I just returned from a prayer meeting. It was great! I said it to the group, and I meant it—prayer meetings, as
hard as they are to organize and actually get people to come, "are the lifeblood
of the church". Without them, nothing goes forward. Activities will not produce
fruit without prayer. When I phoned our international leader yesterday, he said
he was just going to a meeting of a group of friends who pray for ReachAcross
for two or more hours.
That’s a luxury that we don’t yet have here in the U.S.
Maybe it is just my leadership at the national level that is to blame, but it
is really difficult to find folks who are willing to sacrifice their time and
energy in order to meet together and focus on specific and concentrated prayer.
Which doesn’t make sense, really. I mean, we have the
privilege of entering the ‘Oval Office’ of the universe and sitting down with
the King of Kings, and laying out our requests before Him, asking Him to
intervene. And even better—we have the privilege of reading his Briefings in
the Presence of His Spirit, and living each day, updated with fresh information
on what He is doing.
So why won’t Christians make time for that?
And when we do make time for it, why do we so often
concentrate in prayer on things that just make us more fearful?
For example, here are two requests that were on the prayer
list for today:
‘Pray that our Heavenly Father will enlighten all
politicians as to the true nature of ISIS.’
Or,
‘Express to God your concern about uncontrolled
immigration into the U.S., including refugees from terror-sponsoring countries.’
Somehow I can’t get statements like that in harmony with
biblical statements. I quoted some of this last time, but just in case you hadn't read it:
‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little
while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and
the dry land. I will shake all nations . . . . I am
going to shake the heavens and the earth. I
will overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of the foreign kingdoms. I
will overthrow chariots and their drivers; horses and their riders will
fall, each by the sword of his brother.’ (Haggai 2:6, 21-22)
OR
‘ See to it that you do not refuse him
who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them
on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from
heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but
now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the
heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of
what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may
remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let
us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for
our “God is a consuming fire.’ (Hebrews 12:25-29)
If God is in control of the nations, and if He is shaking
them in order to establish an eternal Kingdom, why do we get so out of shape
when the borders of the U.S. are porous?
What if God might be sending people to us to reach for His
Kingdom, especially since we don’t seem to be willing or able to go to them?
Isn’t fear misplaced when we are insecure and want to
preserve the United States as it is, instead of fearing, respecting, and above, all, praising
the Chief Executive of all things?
He used a big fish to swallow Jonah and get him where he
wanted him to go, but evidently that didn’t make Jonah thankful.
Evidently God’s shaking our world today isn’t having the
effect that it is supposed to, either.
Which is too bad, because we may be missing out on something
very important.
‘Don’t let the devil rob you of your joy’, the preacher said
last Sunday. Personally, I fear that he
may be already doing just that.
Let’s hope it changes, soon. The world--and especially Muslims--needs an uplifting testimony from us Christians.
U.S. Director
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