD helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before GOD as an offering. Embracing what GOD does for you is the best thing you can do for HIM. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on GOD. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what HE wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, GOD brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

WOW and WOW again! Yes, working with a culture within our culture is a complicated thing. We are not to go in assuming we know everything. In fact, just a few days prior to our prayer vigil I received an email from a missionary to the Native Americans who lived in Arizona. He gave us wise council that beautifully confirmed what this Scripture said. GOD does this often if we let HIM! HE confirms through others what HE has said to us from HIS word! The American Indians are the ‘insiders’ because they were here first. GOD wants to make them complete and is telling us their hardness toward GOD is temporary! HE wants us, the Lord Family to take our everyday, ordinary life, and be transparent to the ‘insiders’ saying don’t become so well adjusted to our culture that we can’t minister in the Reservation Subculture! “Instead, FIX our attention on GOD!” This passage was another way of stating our GOD-given theme “2006, FIX our eyes on JESUS!” Can you say GOD is extraordinary?

GOD spoke to Rachel and here are the scriptures HE gave her. 1 Corinthians 15:1...

Friends, let me go over the Message with you one final time—this Message that I proclaimed and that you made your own; this Message on which you took your stand and by which your life has been saved.

This is a word for us on what to say to the Native Americans. We aren’t to preach about how GOD gave us the big bus! We are to go over The Message of CHRIST! Preach CHRIST!

Rachel also was directed to Psalm 11.1...

In the LORD I take refuge. How then can you say to ME: “Flee like a bird to your mountain. For look, the wicked bend their bows; they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart.

Who do you think about when you mention bows and arrows?

Well, that is just a part of the scriptures that came out of that all night prayer vigil. We knew, that we knew, that we should set our sights for the Southwest CUNA region cause GOD clearly told us to do so!

I firmly believe GOD speaks to anyone willing to listen and this same GOD does NOT discriminate against age, gender, ethnic group or tribe! So as you can see GOD had clearly laid on our hearts the need to minister on “The Rez” (Reservations) in the four-State area of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. GOD clearly spoke not only to us, but had given us many words from HIS WORD, to share with folks whom HE deeply LOVES. We were so excited about this direction, because we believed GOD was going to set many captives free and grow us deeper in our walk with HIM! Little did we know, the lessons we would learn and the price we would pay for going!