Greetings,
". . . for I cannot find one wise man among you." Job 17:10
"I speak this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you?" I Corinthians 6:5
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God." John 1:1-2
Just finished reading through the bible this morning. Always such a joy to complete; coupled with all my other studies, readings, preaching, teaching and writings. Out of this great joy comes the knowledge of God; Who is God; what has He done and more importantly, why has He done it. Has the Bible not declared why God allows or causes things to happen in this earth? Has God not said of Himself, 'I have told you of things to come so that you might know that I have done it"?
Back last year, 2019, God was moving much among church and prayer leaders. There was a heightened increase calling for prayer and fasting. God was moving His people to make right with Him, and before Him before the new year came forth. Why did we call for a 100 hours of prayer for the state of our nation and the state of the church? Because on the horizon was a great impact to our world of life and death for 1000's. This crisis upon us now, is only one of dozens of judgements upon our world and our nation. Again, has God not already revealed Himself in His Word of what He will do and allow?
--Genesis 6 - 'God saw' the hearts of men were continually evil; God destroyed by flood; but in grace and mercy had Noah preach 100 years of the destruction to come. Only 8 got on the boat.
--Genesis 18 - 'God heard the cry of Sodom'; God knew and saw that their sin was very grievous"; God destroyed it with fire and brimstone; only 4 got out;
--Exodus - 400 years of hard bondage and killing of God's people and the slaughter of the male children; God saw and heard the cry of Israel; God slew all the first born of Egypt of man and beast. God brought Israel out of Egypt;
--Exodus/Number - these same Israelite's that saw God's death angel and all the first born in Egypt die; rebelled, murmured and sinned against the Lord God; and all that generation that came out of Egypt over 20 yrs. old died in the wilderness; only 2 entered into the promised land with those 20 and under;
--Numbers - God sent the fiery serpents, 10,000's died;
--Joshua - Anak takes of the cursed; dozens died, God withdrawn from them till wrong was made right;
--II Samuel - David numbers the people for the people and David had sinned against the Lord; God sends 3 days of His angel to slay and 70,000 die.
--Jonah - a whole city warned of 1000's of lives at stake; yet they responded rightly by humbling themselves with brokenness and contrition and the city is spared;
--Jesus prophecy and weeping over Jerusalem for what would be for rejecting the Son of God; Luke 19; 70 AD Jerusalem destroyed by Romans;
And what shall we say of all the other accounts when God's hand is outstretched to curse, to punish, to kill and to remove men and/or nations from off the whole world. And in every one of them He has shown His grace and mercy; His restraint; His Sovereign will. The Word of God has revealed the wrath of God against His own people and the nations for multiplying sin against Him and His ways. Warnings and remedial judgements are sent to remind us of our high offence against the Holy God and to turn from our sin and return to our Lord. Why does God's Own people not know these things? "I cannot find a wise one among you".
And so it is that from the Word of God and from the increased activity of prayer leaders that God called many of us to engage in over the last 6 months, God was warning us of what was to come.
--we called last year, yea pleaded and begged with SBC leadership to initiate Concerts of Prayer;
--we joined Austin's 7 churches in Sept/Oct for 80 hours of prayer, while they prayed the 24/7 for a full week;
--at the end of the year, the pressing of His Spirit of evil on the horizon was there, and we called for the 100 hours of prayer;
This will always be a missed moment in time if there is no all to address the why of our plight. Past times in our history have revealed this as well. After 9/11, President Bush was set to call the nation to a solemn assembly; but (I believe?) it was Dick Cheney that talked him out of it. After Hurricane Katrina happened, it was a time; after columbine; after sandy hook; after Dallas police officers shot down; etc. were times and we missed the moment. Our only reaction after those times and this crisis upon us is a "Post' response -"Pray". Why is that the church never learns the preventive prayers, and preventive measures and preeminent response?
This is why the call to prayer for Sunday, March 15, by the President and by the SBC; although wonderful that it was called for, does not address the need of WHY and WHAT God is doing. It is not sufficient!!
The crisis will perhaps abate in weeks. what we will happen to the alarm? the shock? the change of our nation? IT will likely revert back to 'normal'. sports, time and money back to entertainment and self. God and prayer will be forgotten till the next crisis. No sin condemned, no repentance called for, no explanation of why these things happen. And the moment in time will be lost again. And we will plunge closer and nearer to our own demise and destruction.
but oh, if the moment was seized, captured for what it is truly is. If we knew this was God's pleading with us to return, to restore, to renew, to repent! IF we knew how merciful and gracious He was and is and would be, if we only came before Him contrite and broken. Oh, brethren, if one passionate plea I plead with you, don't let this moment pass us by. 'Pass us not, O Gentle Savior, Hear our humble cry; while on others Thou art pleading, please don't pass us by". It is the greatest moment of our time to employ what He has said, done and commanded from His Word. 'Let us come boldly before the throne of God to help in this time of need."
"Is there a wise man among you?"
PRAYER TARGETS:
EPIDEMICS -
1. Drugs/Alcohol
2. Great Evil - suicides will hit 5000 this week; homicides at 3000; this past week saw great increase in police officer killed - 1 cop suicide on duty; murder-suicides are still high and almost 2 per day;
3. Plagues - virus updated to pandemic; fears and anxiety large in US; other countries greatly impacted as in Italy, South Korea;
4. Children - abuse, damage, neglect; while schools are closed, many will not have supervision nor food;
5. LGBT - they continue their fight to control, invade the minds of children and teenagers, seeking to capture the next generation. Churches fail in this as many embrace and compromise with the sin because its a family member.
6. Natural Disasters - things are fairly quiet right now; earthquakes at record lows at 65; expecting increased activity and a 7 or 8 soon. Still tornado season.
UPDATES:
--bible readings - FINISHED!! 52nd time through; rejoice in His Word so much of what He has taught through it; my eternal salvation is found in Him alone; word study - arise, rise and all its forms;
--Psalm 119 - re-memorize over the next two weeks; start readings again April 1;
--The Activity of God - up through Isaiah 48; still slow going, but there are passages here, that are from time to time several without any activity; generally as God declares what they are or have done;
Still looking at 2 years.
--A Word blog - just finished Isaiah 62; 12 verses, only 2 of the 12 are finished; need to finish some of these before starting chapter 63; The Activity of God will probably overtake A Word devotional/commentary of Isaiah before I reach chapter 66; slow going; only a couple a month; How'd Matthew Henry do what he did?
--sermons from Sunday are still live streamed from facebook; still no way to upload to my youtube page; I know the only remedy seems to be video camera and upload from card; get enough money to buy one and start this process;
--Concert of Prayer - had 1 pastor friend of WV ask this week for my blog posts on Concerts of Prayer; new WV executive director has not responded with follow up for Concerts of Prayer to continue through 2020;
Until,
Dan
Started: March 14, 2020
Continued:
Finished:
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