Two Things the Lord Won’t Stand For!

There are two things that the God of heaven will not tolerate in His followers: lukewarmness and insincerity. These two things characterize a lack of heat and a lack of heart—God hates both (Rev. 3:15-16).

The true prayer will be prayer that is on fire, aflame. And that is the way we should be as followers of Jesus. No excuses granted here. We must have the desire and heart that presses close to God for intimacy. Jesus wasn’t excitable or given to “noisy” speech, yet, He was on fire with zeal for God’s house. And this zeal consumed Him (Ps. 69:9, John 2:17). A lack of passion for prayer is a sure sign that we are in trouble; repentance is the first step back to spiritual health.

A Final A Final Word on Prayerless Praying and Prayerful Praying

Prayerless praying misses the heart of praying; it has no passion, faith, or investment; it carries no burden. It has no grip onto God that “will not let go”. Prayerless praying is empty; it has not life or soul, no crying or weeping. Prayerless praying is a sham and gorged in insincerity. It is a dehydrated, lackluster routine that is a demanding duty. Praying out of habit is a respectable habit; however, prayer done only by the power of habit becomes a regretful habit. This is prayerless praying.

Prayerful praying gets results with God and is full of passion and faith. It entices the warrior to battle “full-in”, holding nothing back. It takes hold of God and will not release. Prayerful praying is a mighty force on the earth; it advances God’s Kingdom. By prayerful praying faith is strengthened and the possibilities with God are apprehended; by it anything God wills is activated.

Where Are the Elijah’s of God?

An open letter to all:

Where Are the Elijah’s of God?

Leonard Ravenhill asked that question in 1959. Keith Green later asked the same question in the early 80’s before his untimely death.

So, where are the Elijah’s of God? Ravenhill said this, “We know Elijah was a man of like passions as we are, but alas! We are not men of like prayer as he was!”

Here’s the deal–one praying person is a complete majority with God. Ravenhill goes on to say, “God is bypassing men—not because they are too ignorant, but because they are too self-sufficient. “

It is prayer God wants, Holy Spirit, on fire prayer! There is no substitute, no alternative, and no other plan. And we need to up the ante on our prayers. Elijah prayed and darkness covered the land.

Last week the heat was at 99 degrees one day and 100 the next. I could only get the temperature down to 85 in our house; our air conditioner is failing and was set to be replaced. Many of you know that my wife has suffered horribly for months with a chronic coughing condition brought on by severe allergies, a condition with her larynx, and esophageal acid reflux. The heat was making it very difficult to stay in our house.

Annamae is a woman of prayer; she gives full definition to the word indefatigable. She will not be dissuaded in her prayers, no matter her physical condition. So, we prayed for God to give us a break in the weather. Just a few days later the weather broke and has stayed “cooler”. We woke up to 69-degree weather today and forecast of highs in the 80’s and lows in the 60’s for the next week. Annamae will return to Tulsa next week to cool weather and new air-conditioning.

We have seen great answers to prayer these last months. So much greater than the weather, but, oh, does the weather count. Monstrous, miraculous answers to prayer prayed for people hundreds of miles away and prayed for the people on our block. Why do answers like this surprise us? They shouldn’t.
Through the Holy Spirit we can be armed with the entire panoply of God to overcome the enemy. As Annamae and I learn to pray about all things, we are seeing these anomalies of answered prayer turn into weekly events. I have a goal to see great answers to prayer daily.

So where are the Elijah’s? They are anywhere a person lays down his partnership with God and allows Him to be Lord with complete ownership.

Inviting violence into your life. The decision to really pray.

If we make the purposeful choice to follow the Lord in sanctification, we draw a line in the sand with the enemy and the battle begins. You see, the enemy isn’t disturbed about the nominal Christian who seldom prays and doesn’t mature into a disciple. This person is no threat to the world Satan rules. But the disciple who prays and decides to pursue the fullness of the Lord found in sanctification poses a great threat to all the enemy stands for.

I think we take this whole issue of sanctification way too flippantly. Sanctification can be a violent process. The enemy doesn’t like it, and our flesh rails against it. There is nothing pretty about dying to yourself. Through sanctification the Spirit of God is putting His finger on every aspect of our lives that is not in concert with His purposes. Sanctification is taking everything that captures our attention on this earth and putting it through a filter that only allows those things to pass through that interest God.