I was eating breakfast at the cafe when I learned there had been another mass shooting this time in Terrell, TX. I can remember all the way back to the Jonesboro and Columbine shootings. I remember the shooting at Westwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth and there have been others. Then there was the shooting at the Batman movie, the shooting at the elementary school in Connecticut, the army base and navy ship yard shootings and so many others.
While the politicians cry out for gun control laws the real need is Holy Spirit invoked self control. WE WILL NEVER LEGISLATE MORALITY. Lost people are going to act lost. Those apart from Christ are going to be subject to demon torment, oppression, and possession. They will carry out the wicked schemes of Satan to steal, kill, and destroy. [Jn 10:10] No amount of new laws are going to change any of that.
What breaks my heart, as equally as all the shootings, is the apathy of the Christian church. What has to happen to wake this church age up from spiritual slumber? We are hardened to these events. Nothing gets to us anymore. We do not sorrow. We do not grieve. We do not cry out for God to help. We really do not care. We are losing the war right and left but seem unbothered as long as the church service has people in the seats and money in the offering plates.
I for one cannot sit by and do nothing. As deeply as any time in my life, God is not only calling me to pray, but to rally others to pray as well. The Lord is waking me up at 2:00, 3:00, and 4:00 a.m. at times to plead for God to come and heal our land. Even as I write this my eyes are burning from lack of sleep but the burden for God to heal our land is greater. I am deeply resolved that the church I pastor will become a house of prayer. [Luke 19:46] Not a house of worship. Not a house of preaching. Not even a house of teaching. A house of prayer! This is the need for our nation. If churches really prayed again the much need healing of our land would come.
We have set aside our Sunday nights for prayer for revival for our church, our community, and our nation. Children, students, and adults all praying together for God to heal our churches, communities, and country.
If sermons were going to change our nation and usher in days of revival and spiritual awakening it would have already come. There has been no shortage of preaching. If singing praises to God would heal our land it would have already been made whole. There are worship gatherings continually. God said, "If my people who are called by name will humble themselves, turn from their wicked ways and PRAY..." [II Chron 7:15]
The American church will do just about anything and everything except pray. God has called me on mission to embrace the burden to pray for revival for our land and hold prayer gatherings anywhere I am invited to lead others to pray for revival. Sometimes these may be one night gatherings. At other times they may take on the form of a weekend retreat or conference. However God chooses to do it the purpose will be the same; TO CALL THE CHURCH TO PRAY!
I cannot and will not sit idly by while our land is destroyed on every front. All I know to do is to pray and rally others to pray as well. We must stand in the gap for this nation. "I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one."
Did you catch that. God looked for a man who would stand in the gap for the nation of Israel but He found no one. In how many churches can that also be true? How many communities? We must take our post to stand in the gap between our wicked and wayward nation and God.
Jeremiah Lamphier was only one man with a burden to call people to pray in New York. The first noon time prayer meeting only had six in attendance. Do not despise the day of small beginnings. Out of that one prayer meeting the Second Great Awakening was kindled transforming the nation. Soon others joined the six and in time the location had to be changed. Other prayer meetings began springing up in New York and in time in communities all over the nation. The masses were saved. That was a long long time ago.
America is in worse shape than ever. My assignment is to give my life to prayer. I have pleaded with God to grip my soul with this burden and to wake me up whenever He wants to cry out for healing in this land. This is a cause for which I am willing to devote the remainder of my life. Will you ask God to do the same in you? I will lead the church I serve to become a house of prayer. Pastor will you do the same? I will travel where I am invited to rally people to PRAY both far and near! Seeking God and pleading for His healing of our churches, communities, and country is consuming and compelling vision I give the rest of my life to.
It is time to wake up church. It is time to stand in the gap not just for a set aside day for national prayer. It is time to pray everyday. I will not cry out when students cannot pray in school when there is so little praying in the church. Now is the time.
While the politicians cry out for gun control laws the real need is Holy Spirit invoked self control. WE WILL NEVER LEGISLATE MORALITY. Lost people are going to act lost. Those apart from Christ are going to be subject to demon torment, oppression, and possession. They will carry out the wicked schemes of Satan to steal, kill, and destroy. [Jn 10:10] No amount of new laws are going to change any of that.
What breaks my heart, as equally as all the shootings, is the apathy of the Christian church. What has to happen to wake this church age up from spiritual slumber? We are hardened to these events. Nothing gets to us anymore. We do not sorrow. We do not grieve. We do not cry out for God to help. We really do not care. We are losing the war right and left but seem unbothered as long as the church service has people in the seats and money in the offering plates.
I for one cannot sit by and do nothing. As deeply as any time in my life, God is not only calling me to pray, but to rally others to pray as well. The Lord is waking me up at 2:00, 3:00, and 4:00 a.m. at times to plead for God to come and heal our land. Even as I write this my eyes are burning from lack of sleep but the burden for God to heal our land is greater. I am deeply resolved that the church I pastor will become a house of prayer. [Luke 19:46] Not a house of worship. Not a house of preaching. Not even a house of teaching. A house of prayer! This is the need for our nation. If churches really prayed again the much need healing of our land would come.
We have set aside our Sunday nights for prayer for revival for our church, our community, and our nation. Children, students, and adults all praying together for God to heal our churches, communities, and country.
If sermons were going to change our nation and usher in days of revival and spiritual awakening it would have already come. There has been no shortage of preaching. If singing praises to God would heal our land it would have already been made whole. There are worship gatherings continually. God said, "If my people who are called by name will humble themselves, turn from their wicked ways and PRAY..." [II Chron 7:15]
The American church will do just about anything and everything except pray. God has called me on mission to embrace the burden to pray for revival for our land and hold prayer gatherings anywhere I am invited to lead others to pray for revival. Sometimes these may be one night gatherings. At other times they may take on the form of a weekend retreat or conference. However God chooses to do it the purpose will be the same; TO CALL THE CHURCH TO PRAY!
I cannot and will not sit idly by while our land is destroyed on every front. All I know to do is to pray and rally others to pray as well. We must stand in the gap for this nation. "I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one."
Did you catch that. God looked for a man who would stand in the gap for the nation of Israel but He found no one. In how many churches can that also be true? How many communities? We must take our post to stand in the gap between our wicked and wayward nation and God.
Jeremiah Lamphier was only one man with a burden to call people to pray in New York. The first noon time prayer meeting only had six in attendance. Do not despise the day of small beginnings. Out of that one prayer meeting the Second Great Awakening was kindled transforming the nation. Soon others joined the six and in time the location had to be changed. Other prayer meetings began springing up in New York and in time in communities all over the nation. The masses were saved. That was a long long time ago.
America is in worse shape than ever. My assignment is to give my life to prayer. I have pleaded with God to grip my soul with this burden and to wake me up whenever He wants to cry out for healing in this land. This is a cause for which I am willing to devote the remainder of my life. Will you ask God to do the same in you? I will lead the church I serve to become a house of prayer. Pastor will you do the same? I will travel where I am invited to rally people to PRAY both far and near! Seeking God and pleading for His healing of our churches, communities, and country is consuming and compelling vision I give the rest of my life to.
It is time to wake up church. It is time to stand in the gap not just for a set aside day for national prayer. It is time to pray everyday. I will not cry out when students cannot pray in school when there is so little praying in the church. Now is the time.
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