Prayer

A couple of weeks ago, Jeff and I bumped into Peoria Police Chief Steve Settingsgaard during our church picnic. Might I add that I am so grateful our city's police force is led by a man of much integrity and love for the Lord. He's a real class act and always friendly on Sunday mornings.
Steve expressed gratitude that the city's murder rate has dropped by 86 percent compared to last year. By this time in 2007, there were seven murders in the city. He credits the 40 days of prayer the city participated in at the start of the year to the decline in crime. There's also been a 49 percent decrease in criminal sexual assaults and a 40 percent decrease in arson. That's nothing short of remarkable.
Sometimes it can be hard to invest daily time in prayer when we may not see tangible results for some time. A friend of mine suggested that how we pray determines who we are. If we wait upon the Lord in prayer it speaks to our patience and integrity in our faith walk. If we're demanding and self-seeking in our prayers, that reflects a me-centered heart.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) Richwoods Christian Church is hosting a "Concert of Prayer" from 6:30-7:30 and everyone is welcome to participate. It's a time to worship and pray for our church body, the transition to our new building located on Knoxville at the old Leath Furniture building, and to pray for visitors that will be coming in during our Grand Opening, July 27.
The church also asked us to sign up for hour-long blocks of time to pray for the church July 26 and are hoping the congregation takes time to conduct prayer walks throughout the rooms and sanctuary to bless the efforts of our church body to build a place that will encourage people to find and follow Christ.