I’ve never actually seen this sign before. While driving down the road the other morning, I saw a yellow sign with the letters “Path Narrows.” Meaning, the sidewalk narrows down along the shoulder of the roadway. And then I immediately thought of Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:13-14 which says:

13 “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell[f] is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. 14 But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. (New Living Translation).

The more and more I chose to discover God and to follow Jesus, the more I learn how narrow this road actually is and how difficult it can be at sometimes. This goes with everything in life. Personally, I’ve been learning how to embrace my discomfort and “suffering,” and letting God truly teach me in the right /correct ways I should be going. This past week was definitely a test for me. There’s much to talk about here so bear with me and stick around if you can.

Access – That Powerful Hour of Prayer

About a month or so ago, maybe a few months now, I discovered this church online out of Atlanta, Georgia called “2819.” It’s a small church but has a big internet/social media presence. The numbers 2819 come from a passage in Matthew 28:19 which states:

19 "Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,[a] baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." (New Living Translation).

I’m sure by now you have seen this church trending in social media about the event called “Access,” a prayer event at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta which occurred this past Sunday October 12th. If you have not, about 30,000 to 40,000 people showed up to pray. Yes, you read that right. For prayer. The leader of this church has a passion for God and the spread of the gospel. I wouldn’t say he has a “fire and brimstone” style of preaching, but rather a calling to preach the entire truth of God’s word and not only the topics to make you feel good. He preaches and proclaims words from the scriptures which will convict you and cause you to think. I saw snippets of his preaching on Instagram and created an algorithm where I would hear him preach more. Then I started watching his sermons on YouTube, and then ultimately tuning in virtually on Sundays, being dubbed a “digital disciple” as the church calls it. Alot of what he said stuck with me and convicted me of things in my life that needed to change. Phillip Anthony Mitchell does a fantastic job of preaching the word of God. And for the record I am not here to idolize, worship, or place him on a pedestal. I am only stating the way he teaches and preaches is convicting for many people. It is truly a gift from God himself. He explicitly instructs and challenges everyone to read the scriptures for themselves. He also instructs everyone to not simply get their biblical information from social media and him. He aggressively tells people who hears his voice, whether in person or through the screen, to pray and read the bible for themselves and to not simply just take his word for it. All this leads up to the event Access I went to this past Sunday.

Earlier in the year 2819 church decided to host a prayer event at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta. This event was planned where Christ followers could gather and pray together for many different things. Everything was on the table for prayer. The more and more the church talked about the event, I felt this stirring in my soul that I needed to go. I wanted to go. Not to be entertained, but to be in the presence of God with other believers. For God to truly hear and see how serious we are about Him (Sounds crazy right? We could just pray at home and in church, but is it really that crazy? We will drive or fly to a concert to see our favorite musician, or a sporting event, so why not gather together for God? Doesn’t seem so crazy when you put it that way now does it?). I made the decision that I wanted to go and started to plan for it. I reached out to my brother and asked if he wanted to go. We both were going to attend and pray for our families, joining in unison with others to pray for the issues happening around the world and in our society. And for our own personal issues and prayer requests. You see, Access was a corporate prayer event. The purpose was to join together in prayer; voices heard in unison to open a “portal” towards heaven. To bang on heaven’s door that God’s people are serious about the Lord’s business. Does God hear our prayers anywhere at any time? Of course. But the act of doing something like this publicly and so openly shows how serious His people are about him. This was not an event to just pray for physical stuff or material items, but to really pour our hearts out for the issues of life and for God’s will to be done. The way it was planned and how it was explained was time would be set aside for individuals to pray for their specific individual needs and requests, and then time set aside to pray in unison for specific issues corporately. This would all be done in an hour followed up worship. Hence why 2819 also dubbed it “that powerful hour of prayer.”

About a week before the event, my brother informed me he was not able to make it as plans had changed. That really bummed me out because I really did not want to go alone. And then my soul stirred again: I needed to bring my family to this event. This kind of caught me off guard because I was not planning on taking them. And the only reason and excuse I tried to give myself was out of fear. Fear for being in an unfamiliar city (a big city at that), fear over the possibly of a mass shooting or a terrorist attack (as this was going to be a large gathering of Christian folk in a confined space), and just the uncertainty of not being in control and feeling like I would be on guard more than being there for God. But nonetheless, I pushed through that fear and made the decision to take my family. I booked the hotel room, and we were going be obedient to what God called me to do in that moment. The plan was to leave on Sunday around 4:30 AM and drive to Atlanta, putting us there around 12:00 PM as the church requested people to start showing up around that time. The doors to the arena would open at 3:00 PM, allowing adequate time to get in. The prayer would begin at 5:00 PM. But before I get into the details of the day, the week leading up was challenging in itself.

During the week leading up to the event, I was preparing my heart and my mind for what I thought was going to encounter and experience. I even attempted to fast on Friday, just to get my mindset right. But in doing so I discovered that I was fasting wrong. It was a good learning experience for me to really learn on what it meant to fast and the application for it, so I know for next time. (For those that do not know, fasting is abstinence from food for a period(s) of time. It’s meant to focus the attention on Christ and to take the attention off of our humanness, denying ourselves. There are many different reasons to fast. Jesus fasted for 40 days, and He commanded in the scriptures “when you fast” so it is obligatory to do as such). The following day (Saturday) I went and took care of some errands and hung out with my family for a bit. But later that evening, this wall and overwhelming sense of depression and nervousness came over me. And it came out of nowhere. I was snippy towards my family. I began to feel sad and upset and just depressed. I even asked my wife if we should even continue to go. I began to doubt, to worry, and be afraid. Worried that my truck would break down or worried something bad would happen. But through some prayer and some grit, I pushed those emotions aside and listened to my wife’s words of encouragement that we needed to go as a family. So we went to bed, barely slept, and that alarm at 4:00 AM came quick. We were then out the door and on the road.

The drive was approximately 6 hours. I love road trips and enjoy driving (75 mph in the middle and right lanes, I got the best fuel mileage ever in my truck LOL). We only had to stop twice (once for fuel and a bathroom break) but nonetheless, we made it to Atlanta around 12:00PM. When I turned down the street where the arena was, I was OVERWHELMED with the amount of people I saw. I mean let me tell you, the feeling in the pit of my stomach of the anxiety and nervousness of how crowed it was. The line to get in the area was so full and packed full of people, it had wrapped around the building twice. And mind you we haven’t event parked yet. That was the next challenge. But somehow, and I believe through the Lord’s blessing, I found a parking spot close by and was able to park. I was able to pay and did not have any issues with that. We gathered our belongings and began to walk as a family towards the arena.

The amount of people already on site was astronomical. We couldn’t even find where the line began. The line was wrapped around the arena at least two times. We had no idea where the end of the line began. And this entire time, I had doubts, fear, and anxiety almost crippling me. I was so overwhelmed with the fact that I was in such a confined public space and exposed to danger, that I almost turned around to get back to the safety of my truck and leave. But I kept hearing in my mind over and over, “faith without works is dead,” referencing a passage in James 2:26:

26 Just as the body is dead without breath,[d] so also faith is dead without good works. (New Living Translation).

I even saw people wearing clothing that said, “faith over fear.” So, I dug down with the grit that I had, and we pushed on through the fear. I had no idea where we were going, but it we tried to find the end of the line to get in. Eventually I made the decision to find some shade as it was starting to get hot. I wasn’t as concerned where the line began now but wanted to make sure there was shade for my wife and kids. Near the arena was a patch of grass people were lined up around with were some trees along the permitter. So, we took shade underneath on of the trees and relaxed for a bit. We talked with different people from various parts of the United States and watched all the kids play together in the grass. The lines were getting bigger, and the crowds were still growing! It was honestly a sight to behold. There was also another group that had showed up to protest. Who protests at a prayer event? Either way I was past being fearful and scared so didn’t give them any thought or attention. I continued on with talking with others in line with me.

The line eventually started moving and we ended up moving from the shady spot to underneath an electronic billboard sign. It was finally 3:00 PM and the doors opened. People were starting to finally go into the arena. The line was moving very slow. So slow that I started to think that we are probably not going to get inside the arena. Why? Because the State Farm Arena can only hold somewhere between 17,000 – 21,000 people based upon the configuration they have setup for whatever event. Well 4:30 PM came and the news started to spread across the crowd that they were at max capacity. The doors were then shut, and they were directing people to the overflow at the Georgia World Congress Center. That place was rapidly filling up, and we were blocks away from there. So, after standing in line for over 5 hours, hot, sweaty, tired and hungry, I made the decision to take the family back to the tree where we first arrived to for shade. We then prayed together for a short time. Once we were done, we navigated through the crowded streets, found my truck, and went to the hotel room to check in for the night and relax before heading home the following day.

The Theme of Being Obedient

So, we didn’t get to go inside. Time wasted right? I mean 5 hours of standing outside, sweating in the heat, dealing with large crowds, people cutting in line, children who became uncomfortable, no food, no water, no bathroom, was all for nothing? Nope. It wasn’t about any of that. I truly believe I was supposed to stand in that line and wait. Wait for God. Why though? The simplest answer: Because God said so. And sometimes that’s the only answer you’ll get. For the first time in my life, I heard a call to do something. And that something was to drive to Atlanta, Georgia on a Sunday with my family. Yes, I was sad I didn’t get to experience what others were seeing and feeling inside the arena, and yes, I wanted to pray with others for the issues at hand and experience the absolute presence of God. But in that moment, I had to reject my feelings about what I wanted and reject my expectations. It wasn’t about what I wanted. And once again I had trust God in that He knew what He was doing. When we began to leave the arena and head back to my truck, I saw people worshiping and praying in the streets. Singing songs and being joyful. God’s presence was not limited to just a building. The amount of people who were joyful and showed up for God was astounding. My experience with Access and fellowshipping with 2819 church was not about me, it was about being obedient. I had to confront my fears of things which could possibly go wrong. I had to push through my emotions and get out of my comfort zone. Had I let my fears decide my fate and I listened to my emotions, I would have regretted it very much. And through this whole experience I’ve learned about the importance of obedience and just listening for God. It’s not easy. Choosing this life is not easy at all, but again it’s not about us. Once you get past that hurdle realizing that life is not about what you can get out of it, but rather what you can do for God, your life will change drastically. I know this was a long read but thank you for taking the time to read through it all. I hope it brings encouragement to you.