(Photo: (L-R) Christiana, Adelaide and Andrea pray over people and their prayer requests listed on color-coded prayer cards.)

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10

There is a quiet strength that comes when we surrender our prayers to the power of the Holy Spirit. After two weeks of an intense work and travel schedule, I longed for a quiet, Spirit-filled time of prayer. Our beloved sister and co-founder of Gathered in His Name, Nicole Hayes, was away on work travel, serving with excellence at a Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA) retreat. We uplifted Nicole and her colleagues in prayer for safe travels, health, and that God would bless the retreat she helped to lead.

On Friday, October 25th, the Lord led us once again to the Bethesdan Hotel, where our devotional Scripture centered on The Lord’s Prayer. Together, we prayed as Jesus taught His disciples in Luke 11. We asked for more of the Holy Spirit to guide our prayers, renew our hearts, and align our requests with the Father’s will.

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus ends His teaching on prayer with this promise:

“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” Luke 11:13 (NIV)

I love that in Luke’s account, Jesus highlights the Holy Spirit as the greatest gift we can receive in response to prayer. Of all things we could ask of the Father, we asked that He would give us more of His Spirit to saturate our time together and to intercede through us for every request entrusted to Him.

In advance of our gathering, I invited our group to bring their written prayer requests for their families, churches, friends, and our nation. We planned to collect them in a small bag and pray over each one in the hotel lobby. There was no elaborate agenda. Our only desire was to be still, to listen, and to let the Holy Spirit lead.

As I prepared, I brought along colorful index cards that I had purchased more than seven years ago for Scripture memory. Little did I know that God had reserved them for this very moment! Each color carried a theme in my heart, though I didn’t yet realize what the Spirit had arranged. When Christiana, who serves on the Spiritual Support Team for the YouVersion Bible App arrived, she shared the prayer categories for the week of October 22. To our amazement, they perfectly matched the colors of our cards: salvation and spiritual growth (orange), provision and support (pink), peace and wellness (green), family and relationships (yellow), and healing and restoration (blue). We had an extra card, purple, that we assigned to what Christ Himself prays for His Church and His people. In that moment, we knew: God was in the details! His divine alignment was unmistakable. He orchestrates even the smallest things to remind us that He sees, He knows, and He cares.

Over the next three hours, we prayed faithfully over each card, each name, and each prayer request:

• 21 people by name for salvation, growth, and spiritual strength (orange cards)
• 24 people by name for provision and support (pink cards)
• 20 people by name for peace and emotional wellness (green cards)
• 19 people by name for family and relationships (yellow cards)
• 28 people by name for healing and restoration (blue cards)
• 8 prayers aligned with the Father’s will (purple cards), for unity in the Church, protection for the persecuted, and the safeguarding of the Christian faith across the world

We also lifted up our nation and all federal workers, especially those impacted by the ongoing October 2025 government shutdown. We prayed that God’s will would prevail in their lives (purple), that they would experience His peace and emotional wellness (green), that this would be a season of spiritual renewal and revival for the Church (orange), that He would provide resources and support (pink), bless their families and relationships (yellow), and grant healing and restoration where needed (blue).

As we concluded our time of prayer, God arranged one final divine appointment. We asked a young woman and her family in the hotel lobby to take a photo for us. They kindly agreed and then asked us to take one for them as well. In that simple exchange, God revealed yet another detail He had already prepared. We met Lisa, a believer visiting from Boston. She had just accepted a job in Bethesda and was praying for open doors and clarity about where she should “plant” herself. When she learned that Catalyst Church meets right there in her hotel, she was delighted! She immediately followed the church on Instagram, and we prayed over her in the lobby.

It was an amazing and rewarding day for the three of us who could attend. The Holy Spirit’s presence was tangible, guiding every word, every prayer, and every connection. What began as a simple, “low impact” gathering became a high-impact encounter with God’s will unfolding in real time. God took our weariness and transformed it into worship. He reminded us that when we ask for more of the Holy Spirit, He does not hold back.

To God be the glory!

-Andrea