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Time to Get Real
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"Our
biggest sin is pretending we know. But we really don't know. And just like the Pharisees, who claimed to see, we remain blind.
This is about love, not power...when we can admit we're blind, there will be hope."
The numbers are numbing. Here's another sad story: There's a
girl who married a man, who brought she and her three kids with him all the way from California. He abandoned her for another,
left her without a job and no way to pay to get back home. If only there were places of prayer where worship and prayer were
offered where she could go and find rest for her soul; A Christian community bound by prayer where love abounds. Oh there
are many church buildings, but few places where the Altar of God is present. What
started with the inteligentsia in the late 1800s, found it's way into literature in the 1920s and into the music and arts
starting with the 60s, is now the common thought of the masses. The Scriptures call these ideas doctrine of demons. The enemy,
through naturalistic philosphies which were introduced in the late 1800s and which began to dominate during America's boom
in material prosperity in the 1980s, has deceived the American church into reducing the role of the Holy Spirit in such a
way that what we often witness today is really humanism dressed in religious lingo, rather than the reality God. Even the
salvation experience has even been reduced to parrotting a few words found in Romans, signing a card and subsequently getting
dunked. And being filled with the Spirit has been reduced to touching an electrical current of self-absorbed power versus
being filled and flushed with holiness of Love Himself. Our
biggest sin is pretending we know. But we really don't know. And just like the Pharisees, who claimed to see, we remain blind.
This is about love, not power. Power is a byproduct of Love, not the center of our pursuit. If we could really see, our churches
would be packed with people just waiting to pray in the lost. The love of God would abound in hearts. An aroma of prayer would
go up to Heaven and the lost would be compelled to come into His realm. If you are proudly holding on to the notion that church
is doing well, then why are not all our fellows congregants just excited about getting together on a weekly basis to worship,
pray and cry out for the lost? If you really have something real as the Lord's love why then doesn't it warrant time with
Him on behalf of others? People will go crazy if they win a million, but remain subdued if they're told Jesus died for them.
The power in the air must pushed backwards. It's start with being real with ourselves. When we can admit we're blind, there will be hope. If we can admit that
we don't really believe, then there is reason for hope. |
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And that hope is the return of the corporate prayer meeting which
the book of Hebrews warns us to protect. People say they want revival. But it is better to want
the return of the corporate prayer meeting to the center of church and family life, because revival will automatically follow.
"...at Park Circle on
Wednesday, March 4th, there went up a cry to the Lord that was pure in nature...Adults were walking around weeping and wondering
as these group of 300 plus kids prayed...For about 10 minutes during that 45 minute prayer meeting, the students were touching
Heaven." The
numbers of lost people are too great to enroll them into our systematic presentations of Christianity. Our marketing strategies
have failed miserably. Our canned presentations of Biblical principles on varying subjects don't work. Many of these efforts
only result in a primary exercise of self-introspection in Jesus' name. It's a despairing cycle which results in no break-throughs.
"Ever learning, but never able to come to the truth". A friend recently told me he hated pride within himself. I
asked if he knew why he hated his pride. His answer was that he didn't know why, but that he knew he hated it. He didn't see
his being trapped within himself. We credit ourselves with hating pride, but don't see the reason we do. We hate pride in
ourselves because we're proud. We don't want to be selfish because we're selfish. Seldomn do we hate self-pride because of
Jesus. Remember the scene in "You've Got Mail" where Meg Ryan's and Tom Hank's characters share consolation
and humor in their introspections of their personal vanity? Paul did this too in Romans, but the freedom comes from
a prayer-wrought encounter with Truth, where we first discover ourselves as His murderers, then are undeservedly forgiven
and finally amazingly embraced as His friends. The nearly 2000 year old, orthodox doctrine of Original
Sin says we were there in the Garden, we threw our brothers into gas chambers and enslaved our brothers. We crucified Jesus.
Pride is what we do. None are innocent. I can feel inside it as I type these words. The picture is really that gloomy apart
from God, who is humble. His power and greatness come from humility, not the other way around. Our only hope are in increasing
glimpses of Someone more humble than ourselves - as we are progressively lifted out of the pit of self where we see His heart
and the loneliness of others. The Scriptures say "Lord if you do not save us, nobody will" |
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The corporate prayer meeting is where the gathering of people are aware of their unaloneness. It is a little
taste of Heaven. And the corporate prayer meeting is also where the Spirit invades this world exponentially and goes out to
confront individuals where they are changed in seconds. Instead of us parroting that they are loved by Him, their ears and
minds are opened to hear from Him directly, whatever the vehicle He chooses, doesn't matter; That they hear from Him does.
Most people have never heard the voice of the Spirit within say: "I love you". Prayer opens the fountains within
our souls. C.S. Lewis didn't come to Christ because we was so smart, but because people were praying for him. The theme of
his life was being surprised by Joy. It was supernatural. It was because of the Lord's faithfulness through prayting people.
And along the way, he realized he was loved. "People say they want revival.
But it is better to want the return of the corporate prayer meeting...because revival will automatically follow."
During the student prayer rally at Park
Circle on Wednesday, March 4th, there went up a cry to the Lord that was pure in nature. We could all feel His presence. Adults
were walking around weeping and wondering as these group of 300 plus kids prayed. This was right. This was pure. For about
10 minutes during that prayer meeting, the students were touching Heaven. Jesus was the focus. The songs of worship and the
prayers for the lost were penetrating. What
if it could be like that more often? Why not? Isn't Jesus' character enough to fuel anything in length? Yes.
More than able. The church house was once a place where people could literally
find sanctuary from the battles within and without. Let it be again. The character and reality of Jesus is more than enough.
He is that real. "We credit ourselves with hating pride, but don't see the reason we do. We hate
pride in ourselves because we're proud. We don't want to be selfish because we're selfish. Seldomn do we hate self-pride because
of Jesus."
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