Lord,
I come to You today with a heavy heart for the many people suffering. I lift up the grieving mother saying goodbye to her son today who died way too soon. I lift up other grieving parents with swollen eyes and broken hearts trying to put their lives back together after the death of their children. You see their grief. You see their broken hearts. You see the hole in their souls. Only You can help these through this dark valley of the shadow of death.
I lift up those who are about to lose to their mind. The pain is too intense. The frustrations mount daily as well as the anxiety and there does not appear a way of escape. I ask You to help them hold on for another day. I ask You to intervene and give them both relief and peace. That is not hard for You.
I lift up those weighed down with the cares of this world. I lift up those who have been pummeled by life and they have no more strength. Jesus, You are their strength. I ask You to renew them today.
I lift up those so discouraged they cannot even find another prayer to pray. They are out of words and the best they can manage is tears. Thank You for being able to interpret those tears. I ask You to step into their lives and reveal Yourself in a fresh way.
Many are battling cancer. They have fears and concerns. Their loved ones are also concerned. Cancer is not so big a mountain that You cannot move it. I ask You by the simple act of Your will to rebuke cancer and give healing. I ask You to cast out every cell of cancer in the bodies of those suffering and desperate for a miracle. I thank You that You are still in the miracle business.
I lift up those suffering silently in abuse and nobody knows. I ask You to be their refuge and Deliverer. I ask You to heal their wounds and emotional trauma. I ask You to protect them and set them free.
I lift up those who feel like giving up. O, Lord,please put perseverance in them. I ask You to encourage them with visible proof that You have not forgotten them and that You are at work.
Finally, I lift up those drowning in a sea of financial crisis. I lift up those who see no way out of their dilemma. You are a mighty Provider. I ask You to rescue those in need. You know the needs. You have unlimited resources to meet all their needs and I ask You to do that in Jesus name. Amen.
Monday, July 13, 2015
Sunday, July 12, 2015
War
Do you love people enough to fight for them? I am not referring to fighting physically. I am talking about going to war in prayer on behalf of people you love. I am talking about doing true battle in intercession for family and friends.
There is a type of warring that means carrying deep burdens, feeling the pain of other's suffering, and entering into their sorrows through fervent praying. There is a warring wet with tears, sleepless nights, agonizing groans, and persevering persistence to never give up.
Parents do this for children. Spouses do this for their soul mates. Friends do this for friends. Pastors do this for their flocks. Prophets do this for nations.
Do you love people enough to war for them. In Genesis 18 Abraham loved his nephew, Lot, enough to intercede asking God to spare the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to spare his nephew. The angels sent to destroy the city told Lot in Genesis 19 they could not destroy the city until he and his family left.
Do we love people enough to war for them on our knees. This is the highest form of battle. Prayer closets and bedrooms become war rooms and fields of battle as parents fight for the spiritual well being of their families. Prayer rooms are battle fields in churches where the well being of local communities are fought for.
In small obscure places around the world and with people you have never heard of or have never seen, war is daily taking place. I thank God for some women who West Texas who continue to pray for me. I thank God for a pastor's wife who saw me as a troubled teen and warred for me. I thank God for my great uncle who warred for me in towns hours away from where I lived. I thank God for the many people who have prayed for me over the years. The battles have been intense. The spiritual attacks have been relentless. Those who have warred for me have not wearied in the fight.
Now it is an honor when God burdens me to go to war for people. There are many I fight for daily. I feel their rebellion, suffering, burdens, sorrows, temptations, failures and trials. I love them and I because of that love I war for them. Keep fighting for those you love.
There is a type of warring that means carrying deep burdens, feeling the pain of other's suffering, and entering into their sorrows through fervent praying. There is a warring wet with tears, sleepless nights, agonizing groans, and persevering persistence to never give up.
Parents do this for children. Spouses do this for their soul mates. Friends do this for friends. Pastors do this for their flocks. Prophets do this for nations.
Do you love people enough to war for them. In Genesis 18 Abraham loved his nephew, Lot, enough to intercede asking God to spare the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to spare his nephew. The angels sent to destroy the city told Lot in Genesis 19 they could not destroy the city until he and his family left.
Do we love people enough to war for them on our knees. This is the highest form of battle. Prayer closets and bedrooms become war rooms and fields of battle as parents fight for the spiritual well being of their families. Prayer rooms are battle fields in churches where the well being of local communities are fought for.
In small obscure places around the world and with people you have never heard of or have never seen, war is daily taking place. I thank God for some women who West Texas who continue to pray for me. I thank God for a pastor's wife who saw me as a troubled teen and warred for me. I thank God for my great uncle who warred for me in towns hours away from where I lived. I thank God for the many people who have prayed for me over the years. The battles have been intense. The spiritual attacks have been relentless. Those who have warred for me have not wearied in the fight.
Now it is an honor when God burdens me to go to war for people. There are many I fight for daily. I feel their rebellion, suffering, burdens, sorrows, temptations, failures and trials. I love them and I because of that love I war for them. Keep fighting for those you love.
Thursday, July 9, 2015
Not Content But Content
You say in all my circumstances I should be content,
How can this be when my heart is broken and rent,
Over wayward souls who don't know You and are lost,
When Christians will not follow unwilling to pay the cost?
When the Bride of Christ has sullied her wedding dress,
In the filth of hypocrisy and sin instead of righteousness?
How can my heart be content in the midst of such pain,
Among those who suffer beyond what words can explain?
How can I be content Lord in this rebellious defiant nation,
Who has forgotten we only exist because of Your creation?
I am not cotent my Lord when loved friends s drift further away,
Turning their backs and hearts on You and giving the Devil his day?
How can I remain content when sin still creeps into my heart,
When I am prone to wander and so quickly from You depart?
Jesus You alone are the only source that can make me content,
May my pursuit of You and living a holy honoring life never relent?
Jesus with You I am learning daily how to become contented,
While living with a broken burdened heart You have extended.
How can this be when my heart is broken and rent,
Over wayward souls who don't know You and are lost,
When Christians will not follow unwilling to pay the cost?
When the Bride of Christ has sullied her wedding dress,
In the filth of hypocrisy and sin instead of righteousness?
How can my heart be content in the midst of such pain,
Among those who suffer beyond what words can explain?
How can I be content Lord in this rebellious defiant nation,
Who has forgotten we only exist because of Your creation?
I am not cotent my Lord when loved friends s drift further away,
Turning their backs and hearts on You and giving the Devil his day?
How can I remain content when sin still creeps into my heart,
When I am prone to wander and so quickly from You depart?
Jesus You alone are the only source that can make me content,
May my pursuit of You and living a holy honoring life never relent?
Jesus with You I am learning daily how to become contented,
While living with a broken burdened heart You have extended.
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Inquiring The Lord
Lord, I paused in the middle of my day,
To inquire of You and seek Your way,
I asked Your counsel about Your will,
What You purpose while standing still,
I need to clearly hear Your guiding voice,
Before each decision making my choice,
Praise You Lord because You still speak,
It is Your voice alone I continually seek.
To inquire of You and seek Your way,
I asked Your counsel about Your will,
What You purpose while standing still,
I need to clearly hear Your guiding voice,
Before each decision making my choice,
Praise You Lord because You still speak,
It is Your voice alone I continually seek.
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
The Prophet
In the early winter of 1991 I was a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I found the whole experience boring. It was only my second semester but I already wearied of classes on Old Testament and New Testament history, Hermeneutics, Baptist History, and others. I wanted to get out and actually start doing something beside read, write papers and take tests.
Most days after class I went to the library and made my way to a little niche on the second floor. Once there, I laid text books aside and took out treasured copies of books written by Vance Havner and Leonard Ravenhill. On that second floor the Master of the Universe began to teach me other things and I worked on His Master's Degree.
This morning I have two books written by those prophets of the Lord open on my desk. I have the tattered volume A Treasury of Vance Havner: Twentieth Century Prophet as well as a worn copy of Ravenhill's book, America Is Too Young To Die. God has used both books numerous times in my life over the past twenty-four years.
It seems like yesterday I got lost on the second floor of that library in thought, prayer, and dreams as I read those two men. Havner wrote:
I do not call myself an evangelist or a Bible teacher. My ministry is revival
rather than evangelism but the term revivalist never appealed to me. There should
be full time prophets who speak for God to the nation and to the church. The true
prophet has slight regard for forms and ceremonies. He is disconcerting to the
system and irritates those who seek only to maintain the status quo. He is not
remotely interested in being "in" with the rich, wise, mighty or noble. The prophet
is essentially a rebel. Jesus was a rebel against the lifeless established religion
of His day. To equip such men, God usually endows them with a streak of
stubbornness and a disinclination to follow beaten paths. This makes them
unpopular with the prevailing set up of their day. We need a prophet
who will go to the woods with his Bible and learn what God is thinking. pp.165-167
When I read that I highlighted all those words. I then took out my pen and wrote these words in the margin, "God, I want to be that man."
The prophet is different in many ways from the pastor. The prophet is often a loner preferring to keep company with God rather than with people. The prophet preaches hard. He is a servant of God, on mission for God, declaring a fresh word from God. Prophets are men of prayer. They agonize over the sins of their generation. They fearlessly call the church and nation to repentance. Prophets are not popular. They are often labeled as too hard, too negative, too aloof, too controversial and too uncompromising for the mainstream religious establishment. Prophets are needed mouthpieces for God to thunder against sin and call people back to God and holiness of living.
Ravenhill wrote about prophets in America Is Too Young To Die. I think people would agree God anointed and consecrated him to be one of those prophets. Ravenhill listed several characteristics of prophets. Of prophets he wrote: "Compromise is not known to them. He has not price tags. He lives in the heights with God and comes into the valley with a "thus saith the Lord." He lives in splendid isolation. He has a heart like a volcano and his words are as fire. He hides with God in the secret places but he has nothing to hide in the marketplace. We need a God sent prophet!" pp. 24-25
Prophets upset the status quo. They rock the boat of apathy and hypocrisy. They ruffle the feathers of the religious establishment. They afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. America needs prophets on the scene again.
We are past the time for polished pastors who offer sterile sermon series week after week. We are past the time for tickling the ears to keep the peace. We are a nation adrift in a seal of immorality. We are a nation bent on leaving the God we once loved and revered. We are a nation of religious imposters giving lip service to our faith but rarely giving the heart service of prayer and evangelism. We are a nation littered with houses of worship but not near as many true churches.
In a day when churches have become big business and small ministry we need a voice crying out in the wilderness, "REPENT!" We desperately need a prophetic voice calling America back to holiness of living and to forsake the hootenannies of hollywood lifestyles and philosophies. We need courageous prophets who preach to please God and not for profits. We need prophets who cannot be silenced by promotions or endorsement. The only promotion the true prophet needs is Heaven and the only endorsement he needs to be anointed of God.
In a day when many pastors are glad handing the members for special favors the prophet can never be bought off. He will never be the puppet of wealthy members. Though kept off many influential conference platforms or out of many prestigious pulpits God has His plans and purposes to use the prophet.
While many evangelist are busy about building their slick gospel presentations and marketing methods to grow their ministry, the prophet does not seek self promotion. He seeks God on behalf of the nation and trusts God to promote him where He wills. The prophet makes no distinction from preaching in the backwoods or preaching in First Church in the city. He does where God sends without regard to large love offerings.
The prophet preaches for conviction. He writes to shake souls. He prays for a tidal wave of conviction to hit America and to shatter the order of worship in churches all over the land. The prophet prays in secrete and the Father who seeks in secret uses the prophet mightily in public.
America needs prophets. We do not need more professional pastors. We do not need more sanitized sermons. We need a, "Thus says the Lord." We need a fresh voice from God and not an echo of the passing fads of the prevailing church growth philosophies of the day.
I thank God from the depths of my soul for the education He agave me on the second floor of that library. He seated me at the feet of two masterful prophets in Vance Havner and Leonard Ravenhill. Now both are in heaven but their voices are not silenced. Their recorded sermons live on. Their writings live on. Yet, who will take up the prophetic baton from these departed. "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Who can we send and who will go for Us?' Then I said, 'Here am I. Send me.'" [Is 6:8]
Most days after class I went to the library and made my way to a little niche on the second floor. Once there, I laid text books aside and took out treasured copies of books written by Vance Havner and Leonard Ravenhill. On that second floor the Master of the Universe began to teach me other things and I worked on His Master's Degree.
This morning I have two books written by those prophets of the Lord open on my desk. I have the tattered volume A Treasury of Vance Havner: Twentieth Century Prophet as well as a worn copy of Ravenhill's book, America Is Too Young To Die. God has used both books numerous times in my life over the past twenty-four years.
It seems like yesterday I got lost on the second floor of that library in thought, prayer, and dreams as I read those two men. Havner wrote:
I do not call myself an evangelist or a Bible teacher. My ministry is revival
rather than evangelism but the term revivalist never appealed to me. There should
be full time prophets who speak for God to the nation and to the church. The true
prophet has slight regard for forms and ceremonies. He is disconcerting to the
system and irritates those who seek only to maintain the status quo. He is not
remotely interested in being "in" with the rich, wise, mighty or noble. The prophet
is essentially a rebel. Jesus was a rebel against the lifeless established religion
of His day. To equip such men, God usually endows them with a streak of
stubbornness and a disinclination to follow beaten paths. This makes them
unpopular with the prevailing set up of their day. We need a prophet
who will go to the woods with his Bible and learn what God is thinking. pp.165-167
When I read that I highlighted all those words. I then took out my pen and wrote these words in the margin, "God, I want to be that man."
The prophet is different in many ways from the pastor. The prophet is often a loner preferring to keep company with God rather than with people. The prophet preaches hard. He is a servant of God, on mission for God, declaring a fresh word from God. Prophets are men of prayer. They agonize over the sins of their generation. They fearlessly call the church and nation to repentance. Prophets are not popular. They are often labeled as too hard, too negative, too aloof, too controversial and too uncompromising for the mainstream religious establishment. Prophets are needed mouthpieces for God to thunder against sin and call people back to God and holiness of living.
Ravenhill wrote about prophets in America Is Too Young To Die. I think people would agree God anointed and consecrated him to be one of those prophets. Ravenhill listed several characteristics of prophets. Of prophets he wrote: "Compromise is not known to them. He has not price tags. He lives in the heights with God and comes into the valley with a "thus saith the Lord." He lives in splendid isolation. He has a heart like a volcano and his words are as fire. He hides with God in the secret places but he has nothing to hide in the marketplace. We need a God sent prophet!" pp. 24-25
Prophets upset the status quo. They rock the boat of apathy and hypocrisy. They ruffle the feathers of the religious establishment. They afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. America needs prophets on the scene again.
We are past the time for polished pastors who offer sterile sermon series week after week. We are past the time for tickling the ears to keep the peace. We are a nation adrift in a seal of immorality. We are a nation bent on leaving the God we once loved and revered. We are a nation of religious imposters giving lip service to our faith but rarely giving the heart service of prayer and evangelism. We are a nation littered with houses of worship but not near as many true churches.
In a day when churches have become big business and small ministry we need a voice crying out in the wilderness, "REPENT!" We desperately need a prophetic voice calling America back to holiness of living and to forsake the hootenannies of hollywood lifestyles and philosophies. We need courageous prophets who preach to please God and not for profits. We need prophets who cannot be silenced by promotions or endorsement. The only promotion the true prophet needs is Heaven and the only endorsement he needs to be anointed of God.
In a day when many pastors are glad handing the members for special favors the prophet can never be bought off. He will never be the puppet of wealthy members. Though kept off many influential conference platforms or out of many prestigious pulpits God has His plans and purposes to use the prophet.
While many evangelist are busy about building their slick gospel presentations and marketing methods to grow their ministry, the prophet does not seek self promotion. He seeks God on behalf of the nation and trusts God to promote him where He wills. The prophet makes no distinction from preaching in the backwoods or preaching in First Church in the city. He does where God sends without regard to large love offerings.
The prophet preaches for conviction. He writes to shake souls. He prays for a tidal wave of conviction to hit America and to shatter the order of worship in churches all over the land. The prophet prays in secrete and the Father who seeks in secret uses the prophet mightily in public.
America needs prophets. We do not need more professional pastors. We do not need more sanitized sermons. We need a, "Thus says the Lord." We need a fresh voice from God and not an echo of the passing fads of the prevailing church growth philosophies of the day.
I thank God from the depths of my soul for the education He agave me on the second floor of that library. He seated me at the feet of two masterful prophets in Vance Havner and Leonard Ravenhill. Now both are in heaven but their voices are not silenced. Their recorded sermons live on. Their writings live on. Yet, who will take up the prophetic baton from these departed. "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Who can we send and who will go for Us?' Then I said, 'Here am I. Send me.'" [Is 6:8]
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