PRAYER HAS MEASURABLE EFFECTS

Momentum is building. More than 30 churches have fielded more than 1,200 neighborhood Lighthouses of Prayer across the community since last March. From 40 to 60 pastors continue to gather each month for prayer in the conference room on the 19th floor of the Metro Tower, which also houses the Pray Lubbock offices. The large conference room is the geographical high point of the city, affording a panoramic view of Lubbock.

Measurable effects of the prayer movement in the city of Lubbock are beginning to register. Crime statistics are down. Citywide the growth in church attendance is up. Churches continue to add to the neighborhood lighthouse effort. The severe drought that has plagued much of the southwestern United States this last year has been shattered in Lubbock with a historic amount of rainfall and repeated flooding of city streets and neighborhood playa lakes throughout the spring and summer--even while other parts of Texas continue to suffer from lack of rain.

At various times in the last four years prophetic words have been given to encourage the body of Christ in Lubbock. Many of these prophetic words liken what the Lord is about to do in our city to rainfall, flooding or some other reference to water. This makes our historic rains seem even more significant.

Some of the messengers bringing these prophetic words are people well known to us, while others have been unfamiliar--yet the words themselves ring with consistency and have been confirmed again and again by spiritual leaders in the city.

A few examples: "The rivers of Argentina will flow through the streets of Lubbock, flooding the entire city." And again: "The peoples of the earth will hear of it and come to you. They will resort to your place as a city and a land of refuge. They will seek out the desert place and will find safety. They will come thirsty into the barren land and find your hidden waters." And then: "The Lord will come like a flood, pouring over the city. His rain will gather into pools, then run into streams, then rush into rivers and eventually overflow to the state and the nation and to the world."

And finally, a word given at a monthly pastors' prayer gathering almost four years ago: "The Lord has seen what you are doing, and He is pleased. Because of what you are doing here today, He is going to make you the envy of the nations."

Here, in this modest city of less than 200,000 people, something historic is taking place. Brothers are learning to live in a new kind of unity founded upon Jesus Christ, fueled by fervent, united prayer and aimed at nothing less than the transformation of their community. Prayer is changing God's people, and as a result it is beginning to change a city. And in a place like this--where brothers dwell together in unity--the Lord will command a blessing!

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