Greetings,
"And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father." I Kings 11:6
Are we here with Solomon? Has our great passion, our great heart for the Lord now become this sinful epitaph, 'they went not fully after the Lord'?
As Solomon let up in his pursuit of God and the things of God, his heart was slowly turned away by women and the false gods. It did not happen over night, but gradually over two decades it happened. The first two decades of Solomon he was on track and right before the Lord as he built the temple and his house; but somewhere during those last two decades of his 40 year reign this happened.
when the heart stops going after the Lord fully, self, sin and Satan is gaining ground. Occupying more time, more thoughts, more habits and routines and the things of the Lord are becoming less. Satan takes full advantage of this and seeks a to kill the Christian witness, joy and life completely. Many are shipwrecked due to this. And I fear, more than likely they did not know or understand this truth, it happened because 'they went not fully after the Lord'.
In regards to prayer and the prayer closet, I often wonder about this in our prayer meetings and times. Those times of prayer which seems so mechanical, right words, but no heart. Is such not guilty of 'they went not after the Lord fully'? And then you see the examples as Nehemiah, 'he sat down, he wept, he mourned, he fasted and then he prayed'. And the words of emphasis that should be within our prayer times. or urgency and fervency and emergency. These three words are my catalyst that I not be found guilty in prayer of 'went not fully after the Lord'. but always remembering 'what's at stake' - eternity. What's the price if I do not fully go after the Lord in prayer? Evil advances, sin prevails, souls are lost and God's Name and kingdom are hindered. This cannot be acceptable in our prayer lives or times.
I have given a numerical response to the prayer life of the SBC - 12% have an hour corporate prayer each month; 88% do not have an hour corporate prayer meeting within a months time. As could any one suggest that the SBC prayer life is guilty of 'they went not fully after the Lord'. In prayer or any of our disciplines we must answer this question. 'Am I going fully after the Lord?' Paul wrote these words, 'spend and be spent for the kingdom.' And this emphasis for being more and abiding more in Christ is absolutely necessary. For if we knew and pressed it sore to our hearts we would not be so prayerless. We would not be etched with 'they went not fully after the Lord'. Recognizing this sin, confessing this sin and remedying this sin is crucial for our hour.
Let not our prayer life become routine; dismissal; sporadic; half-hearted; tear-less; unction-less; but let it be filled with fervency, urgency for we are living in an emergency time.
In regards to my last email and call for help. . .
Although the burden upon me as lessened, I do not believe that it has been resolved. How I thank God for each of you that wrote and prayed with me over these last few weeks. I know not what to do in these uncharted waters, except to 'continue in prayer'; and 'watch and pray'. The incidents over the last week are alarming of two school shooting stopped; as well as the other suicides and murder-suicides. Evil is present and dominating minds and hearts. Herein is our spiritual battle.
I will continue to pray towards this end, 'deliver us from evil'. And praying specifically in the heart and mind of Satan's lies, temptations, and ploys. It is a hard thing to discern God's judgement and Satan's attacks. sin produces both; but the bestower of them is different. One is merciful the other is not. but this is the reason of 'greater is He that in you than he that is in the world.' I simply ask of you to continue in prayer with me and for me. Let us pray towards this end.
Some evil is in the works, or set into motion. Prayer is the power to undo an stop it. God be glorified in all of it.
PRAYER TARGETS:
--heightened increase in deaths; parents killing children; two more murder-suicides; 2 threats of school shootings, at this time looks like both contained;
--increase of food shortage; ecoli, salmonella, pig virus china to kill 200 million pigs; natural disasters destroyed in Australia and Mid-West of US cattle; this is going to impact food prices. Its' global.
--Plagues - measles outbreak in US; cancers; Ebola virus in Democratic Congo - 1100 affected, 700 deaths; new drug resistant strand of yeast fungal which is just getting started, here in US and global.
--refugees camps, continue globally of millions in need of continued basic needs;
--crisis in Venezuela - reports of people turning back to the church for help and God;
--Paris, France - weekend protests have continued for months; Police officers so far this month have seen 24 police officers commit suicide - that's 1 death every 4 days; great plague of evil on the minds of men;
--Sudan president ousted - praying for moderate president allowance of religious freedom and advancement away from that despair there; over 500,000 deaths estimated due to war, religious persecution and famine;
--continued flooding in Mid-west to affect crops clear through June;
--record flooding in Iran has shut down oil refineries;
--storm that hit east Africa last month has reached 1000 deaths; destruction on a scale that is reported that they have never seen before; disease no doubt to follow;
UPDATES:
--bible readings - up through I Kings 13;
--The Activity of God - Ezra complete, starting into Nehemiah;
--A Word - only a few verses started in Isaiah chapter 59; no time at all this month invested in writing;
--sermons on youtube are now a major issue; they stopped the live feeds, unless you have 1000 subscribers; problems uploading recorded videos; have got Keyser church uploaded, but error readings when trying to upload Fox's Hollow;
Until,
Dan
Started: April 17, 2019
Continued:
Finished:
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