Warning: Lots of reading ahead….. I am about to make up for not having posted a blog for 3 weeks….
I have been marked forever by 7.7.07, a day of seeking the Lord through fasting and prayer. The Call Nashville was an event of 100,000 people coming together at LP field in Nashville, Tennessee to fast, pray, repent, praise and renew our vows to the LORD and to return to Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.
The event was preceded by a 40 day fast and consecrating ourselves to the LORD. Then, on the day of the event we fasted and prayed together for over 12 hours while we worshipped, prayed and sought God together. It was the most amazing and intense time of worship that I have ever experienced. I have still not recovered from God’s presence at this event and what He showed me- I don’t want to recover!
In order to learn about the purpose of “The Call” you can click on these links.
http://www.louengle.com/articles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHEJRPlaBk4
At the beginning of this year- God began to talk to me about fasting. This was completely foreign to me. I had never fasted before and had no idea how to go about it. As I prayed one night for God to confirm that He was indeed calling me to a fast He was faithful to answer. The very next morning in my daily reading of His Word, God set before me Isaiah 58 which talks about True and False Fasting. I didn’t read much into the verses at the time but was sure at this point of God leading me to fast.
As I approached this calling from the LORD, I felt led to a 3 day fast. I followed through in obedience but I must admit that it was very difficult. To deny the cravings of my flesh for food was brutal on me. However, this denial of food drew me straight into the embrace of my Father and there in that time of surrender God began to speak to me intensely through His Word. He began really convicting my heart about His bride and His coming back for her.
There has been an urgency in the Lord’s message to me for some time-an urgency to reach those who have gone astray from the LORD and to point them to Jesus so they can return to the LORD with all their heart. But this time His message was stronger than ever during my fast. Another message that God has spoken to me has been through Joel 2 where God speaks about pouring out His Spirit in the last days. With both of these messages on my heart God continued to lead me to more fasting. A continual practice of fasting and praying was the Lords agenda for me. But why? God was preparing me for “The Call”.
God dropped this event right in my path and showed me that this was a time to come and pray for The Church and for our nation to return to the LORD and HE had been preparing me for this very day. 40 days of fasting from May 28th-July 7th 2007. It was so awesome to see God bring all of this together. During my 40 day fast, God led me back to read Isaiah 58 but for a different reason. As I read it, God confirmed for me again the reason for my fasting and praying. Take a look at it. Isaiah 58:6 "Is not this the fast that I (God) choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? God showed me the reason for this fast and the reason I was to go to “The Call Nashville”. I was praying and fasting on behalf of our nation to repent and turn back to the LORD.
I have tried over and over to sit down and recap this event and what God has showed me through it all and my words have fallen short every time. There is no way to describe to you the intensity of the worship and the presence of God and the things that He revealed to me personally. But, I am going to recap some of it for you so you’ll have an idea of what took place.
Recalling “The Call Nashville 7.07.07”
The event started at 10:00am but there was a prayer march that started somewhere around 7:30 or 8:00am that led to the stadium. Here is a picture of the march.
At 10:00am Worship was opened with the sounding of the shofars.
Lou Engle opened by reading from Joel 2 - Blow the trumpet - call a solemn assembly.
1. The residents of Nashville and the musicians of Nashville.
4. For the Latinos regarding immigration
Dutch Sheets explained why God chose 7.7.07
Summer of love 1967-
This was a huge eye opener for all of us and there was a time called to REPENT. A LARGE number of people left their seats and went to the front to repent and ask forgiveness.There was a wave of confession, repentance all over the stadium and people were DELIVERED and set FREE!
Misty Edwards led worship-This was Incredible! What an anointed worship leader!
Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. God will set a seal of His love on our hearts.
Lou Engle led everyone in communion, a covenant ceremony symbolic of the Bride of Christ marrying our Bridegroom. This was the sweetest moment of it all for me. Lou Engle shared with us that more weddings were taking place that day on 7.07.07 than on any other day in history. They had three couples get married there that day on the stage as an enactment in the natural of what is going on in the Spiritual. The weddings were but a shadow of the glory that will be as Jesus marries his bride. This was the NEATEST thing. It was such a beautiful picture of what is to come. Lou stated that this generation is getting ready for the marriage of the Lamb. The bride is making herself ready. As the three couples got married we sang songs of worship to our God the romancer of our hearts and danced with the lover of our soul.
Chris Dupree sang, Dance with me, oh lover of my soul. Romance me, oh lover of my soul. God made Himself so present personally for me at this moment. Something I’ll never forget!
Lou Engel led us in a time of singing and praying over Jerusalem. James Goll – led us in a time to pray for an unprecedented awakening of Israel in Jesus name. We prayed for the greatest awakening that the Jewish people have ever had.We prayed that our Nation would be in proper alignment with Israel.
Ok, and then Michael W. Smith came out to lead us in worship. Can I just say, that God made Himself present in that place when Michael took the stage. He sang several songs, but then he sang, “Let it rain, open the flood gates of heaven” I thought God was literally going to rend the heavens and come down on us. The Holy Spirit fell upon us and this opened the door for massive prayer to break out. We prayed for our Nation and for a great awakening and for Revival. (I get chills just thinking about it) It was a time that I did not want to end.
We had a time of prayer for adoptions. We prayed that the church would rescue children from the foster-child system and from mothers who do no want to or can not take care of their babies. We were encouraged as believers to step up to the plate and give these children a Christian home despite our person preferences or comforts.
We spent a LONG time in Prayer and focus for ending abortion- We Stood in silence with LIFE stickers over our mouths for those that have no voice to speak for their lives. A WOW moment for sure!
One of the things that was so interesting was that so many thousands had been fasting and were fasting that day. There was a good cloud cover for part of the morning, but then the sun came out and it was HOT. There were people passing out all over the place and an announcement was made that everyone needed to drink water or the event would be shut down. It was just neat though to see the dedication to fasting and seeking the LORD in worship and repentance ALL day long even under the brutal circumstances.
Also, there were constant images of faces with the word HOLY written on their foreheads on the jumbo-trons at the stadium through out the day. These images have been ingrained on my mind.
We are in the end times. Jesus is coming back for His Bride but He will not come back for her while she is in such a pathetic state. It was eye opening to see how much murder-abortion, sexual immorality- pornography is running rampant in the church. It’s time for the Church to wake up, Repent and return to the LORD….the lover of our soul. I look forward to seeing how God works on behalf of our day of prayer and fasting. My life has been forever changed and I know 100,000 other lives have been as well. Thank you God for calling me to participate in this awesome day of calling on your name in prayer in fasting on behalf of the Church and our nation.
On 7.7.07 I was ruined for love. My heart is the LORD’S and I am committed to do whatever it takes to help wake the church up! It’s time…..The time of the LORD is near!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4s-gp_aQ-0U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4gUR1xImWE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDMQV04j610
There are tons of other videos on http://www.youtube.com/ Just enter “the call Nashville” in the search box and it will pull up many clips/songs of the day. There are more "Call's" coming to participate in as well. You can find all the info here http://www.thecall.com/