From: Chauncey Hutter Jr
Date: Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 11:41 AM
Subject: Two versions of the same prayer event

Joan and I both wrote a little “recap” of the prayer retreat we hosted in our home a couple of weeks ago.

It’s obvious she is a REAL writer!

(but it’s kind of funny to read this report from a male and female point of view at the same time)

Enjoy!

Chauncey

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Hope In God Revealed At “Awake! & Arise!”

Prayer Retreat
My wife Joan and I are out on a date at a nice restaurant for our anniversary in October. We enjoyed an incredible meal, lingering for 3 hours discussing what God was up to in our lives and listening to the Lord together about His heart for our schedule in the coming months.

One of the God ideas that came out of our anniversary dinner was to host a Prayer Retreat in our home. We would invite a friend of ours, Benjamin Atkinson from the Richmond House of Prayer, to come and speak. So Joan passed the idea to the prayer team she leads at our church and asked them to pray, listen to the Lord and ask Him what He wants to do.

Well, after a week of praying, the clear theme from the Lord was “Awake! & Arise!” So we put together a flier, sent out a couple of emails and called anyone in our area who wanted to pray to come meet the Lord with us for a day (with other praying brothers and sisters in Christ) and see what the Lord does.

And wow — the response was a God thing. People RSVP’ed (over 110 adults) and came from all over the state of Virginia to pray together. Personally, I was amazed that folks would travel up to 1, 2 or 3 hours away from cities like Alexandria, Fredericksburg,

VA Beach, Lynchburg and cities in the Shenandoah Valley for a prayer meeting. But once the weekend arrived, I knew why people were showing up – they were hungry! Hungry for God and hungry for Hope only God can bring!

The Friday night before the retreat, we had a meeting to pray for the prayer retreat. (Some people think this sounds a little weird.) We’ll, it’s not. In my experience, these kinds of prayer meetings have a tendency to “bring the house down” and this pre-event prayer meeting did not disappoint. 10 year olds to 60+ year olds and everyone in between poured out their hearts unto the Lord, asking for His presence and blessing and to heal the broken hearted, the physically injured and to bring true Hope in God.

What truly blessed me the evening before were 6 or 8 older ladies who traveled an extended distance to come pray with us. When I say older, I don’t mean any disrespect. What I really appreciated about these women of God were their decades of devotion to the Lord. It was obvious to me they had a prayer history in God and it showed in the prayer meeting! Hope arose and a fire started!

The next day when the prayer retreat began, we received immediate testimonies from people feeling the presence of the Lord hitting their spirit while they pulled up in their cars, or walked on the land or came into our home. (This was one of my personal prayers the Lord answered!) Plus, in each of the meetings throughout the day, attendees gave testimony of the Lord healing their heart, or a physical problem in their body or burdens lifted off of their spirit. But mostly, you could see it on everyone’s face and feel the sweet fragrance of the Spirit. The Lord was pouring out renewed Hope in His promises and His plans for all of our lives!

Some people fell back in love with Jesus while others received a deeper touch from the Holy Spirit and something shifted in their inner man. The response was pure worship and adoration and a desire to pursue a loving heavenly Father no matter what the cost! It was obvious the Lord was shining Himself into the situation and His light was breaking back the darkness in our city, our region and throughout the state of Virginia! What a privilege we have to partner with the God of all creation in prayer!

I believe many small, but bright “Fires of Hope” got lit inside most of the people who attended so they could take back to where they live and work what God gave them. Now God is going to fan the flame in their neck of the woods and call many others to “Awake and Arise” – bringing Hope in God to the Commonwealth of Virginia!

Yes, the testimony of Jesus was put on display and our faith in God was built up higher and stronger for the coming days, weeks, months and years ahead. May the God of miracles blow stronger in all of our lives and “Wake Us Up” in this hour!

Praise Be To Our Lord Jesus Christ!
Amen.

Chauncey Hutter, Jr

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Awake! Arise!

How a single day’s retreat brought awakening and hope to the heart of the Bride in Charlottesville, Va.

We were dreaming big that night, October 12, the night of our 18th anniversary. We were dreaming big about God drawing near to His people in Charlottesville, Virginia; about the life of abiding in His presence, about what His heartbeat was for our little patch of the world. And then came the big idea. We have friends from IHOP right down the road in Richmond. Suddenly, it was a must. Benjamin and Nadia Atkinson must come for a visit. We would have them come stir up the hunger of our little, growing church, as well as some of the friends of the Business of Prayer, the ministry God has given us to encourage prayer in all arenas of life. It wasn’t an hour later that I was emailing to find the right date. We nailed it that night. We would host a prayer retreat, a day in the sanctuary, the weekend of November 21. God nudged us that evening; we said yes, and the weeks that followed would blow us away with how He would open His heart to us concerning the people of Charlottesville and the surrounding area.

When I brought this plan to our little prayer team, we decided to ask God what theme He wanted to bring, what teaching. We spent a week praying and fasting individually, and the Lord brought our hearts together. “Awake, oh sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:14) And so, “Awake! Arise!” was born! More than anything, what we wanted to open to the people of God in our area, was the real and living hope God has for their lives through a life of walking more deeply with Him and encountering Him through prayer. We sent out an invite to a few folks, and they sent to a few more folks, and the list began to grow. When the day came, more than 100 friends and friends of friends walked through our doors. Our basement was filled with highest praises to the King of Kings while our kitchen smelled of the aroma of stew and coffee and savory treats. For two evenings and a full day, the Lord flooded our lives with His presence as we adored Him, cried out for awakening, grew through practical teachings on encountering God and prayed over the sick right there in our home. We marveled as God brought together hungry and thirsty college students, prayer leaders, pastors and faithful prayer circles from surrounding counties. People came from Washington, D.C., Roanoke, Fredericksburg, Richmond, Stuarts Draft, Staunton, Lynchburg, Fluvanna, and represented the gamut of denominations from our own city. What we had seen a month earlier as a quick spark from the Lord became a blaze of His glorious appearing. Many hearts were changed forever.

The notes of gratitude have been overwhelming. The letters of healed hearts and deepened prayer lives have watered our souls. One pastor took the teaching on hearing God straight to his congregation; one of his flock, who could not attend the retreat, called me the next day and said her life was changed because of what the pastor had received at the retreat. Another couple wrote that they had been hungry to grow in their prayer lives yet didn’t know the next steps to take; now they were on their way, they wrote. A single woman said she had never experienced such unity in the Spirit of God and that she felt deep encouragement in her walk as a Christian. Other people, whom we had only met that day, said they were overcome with the love they experienced. Hope was poured out in our home and our community and beyond that weekend. And we know we have only just begun; He is on a mission! Already, the Lord has my heart dreaming of the next retreat. The eager worship team, some of whom didn’t want to leave and so slept on the basement floor or in the backyard under the stars, are hungry to lead true worshipers into the Holy of Holies again. The hidden prayer groups are ready to undergird the next worship, prayer and teaching sessions with that great, invisible yet firm foundation of intercession. Many thirst for the next opportunity to pray with freedom, singing freely where the Spirit of the Lord is – casting off the burdens of the world and of sin, laying aside the traditions of man, and approaching the throne of grace with boldness, beholding the One in whose presence we are truly set free.

So we await the next assignment, Father. We are at Your service! Come, Lord Jesus! Come, Holy Spirit! Awaken the sleepers! Raise the dead! Heal the lame! Open the eyes of the blind! Open the deaf ears! Bring beauty from ashes. Pour out the anointing of joy and gladness. Let singing be heard in the valleys and along the mountain-tops; let the sound of praises and exaltations run swiftly through the piedmont region of this spot of the earth. Establish Your presence here; build up Your bride. Awaken her! Let her respond to the love of her Beloved! Our God reigns! There is no one like You! Let a new song arise from Charlottesville, Va. Let the song of hope and joy ring forth in the land, and let the peoples praise You, let all the peoples praise You. For You are worthy. You are holy. You are loving. And You are true. Amen.

Joan Hutter