Thursday, January 17, 2013

THE TIMES THAT TRY MEN'S SOULS

Thomas Paine did not know anything about crisis when he wrote the pamphlet series The American Crisis that began with the words, “These are the times that try men’s souls.”
We are living in a day when gambling is pervasive in our country. And millions of families are afflicted with problems related to gambling and gambling addiction. We are legalizing recreational drug use while we are forced spend untold energy and money trying, often unsuccessfully, to redeem those whose lives are pillaged by drug abuse. We are reducing love to lust and glandular tension and legitimizing something we are calling same sex marriage. The recent massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in the upper-middle class suburb of Newtown, Connecticut reminds us of the violence in a society where television, motion pictures and video games target our children and others with violent themes. We continue to murder millions of unborn babies every year in sacrifice Moloch the God of sexual indulgence.
But understand this. Neither Thomas Paine nor identify our times as the days that vex men’s souls. These are the days that test the mettle of prayer warriors. How seriously are you praying for God to intervene in the lives of people around you, your family, your neighbors, people you come in contact with from day to day. Have you prayed for people in Hollywood that put out filth that destroys the fabric of society and spreads its contagion to the rest of the world?
Are you willing to pray when you see no outward sign of revival? Will you keep praying when God’s judgment falls on America, like Abraham before Sodom and Daniel over Judah carried off to Babylon? These are not the days for Summer Disciples or Sunshine Prayer Warriors. These are the days for God’s people to step up and pray in the gap before it is too late, and even after it seems to be too late to save our nation.

 

Thursday, January 10, 2013

LONG TERM PRAYER

Have you considered committing to a long term prayer for this year? It radically changes what you pray for and how you pray when you commit to pray for something for an entire year. Most of us are familiar with Matthew 7:7,8 and Luke 11:9,10. But most who read this passage in a language other than Greek miss something. The tense used in these words of Jesus requires continual action. These words might well read, “Ask and keep on asking; seek and keep on seeking; knock and keep on knocking.”

It seems to me that such a statement calls us to a perspective on prayer that may well be life-long as well as year-long. I could suggest some such prayers. But I think it would be more beneficial to everyone for some of you to suggest what you want to pray for, or what you believe God is calling you to pray for, this year.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

A PRAYER RESOLUTION


Possibly from lack of success we do not talk so much about New Year’s resolutions in these days. Still, I believe they can be really good for us spiritually. Paul seemed to be projecting a goal driven life when he wrote, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." However, I think we would be much more pleased with the process as well as the outcome if we altered our approach to resolutions. They become little more than emotional outbursts if they are not primarily prayer. I hear Peter saying. "Lord, I am willing to die for You!" But his actions didn’t prove his words true.
First, it is important to spend time praying for God to show you what new goals or disciplines you need to adopt. Resolutions are foolish and futile if they do not come from God. Then we need to write them out. And I suggest that you write them down as prayers. "Lord help me . . ." And finally, if you really believe they are the will of God, it is worth making them as prayer commitments. By this I mean making to resolution to pray all year that God will bring the necessary changes in you. Suppose you believe God is urging you to begin rising earlier to pray longer each morning. Do not simply resolve to get up early. Commit to ask God all year to develop this discipline in you. For one thing you are less prone to give up because of failure. You may find yourself praying, “Father, I have stopped rising early to pray. But I am sticking with my commit to ask You to develop this in me.” I need to add one more important reminder to this. We are in a spiritual war. And the enemy of our souls will attack serious commitments. Hence prayer is the most important weapon of defense against his attacks.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

PRAYING FOR THE MESSIAH

At the conclusion of Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus Mary and Joseph bring the babe to the temple to be dedicated to the Lord. They are met there by Simeon and Anna. Anna had been praying and fasting in the temple night and day into her 84th year. What had she, and as I suppose, Simeon, been praying for all that time. They were praying for the Messiah. Only His presence would suffice for the world.
We too can pray something similar. I often pray for people whose needs are obviously more complex than I can fully fathom. But I can pray for our Lord to touch them personally. He is the only answer that will do.

 

Thursday, December 20, 2012

TREMBLING AT CHRISTMAS


And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.[1]

Holy fear has been a natural part of Christmas from the beginning. The angel calmed their fears with the good news of great joy. Today both the fear and joy of Christmas are lost in worldliness. And the lostness is so deeply ingrained in our own hearts as well as our society. Nothing is powerful enough to break its hold upon our hearts but trembling in fearful joy over the good news of great joy that the God of the universe has come to us.



[1] The Holy Bible: New International Version. 1984 (Lk 2:8–9). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

CULTIVATING THE FEAR OF THE LORD


I had a conversation this week with several men about the fear of the Lord. One of the men asked the obvious question of how you develop the fear of the Lord. I have several suggestions on this concern.

First, I think the question needs to be directed in the primary position. The first question is not “How do we raise the fear of the Lord in society?” We must first ask how we cultivate the fear of the Lord in ourselves. I believe there are three crucial factors in developing fear in our own hearts. (1.) We need to expose ourselves to the reality of God primarily through scripture. The absence of the fear of the Lord is an intellectual disconnect from the reality of God. John did not have to cultivate fear when he saw the glorified Christ in The Revelation. Isaiah did not have to work it up in his vision in the temple [Isaiah 6]. (2.) We must ask God to reveal Himself to us. We need to be supernaturally drawn nearer and nearer into God’s presence. (3.) Praise the Lord. Speak about His majesty, holiness, greatness and glory. We are stirred by God’s glory as we express it in our words.

From here we do not turn the question directly to society. We must next ask how to stir the fear of the Lord in our families and in the family of God. The same three steps must be applied to these circles. (1.) We must expose our families conjugal and spiritual to the glory of God primarily through scripture. (2.) We must ask God to reveal His glory to us. And (3.) we must express His glory for the ears of those gathered. This is one obvious means for the fear of the Lord to become contagious.

Now, how does this apply to society in general or to an entire people-group, our own or another? Well these same three elements are necessary. Only here I would suggest that the order becomes crucial and needs to be rearranged from what I have listed in the two categories above. Prayer must be the first element. It may very well be the most deficient in most of our efforts. And where revival or an awakening broke out in the past, prayer, extraordinary prayer, was always most prominent.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

TREMBLING TOGETHER

Most of us are aware that the wonderful directions for worship in Ephesians 5 are plural. We are to sing and pray and give thanks together. But most of us have not thought much about verse 21 the concluding verse of the passage. “Submit to one another in the fear of Christ.” Grammatically this verse is part of a sentence that begins with verse 18. The only active verb from verse 18 through verse 21 is “Be filed.” All of these things, singing, giving thanks and submitting to one another are applications of the filling of the Spirit. We tend to think of the Spirit’s filling as individual. But the verb “be filled is also plural. There is obviously some individual participation in this matter but the picture is of the church being filled together with the Spirit of Christ. In this context verse 21 brings in the fear of the Lord. We often take these words as the reason for submitting to one another. And frankly, I believe that to be a legitimate application. But I also think it is calling us to tremble in together in our worship. The fear of the Lord can be contagious in worship as the Spirit of God moves on the body of Christ.