Prayer
I've just returned from a European City Tour by rail - Vienna, Budapest, Prague and Berlin - four beautiful cities with the effects and memories of recent history everywhere you look. it was a chastening experience - a reminder of how blessed I am to have been born in a 'free' country and at the same time how much I have forgotten or pushed aside in my mind - how easy it has been to live in the 'now' and to forget the lessons that needed to be learned from the past.
As I sit here now I am almost at a loss for words to describe the horror of what happened in those places - the desecration of human life and value - the destruction of mankind made in the image of God. At a loss to describe how power and arrogance, wickedness and evil brought so much despair and how long and hard has been the road to even a partial recovery. I found forgiveness difficult sometimes, but so necessary, and worse I saw in my own heart a lack of grace and love and mercy and had to repent lest I be swallowed up in self-righteous anger.
This morning as I sat with my Father and listened as He spoke through His Word, as I thought about what I had seen and learned on my trip, I heard Him talk to me about the desecration that is happening in our day in ways that are so subtle they are sometimes difficult to see, I understood that the great enemy of mankind is still at work and his ways are perhaps even more devious and destructive.
He has always been about the destruction of mankind - always wanted to tear down the moral and ethical constructs of our society - always been prowling about like a roaring lion looking for someone to destroy only now he has gained new ground - the ground of technology and social media. Now he is able to put sin literally at the fingertips of every person in every place at every time; now he is sowing confusion and chaos - calling good evil and evil good and it is, of course, the children who are most specifically targeted.
This morning as I sat and thought and prayed I came to Psalm 5 and verse 3:
'In the morning O Lord, You will heard my voice; in the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch'.
I saw that the word 'prayer' here means sacrifice and I understood that this must be a renewed commitment, a determined effort, my sacrifice every day - to come before the throne of grace and to ask my Father to help me fight the enemy, ask Him to show me where and when and to give me the words to say; ask Him to lead me and to open up the way before me to stand firm and to hold on. I was reminded of Shammah, who took his stand in the lentil patch and would not give more ground to the enemy - 2 Samuel 23:11 and I asked that I would be given the strength and the courage to stand here on my patch and to fight.
Desiring Truth is a ministry raised up by the Lord for 'such a time as this'. We hear those words so often that their meaning is sometimes lost and they have almost become 'old hat' - but this day - 10 July 2019, we are declaring that we will stand in our lentil patch and we will fight the enemy - we will do all that we can, trusting that our Lord will enable and sustain us, knowing that in Him we will gain the victory.
Will you stand with us? Will you fight for your children and your grandchildren? Will you fight for your friends and your family? Will you fight for your neighbours and yes, for your enemies? Will you fight for the salvation and preservation of mankind that is found only in Christ Jesus and will you fight for as long as it takes?
Will you bring your talent and your energy, your experience and your gifts and will you align yourself with God's work through this ministry? Will you pray with us and for us, encourage us and help us and will you choose this day to speak TRUTH and to live GRACE in every place and in every way - and will you do it with joy in the knowledge that God has called you to Himself and that this is the work that He created in advance for you to do?
It will not be easy but we must fight. It will bring persecution but we must stand........
Listen to Jesus in Rev. 2:10-11:
Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold the devil is about to cast some of you into prison so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life'.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches......
Even so come quickly Lord Jesus.
