Daily Devotions - Entries from February 2010

Isaiah 62:1 (NIV)

1 For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem's sake I will not remain quiet, till her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch.

Psalms 132:1-5 (NIV)

1 O Lord, remember David and all the hardships he endured.

2 He swore an oath to the Lord and made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:

3 "I will not enter my house or go to my bed--

4 I will allow no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids,

5 till I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob."

Are you finding that your spiritual life is dull? Do you look at each day as just more of the same? Are you overwhelmed by the bad news that pours out of our nation's capitol? Do you find that your passion for Christ is a brief flicker instead of a blazing torch? Have you found yourself compromising with sin in ways you never thought you would? Have you gone months without leading anyone to Christ?

If you have answered yes to just one of these questions then you are in great need of revival in your personal life. If you desire to find the refreshing life giving joy that God offers then let me invite you to join with me and many others for the next forty four days as we prepare for God's visitation in our midst on Resurrection Sunday on April 4th.

For the next forty four days I will be taking these Prayer missiles to lead us together on a journey of seeking the glory of God for revival and awakening in our midst. I have never led a charge like this in my life, and for that I must repent before you and those I have led. To call myself a minister of the gospel and not take the lead in teaching about and challenging God's people to seek the face of God for awakening in our day is a gross neglect of my office that I was called to over thirty five years ago.

I ask for your forgiveness and for your prayers that God would teach me and lead me to be able to go the distance in this endeavor of seeking to lead the people of God towards the enjoyment in God more than ever before. We are at a crossroads at Lakeland and at many of the churches that I am familiar with. Unless the Lord brings his people revival the glory of God will be diminished in our land.

Current statistics indicate that in less than fifteen years the message of the God that we love will be a distant memory in most of our towns in our land. I cannot sit by idly and let that happen on my watch. It is time for us to grow desperate in our prayers and in our passion for the Lord to send his Spirit on his church and on this land.

I know you have heard others make the claim that America is past the point of hope. Some great Bible teachers in our land have already cast the future as bleak and hopeless because of our national sins and Church sins. I do not believe this to be true yet. There is a growing hunger for God to visit us growing among many of our brothers and sisters in our land. There are small movements of intercession that are beginning to rise up among us and God is visiting them in fresh ways.

I long to be part of what God is doing and long for his glory to be evident in our land again. I know far too many who are yet in their sins and care nothing of our savior and this just cannot be ok with me or the Church. Let us grow to be like Isaiah and King David, let us give our selves no rest, let us do what we must, let us keep awake in the night crying out for God to move in our midst once again.

I long to see and be part of a great move of God in our land before the end. There are many who are approaching their last years and have mentioned in my hearing that they just do not know what to do. It is time church to rise up and take our place and set the standard high that we will not let up or give up until God shows up.

Let us be like David and say along with him, "I will not enter my house or go to my bed--

4 I will allow no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids,

5 till I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob."

I long for the glory of God to be seen and experienced among God's people. I long for the lost to see the glory of our Savior and I long to see countless men and women running to Christ to escape the wrath to come. I long to see in the church the great savoring of our Savior. I long to see sin defeated in the lives of our people so they can truly say along with Peter "Taste and see that the Lord is Good."

Will you join me in this great endeavor as we seek together to cry out after God and seek his face, not for us but for the lost still to come home?

Here is what I would ask of you. Would you pray for me and others as we lead out in this great challenge to seek God for revival? Would you decide today to commit to God to do whatever He may ask of you in the coming weeks so that He would be glorified in our midst? Let us take the step of faith together and set our hearts like flint to seek after the face of God for the sake of the lost and for the sake of the glory of Christ in our land.

Crying out for Awakening in our midst,

Ezekiel 37:9-10 (NIV)

9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.'" 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet--a vast army.

Good morning, I hope you have had your desire for God growing stronger each day as we pursue our Lord in this very rich text. We left off yesterday with the understanding that we can have all the appearance of godliness but not possess any power in us. We may deceive others but we cannot deceive ourselves or our God.

We do not need just the from of religion we need God himself, otherwise we are just walking zombies. I have never found zombie Christians to be very good at attracting the lost.

What is God's direction to Ezekiel now? He has Ezekiel prophesy to the wind or breath. This is the type of having him pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit. We see here a picture of true conversion. A person is dead in their sins and transgressions and they are completely without hope of ever being made alive in themselves.

Then God sends a prophet who speaks the Word of God to them and this Word enters their soul and sparks something divine at work. Bone gathers with bone and tendons on bones and then skin covers the bones but still there is no life. They now have the equipment necessary for life but lack the life giving power to live. So the prophet is told to command the wind or the breath to come and enter these dead lifeless skeletons.

What happens as the breath enters these dead lifeless skeletons? They come to life a vast army. This is the picture of creation of Adam is it not. God formed man from the dust of the earth and he had the form of life but no life power until God breathed into him his Spirit and then Adam became a living being.

Do you see it now. You can have the form of godliness, you can have all the things that make for life but still be without the power to live. There is only one thing lacking and that is the power of the Spirit of God in your life.

O for the power of the Spirit of God in our life and in our church. Without the Spirit of God in our Church and life we will only be a standing army of lifeless soldiers. Let us pray that the Lord will send his Spirit on us that we may be the army of the Lord that he intends.

Tomorrow we will see the affects of an army filled with His Spirit. Hope to see you then.

Waiting for the Filling of His Spirit in our Midst,

Ezekiel 37:1-3 (NIV)

1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.

3 He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" I said, "O Sovereign Lord, you alone know."

What a bleak picture Ezekiel is given in this vision. To be set down in the midst of a dry dead lifeless valley of skeletons. Not the best first impression anyone would want to make. Then comes the question, "Son of man can these bones live?"

How would you answer such a question in such a circumstance? Perhaps you would bring in the CSI group and ask for their opinion. After the scene was thoroughly investigated the response of the CSI team would be, "Yes, they are very dead. Fact is they have been dead for years. There is no way they are ever coming back to life, I would bet my job on it."

Sounds quite final doesn't it? After all the evidence is in we have to reach the conclusion that these bones are very, very, very dead and very, very, very lifeless. As we observe Ezekiel his response stuns our highly scientific ears, "Lord, you know."

Come on Ezekiel you are hedging your bets way too much. Just come out and say it, 'Yes, Lord these bones are dead. There is no hope in this valley.'

Oh but this is not what he does. He responds, "Lord you know." What a great way to think of any situation. God you know and we will trust you to do what you need to do here.

Are you facing any difficult situation presently? Then take Ezekiel's response and make it yours. God you know. Just what will God do when you trust him with the results? Well you will have to wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a new day and God will do a new thing just watch and wait.

With Eyes Wide Open,

Searching for The Bride

Psalms 68:5-6 (NIV)

5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.

6 God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.

We have just returned from our annual outreach in New Orleans with No Greater Love. I have been going to Mardi Gras to do street ministry since 1980. I have missed a few times in those years but not many.

Every year lends itself to unveiling new insights into the character of God. This year was no different. On our first night on the street in Mobile Alabama I encountered one young girl named Brianna. She was a beautiful seventeen year old who was accompanied by a young man. They stopped to talk with me while I was distributing tracts and I engaged them in conversation.

As our conversation continued it was evident that Brianna was very interested in considering Christ but her boyfriend had not the slightest bit of interest. I continued to talk with Brianna and soon she indicated to me that she had never attended any church for long.

As I began to share with her about Christ she was noticeably moved. It was apparent that God was speaking to her about her need for Christ and she admitted as much but there was something she just could not get over.

After several more minutes of conversation it was clear that she knew she needed to trust Christ but when it came time for her to turn from her sins and place her faith in Christ she just could not do it.

After some time I asked her about her relationship with her father to which she replied, "My father does not live with me." I then began to hear the story of how she had been mistreated and abused by her father. It became all too clear to me why she was having trouble trusting in God. How could she, the only picture of a father she had seen was that of her father who had abused her and left her. Why should she trust any other person who is revealed as Father.

I shared with Brianna that the God hat we serve is not like her earthly father. It was all too much for her to believe at that moment so I offered to pray with her that God would help her to trust him. As she turned to leave I saw that she really was interested in knowing God but she had chosen at least for this night to stay with a boyfriend who openly did not care for her much.

I wept over the fact that there were other girls like Brianna who would never know the love of Christ because they had been damaged by their earthly Father's sinful behavior. As she left I heard the Lord saying, "I have called the church to go on a rescue mission to find all those that God has called and invite them to the wedding feast at the end of history.

The picture came into my mind of a prophet walking through the streets of the city crying out to all who will hear, "Brianna, there is a God who loves you and desire to bring you into his family, you don't have to stay outside in the cold forever."

Let us pray that we can cooperate with the Spirit as we issue the invitation to that great wedding feast at he end of the age.

What will distinguish those who belong to Christ from those who do not?  In this text before us we find our answer.  How we love our enemies is a litmus test of true conversion.  Do we desire to see our enemies converted?  Do we spend time praying for those who actively seek to persecute us?  Have we ever gone out of our way to help someone who is not part of the family of God?

Does your prayer list have on it the president of Iran and his conversion?  Do you pray for those in our government who have actively sought to pass legislation against he gospel?  Do you know who they are and have you prayed for them often?  Do you speak in respect of those who have positions of authority who do not hold to the Christian faith?

Do the people around you hear you speaking up to defend their positions of authority?

Do your acts of love include those who cannot ever pay you back?  Do your acts of love include those who actively seek to destroy your faith?  Now do you see the power of the Gospel.  It can change a heart that thinks only of self and turn it to love those who will love the in return.

Hear again the words of Christ, Our Lord, “Be ye perfect even as your Father in Heaven is perfect.”  Is this something we can attain to in our own power? Not on your life.  We must be filled with the Spirit of God and allow him to love others through us.  As we do this there will be great joy in us for we will have the very presence of God flowing through us to love those not like us.  Then we will find the blessing of God.  Let us press on to obey in this way.

Praying for my Enemies that they may see Christ and turn to Him,

O what a goal to have in our intercession over the noon hour.  God may you shine your face upon us and be gracious to us.  Let us see the light of your smile shining down upon us that we might be saved and find our greatest joy in you.

Then there is the dramatic pause, Selah.  Some commentators say that this word was a direction for the conductor to have the orchestra stop and look up at the conductor.  They think it is only a pause, but I think it is much more than that.  Think of the church as the orchestra and the conductor as God himself.  He is directing us to play the great melody of redemption so others can hear.

Sometimes as we play we may get carried away with our own melody and need to be brought back into harmony with the rest so the director has this notation to pause here and look again at the conductor.  Do you see him again?  Yes his face is shining upon us but we have been just a little out of step with the rest so we need to refocus our eyes on the conductor, the Lord Our God.

Can you see Him now on his throne high and lifted up?  Do you see that there is none like him in heaven or on earth?  There is no other hope for anyone lost in sin.  He alone is God, He alone is good. Fix your attention on him and then play as you have your eyes fixed on him.

What will be the result of playing with your eyes fixed upon Christ? The peoples of the earth will hear the praise sounding forth from the unified orchestra and become envious of such a great sound and long to join in the praise of our great God.  The worship will become contagious and others from all the nations will join in the growing swelling chorus of praise that will build in a crescendo that will find its consummation in the return of Christ as he is ushered in on the songs of praise of the church and the nations gathered for worship.

Now take great care to notice the end result of such worship, then the land will yield its produce.  The dead lifeless field will spring into new life.  Clear fresh flowing streams will bubble up from the long since dried up wells in the deserts.  When once the praise of the church infects the nations of the earth and they come to join in chorus then we will find our greatest delights to be in God and we will see the promise of the Word fulfilled.

Church, this is not a time for depression or despair for the Lord is raising up a choir who will learn to sing the songs of Zion loudly for all to hear.  May we join with the choir and sing the songs of Zion as we live and work.

Joining the Choir,

What happens if you decide to obey God and follow His commands?  You leave the place of slavery and bondage and head out to the desert wasteland.  Hey, I thought if you trusted in God you would go from bandage to blessing overnight, what is up with this desert wasteland stuff?

It is here in the wasteland that you discover the power of God to keep you.  It is here that you discover that the shoes on your feet and the clothes on your back are all you really need to survive.  You do not need a house or food or clothing or even shoes to walk across hot desert sands if you obey God. 

Walking in obedience to God will test you and you  will discover just how sufficient God is to keep you alive.  Once you leave your bondage and discover God in your wasteland you will not be led astray thinking that it is up to you to keep the faith. Walking with God in the wasteland prepares you for the blessings of God in the Promised Land.  If you cannot trust him in the wasteland you will not be able to trust him in the Promised Land.

If you find yourself in the desert presently take a moment and thank  God for the desert time and look for ways to trust God so that when the times of prosperity come you will not wander away from the faith.  We follow a God who provides just as well in the desert as in the promised land.

Trusting God no matter what address I have,

Every morning and every evening the people of Israel were to go to bed hearing these words spoken over them, “The Lord bless you and keep you . . .”  May the Lord do whatever is necessary to bless you and keep you from harm all of your days.

There was never to be a day that went by that the nation of Israel did not hear these words.  If they heard these words what would be the only conclusion they could reach about God?  He was for them and not against them.

So what happened that caused the nation of Israel to drift from this truth?  The priests stopped speaking the word of God over the people.  They gradually grew to neglect the Word of God and spent their time in going after other things. 

Let this be a warning to all of us, if we leave off the Word of God from our hearing we too will drift away from the blessings that God desires to give us.  May you greet this day with these words from God and may you lay your head on your pillow at night with these words watching over you.

God really is for you so it is best to trust him.

The Lord bless you and keep you in his ways,

It has been 25 years since Abraham left everything to follow God on a promise of having children and growing into a great nation.  Now Abraham had just done the unthinkable, he had obeyed God and offered up Isaac his only son.  Many thought he was crazy to obey this command but he did anyway.  As a result of his obedience Abraham discovered something about God that up until that time no one had understood.  God was not one who took human life as a sacrifice; he was the God who provided the sacrificial lamb for himself, there would be no taking of a human life, God provided a way out.

What happened to Abraham as a result of his obedience to God’s promise?  Read the words carefully, “In blessing I will bless you.” God’s blessing on Abraham was multiplied. 

May we learn to trust in the goodness of God as we follow him today.  For Abraham every step he took away from the land he came from he went deeper and deeper into the great storehouse of God’s grace and provision.  Let us take what steps we need to today to obey God’s Word trusting that as we do we will find more pleasure in our walking with Christ.

²⁸ This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
²⁹ I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom."
³⁰ When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Did Jesus ever fast?  This is a rather good question since we encourage you to fast.  If Jesus never fasted in the Scripture then we would be amiss to expect that of our members.  But once again as always the Scriptures answer this question for us.  In Matthew 4 when he was in the wilderness for forty days, he fasted.  He did not go into the wilderness specifically to fast but he became so caught up in being with his Father that he completely forgot about food or drink.

When faced with the temptation of the devil he made quick mincemeat of him because of his love for his Father that had empowered him to defeat the enemy.

But there is one more fast that most who read the Bible never see.  There is the fast that he began when he ascended into heaven.  Take a close look at verse 29.  Jesus has given up on drinking wine until he comes for his church.  He is even now p[raying and fasting for us as he intercedes for us.  Yes fasting is something the Lord is doing even now as he waits for the consummation of the kingdom of God.

He also gave us this commandment in the gospels, “When the bridegroom is taken away from the bride she will fast.  Do you find yourself so in love with Christ that you long for his return even more than yesterday.  It is not that you want an easy out but you find your heart beating so for him that you can hardly wait to see him when he breaks through the clouds to come for you.

Let us draw close to Christ through prayer and fasting so we may be ready when he comes for us.  May our hearts grow with anticipation of his return each day that he delays.

May it be today,

have their reward.
¹⁷ But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
¹⁸ That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

“O no it is time to pray again.  Aw do we have to Dad?  You know the prayer meeting is so boring, can’t we just skip it and play some games or watch television?” 

Why is it that the prayer time of the church is the least attended function?  I think it is precisely because the people of God have found no joy in the presence of God so they fill their lives with other things that can stimulate their nerve endings more.

Listen carefully to the Words of our Lord. He was saying that when you pray let your face light up, let your heart skip a few beats, let there be joy and gladness when the time draws near for the hour of prayer. Go about your observance of this time with great expectation that God will show up and respond to your prayers.

How soon until you are going to be alone with God?  Is your heart beginning to skip a few beats as the time draws near to be with your Father in Heaven.  He has great things to show you and great things to invite you to join him in.  Does it seem like you cannot wait to be with God in the secret place again.  Do the minutes seem to drag on and on until finally you get to be with him again?  And once with him does it seem like the time just flies by and before you know it the time is over and you have to leave.  Do you long for the time to be longer?  Do you savor every moment you spend in communion with God?

Perhaps we all have some work to do in this area.

God, How I long to long to want You,

their reward.
⁶ But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

A life lived in the secret place is a life worth living.  If there is no secret place there will be no holiness.  Without retreating from the world regularly to reconnect with your Father you will not be able to have much influence for God in your marketplace.

Notice the emphasis in this passage is on the things that are done in secret.  A question for you to consider today is, “How much of your walk with Christ is hidden away in the secret place?  Do you long to spend time before your Lord in your prayer room?  Do you find your joy growing as you draw near to the time when you will be with just him in prayer and sweet communion?

Some one said it well years ago, “A Christian can only advance on his knees.”  It was true then and it is even truer now.  Do you have a place where you go regularly to be alone with God and to seek his face?  If not find one now.  Do you know what to do when you get alone with your Father in Heaven?  If you don’t ask him to show you and he will.  Let me encourage you to give yourself to prayer in your secret place more and more as the days grow darker in our culture.

Longing to be in the Secret place with God,

Do you have some besetting sin?  Are you plagued with constant fear over some area in your life?  Is there one certain thing that just seems to eat your spiritual lunch every time it comes up?  Have you sought counsel to defeat it but not found help?  Have you tried to think positive thoughts only to have the problem grow worse?

How can you find deliverance from such things in your life? How many times have you heard some one say, “There are no easy answers?”  Probably more than you care to count.  After hearing the spiritual leaders say to you “There are no easy answers, what have you done? 

Some have given up and stopped following Christ for it was too hard.  Others have relegated themselves to follow Christ but only at a distance because they could never find any real lasting victory over what plagued them the most about their walk with Christ.

Is there  an answer to what plagues us as we seek to follow Christ in this distorted and sin cursed world?  Yes , there is and the answer is “This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”  Until you are desperate enough to stop all other activities and set your heart and mind to seek after God there may be no deliverance.  Through prayer and fasting we say to God, “I want you more than anything in this world and I will go without anything in the world to have you.”

To quote a great spiritual leader in days of old, “In the old days we sought God through prayer and fasting and we had revival.  Nowadays we just pray fast and wonder why God never shows up.”

Let us put aside the things of the world every now and then to fix our full attention on this glorious God that has called us his own.

Choosing to enjoy the best feast in his presence,