Prayer
God wants the conversation. The only thing that will help America, the church, our families, our cities...is prayer.
It isn't...
"worship that calls down fire" (though it will)
Or "breakthrough that overwhelms the enemies of God" (though it will)
It isn't "the pouring out of the Spirit on all flesh" (though that is coming)
...it is a simple and honest conversation with the healer that will heal the people and the land. There is no shortcut to love.
God is in the conversation. Yes, He comes with power...but he could do that anytime. What He wants is partnership, intimacy, friendship, humility, and truth.
This is throughout the Bible. The faithless whip themselves into a frenzy thinking God is attracted to big and loud and bigger, and more exciting.
The faithful dial down and decide they don't want all the stuff He will do without Him close and near to the heart.
1 Kings 19:11Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake;
12and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
13So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Moses refused the promises of God without God himself being near. This is the heart God is looking for.
Those who compromise all the holiness and purity and intimacy just to get the 'stuff'...they are unfaithful. That is the harlotry the Bible describes.
Exodus 33:1Then the LORD said to Moses, “Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’
2“And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.
3“Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
4And when the people heard this bad news, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments.
5For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you. Now therefore, take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do to you.’ ”
6So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb.
7Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the LORD went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp.
8So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle.
9And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses.
10All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshiped, each man in his tent door.
11So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.
12Then Moses said to the LORD, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’
13“Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.”
14And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.
It isn't...
"worship that calls down fire" (though it will)
Or "breakthrough that overwhelms the enemies of God" (though it will)
It isn't "the pouring out of the Spirit on all flesh" (though that is coming)
...it is a simple and honest conversation with the healer that will heal the people and the land. There is no shortcut to love.
God is in the conversation. Yes, He comes with power...but he could do that anytime. What He wants is partnership, intimacy, friendship, humility, and truth.
This is throughout the Bible. The faithless whip themselves into a frenzy thinking God is attracted to big and loud and bigger, and more exciting.
The faithful dial down and decide they don't want all the stuff He will do without Him close and near to the heart.
1 Kings 19:11Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake;
12and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
13So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Moses refused the promises of God without God himself being near. This is the heart God is looking for.
Those who compromise all the holiness and purity and intimacy just to get the 'stuff'...they are unfaithful. That is the harlotry the Bible describes.
Exodus 33:1Then the LORD said to Moses, “Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’
2“And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.
3“Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
4And when the people heard this bad news, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments.
5For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you. Now therefore, take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do to you.’ ”
6So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb.
7Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the LORD went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp.
8So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle.
9And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses.
10All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshiped, each man in his tent door.
11So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.
12Then Moses said to the LORD, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’
13“Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.”
14And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.
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