Prayer Center Church

At the beginning of the twenty-fifth chapter of the book of Matthew, Jesus tells a story about ten virgins. The virgins are waiting into the night for the coming bridegroom, whose feast they will attend. Five of them, described by Jesus as wise, bring extra oil for their lamps, while the other five, described as foolish, do not. As the night lengthens, all the virgins fall asleep. Suddenly, at midnight, a cry rings out, “Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him” (Matt. 25:6). The wise virgins use their extra oil to trim their lamps, while the foolish virgins watch their lamps go out and must go purchase more oil before they can meet the bridegroom. By the time they return, the feast has already begun and they are turned away when the bridegroom says, “I know you not” (Matt. 25:12). Jesus explains that the story is an allegory for the kingdom of heaven.

The contemporary church has much to learn from this story. In the first place, all of the virgins know that the bridegroom is coming eventually; they all had the same word of warning. In the same way all of the church has the warning that Jesus is returning; he, our bridegroom, is coming back for his bride. Even though all of the virgins have the same warning, not all respond to it in the same way. Half respond foolishly, by not being prepared, and the other half respond wisely, by bringing extra oil. We see that not being prepared is more significant than not having a little oil when, at the end of the story, the bridegroom refuses the foolish virgins entry and pronounces a comprehensive judgment on them, saying that he doesn’t even know them. From that judgment, we can see that the foolish virgins represent non-believing people within the church while the wise virgins represent those who truly believe in God. Thus, while all churched people have heard of Jesus’ impending return, not all are truly saved. Besides being in the same group, the foolish and wise virgins share another similarity: they all fall asleep.

In the context of the modern church, we could say that the forces of spiritual darkness and deception within our culture have lulled the church, believers and non-believers, to sleep. Everyone in the church needs a wake-up call, a cry at midnight. In the story, someone other than the virgins, someone who is awake, must make the wake-up call.

The twofold purpose of this prayer gathering is to empower intercessors to recognize prophecy as it is fulfilled in contemporary events (Birth Pains) and to recognize God’s wake-up call and the subsequent release of the glory of God (Later Rain).

Thank you for answering the call!