A Prophet's Life: Prayer

Pastor Joyce Swingle continues our series on "A Prophet’s Life: Lessons Learned From Those Called to Communicate God’s Truth” with a message from 1 Kings 18:41-46. She also refers to James 5:13-18.

Click the arrow below, or if you're reading this in an email you can click this link, to play the service:

 


This service is available for download free on iTunes, where you can also subscribe to our podcast. Search for "Westchester Chapel" on the iTunes Store.

If you want to know more about starting a relationship with Jesus Christ visit www.WestchesterChapel.org/salvation.

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Painting Our Borders

Only 25 Counties Left!

RICH AND JOYCE SWINGLE AUG 21

After Intercessors for America ran my piece about praying over our borders, “Circumnavigating Manhattan with Prayer," I reached out to Pam in Georgia, who I quoted in the article. She's been tracking the prayer in all fifty states. After the article posted I reached out to her to let her know I’d love to know a general percentage of how close we are to finishing the assignment, and she immediately sent back something much more specific: 

Here’s how she wrote up the border counties that have yet to be prayed over: 

Technically, only Alaska (9 counties), Hawaii (5- 4 islands and 1 county), and Dukes Island in Massachusetts are all that remain uncovered. The national borders for the contiguous states are covered and 6 individual states remain:

1) Oregon- Sherman, Gilliam, Walkway, Baker counties

2) Nebraska- Thrusting, Burt, Washington counties

3) Utah- Tooele County

4) Washington- Wahkiakum County

5) Idaho- Lemur, Franklin counties

Branch County, MI, is marked undone on the map , but nine minutes after sending it she reported: "

She said, “There are some interior counties that need to be painted, but that was not the mandate.”

She’s updating this list as people post reports to their states on www.GiveHim15.com/groups. Please encourage any intercessors you might know in or near those counties to help finish the task, and then sign up for your state and post if you were able to pray at any of these borders. 

Also, I’ll be writing a follow-up story for this coming Saturday, so if you or someone you know has a story about helping complete this assignment, please write it up and send it my way. I’ll consider including it. The article will post to www.HeadlinePrayer.org. 

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Get alerts when Joyce and I will be on Headline Prayer Live by signing up at www.RichDrama.com/blog/post/Prayer.

Painting our States, Part 1

Circumnavigating Manhattan with Prayer

RICH AND JOYCE SWINGLE AUG 20

My article "Circumnavigating Manhattan with Prayer" posted yesterday on www.HeadlinePrayer.org: 

Lord, thank You for the many ways your people are commanding the foreword from coast to coast, declaring our founding documents to You Who inspired them! Hear our prayers for protection, healing, and revival!

The Lord is omnipresent. A.W. Tozer wrote in his book My Daily Pursuit: “God fills heaven and earth just as the ocean fills a bucket which has been submerged in it a mile down. The bucket is full of the ocean, but the ocean surrounds the bucket in all directions.” And yet, the Lord wants His people praying in every location in which He places us. We see this quite clearly in Jeremiah 29:7, where the Lord says to the people of Israel: “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” 

We shared Dutch Sheets’ post that lays out Gina Gholston’s dream and call to “command the foreword,” and we wanted to keep it on your radar as our final weeks to complete the assignment in August are upon us.

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Friends and I set out to circumnavigate the borough of Manhattan by bike, praying for New York City (all five boroughs), the state of New York, and New Jersey. We finished about 22 of the 32 miles before we needed to return to the pier to join those who chose not to do the ride. There, my bride, IFA contributing writer Joyce Swingle, led us in praising, praying some more, and worshiping the Lord of all the earth. We finished the prayer ride on another day. Here are some highlights of both days:  

Read the whole article by clicking here, and watch for part 2 of this report on Saturday at www.HeadlinePrayer.org. 

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See the rest of Olympic champion Eric Liddell's Chariots of Fire story in Beyond the Chariots. Watch it online and book a live performance.

 

Healing from Sex Trafficking Can Happen

Interviewing Creatives from Don't Say My Name

RICH AND JOYCE SWINGLE AUG 17

Last Tuesday Joyce and I were both on Intercessors for America's program Headline Prayer Live covering our articles and others. 

I was on a set in the woods without signal, which is why I haven't sent anything out in a while. Can't wait to tell you about that experience! There were miracles upon miracles! I'll wait to share details until producers give us the green light. 

In the meantime, here's Headline Prayer Live: 

Here's Joyce's article: 

"Standing Up for Whistleblowers"

Lord, give us the courage and anointing to blow the whistle on evil. Protect all who stand for truth, and raise up more justice-bearers.

He didn’t know why he’d been arrested. Stumbling around one faceless bureaucracy after another, he could not discover the charges against him. Unable to find justice. Every line of inquiry resulted in bizarre conversations and more questions. In the end, he perished at the hands of abusive authorities. This dystopian world is the landscape of The Trial, an Orson Welles–directed film version of Franz Kafka’s novel of the same name.

[Click to read the whole article...]

And my article...

"Healing from Sex Trafficking Can Happen"

Lord, thank You for how you’re using film to set captives free and lead them to Your dreams for them, healed and whole.

While Sound of Freedom — and many other films — show heroes rescuing those caught in sex slavery, Don’t Say My Name starts with a slave escaping and focuses on the challenging journey of healing. 

[Click to read the whole article...]

Here's my interview:

Here's the trailer:

Though the material is handled very sensitively, parents of younger children should be aware of the thematic content involving sex trafficking, violence, smoking, sexual references, and some drug references. There was no profanity or blasphemy. There is one scene that could be quite frightening to younger viewers. 

I saw it Joyce, and we agree that teens  — with proper preparation and debrief — may be able to handle this film. It could do even more in a young person’s prayer/action trajectory than for those of us who already know what’s going on. At the same time, it is an intense movie. Joyce wrote an excellent article about debriefing from this vicarious trauma.

Here’s the full film: 

To get reminders when we'll be on Headline Prayer Live, sign up at www.RichDrama.com/blog/post/Prayer.

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I Dreamed I Was Free tells the story of Quaker abolitionist John Woolman, who spoke against slavery a century before our Civil War.

Eternal Shalom

My Sermon on Revelation 21:22-27

This sermon on Revelation 21:22-27 was for Westchester Chapel Church of the Nazarene on June 25. I include my performance of that passage from my one-man play The Revelation.

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Westchester Chapel commissioned The Revelation at the turn of the millennium. We'll be doing a series on the Book of Revelation. Sign up to find out when. 

"I, Daniel"

Voice of the Prophet

The preaching team at Westchester Chapel has been going through Ezekial 8 together, approaching it as if we're preparing to preach on that passage. Ezekiel's vision reminded me of a vision Evan Roberts had. Our "singing play" Songs of Revivalshows how the Lord was calling Roberts through a vision to preach to the young people in the church of his youth. His obedience sparked a broader movement of the Welsh Revival, which was already simmering. 

Later in Ezekiel 8 the prophet paints a sad picture of what people representing God to the world were doing. They thought they were doing good things, but the Lord showed Ezekiel their actions were an abomination. I wrote down, "Prophecy is declaring reality to a people who can't see clearly because of sin."

Tomorrow I was asked to do a dramatic reading from another prophet, Daniel. 

It reminded me that I did the voice of Daniel in a promotion for a preaching series on the Book of Daniel for Trinity Community Church in Knoxville, TN. 

Click here to play.

I got permission from the filmmakers at Evergreen Media Productions to share this, and at the end it advertises a sermon series that already happened at Trinity. At Westchester Chapel the Bible study will be online July 23 at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. Click here to us know if you'd like a link to join us. It will not be recorded.

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I portray John the Baptist, a New Testament prophet, in a short piece called "The Lamb of God.” Before I wrote it for a performance at Africa Nazarene University I did a dramatization of that passage in the Jordan River near where it is believed that John the Baptist baptized Jesus.

Moving Testimony...

"Penny: Portrait of a Birth Mom"

Rebekah Cook, one of our first screen children, told us about this touching short film she and our friend Leona Worcester were a part of when Tracy Robinson was gearing up for her important documentary The Matter of Life.

I was on the road when Intercessors for America ran this, so I'm posting this a bit late...

Lord, please use this short film to inspire many to choose adoption, so that Your masterpieces might grow into all You create and call them to do.

We’ve featured Tracy Robinson and her documentary The Matter of Lifeseveral times, so for the one-year anniversary of the abolition of Roe v. Wade and Life Month, we’re delighted to share a short film she created in preparation for the feature. Watch “Penny: Portrait of a Birth Mom” below. It has an introduction by Robinson, followed by thoughts from Leona Worcester, who plays the birth mother, and Rebekah Cook, who plays the adoptive mother.

[Click to read the whole article...]

Be sure to watch to the end of the credits to catch Leona (birth mom) and Rebekah (adoptive mom) share their thoughts on playing those roles. 

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I helped create this short film focused on healing for a woman who realizes she's killed her child.