Greetings,
"And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if Thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of Thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget Thine handmaid, but wilt give unto Thine handmaid a man child. . . . . . No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord.. . . the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. . . . and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. . . For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of Him." I Samuel 1:9 - 27
I have preached all around this passage the last two weeks not even really aware of it. Preached the great worship prayer of Hannah in chapter 2 at Fox's Hollow; this past Sunday I preached chapter 2 of "praying God's heart & mind over our heart and mind." And now in 'The Activity of God - Ruth/I Samuel' here i am again. Going through this broke me with great expression of heart in prayers unto Him. A flood of issues, sins, heart cries and the recent happenings of judgement have greatly moved me, and this is coupled with everything else upon me and within me. Would you walk with me through these prayer points:
v. 10 "bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord,, and wept sore" What was the last spiritual thing you wept over? What was the last spiritual, heavenly thing that left you 'bitter in soul'? Bitter in soul is 'great grief'. And there was no relief for this great grief to be offered from this world, only by praying it unto the Lord. I believe the Keith Green song, "My Eyes are Dry' is our truth and confession of most churches, they never weep; and most Christians, they don't weep over what breaks God's heart. They still wonder why Jesus wept over Jerusalem in Luke 19. But oh, find the soul that is filled with bitterness and sorrow over the sins and evil of this world. Filled and the cup running over with this anguish and bitter sorrow. They see hell capture and hold souls; to see drugs and all the fruit that comes from those evil seeds planted and nourished by this lost world; to see it in whole families and all the while watching the church neglect and reject the prayer meeting. And when they do have a prayer meeting, no brokenness, no sorrow, no bitterness of soul before the Lord.
I must confess, I have never gotten over June, 2013 and the legalizing of the great evil of homosexuality by the Supreme Court. If that was my battle to fight in this world and on my time frame, I failed. For I did see it forehand. I saw when CA overturned it and knew it would come to the Supreme Court and knew they would pass it. And even though I wrote and begged and pleaded with SBC leaders to rise up and fight this, they waited till the last weeks before doing or saying anything. I hold them responsible as well, but I know it was on me largely. This was my bitterness of soul. . these are the types of things that cause me to pray unto the Lord and weep sore. that instance now causes me to see the hand writing on the wall for others sins and God's response for our nation and for our future.
Lost souls, haphazard church goers, religious people, no brokenness or contrition, no godly sorrow unto repentance; and all the while knowing that they come to Christ, make a decision and in 6 months they'll be right back out in the world. They never died to self, never crucified the flesh and the world and they try to straddle the fence, with one foot in the church and the other in the world. Such anguish over our plight today. The remedial judgements were bad enough, but now having grown to EPIDEMICS, how much more. Doing the stats for prayer meetings among SBC and seeing our great sin of prayerlessness and not one word, not one response, good or bad. This is my bitterness of soul, this is what makes me pray unto the Lord, this is why I weep sore in the night.
I am Jeremiah, 'Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me". "For these things I weep: mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate because the enemy prevailed." What??! the enemy prevailed; It's not supposed to be that way. We are to victorious; we sing 'Victory in Jesus'; 'we state 'Jesus wins in the end'. But what about now? As Jesus said of Jerusalem when He wept over it. 'But you would not' and they did not. And this is the answer to why the enemy prevails, 'you would not' --weep; --fast; --pray; anguish. and now your end is come.
v. 11 - Her vow and her pleading - Hannah made a vow. Do not make a vow ever in the heat of a moment. For the Lord will hold you to it, there is no going back on a vow to the Lord. but Hannah makes a statement here that spoke to my heart, 'look on the affliction of Thy servant and remember me, and not forget me" Oh, God cannot forget His Own, yea, we are engraved on the palms of His hand. But this is a revelation of the desperation of her heart; yea, of mine for what I see and hear and know. So desperate with grabbing hold of the horns of the altar, as Jacob, "I will not let go, till Thou bless me and answer me'. It is the desperation of heart cry, "I will not be denied. There is no tomorrow, no more hope, no more opportunities; only here and now, Tomorrow is promised to none of us. Here and here alone, this battle will be fought and won or lost." It is urgency. Remember me Lord.
v. 15 'but have poured out my soul before the Lord' Ah, there are many that pray; there are many that call upon Him; but there are so few that pour out their soul before Him. Do you see the level of increase here? Phrase that I have been stuck with in preaching Sunday and in bible readings, 'how much more'. It is wonderful that you pray, 'say prayers', but how much more is it for the soul that pours it out before Him. As David poured out the water of the 3 mighty men that risked their lives for a cup of water from Bethlehem' well; he poured it out unto the Lord.
I shared recently with someone, when they asked me how it was going. You know me, I answer truthfully, no pleasant vain repetitions from me. I answered & said, 'I still haven't arrived yet." And I could see the look on his face. I said, 'You ever heard of Rex Andrews?' "no", he replied. I proceeded to tell him that Rex Andrews prayed for 30 years and never missed a night. Starting at 10 PM each night and praying generally till 4 or 5 AM. But the phrase of pouring oneself out before the Lord is found in this statement of Rex Andrews, this is what I seek to find and hold and accomplish, 'I prayed till the burden was lifted'. Oh, brethren, how we do pray; but I fear we do not pray till the burden is lifted; till the forces of His kingdom is won. Pray, yes; but pray so as to prevail, we know very little of. Hannah prayed and prevailed. Do you see it? How much more. . .
v. 17, 19, 20, 27 'God grant thee thy petition. . . God remembered her. . . I have asked him of the Lord. . . For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of Him.' It just don't get no better than this. 'call and I will answer'; 'ask and it shall be given' seek and ye shall find'; Pray and it shall be granted. The burden is lifted, the prayer is heard, it has come before His throne, with the incense offered from the golden censer and the prayer of the saints. His kingdom will be done and established and His will be performed; because His people prayed with an anguish in their soul and heart; with tears as their meat; and with a heart that nothing else can satiate that He speaking those words from His heavenly throne, 'I have heard you, seen your tears, I know your heart is broken, Your petition to Me from your heart and bitter soul is answered." And in one moment, sorrow and grief are replaced with joy and rejoicing, because HE IS ABLE.
Oh brethren, your praying? wonderful, continue. But do you know this kind of praying.
The hour is late, the need is great; pray so as to prevail.
EPIDEMICS:
1. Drugs - 3 more states legalized drug use; no spiritual warfare by the church continues to allow hell to take state after state; drugs in the churches because they believe 'a little' use is ok; There is no separation of drugs & alcohol in the church. There are as guilty of use as the lost sinners. It is our great iniquity as the church.
2. Cancer - rejoice/sorrow; Rejoicing in the answered prayers; Beth was at Bible study last night; donna is home; others answered prayers and recovering from surgery. Amen; Praise You Lord! Sorrow - two more passed away last week; one with Christ, the other unknown;
3. Great Evil - two suicides within a week here in Keyser; unheard of! this is why this section of epidemics is titled 'GREAT EVIL' its not bullying; its not guns; its evil; Satan comes to kill, destroy, devastate and claim souls for his own. And our great work is to counter that by praying for their deliverance, victory and overcoming. 'Deliver them from evil' And it has only increased from week to week. 3 close at hand for me; This is not acceptable. But the church locally as nationally doesn't get it. They do not know that we wrestle against spiritual wickedness and rulers and principalities of the darkness.
4. LGBT -
5. Children -
6. Natural Disasters - CA wildfires with almost 50 dead and over 200 missing; Drought, prevention, etc. is what the world thinks and says. JUDGEMENT is what I say. Proposition 8 is still on God's heart and mind. LGBT agenda, Planned parenthood, Hollywood and all the other evil. The remnant is there and upon the righteous and the wicked comes these judgements on all our land. FL still without power, still recovering; flooding, etc. worse and more records and more 'historical moments' all within this last year. Can't you see the handwriting on the wall?!
UPdates:
I will only share one thing with you. I have sent out the two blog posts on the SBC Prayer Life and my remedy for that of praying with intent. I have sent these out to all the SBC state executives and will try to send to as many others of discipleship, revitalization, church strengthening etc. We are out of time folk, please pass along.
My only regret about the SBC Prayer Life stats, is that I could have gathered more info. But time and gathering is hard, But I do feel confident that the numbers are a revealing of accuracy among all the church in North America, not just SBC.
https://danbiser.blogspot.com/2018/11/houses-of-prayer-peopleperson-of-prayer.html
https://danbiser.blogspot.com/2018/09/prayer-life-of-sbc.html
Until,
dan
Started: November 13, 2018
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