A Sleepy Church? (From November 29, 2010)

Saints,

Let me share a little of my heart.

My perspective today is on the American culture church as I know it. I realize some of you may have a different cultural background--you may even live in a different country. Even so, let me try to communicate my heart.

I am really hurting. It is hard for me to fully explain. Maybe you can help me? I hurt for the church. (I am speaking of the church as a formalized group of believers.) It seems that so often in the church we are content to come to God and really enjoy His presence in corporate worship, even enjoy a wonderful Bible class time with hearty discussion. But, where does all this lead? Are we really content to continuously learn and go over Scriptures with this apparent minimal effect on our lives and consequently the lives of others? What is wrong? Where is God’s power? Where is the amazing unity and oneness in The Church? Where is the supernatural response to God for cooperation, even interdenominational cooperation to reach a world for Christ?

We can feel so utterly helpless to do anything about our situation—even now you may be saying, “What situation? Steve, I don’t see the problem.” David Platt in his book Radical, Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, might help us to better understand “the problem,”

“As the American dream goes, we can do anything we set our minds to accomplish. There is no limit to what we can accomplish when we combine ingenuity, imagination, and innovation with skill and hard work. We can earn any degree, start any business, climb any ladder, attain any prize, and achieve any goal. James Tudrow Adams, who is credited with coining the phrase “American dream” in 1931, spoke of it as “a dream…in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are.”

David continues…

“The dangerous assumption we unknowingly accept in the American Dream is that our greatest asset is our ability. The American dream prizes what people can accomplish when they believe in themselves and trust in themselves, and we are drawn toward such thinking. But the gospel has different priorities. The gospel beckons us to die to ourselves and to believe in God and to trust in his power. In the gospel, God confronts us with our utter inability to accomplish anything of value apart from him. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in Him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

I recently had the amazing privilege to pray with a pastor from Africa (via Skype). As we talked and prayed, he shared that he thought the American church was asleep. Yes, this is a good descriptor. This is what I am trying to share. We are asleep. Somehow we have become unaware of the (spiritual) battle raging all around us. Somehow we have drifted into learning about God, but not passionately living in God. We focus on financial challenges and political debates. It is hard for us to see the much-more-real spiritual battle.

Some of you may resonate with what I am saying. Some may think I am crazy. All I can say is that I believe we can be so much more. Please note the verb BE. As Jesus stated, we must abide and remain in Him, not merely do for Him.

In my last seminary course I learned of John 14-17 as Jesus’ “farewell discourse.” This is a common part of Hebrew literature in which a famous hero would explain how to continue on without him as he departs. As I am sure you have read many times, Jesus, shares in John 15,

John 15:5 (NASB)
⁵ "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Jesus prays in John 17,

John 17:20-23 (NASB)
²⁰ "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;
²¹ that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.
²² "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one;
²³ I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

So where do we go from here? Please, let’s passionately join Jesus in His prayer for unity. Let’s make our priority abiding in Him. Let’s truly live like Jesus is Lord of our lives, not we ourselves.

In short, let’s live so a world would come to know Jesus.   

Father, yes, please help us abide in Christ. Help us live totally for you. Help us to be united in the love you supply that the world would know you sent Jesus and come to know Him. Lord, please remove any cultural hindrances we might have to this mission.

May God daily teach us to pray. May God compell us to pray for the church.

Compelled to pray and desperate for God, Steve

Let's Pray Big Prayers (from 29 December 2010)

Saints,

I came across a passage in Philemon the other day which caused me to ask God to use me just as he used Philemon. Has that happened to you? Have you ever read a bible passage that seemed to cause your heart to resonate? Here is the verse which arrested my attention,

Philemon 1:7 (NASB)
⁷ For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.

Yes, I unashamedly admit it—I desire that God would use me to refresh the hearts of believers. And not just stop there, but that God would ignite a fresh fire in every believer to be compelled to chase after God in prayer—real intercessory, prevailing, Holy Spirit power prayer! I pray that God would literally remove any addiction or besetting sin from every believer. I ask God that He would remove all divorce from the life of every believer—yes, I am very serious! I implore God to cause every gospel-preaching church whether 10 people strong or 10,000 people strong to be completely united in purpose to reach this world for Christ, to make disciples who make disciples, and to actively and regularly witness. I ask God that every church would be compelled to pray because they see the magnitude of their task and know-that-they-know they cannot do anything apart from Christ.  

Dear brother and sister, as we look to 2011, please do not be deterred from your primary mission by political, financial, or societal happenings. Remember your primary task—to chase after God’s heart. Fix your eyes on Jesus. Ask him to clarify your heart on His purposes. Ask Him to grant you a passion for those things that He desires. Ask Him for His heart. May we move forward in a fresh passion—even a strong compelling to pray (real spiritual warfare—eternal consequence prayer), to witness, and to chase after knowing God more. All of this is to God’s glory, not our own! This is a believer’s purpose! Let us embrace it.

You may say, “Steve, to ask God to remove all divorce is too big a prayer.” Or, “To expect God to take away every believer’s addiction to sin is not practical.” Dear saint, I disagree. We have been given every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

 Ephesians 1:3 (NASB)
³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

We all must pray like this is true—the stakes are too high. I challenge you to pray God’s Word. Don’t falter on this. As intercessors we have a great responsibility, but how much greater is the God we pray to. Is He mighty to save or not? Can He remove sin or not? Can he reconcile broken marriages or not? Can He save this world or not? Yes, He can! This is the fight. Right at this point is the rub. Will we have the faith to believe that God can? If we will have this faith, then we will pray. Faith and prayer go hand in hand!

These are big prayers, I admit it. So, pray them with me! Let us not only pray with power but be used by God to ignite the hearts of other intercessors.

Yes, God awaken your church. She adores You. She worships You. She calls out to You for revival.  Please use her whether in Asia, Africa, Iran, Canada, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Ireland, Uganda, or in Sterling, Wiggins, Denver, Colorado Springs, Karval, Norwood, Security, Fountain, Manitou Springs Colorado to impact this world for Christ, to witness and to make disciples, to set the captives free, to deter enemy efforts to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus, may You be honored as the way the way, the truth, and the life in every person’s heart!     

May God grant us a compelling passion to know Him more—to go deeper with God in prayer.

Compelled to pray and desperate for God, Steve

How is the relationship between your church and God?

Saints,                                                                                                             17 July 2011

I know that is a strange question. How can we answer that question? Do we get the financial record books out? Should we cross-check attendance with a year ago, or two years ago? Maybe the most significant indicator of our church health is the number of baptisms. Actually dear brothers and sisters, I would like to suggest another way for us to examine how our churches are doing. We must ask ourselves, “How intimate with God is each individual church member?”

Is the Father every church member’s greatest desire?

Does the Psalmist’s describe your heart in the following passage?

Psalms 73:25 (ESV)
²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

Yes, this is a good way to measure the church. We see men and women alike in the Bible who walked in a deep relationship with God. They sought after God. They were more interested in God’s kingdom than their own. There are many examples of men and women throughout church history like that.

The missionary to China, Hudson Taylor’s story fascinates me. We see Hudson Taylor who was used mightily by God and who found what we all desire, a soul-rest. He strove in his faith to be sure. Even so, he finally discovered true resting in Christ. Don’t you want that? I do. At times I am so overcome with a sense of God’s truth and power and reality, that I am compelled to action—compelled to pray. We desire every moment to be like that—completely surrendered and led by the Spirit.

But here is exactly where we need to see the good news. Where we are weak—He is strong. Dear pastor, if you are struggling right now, let it go. Rest--truly rest in the Father. This means stop striving. I know it sounds funny. It is “counter-cultural” To truly rest in Christ and His power. This is against the world’s wisdom. The point of true surrender is the point of victory in Christ. Let us live right there. Let us live in surrender. This is the point of real fruit bearing. Yes, God we believe, help our unbelief. Remember Christ—His power, Spirit, mercy and grace is the foundation and sustenance of our faith.

Let’s turn back to the church. We are the church. So it makes sense that if we want to know how the church is doing, we need to look at the people who make up the church. Are we like David (by God’s perspective) after God’s own heart? Be careful here. It is easy to reduce our walk with Christ to merely the three D’s: Duty, Determination, and Discipline without real connection to the Father. If we do this we begin to resemble the Pharisees—a hollow determination to follow rules instead of true heart surrender to our heavenly Father.

To help us answer this question about the church a little better, please read this quote from the Heart Transformation workbook by Keith and Karen Peterson page, 59.

“It is critical to realize that blessings are not the objective. They are the fruit of intimacy with God. Blessings are who God is. We want to know God so well, be intimate with Him by knowing His thoughts, His emotions, and His desires and reflect them back to Him. We do not want to just know and obey His commands and discipline ourselves to live them. True intimacy with God reflects a man/woman “after God’s own heart.” My life becomes defined by wanting to please Him, and not disappoint Him, and, thus. As my Father, He desires to bless me. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with everything we are—heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30). Pilgrimage is the journey of the heart to the sacred destination, His presence.” 

So, what is the point? Why does this matter? I submit to you that our intimacy with Jesus is the very essence of life—out of this intimacy flows everything God desires for this world. Out of intimacy with Christ, flows the obedience of the Christ-follower. Out of this intimacy with Christ flows witnessing, prayer, a passion for God’s Word, disciple making, repentance, and holiness. In other words, intimacy with Christ is life. Jesus said this Himself,

John 14:6 (NIV)
⁶ Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Father, forgive us for being satisfied with spiritual numbness--even apathy. We need You to awaken, deepen and revive Your church. Yes, even each one of us. Please grant each of us an intimate relationship with You. May we be men and women after your own heart. Father, use us to change this world. May our total surrender result in lives healed, people rescued from oppression, salvation to men and women who need you, both in our culture and in every culture. In the name in which we receive every spiritual blessing—Jesus. Amen. 

Compelled to pray and desperate for God, Steve

How is Your Relationship with God?

Saints,                                                                                                             4 July 2011

How do we evaluate our relationship with God? Do we list certain characteristics or qualities we can measure ourselves against? In the military, every member is evaluated annually against certain qualities like how well they accomplish their primary duties, how well they lead people, how well they maintain training requirements, and so on. Maybe you have a list which you periodically measure yourself against to find out how well you are doing in regards to your relationship with the Father.

Scripture says to evaluate ourselves, even so, let’s ask God how our relationship with Him is according to His viewpoint. After all, our life is defined by the one true almighty creator God. Brothers and sisters, let’s ask God today to answer this question,

“Father, how are we doing? How is my relationship with You from Your perspective?”

Be careful here, as seasoned believers you may be tempted to answer this question quickly yourself. Don’t quickly blurt out an answer. Wait. Wait for His answer. Don’t conjure up your answer—supporting it with Scripture. No, let’s go deeper here than our own understanding, or our own knowledge base. We must do this. We must be connected to the Father as He desires—this is the only way to truly please Him. We were made for deep connection with God. It is out of this deep connection with Him that life itself—Jesus Christ flows from us to others.

The best life we can ever live is a life in which our heart is consumed with a deep love for Jesus Christ. Often, however, we settle for less—we settle for a Christian religion. We can fill pages with things to do in our Christian life. We can list many ways to be obedient—many activities to avoid. The danger is that we can reduce Christianity to a list of things to do and to avoid. Then Christianity becomes just like every other world religion. No, our faith, brothers and sisters is about a person. We need Jesus, not a list. Jesus Christ is the only way to God. He is the only truth. He is the only life. He said this Himself,

John 14:6 (ESV)
⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

As you wait for God’s answer about the condition of your relationship with Him, I suggest you read the following passage from E. M. Bounds regarding a danger in the church and ardor in our devotion to the Father. This passage is found in his book, The Essentials of Prayer, chapter three entitled, Prayer and Devotion,

“The very essence of prayer is the spirit of devotion. Without devotion, prayer is an empty form, a vain round of words. Sad to say, much of this kind of prayer prevails, today, in the church. This is a busy age, bustling and active, and this bustling spirit has invaded the church of God. Its religious performances are many. The church works at religion with the order, precision and force of real machinery. But too often it works with the heartlessness of the machine. There is much of the treadmill movement of our ceaseless round and routine of religious doings. We pray without praying. We sing without singing with the spirit and the understanding. We have music without the praise of God being in it, or near it. We go the church by habit, and come home all too gladly when the benediction is pronounced. We read our accustomed chapter in the Bible, and feel quite relieved when the task is done. We say our prayers by rote, as a schoolboy recites his lesson, and are not sorry when the amen is uttered.”

“The ardor of devotion is in prayer. In the fourth chapter of Revelation, verse eight, we read: “And they rest not day nor night, saying, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” The inspiration and center of their rapturous devotion is the holiness of God. That holiness is of claims their attention, inflames their devotion. There is nothing cold, nothing dull, nothing wearisome about them or their heavenly worship. “They rest not day nor night.” What zeal! What unfainting ardor and ceaseless rapture! The ministry of prayer, if it be anything worthy of the name, is a ministry of ardor, a ministry of unwearied and intense longing after God and after holiness.”

You might say, “What does the condition of the church have to do with my own relationship with the Father?” The church is greatly impacted by its individual members. If we as individuals are cold and distant from the Father—the church will be cold and distant.

We were created for intimate connection with God. Out of this connection flows a compelling desire to please Him, a passion to impact this world for Him, and the power to do so. Our individual relationship with the Father, made possible by the blood of Christ is the heart of our faith.

Let’s let God answer the question about our relationship with Him.

Father, forgive us for being satisfied with religious to-dos. They are not enough. Only You truly satisfy. Please grant each of us an intimate relationship with You. May we, like the angels around Your throne be raptured with You always. May our lives then, be spent for Your kingdom’s benefit. Amen. 

Prayer and the Harvest

Prayer and the Harvest

Saints,                                                                                                             17 Jun 2011

I share all of this to honor God for He is at work. He draws us to prayer. He awakens dead hearts to His life. He awakens churches!

I recently witnessed the Word of God manifest itself through a 24-hour prayer watch at our church.

About 116 people attended the prayer watch in person. Some chose to pray from their homes. One woman shared that she would be praying from home between 2:00 and 4:00 am. Praise God! One brother emailed from Russia saying he could handle an early morning slot because it was afternoon for him. Many said that we should do this regularly. One called-out missionary friend who will be moving to another country asked if we would pray like this at least monthly for God’s blessing and protection on missionaries.

We asked folks who came to pray to fill out anonymous surveys. These surveys had a few questions.

What main impression did you get from the Lord during your prayer time?

How did God bless, direct, encourage, and convict your heart during your prayers today?

What verses did the Lord bring to mind as you prayer?

What themes did you notice as you prayed?

The surveys revealed many different impressions and themes that folks experienced during their prayer. One common comment was that folks were surprised at how quickly an hour went by as they prayed. Prayer stations aided folks in their prayers—these were focused on different subjects like adoring God, the persecuted church, missionaries, lost folks, a prayer wall, the church, and a room dedicated for conviction and forgiveness.

Some of the reoccurring themes revealed in the surveys were,

·         Unity of the body

·         Praying for the lost

·         Praying for the harvest

·         Needing God’s power

·         Thankfulness for conviction and forgiveness

·         Increased desire for connection with God

·         Witnessing, time with God, coming to God

·         Making time for prayer

·         Trusting God—He is faithful

·         Being purposeful in prayer

·         Praying continually

The one theme I want to share with you today is the “harvest.” Many people mentioned that God somehow impressed them with concern for the harvest during their prayer time.

This fascinates me. Do you remember what Jesus shared about the harvest in Matthew nine? 

Matthew 9:35-38 (ESV)
³⁵ And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.
³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
³⁸ therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

They fact that Jesus did not send His disciples running to go meet the needs of the multitudes in this passage can cause us to wonder. Jesus directs His followers to pray for the Father to raise up more workers. Let’s do this! Let us be the workers. Let us pray for more workers—yes to all.

Concerning the harvest and working in the harvest, I have two more points to share. First of all, prayer is critical and essential to mission work. I think we somehow believe that as long as we give money to some mission work, we’re good. As if money alone was all we need. No, this is not true. We must pray. How else will the domain of darkness be penetrated by God’s kingdom of light if not through prayer? E. M. Bounds says it well in his book The Essentials of Prayer, the chapter on Prayer and Missions,

“The key to all missionary success is prayer. The key is in the hands of the home churches. The trophies won by our Lord in heathen lands will be won by praying missionaries, not professional workers in foreign lands. More especially will this success be won by saintly praying in the churches at home. The home church on her knees fasting and praying, is the great base of spiritual conflict. Financial resources are not the real sinews of war in this fight. Machinery in itself carries no power to break down heathen walls, open effectual doors and win heathen hearts to Christ. Prayer alone can do the deed.

Aaron and Hur did not more surely give victory to Israel through Moses, than a praying church through Jesus Christ will give the victory on every battlefield in heathen lands. It is as true in foreign fields as it is in home lands. The praying church wins the contest. The home church has done but a paltry thing when she has furnished the money to establish missions and support her missionaries. Money is important, but money without prayer is powerless in the face of darkness, the wretchedness and the sin in unchristianized lands. Prayerless giving breeds barrenness and death. Poor praying at home is the solution of poor results in the foreign field. Prayerless giving is the secret of all crises in the missionary movements of the day, and is the occasion of the accumulation of debts in missionary boards.”

So, first then, prayer is essential to missions. My second point is that our work cannot be done in our power. We must be empowered by God’s Holy Spirit or our work is useless and in vain. As I see it, King Saul was a good example of working in the flesh, especially as he focused on circumstances in fear and determined to offer a sacrifice himself instead of waiting for Samuel. Our mission is an impossible one—to share the gospel to the world and make Disciples of Christ. This is impossible in the flesh—we should not even attempt this in our strength. God does not desire this. God designed His work to be done in His strength, for His glory, and to His kingdom’s benefit. Please read Andrew Murray on the Holy Spirit, from Absolute surrender, chapter seven, Having Begun in the Spirit,

“Do not let us think, because the blessed reformation restored the great doctrine of justification by faith, that the power of the Holy Spirit was then fully restored. If it is our faith that God is going to have mercy on His church in these last ages, it will be because the doctrine and the truth about the Holy Spirit will not by studied, but sought after with a whole heart; and not only because that truth will be sought after, but because ministers and congregations will be found bowing before God in deep abasement with one cry: “We have grieved God’s Spirit; we have tried to be Christian churches with as little as possible of God’s Spirit; we have not sought to be churches filled with the Holy Spirit.”

To sum up, yes, prayer is God’s plan to reach His harvest, locally and globally. We demonstrate our humble dependence on the Father and His Spirit when we pray. May it be said of us that we love Jesus—we are people of prayer.

A Call to Prayer--Part Two

Saints,                                                                                                             4 Jun 2011

Let’s review what we covered last week. We looked at the critical mission of the church—God’s chosen vessel to spread the gospel all over the globe. We saw how that mission is accomplished in and through prayer. We talked about the very real spiritual battle which the enemy would rather have us unaware of. We looked at our tendency to be lulled into a comfort zone by the enemy—in order to keep us out of the battle for souls.

Please re-read the following paragraph from last week’s devotional:

“If you think you are not in a war—you’re duped. If you think prayer is not a necessity—that it is okay not to pray as a Christ follower—you’re duped. Jesus called the church at Sardis to “Wake Up” twice in the letter to this church in Revelation 3:1-3. Yes, this same message is for us today. Christian, “Wake up.” There is a battle. We are commissioned officers in this battle. We have weapons. We must use them. Remember the first thing Paul instructs us to do after putting on the spiritual armor is pray. We are called to witness. We are called to make disciples. We must pray.”

Today, I want to share some of my heart. My prayer is that in some way you will be drawn to more intimacy with Christ as a result of these words. I hope the Holy Spirit comes upon us mightily and draws us to deeper intercessory prayer. May God fill us with His heart for people. Without His love we will drift to a complacent, apathetic, self-absorbed existence. This is not God’s desire.

Saints, I am stuck between two driving passions. One passion is for more intimacy with God Himself. I want to know His presence. I want to see His face. I want more of Him—as I am sure you do as well. As Christ-followers we all have this desire—we want to know God. As we have discussed before, this is not merely a desire to know more about God. The demons know about God—they probably know more about God than you and me (James 2:19). No, knowledge is not enough. We want to know God as Jesus defines eternal life in John 17:3,

John 17:3 (ESV)
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
We desire to know His heart, His desires, His voice, His truth, His presence, His leading. This reminds me of the Navigators motto: “To know Christ and make Him known.” Yes, saints my first passion like yours is to know Christ more.

My second consuming passion is to see God do such a work in His church that she walks in the Spirit. She glorifies His name. She obeys Him. She loves God above all else. She treasures Him more than anything else.

As I understand it, the most impacting and strategic way to move further in the direction of these two passions is prayer--prayer led by the Holy Spirit, guided by God’s Word, directed toward God’s kingdom, and prayed by the character, desires, purposes, love and name of Jesus Christ. In other words—real prayer.

So, with these two passions, there is the struggle. I am sure many of you share this same struggle. We can become distraught to see more change. It kills me to see what looks like the enemy being successful. I can’t stand to see God’s called-out leaders, stumble or fall. I can’t stand to see saints living marginalized lives where Jesus is only one small percentage of their life. As if to say, “I will add a little of the God’s Word and a little Jesus to my life so that I can live a better, more productive, more joyful, more successful life. I’m sorry, but I don’t see the purpose of our life on earth as being centered on us. Jesus is not merely here for us—we are here for Him. Remember David’s words about a whole heart devoted to God in Psalm 86:11-12,

11 Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.
12 I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.
To make the way through this struggle clear, let me share Peter Lord’s words as he is quoted in Daniel Henderson’s latest book, Transforming Prayer. As Peter addressed aspiring ministry students,

“If God promised you two things: (1) You would go to heaven when you die, and (2) He will never use you in the ministry again—would you still pray?” p. 156

This question pierced my heart. It revealed how results driven I am. I wrestled with this. I am not sure that I am finished wrestling with it yet. Even so, shouldn’t we be very quick to answer yes to Peter Lord’s question? Aren’t we going to be blessed to be in the presence of God for all eternity? Shouldn’t Christ-followers be passionate about connecting with the Father more than merely desiring what He can give—His gifts, His stuff? These are not easy questions, I know. Even so, let’s ask ourselves these questions.

As to the best motive to pray—the most enduring motive to pray, Daniel Henderson describes so well, “The only enduring motive for prayer is that God is worthy to be sought.” I love this statement. It rings true. Even though I believe this, I do not really live it all the time. Oh, how we should give ourselves to seek after God, just like David did. David sought God’s heart. May we be compelled to seek after God this way!

We do tend to seek. But we tend not to seek God’s heart—we seek other things instead, like success at work, decent education for our kids, a nice income level, nice cars and homes, physical fitness, and even nice food or clothes.

To sum up, Saints, even though you may have a God-given “holy-discontent” or a God-given “passion,” don’t let that passion take the place of God in your heart. He is worthy to be sought. He alone is worthy of all our love, adoration and worship—our allegiance.

Oh God, please change our hearts!

May God grant us a compelling passion to know Him more—to go deeper with God in prayer.

Compelled to pray and desperate for God, Steve

A Call to Prayer

We recently had a 24-hour prayer watch at our church. Praise God that 116 Christ-followers came and prayed throughout that 24-hour period. We believe that prayer impacts God’s kingdom.

I realized as we worked to spread the word about this prayer effort that some folks don’t see the need for prayer. Some would ask, “Why are we doing this?” “Why are we praying all night?”

Does this kind of prayer seem extreme to you?

Saints, we are in a war. This is not a war for peace. It is not a war against terrorism. This is not a war for Biblical values to be respected in our particular culture. This is a spiritual war for souls. This is the same war Paul was in. We will not have a positive effect on the outcome of this war if we continue to allow the enemy to “dupe” us. Notice how Paul needed prayer:

Colossians 4:2-4 (NIV)
² Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
³ And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.
⁴ Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.

If you think you are not in a war—you’re duped. If you think prayer is not a necessity—that you must pray—you’re duped. Jesus called the church at Sardis to “Wake Up” twice in the letter to this church in Revelation 3:1-3. Yes, this same message is for us today. Christian, “Wake up.” There is a battle. We are commissioned officers in this battle. We have weapons. We must use them. Remember the first thing Paul instructs us to do after putting on the spiritual armor is pray. We are called to witness. We are called to make disciples. We must pray.

Ephesians 6:13-20 (ESV)
¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
¹⁴ Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
¹⁵ and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
¹⁶ In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
¹⁷ and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
¹⁸ praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, ¹⁹ and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel,
²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

Please realize there is a primary more fundamental aspect to the Christian faith. To be most effective in this spiritual battle we must be convinced of the amazing love the Father has for each one of us—we are beloved. God desires relationship with each of us. Think about this. Is your Christianity merely discipline, duty and accomplishing a list of things to do. We must be careful here. We must realize that Christianity is much more than duty—it is knowing God. Out of this deep relationship, we love God and seek to please Him, adore Him, worship Him, and honor Him.

If you are not praying, then pray. Now is the time. We must pray Bible-based, Holy Spirit-driven, kingdom-based prayers in Jesus name. Jesus promises to answer such prayers. If you are praying—pray more.

Stop seeking comfort and materialism—none of that is eternal. We must be transformed by the renewing of our minds, not conformed to this world. We read God’s Word. We pray. We pursue a relationship with God, not merely head knowledge about God. Remember head knowledge about God is what demons have—this is not enough for the Christ-follower (James 2:19). We must know Jesus. We must follow Him. We must obey Him.

Let’s look at this 24-hour prayer watch another way. What if God actually heard those prayers? What if God chose to respond to those prayers by re-igniting a passion for His Word in the hearts of 50 pastors in our state? What if those prayers positively impacted the work of missionaries in Uganda, India, and Asia? What if those prayers somehow paved the way for the lost to have their eyes opened—their hearts drawn to Christ? Would praying be worth it then? Absolutely. So, the real question is, “What do you believe about prayer?” Will God answer prayer in Jesus name or not?

Saints, may our deep love for God compel us to pray.

Compelled to pray and desperate for God, Steve