May 6, 2010

“Lord, We Have Mingled…”

Blessings Folk!

Today is “National Day of Prayer.”

Those who y’all who know me know that I do not give much heed to man created days of celebration.

Such it is with “National Day of Prayer.”

Of course, it is good to pray.
Of course, we are to pray without ceasing.
Of course, we are to pray for…
You understand.

I chuckle at the folk who want to have a “National Day of Reason” rather than prayer.

But…

We as servants of the Most High God must intercede for families, for communities, for the land upon which the Lord has placed us...regardless of where that is.

The Word of God gives us many examples of how to pray for such situations.

Here are three.

Nehemiah 9
Ezra 9
Daniel 9

I have included Ezra 9. Let us pray in this manner.

Give heed to what the problem was…

• the people of the Lord had not separated themselves from the people of the lands (we are in the world, yet we are not to be of the world)
• the people were doing the abominations of the people that the Lord had told them...years before upon entering the land...to utterly destroy
• the people had intermarried with the people of the land, the holy seed mingled with the people of the land...unequally yoked
• the hand of the princes and rulers of the people of the Lord had led in the sin!

Give heed to the response of Ezra

• rent his garment and mantle
• plucked off the hair of his head and beard
• sat down astonished
• assembled those that trembled at the Word of the Lord before him
• at the evening sacrifice, he arose and prayed
• He was ashamed

Note what the people had done

• committed iniquities
• committed trespasses
• forsook the Lord’s commandments

Note what God had done

• delivered them into captivity
• released them from captivity
• a remnant escaped
• granted a little space
• granted them a nail in this holy place
• had not forsaken them
• extended mercy
• revived
• set up the house of God
• punished them less than their iniquities deserved
• given great deliverance

This is a vivid picture of our land.

Read the passage…

Ezra 9
 1 Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
 2 For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.
 3 And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied.
 4 Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice.
 5 And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God,
 6 And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.
 7 Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.
 8 And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.
 9 For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.
 10 And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,
 11 Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.
 12 Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.
 13 And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this;
 14 Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?
 15 O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.

Pray with me...

Lord...

We have left You.
We have rejected Your commandments.
We have rejected Your grace and mercy.
We depend upon ourselves and self-appointed leaders rather than upon You.

Lord, truly we are before Thee in our trespasses.
We can not stand before Thee because of this.

Lord, we confess.
Lord, we repent.
Lord, forgive.
Thank you, Lord.

May 3, 2010

“Answers!”

Blessings Folk!

Pray with me.

An opportunity for the Kingdom has arisen.

This week we will begin a new television program, “Answers”.

It will be available locally through WCQT-TV27 (check your local cable provider for station listing).

It will also be available online… http://www.answers.blip.tv
(Hoping to have each episode posted by Friday each week)

I ask that you will be praying.

Here is the short story.

As many of you know, we do a local television program called “Prayerline.” This program was developed due to a need that was readily apparent. Folk were literally calling the station asking for someone to pray with them. This is what we do. Folk call the live program. We pray with them. (Thanks Debbie Wood for listening to the Spirit and spearheading the start of the program!)

Currently we do “Prayerline” live on Monday evenings, 8 p.m. CDT and it is rebroadcast two other times during the week.
(Those of y’all distant can join live via internet at http://www.justin.tv/prayerline )

This is fine, but folk can not call the rebroadcast. Also, we were noting something else.

People have questions.
People are searching for answers.
People need to know where Life and Hope are.

Out of this arises the new program, “Answers.” It will take the place of the rebroadcast “Prayerline” segments.

“Prayerline” will continue live on Mondays.

Simply put, we will seek to speak the Word of the Lord to the situations of life.

Will it be a “Bible study”?
Not in the traditional sense, but the Word of God will be read, studied, taken into our hearts, spoken, proclaimed. We hope to avoid the trap of “studying” and knowing what the Bible says, and yet not having it applied to our hearts. There are so many professing believers who are consumed with fear, doubt, hopelessness...

What will be the format?
It will be fluid and varied. We will spend the initial programs exploring how God is a covenant making and covenant keeping God. That being said, our first program will diverge from that! The first program, this Thursday, May 6th, will be on the same day as the “National Day of Prayer.” Therefore, we will be seeking the Lord related to such.

Our desire is that we will be able to speak to the issues and news of the day.

For instance, we would have addressed earthquakes, tornadoes, economic problems, leadership, middle east, etc. in recent weeks.

Does the Lord have things to say about such?

Oh yes!!

The foundational truth is this - God is the Answer.
Jesus is the Way, the Truth, the Life.
The Holy Spirit empowers and leads those who are His.

Again, I ask that you continue to intercede before the Lord. What might He do?

“Answers” will be broadcast on Thursdays, 4 p.m. and Sundays, 9:30 a.m. (The times are always subject to change...I’m also hoping to get a couple of “in the middle of the night slots”...many folk work 2nd and 3rd shifts.)˘

One last thing.

We will begin a new Bible study locally this week…”God Searches for a Heart Fully His”… this is Course 2 of the “Kings and Prophets” Series. We will cover 1 Kings 15-2 Kings 1 and 2 Chronicles 14-20. These courses are very short. This one is five weeks long. Join us if you live nearby. You do not need to have taken any previous courses.
If you live distant, join our Facebook group. As of today we have 146 folk in the Word together in the Facebook group. http://tinyurl.com/2ee3p7v

Thanks for allowing me to communicate this stuff to you. I really believe it is important for us to join as one through the Most High God.

Never forget, we are the Body of the Lord and servants of His and one another.

Blessings!