A Day of Mourning and Prayer for June 30, 2013
"And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it, v. 42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. v. 43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side. v. 44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." Luke 19: 41 - 44
Greetings,
On June 26, 2013, the Supreme Court made rulings in regard to same sex marriage and its impact on our nation and future. Unlike in 1973, when the Supreme Court legalized the death of unborn children; the court held up short of legalizing this sin of same sex marriage across the land. But their rulings have opened the door for the possibility of this sin to become the law of the land. In history, there are moments that change us forever, they are markers of time, and they can be vicotrious moments or undoing moments. Such moments of our nations history have compelled us to rise to the challenges upon us through calamities, destruction, death and great sorrow. On December 7, 1941, after Pearl Harbor was bombed, President Roosevelt referred to this moment of history as, 'a day of infamy'.
The courts decision has left the church with such a taste as this being 'a day of infamy'. A day when evil is called good and sin is embraced as acceptable. In such moments of history the church is called to respond.
Therefore, let this day, June 30, 2013, be set forth as A Day of Mourning and Prayer. Recognizing that for many followers of Christ this is their first gathering together, after this moment of history; let them come together with an awareness of the state of our nation and the impact of these rulings upon us. That every act of sin legalized and embraced by our culture is a provocation of the Lord God and His holiness and righteousness as declared in His Holy Word. That the Lord God is kind, patient and long suffering, but will never and has never blest a nation or a people that has chosen sin over our precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Let us therefore cry out to God for mercy, for forgiveness, for a pleading before Him that it is not the desire of our hearts to allow or for our nation to go the way of all the earth. And that as Christ beheld the city and wept over it, so we shall weep and mourn, praying and agonizing for the lostness and wickedness that is prevailing upon the nation that has been blest by the Lord for so long.
Our nation has forgotten the Biblical teachings for many decades now. Our nation has and is removing God, and any and all Christian witness from our society. But our faith is not in men or their means, it is in 'looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith'. And in You, O Father God of heaven and earth, our prayers are lifted up to cleanse us, to revive Your church, to impart Your Holy Spirit to quicken us and to stretch forth Your right hand to help us. Do not stretch forth Your right hand to to consume us in Your wrath at our legalizing sin, but 'in wrath remember mercy.' Unto You, O God, we call and plead, have mercy and help us;.
Let the Lord's people give place to prayer, to anguish, to mourning that true repentance, confession and sorrow might be done. And that as Christ prayed, 'Father, forgive them they know not what they do.' So we pray for the heathen of this land, that they know not that they have provoked Your wrath upon our children, upon our land, and upon our future. But we know, O Lord, as Your people, taught by Your Word, we know what You have declared and what our proper response must be.
"Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, whereiwth the Lord ahth afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger." Lamentation 1:12
"Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men." Psalm 12:1
Until,
Dan Biser
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
SUPREME COURT RULING ON SAME SEX MARRIAGE
"The ruling of the Supreme Court ruling on Same Sex Marriage and its impact on our future"
Before chapter 19 in Genesis happens, and God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah; God and Abraham have a conversation in chapter 18.
"And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt Thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? That be far from Thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from Thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? And the Lord said. . . " Genesis 18:23 - 26
It has come! There are days in history that we look to as historic. They are days of celebration, days of mourning, days of conflict and days that determine the future. I have been prone to remind us of histroic days that have shaped and formed our present and future. I have sought to use these days gone by, in order that we might see and know the significance of this day. the impact of this day with the Supreme Court rulings, has the potential to go down in histroy as Roosevelt said of December 7, 'a day which will live in infamy'.
'this day of infamy' causes me to respond as follows:
1. As Abraham drew near to the Lord, so should You and I
We have no ability or power than that which the Lord imparts and demonstrates. Abraham could not run to Sodom and pull Lot out, he had to trust the Lord for this. Another sign of his great faith and one in which we must maintain for our families and for our nation is to trust in the Lord. He is able to save to and from the uttermost. We have tried the courts, political factions and parties, and legislation; let us draw nigh unto Him, Who is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. Let us draw nigh to Him for He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. Let us draw nigh to Him for there is no other refuge or strength that is suffecient or in comparison to Him. Let us draw nigh for He is right in all His ways and will do us no evil. Let us draw nigh for He is grace and mercy. Let us draw nigh to Him for He has commanded it, 'Come unto Me'.
Is there any other place of such glory and power as in drawing nigh unto Him?
2. Destruction is coming. And it is only a question of when and how it comes, not if it comes.
I am amazed at the trivialness, the lightness of the church during these days. Always something was more important than praying. Always other things of more need and required time than understanding eternal ends and God's response to evil in this world. Not all judgment is done in eternity. There is judgements now upon us for these actions of legalizing abominations.
3. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
It is the comfort of this question that we know the answer; God will do right.
4. And the Lord said. . . .
To hear what the Lord would say, it is needful for us to be still. Such a hard thing for Christians today to do that. So very few sit still and listen for the Lord to speak. Oh, there are many Christians that enter into prayer and they do all the talking, never leaving God time to respond or speak. If any one of us entered into a conversation with our family and friends like this, you would consider it to be the rudest conversation. How much more when we enter into His Presence and never allow for Him to speak or for us to listen?
Before chapter 19 in Genesis happens, and God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah; God and Abraham have a conversation in chapter 18.
"And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt Thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? That be far from Thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from Thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? And the Lord said. . . " Genesis 18:23 - 26
It has come! There are days in history that we look to as historic. They are days of celebration, days of mourning, days of conflict and days that determine the future. I have been prone to remind us of histroic days that have shaped and formed our present and future. I have sought to use these days gone by, in order that we might see and know the significance of this day. the impact of this day with the Supreme Court rulings, has the potential to go down in histroy as Roosevelt said of December 7, 'a day which will live in infamy'.
'this day of infamy' causes me to respond as follows:
1. As Abraham drew near to the Lord, so should You and I
We have no ability or power than that which the Lord imparts and demonstrates. Abraham could not run to Sodom and pull Lot out, he had to trust the Lord for this. Another sign of his great faith and one in which we must maintain for our families and for our nation is to trust in the Lord. He is able to save to and from the uttermost. We have tried the courts, political factions and parties, and legislation; let us draw nigh unto Him, Who is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. Let us draw nigh to Him for He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. Let us draw nigh to Him for there is no other refuge or strength that is suffecient or in comparison to Him. Let us draw nigh for He is right in all His ways and will do us no evil. Let us draw nigh for He is grace and mercy. Let us draw nigh to Him for He has commanded it, 'Come unto Me'.
Is there any other place of such glory and power as in drawing nigh unto Him?
2. Destruction is coming. And it is only a question of when and how it comes, not if it comes.
I am amazed at the trivialness, the lightness of the church during these days. Always something was more important than praying. Always other things of more need and required time than understanding eternal ends and God's response to evil in this world. Not all judgment is done in eternity. There is judgements now upon us for these actions of legalizing abominations.
3. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
It is the comfort of this question that we know the answer; God will do right.
4. And the Lord said. . . .
To hear what the Lord would say, it is needful for us to be still. Such a hard thing for Christians today to do that. So very few sit still and listen for the Lord to speak. Oh, there are many Christians that enter into prayer and they do all the talking, never leaving God time to respond or speak. If any one of us entered into a conversation with our family and friends like this, you would consider it to be the rudest conversation. How much more when we enter into His Presence and never allow for Him to speak or for us to listen?
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
I CREATE EVIL
"I Create Evil"
June, 2013 - in dealing with the ruling of the Supreme Court on same sex marriage and its possible allowance of legalizing that which God has called an abomination;
"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things." Isaiah 45:7
What is happening?
What is going on in this world?
How did we get here?
All these are questions that I have posed time and time again for our needed contemplation and the need to answer. It is no mystery how we got here to this day and time. Where is here? Here is there. And lest you think I am sounding to much like a Dr. Seuss book, 'there' is where God said we would be if we forsook Him; if we forsook the Lord God Almighty which He is the good and right way of life. 'There' is our place today, even 'here'. Here is where by some quick, fast paced, slight of hand, seeming like a political agenda, yet, in reality, a hellish device of Satan to bring us forth to such evil that he knows God will respond. And when God looked for an answer to this work of hell to bring forth wickedness into the land as 'acceptable', He did not find His people 'fighting the good fight of faith'. Thus, here we are, upon the threshold of a decision to bring forth the legalizing of same sex marriage in the United States. A nation founded upon the Bible, God's foundation of Christianity, having seen scores of God's power and glory in Great Awakenings, and revivals, blessed beyond any other nation. And now, these almost seemingly prophetic words from God, due to our rejectiong and forsaking of Him and His Word and ways, 'Behold, I create evil'.
How is it that a land, filled with Christian churches, supposed Christian heritage has come to the place that courts, exectuivve offices, and state legislations would ever consider legalizing sin. Simply because it feels good, or seems right does not remove the reality, 'the wages of sin is death'. The legalizing of alcohol in 1933 - we will not know how many deaths due to its effects until we get to heaven, but enough that we know it has costs much money, health, abuse and death in many a home for over 70 years. The legalizing of abortion in 1973 - estimating that over 55 million and continuing to rise each day; for the death of an entire generation in these last 40 years. And now, probably one of the greatest legalizing of sin is the allowance, permission and stamp of approval by the Supreme Court for the abomination of homosexualtiy in our land - and it will not be the death of 1,000's or 10,000's or even millions, it will be the death of a nation.
Growing up, just a few decades ago, two decades to be exact, 20 years ago from teenage years to adulthood, never would have dreamed that this day would be upon us. But over these last two decades, all the signs and symptoms of a falling nation and a failing church had begun to show us the writing on the wall.
--Prayer meetings being removed. Wednesday night gatherings in churches, called Bible study and prayer meeting, boiled down to little or no prayer. Especially no prayer to fight the good fight or advance our Lord's kingdom here on earth. Praying for the temporal, the sick, the carnal, basic needs and neglecting the souls, future and advance of God's glory here on earth.
--The absence of the Word of God. Historically, always in our society, but removed from public school in 1963 by one little, contrary woman.
--silence by the church in effective evangelism and soul winning; Ashamed, powerless, and refusing to share our faith with others for the saving of the soul. Many, in the first 6 months of this year, cannot say that any one has approached them about their faith and eternity. And many Christians would sadly, grievously confess that in 6 months they have not said one word to their family, friends, neighbors, school mates, or co-workers either about their eternity.
Thus, the results of this is upon us: we have forsaken God. Now, the stirring of all these situations upon us has moved a remnant to pray and cry out. Praise the Lord for all those that see and understand this great need of prevailing prayer. And it may be tomorrow that a miracle occurs, and the Supreme Court ruling is in answer to our prayers that marriage is one man and one woman and states do not have a right to dictate to Bible believing Christians or others to accept abominations. God is able to do 'great and mighty things, abundantly above all that we ask or think'. God is able in the darkness that we see and are living, here and now, to bring forth real revival that impacts this generation. God is God; and He can and will do what is right; He cannot sin, He cannot fail, He cannot go against His holy nature and bless sin in a person, family, church, or nation.
Thus, 'I create light and darkness; I make peace and create evil'. So much has happened so quickly over the last two years in the advancement of evil in our nation. And as this evil has grown in homes, public, and lives, Christianity has withdrawn, shrunken and lessened. It is the demosntration of this truth in Isaiah coming to pass. God is light, and in Him, His light shines forth to those in darkness and sin. Those in sin, in darkness so often reject the Light and remain in it. God exists and remains whether there is light or darkness. He created light out of darkness, but He still existed in the darkness. And the same is more true for the last half of this verse in relationship to this truth. There is a time of peace, serenity and bliss; but if God is not in it, then chaos, wickedness and evil are permitted, allowed and created. God allows for men to reap what they have sown. This is demonstrated over and over in God's response to His Own children, the children of Israel. It is documented in every society, nation, kingdom and people. That when they embraced sin and forgot the God Who created them and has instructed them in the 'good and right way', they quickly came to their own demise. They end up like the descendants of Cain. But those that fear the Lord, honor the Lord, follow the Lord find light, find peace, find His preserving hand to protect, guide and lead.
Thus, in a nation that has rejected His glorious light, His glorious ways, His glorious Word; He has permitted, allowed for our legalizing of sin to usher in the advancement of hell itself, in evil. Why would God do this? It is not His desire for this to be, but He knows the waywardness, and the turning of our hearts away from Him. 'Straight is the gate and narrow is the way, and few there be that find it'; few are coming out of the darkness into the Light of His love, grace and mercy. But many are they that love sin, darkness and evil. And as they have increased in this land, they have brought us to this place, 'here', where God now permits for us to literally destroy ourselves by provoking Him to wrath against the legalizing of such sins.
I have already written the warning if they legalize this sin. I have already called for the church to pray (over a year ago, when the circuit court overturneed the voters of California); and wrote a prayer guide for help ( 5 months ago). I have surrendered it to the Lord and asked for His perfect will to be done, here on earth as it is in heaven. 'Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?' Certainly He shall and will. And as Abraham prayed for Lot to be spared and saved; you and I had better get before the Lord and pray the same for our loved ones, lest they be consumed in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (present day United States of America). Remember, becasue of Abraham's intercession only Lot and his family was escorted out before the fire fell.
Woe unto a land, a people, a government that issues the foolishness of saying evil is good; and good is evil. Woe unto a place that puts its stamp of approval on legalizing of sin and thinking that God will not repsond nor answer such folly. Woe unto supposed, learned and knowledgable men that have not learned from history and dooms the future they say they are protecting by their foolish rulings.
June, 2013 - in dealing with the ruling of the Supreme Court on same sex marriage and its possible allowance of legalizing that which God has called an abomination;
"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things." Isaiah 45:7
What is happening?
What is going on in this world?
How did we get here?
All these are questions that I have posed time and time again for our needed contemplation and the need to answer. It is no mystery how we got here to this day and time. Where is here? Here is there. And lest you think I am sounding to much like a Dr. Seuss book, 'there' is where God said we would be if we forsook Him; if we forsook the Lord God Almighty which He is the good and right way of life. 'There' is our place today, even 'here'. Here is where by some quick, fast paced, slight of hand, seeming like a political agenda, yet, in reality, a hellish device of Satan to bring us forth to such evil that he knows God will respond. And when God looked for an answer to this work of hell to bring forth wickedness into the land as 'acceptable', He did not find His people 'fighting the good fight of faith'. Thus, here we are, upon the threshold of a decision to bring forth the legalizing of same sex marriage in the United States. A nation founded upon the Bible, God's foundation of Christianity, having seen scores of God's power and glory in Great Awakenings, and revivals, blessed beyond any other nation. And now, these almost seemingly prophetic words from God, due to our rejectiong and forsaking of Him and His Word and ways, 'Behold, I create evil'.
How is it that a land, filled with Christian churches, supposed Christian heritage has come to the place that courts, exectuivve offices, and state legislations would ever consider legalizing sin. Simply because it feels good, or seems right does not remove the reality, 'the wages of sin is death'. The legalizing of alcohol in 1933 - we will not know how many deaths due to its effects until we get to heaven, but enough that we know it has costs much money, health, abuse and death in many a home for over 70 years. The legalizing of abortion in 1973 - estimating that over 55 million and continuing to rise each day; for the death of an entire generation in these last 40 years. And now, probably one of the greatest legalizing of sin is the allowance, permission and stamp of approval by the Supreme Court for the abomination of homosexualtiy in our land - and it will not be the death of 1,000's or 10,000's or even millions, it will be the death of a nation.
Growing up, just a few decades ago, two decades to be exact, 20 years ago from teenage years to adulthood, never would have dreamed that this day would be upon us. But over these last two decades, all the signs and symptoms of a falling nation and a failing church had begun to show us the writing on the wall.
--Prayer meetings being removed. Wednesday night gatherings in churches, called Bible study and prayer meeting, boiled down to little or no prayer. Especially no prayer to fight the good fight or advance our Lord's kingdom here on earth. Praying for the temporal, the sick, the carnal, basic needs and neglecting the souls, future and advance of God's glory here on earth.
--The absence of the Word of God. Historically, always in our society, but removed from public school in 1963 by one little, contrary woman.
--silence by the church in effective evangelism and soul winning; Ashamed, powerless, and refusing to share our faith with others for the saving of the soul. Many, in the first 6 months of this year, cannot say that any one has approached them about their faith and eternity. And many Christians would sadly, grievously confess that in 6 months they have not said one word to their family, friends, neighbors, school mates, or co-workers either about their eternity.
Thus, the results of this is upon us: we have forsaken God. Now, the stirring of all these situations upon us has moved a remnant to pray and cry out. Praise the Lord for all those that see and understand this great need of prevailing prayer. And it may be tomorrow that a miracle occurs, and the Supreme Court ruling is in answer to our prayers that marriage is one man and one woman and states do not have a right to dictate to Bible believing Christians or others to accept abominations. God is able to do 'great and mighty things, abundantly above all that we ask or think'. God is able in the darkness that we see and are living, here and now, to bring forth real revival that impacts this generation. God is God; and He can and will do what is right; He cannot sin, He cannot fail, He cannot go against His holy nature and bless sin in a person, family, church, or nation.
Thus, 'I create light and darkness; I make peace and create evil'. So much has happened so quickly over the last two years in the advancement of evil in our nation. And as this evil has grown in homes, public, and lives, Christianity has withdrawn, shrunken and lessened. It is the demosntration of this truth in Isaiah coming to pass. God is light, and in Him, His light shines forth to those in darkness and sin. Those in sin, in darkness so often reject the Light and remain in it. God exists and remains whether there is light or darkness. He created light out of darkness, but He still existed in the darkness. And the same is more true for the last half of this verse in relationship to this truth. There is a time of peace, serenity and bliss; but if God is not in it, then chaos, wickedness and evil are permitted, allowed and created. God allows for men to reap what they have sown. This is demonstrated over and over in God's response to His Own children, the children of Israel. It is documented in every society, nation, kingdom and people. That when they embraced sin and forgot the God Who created them and has instructed them in the 'good and right way', they quickly came to their own demise. They end up like the descendants of Cain. But those that fear the Lord, honor the Lord, follow the Lord find light, find peace, find His preserving hand to protect, guide and lead.
Thus, in a nation that has rejected His glorious light, His glorious ways, His glorious Word; He has permitted, allowed for our legalizing of sin to usher in the advancement of hell itself, in evil. Why would God do this? It is not His desire for this to be, but He knows the waywardness, and the turning of our hearts away from Him. 'Straight is the gate and narrow is the way, and few there be that find it'; few are coming out of the darkness into the Light of His love, grace and mercy. But many are they that love sin, darkness and evil. And as they have increased in this land, they have brought us to this place, 'here', where God now permits for us to literally destroy ourselves by provoking Him to wrath against the legalizing of such sins.
I have already written the warning if they legalize this sin. I have already called for the church to pray (over a year ago, when the circuit court overturneed the voters of California); and wrote a prayer guide for help ( 5 months ago). I have surrendered it to the Lord and asked for His perfect will to be done, here on earth as it is in heaven. 'Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?' Certainly He shall and will. And as Abraham prayed for Lot to be spared and saved; you and I had better get before the Lord and pray the same for our loved ones, lest they be consumed in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (present day United States of America). Remember, becasue of Abraham's intercession only Lot and his family was escorted out before the fire fell.
Woe unto a land, a people, a government that issues the foolishness of saying evil is good; and good is evil. Woe unto a place that puts its stamp of approval on legalizing of sin and thinking that God will not repsond nor answer such folly. Woe unto supposed, learned and knowledgable men that have not learned from history and dooms the future they say they are protecting by their foolish rulings.
Friday, June 7, 2013
A CALL TO PRAYER DIMINISHED
A Call to Prayer Diminished
June, 2013
Divine moments are when God, in His infinite wisdom, desire and power, leads men to accomplish His purposes. Jonathan Edwards received many literary works of John Erskine that they communicated back and forth about. But when he received 'Memorial', it birthed within him to write, 'A Call to United, Extraordinary Prayer' that quickened many to the serious need of real, prevailing prayer. There has been many 'call's to prayer' over the years in the church that was sincerely set forth to bring the church back to this great source of power before the throne of God. And it is the tragedy learned, that when God's people stop praying; and God's house stops being the 'House of Prayer' that sin abounds, hell advances, and souls are assaulted. Let 'A Call to Prayer' not be diminished, but advance in depth, fire and passion and zeal for our Lord's kingdom to advance and Satan's kingdom to be put under the heel of Christ.
"The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" - Jame 5:16
As God has stirred my heart in the importance and power in prayer, I have reached out numerous times with my own 'Calls to Pray'. Being naive, and oblivious to many ways of the church, pastors and Christians I did not know what results would follow. Would it not be gloirous to issue 'a call to pray' as Lampier did in the 1850's and see scores across the nation responding in calling out to God for mercy, salvation and forgiveness? Would it not be glorious to see churches on their knees and faces crying out to God to, 'do it again Lord, do it again' and see the winds and responses of revival in our land? The purpose of a 'call to prayer' is because their is a cloud arising, the size of a man's hand; but not for rain, but for evil, sin, wrath and judgment. I began a work many years ago, entitled, 'The Continuance of Evil' that shows this multiplying affect of wicked men. And we can record and see over the years, and last decades the demise of our nation, churches and homes because we did not respond to this growing assualt of evil against us. Found at the very crux of it all is the absence of prevailing prayer for God's mercy in such times of wrath.
And when such times come, there have been numerous movings of God to draw us back to our first love. He is ever great in His faithfulness to us. He has provided numerous seasons of refreshing and revival upon our land. But it has always been when He first began to set men to pray and seek His face. I believe this to be a generally accepted statement across the board: God first moves men to pray in order that He may work wondrously. And so it is that during these times, we should look for 'where prayer is wont to be made'. To find those that are laboring in prayer night and day and that can be truly said of them, 'I give myself unto prayer'. Here is where God begins.
For God says, 'I looked for a man' and 'wondered that He could not find one' that would make up the hedge, stand in the gap and intercede for a people. And you and I are left to ask ourselves, 'Am I that man/woman?' For how many during numerous occassions of pastors, and lay people together confess these same truths: "I know I should pray more"; "I have not prayed nearly as much as I should"; " I am so sorry for neglecting prayers for my family, church and nation". These are not confessions of idle words, but deep contrite affections of servants of God, who God is dealing with to make them to be men and women of prayer. And it begins with this ascertion and confession of repentance, "I have not prayed like I should".
When the 'Call to Prayer' is issued, and hearts, minds and souls deal with the present sin of prayerlessness in churches, homes and secret closets, then God is able to raise up a people that 'ask, and it shall given'. They call upon Him, believing and He hears and stands ready to answer in great and mighty ways. But when the 'call to prayer' is issued and it falls upon hard hearts, carnal ambitions and closed ears, then hell advances. It is because of our failure to obey in prayer that there is no standard to push back the flood of evil. For we have eyes to see the need of sin before us, but we give no thought to what we see; we have ears to hear the truth and respond to it, but our hearts are far from Him. Yes, many profess themsevles to be Christians, they know the value of His atoning blood, they worship Him in spirit and truth. But Satan, our great enemy, has caused a sleep to come, has stirred appetites for carnal, worldly things and trapped many a saint in the ways of the flesh. So that, while interests, time and energy is spent on temporal things, spiritual things are left unattended.
I issued several 'calls to prayer' on the Southern Baptist convention floor, through emails, and video uploads. I was ruled 'out of order' on the convention floor twice. Can you imagine prayer being ruled out of order? It was a kind of a prophetic note for the way of the church in our day. Naive and ignorant of proper procedures and ways, I simply stood to call for an awareness and response from SBC leaders to engage and take it. Now it is important to note 'why' I issued the call to prayer:
1. I did not know so much about Jonathan Edwards historic 'call to prayer'. I simply knew that God gave me a task to stand and make a motion for it to be acted upon. It was not a birth of an idea from a man; it was not for attention to me or my minstry; it was not for fame. It was to be obedient to the 'heavenly calling' laid upon my soul to have my fellow brethren, Southern Baptists, become a people of prayer for the sake of our nation, families and future generations. I have been chastised, scorned and critiscized by some for obeying; but we 'ought to obey God rather than men'. It is amazing that a few can pierce the heart, when in comparison there have been numerous voices encouraging and applauding the 'call to prayer'. It is one of Satan's devices that we focus on the weaker things rather than the whole. I confess that with my own shame of putting my eyes on those critical voices rather than simply 'looking unto Jesus'.
2. The points that stirred this 'heavenly calling' to pray was found in the signs of the time. NO revival had ever occurred without God raising up prevailing prayer before His Manifest Presence showed up. And with confession of so many not praying in pulpits, churches and personal lives, it could not be a more needful time to respond to getting back to the spiritual discipline of prevailing prayer The lack of prayer was based on numerous interviews, confessions, phone calls, from one question I asked of them, 'Tell me about your prayer life'. Their responses told our reality of the sin of prayerlessness. It was repeated and demonstrated over and over that the need for prayer to be restored was great.
3. Upon the land for the last several decades has been the wrath of God with increased judgments. Signs are everywhere of our great need of revival through the church responding to 'a call to prayer'. Divorces, murder, suicides, pornography, lies, every fabric of life being assualted by hell to our own demise. These signs and realities should be enough to stir a response to 'a call to prayer'. However, even in the midst of such things, the hearts are waxed cold and passes over till self life begins again. Yea, the selfishness of humanism is spreading like a cancer that we lose sight of eternity because we are fixed on the here and now for our own easement, desires, interests, indulgences and enjoyments. We pass through the tragedies at hand to get back to our life and its pleasures. What about the kingdom?
When California had elections in regard to 'Propisiton 8' over the allowance of same sex marriage or not, they voted to not allow same sex marriage to be law of their state. Other states were battling this and some were beginning to pass legislation to make it okay for homosexuality okay in the land. And the natural question is that if one state allows it and they move from that state to my state, then are they still legal or not? The hand-writing was on the wall to where we was going with this. and when a lawsuit allowed for courts to overturn the votes of the California people to say, 'Your votes and voide doesn't matter, we are going to allow same sex marriage'; it was quite certain that all of this was heading to the Supreme Court for a decision and whether to make it law of our land. Roe vs. Wade and the great shedding of innocent blood, of abortions from 1973 was repeating itself for this our generation This great cry 'for an immediate 'call to prayer' to not allow this sin to destroy us was issued. Many were called to respond early on, but delay after delay was allowed.
Until, finally in January, 2013 Frank Page, issued this year to be ' A Call to Pray' because of these most pressing issues of same sex marriage, the Boy Scouts allowance of homosexual boys (seriously, tell me what pre-teen knows there gay, unless some adult is forcing their agenda on them), the crucial hour of churches baptisms, growth being reduced drastically. Overall, the state of the church is weak, powerless and very much in shameful plight for how much God has done for us and given to us. 'Where much is given, much is required'. Yea, it is a question to be asked and answered, 'Is the Lord among us or not?' And God responds, 'Repent, and do your first works; lest I come and remove your candlestick'.
Many churches that desire to maintain their obedience and righteousness, argue that, 'We are praying'. And when asked about their prayer meetings, they confess that 80 - 90 %, and for some almost all of their time, of their prayers are for the sick, discussions of remedies, and peoples personal editorial comments on everything from governement to weather. Very little kingdom prayers are offered. Very little pursuit of 'effective, fervent prayers' against sin and for God's holiness to prevail. Thus, 'a Call to Pray' is diminished to casual, ineffective, temporal, carnal petitions.
And now, with the very soul of our nation, our future, the status of the church held in contempt by God; the 'call to prayer' is diminished to cover everything of temporal matters. All the while principlaties and powers of hell are advancing and we are fighting the wrong battles. 'Our battle is not against flesh and blood'; our 'call to prayer' is not about our agendas and humanistic ways; they are to be prayers of unction for God's glory, God's agenda and God's power to exhibit for His glory Name sake. But 'calls to prayer' should not be "majoring on the minors".
Now let the 'call to prayer' go out and be received for the fulfillment of God's promise and directives. Let the fulfillment be that which is pronounced in II Chronicles 7:14. Let prayer be effective to the kingdom of our Lord. Let prayer be made 'without ceasing'. Let prayer be fervent for everything that is at stake. Everything we know as 'life' can be removed in a moment, due to the lack of prayer for God's mercy in the midst of a wicked nation. Fervency for souls that are one breath away from an eternity in hell. Fervency that God's bride, the church, which is so filthy and vile and has brought great occasion against our Lord, be revived, restored and renewed. And remember that such prayers are received from a righteous man. Is there any inqiutiy in my heart? Are my hands clean? Is my heart pure? And as the Spirit reveals our wicked ways, our tongues, minds and hearts are quick to confess and repent. 'Cleanse thou me O God, renew a right spirit within me. Take not Thy Holy Spirit from us.' May we be found pleasing to You in all our ways for Your glory Name sake. In wrath O God remember Your great mercy and revive us again we pray.
until,
dan biser
June, 2013
Divine moments are when God, in His infinite wisdom, desire and power, leads men to accomplish His purposes. Jonathan Edwards received many literary works of John Erskine that they communicated back and forth about. But when he received 'Memorial', it birthed within him to write, 'A Call to United, Extraordinary Prayer' that quickened many to the serious need of real, prevailing prayer. There has been many 'call's to prayer' over the years in the church that was sincerely set forth to bring the church back to this great source of power before the throne of God. And it is the tragedy learned, that when God's people stop praying; and God's house stops being the 'House of Prayer' that sin abounds, hell advances, and souls are assaulted. Let 'A Call to Prayer' not be diminished, but advance in depth, fire and passion and zeal for our Lord's kingdom to advance and Satan's kingdom to be put under the heel of Christ.
"The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" - Jame 5:16
As God has stirred my heart in the importance and power in prayer, I have reached out numerous times with my own 'Calls to Pray'. Being naive, and oblivious to many ways of the church, pastors and Christians I did not know what results would follow. Would it not be gloirous to issue 'a call to pray' as Lampier did in the 1850's and see scores across the nation responding in calling out to God for mercy, salvation and forgiveness? Would it not be glorious to see churches on their knees and faces crying out to God to, 'do it again Lord, do it again' and see the winds and responses of revival in our land? The purpose of a 'call to prayer' is because their is a cloud arising, the size of a man's hand; but not for rain, but for evil, sin, wrath and judgment. I began a work many years ago, entitled, 'The Continuance of Evil' that shows this multiplying affect of wicked men. And we can record and see over the years, and last decades the demise of our nation, churches and homes because we did not respond to this growing assualt of evil against us. Found at the very crux of it all is the absence of prevailing prayer for God's mercy in such times of wrath.
And when such times come, there have been numerous movings of God to draw us back to our first love. He is ever great in His faithfulness to us. He has provided numerous seasons of refreshing and revival upon our land. But it has always been when He first began to set men to pray and seek His face. I believe this to be a generally accepted statement across the board: God first moves men to pray in order that He may work wondrously. And so it is that during these times, we should look for 'where prayer is wont to be made'. To find those that are laboring in prayer night and day and that can be truly said of them, 'I give myself unto prayer'. Here is where God begins.
For God says, 'I looked for a man' and 'wondered that He could not find one' that would make up the hedge, stand in the gap and intercede for a people. And you and I are left to ask ourselves, 'Am I that man/woman?' For how many during numerous occassions of pastors, and lay people together confess these same truths: "I know I should pray more"; "I have not prayed nearly as much as I should"; " I am so sorry for neglecting prayers for my family, church and nation". These are not confessions of idle words, but deep contrite affections of servants of God, who God is dealing with to make them to be men and women of prayer. And it begins with this ascertion and confession of repentance, "I have not prayed like I should".
When the 'Call to Prayer' is issued, and hearts, minds and souls deal with the present sin of prayerlessness in churches, homes and secret closets, then God is able to raise up a people that 'ask, and it shall given'. They call upon Him, believing and He hears and stands ready to answer in great and mighty ways. But when the 'call to prayer' is issued and it falls upon hard hearts, carnal ambitions and closed ears, then hell advances. It is because of our failure to obey in prayer that there is no standard to push back the flood of evil. For we have eyes to see the need of sin before us, but we give no thought to what we see; we have ears to hear the truth and respond to it, but our hearts are far from Him. Yes, many profess themsevles to be Christians, they know the value of His atoning blood, they worship Him in spirit and truth. But Satan, our great enemy, has caused a sleep to come, has stirred appetites for carnal, worldly things and trapped many a saint in the ways of the flesh. So that, while interests, time and energy is spent on temporal things, spiritual things are left unattended.
I issued several 'calls to prayer' on the Southern Baptist convention floor, through emails, and video uploads. I was ruled 'out of order' on the convention floor twice. Can you imagine prayer being ruled out of order? It was a kind of a prophetic note for the way of the church in our day. Naive and ignorant of proper procedures and ways, I simply stood to call for an awareness and response from SBC leaders to engage and take it. Now it is important to note 'why' I issued the call to prayer:
1. I did not know so much about Jonathan Edwards historic 'call to prayer'. I simply knew that God gave me a task to stand and make a motion for it to be acted upon. It was not a birth of an idea from a man; it was not for attention to me or my minstry; it was not for fame. It was to be obedient to the 'heavenly calling' laid upon my soul to have my fellow brethren, Southern Baptists, become a people of prayer for the sake of our nation, families and future generations. I have been chastised, scorned and critiscized by some for obeying; but we 'ought to obey God rather than men'. It is amazing that a few can pierce the heart, when in comparison there have been numerous voices encouraging and applauding the 'call to prayer'. It is one of Satan's devices that we focus on the weaker things rather than the whole. I confess that with my own shame of putting my eyes on those critical voices rather than simply 'looking unto Jesus'.
2. The points that stirred this 'heavenly calling' to pray was found in the signs of the time. NO revival had ever occurred without God raising up prevailing prayer before His Manifest Presence showed up. And with confession of so many not praying in pulpits, churches and personal lives, it could not be a more needful time to respond to getting back to the spiritual discipline of prevailing prayer The lack of prayer was based on numerous interviews, confessions, phone calls, from one question I asked of them, 'Tell me about your prayer life'. Their responses told our reality of the sin of prayerlessness. It was repeated and demonstrated over and over that the need for prayer to be restored was great.
3. Upon the land for the last several decades has been the wrath of God with increased judgments. Signs are everywhere of our great need of revival through the church responding to 'a call to prayer'. Divorces, murder, suicides, pornography, lies, every fabric of life being assualted by hell to our own demise. These signs and realities should be enough to stir a response to 'a call to prayer'. However, even in the midst of such things, the hearts are waxed cold and passes over till self life begins again. Yea, the selfishness of humanism is spreading like a cancer that we lose sight of eternity because we are fixed on the here and now for our own easement, desires, interests, indulgences and enjoyments. We pass through the tragedies at hand to get back to our life and its pleasures. What about the kingdom?
When California had elections in regard to 'Propisiton 8' over the allowance of same sex marriage or not, they voted to not allow same sex marriage to be law of their state. Other states were battling this and some were beginning to pass legislation to make it okay for homosexuality okay in the land. And the natural question is that if one state allows it and they move from that state to my state, then are they still legal or not? The hand-writing was on the wall to where we was going with this. and when a lawsuit allowed for courts to overturn the votes of the California people to say, 'Your votes and voide doesn't matter, we are going to allow same sex marriage'; it was quite certain that all of this was heading to the Supreme Court for a decision and whether to make it law of our land. Roe vs. Wade and the great shedding of innocent blood, of abortions from 1973 was repeating itself for this our generation This great cry 'for an immediate 'call to prayer' to not allow this sin to destroy us was issued. Many were called to respond early on, but delay after delay was allowed.
Until, finally in January, 2013 Frank Page, issued this year to be ' A Call to Pray' because of these most pressing issues of same sex marriage, the Boy Scouts allowance of homosexual boys (seriously, tell me what pre-teen knows there gay, unless some adult is forcing their agenda on them), the crucial hour of churches baptisms, growth being reduced drastically. Overall, the state of the church is weak, powerless and very much in shameful plight for how much God has done for us and given to us. 'Where much is given, much is required'. Yea, it is a question to be asked and answered, 'Is the Lord among us or not?' And God responds, 'Repent, and do your first works; lest I come and remove your candlestick'.
Many churches that desire to maintain their obedience and righteousness, argue that, 'We are praying'. And when asked about their prayer meetings, they confess that 80 - 90 %, and for some almost all of their time, of their prayers are for the sick, discussions of remedies, and peoples personal editorial comments on everything from governement to weather. Very little kingdom prayers are offered. Very little pursuit of 'effective, fervent prayers' against sin and for God's holiness to prevail. Thus, 'a Call to Pray' is diminished to casual, ineffective, temporal, carnal petitions.
And now, with the very soul of our nation, our future, the status of the church held in contempt by God; the 'call to prayer' is diminished to cover everything of temporal matters. All the while principlaties and powers of hell are advancing and we are fighting the wrong battles. 'Our battle is not against flesh and blood'; our 'call to prayer' is not about our agendas and humanistic ways; they are to be prayers of unction for God's glory, God's agenda and God's power to exhibit for His glory Name sake. But 'calls to prayer' should not be "majoring on the minors".
Now let the 'call to prayer' go out and be received for the fulfillment of God's promise and directives. Let the fulfillment be that which is pronounced in II Chronicles 7:14. Let prayer be effective to the kingdom of our Lord. Let prayer be made 'without ceasing'. Let prayer be fervent for everything that is at stake. Everything we know as 'life' can be removed in a moment, due to the lack of prayer for God's mercy in the midst of a wicked nation. Fervency for souls that are one breath away from an eternity in hell. Fervency that God's bride, the church, which is so filthy and vile and has brought great occasion against our Lord, be revived, restored and renewed. And remember that such prayers are received from a righteous man. Is there any inqiutiy in my heart? Are my hands clean? Is my heart pure? And as the Spirit reveals our wicked ways, our tongues, minds and hearts are quick to confess and repent. 'Cleanse thou me O God, renew a right spirit within me. Take not Thy Holy Spirit from us.' May we be found pleasing to You in all our ways for Your glory Name sake. In wrath O God remember Your great mercy and revive us again we pray.
until,
dan biser
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