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A Report on A Time to Mourn: the Fall 10 Days of Prayer
When prayer is sustained in a place, it releases the "fragrance of Jesus." Like baking bread, you cannot worship in spirit and in truth without creating a fragrance. This spiritual fragrance creates the atmosphere within homes, meetings, churches, even cities and entire regions. The fragrance of Jesus shapes the culture of a place--In heaven, no one sins and everyone worships--when the atmosphere of heaven invades the earth, sin is difficult and prayer natural.
Unity enhances this fragrance. You probably don't smell like coffee after making your morning brew at home. However, you can't walk out of a coffee shop without smelling like coffee because of the concentration of brewed and bagged beans. Likewise, when we concentrate prayer and worship, you can't walk away from the experience without smelling like Jesus. This is why concentrated places of prayer (Houses of Prayer) and concerted times of Prayer (5th Fridays, 10 Days of Prayer, etc) are powerful and necessary for the Body to grow. We need to experience the atmosphere of Heaven on a frequent basis-then we can begin to live life as those who are really "from there". (Heb 11:14-16)
"Watch with me"
On Sunday night we sat in a circle, listening to the Lord without saying a word, the Lord began to speak to us. When we finally broke the silence and shared, it was amazing to hear how God had been speaking and showing the same things to us all at the same time. One of the dominant themes of that night was illustrated in Scripture through the last supper. We sensed that Jesus eagerly desired for us to sit, watch, and pray with Him. It was as though He was in agony again over what was coming on the earth and was glad to have our companionship.
Have you ever walked with a friend through loss, grief, or crisis? If you have, you know that often-times there is nothing to say. Also, there are no friends like those who have walked through death with you. Our closest friends will be those who are willing to sit with us in our darkest moments. That night it struck me: For depth of relationship with God, we need to partner with Him in the grief and agony of His heart.
Imagine God's situation--He sees every evil deed, every murder, rape, abusive word, every lie. He knows every child that is aborted; every girl sold into sex-slavery is His daughter. And yet, He restrains His wrath. He sees every backroom political secret-every evil scheme to defraud or kill innocents. Yet he also loves the unjust, the abuser. He sees everyone and everything as it is. And yet, He restrains His wrath. All the while, the arrogant raise their fists at Him--"How can YOU allow these things to happen?"
At bottom, God's heart is limitless joy. However, imagine the grief this Father of Joy must feel both because of the evil in the earth and because of the judgment that must surely come on those who will not repent. This was the place in God's heart that He invited us into on Sunday night.
Intercession: Towards the return of Jesus
A Time to Mourn is fundamentally an act of preparation for the return of Jesus. As such, we continually intercede with an eye towards "preparing the way" for the Lord's return. Scripture is clear that Jesus cannot just return at any time. There are certain words that must be fulfilled on earth before the time of Christ's return. While unbelievers and backsliders will be surprised, Paul says, "But You are not in darkness that the day should overtake you as a thief." (1 Th. 5:4) While we will not know the "day or hour", we are called to know the "times and seasons" of the return of Jesus and to "hasten the day of the Lord" (2 Peter 2:12) through our prayers and righteous conduct.
The New Testament gives abundant examples of events that will precede the return of Christ. The gospel will be preached in the whole world (Matt. 24), the Jewish people will discover their Messiah (Rom 11:15,29-31), the antichrist will be revealed (2 Thess. 2), and the Church will walk in unprecedented purity, holiness, intimacy, and power (Rev. 19:7, Joel 2:28, Eph. 4:13, etc.). Each afternoon, we focused our prayers on these topics as the Spirit led us, partnering with God to bring Jesus back to the earth. This partnership is the essence of the Lord's prayer, "Thy Kingdom Come on earth as it is in Heaven."
Intercession: Awakening Desire
In a slightly different way, we interceded through God teaching our hearts to "long for the day". For the Christian, there are desires in our hearts that will never be fulfilled until Christ returns. As we become "pure in heart", receiving grace to desire God alone and the fullness of Jesus Christ, our desire works as intercession to "hasten the day" of Jesus' return. Make no mistake, He is returning to a Church whose only prayer and longing is this: "Come, Lord Jesus." The pure in heart will see God at His return. This desire, longing, lovesickness is what is meant by "bridegroom mourning". It is the heart-desire of the bride for the return of Jesus and is another condition of His return. He is coming back to a people who desire Him as much as He desires us.
Joy Comes in the Mourning
As the 10 days progressed, we all sensed an increase in the presence of the Lord through the gatherings. Various people were delivered of evil spirits or long-standing sin issues. Some encountered the Holy Spirit for the first time while all were growing in relationship and experience with Him. One night, we formed a "fire-tunnel", where everyone walked down the line being prayed for. God released His blessing and joy on us and some were on the floor laughing. A few short minutes later, some were crying as intense intercession for America suddenly came out of nowhere from the Holy Spirit. We were tapping into the emotions of God's heart.
On the final Monday, somehow we were still going strong. We were hungry (for food!) and some were feeling "prayed out". When it was time, I decided to seal the meeting with a final prayer. I prayed a simple prayer, not expecting anything exciting to happen as I wrapped everything up. However, after I prayed, the joy of God fell on me and Nancy Mari, who was standing next to me. We both reacted physically, bending over because of the sudden impact of the Lord.
When I straightened up, I found I was overwhelmed by the Joy of God; caught completely off-guard by the wine of God which he poured on me as I prayed a simple, unsuspecting prayer. As I was promoting A Time to Mourn beforehand, I indulged in a pun on Psalm 30:5: "Joy comes in the Mourning." I told people that submitting to a time of mourning with God's heart would ultimately result in the release of joy from God's heart. I was blown away to find the Lord fulfilling my words in so literal a fashion. He really did send Joy with the mourning. I can also say that in spite of difficult circumstances this month, I am walking in a revelation of the joy, pleasure, and continual presence of God like never before in my life. Sacrifice, obedience, all of it is for the joy that is set before us in Jesus Christ. A Time to Mourn is a time of sacrificial obedience to the Lord--the fruit of this time of fasting and mourning in my own life has been so good--Truly, Joy comes in the Mourning!
"Joy Comes in the Mourning" --Jonathan Friz
Dear Friends,
I am sorry to be so late in getting this update out to you--thank you Lord for writing grace at last . My hope is that it encourages and strengthens you, and also gives you a hunger and desire to seek God and submit willingly to seasons of fasting and mourning--of these I can say, they are good medicine: hard to decide to swallow, but their fruit is "peace, joy, and righteousness in the Holy Spirit."
I cannot overemphasize the experimental nature of A Time to Mourn. No one, least of all me, knows what is going to happen. I simply know this: in 2004 God told me to call His people to "mourn and fast" during the 10 days from Rosh HaShannah to Yom Kippur--and the only way to figure out what he meant is to walk it out in experimental obedience. Like Abraham, we start walking towards a place He will show us and then God tells us "you're here now."
This was the second year to do A Time to Mourn in a public setting. Last year, to be honest, I did not really enjoy ATTM very much. During the 10 days I often felt depressed, overwhelmed, and inadequate. Afterward, I had an amazing sense of accomplishment and of God's pleasure. This year, we were determined to improve our experiment. We were a little wiser, a little more mature in our understanding of what God was after, and stronger in our faith. The result was that over the course of 10 very intense days, everyone stayed encouraged, strong, focused, and yes, even joyful. This year the growth from last year was tangible in every area.
Vision for More
The vision for A Time to Mourn is to see believers around the world entering into mourning and fasting during the Jewish days of Awe. Fasting and mourning for the return of Jesus during this season is a prophetic declaration:Jesus is returning, let's get ready. It is like the Church calendar in reverse. Instead of celebrating what Jesus has already done through Easter and Pentecost, we are declaring in advance His return through the Jewish feasts that foreshadow His second coming.
This year, we got to experience what this looks like in a local church context. We stayed in private homes and commuted every day to CCF in Lowell. I hope that our experience this year can serve as a model for what future gatherings might look like in your own local church context.
Fragrance: What's different this week?
One of my favorite testimonies from this year came from CFCA, the school that meets at Community Christian Fellowship. Halfway through ATTM, we began to get reports that "something was different" in the school. Parents and teachers alike were noticing that the school "felt more peaceful" and that even problem kids were better behaved. They started asking, "what's different about this week?" Of course, the difference was the presence of the Lord!
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