Revival Tidbits

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Pray to walk in Faith.

We pray to walk in faith. Jesus provides much insight as to just how important faith is in the Scriptures. He ends a parable on why we should always pray, with a deep concern in His heart: when He returns, will He find faith on the earth (See Luke 18:1-8).

Jesus spoke of a strong connection between faith and healing. He saw their faith and the paralytic was healed in Mark 2:5. He said to a woman, your faith has made you well in Matthew 9:22. He told a blind man that his faith had made him well in Mark 10:52. He told a leaper that his faith had healed him in
Luke 17:19. He told His followers to have faith in God (see Mark 11:22).

It was said of Stephen he was full of faith and power and did great signs and wonders among the people (see Acts 6:8). Jesus boasted about someone’s faith in Matthew 8:10 and Mark 5:34, but also rebuked some for not having faith in Matthew 6:30; 8:26; 14;31; 16:8; 17:20.

We know from Scripture that we are saved through faith (see Ephesians 2:8-9), that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life (see John 3:15-16; 6:40), and if we confess Jesus as Lord with our mouth and believe in our heart, we shall be saved (see Romans 10:9). And lastly, without faith, it is impossible to
please God (see Hebrews 11:6).

We read in the Bible at least three ways to receive faith. In Romans 12:3 we are told that each of us has been given a measure of faith; in I Corinthians 12:9 that faith is a gift; and in Romans 10:17 that faith comes from hearing the Word of God.

Since faith comes from hearing the Word of God—one way to walk in faith is to pray the Word out loud every day. When I got saved in 1985, the Lord told me to take my wife’s Bible to her church every morning for an hour and He would teach me how to pray. When I got there, He told me to open the Bible and it opened to the Psalms. He then told me to walk around the inside of the sanctuary praying the Psalms out loud and to make it personal for the person(s) or event(s) He was having me pray for.

Several positives here: You do not have to worry about falling asleep praying out loud; Praying the Word out loud is so simple, yet so powerful; You never run out of something to pray; You hear the Word of God being prayed out loud and it will get deep into your spirit man—building your faith; You are declaring TRUTH (John 17:17) over the person or situation; You are praying His Word which is “God- breathed” (His very breath) (see I Timothy 3:16; Genesis 2:17) into the person or situation; You are speaking out His Word that cannot return void and goes out to accomplish exactly what God assigned it to do (see Isaiah 54:10-11).

Oh, the anticipation, the excitement, the immense joy and deep satisfaction of praying His Word out loud everyday—producing fruit—fruit that remains.

Let’s commit to doing this.

Pray instead of panic.

We pray instead of panic. We all know there is always something to worry about, to be anxious over, to fret about, to keep us up at night. But this is not God’s choice for we, His children. We are admonished in Philippians 4:6 to “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with
thanksgiving, let your request be made know to God.” Yes, when we are caught in the worry trap, it is hard to stop, reconsider our options, and pray and speak over ourselves Philippians 4:6 – but we must.

The Complete Wordstudy Dictionary reflects the Greek to mean “To care, be anxious, troubled, to take thought.” The NLT nails it with “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.” It is not a question of knowing this Scripture, as I am
quite sure we all know it—the question for us is—are we practicing it, are we praying instead of panicking?

We are instructed in Psalm 55:22 to “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you;”. And we read something very similar in I Peter 5:7 “…casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” Our Lord cares about us and He will sustain us. But we have our part; we must take our cares, concerns, and fears, bundle them up in a strong bag, tie it with a double knot, and cast it upon our Lord! And we cannot run after it, we must leave our bag of worries with King Jesus, as only He can do something about it and give us peace; Remember, in Him, and Him alone is our peace (Ephesians 2:14).

He speaks a word of encouragement over us in Isaiah 35:4 “Say to those who are fearful-hearted, be strong, do not fear!” King David experienced God’s deliverance more than anyone, and he strengthens us with “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His
temple, and my cry came before Him… (Psalm 18:6)”. David continues edifying us in Psalm 118:5-6, “I called on the Lord in distress; The Lord answered me and set me in a broad place. The Lord is on my
side; I will not fear.”

David was a man after God’s own heart (I Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22), but he still dealt with concerns, fears and distress. But how he chose to handle them is the key. He did not dwell on them like many of us do; he chose to turn his eyes upon God (Colossians 3:1-3) and cried out to his Lord Whom delivered him time and time again. So, let us do as David did and call on the Lord in our distress as He is sure to answer us and place us into the safety of His broad and loving arms, for Jesus is on our side; we will not fear!

Pray for hope.

We pray for hope, in a seemingly hopeless situation. We see such a hopeless situation in II Chronicles 20, where three nations, labeled a great multitude, came against little Judah. When king Jehoshaphat heard the terrifying news, he instantly called all of Judah to fast and seek God’s face in prayer. When they all had assembled, king Jehoshaphat cried out in prayer: “O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you… for we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you. (II Chron 20:6, 12)" What a faith-filled prayer!

What happened next is a witness to when we fast, seek God’s face in prayer, and humbly confess that we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on Him. Judah’s enemy turned on each other and utterly destroyed one another (II Chron 20:23).

We see another hopeless situation in II Kings 18:17 – 19:1–19, where the great king of Assyria, wrote a letter to king Hezekiah not to trust in his God, because he will kill and destroy Judah as he has every country Assyria has come up against. In the natural, this was a totally hopeless situation.

So, did king Hezekiah succumb to frightening and paralyzing fear? No, he “went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. Then Hezekiah prayed… ‘You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib…’ ‘Now therefore, O LORD our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD God, You alone.’ (II Kings 19:14–19)”

What can we learn from Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah on how to handle a seemingly hopeless situation in our life or others? Let us do as they did – get in His presence and lay out our case before the Lord. Then declare Who our Great God is and what He has done in the past. Notice they did not minimize or deny the seriousness of the fearful situation they found themselves in. What they did do, was recognize and exult their Great God over the situation. That their Lord was greater in every aspect than what they were facing. They placed their hope, their trust in the One who dwells between the cherubim, the Creator of heaven and earth.

Now, Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah did not say all this to build up and encourage their Lord (He knows Who He is). They spoke out these faith building declarations of Who God is to encourage and build hope and trust in themselves and all the people. There is power in declaring how majestic our God really is. They also wanted God to perform this miracle so that all the kingdoms of the earth would know that He alone is the Lord God Almighty.

So, what was the outcome of Hezekiah’s big, bold audacious prayer? We read about the victory of God hearing and acting on his prayer in II Kings 19:35–37, where an angel of the Lord killed one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrian army in one night. Then the king of Assyria went home to Nineveh with his tail between his legs. Let us do, believe, and pray like Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah did and watch our Majestic King bring about a great victory in our lives and the lives of others. We serve the God of Miracles; that is Who He is, that is what He does.

Pray to learn how to Pray

We pray, to learn how to pray. Reading books on prayer (there are hundreds) are educational and beneficial. But, how many of us have done everything we have read? When Jesus saved me in 1985, the Holy Spirit told me to take my Bible and go every morning to the church my wife and two girls attended
and He would teach me to pray. And I found out, as reflected in Romans 8:26, He is the best teacher we could have.

When I went to their church with her Bible, I heard the Holy Spirit to tell me to open up the Bible and it opened to Psalms. He then told me to walk around the sanctuary, praying the Scriptures out loud over the people and situations He would show me or tell me—which He faithfully did every morning.

I never knew what Scripture to pray, or whom to pray for, but when I opened my mouth, He was always faithful to fill it (Psalm 81:10). He always had me pray the Scriptures, because His Word will never return empty, and will achieve the purpose for which He sent it (Isaiah 55:11). What a promise to hold on to. Jesus tells us in John 15:7, that “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” So, let us get in His presence, pray, stand on His Word, and watch our prayers be answered.

One of my favorite Scriptures the Holy Spirit used to teach me how to pray was Lamentation 2:19 (NIV) – “Arise, cry out in the night… pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord…”. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary states “arise” means to “rise up, stand up, stir up”. Do we do this? Can we picture
ourselves doing this, as our great God in heaven is instructing us to stand up and stir ourselves up to pray out to the One who hears and answers our prayers?

Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary reflects “cry out” to mean “to shout or cry out”. This might be offensives to some—but not to God— as He is instructing us to shout or cry out loud our pleas, our prayers, our intercessions. Let us follow David’s example in Psalm 119:145 – “I cry out with my whole heart;” Strong’s
also informs us “pour out” is to “spill forth, gush out, pour out” – like a fountain, pouring out a torrent of words to God our Maker.

We are encouraged in Psalm 62:8 to “Pour out our heart before Him…”. So, we learn to pray by praying – pouring out our heart like water in the presence of our Lord. It is fun, exciting, rewarding, refreshing, and pleasing to Jesus.

Pray to Intimately Trust Him

We pray to intimately trust Him. David prayed in Psalm 5:2-3, “My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord;” David’s “knowing” – this kind of trust – came from a deep intimate relationship with his Lord. Oh Lord, may we “know” You, and trust You, like David did.

Trust is the heart of intimacy. God is intimate with those that trust Him. And… we trust those that we are intimate with. If a total stranger came up to you as you were getting out of your vehicle and asked if they could have it for a while… what would be your answer? But, if a family member, or close friend,
asked you to borrower it for the day… you would hand them the keys without hesitation. Why? You know that person, you have relationship with them… therefore, you trust them. And, in like fashion, as we pray, we learn to intimately trust Him.

Asaph, in Psalm 73:28, prayed out “But it is good for me to draw near [intimacy] to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God…” Where did his trust come from? We read the answer in v25, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon the earth that I desire besides You.” Oh Jesus, may we have this depth of trust David, Asaph, and others in the Bible had, by daily drawing near to You that we can say with Asaph, there is none I desire besides You.

Again and again, we see in David’s life where trust follows intimacy, and… trust fosters intimacy. David affirmed in Psalm 9:10, “And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek You.” Could we ever slowly read this Scripture too many times? Bottom
line: our trust, is the measure, the barometer… of our intimacy with Jesus. So, if we want to trust Him more, let’s spend more time drawing near to Him in prayer.

Pray to Grow Our Love

Have we been praying about how we are to grow our love for our Jesus? Have we been meditating on how we can keep our love fresh, engaged, and on fire? There is a warning in Revelations 2:1-4, that although they are commended for doing good works, nevertheless, Jesus reprimanded them for leaving their first love. We read in Revelations 3:15-16 that this particular body of believers are rebuked for being lukewarm, with dire ramifications. So, maybe our question to ourselves should be how do we get hot and stay hot. Isn’t God calling us to return to our first love?

Could we not assume these Christ followers did not allow their love to grow cold or indifferent on purpose? And doubt they even knew that they had? Maybe we need to examine ourselves daily as we are instructed in II Corinthians 13:5 (see also Gal 6:4; Lam 3:40; Ps 26:2; Jer 17:10; Ps 139:23-24, and I Cor 11:28). Maybe we need to have daily spiritual heart check-ups?

In Matthew 12:34 we are admonished that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Are we really listening to what is coming out of our mouth? Where is this harshness coming from? This criticalness and judgement? This resentment, this irritation, this anger? This pride, this arrogance? (Shouldn’t our behavior should reflect Him?) Or our complacency and apathy, our lack of fire we once had? What happened to our red-hot passion and love for Jesus to the degree we prayed and worshiped for hours and witnessed to anything that moved? Or have we become weary, or too busy (even doing “God’s work”), or too distracted?

Those believers we read about in Revelations 2 and 3 never dreamed they would one day be accused of forsaking their first love; of the one who saved them, delivered them, healed them, blessed them, kept them, guided them, comforted them, and most of all, showered His love on them. They stopped
pursuing God. Their relationship with Him was no longer a number 1 priority. Does our heart ache when we think about this? And the sad thing is, it could have been avoided.

Does this stir something in our heart? Do we feel convicted? If we really searched our heart and were honest with ourselves, would we admit that we are dry and thirsty? That our heart is cold and callused? That we are at a loss to explain our loss of passion to pray; loss of desire and appeal to study His Word; the loss of our once longing for deep, heartfelt, tearful worship; and the loss of excitement to share the love of Jesus with others? That we can’t find that zeal we once had? That we don’t feel that deep, heart-felt longing for more of Him that we once felt? That we cannot truly describe our relationship with Jesus as “intimate” anymore? Are we at a loss for words? We pray to grow our love for Him!

Oh, let us pursue Jesus with all our heart, mind, strength and soul. Let us seek to please Him. Let us strive to partner with Him. Let us be sure we are present with Him. Let us make Him a priority. Let us promote our relationship with Him. Let us seek to daily renew our passion for Him. And lastly, let us protect our relationship with Him.

Oh, may we spend time with Him, for in His presence we are renewed and refreshed in our deep heart-felt love for our Jesus, the Lover of our soul.

Pray to intimately know Him

We pray to intimately know Him. My heart is always thrilled and leaps for joy when I read what the Lord said through Jeremiah (29:12-14) “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by
you, says the Lord…”. Our incredible loving God assures us, He will listen to us if we call upon Him and pray to Him. And if we seek Him, He promises He will be found by us. That’s intimacy folks.

Do we find ourselves asking… ‘Am I making this relationship with my Jesus too difficult?’ as James 4:8 promises a very simple, uncomplicated approach to intimacy with Him. “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” Let’s do this and experience intimacy with our Savior and Best Friend forever.

David writes in Psalm 27:4 “One thing I have desired of the Lord that will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord…” What was in the tent that David refers to “the house of the Lord”? The Glory of the Lord… His Glorious Manifest Presence. David experienced intimacy with his Lord… and we can also. Let’s spend time in His presence and behold the beauty of the Lord as David did.

When God told David to “Seek My face” in Psalm 27:8, David replied, “My heart said to You, ‘Your face, Lord, I will seek.’” God is after “face seekers”; those who desire heart-felt, life-changing intimacy, with Him… as He created us for deep, intimate relationship. Let us seek His face.

David pours out his heart to His Lord in Psalm 84:2 with “My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord; My heart and flesh cry out for the living God.” Oh, may we seek intimacy… as our heart and flesh cry out to our dear Jesus.

Pray because JESUS

We pray because Jesus, our Teacher, prayed. We read in Matthew 14:23-25 that Jesus “went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.” We really do not know when He started to pray, but we do know it was before sunset, as it states “now when evening came”.
And, we do know that in the “fourth watch” of the night (which is from 3:00 AM to 6:00 AM), he stopped praying (see v 25). So, at a minimum, our Teacher prayed for 6 hours! May His example cause us… spur us, to examine our own payer life.

Another example of Jesus praying for many hours at a time is in Luke 6:12, “…He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer…”. Why, because we read in v13, He had a very important decision to make, and chose to spend time with His Father for the answer. Good practice for
us also… when we are faced with important decisions in life.

Jesus must have thought praying for an hour was no big thing, as in Matthew 26:39, it reflects “He…fell on His face, and prayed…”. Then in v40, he chastised His disciples for not praying with Him for an hour.

One of my favorite instances of Jesus in prayer is Mark 1:35 which states “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before dawn, He went out and departed to a solitary place, and there He prayed.” Have you ever wondered, just how long is “a long while before dawn”? Jesus spent this time communing
with His Father to receive His purpose and power for the day as we see in v37-38 His disciples found Him and said, ‘Hey, let’s go back to town as you were a hit and everyone is looking for you’, to which He basically replied, ‘Nope, we are going to the next town as that is my purpose’; and He went out full of power, preaching, casting out demons and healing the sick (v39-42).

We also know that Jesus, our Teacher, “often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed” as reflected in Luke 5:16. What an example He set for us to follow… will we?

As we study the prayer life of Jesus, are we not compelled to ask ourselves, “Wow, if Jesus, son of man and Son of God, spent as much time in prayer that we read in the Gospel’s, how much time should we be spending in prayer?” May this question stir us, convict us, to make prayer a bigger priority in our daily life.

Worship our God of steadfast-love

How can we not be moved to bow down and worship our God of steadfast-love when we read and ponder the amazing and incredible story of the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham to provide a wife for his son, Isaac, in Genesis 24? (I encourage you to slowly read all of 24)

We read in Genesis 24:2-7 of Abraham instructing Eliezer, his oldest and faithful servant, to go to the land of Abraham’s birth and obtain a wife for Isaac. To which his servant said “what if she is not willing to go”? Abraham then spoke out such a faith-filled statement it astounds me: “The Lord God of heaven… will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son”.

With that encouraging word, his servant arose and traveled to the land Abraham spoke of. Upon arriving, he prayed with expectant hope: “please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham” (Gen 24:12).

Then, with faith arising, he prayed again “Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, 'Please let down your pitcher that I may drink,' and she says, 'Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink'—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. And by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master” (Gen. 24:14).

Oh, how we serve the great Promise Keeper, as we dazzlingly read in v15 “And it happened, before he had finished speaking, that behold, Rebekah… came out with her pitcher on her shoulder.” How can we not stop, bow down and worship our spectacular and marvelous God?

Upon seeing Rebekah, the servant ran to her asking her to provide water for him and his camels, and if her household had room for, he and his group. To which Rebekah replied “We have both straw and feed enough, and room to lodge” (v17-25).

“Then, the servant bowed down his head and worshiped the Lord” (v26). Think about this a moment; God, fulfilling His promise, moved this man to bow down to the ground and offer unashamed, unabashed worship to God Almighty! Father God has fulfilled a promise to us to send His Son that you and I could be forgiven, redeemed, and sanctified to live with Him for eternity! How can we not bow down in deep awe and respect and worship our Lord, who loves us and gave His life for us?

And as the servant was bowing down to the ground worshiping God with awe-struck wonder, he cried out “"Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master's brethren” (v27). Absolutely astonishing and breathtaking is our Holy God Almighty!

Oh, Jesus, your steadfast love never ceases to amaze us. You have never forsaken Your never-ending mercy and truth towards us. Regardless of our mistakes and failures, Your mercies are new every morning. How can we not be enraptured to bow down to the ground and worship You as we read and ponder the amazing, incredible stories of the fulfillment of Your promises?

Why Worship?

My wife and I had a pastor many years ago who would say he thought of worship as “worth-ship,” that God was worth our worship, that He alone is worthy of all our worship.

During the time the Holy Spirit was teaching me how to pray, I fell in love with the Psalms. I studied David over and over as I just could not get enough of him, his life, and accomplishments. The thought came to me that David was a worshiping warrior, and thus I chose to emulate his life the best I could, especially his worship of his faithful Father.

David knew God is worthy of our worship. He wrote, “I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised” (Ps. 18:3). In Psalm 29:2, he cries out: “Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord.”

Philippians 2:9 tells us, “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name.”

If God highly exalted Jesus, should we not highly exalt Him with our worship?

We also worship God because “He is Holy,” as written in Psalm 99:3, 5, 9, and 22:3 “You are holy.” And just in case there is any doubt, God Almighty Himself declares “I am the Lord, your Holy One” in Isaiah 43:1 (see also Isa. 57:15; Ex.15:11).

We are actually instructed to worship Him “because He is your Lord, worship Him” (Ps. 45:11b). Psalm 95:6 admonishes us with, “Oh come, let us worship and bow down”, and also “Oh, worship the Lord” in Psalm 96:9.

We read the desire of His heart for you and me in Psalm 22:27: “And all the families of the nations shall worship before Him.” Also, “All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, and shall glorify Your name” (Ps. 86:9).

Our Father knows what is best for His children. He knows what keeps our heart in love with His heart. He really does want us to exalt Him and worship Him, for He alone is worthy, He alone is holy.

(excepts from the book: How Can We Not Worship Him?”)

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From Conviction to Convenience:
Is the Church Abandoning True Holiness?

This is a spiritual truth: God commands us to be holy. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord
(Hebrews 12:14). This isn’t just a warning for the unbeliever—it’s a sobering reality for every

Christian who claims to follow Christ yet shapes their choices around what they deem acceptable.
Charles Finney once observed that every person lives according to the governing preference of
their mind. In other words, we’re experts at justifying what we want to believe. Even Christians
scour Scripture, not for conviction, but for loopholes to bless their compromises. And it shows.
Take the shifting standards in the church today. What was once recognized as sin is now celebrated as "liberty." Small groups—meant for discipleship—have become venues for casual
compromise. I’ve been offered alcohol at one; others meet in breweries under the banner of
"Beer and Bibles." Since when did alcohol become a tool for Christian growth?

Preachers like Billy Sunday and Mordecai Ham (who led Billy Graham to Christ) fiercely
opposed the liquor trade. Yet today, as pastors and leaders publicly stumble, should we be
surprised? One global leader, whose ministry lies in ruins, recently confessed in an open letter:
"Alcohol was not my friend."

The flock reflects its shepherd. So I ask: Is this really the holiness God requires? Are we truly
"seeing the Lord" — or just a mirror of our own preferences?

Maybe it’s time we revisit what holiness means.
Definitely something to ponder.

Can You Grasp The Depth Of He Love Of God?

Sometimes I don’t feel very spiritual or ready to come before God when I start my personal prayer time and communion with Him. But one thing I have found, is that when I begin to worship Him and give Him praise, His Presence comes over me, and I feel a shift in my readiness as I realize how much He loves me. Most of us were not very lovely when we decided to let God into our lives. God’s word says that; even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins (very unlovely) He extended His loving hand. I think about how inappropriate it was for God to reach down to us in
our muck and mire to pull us out of that mess. Why would the God of the universe do that? It is times like, that when I just can’t fathom His wonderful love in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. The presence of God just overwhelms me at that point because it defies explanation. However, I am so glad and grateful to the Lord that He did that for me and for you. It is at that point that I appreciate what a wonderful and beautiful privilege it is to fellowship with Him and be
in His presence. I hope you feel the same way. If not, please know that God is waiting for you to just discover how vast His great love is toward you!

Are You Hungry For A Mighty Move Of God?

We say we want to see great revival in our time. However, we prove that we actually don’t when we say things like; “If God wants to send revival then surely He’s able to do it sovereignly” or “you can’t make revival happen”. The interesting thing about revival is that God always throws responsibility back on us to do what it takes see revival happen. Leonard Ravenhill is credited with saying; “The only reason we don’t see great revival is because we’re willing to live without it.” In other words, we are not desperate enough to do what it takes to see revival happen. In Jeremiah
33:3 God says; “Call on Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things that you haven’t seen.” In 29:13, He says “And you shall seek Me, and you shall find Me when you shall search for Me with all your heart.”

Today, we are mostly complacent about seeking God for revival. The majority of believers have gotten used to church as usual and tend to believe that this is just the way it is in our lifetime and in our service for God. I want to tell you though that God has much more in store for us than we have ever seen. He doesn’t want us to be content to walk as lukewarm believers (you know what God has said in Revelations about that). I for one don’t want to be spewed out of God’s mouth! I want to be hot and burning brightly when Christ returns. If He says in 1 Corinthians 2:9 that; “No
eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined what God has in store for those who love Him, shouldn’t that be enough to make us seek Him more? I for one say a resounding yes to seek Him in a greater way for revival. Get on fire for God and people will want to come watch you burn!

Are You a Strong Tree?

Isaiah 61:3 says that we His people would be trees of righteous, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified. One translation says the “oaks” of righteousness. Oak trees are known for being an extremely strong and sturdy tree, able to withstand any kind of weather. They may lose some branches in tornado conditions, but the tree almost always continues to stand.

That is how God wants us to be seen as Christians: to still be standing through every storm that life throws at us.

Isaiah also says that we are representations of His glory to the common, unregenerate world. We should be seen as His glorious and overcoming people in a world many times filled with heartache and tragedy.

This is clarified in Isaiah 62:1; “And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory”. God’s glory and beauty are described by the same term. When people see us they should see a representative of God’s character and attributes as we used to sing a song years ago; “Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me, all His wonderful passion and purity, Oh thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine, let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.”

Are others seeing the strength and beauty of God in your life?

Let us be challenged today for that to evermore be the case!

The Goodness of God

I heard an old saying more than once along the road of life; “Too soon old, too late smart”.

As I am closing in on the latter part of my life, I seem to reflect more and more on the goodness of God. Especially reflecting on how His hand has been upon me the whole way, even though at times I did not have as much appreciation of that as I do now.

Indeed, God is good. He has been faithful to me even when I have not been so faithful to Him. I am glad for the scripture that says; “Even if we believe not, He abides faithful”. God is good in that He lets us have what we think are the desires of our heart, sometimes to our own detriment.

He has a way of showing us that, had we followed Him more closely, and listened for His voice more intently, we may have recognized that He had a greater desire for us that would have made us appreciate His goodness to a much higher degree.

Like the popular Christian song by Bethel Music: “All my life You have been faithful, all my life You have been so, so good, with every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God.” Lord, may we be more intentional day by day to grasp ahold of the wonderful fact that God is so good!

A Little Lower than Angels

“It seems that God will do nothing unless someone asks Him.” That saying is attributed to John Wesley.

It seems hard to comprehend that the God of the universe, who spoke everything into existence, would need anybody to do anything.

Especially that we should be able to move His hand by our prayers for a single thing, let alone all things.

But that is how the author of our faith (not to mention the creator of all things) has chosen, in His design, for things to work.

When I think of how satan, whom the scriptures call the “son of the morning” said “I will ascend and I will be like the Most High”, it is only fitting that there would be a divine response from the Most High.

His response to satan’s pride was that He made man, who was created a little lower than the angels, to be elevated above satan.

He put satan under our feet, and gave us authority over satan’s authority.

It must be very frustrating to satan that we are able to undo his evil intent of killing, stealing, and destroying through our faith-filled prayers because of the redemptive work of Christ.

Call To God in Prayer

If God did not exist, man would invent Him anyway.

Man is born with an innate need to pray. In every religion in the world, people pray.

If faced with disaster, man will call out for help in prayer.

However, what matters is who the target is of that cry for help.

God wants man’s devotion to Himself.

That is why, in the Bible, He is called a jealous God and why one of His biggest challenges
has been competing with other “gods”.

All through the Bible, God’s encouraged His people to give up their idols and worship Him, and Him alone.

Which is why the Bible says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”.

When we know the One True and living God, we will understand Him as our Father and act in our
natural desire and yearning to call out to Him in prayer.

Peace Leads to Joy

In this Christmas season, one of the Christmas carols we hear is "Joy to the world".

It is the desire of every human heart to find joy. However, we cannot have real joy without personally knowing the author of joy, who is Jesus our Savior.

Romans 14:17 tells us that the Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

That means the Kingdom of God is the only place where joy abounds because it is the only place where righteousness and peace are found.

Being justified with God as Romans 5:1 says, produces peace in our lives which in turn brings joy.

May this Christmas season be one where believers and pre-believers alike seek first the Kingdom of God and salvation in Jesus, so that all these things (peace, righteousness and joy) be given to them (Matt 6:33).

That is the Christmas gift we pray for!

Humility is Evident

Luke 2:7 tells us that Jesus was born in Bethlehem which means (the city of bread).

He was birthed in a humble stable because there was no room in the inn.

It also tells us He was swaddled and laid in a manger. It is often cited that He lowly stepped down from His riches in glory to demonstrate humility to us.

There can be no argument concerning these thoughts but perhaps there is something else God the Father wanted to demonstrate to us.

A manger is an eating place for animals which is a very humble place to lay an infant.

Perhaps we are to see by this illustration, that Jesus is the living bread who lay in a manger.

We are invited to come humbly to him, not as at some royal banquet, but in the humble place, to partake of that Living Bread.

In numerous scriptures, the Word tells us that, if we humble ourselves, we will be exalted (James 4:10,1Pet 5:6, Matt 23:12).

When we humble ourselves to partake of that Living Bread, we find ourselves being exalted with the same kind of eternal life that Jesus has, which is for all eternity.

Do you practice humility?

Pray for Divine Havoc

We know that God's will is for all men to be saved by coming to the knowledge of Jesus
Christ as their Savior. The question is, what does it take for that to happen?

I have had conversations with people about their opportunity for salvation and had them tell me that “there are many ways and doors to God, yours sounds too exclusive”.

To counter that, I like what I once heard a preacher explain when he shared that there shouldn’t be any way to God because of His deity.

However, we are fortunate that God did make a way when He said in Acts 4:12 that there is a way to God which is Jesus Christ.

So, for our unsaved friends and loved ones, who are doubtful of there being only one way to God,
words may not make a difference.

That means we should pray that God, by the power of Holy Spirit, gives them powerful spiritual encounters that release divine havoc in their lives and woos them into the loving arms of Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Faith-Filled Prayer

It is paramount that we pray for God’s will to be done in the earth, for ourselves, our families, our churches, and our nation. No one who is motivated about the importance of prayer disputes that.

However, in James 5:16, we are told that the effectual, fervent prayer of the righteous avails much.

This scripture teaches that prayer accomplishes things on its own, but we must remember that in order for our prayers to be effective, they must be mixed with faith.

We must believe that our prayers are being heard and answered so that we are not just going through spiritual or religious motions.

Bottom line, faith-filled prayer should give us great boldness and confidence as we intercede.

Want to Mess with Darkness?

Why do we pray? Can't God do anything He wants to?

It is hard to accept that certain things won't happen unless we pray.

In fact, it can be mind blowing to realize that our infinite God depends on His created beings to intercede so that certain things are accomplished in the heavenlies and on earth.

It is even more interesting to know that there is a human characteristic that God requires as we pray.

The verse in 2 Chronicles 7:14 effortlessly rolls off many a tongue but the real power of it is often overlooked. What I am speaking of is the power of humility. The verse says "If my people will HUMBLE themselves and pray, THEN I will hear from heaven" and then He says what He will DO.

This means that the characteristic of humility carries great power.

Jesus, though He was God, humbled himself and came to earth as a man to do what was necessary to save us, resulting in the gift of salvation.

Likewise when we humble ourselves and pray, we are doing something through our obedience and humility that wreaks havoc with the power of darkness around us.

If you want to see evil defeated in your sphere of influence, now is the time to pray.

Will you join me now as I excuse myself to go pray?

October 14, 2024

Are you a house of prayer?

"My house shall be called a house of prayer" - God.

We need to look at that statement from God in two senses.

First as Christ's body, we are His house.

Secondly, the place where we meet is also called God's house.

His design is for we, the church, to come to God's House, the location, to meet together.

What are we to do there? We meet to worship, to hear God's word, and PRAY

because it is in that atmosphere that wonderful things happen.

The realization that God is there with us and He is in us in that setting is awe-inspiring.

Add to that the knowledge that His living Word is in us, works among us and

He works His works through us. These revelations should motivate us to fervently

Seek God through more passionate and consistent prayer.

In my book, if that revelation doesn't inspire you to pray, It pray that you receive a personal revival, a rekindling of Holy Spirit fire in your life.

Excuse me, I think I need to go pray!

Prayer As a Remembrance

Personal or corporate prayer can be based on a remembrance of what God did in the past because, if He did it then, He can certainly do it again (and more) in this season!

Throughout the bible, the prophets and people of Israel took time to remember all that God had done for them. They placed remembrance stones (Joshua 4: 1-8) and recounted the testimonies of their ancestors giving thanks to God. They also sounded the trumpets as a memorial before God (Num 10:9). In each instance, prayers were raised to Father God thanking Him for what He had done, even as they prayed believing for what He would do in their current time.

Consider this in your own prayer times. Are there things that the Lord has done for you for which you are grateful? Are they related to things you are praying for today? Give thanks to God for what He did back then believing that He will do even more for you now.

You can do two things to provide a remembrance of the past as you pray for today:

Collect one or more stones. Use a permanent marker to write a scripture or a brief summary of what you are thankful for on stones, creating stones of remembrance. Find a special place to display the stone(s) in your home or yard. Allow them to remind you of what you are grateful for and what you are believing for with expectant faith.
Start a Journal of Remembrance and Thanksgiving. Regularly write down the things that God has done in your life for which you are grateful. Date each entry as a remembrance. When you are down or discouraged, you can then read and pray through your Remembrance Journal as a way to instill yourself with expectant hope that God will do it again and even more so!

Prayer can be a powerful tool for giving thanks for the past and believing for the future. Will you use prayer as a remembrance?

Prayer is an honored privilege to communicate and build a strong, intimate, relationship with God the Father. It is His invitation to commune with Him in a powerful conversation which can bring about change. It is the believer’s opportunity to agree with “the Father’s will on earth as it is in heaven.”

With this understanding, we need to recognize that there are multiple variations of prayer. Among them are petitions, blessings, supplications, statements of gratefulness, declarations, and intercession. Some believers release their prayers through thoughts and at times pray out loud. Some will journal what they hear from the Lord and their specific prayers. Others simply flow spontaneously in prayer with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The question is, can there be too much prayer?

1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to “pray without ceasing”. That Bible verse alone tells us that there cannot be too much prayer. It does not mean, however, that prayers come out of your mouth every minute of every day. Or that you must pray through a checklist every day. The simple goal is to set aside a time for focused prayer and then be mindful of the Lord, His will, and His Word as we go about our day. We can use spontaneous prayer to intentionally acknowledge Him in all that we do and support others through intercession. This simple approach means some of our prayers might sound like: “Thank You Lord for the parking spot”. “Thank You Holy Spirit for protecting me from a traffic accident.” “Please bless the cashier Lord…bring healing to her injury”.

Bottom line is, we shouldn’t think of prayer as something we “have to do”. It should become “who we are”….we should live a lifestyle of prayer and intercession. In this way, we can remain mindful to pray without ceasing just as it is written in Scripture.

Colorado Prays helps believers develop a lifestyle of prayer through 4 ongoing, statewide prayer initiatives.

Check out the Church Prayer Watch initiative where pastors and prayer leaders are encouraged to engage their congregation in a Monthly Church Prayer Watch. https://www.coprays.org/church-prayer-watch
Believers can join a local Civic Prayer Team (or better yet, start one for their community). https://www.coprays.org/civicprteams
Individuals can join a statewide Field of Harvest Prayer Team which is focused on a topic such as education, arts, media, Israel, Issues of Life, Family, government and more. https://www.coprays.org/foh-teams
Groups and individuals can engage in the County Prayer Watch initiative. Each County is assigned a day of the month for the County Prayer Watch. Individuals can sign up for a 1-2 hour Prayer Promise to cover the county in 24-hour prayer. Groups could host a live County Prayer Watch held at a convenient location in the county.

Can There be Too Much Prayer?

It's Time!

It is easy to understand what climate is in the natural - rain, heat, cold, humidity, etc. However, have you ever considered
the spiritual climate of your home, church, community or your state? Most of the time a room or building seems at peace and yet sometimes you get a creepy evil feeling when entering a certain location. That feeling is a recognition of the spiritual climate.

For too long, THE CHURCH of Colorado has left our cities' spiritual climate to the powers of darkness. The evidence is all around. Anger and rage are rampant on Colorado streets and highways. Crime rate continues to increase with little justice to correct it. Too many people live with depression and hopelessness which leads to addictions and suicides.

It is time for God’s people, the Ecclesia, to shift the spiritual climate in their community!

An example of changing the spiritual climate in Manchester, Kentucky in 2004.

Back then, Manchester was the Oxycodone capital of our nation - corruption was rampant at every level of the city government and addiction was affecting a lot of people. It resulted in 80% of high school students and their families being addicted to alcohol or drugs or both. 1-2 kids every week died due to drug overdose.

As Pastor Doug Abner said, “The problem wasn’t the darkness, it was the lack of the Light”. He and another pastor began to rally believers to pray and be the light in the community. Eventually, a corporate response shifted the spiritual climate across the whole county - 65 pastors and 3,500 citizens joined together in a solemn assembly down the main street of the city to declare that God was now in control!

Within weeks, drug dealers came to Jesus and God also used the FBI which swooped into town and arrested nearly every city leader involved in corruption. Many open city leadership positions were then filled by godly Christians and prayer increased. Teen Challenge opened a facility, employing a Christ-centered model of drug and alcohol recovery program for those in need. The city that was previously filled with hopelessness and depression became a thriving community with new job opportunities in tourism.

The story of Manchester, along with many other citywide and regional testimonies from The Sentinel Group, demonstrates what happens when believers in a community take control of the spiritual climate through corporate prayer and worship. It’s time to unite AS ONE (John 17) in prayer for Colorado!

Take a bold step today and engage in corporate prayer.

Your church can host a Church Prayer Watch.

You can join or start a Civic Prayer Team.

You can join or start a Field of Harvest Prayer Team.

Send me a text or email to suggest other ways to enlist corporate prayer in your community.

If you consider a time of prayer to be an opportunity to petition God to meet your needs, it may not take long to pray. However, if you consider a time of prayer to be a conversation with God; an opportunity to hear from Him, discern His will and pray for Kingdom issues, your prayer time could go on for hours without much effort.

Consider a simple model:

1. Worship. Start and end your prayer time with Worship. Read scriptures out loud that give reverence and adoration to God. Sing songs that cause you to worship who He is to you.

2. Repent & Forgive. Don’t let anything hinder your prayer time. Be sure you have the right heart and mind as you start your prayer hour. If you have unconfessed sin, bring it to the Lord and repent. If you are holding a grudge against someone, now is the time to forgive and allow God to move as you release forgiveness.

3. Ask & Listen. Ask the Lord what He would like you to pray about. Is it your family? Your church? Your community? Your state? Or should you focus on a specific topic such as media, education, government, marketplace, arts, etc?

4. Pray The Word. Once you discern the focus for your prayer time, look up scriptures that relate to your focus. Pray those out loud and support them with more prayer related to the topic.

5. Repeat. Continue to cycle through steps 4 and 5 until you feel that you have exhausted the prayer points for your focus.

6. Praise & Worship. Close your time by thanking God, praising Him and worshiping Him for the answers that you, in faith, expect to see manifest from your intercession.

If you need help with Prayer Points, download the Monthly Prayer

Digest from the Colorado Prays website at

www.coprays.org/prayer-digest

The Monthly Prayer Digest provides prayer points on a variety of topics.

I pray blessings on your time with the Lord!

How to pray for an hour.

Pray Without Ceasing.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 exhorts us to “pray without ceasing”. It is the only thing that the Bible tells us is God’s will for us to do continuously. Most believers fail to exercise this privilege of a private, non-stop conversation with God throughout their day. Those who do exercise the practice of praying without ceasing, discover a greater awareness of the presence of God in every aspect of their life and they experience more of His power and authority as they pray.

The surrounding verses in the book of 1 Thessalonians also tell us to “Rejoice always” and “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Be intentional to rejoice and give thanks in every circumstance, which is more conversation with God. If you want to be in God’s will, I encourage you to be persistent and consistent in your prayer life. By doing so, you will develop a greater awareness of God’s Presence and His power in your life.

If you need help knowing what to pray, download the monthly Prayer Digest from Colorado Prays.

It provides 9 pages of prayer points each month. You can access the Prayer Digest here: https://www.coprays.org/prayer-digest

ACCESS NOW

In 1727, the Moravian Community of Herrnhut in Saxony started the first protestant round-the-clock “Prayer Watch” which continued non-stop for over one hundred years with 2-3 people sustaining the prayer wall every hour of the day.

Sixty five years into the 7x24 Prayer Watch, the original small Moravian community of over 300 refugees had prayed nonstop and sent over 300 missionaries around the world who built, transformed and sustained hundreds of churches and communities.

The Colorado Prays Church Prayer Watch and the County Prayer Watch are both patterned after the Moravian Prayer Watch model. Churches can host a monthly 24-hour Church Prayer Watch at their church, via a Zoom meeting or through people praying from their prayer closets at home.

The County Prayer Watch can be virtual with people praying from home or they can be hosted by someone in the county and take place at a physical location. Over 60 churches and groups currently host a Church Prayer Watch which now covers Colorado in non-stop prayer.

The goal now is to see 30+ churches and groups in each county hosting a Prayer Watch which covers the county in a wall of day and night prayer.

If people in the 1700’s who did not have technology can sustain non-stop prayer, then so can the believers of Colorado today.

Click here to learn how you can host a Church Prayer Watch:

Learn about participating in a County Prayer Watch HERE:

Non-Stop, Day and Night Prayer Changes things.

HOST NOW!

LEARN MORE!

Corporate Prayer

Corporate Prayer (praying out loud with other people for other people) is ordained by God and brings about change. The book of Acts repeatedly shows believers praying corporately and things changing. One such instance is when Paul and Silas were praying and worshipping together in jail. The earth shook causing the prison doors to supernaturally open up and set them, and all of the prisoners, free. In the process, the jailer and his family came to faith in Jesus.

In more recent times, many of the transformational historical revivals were ignited when believers gathered together in corporate, community wide prayer meetings. In the beginning of the Hebrides Revival on the Island of Lewis, the people were so desperate for reprieve from dead, legalistic churches that turned off young people and caused a “spiritual winter” on the Island that they turned to corporate prayer. In extraordinary obedience to the call to prayer and repentance from two elderly sisters, pastors, local men and others prayed together twice a week from 10pm to 3am in the middle of winter inside barns and other unheated buildings. After several weeks of united, persistent corporate prayer, these prayer meetings evolved into prolonged times of humble repentance and cries for mercy. That intense intercession and repentance attracted the Presence of God which fell on the entire village and launched the Hebrides Revival.

Are you ready to experience an extraordinary move of God in your community? Ignite your faith by organizing and engaging in prolonged, heartfelt corporate prayer that creates a landing place for God’s Presence.

I recently heard a message from Suzette Hattingh (a powerful intercessor in S. Africa) in which she shared that crying out to God to “bring revival again” is limiting God to what He did back then when, in reality, our God is limitless! We should not limit Him to what He did back then even though it was awe inspiring. We need to believe that He will do far greater things in our time!

Those greater things start with us. Every historical revival started with personal prayer and individual transformation which led to corporate prayer and community wide transformation. In the Welch Revival, the people cried out to God asking Him to “Bend Me!” (transform me). Recently, we have heard that same cry of “Bend me” from believers in Southern California as thousands have been simultaneously baptized at Huntington State Beach.

Are you willing to ignite your faith by asking God to “Bend me!”? Are you willing to remove all limits from what you expect Him to do in your life and in your community by simply praying “Come Lord Jesus, Come!” and “Your will be done in my life and my community.”? I encourage you to pray those three things every day.

Until next time…

Ignite Your Faith!

40,000 people from over 400 Christian churches uniting to pray for everyone in the city by name! Churches creating a no-competition zone among themselves choosing to cooperate with God for supernatural transformation of the city. Let it happen here in Colorado Lord God!!

Awaken Nashville: Praying for every person in the city

Why Your Church Should Pray For Revival

Do you want your church to experience the great blessing that God offers through revival? Are you toiling for the wrong things in your church? Are satisfied with church as usual? Do you want more of God for your congregation and city?

God's People Lack Purity

God is all-powerful which means there is no shortage of Divine Power in the world, but there IS a shortage of human purity. God's power follows purity. He is looking for people with pure hearts to fill them with His power.

Experiencing Divine Discontent

Have you experienced Divine Discontent - a dissatisfaction with life and church as usual? Do you have a longing for more of God? Are you called to something bigger than what you are doing now? If you want something more for your life, we challenge you to seek God with all your heart.

Are You Sure YOu Want Revival?

True revival brings change. I mean real change. Hearts are transformed. Relationships are healed and much more. However, there is a cost to seeing revival in your lifetime and it starts with you. Do you really want to see revival in your lifetime?

Transforming Revival Starts With You

As you seek God for forgiveness and choose to repent, He will transform you more and more into His likeness. As you are transformed more into His likeness, you will reflect His glory and impact the world around you. As more people like you seek God and are transformed, the whole community can be transformed. SEEK GOD Today!

2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.hat's this item about? What makes it interesting? Write a catchy description to grab your audience's attention...

Instruments in God's Symphony:

Sermon Notes

My House Shall be Called a House of Prayer - Jim Cymbala

Jesus said, "my house is a house of prayer." So why are most churches non-praying places? Jim Cymbala shares how his church the Brooklyn Tabernacle became a praying church in New York. He also shares his own journey of having a wayward child, and how God spoke to him through that experience.

Are You In love With Jesus?

This segment of P.U.S.H. - Pray Until Saturation Happens addresses the concept of being in love with Jesus as a prelude to personal and corporate revival. Check it out!

Jason Hubbard - Inspiration for Colorado Prays

Awesome time of worship and ministry at Bridgeway prior to Jason Hubbard's talk about HOPE and testimony of God's handiwork in Bellingham, WA after 10 years of 24/7 prayer. The 1Church Initiative is patterned after the Lighthouse World of Prayer Center in Bellingham. The worship and prayer is powerful. Jason's talk starts around 1:33.

What Does it Look Like to be Saturated in God's Presence?

Check out this segment of P.U.S.H. - Pray Until Saturation Happens to hear what it looks like to be saturated in God's Presence.

How do Hunger & Humility Affect Revival?

Check out this segment of P.U.S.H. - Pray Until Saturation Happens to hear about communities that show how hunger and humility attract God's healing Presence.

Is There Power in Agreement in Prayer?

Check out this segment of P.U.S.H. - Pray Until Saturation Happens to hear how agreement in prayer brings the body of Christ into alignment.

How Can Hopelessness Lead to Expectancy?

Check out this segment of P.U.S.H. - Pray Until Saturation Happens to hear how communities in Fiji and America have moved from hopelessness to expectancy of God's goodness.

Humility in Manchester, KY - Leads to Transformation

Check out this segment of P.U.S.H. - Pray Until Saturation Happens to hear how the characteristic of humility spurs revival by leading to repentance and forgiveness. Testimony of Manchester, KY.