This devotional is called An Encouraging Word. It’s supposed to lift our spirits and make us feel good, right? I wonder, though, how good Jesus feels as we diddle our way through life, carrying on with our personal pursuits, while zillions of folks are dying unsaved. But hang on, I am not going to put an evangelistic guilt trip on you. I don’t like those, either.
God has been speaking to me about His concern for the lost. People’s souls are of primary importance to Him, and He wants us to line up with His heartbeat. It is not some new revelation; He’s been speaking it all along, but we haven’t been listening very well.
Most of us know that the Church in America today is a lot like the Laodicean Church in Revelation 3:14-22. We are lukewarm, thinking we have it all, yet we exhibit little biblical power. We’ve gotten used to the idea of running church by our own programs, without even asking for input from heaven. We tend to think we’re pretty good at it, too! So I’m not suggesting another massive man-planned evangelization project. Sometimes those things end up being a lot of arm-flapping with little to show for results except exhaustion.
I am suggesting that we start engaging in some serious bended-knee power (yes, prayer), and that we focus on interceding for the lost. Without us doing some preparatory pleading for their hard hearts to be touched by Holy Spirit Himself, they will not be won by an evangelism push. Every great revival has been preceded by an intensive prayer thrust.
As we pray, God may reveal to us wonderful strategies for reaching our region, state, and nation, and we must be obedient to implement what He shows us. But we start the whole process with prayer, not a committee.
Will we pray for them?
Father, give us Your heartbeat. Holy Spirit, put within us an urgent, desperate cry for the unsaved people around us. Lead us into Your intercessory longing for them. Give us no rest, and let us give You no rest, until we see them coming in droves into Your kingdom. In Jesus’ name, do it, Lord. Do it.
Filed under: Bible, Bible studies, Charismatic, Christian, Christianity, Church, Devotional, Encouragement, God, Jesus, Nondenominational, Pentecostal, Prophetic, Religion, Spirituality, prayer | Tagged: awakening, evangelism, intercession, intercessory prayer, lost, revival, unsaved
Wow, I just wrote a blog about this the other day. “The Self-sufficent church”.