Monday 30 November 2015

Prayer flies through walls

Prayer flies through walls.  It can go where you can't.

Wesley Duewel, author of Touch The World Through Prayer, puts it this way:

"Prayer can give you instant entrance into any home, any hospital, any government office, any courtroom in any part of the world."

This is a wonderful truth - and an encouragement to pray.  God acts as we pray and God is always able to do the impossible.

Duewel gives an example in his book of what he is talking about.

He says Bud Robinson, a pastor, hung on the edge of death after a serious injury.  At that time, pastors from his denomination were meeting in San Francisco and stopped their conference to pray for Robinson.

He had been suffering terrible pain and, at the exact time of the prayer gathering in San Francisco, his pain left him.

Shortly afterwards, he lapsed into unconsciousness and had a vision of Jesus.  While he was talking to Jesus, he saw two ministers standing on either side of the Lord.  He recognized the two men - they were two of his best friends and they were praying for him at that moment.

Distance did not prevent prayer from playing a huge role in Robinson's recovery.

Duewel notes that the apostle Paul talks of being with believers in distant cities in spirit (1 Corinthians 5:3).  Praying fervently for them, he is present in spirit with them.  Through Christ, prayer plays a role in the lives of others although we may be apart.

"Through prayer you can place your restraining hand on the arm of a criminal or terrorist anywhere in the world.  Through prayer you can place your guiding hand on the steering wheel of a car."

But Duewel says that we must pray constantly for others in order to get to the point where Paul could say he was virtually present in spirit with the Corinthians and Colossians.

"Your heart must be beating with the heart of Jesus as he intercedes."

It's hard to pray that intensely for a multitude of people.  But Duewel says we can pray in that way for one person or a few others.

We can begin by asking Jesus to help us pray for others with his love.


Tuesday 24 November 2015

God's co-workers

Prayer warriors are God's co-workers in carrying out God's will on earth.

In fact, God has designed things so that our prayers are essential to implementing God's plans.

In many scriptures, God says that when we pray, God acts.  We should not be surprised that when we don't pray, our plans are fruitless.

In a terrible indictment of the people of Israel, God says in Ezekiel 22:30: "I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land.  I searched for someone to stand in the gap of the wall so I wouldn't have to destroy the land, but I found no one."

There was no one to pray for mercy on Israel and God had to carry out his judgement.

Paul E. Billheimer, author Destined for the Throne, writes:

"Through the plan of prayer, God actually is inviting redeemed man into full partnership with him, not in making the divine decisions, but in implementing those decisions in the affairs of humankind."

Billheimer notes that the Bible speaks of the church as the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:25-27 and Revelation 19:7-9).  In effect, the church is the companion of Jesus.

Indeed, the church is to exercise sovereignty as Christ's companion (2 Timothy 2:12 and Revelation 2:26).  As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:2-3, believers will some day judge the world and the angels.

So, Billheimer says that prayer warriors are in training for the day when they will join Christ in exercising sovereignty in heaven.

Of course, we believers are called upon to seek what God wants so that we can pray according to his will.  The ultimate plan is God's.  Our job is to help carry it out.

It is a responsibility that is both exciting and demanding.

Monday 16 November 2015

Pray for the nation!

Tragedies like the terrorist killings in Paris drive us to pray for our country.

But do we pray when things seem normal?

I realize I am more committed to praying for Canada when there is a crisis.  I tend to neglect praying for the nation when things are quiet.

Why is that?

Perhaps it's because I forget the enemy moves by stealth until he sparks a sudden eruption.  Over time, he gradually extends his control over people and countries through this clever and effective strategy.

Maybe the most important time to pray is when things are calm.

Through the prophet Ezekiel, God speaks these sad and convicting words to Israel: "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none."

God looked for one person to pray for sinful Israel so he could spare his people.  But no one did.

His conclusion should ring in our hearts: "So I will pour out my wrath upon them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord." (Ezekiel 22:31)

God used Ezekiel to issue this warning to his people Israel.  But it could also be to any country in the world.

If we do not seek God's help, we should not be surprised what happens when the evil one has full freedom to do what he wants.

How can we pray for our country?  Several ways pop into my mind:

  • We can worship God, praising him for winning the victory over Satan on the cross;
  • We can call upon him to bring spiritual revival to our country;
  • We can pray for godly men and women to rise up to confront spiritual and social evils in our land;
  • We can pray that God would inspire all believers to reach out to others with love, good works, and the good news of Jesus Christ; and
  • We can pray that God would give wisdom, strength, and courage to our government leaders in fighting attacks on our country and our social peace.
God wants us to pray for our nations.  Let's do it.



Monday 9 November 2015

Praise: The invisible weapon

Praising God is an invisible - but effective - weapon.

It is so invisible that I often forget it.  As do many other Christians.

Charles Spurgeon, a great British Baptist preacher in the 1800s, was inspired by the story of Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, and the vastly outnumbered army of Judah and their amazing victory over the combined armies of three nations described in 2 Chronicles 20.

Spurgeon called the victorious army of Judah "the singing army" because they routed their enemies by singing praises to God.

In The Power in Praising God, a collection of his sermons, Spurgeon describes the confrontation between Judah and the invading armies before listing several key lessons we can learn from it.

When men reported the gathering attack, King Jehoshaphat called together his people and declared a fast as they sought God's direction in how to respond.

Spurgeon notes the people prayed with confidence in what God had done in the past.  When we face problems, we can approach God in faith, too, remembering what he has done before.

Then, the people recalled what God had promised them over the years - referring to scripture.  That is available to us, too.

Next, they admitted their weakness in the face of an overpowering enemy force.  We are strongest when we admit our weakness and our need for God.

Finally, they said "Our eyes are upon you", declaring their complete trust in God.

God responded through the Spirit causing a  prophet to assure the people of Judah that they need not fear because "the battle is not yours, but God's".  The people reacted by worshiping God. They started praising God in song.

"This is the way you should deal with God," Spurgeon writes.  "Before deliverance comes, praise him.  Praise him for what is coming; adore him for what he is going to do."

Jehoshaphat ordered men to go out before the army singing and praising God "for the splendour of his holiness".  They sang: "Give thanks to the Lord for his love endures forever."

It's hard to imagine a crazier battle plan - men singing praises to God rather than attacking with weapons.

But God responded by setting ambushes for the enemy forces, causing the three attacking armies to fight among themselves.  The army of Judah did not have to fight.

"Now, child of God, it will be the same for you," says Spurgeon.  "I do not know how, but if you can only trust God and praise him and go straight ahead, you will see such wondrous things that you will be utterly astonished."

Indeed, I have read elsewhere of people's lives being changed by praising God - even people being healed as they offered praises to the Lord.

Praising God destroys the schemes of Satan as he cannot stand adoration of God.

Praise is effective in changing us - and sometimes even our circumstances.

Sunday 1 November 2015

It's all because of God

A prayer movement is building around the world and exciting things are happening.

And it's all because of God.

One of the really heartening stories is the unlikely birth and growth of the 24-7 prayer rooms which sprang from a vision a carefree young British student - Pete Greig - had in Portugal one night.

In his book Red Moon Rising, Greig says he and a friend were hitchhiking along the coast of Portugal's Algarve after graduating from university and decided to camp on Cape St. Vincent one night.

Unable to sleep, Greig got out of his sleeping bag, looked out over the ocean at the star-filled skies, and had an extraordinary vision.  He imagined the nations in Europe, began praying for them by name, and as he prayed something like an electric current passed through him.

He began to see these nations as in an atlas and "I watched as young people arose out of the page, crowds of them in every nation, a mysterious, faceless army silently awaiting orders".

This vision changed Grieg and the direction of his life.  He did not really understand what it meant.  But he began a quest to find out.

His search began among young druggies, skinheads, and homeless youth in Chichester near London in the late 1990s.  He became involved in an unusual church that grew out of this motley crew.  These young people became turned-on to Jesus in the midst of their messy lives.

But Greig felt dissatisfaction within himself and spent some time asking God what he wanted of him.  He felt led to pray and he travelled with his wife and son in an old car through Europe.

One night they stopped at Hernhutt in Germany, the home of Count von Zinzendorff, father of the amazing round-the-clock Moravian prayer meeting that lasted a century and led to a major missionary movement and indirectly led to the conversion of John Wesley.  Maybe, Greig thought, prayer was what God was asking him to do.

Back home, he and his friends started small - 24-hour-a-day prayer for a month.  Then, it continued - people wandering in from the streets and praying in their prayer room in Chichester at all hours of the day and night.

From there, it spread.  The movement had a vision of prayer, mission and justice.  And right away, Greig and his friends found that God was moving in people throughout Europe in the same way.

News of the Chichester group travelled fast and now tens of thousands of people are praying in prayer rooms around the world - in Europe, North America, Mexico, South America, Asia, Africa.

The wonderful thing is that people who would never go near a church are coming to the Lord through these prayer rooms.  They wander in - sometimes simply out of curiosity - and the presence of God overwhelms them.

Pete Greig even thought at one time of closing down the 24-7 prayer efforts, thinking it had gone as far as it could.  But he found out quickly that God was in charge - not him.  The Spirit had lit a fire that wouldn't go out.  Stories and people flooded him from around the world, telling him what God was doing through these 24-7 prayer rooms.

Someone asked Greig what his group's five-year goals were.  He replied that he didn't know - God was in control.

"The most amazing thing of all has been the hunger," he writes.  "So many people from such different backgrounds just desperate to pray.  We've never tried to persuade anyone to open a prayer room.  People just do!"

You can't force people to pray, he says.

"But when thousands of people all over the world spontaneously develop such a longing for God's presence that they will rise in the night and sacrifice food, such a hunger comes from God alone."

May that hunger spread to me and to many more around the world.