Prayer Partners – March 2010

– by Sue Sullivan –

 

Cross Style Prayer Partners has never been “A Prayer Chain.”  Our focus from the inception has been two fold.  First, there is and has been a cry in joining with Stephen Manley for the Holy Spirit to be in complete control of his life both in and out of the pulpit.  Secondly, was for the hearer of the Message to be drawn into an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.  Our practice as prayer partners is not to pray Stephen out of a circumstance but pray God would use every circumstance of his life to share Jesus. Our thoughts go to Paul and Silas from Acts 16:16-31 whom, because of presenting Truth, they had their clothes ripped off, they were beaten, thrown into the depths of prison and put in stocks.  At midnight what were they doing?  Praying to God and singing hymns to the captive audience.  They were not praying to be released but were singing praises. The result of their circumstance was salvation for the jailer, his household and who knows how many others.  They were Light in a dark circumstance.

 

Our ministry expands as Cross Style Ministry expands.  There are now several Itinerant Evangelists on the road; and all of them have stories they could tell of the sacrifices of sharing The Message.  Remember to pray for them and their families.  The International Training Centers has multiplied over and over.  Lives are being changed and there is a hunger for the teaching of God’s Word.  We pray for workers to come and work in the USA and around the world.  In September 2009, God’s hand brought into the existence The Cross Style Church.  We stand in awe as we watch Him at work.  Outgrowing a storefront building in four months and into a church which will hold two hundred fifty is a God thing.  Could this be God using our circumstance to further His Kingdom?  Don’t let us get comfortable and settled in.

 

We, as leaders of Cross Style Prayer Partners, challenge you to get acquainted with 1 John. Advanced in age, John tells us about the One who changed his life.  The Word of Life who was with the Father in the beginning and made Himself known to John.  John daily walked, talked and lived with the physical Jesus.  But the relationship didn’t end with the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. The fellowship grew stronger as the Indwelling Jesus continued to manifest Himself to John.  Many decades later we see, hear and feel his passion as the Holy Spirit directs him in the writing of these three letters.  John was not quiet about His fellowship with Jesus but was an extension of that love. John turns around and wants others to experience the same fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.  He has the assurance the Indwelling God will manifest Himself with love for others and that will produce joy and a quality of life that the world could never give.

 

As Cross Style Prayer Partners who are scattered across the USA, we believe and know the same fellowship John experienced.  It is our passion for others to know the Father and His Son Jesus Christ so their joy may be full and nothing would be lacking in their lives in 2010.