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The most important hour of the week
Pastor Pat O'Rourke
South Peace News
I remember the morning of November 15, 1987. It was Sunday morning about 11 a.m. I was just waking up from a living nightmare.
Five days earlier my dear little 10-year-old daughter had crawled into a bear’s den, totally ignorant of the fact that at the bottom of the den lay a 300-pound black bear. Some people ran and got me. When I arrived on the scene, it is beyond my ability to even describe. I will spare you the details but in the end she had lost her life and my life was hanging by a thread. So, five days later I was in the Misericordia Hospital in Edmonton just starting to wake up from the whole affair.
At a time like that it’s difficult to describe the processes your systems go through. When your physical body becomes very weak, your spirit man becomes very strong. The spiritual realm (which incidentally controls all things) opens up to you. You can see into the spiritual realm and understand it.
There were many dear friends in Edmonton who were taking turns sitting with me almost 24 four hours a day. I turned to the lady who was sitting with me and asked her, “What time is it? What day is it?”
“It’s about 11 o’clock, Sunday morning,” she replied.
You see, I was sensing something in the spirit realm. All across Edmonton, all over Canada, indeed, many parts of the world, people were praying and calling out to God on my behalf.
The story of the preacher and the bear made international headlines.
God’s people had gathered together in their churches and they were praying my family and I.
My wife had the task of communicating to our three little boys what had happened to their sister and to their father.
The churches of High Prairie had taken up the task and they, too, were praying.
What I was sensing, was the power of their prayers. Literally, the most important, powerful hour of the week. From that incident I gained knowledge of the power of the Sunday morning meeting. It certainly wasn’t just that Sunday morning. It’s every Sunday morning when God’s people come together for prayer, fellowship, Holy communion, and to receive the preaching of the Word.
The Apostle Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians 5:4. “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together and my Spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Paul was simply saying here, “When God’s people gather together there is a power present”
A power that can get the job done!
Today, our society is careening along toward an inevitable crash. There is one power and only one power that can turn it around - the power of God. If people will gather together and begin to pray for our society, it can be turned. If not, the crash is inescapable.
Another scripture from Psalms says, “For this shall everyone that is godly pray into thee in a time when you may be found. Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come near him.” (Psalms 32:6)
This scripture implies two things. There is a time when God can be contacted. There is a time when God cannot be contacted. Many other scriptures bear this out. Today is the day to pray.
So, in view of this may I ask a question? What are you doing with Sunday mornings?
Are you joining together with God’s people for fellowship and prayer or are you merely following your own pursuits? Sunday morning is an important time. Use it wisely.
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