The world is spiraling out of control. Neither governments, combinations of governments, nor corporations, nor radical and murderous movements have any ability to direct events. Maybe they never really did - to the degree they imagined. However, there is one force that can and does. The God of All Creation, visible and invisible.
So where does that leave us and those we love? Can we bear to just sit back and wait for events to unfold? It was never intended that we should do so. God wants us to pray and develop a relationship with Him. He has promised to deliver us, and we must frequently remind Him of that promise.
God does not favor small prayers. I met a woman once who said she prayed to God to make her disgust with her neighborhood go away. She didn't ask to have a better place to live, she settled for the removal of her critical sense. This is an extremely small prayer. God is the Lord of Nations, and billions of people, and those who have good will in their souls want the same thing, generally. We all want peace, prosperity, beauty, and so on. We can as easily pray for the salvation and transformation of our nation as we can for our headache to go away. God wants us to be advocates for all His people, and that means pray large, like this: "Oh, God, transform this world and save your people, as you promised. Give us peace, health, prosperity, fruitfulness, and eternal life, as you promised us." Remind God of His promise.
Prayer works, or this author wouldn't be here. I've been spared many times over the years, and have escaped death, so far. But persistence is essential, and the prophets of the Old and New Testaments make that very clear:
Isaiah 62:
You who call on the Lord, don’t rest,
7 and don’t allow God to rest
until he establishes Jerusalem,
and makes it the praise of the earth...
So where does that leave us and those we love? Can we bear to just sit back and wait for events to unfold? It was never intended that we should do so. God wants us to pray and develop a relationship with Him. He has promised to deliver us, and we must frequently remind Him of that promise.
God does not favor small prayers. I met a woman once who said she prayed to God to make her disgust with her neighborhood go away. She didn't ask to have a better place to live, she settled for the removal of her critical sense. This is an extremely small prayer. God is the Lord of Nations, and billions of people, and those who have good will in their souls want the same thing, generally. We all want peace, prosperity, beauty, and so on. We can as easily pray for the salvation and transformation of our nation as we can for our headache to go away. God wants us to be advocates for all His people, and that means pray large, like this: "Oh, God, transform this world and save your people, as you promised. Give us peace, health, prosperity, fruitfulness, and eternal life, as you promised us." Remind God of His promise.
Prayer works, or this author wouldn't be here. I've been spared many times over the years, and have escaped death, so far. But persistence is essential, and the prophets of the Old and New Testaments make that very clear:
Isaiah 62:
You who call on the Lord, don’t rest,
7 and don’t allow God to rest
until he establishes Jerusalem,
and makes it the praise of the earth...
For Zion’s sake I won’t keep silent,
and for Jerusalem’s sake I won’t sit still
until her righteousness shines out like a light,
and her salvation blazes like a torch.
Luke 18:
Jesus was telling them a parable about their need to pray continuously and not to be discouraged. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him, asking, ‘Give me justice in this case against my adversary.’ For a while he refused but finally said to himself, I don’t fear God or respect people, but I will give this widow justice because she keeps bothering me. Otherwise, there will be no end to her coming here and embarrassing me.” The Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. Won’t God provide justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he be slow to help them? I tell you, he will give them justice quickly. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faithfulness on earth?”
and for Jerusalem’s sake I won’t sit still
until her righteousness shines out like a light,
and her salvation blazes like a torch.
Luke 18:
Jesus was telling them a parable about their need to pray continuously and not to be discouraged. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him, asking, ‘Give me justice in this case against my adversary.’ For a while he refused but finally said to himself, I don’t fear God or respect people, but I will give this widow justice because she keeps bothering me. Otherwise, there will be no end to her coming here and embarrassing me.” The Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. Won’t God provide justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he be slow to help them? I tell you, he will give them justice quickly. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faithfulness on earth?”
One-hundred-and-twenty years ago, when the majority of us Westerners met in churches every Sunday and focused our prayers for the good of humanity and the world, things happened to better our lives. Needless to say, this is greatly reduced in 2015, and malevolent powers now mobilize the masses to murder, curse, and profane Christians, Jews, and other "infidels".
We need to ask God for a HUGE event, greater than Exodus and the salvation of the Jewish nation. We of Western faith outnumber Muslims and anti-theists probably 4 to 1, and the atheists and agnostics don't count for much. They would scatter like chaff in the wind if we focused our power for God to use.
