Ok, you guys, this is in regard to the earlier thread on prayer. I’m seeing enough of you sensing the same prompting from God to throw a loose plan out there. Let’s think toward 1 month. Let’s do July. No sign ups. No over-controlling. No factions. No political/personal agendas.
What I’d do is simply give some basic recommendations a few days prior to July 1st. It would be stuff like including a daily Bible reading of your choice & length, just to insure being in Scripture. It would be entirely up to you but I’d recommend your choice of 1 of the Gospels
because it helps direct prayers toward Christ’s own desires and priorities. It would include you choosing a different nation to pray for each day. I mean, you could literally just look at a map online & choose 1 that day. That kind of thing. The main idea would be uniting
in prayer in the name of Jesus for works only he can do. And we wouldn’t feel alone or overwhelmed. We’d know others were also praying. Imagine how refreshing it would be to set all our agendas & divisions aside & just take 31 days to pray. No money involved. No product/selling.
No conference. No Simulcast. No gimmick. Nothing but praying in the name of Jesus for the will of Jesus to be done. No signing up. No counting how many of us are doing it. Not women only. Not men only. Not grown ups only. No denominational stuff. Just people who believe in Jesus.
I’ll prepare something basic & post it a few days before July 1. Just think about it. We won’t likely have any idea what difference it made until we are on the other side of the veil but, don’t you see? That’s part of the beauty of it! We’re not consumers. We’re Christ followers.
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I’m thinking what might happen globally if a group of us really began to fervently pray. What might happen corporately in churches. What might happen under our own roofs. I believe all of this upheaval has fallow ground overturned & ready for seed. I think God’s up to something.
The kind of prayer I’m talking about might not only be a catalyst for a great move of God. It would also heal us of so much misery our selfishness, infighting, pettiness, nearsightedness, carnality & banner-waving of personal rights have caused us. Even the very basic practice of
praying for a different nation every day & people who are ill or in grief help break me out of my small world. I think we’re primed by the miseries of our selfishness for a mighty move of God. But it will not happen apart from prayer. Bold prayer out of bold faith & love.
So much healing comes with understanding that I often want the understanding before I go forward. In other words, I want to heal before I act in obedience. I’ve found in my journey with God that, if I wait until I understand all the what-who-whys to move forward, I’ll get stuck.
Oftentimes insight into what all has transpired comes later & in layers. Some of it will await our seeing Christ’s face. We don’t have to understand it all to heal. A significant amount of healing comes in going on with God and trusting him & inevitably finding him faithful.
This I can tell you for dang sure: your future is ahead of you and not behind you. Go forward. God knows what he is doing. If you could see everything clearly, it wouldn’t be faith. One of the many gifts of aging in a walk with God is that you can look over your shoulder and see
I want to say one more thing. I have loved every single church I have served. Every single pastor. I have known true servants of God and faithful followers of Jesus. But to say that what has gone on at the top of the SBC has nothing to do with the local church is foolishness.
I say this to my SBC brothers & sisters because I love you so much & I’ve grieved the loss of my denomination like a death. But, if you disconnect the two, you will always— sooner than later—cycle back to the same rottenness & love of power because it’s still in the roots.
Take the issues to the local church. Tell them what’s going on. Tell them what’s happened to the reputation of the denomination. Tell them, lead them, show them, preach to them, disciple them to be different. Let the angry ones leave.Revival’s as much about who goes as who stays.
I hear it said, “How many times are we going to have to repent (of racism, injustice, of abuses, misuses of power, etc) We’ve already done that!” This is where we don’t get it. Repentance is not just words. Not even sincere, tearful words. It’s a change of mind that results in a
transformed attitude that reflects the mind of Christ Jesus (Phil 2) resulting in the fruit of the Spirit. We are confusing repentance with saying I’m sorry then still evidencing the same attitudes whether blatantly or subtly. People don’t believe we repented because they don’t
see we’ve changed. They don’t believe we’ve changed because they see the same old fruit & it’s plastic. It’s the fruit of the flesh & not of the Spirit (see both in Gal 5). This isn’t rocket science. People don’t accept that repentance was sincere when they still see evidences of
I was at my sister’s house yesterday downsizing boxes & she had this in an old trunk. 1984. Oh my gosh, it’s so funny. The titles of my seminars. Y’all. Bless my heart. And let me tell you something right now. Somebody at Covenant House shoulda staged an intervention on my hair.
PS. Don’t miss how the journalist spelled counsel.
TGIF, folks! In the thick of 2 Chronicles in my AM reading where it begins the rapid succession of kings. Today’s segment covered the end of Solomon’s son Rehoboam’s life. 2 Chron 12:14 says, “Rehoboam did what was evil because he did not determine in his heart to seek the Lord.”
Looking back on a long journey through deserts & forests & mountains & seas & fires & ice storms, making war & making peace, making bad decisions & good, good decisions & bad, the Lord remained. He’s been the single consistent thing in my 6 decades. This morning I wrote to him,
“You are my Keeper, my Light, my Love. You are my joy...You have kept us...keep us still.” And he will. And here is the part that falls in our laps & what circles back to Rehoboam. Often it just comes down to determining in your heart that you ARE going to seek the Lord. Come