Memorial

As soon as I finish and post this blog entry, training will begin, in earnest!  Last weeks preparations included getting back in the work-out routine with my old friend, the wii fit!  Last week, the first trip on the treadmill was interrupted by a call to work and the return to the treadmill thwarted by every excuse in the book...yet the registration form is in the mail and time is of the essence...failure is not an option...and the goal this year is a first place finish in my age group (the goal of the first race last year...to finish...later revised to "finish strong.")  To motivate and remind me of last years accomplishments, I have a memorial. Every time I walk in this room, I see it.  It is a reminder of past experience and encourages me to not give up...

This morning, I am reminded of another memorial, Cane Ridge KY...a place where, for a season in time, God's presence invaded in such an "awe-full" way that it will forever be remembered....a memorial stone...to remember and tell the next generation.  I brought back a stone from that place, to remind me what God did then,  He can do again.

I am reminded of standing and praying on Mt. Pisgah, just off the parkway in NC, a few months after that January trip to Cane Ridge.  Seeking God and praying the same prayer I prayed as I walked over the stones at Cane Ridge..."Lord, pour out your Spirit from the highest peaks of the mountains in our region, running down like a flood and permeate every ridge, hollow and valley with your Presence...."  Every time I touch that white banner, I am reminded that He has done it before, and will do it again....a memorial stone. 

“and Joshua said to them: “Cross over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.”

Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day.”

Joshua 4:5-7, 9 NKJV

http://bible.com/114/jos.4.5-7,9.nkjv

Memorial stones...put in place as a reminder...to remind us of God's power and to encourage us to pray from a place of faith.  His presence changes everything!   

These memorials of the past are not in place to cause us to make camp in the past...they are the reminders of God's power and His promises. 

“And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.”

Revelation 8:4-5 NKJV

http://bible.com/114/rev.8.4-5.nkjv

Revisit the memorial stones and be surrounded by the witness of God's faithfulness..and mingle your prayers with prayers from the upper room saints to present day saints for an Awakening that will be unlike any other...for the saints of today to be so full of His Presence that every place where we stand, His Presence will be so Powerful, that sinners will not be able to stand and will fall to their knees in repentance...for His Presence to so completely envelop this region that literally cities will be saved in a day...

“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

II Chronicles 7:14 NKJV

http://bible.com/114/2ch.7.14.nkjv