Saturday, March 12, 2011

Praying for France

We were sitting together in our cozy living room, sipping our morning brew, wondering why we had woken up at 7 a.m. on a Saturday. We lingered over meandering conversation for three good, long cups of tea before we made the spontaneous decision to go in to Paris. Our boys were still sleeping when we sneaked out of the house and headed to the train station.

We had no strict plans, only two nebulous hopes for the day. We wanted to go up to Sacre Coeur and spend a few minutes praying over the city of Paris, and we wanted to eat lunch in a cozy, quintessentially French cafe.

Sacre Coeur is the Basilica church that sits up on top of Montmartre. The first time we came to France David and I visited this church, and as I sat inside it I wept. I did not understand why I was crying at the time. I just remember feeling a deep, deep sadness. Now, as I look back on the experience from 2007, I think that it was then that God began to write a call to France on our hearts.


When you climb up to Sacre Coeur and then turn around, you can see all of Paris stretched out in front of you. This photo is a little hazy, but if you are one who is called to pray for France, I encourage you to print it out as a visual aid for your prayers. David and I stood in the spot where we took this picture, and prayed for the city of Paris. We prayed for the enemy's strongholds to be broken. We prayed for truth to be revealed. We prayed for revival.

This banner is currently hanging on Sacre Coeur. It says, "For 125 years, here, day and night, someone prays to Lord. Come worship the Lord." Sacre Coeur has had a prayer vigil going non-stop for 125 years! As amazing as that is, more prayer is needed.

Will you prayerfully consider coming to France to pray?

We are seriously looking for teams of believers who will come on short term ( 1-2 weeks) mission trips for the sole purpose of praying over France. This country is strangled by strongholds. Nothing will change here without the power of prayer. We want to unleash the Spirit of God over the places where He is leading us to plant churches, and we need your help. If you are feeling led to come or to lead a team to come and pray, please send us an e-mail.

After a lovely time on Montmartre, we wandered back down to Ile de la Cite for a lovely dejeunner dans un petit resto. A wonderful couple from Greece took this picture. Can you imagine how fun it was for two Americans to have a conversation in French with two Greeks? 3/4 of the way through the conversation they found out that we were from the U.S., said that they also spoke English, and so we finished the conversation in our native tongue. They are tour guides in Greece, and so we got their e-mail and plan to look them up if we make it to Greece someday.

1 comment:

  1. Are you still looking for believers to come to pray over France? My wife and I visited France two years ago and the Holy Spirit has burdened us with prayer for this nation since. We are currently serving at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City and would love to return "on mission" for several weeks if the opportunity still remains. With the prevailing blessings of the Father.
    JSB

    ReplyDelete

 
SITE DESIGN BY DESIGNER BLOGS