“Living below in this old sinful world . . . where could I go but to the Lord?”
These words from an old song remind me of a statement that I have heard many repeat over the years, “Well, I guess all we can do now is pray.” This is usually attached to a heart of desperation that has humanly tried, examined, thought about, questioned, discussed with others and sought a way to respond to their current situation or lifelong need.
Continue reading “The Only Place to Go”
Since the heart is perverse and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9), can it be changed?
Can our deceitful heart be transformed into a truthful heart?
Can our our hypocritical heart be converted into a holy heart?
Can our idolatrous heart be changed into a worshipping heart for God?
Yes! The heart of change is having the heart of Christ.
The heart in scripture represents all that we are. As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man (Proverbs 27:19). It’s our inner person (Proverbs 4:23; Ephesians 3:16-17). The functions of the biblical heart involve your will, emotions, spirit or soul and mind.
To have the heart of Christ is to first of all be born again (Read John 3:1-18; Regeneration).
Second, to have the heart of Christ is learn of His heart as you study His earthly life from (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and the Christ-life (Romans 6-8; Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians) as the Holy Spirit reveals Him to you (John 16:12-15).
While sitting on my back porch meeting with the Lord as I read His Word, the Holy Spirit revealed Christ’s heart to me again. As I began to read Luke 15, a passage of three parables about lost things Jesus used to answer the accusations of the Pharisees, a statement from the Pharisees about Christ spoke to my heart. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives/welcomes sinners and eats with them” (15:2).
Why does Jesus welcome sinners; those who are lost? Luke 19:10 says, For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
At that moment the thought came to me, “The heart of Christ is to receive, to welcome sinners who are broken in their sin, hell-bound and without hope.”
Then I was reminded of Bill Pickel, a man who lived out the heart of Christ, and it could have been said of him, “He received sinners and ate with them.”
During my junior and senior years of college, I served as youth and music leader at a church in upstate South Carolina. Every weekend I would stay at the Pickel’s home. Often he was not home, sometimes arriving back home around 2-3:00 in the morning.
Why? He was out spending time at some local beer joint . . . loving, listening, caring, and sharing with sinners the Good News of Jesus Christ. Sometimes he brought these broken men into his home for a meal or a bed. Many of them he saw humble themselves before the Lord, repent of their sins, and receive Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.
Yes, Bill was criticized by the “religious Pharisees” because he had the audacity to found in a beer joint. Nevertheless, Bill chose to live out the Christ-life and “eat with sinners.”
What have you learned about the heart of Christ today as you gazed into His Word? But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18).
What has the Holy Spirit revealed to you today of Christ? How has the Holy Spirit worked in your heart to bear the fruit of Christ through your life (Galatians 5:22-23)? He can do the same in your life as He did in Bill Pickel’s life.
The lyrics of a favorite song in our home when our girls were young said, “Change my heart, O God. Make it ever new. Change my heart, O God, make it more like you.”
What would draw hundreds of men from Missouri, Ohio, New Jersey, South Carolina, and even California?
Great entertainment? Good food? Well-known speakers? Attractive venue?
What would you say if I told you the draw is . . . prayer?
Really? Yes, indeed!
Men’s Prayer Advance.
Each year men gather in the Roanoke, VA, area to worship by listening to strong, Holy-Spirit infused preaching, full-throttle singing with hearts and voices in joyful praise, and most of all, meeting together at the Throne of Grace in passionate, expectant prayer!! This is “an encounter with Christ!”
Men’s Prayer Advance is a no frills, no fluff meeting properly described by its name.
MEN’S: Luke 18:1 says, Men ought always to pray, and 1 Timothy, 2:8, I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling. You should see and hear these men pouring out their hearts to the Lord in transparent, honest, pleading, crying out, believing prayer! The highlight every year occurs on Friday at 11:00 a.m. with “Sweet Hour of Prayer” where men get alone with God for one hour or more in prayer of praise and petitions. One man said to me, “I missed lunch because my time with the Lord would so good!!” Some prayer meetings continue on into late Thursday night and Friday morning after the Thursday evening service.
PRAYER: Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation (Matthew 26:41). First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:1-4). Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints (Ephesians 6:18). “Prayer doesn’t begin on earth, it begins in heaven.” (Ron Lynch)
ADVANCE: As we hear so often from Harold Vaughan, the founder of Christlife Ministries, “This is not a prayer retreat, it’s a prayer advance! We’re not backing up, giving up, or slowing down.” For three days, from Thursday at 1:30 p.m. until Saturday noon, it is an intentional move toward God! James gives us an example of a man advancing in prayer. The heartfelt and persistent prayer of a righteous man (believer) can accomplish much [when put into action and made effective by God—it is dynamic and can have tremendous power]. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours [with the same physical, mental, and spiritual limitations and shortcomings], and he prayed intensely for it not to rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land produced its crops [as usual]. (James 5:16-18 AMP)
What draws you to have an encounter with Christ? Have you met with Him today in prayer? Are you advancing or retreating?
“The greatest thing anyone can do for God and man is pray. It is not the only thing; but it is the chief thing. The great people of the earth today are the people who pray. I do not mean those who talk about prayer; not those who can explain about prayer; but I mean those people who take time and pray.” ~ S. D Gordon
(If you would like information about future Advances for men, ladies, students and couples, check out Prayer Advances.)
Vaccines, variant dominate headlines
US shoppers shrug off Omicron
Don’t shut down sports again for Covid
Without context, Covid tallies are misleading
These were a few of the headlines and article titles from Monday’s local newspaper.
We have come to the end of the year, We thought by this time we would not be talking about Covid. Yet, here we are, events being cancelled, hospitals at capacity, medical personnel stretched to the limit, fear capturing the minds of millions and more questions than answers abound.
We need some good news; some encouraging, eternal headlines! Absolute truth!
How about these three?
The Lord Reveals His Omnipotence
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:
2 “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Now prepare yourself like a man;I will question you, and you shall answer Me.
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone,
7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:1-7)
Satan Is Defeated
And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven[b] and consumed them, 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Revelation 20:7-10)
God Will Make All Things New
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. (Revelation 21:1-7)
Yesterday morning I read the local newspaper written from human viewpoint and these three passages from the Word of God written, inspired from divine viewpoint (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-21).
The local paper focused on yesterday, today and the possible future with limited, tainted, incomplete statements. The Word of God focused on yesterday, today and tomorrow with perfect accuracy (Mark 13:31).
The local paper provided a temporal viewpoint. God’s Word gave a transcendent, eternal viewpoint (1 Peter 1:23-24).
The local paper ended up in the trash can when I finished. Who wants to read old papers? My Bible was placed on the shelf to be read again with daily news/truth that settles, establishes, encourages, and enlightens as it points me to Christ (Isaiah 9:6; Luke 24:27; John 20:31; Galatians 3:24) and the fulfillment of all God’s promises (Proverbs 30:5; Isaiah 55:11; 2 Corinthians 1:20; Hebrews 10:23)).
Go back and read the three headlines above with the accompanying “articles” underneath. The eternality of God’s Word is always fresh, compelling, revealing, relevant and true (Psalm 119)!
Today, let the headlines and “articles” from heaven nourish your soul!! That’s the best news!
Pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
For fourteen days you have joined with your brothers and sisters in Christ meeting at the Throne of Grace! During these two weeks, you have been challenged to pray with praise, thanksgiving, and gratitude, to intercede for others, to pray contemplating the greatness of God, to believe God for His increase, to consider the sovereignty and compassion of God, to not forsake prayer gatherings, to cry out for our sin-sick nation, and to pray through trials walking in victory.
As you look back over these fourteen days, . . .
As we embark on this final week leading up to Resurrection Sunday, may your relationship with God in prayer increase even more in view of the empty tomb and the intercession of our living Christ on our behalf right now! May you see God at work all around you each day as your heart for Him is made more sensitive to the One Who indwells you and walks with you as you participate in Christ’s life!
“In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart. ”
― John Bunyan
Understanding fully that Daniel 9:3-19 is dealing with Israel, there is a much-too-close parallel to our country, the United States of America. For every believer across this land, Daniel’s prayer needs to be the attitude and action of our prayers today and tomorrow for us and our country.
America is not equal with Israel in the eyes of Jehovah, but the same sinful, unbelieving heart that caused God to turn from Israel is the same deceitful heart that has brought such shame to our land; a nation that once was greatly used to declare the gospel at home and around the world as well as stand for the righteousness. Now, look at us!
Believers in every town and city, we need to fall to our knees, repent and cry out to God! Set aside your personal worldly pursuits. Put entertainment, ballgames, and Facebook to death for now. Churches, forego those programs that you think are so important (Prayer is the only thing that gives power to ministry programs anyway!) There needs to be prayer meetings before and after school, throughout the day in our homes, in our small groups, at the office, in our commute to and from work, on our lunch breaks, on the street corner, at family gatherings, etc. Prayer is the declaration of your need and dependence upon God. Prayer is one of the means of appropriating all we have in Christ Jesus. We are in a desperate time of need that ONLY the Throne of Grace can provide (Hebrews 4:16)!!!
The last great spiritual awakening in America occurred in the 1850’s. The first occurred near the time of the birth of our country. Our land and our churches, for the glory of God, must have a sweeping move of the Spirit that brings conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8) that leads to biblical repentance (2 Corinthians 7:9-11; 1 Thessalonians 1:6-10). We must have an awakening of genuine faith, repentance and reception of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior whereby we die to self and live to Christ (Romans 6).
People of God, WE MUST PRAY, AND I MEAN PRAY!! Let Daniel 9 be your guide. You see, no matter who is seated in the White House, they cannot correct our nation’s sinful pattern of guilt and destruction! Only the Gospel changes everything (Colossians 1:13-14)!!!!
See you at the Throne of Grace today!
The worst sin is prayerlessness. (P.T. Forsyth)
God is more willing to be prayed to, and more ready to hear prayer, than we are to pray. (Matthew Henry)
What a man is on his knees before God, that he is, and nothing more. (Robert Murray M’Cheyne)
Daniel 9:3-19 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. 4 And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, 5 we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. 6 Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. 7 O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.
8 “O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. 10 We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. 11 Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. 12 And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.
13 “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. 14 Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. 15 And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly!
16 “O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. 17 Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. 18 O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. 19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”
“Thank you for this 21 day journey. I am one who does not fast well, and I have never been moved to do it, but I was reminded that there are other types of fasts. I for one have now been convicted that I consume far too much political junk food all day. Time for a fast from a chunk of that! Time to re-sort those things.” These are the words from a text I received yesterday morning and used with permission. What rejoicing it brought to my heart! This believer gets it!
Yesterday’s reading took me to Nehemiah 1-2. Nehemiah receives news from Hanani concerning the destruction in Jerusalem. The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire (1:3). He had known some facts of the situation before, but this detailed firsthand account moved him in a powerful way. In verse 4 we read, So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
There are two things that I want you to get from this today.
First of all, note the descriptive words of 1:4. Nehemiah was broken. Indeed, we should be driven and motivated to prayer by the love God has for us and the love of Christ in us, but are you driven to prayer because you are broken over the destruction caused by your own sin, rebellion, pride, disobedience and unbelief? Please catch that as Nehemiah prays (1:5-11), he doesn’t use the pronouns “they” or “you.” He includes himself by the use of “I” and “we.” So much so, you read in 1:6-7, Both my father’s house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. If we are to see a move of God at BCBC, His INCREASE (1 Corinthians 3:7-8), we must be broken!!
Consider something with me, please. Have you ever been so burdened in prayer that you cried out to God in verbal anguish of heart and soul? Did the tears course down your cheeks? Did you find yourself groaning, aching over the burden, weeping over sin, responding in such a fashion as we see with Nehemiah, David (Psalm 34:17-18; 51:1-17), and Jesus (Luke 22:44)?
You see, prayer doesn’t lead you to brokenness until your pride and preferences die (Romans 6). Jesus said, Not MY will but Thine be done (Luke 22:42). “MY” will must die before it is resurrected into “THY” will. This is the power of the cross and the resurrection. Death to self; alive to Christ in you (Galatians 2:20).
Second of all, please note that Nehemiah fasted. Remember, the purpose of fasting is for a Christ-centered, biblical purpose. My challenge to you this week is to set aside whatever will remind you, “I’m giving this up so I can spend time before the Lord in prayer.” For instance, if it is giving up a meal, when you want to eat, let the hunger pain remind you of the greater need of prayer! If you are giving up social media for a week, every time you want to check Facebook, let that be a reminder to pray for God’s increase at BCBC, for lost souls to be saved, and for revival among our church family.
Brokenness and fasting—two important ingredients too often missing in the believer’s life of prayer. Today, let’s . . .
Praise the Lord for all of you who have joined us on this 21 day journey. My heart was thrilled to see the number of hands raised in the morning gathering signifying their commitment to prayer.
Why 21 days? According to www.biblestudy.org, “Twenty-one symbolizes the great wickedness of rebellion and sin. After the children of Israel left Egyptian bondage they had 21 major rebellious events as they traveled and wandered in the wilderness.”
On Monday, February 8th, while driving to Kingsport, TN, and talking with the Lord about the future at Boones Creek Bible Church and the sin that abounds in our world today, He brought prayer and fasting to my mind.
On Tuesday, February 9th, one of the passages in my daily Bible reading was Luke 5:35, But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days, which set my mind to thinking about fasting and prayer. Then I read in Philippians 2:21, For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. A reason to fast is to break us away from a self-seeking mentality. Warren Wiersbe said, “In a very real sense, all of us live either in Philippians 1:21, For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain, or in Philippians 2:21.” Then I read Psalm 119:145-152 which speaks of crying out to the LORD with our whole heart.
On Wednesday, February 10th, continuing to seek the Lord’s will for BCBC in reference to prayer and fasting, I read in Luke 6 these words, Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God (6:12). As I read, I wrote in my journal, “Why pray and fast?” The answer came in my reading of Philippians 3, Have no confidence in the flesh. . . . that I may gain Christ (3:3, 9). Making the connection, fasting is not a ritual to brag about or think oneself more spiritual than others or to become a legalistic matter, but it is a time set aside to remove all distractions, even necessary food, to spend concentrated time seeking the Lord’s face in submission, repentance and surrender. The Christ in me fasted and prayed, why shouldn’t I?
In the days to follow, my daily Bible reading continued to contain passages about prayer, fasting, and crying out to God. Upon reading 2 Chronicles 13-21, the Lord settled it in my heart, and we began this journey on Sunday, March 14.
As we work our way through this second week, may I encourage you to:
I heard Evangelist Ron Lynch say in a recent message that God got ahold of his heart two years ago at Men’s Prayer Advance in reference to his viewpoint on prayer. He said, “God taught me that we are not to have a ‘prayer life’ but a ‘life of prayer’.” May these 21 days in the presence of the Lord bring us to have no confidence in the flesh (Phil. 3:3), but to have a vibrant, faith-filled, obedient, passionate, cup-running-over, expectant, crying out, submissive “life of prayer.”
Prayer lays hold of God’s plan and becomes the link between his will and its accomplishment on earth. Amazing things happen, and we are given the privilege of being the channels of the Holy Spirit’s prayer. — Elisabeth Elliot
When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel. (Judges 2:10)
What? How is it possible to be brought up in the shadow of the mighty works of God, to have lived around men like godly men such as Joshua and Caleb, and then for it to be said, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel? How is that possible?
How is it possible that we have a young generation (Gen Z: Born 1999-2015) right now in our churches, including BCBC, that have grown up under the teaching of the Word of God on Sundays, perhaps educated in a Christian school or home-schooled, attended weekly children’s ministries and they do not have a heart for God nor for the things of God? How is that possible?
How is it possible that this generation has never seen a lost sinner genuinely transformed by the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit in salvation (Titus 3:4-7; Ephesians 2:8-9; 2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Thessalonians 1:6-10)? Perhaps all they have heard are the old stories of salvation and transformation but nothing recent, fresh and grace-born!
Today, I want to call us to pray for GOD’S INCREASE in the hearts of our Gen Z young people!! In this time of prayer, let’s go boldly to the Throne of Grace on behalf of our young folks from ages 4-21.
May For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21) be said by our young people rather than the words of Judges 2:10.
“Lord, increase our obedience!”
Scripture Reading: Luke 17:1-10
If you read the Bible with a sensitive heart, you will often be overwhelmed with the great difficulty of many of its commands: “You are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27-28). “So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions” (Luke 14:33). “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks” (1 Thess. 5:16-18). The list could go on and on. How can we possibly obey these seemingly impossible commands of Scripture?
The disciples felt overwhelmed by Jesus’ teaching in Luke 17:1-4. He told them to be on guard so that they would not cause any young believers in Him to stumble. And He said that if their brother sinned, they were to rebuke him and if he repented they were to forgive him, no matter how often the cycle was repeated. The disciples instantly realized that these were tough demands. To walk uprightly so as not to cause a new believer to stumble and to forgive someone who has wronged us are not automatic behaviors! Forgiveness especially is tough because our feelings are involved. So the disciples respond by asking the Lord to increase their faith (17:5). It was an honest request stemming from the right motives. They saw that if they wanted to fulfill these demands, they would have to have God’s strength and enabling to do it.
But Jesus’ answer (17:6) indicates that more faith is not really the issue. Faith is not measured by its quantity, but simply by its presence. A mustard seed sized faith will accomplish impossible things. The real need, Jesus says (17:7-10), is for more obedience and humility. We should view ourselves as God’s slaves who owe Him simple and unquestioning obedience. And, when we have done what He requires, we should not get puffed up with pride in our great obedience, but should simply say, “We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.” Thus …
When we encounter the difficult commands of Scripture, we should not focus on more faith, but on more obedience and humility. (Steven Cole)
In prayer today, let us focus on “Lord, increase my obedience as I humbly submit to You, Your authority and Your great love for me.”
“Lord, increase our obedience!”
From A Pastor's Heart 