PRAYER EMAIIL - AUGUST 12

 Greetings,
"And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees:  that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will He do evil."  Zephaniah 1:12

What in the world do you do after back to back, 100 Hours of prayer?  Very intentional, protracted times, that caused us to be more alone with Him in prayer.  The one thing, that I have heard over the years from seasoned pastors, 'watch out for Sunday nights'.  After a day of preaching, serving and fulness of God, to rest and relax and allowance of sin to creep in.  The worst thing that can be done, is what we find God condemning in this verse, 'that we settle down on our lees.'  A symbolic description of the wine being left and wasting.  So we settle down in contentment and ease and this leads to our ruin.  Christ said it, 'why cumbereth it the ground?'  

God declares, 'I will search' in the cities and homes to punish those that are of this estate.  Are you settled down in this world?  at ease with all our comforts?  Are we become 'lukewarm' from our lack of spiritual discipline and intimacy with Him?   This is not a word to lost souls, that know no better; this is a word to the church and its present day status.  The sin of prayerlessness largely looms over us.  Corporate prayer only happens in roughly 13% of North American churches.  And the confession by pastors and members of churches, largely declare that they neglect their secret closets.  Yet, they have plenty of time for ball games, movies, activities.  None of these things are sins in themselves, but they become sin, when we set these as priorities above the Lord's commands.  Most in the church give themselves to everything under the sun except the spiritual disciplines we are commanded to keep.

"Take heed' is left out of far too many churches and Christian lives today.  The spiritual maturity is languishing among us, because we don't know God, His Word, or His ways.  'Take heed' to set your affections on things above, and not on things of this earth.  And for some reason, we have it backwards, 'we set our affections on things of this earth, and neglect or forget the things of heaven.'  We are more temporal, than eternal; more fleshly than spiritual; and more carnal than heavenly.  'come out from among them and be ye separate.'  

Rise up from being at ease, on your lees.  Fight a good fight; war a good warfare; be much about His kingdom business.  Be much alone with Him.   Continue in prayer, study to show thyself approved unto God; evangelize often and gather together in His house.  Hell rejoices over the Christian and the church that has settled down on his lees.  Any church or Christian that is moved by the Spirit to rise up and being doing, will find an assault by the enemy near and far to prohibit them.  Hell does not want us doing what we are supposed to be doing.  He will make a way and agenda to keep us from serving and doing.  Brethren, overcome all this, and serve Your Lord, for He is worthy.  

Do not settle on your lees, and become religious or comfortable.  You are not here to take a vacation and be at ease.  There is a war of the kingdoms of heaven and hell going on.  Souls are the bounty.  And as we were saved from our sins and eternal hellfire, we are saved for His glory, honour and service.  Remember the first rule of the catechism, 'all things were created for God's glory.'  You were created and saved to serve Him and bring glory to His Name.  Serve the Lord with gladness and honor Him with your time, talents and tithe.   Remember the old hymn/poem, 'Must I go empty handed"

Must I go, and empty handed,
Thus my dear Redeemer meet?
Not one day of service give Him,
Lay no trophy at His feet?

Refrain

Must I go, and empty handed?
Must I meet my Savior so?
Not one soul with which to greet Him,
Must I empty handed go?

SPECIAL THANK YOU TO ALL WHO JOINED IN OUR 100 HOURS OF PRAYER FOR SBC

I thank God for the way things unfolded.  Thank each of you that joined me and helped me promote for this special protracted & focused time of prayer among SBC.   It was another up and down week.  I was on vacation, leading up to this past week.  So it was more of a working vacation, as I sought high and low across SBC to fill the 400 time slots.  Surprised by some things, and disappointed by others.  This battle to see SBC to be houses of prayer and a people of prayer is still ongoing.  After 20 years, it is still my heart cry to see my beloved SBC - "pray".  

PRAYER TARGETS - EPIDEMICS

1.  Drugs/Alcohol - 
2.  Children - 
3.  Natural Disasters - 
4.  LGBT - 
5.  Pestilence - 
6.  Great Evil - 
7.  Economy - 

UPDATES:
--bible readings, up through II Peter, 3 days to go for my 62nd time through;  word study - 'tell/told/testify"; 
--A Word - up through Jeremiah 33:7;  I have been able to finish each of these verses in the new chapter, and starting to go back into chapter 32 to complete those verses left unfinished;  9 of the 44 verses in chapter 32, unfinished;
--Monday Bible Study - Deuteronomy 16;
--Thursday Hour of Prayer at 7 PM; live stream only;
--1st & 3rd Sunday of each month, Community prayer with pastors at 6 PM, Emmanuel Church;
--each Thursday fast for revival & spiritual awakening;

Until,
Dan
Started:  August 12, 2023
Finished:   August 12, 2023

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