Saturday, June 23, 2012

A FORTNIGHT OF PRAYER

DAY 3 
WHERE ARE YOU MEN OF PRAYER? - LIFE'S TOO SHORT!


As life accelerates to a speedy conclusion, we should do well to consider its brevity, in light of Eternity! Personally, we do not have as much time as we think we do. If we live to a ripe old age, it is only by the Grace of the Good Lord. Yet, you and I, work and worship alongside people who conveniently ignore the Truth that "NOW is the Hour of Redemption...that TODAY is the Day of Salvation"!

How many times you've heard this "I have time, I am only 24 years old....I need to make some money first, get married and have some kids....then I would go to church"...or "I said the Prayer"....or "I walked down the aisle at the WorldChangers Block Party 5 years ago"....or "why should I read my Bible, the pastor reads his off a Blackberry and they put it up on the screen every Sunday"....or "my wife prays enough for all of us!"



That last one is horrible. I led a two city ministry-wide "31 DAYS OF PRAYING THE NAMES OF GOD", with some involvement from individual church members from January 1-31, 2012. I know of three men who actually finished with me and most of the reaction were from women on Twitter! Since 2007, I have led the Prayer Committee when Business Men in Christ launched the first Iron Sharpens Iron Men's Conference in Springfield, Illinois. I was able to take the stage a couple times during the 2008 Conference and just remind these men before me, that if their wives were the ones under spiritual attack, they were not leading at all. Sticking with it, challenging men and sometimes shaming them have been bearing fruit!


The 2012 Conference was the first year of the six, where I have had more men than women in the two Prayer Rooms I manage. Sure, our main speaker- Dr. Voddie Baucham had something to do with the capacity crowd of men hungry for Truth, but we also ministered to more men who were suffering from depression, attempted suicide, bi-polar disease, adultery and more.


Take a look at our passage from Ezra today and today, men and women of God and then, pray it with me: "But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love..."(Ezra 9:8-9 ESV)


Father God, in Jesus' Name, I realize now that my life is but a vapor! I have come to my senses and through seeking Your forgiveness daily:
I now know that Life is NOT meaningless. 
I now know that my pride and stupidity is vanity - not the days You have given me. 
I now know that Your Grace will not last forever. 
I now know that if I don't listen when You knock on the door of my heart that I may not have another chance if my soul is demanded of me before I make THAT CHOICE!


You, my God and my King will judge righteously. 
You have offered me the Chance to be part of Your True Remnant. 
You have offered me something which the world cannot offer - a room in Your Holy Mansion. 
You have offered me true peace, security and the peace that passeth all understanding. 
I was a slave to my iniquity. 
I was bound to my past.
I was held captive by the chains of my own prison.
I was walled in depraved warfare of my own choosing. Now oh God, brighten my heart, visit me in my despair, SAVE MY SOUL!


I forsake those chains. 
I abandon that albatross. 
I pull off those ropes around my wrist because Your mercy and love and compassion - they never fail! 
Great is Your Faithfulness to those Who seek You. 
Great is Your Faithfulness to those who seek You with a repentant heart. 
Great is Your Faithfulness to those whose lives You pull from the pit. 
Great is Your Faithfulness, Lord unto me!


Thank you for brightening my eyes. Thank You for brightening my heart. Thank You for brightening my Eternal status, because I can now leave this world behind in Great Anticipation of the Hope that is to come - Life in the Kingdom with You and my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For it is in His Name, I pray - AMEN!


(image courtesy google)

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