Prayer on Saturday Morning

I am so excited to gather with people from North Way this Saturday morning at 8am at the Whole Foods upper level parking in East Liberty. We will be strategically praying for the East End and Oakland areas as well as the greater Pittsburgh metropolitan region and its 2.5 million residents. We will be taking our prayers to the streets! In the Bible we discover that cities are a great gift from God to mankind. Cities are like giant magnets, attracting people from far and wide. This is true of East Liberty, one of the largest urban centers in the state of Pennsylvania. Many different kinds of people live, work, worship, or spend recreational time in East Liberty.

100 years ago, only 8 percent of the world's population lived in cities. Now, over 50 percent of the world's population lives in cities. This represents the largest mass migration of people in the history of the world. God is rapidly urbanizing the world, and this should give us a great sense of anticipation for how Christians can reach the world. God is calling us to expand our presence in the city. Christians should not be running away from cities. We should be running full speed into the arms of the city. Psalm 107:1-9 describes how we can be thankful to God for his gift of cities:

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the LORD say this - those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
Those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.
Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle.
They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away.
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.
He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men,
for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

I am so thankful to God for the city of Pittsburgh. I can't wait to pray for the city with my fellow believers in Jesus on Saturday. It should be a great time!