My family endured the great Alaska earthquake in 1963. Pots started to shake and jump on our stove. A couch lurched across the room in our trailer. Sometimes, seismic activity creates more seismic activity. To be clear, I am not a geologist. But I notice that earthquakes along the California coast sometimes mirror and trigger other earthquakes along other parts of the North and South American coasts. They must be related. Tectonic plates shift leading others to shift thousands of miles away. They must be connected.
Have you ever been to a seismic prayer meeting? After being threatened, the apostles prayed for God to make them bold and to stretch out his hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of Jesus. God answered and granted what they asked. He made them so bold and continued to work among his people. After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken, the Spirit filled them and they spoke boldly. Wouldn’t you love to have been there?
Perhaps we pray too politely. Mark Buchanan described his experience at a prayer meeting in New York as, “Skydiving into a tornado.” Imagine jumping out of a plane into a tornado! The strongest F-5 tornado is a gentle breeze compared to the Spirit of God blowing through his church to change the world. Just once I want to encounter the power of God that way. I want the earth to shake, the wind to blow, and the people of God to come to life again. We never know when earthquakes will happen nor can we tell where tornadoes will touch down. Nor do we know when God will move. So we stay ready. We never needed him more than we do now. Are you coming to pray with us this week? Do you have a Richter scale?
