Homosexuality - a detour on the journey to sexual maturity

Andrew Comiskey is well known in the Christian world and in many parts of the world. Andrew has written several books about the experience of sexual brokenness in different manifestations. He himself has come out of a lifestyle that has been destructive. And he has been serving the Lord for twenty-odd years now, writing books, speaking to society and the Christian world about how God is a powerful God to heal all kinds of situations, all kinds of distortions in human life.

He has been president of a large organization that ministers to homosexuals who are trying to break out of the lifestyle. It's called Exodus International, which reaches millions of people all over the earth with all kinds of publications. His books are well known, and he is a man of God filled with the Holy Spirit. He's here in Boston right now at the Vineyard Church with his wife holding a workshop, a marriage retreat. And we are blessed to have him in our midst today. And Esther too. Welcome Esther. Nice to have you here with us.

Hello, good morning. I wish I could speak more of your beautiful language. I grew up in Southern California where you absolutely need to be able to speak Spanish, but I never learned it because I'm stubborn and stupid, so forgive me. I do a lot of work in the Latin world. Doors have been opened there for us to equip churches to deal with broken people, people who truly love Jesus, but who are dealing with deep and shameful areas of their lives. And sometimes it is very difficult work to be able to gain victory in deep and difficult areas of our lives. We know there is victory in Jesus, but we don't currently know how that victory relates to deep, dear areas of our lives. So many times we find it difficult. We don't want to dishonor our parents, for example. We do not want to dishonor the name of Jesus. But still not wanting to dishonor Jesus or our families, we struggle with truly dishonorable things.

So we work with churches around the world to help them treat our people with dignity when we experience these difficulties and temptations so that we don't have to go outside the Church for answers, no having to listen to false prophets and pastors. We can then discover the good shepherd where we worship in some of these deep areas in which we struggle. And this is a very difficult thing for us, because when we come to church we immediately want victory.

And we don't like having to admit and say, “I really don't have the total victory that I want.” But in reality, that is where true healing begins. It's admitting and saying, "This area of my life really isn't getting any better." And then find people to stand by our side and see us through until we get that total victory. Sometimes it takes a long time, and that is very difficult. I don't like anything about it, but it's the truth. And the fact that I don't like it doesn't make it any less true. So we have to help each other. And yet, perhaps especially within our families we have to understand each other. And that is very difficult, especially regarding the problem of homosexuality.

We don't want to talk about it with our families. We don't want our parents to know about it. Homosexuality is more shameful than most problems. Right, right? It is easier, for example, to say, “I committed adultery,” or “I am having an illegal relationship with my ex-girlfriend or boyfriend,” or “I am into pornography.” Those are also shameful things. But in a way that they're a little bit more normal. Don't you think? And we think, “Well, I understand that. I can understand it." But when it comes to homosexuality, then we think, “Well, I can't get into that world. How can you do that? Why do something normal like adulterate, for example?”

Guess what? If we are honest in our Latino culture, adultery is very common. Yes or no? And we all know them. All of you have had family members who have committed adultery. But you don't talk about it, because you don't want to embarrass those people. So we all know how to keep secrets. Yes or no? Still to protect people. But that doesn't set them free. That doesn't stop the bleeding inside. So we all keep secrets. And in order to be free to trust our secrets, we have to trust people, learn to trust. So that's why we have to learn to trust people in the church, because that's where they get the answers through Jesus, in his body. We then have a real possibility of being free. And that is what we do. We help the church provide havens, safe places, for people who have deep and embarrassing problems, and who are willing to trust their secrets in order to get to know Jesus in order to live the truth in the unseen areas, not public.

Now, I was very inspired by this door that has been opened to say no to gay marriage here in Massachusetts that the legislature recently decided. That encouraged me a lot. And I thought, “Lord, here is an open door. Let the people of Massachusetts walk through that door, Lord. Let the people say what they feel." I now live in Kansas City, Missouri in a house of prayer that involves more than 600 full-time intercessors, so I plan to head my house of prayer this year so that in 2007 and 2008 that door is kept open when legislators vote again, so that the people can vote. That is the open door of which I speak. Let the people decide.

So I'm intrigued, I'm very intrigued by this possibility, of all 50 states coming together to say no to gay marriage. Because my ministry is a global, worldwide ministry, I am very clear on the powerful influence of the United States in the rest of the world, even those countries that hate and loathe the United States. And there are many today. They are still deeply influenced by North American culture. What a powerful voice it would be if we said no to gay marriage as a nation. If the door closed on Massachusetts, then I think the whole of the United States would have spoken through this state. Even if there is no federal national amendment, if the door is closed in this state, the United States of America would truly be united on this issue. So this encourages me a lot.

We have a responsibility to uphold the truth about marriage. And we have a responsibility to broken people as well. We have to provide powerful avenues of healing for those who struggle with homosexuality and tendencies… If we do not provide healing, then we are grieving the Lord in the same way that gay marriage grieves the heart of God. The central message of Jesus was directed toward sinful people. The gospels are full of those kinds of examples. He invited sexually broken people to come under the sway of his merciful kingdom. And by doing that, He sent a message to religious people as well. He told them, "The prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before the Pharisees." So we have to make every effort to provide healing opportunities for people.

I love the story in Luke 7, verse 7… Luke 11, 7 to 17. I love that story, that story. It is about how Christ raised the son of a widow. And I want to use this story as an example of how Christ raised me personally from the death of homosexuality. Let me read these verses with you. “Jesus went to a place called Nain. And his disciples in a large group went with him. And when he came to the gate of a town, there was a young, dead man being carried out.” Luke 11-7. “His mother's only son, was a widow. And a great crowd was with her. When the Lord saw her, he told her, "Don't cry." Then He touched the coffin, and everyone who was carrying the coffin became calm. And he said, “Young man, I tell you. Get up." Luke 7, it's Luke 7. “And the young man that was dead began to speak, and the Lord gave him back to his mother. And all were filled with amazement towards God. And they said, 'A great prophet has risen up among us. God has visited his people.’” The text is here, so if you don’t have your Bible, you can look at it and read it.

The first thing we see about this young man is that he is dead. He is being taken out of town to be buried. I want to use this death as a metaphor, an illustration of what happens when a person who has a homosexual problem assumes that his identity is to be a homosexual. And these are two different things that I'm talking about. Because there's a lot of power in identifying, getting to that point of identifying as being gay.

Let's see how that kind of identity and self-awareness develops. This could probably apply to some of you in this church today. You are aware that you have certain attractions to people of the same sex. Usually you will have realized this by the age of ten or eleven. And it causes you a lot of shame. You don't want anyone to know, so you don't tell anyone. And you're still trying to sort of find your way, to figure out what's going on. You don't want to tell your friends about it. You are afraid to tell your parents about it.

So you start to hear other voices. What does Oprah say on her TV show about this? What does my school say about homosexuality? And if I go anonymously to a school counselor, what will he tell me? Or maybe you go to the Internet where you can then develop relationships through the Internet. Or maybe images then arise in your mind of people having homosexual relationships or pornography, and you can do it through the Internet too. And all that it does is fuel your desire, your passion. And maybe you get into correspondence over the Internet with someone who has those same kinds of homosexual tendencies. And you start to develop secret relationships.

And what you're going to hear from the world is, “Look, you're just gay. That is what you are. So just come to terms with the idea." And if we begin to agree, to agree with this. We will say, “Yes, that is what I am. I am gay. I am a lesbian.” This implies death to your true self. And I've heard this from a lot of people, people who have struggled for a long time when they come out as gay. When they say, “This will be my truth, this will be my peace, this will be the me that I will represent to the world, the identity that I will present to it. That actually constitutes a death to the true self.

How does this happen? I want to say what I think. I want to tell you that I personally think that there is no such thing as a homosexual man or a lesbian woman. I simply believe that there are people who are carrying certain wounds in their being, who have certain desires for a relationship and intimacy with someone that they simply do not understand, do not know how to figure well. And when they are confused and in the dark, in the dark, when there is no good shepherding, the light of truth, and of light, and of reason, then we become vulnerable and open to false prophets, to those who are too quick in lay hands on each other, and say, "That's what you are." To confirm us as something that we truly are not. No one is born a mature, accomplished, and defined heterosexual. Amen. You don't see a baby, and say, "Oh, you're a mature heterosexual." You say, “Oh, you're a cute little baby,” for example. Or, “You are a precious baby. One then has in front of him a great road towards the maturity of identity. But we want, baby, to take you where you have to go."

We know what the goal is. A man for a woman, a woman for a man. But we are now talking about adult men, adult women. There is a very long path, a very long trajectory, many valleys, many mountains. There is a lot of debris on the road, and many times we can get stuck. We can get stuck. We can get stuck in the bushes, or stay in a valley just wandering around, not knowing what happened. Sexual abuse, parental neglect, so many things that can break us and enter our youthful lives like negative influences. And those things scare us, and they also excite us, confuse us, in such a way that we get stuck in this journey that we have continued.

And those who have same-sex attractions, those who have to honestly admit, “My sexual desires are for people of the same sex, not the opposite sex.” Those people got stuck in the journey in ways that they themselves cannot understand or respond to. That is what their wishes dictate to them. But we can help you in that situation. We can tell them, “Thank you for sharing what you are fighting for. Need help. You need healing. And we want to help you resume that journey towards maturity, that journey in which we are all involved somewhere along the way.”

All of us have had problems on that journey to sexual maturity. Most of you didn't get stuck there at the level of homosexual desire, but just because you've reached the point in your journey of having normal, heterosexual desires doesn't necessarily mean you're mature. Yes or no? All you have to do is get married, and start watching then. “Ah, Lord, I see that I still need help. I need help to help this woman in the right way. I don't understand this man. Ah, Lord, have mercy. We all need help." Homosexuality is simply that it requires a specific type of help. The goal is the same: a mature heterosexuality. That is God's goal for all human creation.

Now, every man, every woman here is different. A man has to come into a full sense of his power as a man, his manly strength. We have to make peace with who we truly are, as men or as women. A man needs to feel power, to be powerful in order to truly care for a woman. And a woman needs to feel confident that this man is going to use this power in a way that is going to help and defend her on her way. But we live in a tremendously confused world. Many men are very unsure how to truly use their power. And many women feel very insecure about male power. And in this insecurity, the de-stabilization of men and women, we are therefore very vulnerable to seek refuge in weapons, in the hands, in the arms of people of our own sex.

Now, let me tell you, the family plays a very important role in this whole process, especially the father. We need powerful parents who can be involved with each son, each daughter who can enter those shadowy zones of darkness and shadows in those uncertainties that young life may be experiencing. The power of parental affirmation throughout the life of a young man or woman. This is perhaps the most important, most influential influence in life, in the formation of a child's identity. Very important.

And when the father is not there to cover and be a true father, the sons and daughters then become much more vulnerable to hearing other voices, to hear other people and other resources that are going to tell them. So who are they supposed to be? That was what happened to me. My father is a good man, but he didn't know how to be a real father. I am now a father of four young adults. And now I feel much more compassion for my dad than I did before. But he didn't know how to be a father. And during those critical years of my life when I didn't know who I really was, he wasn't there. He was too busy with his own life. He gave me life, he was a biological father, but he did not know how to be a spiritual, emotional father. And then I found myself very vulnerable. When he was physically present, many times he was angry, upset. So the face I had of my father was an angry face. So I just put up a wall, and I said, "I'm glad you're not around." But in refusing him and rejecting him, also coming back to making peace with myself about who I was as a man, masculine identity. And this played a huge role in the development of my homosexual tendencies. I'm not blaming him, but this was definitely an influence. And then when I assumed a homosexual identity. When I said, “This is who I am. This is what I am going to do with my feelings, then I began to sin, and then I submitted to some very deep darkness.”

One of the things we know about this son of the widow of Nain is that he had no father. She had no male voice to give her strength in her weakness, no one telling her, “Walk in this direction. Avoid what you will find on the road. I will walk, I will accompany you on the road," to tell you, "Now we need to walk through a very high survey, but I will help you." I just didn't ascend that steep path. Becoming a mature man is a real achievement. It's not something that just happens automatically when you're born. It takes a lot of mentoring, a lot of work. It is a very steep and forced climb. We need someone to tell us, “This is the way. Walk in it."

Many people like me then indulged in a culture of great freedom and sexual abandon. I grew up in Southern California, a tremendously liberal culture. There was no difficulty at that time in entering into homosexual relationships. There was a lot of sexual pleasure, even the blessing of my fellow men. It was by no means difficult to find support from other homosexuals. This is even more true than before, very true in the city of Boston. So sexual behavior is growing more and more every day among young people. Youth culture is a tremendously gay-friendly culture. It's a very sexy, very happy, very attractive culture. That sense of shame is gone. What's more, one feels blessed and privileged to come out of the closet. It's seen as courageous and heroic rather than a bad move. It just looks like one option among many others, but it's not a very good one. In this room we are now dealing with another type of culture, in this place. It's like a culture within a culture. It is not like this? It is a culture, the one that we represent, that we are saying, “No, we are not going to do or be like that. We are going to be a Christian culture.” Amen.

But what can happen very easily in a Christian culture? Good shame, if you will. The kind of shame that says, “Hey, maybe I shouldn't act on those homosexual impulses. I want to do the right thing." And that positive shame can turn into negative or bad shame, saying, for example, "Oh, I don't want anyone to know about my tendencies, my struggles." And this culture that we represent can then become a culture that is not receptive to that type of trust, of confession.

Let me ask you something. Have you ever confided in a Christian in your life, and then regretted doing so? Raise your hand if so. And you say, “Oh, that was a bad idea. They did not keep the secret.” Or they gave you very bad advice, such as, “Don't tell anyone.” Really? And one can immediately see on their face how horrified they were at what you entrusted to them. And from then on, you said, "Hm, from now on I'll kind of keep it a secret." And that is what often happens quite easily in a non-receptive Christian culture. "I don't want to tell anyone what's going on inside of me." And then what happens? What happens here in Luke 7. They take the body, and they take it outside the wall, the culture, the city, the place.

The person who is struggling then says, “Oh, I'm going to get out of that world. I'm going to solve my problems outside. And in a sense, we say, “Amen, we agree with you. jump.” Perhaps sometimes in obvious ways, or sometimes in our own confusion and sense of shame at what we are hearing. And we say, “Don't bring that into the family. Don't bring that between us. That's not holy." So then what happens? That we treat him as if he were dead. We see it as infectious like that dead young man, where they literally took his body outside the community borders, the barriers, so that the body literally wouldn't infect society. And that is normally what we do with people who commit sexual infractions: the daughter, for example, who is taped out of wedlock, the man in his adultery, the husband in his adultery, and the son or daughter in his homosexual practice.

And it's hard for us. TRUE? Latino culture is a culture of honor. And you are people of honor. You respect authority. You want to honor your families in a way that is exemplary for the Anglo-Saxon culture. We too quickly often dishonor our families in the Anglo-Saxon culture. But there is also a negative and dangerous side to that honor when we don't tell the truth, when we don't sit down with that son or daughter, and ask them, “Hey, what's going on? What are you doing with your life? Let's talk about that friendship you have. Are you dealing with homosexuality? We need to speak the truth. Why are we dancing around the matter?" So there is a culture of license out there, of debauchery, but as a culture, the Church can also create a subculture of lies and secrets, of unspoken hidden things where we intentionally refuse to create safe places where people can open up and tell the truth. I would be dead today if I hadn't found a healing church.

My high school friends that I came out with… This is another benefit of the Latino church. It's like the Las Vegas of the church. Throw away the watch. All my high school friends are dead of AIDS. They are dead. There weren't the cocktails, the special medicines that exist today to cure or maintain AIDS. They're dead, just off in the prime of their lives. And the only difference in my case was that I found a group of people in the name of Jesus where I could say, “This is what I'm working on, this is what I'm dealing with. I love Jesus. I know that in Him is victory. I know that He is life, but I am struggling, I am fighting hard." And this community has to become something much more powerful in my favor than that community that is out there.

Let's talk about some of the keys, the keys to being able to create a healing community. First, intercession. Number one, intercession. The power of intercession. That starts on your knees. It says here that the mother of that dead young man was crying for her son. This means to me that she did not give up. He did not give up the battle in favor of his son. Even though he was dead, he was still praying, still interceding. Another reason I am here today is because of the prayers of God's saints, people who were aware of the nature of my struggle, who knew that I identified as gay, and who prayed very simple prayers. God, take them. grab them. Not much sophistication is required. God, take them.

And my mom was probably the most powerful advocate of all. And in fact she wasn't a Latina Pentecostal, either. She was an Anglican in fact, Episcopalian, very rational, very cognitive. I didn't even know she was praying. just imagine. I don't mean to offend Anglicans, but I didn't even know she prayed. And one day I got home, and it was a total mess. And she looked right at me. He said, "Andy, you need, you really need Jesus." And then he told me, “Andy, I want more for your life than what you have.” He told me, “I've known a lot of people who have lived that lifestyle, but they didn't live a full, abundant life. I want more for you." It wasn't something heavy, religious, overwhelming. He wasn't condemning me. Rather, he was inviting me to something greater, more positive, in the power of a mother's love and her tears. And that broke my heart. His tears penetrated me. Religious preaching would not have entered my being at that moment, but someone who truly loved me, and who knew me as I was, crying over that destiny that was before me, had had power. He had power at that time.

Second, there is a kind of death that has to happen. Not that kind of physical dying like the one we see here in the story, or the death that is assuming a homosexual identity, but dying in the sense of being willing to abandon oneself to something, a path that is unsafe and unfamiliar that opens up when one... a willingness to get rid of pleasures, abandon the pleasures of sin. This is a kind of death. Yes or no, too? Many families, relatives, and friends say, “Well, what can you tell me about my gay friend or relative?” And one of the things that I ask them is the following, “Is he dead yet? Is he still dead? Is he already asking the question yet?

Does he really want Jesus now?” Because many times we want to drag people towards the resurrection. We ourselves want to raise them from death, but they have not yet reached that point of death, of dying to themselves. They don't want resurrection. They are not ready yet. And timing is very important, so many times what we are left to do is pray and wait for God's timing, confident that God can fashion the necessary circumstances while we do our part to create a healing community. So when you are ready, there is a place prepared for your resurrection. So in the meantime we can pray mightily. Sir, open the door. In the meantime, our church, we as a church can pray. We can repent. I believe that much of this is given on our knees while God is changing our hearts. Some of us in the church need to repent of how harsh we have been on homosexuals. We believe... that what we have is a holy hatred, but what it is is simply a carnal hatred.

We just believe that they are evil and wicked, and we believe that this is justice, this is just anger. And we feel, ah, the Bible is on our side. Romans 1, is the worst form of idolatry, we say. Homosexuality is certainly a powerful expression of idolatry, but we also have to read Romans 2. And there the Apostle Paul says, “Be careful not to judge, for you yourselves are also subject to similar temptations and sins.” Then the climactic verse, "It is the kindness of God's forgiveness and mercy that leads us to repentance." Romans 2, verse 4.

Some of us need to repent of our ignorance that we truly don't know what goes on in the homosexual heart, the struggles and the tensions. We trivialize it, we superficialize it. We have simply taken a position of just “say no”, refuse to comply. “Just stop doing it the way I quit smoking, or the way I'm trying to lose weight. Is the same." And that is ignorance.

The roots of homosexuality run tremendously deep. Homosexuality-related wounds require a lot of attention. You don't say, for example, to someone who's been hit by a car, who's been in a car accident, “Hey, just stand up man. Walk as I am walking. You can do it, especially if you are a Christian. You have authority over pain… Stand up, baby, cunt.” We just have to be honest.

Our prayers many times, or our answers that we have offered, many times have been too simple, superficial. O Lord, give us wisdom, give us true understanding, a spirit of revelation and wisdom so that when we face people in need, when we pray for them, we can provide real help. Do you say Amen brothers? It's very important. Many times we can also repent of brokenness and sexual distortions in our own lives and in the lives of our own family, repent for that.

Homosexuality always comes out and emerges from a distorted and broken heterosexuality. For example, generational sins, from generation to generation, adultery sins, sexual addictions, wife or husband abuse, abandonment, lack of a father and his care, hostility between men and women. I'm going to ask you all to stay here. All of these things contribute to homosexuality and the formation of homosexuality. So we can start by repenting of the brokenness in our own heterosexuality and in our lives many times over.

Right now I am working for example with a young man from Puerto Rico. His father is a Christian pastor. He was too busy all the time during that young man's youth, his childhood serving the Lord. He loved the Lord strongly, but this pastor never connected emotionally with his young son. His young boy really needed him. And this father, in the course of his ministry, had an adulterous relationship with a woman, left the family, and planted a church with his new wife. So what happened? That the mother was welded, she became emotionally united in a very powerful way with her son. And then they united in their emotional wound against the father. And the young man entered into a practice, a homosexual lifestyle. And now he's going back to that healing journey, and he's saying, “I want Jesus. I want the best of Him for my life.” But there is now a great barrier in his way. It's his dad. So this is going to be a big step on your path to once again open that door to the Father.

When we repent, when we say, “God make us a place of refuge, a place of healing in the church,” you know what's going to happen? God is going to send a lot of broken people into our lives. And some of you yourselves are then going to feel invited to say, “Hey, you know what? I too am broken." Some of you have already received deep healing in some of these areas, and then you can be great helpers in this new healing community. You will give a face to the concept of healing in your community. And I guarantee you, when you do this, hundreds will come to you. Hundreds will come.

Now perhaps you will say, "Well, I don't know anyone out there struggling with these issues, at least not serious and committed Christians." But wait a little while, and when they start coming out and coming up to you, and you're like, “Hey, can I talk to you?” Don't say, "You?" Say, “Wow, thanks for sharing that. There is a place for you here." This commandment that we see in Luke 7, verse 14, “Young man, I say to you, get up,” is a great commandment. It projects a need for a response, our need to engage with God and others in the process of our own resurrection.

We need to get back to the journey again. And in my own healing, I can see that there were different stages of resurrection, specific points in the journey where God, Jesus Christ told me, “Andy, get up. Keep going. Stop doing homosexual things and acts. Brega in the pain of your childhood. Forgive your offenders from your heart. Deepen your relationship with your brothers because you need their love. Dare to enter into healthy relationships with other women. You can be a good gift, a good gift to a better one. Get up Andy. Offer yourself. All of these are steps along the way empowered by the power of the Holy Spirit through the Lord's command. Keep going. Keep going. Don't stay stuck in the same place."

We can, for example, healing tracts, put ourselves in strategic places in our churches so that broken people like me can hear and respond to this resurrection call. I know that you here in this church have a group, and we need more. And that's really what we do. We … start powerful healing groups in your churches. We will work together on this. We are going to be partners in making this church a place of healing.

In the same way that now in Massachusetts we have an open door to prevent gay marriage in Massachusetts, let us also go through that other door of providing a powerful and wide avenue for the resurrection of many. Jesus wants this for us. He wants us to raise standards of fairness in the workplace and business. But He delights when we provide means that people can truly live up to that standard of justice that He sets. Amen.

Why don't we all stand up and pray? Thank you for this town, Lord. Thank you for your beautiful, good, and broken lives. We all have stories, Lord, of brokenness. Lord, ways the journey was hard on us too, and sometimes it wasn't our fault, sometimes it was our own sin. Lord, we ask that the light of Your resurrection shine on our own personal stories, that You give us eyes for those who have no shepherd. Lord, instead of seeing an angry activist, help us to see a lost son or daughter. Help us see someone who doesn't have a pastor.

We ask Lord in Your mercy, that You direct those who are lost to this church, this place. Lord, I pray for those who are lost, for those who are weeping and crying out, saying, “Is this all there is? This is my destiny?" Lord, that You show them their true destiny, and that they can receive from You, men and women, in this church, that they can come and join them so that we can help them on their way through the desert to release water in their desert. Make a way or God. Open the doors in this church, Lord. Open the doors of health. Open the doors of justice so that Your children can return home. Release them Lord of the North. Drop them from the south. Drop them from the west. Release them from the east or God. Bring them home again oh God, and prepare us to receive them, yes Lord. May it be so for this church. May it be so, Lord. Thank my Lord. Thank you Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank my Lord. Thank you Jesus. Amen, amen, amen. Thank my Lord. Thank you Jesus. Hallelujah. Thank you Jesus. Lord we praise you, we bless you. In the name of Jesus, Amen, Amen. Glory to God. Glory to God. Thank you Jesus.

I would like to do something... that everyone who wants to come forward here, either because they feel a call from God, to do, that God is calling them to a healing ministry to people with different types of Identity problems like this, or that you have a family member, a friend who needs healing in any area of which, not just homosexuality, but any area of sexual brokenness, that you want to pray for, intercede. And I don't want to see only women, because there are many men who are called to this ministry, come forward here, and we are going to ask that God constitute us, and begin a process of preparing you to be a healer. May God make us healing presences in our communities. Amen. And that this church, we are going to ask the Lord, that this church be a place of healing for our community out there. Not only are we saying, “No, no, no” to homosexuality and gay marriage, but we are also part of the response to heal many. May the Holy Spirit work in our church.

O Lord, Isaiah 61, the anointing of Isaiah 61, may the Spirit of the sovereign God be upon us to preach good news to the poor, to release those in exile, to open prison doors . Lord, I ask for the intercessors here, those who pray for their children, who pray for their sons and their daughters, who pray for those who are lost that they don't know yet. Lord, I ask that once again you light that fire of faith, of simple faith, that when we pray, You act. O Lord, we thank you for this. I ask You to set up a prayer base in this place for people who are sexually broken so that You will come out through these prayers, so that You will break the deception, the delusion, the broken in the determined minds, principalities of mental thought. O Lord, I ask that You do this through the prayers of your faithful people. Thank my Lord. Thank you.

I ask that this be the foundation, the foundation, that this intercession be the foundation. O Lord, I pray for those who are being called to join the broken, to join them, week after week, week after week, to include them in their lives. Lord, I pray for those who have felt brokenness for their loved ones, or for those who have been broken within themselves by their own sins. O Lord, we ask that this become a redemptive brokenness, that You create space in their hearts for those broken lives. O Lord, I ask You for strategies for healing, wisdom, boundaries, barriers, and a path, a rail on which those who are broken can naturally move from one place to another on their journey to true maturity. O Lord, I ask that You do it through Your healers, through Your intercessors, through Your teachers, through the prophetic, through the pastors. O Lord, we ask that all may do their own part to make way for a truly healing community in this place. So be it or God. May it be so, Lord. Thank my Lord. Thank you.