God Is Gripping My Heart

God is gripping my heart in ways He has never done before. I am not sure what He is doing in me but it is deep, it is painful at times, and He is changing my heart. He is changing my outlook and focus. He is calling me to places with Him I have never been. His burden for prayer is being transplanted into my heart. Prayer is no longer a religious exercise to be endured out of duty. Time spent alone shut up to God is increasingly becoming an endless delight both day and night. God is changing me. This means many things in ministry will be changing for me as well.

Prayer now is the central focus of my life and, therefore, must become the central focus of the church I serve as pastor. If a church does not want to give herself wholly to prayer then they do not want me as their pastor. The prayer meeting is the new barometer of success for Faith Community Church. The attendance is not the most important figure nor how large the offerings are. Real success from this day forward is measured by the attendance at the prayer meetings and the fervency of the prayers offered there. Regardless if that means extended altar calls on Sunday morning or Wednesday night  and the Sunday night prayer meetings lasting longer than thirty minutes. WE MUST BECOME A HOUSE OF PRAYER. WE MUST BECOME A CHURCH GRIPPED BY GOD.

I plead with God to grip my soul with a burden, desire, and motivation to pray above everything else in my life. Above sleep. Above food. Above entertainment. Above time off. I am pleading that just like the mantle from Elijah fell on Elisha that the mantle of Leonard Ravenhill, Bill Mcleod, Manny Beasely, Duncan Cambbell, Evan Roberts and A.W. Tozer would fall on me. I am not talking about the mantle of ministry prominence or success. I am talking about the mantle of prayer and the prophetic mantle to fall on me and grip my heart.

How can I be content to go through the motions of ministry and church but never see the wonder working power of God on display. How can I ever be content when God's people have no heart for the things of God? How can I never be at ease in Zion when holiness is foreign in the lives of preachers and church members alike. Satan rapes and pillages our communities and our country and nobody seems to care. We gripe about things but where are the people shut up to God pleading for a revival.

A group of people began a prayer meeting in Germany back in 1727. That prayer meeting turned into a prayer movement impacting the entire world. Those prayer meetings lasted for 100 straight years! We can get crowds to come sit in church but we cannot get a few dozen folks to pray. We are losing the battle on every front. GOD CALL THE PRAYER WARRIORS FRONT AND CENTER IN EVERY CHURCH TO TAKE THEIR POST AS WATCHMEN ON THE WALLS.

I serve a church that lived in lukewarmness far too long. We have been dead, apathetic, unholy, and largely unconcerned.  I know it is because I have been content to serve a prayerless church. For over two years I have preached before empty altars. I have preached without the anointing and brokenness of God of a man held firm in His grip. I have not called this church to her knees to plead for breakthrough to God with authority. THAT ALL CHANGES NOW! God is stoking a revival fire in me like I have not known since the early days of my ministry. That was before hardships, setbacks, wounds, and disappointments. Suddenly none of those things matter as God grips my soul. He is conquering new ground inside me. He is revealing convicting truth to me. He is drawing me to repentance. He is gripping me firmly.

I don't  believe what He is doing in me is some emotional experience that will wear off in a few days. I have pleaded with God to never loosen His grip on me and to weigh His heart and mind on me heavier every hour of every single day for the rest of my life. I have pleaded for a never ending burden and discipline to pray no matter what hour of the day or night or how long those seasons of prayers last. I never want this to end. All of it began and will only be sustained in the prayer closet. I also do not believe this is something He just wants for me. HE WANTS ALL OF US TO BE HELD FIRM IN HIS GRIP EXPERIENCING HIS POWER, BROKENNESS, AND REVIVAL IN OUR PERSONAL HEARTS AND IN THE CORPORATE BODY OF CHRIST.

I do not want to glory in my successes. It does not matter how many books I write or how many come to hear me preach. I glory in the cross of Christ Jesus. I glory in the work of redemption where He first began gripping my heart. How inconsistent I have been. He never let me go. In fact He has only strengthened His grip on me to bring me to this place.

FAITH COMMUNITY CHURCH IS NOW A HOUSE OF PRAYER. LET THE SERVICES LAST LONGER THAN HOUR. LET THE TIMES AT THE ALTAR LINGER LONG INTO THE AFTERNOON. LET MESSAGES ON HOLINESS BE PREACHED AND LIVED. WE WILL SETTLE FOR NOTHING LESS THAN THE FULLNESS OF GOD AND THE POWER OF GOD TO BE EVIDENT ON WHAT WE DO. LORD I PLEAD THAT YOU WOULD GRIP US TIGHTER AND NEVER LET US DRIFT BACK INTO MEDIOCRITY AND HYPOCRISY!