New York City seems like the center of the world at times. It has so much to offer in terms of diversity, art, film, music, business, restaurants, top-rated health facilities, wealth and intelligence. You name it, NYC’s got it. Okay, not beaches, but everything else maybe. It’s enough to make your head spin if you try to even put your finger on its pulse and tap into that energy. We all get a little bit charged from the constant energy of the city in which we live. But with that high voltage moving around us all the time, we can also feel our energy zapped right out of us. You touch that third rail for too long and like a rag-doll you will fall to your knees.
But maybe that’s a good place to be. When we fall to our knees, we are at least in the right posture to receive from God what we really need—His life-giving power, which does not drain us and leave us like limp rag-dolls.
We are also encouraged when we come together to pray with others. One of our congregants, Deb Friant, said, “listening and hearing how other folks pray in the spirit encourages one another and teaches us new ways to pray. But most importantly, we are called to come before the triune God with praise and thanksgiving, (i.e., with prayer, song, or even silently sitting in the pews basking in His presence) to worship His holy name, giving Him glory and honor, because His name is worthy to be praised AND He inhabits the praises of His people!! This worshipful experience invites anointing and healing. The in-dwelling presence of The Holy Spirit is renewed so we can all move from overflow too. We don’t want to JUST be filled with the Holy Spirit anymore, we want to be overflowing so we can be poured out for others! The Prayer and Worship Nights provide an opportunity to both pour out for others and be refilled!”
Not only that, but in His presence, we gain a sense of clarity. The city has a spiritual fog that blankets it and dulls our senses. Our vision can become blurred and heads and hearts become confused and weary. This is not unintentional; it is a form of spiritual warfare. But when we come into the sanctuary and lay it all down, we begin to re-focus on God. We sing our praises to Him, He inhabits them and confirms in us that He is worthy of worship. He is the only One that can clear the fog and give us renewed purpose in this fast-paced world.
Vicki Rose, one of Trinity’s prayer deacons, summed it up this way: “We live in a fast-paced city—the city that never sleeps, that often feels like a desert place. Trinity Baptist Church is an oasis in its midst. Prayer and Worship Night is one of the times that I am most aware of my emptiness and need for ‘water and food’ in the desert of New York City, and is the place where I can come and my soul and spirit are filled.”
Jesus says: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Taking time out of the crazy pace we keep, to seek God, worship Him, and cry out to Him, all give that “rest” that our Lord offers and for which our souls and spirits hunger and thirst.”
At Trinity, we seek God in an extended time of prayer and worship every third Saturday night of the month.
Join us and find rest for your thirsty soul.