WHY PRAY? Part 1- WE MUST!

Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises....(James 5:13)

Everywhere you look today, people are in despair. There is so much hopelessness and fear out there, that sometimes even God's people wonder "does He really care"? Well, yes, He does and more than we realize. More than anyone else, Christians who are walking in the Will of God, have the true Hope which lives within, and that is more than sufficient.

We wonder sometimes how the saints in persecuted lands like the Middle East and China do it, and how come there are more Christians in these countries than the US and Europe combined.....and the answer you will always get is - PRAYER! Pastor/Author David Platt is now the director of the Southern Baptist Convention's huge International Missions Board (IMB) which has been taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth. He is one fired up man of God for missions and especially intrigued by the underground churches in China. In one of his studies, while he was pastor of the largest church in Birmingham, Alabama, he recounted an experience when he visited one of those "secret churches" to fellowship with them.

These precious saints met in a private basement and always began their hours long service/bible study with as much prayer as they deemed necessary to get them through this particular night. David Platt said they were face down on the cold concrete floor praying, pleading and crying out for what appeared to be over two hours. When they finally arose from being prostrate on the floor before God, there were literal puddles of tears on the floor. These saints are suffering under persecution by the atheist communist party. By the way, latest figures have shown that the amount of Christians in China far outnumber members of the Chinese communist party! Our brethren in the Middle East are suffering out in the open as we see from the news almost daily. Many pastors and believers are also imprisoned in the islamic republic of iran. Yet they pray and rejoice. Pastor Saeed, the well-known American pastor has led over 30 to Christ in prison, as recently recounted.

But what about suffering here? There are many suffering not just hopelessness as to the future, but genuine fear about every single thing in life.  We wonder about our children and will they even have the freedom to worship God and live out a life of faith like their forefathers. We wonder about health and finances and family. If you read the obituaries in the daily newspaper or even online, you will see more and more more young people from their teens to their early 50's leaving this earth at an alarming rate! What could be the cause of that? Then if you read some of the content written about their lives, it should shock any follower of Christ into questioning how we could allow so many young (and older) people to die without Christ in their lives. People are known by their fruit and the descriptions of some of these poor souls are absolutely astoundingly vacant and one is scared to ponder what their eternity will be.

King David, even in the depths of despair, wandering and doubt, yet never stopped praying. The anointed and inspired Psalms of the Bible gave us most of his prayers to Almighty God, His Redeemer. Here was the anointed King of Israel (anointed by God, no less) yet, he was on the run for almost 14 years and a king without a throne. But pray, he knew he must and sacrifice to the Lord, even when he was in thirst, he did! 

There is no bigger act of not just praise with his mouth and heart, but by his actions than this account from 2 Samuel 23(15-17): "David had a craving and said, "Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate!" So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink it, but poured it out to the LORD; and he said, "Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?" Therefore he would not drink it".

Was David suffering? YES! Saul was trying to kill him and kept chasing him with an army all over the countryside.  He had no place to call home. He had no regular food supply or warm bed....nothing. Yet, he prayed....and when (as in this passage) his Mighty Men brought back what must have been the 'gourmet water' of the day and it cheered him - King David praised!

Therefore, we have two things here - David asked - the Lord supplied the great tasting water - it blessed David's heart and he gave it back to the Lord. When we are in dire straits, as this man of God obviously was, we have the formula from the Scriptures, pray and praise like David did! It really is this simple, for the man or woman of God!

TEN DAYS OF PRAYER FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH: OCTOBER 24-NOVEMBER 2, 2014, Day 2

SO WHY PRAY AT ALL?  - Part 1

This is a valid question from many who are non-believers/professing and/or Cultural Christians. While this demographic is usually the same group of folks, even committed disciples of Jesus Christ have become seemingly helpless enough to inquire and ask "why doesn't God do something? He sees the pain of the persecuted by the religion of "peace" and various other atheists" in the countries of yesterday's World Watch List (from Open Doors). The shrinking numbers of those who care in the west, about these things, may even ask why the Lord has not intervened as this brutality increases? Can we discern the Mind of God and His thinking about this?

We can, to a certain extent. His Arm is not short and He is timing is flawless, whether we like it or not. Just as in the Days of Noah (Genesis 6) when the earth was so corrupt and evil with sin abounding, thus it is the same now before the Second Coming of the Son of Man. God will not act before His time. However, but He HAS done something. He has commanded us to pray. He has commanded us through His word. Here is the proof:

Luke 18:1 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart (speaking about Jesus).
Matthew 26:41 "Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." (some final instructions from the Commander in Chief).
Colossians 4:2-4 "Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. (The Apostle Paul, who spoke for Jesus).

These are the Commands and Exhortations from the verses above:
- Pray and do NOT lose heart.
- Keep watch (be vigilant) and pray, 
- Prayer will keep us from physical and emotional sin so our prayers will be effective.
- Not just pray once, but be DEVOTED to a lifestyle of prayer.
- Pray for those in bondage (like Paul was in Philippi), who opened up prison ministries and even led the Philippians prison guard and his family to the Lord. Pastor Saeed has led over 30 people to Christ in the Iranian prison which the muslims are keeping him in, just to torture him for being a Christian.
- There are more passages which will be explored and prayed over on Day 3/10. The key is -we pray!

SO FATHER, IN THE POWERFUL AND MIGHTY NAME OF JESUS, WE REST ON YOUR WORD AS OUR COMMAND AND DIRECTION TO PRAY. LORD, UNLIKE THE WORLD AND THOSE WITH RELIGIOUS TITLES WHO REJECT THE VERTICAL RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU TO SERVE THEMSELVES AND WALK AROUND IN LABYRINTHS AND OTHER CREATIONS OF THE SINFUL CORRUPT MINDS OF MAN, WE COME DIRECTLY TO YOU, IN HUMILITY, GRATITUDE AND AN ALERT MIND TO THE THINGS YOU HAVE CALLED US TO,

FATHER, YOU TOLD US TO BE ALERT AND VIGILANT MORE THAN ONCE THROUGHOUT YOUR WORDS TO US, BECAUSE THIS IS THE PRICE OF FREEDOM TO WORSHIP YOU. LORD WE ALSO KNOW THAT THE SPIRITS OF THOSE UNDER PERSECUTION ARE WILLING BUT UNDER SUCH STRESS AND DURESS AND BRUTALITY FROM THE SONS OF THE DEVIL, THEIR FLESH FAILS AS OUR BRETHREN AS MORTAL MEN, SUCH AS WE ARE. THEREFORE, YOU HAVE COMMANDED US TO PRAY FOR THEM AS ONES WHO ARE PART OF THIS SAME BODY OF CHRIST - THE CHURCH.

THEREFORE FATHER, WE PRAY FOR OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS AND THEIR BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN TO NOT LOSE HEART. WE PRAY, RESTING ON THE SCRIPTURES (BECAUSE WE BELIEVE THEM WITH ALL OUR HEART) FOR THEIR COURAGE TODAY. LORD EVEN AS THEIR FLESH FAILS, EVEN IF YOUR ENEMIES STARVE THEM, EVEN IF THE REST OF THE WORLD AND ITS POMPOUS LEADERS IGNORE THEM, WE KNOW THAT YOU HAVE NOT. WHILE YOUR SPIRIT WILL NOT CONTEND WITH MAN FOREVER, YOUR HEART IS FULL OF LOVE FOR ALL YOUR ELECT, AS YOU SEE THE BEGINNING FROM THE END, AND YOU SEE THESE PERSECUTED SAINTS WILL BE GREATER IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN THAN THOSE WHO ARE ENJOYING THEIR REWARDS NOW, ON THIS SIDE OF GLORY.

FINALLY FATHER, WE BELIEVE THAT EVEN IN THIS STATE, YOUR PEOPLE CAN TESTIFY TO THE HOPE THAT IS IN THEM, EVEN TO THEIR CAPTORS - LIKE PAUL IN THE PHILIPPIAN JAIL & LIKE SAEED IN IRAN RIGHT NOW. SO WE PRAY THE SCRIPTURES, WE PRAY LIKE PAUL THAT A DOOR WILL BE OPEN FOR THESE UNNAMED SAINTS TO REACH EVEN ONE OR TWO OF THEIR PERSECUTORS TO SPEAK THE GOSPEL OF LOVE AND SALVATION CLEARLY TO THEM, LIKE GRACIA BURNHAM DOES, TO PRAISE AND GLORY OF YOUR NAME, AND ETERNAL SALVATION OF THEIR SOULS, THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD, AMEN.