Three Things Have Been on My Heart

The last three weeks, three things have been on my heart. I don't want to hit the world with a super long blog post, but I wanted to put these items out here for others to mull over and pray over with me:

1. God is not done with the world yet.
   
   We are most certainly in the end times—MUCH evidence points to that—but the Lord is yet very hard at work in the souls of men and women across the world. So many go through tremendous persecution and pain, but God is every day saving souls and growing His Kingdom.
   
   
2. God is not done with the Church in America yet.
   
   Church congregations led by pastors who are bowing to the culture may seem to be hopelessly caught in the web of deception the enemy has spun for them. But the Holy Spirit will continue to prod the souls of individuals and stir hearts to return to a Biblical worldview, to cast off the attitude that "Everything is permissible."
   
   I have no idea how He will do this, but I have become convinced that the Lord is responding to our prayers for repentance and revival. I will not presume to predict a sweeping revival—though He could certainly do something BIG—but we may yet see even little rebellions by individuals who are in apostate churches.
   
   
3. God is not done with the Faithful yet.
   
   You and I, Saints...we go through times where we feel so distant from God, where we do not feel His good pleasure in us...times when we feel like failures because of our actions and inactions. We feel like our fire is dying. We feel like our faith is dying. We question everything around us. We grow discouraged.
   
   But God has not changed. He hasn't budged, not even a tiny bit. We cannot give up. We must get into the Word. We must keep whispering our small prayers. We must pray for ourselves, that the Lord will raise us up to accomplish His purpose in us. We must not allow these "down" times to stop us from seeking Him.
   
   He will grow us. He will strengthen us. He will still use us to snatch others from the fire.

Please pray with me:

Prayer

Oh, Lord, I number myself among the weak. There is so much to be done in my own small world, and so much I want to do for You in Your vast world. You have called me to faithfulness, to wisdom, and to power. It is only through the Holy Spirit that Your purpose can be accomplished, and not through any strength of my own.

I come before You on my own behalf, and on that of the precious Saints who read this. Lift us up, Lord. If you send any discipline our way, may we embrace it and allow it to produce in us a harvest of righteousness. May each of us take a deep breath and endeavor to strengthen our feeble arms and weak knees. A bruised reed you will not break, Lord. Heal us. Call us, Help us to hear You.

Lord, we lift up the apostate Church in America. We pray for revival. Lord we bring those individuals who have turned from Your Word before you and we ask for their repentance. And we lay ourselves before You in repentance. We as a body have sinned before you. We have rebelled. We have not listened to You, but instead have turned our ears to the lies of the enemy. Lord, in Your holiness and righteousness, please turn us corporately back to You. May we all respond to You and Your calling. May we all cast ourselves at Your feet and seek Your forgiveness and begin to pursue Your will.

I pray that pastors across this country, who are called by You to lead their flocks in accordance with Your Word, would fall before You, Lord, and submit to You. May they hear your voice afresh. May they seek Your wisdom and Your strength to give them courage to speak what You want them to speak.

May individuals who have strayed from the path now return to You in repentance with humility and weeping. Break their hearts before You, Lord, so that they stop listening to the lies of the world, and instead begin to seek You diligently. Send us revival, oh, God. Revive these individual hearts, and also cause massive revival begin to break out among the Church in America.

Around the world, Lord, as Christians go through persecution, we see numbers grow in response. The enemy enacts horrific persecution meant for his purposes, but You use it for Yours. We see that, Lord. We see souls being ushered into Your Kingdom by the thousands, and we glorify you for that! Thank you, Jesus! Thank You for that work! Lord, hinder the plans of the enemy and continue to grow Your kingdom. Bring more and more souls to You! Help those ministers of the gospel across the world that stand for You in the face of such persecution. Give them courage! Protect them, Lord! Make every effort they put forth bear MUCH fruit. Lord, in their pain, may they cling to You ever more tightly.

You are worthy, Lamb of God. You are Holy. We give you all the praise, the honor, and the glory, and we thank you, Almighty God. It is in the precious name of the Son we pray. Amen.