Click here to GIVE online now

Hard Rock Cafe

"No, I can't think of anything, but thank you," is the most common response I get whenever I directly ask someone, "is there anything you need prayer for?" While it often comes up during street ministry, I actually hear it most from people in church, especially when there's no immediate health or relationship crisis.

Why is that? Why is it that those who complain about their jobs on Monday, or their family during the holidays, or their back pain in the morning, or how aimless they feel at night, can't think of something to bring to the Lord in prayer? Why don’t we connect the dots between our need and God’s providence? 

 Here's the biggest reason for this: We're in the habit of meeting our own needs.

During Jesus' 40-day fast in the desert, Satan tempted him with the strangest thing: "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread" (Matthew 4:3). Jesus was hungry and the devil tempted him to feed himself with limestone? “Meet your need! Eat these rocks.” Weird, right?

I finally understood the devil’s tactics after God showed me the “rocks” in my own life: cheap sex, endless video games, school, job-chasing, worship music, Instagram, steak dinners. All of these things were “good enough" to numb my real hunger for aliveness. I didn't need anything from God because, in theory, I had everything covered. Since I turned those things into breakfast, I felt too "full" to ask for anything. And as it turns out, there's no room for blessing when your belly is stuffed with stones!

Jesus' response to the devil's temptation is profound and helpful. He replied, "It is written, man doesn't live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Mat. 4:4). Bread, the things we supply for ourselves (even good things), can't make us alive. According to Jesus, being filled with His Word by thinking about it, acting on it, and living by it, provides the aliveness that we crave.

If you’re in the habit of eating lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, the solution is to learn how to feast on God's word. He has something to say about work, family, pains, purpose, and entertainment. So as the Lord leads, let Him become the one who meets your need by tuning in to His word. One by one, you can safely surrender the stones in your pantry to make room for the abundant life that only God can supply. 

Then the next time someone asks, "What do you need prayer for?" you'll have a long list of rocks that you're ready to replace with whatever the Lord sets on the table.

Share

New Day Vine Ministry Center Update

Forty-four years ago, I stepped into a small church on Locust Street. I’d become a Christian that summer, and when I returned to WMU, finding a church was a top priority. I visited several churches but had yet to find one as passionately alive as the Mexican church I attended in Lansing. While at a church on campus, I expressed to another student how I found the service lacking passion and intensity. A friend of hers attended a church she thought I’d like and gave me directions to it.

That was the Redemption Center, now called New Day. It met at 2 PM in a small building on Locust Street (not New Day Vine, but the building next to it). The church was passionate and biblical and I quickly joined. We would often pray to get the larger laundromat next door, but soon moved to various locations before building our Nichols Road facility. About 30 years later, our prayers were answered. Sarah and Seth Gerber bought the old laundromat building to use the upstairs as income property and the downstairs as a young adult ministry center. The Gerbers and New Day raised a lot of money and invested a lot of work to completely renovate it. When the Gerbers moved to California, New Day purchased the building. The young adult group was replaced with a satellite church which prospered for several years. For a variety of reasons, during Covid, New Day Vine services ended and regrouped at our Nichols building.

The Vine Ministry Center is still being used for the Kingdom on a daily basis. Three different Recovery Group ministries use the building and are extremely grateful for the facility as it perfectly accommodates them. This is a very meaningful way New Day is meeting genuine needs in our community. Additionally, my office for New Day and for leading Harvest Alliance, our international network, is located there. Ministry literally is streamed from there around the world. The building is also often used for other smaller groups and special events. The upstairs functions as a residential facility for those involved in ministry and leadership development. It's incredibly rewarding to see the answer to prayers from 30 years ago being fulfilled.

I am deeply grateful for the vision of all who invested, and continue to invest, in enabling New Day to have a ministry center in the heart of our community. You never know how or when God will answer your prayers!

Share