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,