Psalm 85:6 is often quoted about revival, with the result being a rejoicing people…but another application is for a church’s survival, to which I would say, requires revival.

Michael Guido has written about this, in fact, it is in his Treasury of Illustrations that I first saw this article, this “seed” of his. Lately my messages are all about calling the church to holiness. His article tells us, more eloquently than I can, WHY we need holiness. The church’s survival, requires revival.

Please read his “eSeed” it is very short.

Mark S Mirza

A friend of mine asked for prayer as she brought her mom home and has hospice helping her. The following from scripture was, I believe, helpful:

Beginning with Romans 15:13, the verse says, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, in believing, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Lord, I lift up Erma and her family to You, Lord I bring them before Your throne, with boldness, as You tell us to in Hebrews 4:16, but Lord, when we come with boldness, we come, not with arrogance or anger but with humility and confidence that You hear our prayer, for we are praying Your will, and Lord, we KNOW that 1 John 5:14-15 tells us that when we pray Your will, You hear us and You answer our prayer. We know this Lord because Your word says so, and we know it Lord because You are sovereign over ALL (Psalm 103:19). And so Father, I pray for Erma’s family, Lord that those who know you as their personal Savior would be filled with all joy and peace, because they are believers, and we know Lord that they will overflow with hope, and that this overflow of hope will come because of the power of the Holy Spirit, not because they are stronger than anyone else, but simply because Your word promises this. And then Lord, we do not want this ONLY for those that are saved, we pray for those that may not be saved, in her family, that they will ALL see Your power, giving the family joy and peace, and thru this difficult time Lord, that they would come to know You, and experience that same joy and peace. And finally Lord, we are confident that Your word is true, that as one crosses into that next life, that we are promised from Luke 16, Your angels do not merely escort us to heaven but in fact carry us to heaven. Oh Lord, that we would no longer be scared to death of death, but that we would look forward to that time to come, forever with You. We remember that it is okay to weep and mourn, after all Your Son did, in John 11, just a couple of verses before He was going to raise Lazarus, He still wept! So give Erma’s family both the freedom to weep and the hope that comes from You and You alone.

Even though the “tag” for this is Praying While Your Pastor is Preaching this short blog is a variation of that discipline.

Last week I was at a prayer meeting with a group of pastors, one of them shared with the others that “…every increase that we have, tithing, missions giving, salvation, new members, baptisms (and by the way I get to baptize 3 this Sunday), but everything we are doing has increased the Sunday we started praying BEFORE the service.” He went on, “I have a group that get together here at 9:00 and we pray in the sanctuary from 9:00 until 9:30 when the service begins.” What a wonderful testimony that was.

However I can help you, please call on me.

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How would we pray this back to God?

As I pray these verses I am always struck by two things, 1st, the acts prompted by our faith, and not our flesh, and 2nd, that everything we do is to be to glorify God. Perhaps you would pray these verses like so:

Lord, I desire to be worthy of Your calling, and I know Lord that this will only come by Your power, fulfilling every good purpose of mine and every act prompted by my faith and not my flesh. So Lord, please, Please, ANY acts of mine that are NOT prompted by my faith, please do not allow them to move forward. And when they do not move forward, please Lord, cause me to look back and see where my flesh is in control because Lord, ultimately, I desire for You to be glorified, not me. Thank You Lord for being in complete control as Psalm 103:19 tells us, which allows me to trust that by Your power ONLY and being submitted to you, those acts prompted by my faith will proceed and will bring You glory. Thank You Lord!

¹³And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
¹⁴Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
¹⁶Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

How would we pray this back to God?

Yesterday Dr. Stanley spoke on these verses. At the end of his message he challenged us, “Reading these verses [back to God] will transform your prayer life because, of all that you are acknowledging before Him…”

Lord, in the spirit that  Dr. Stanley challenged us yesterday, we come to You through these verses. Lord, we acknowledge that You know ALL ABOUT our needs, that EVERYTHING is laid bare before Your eyes. We acknowledge that Your Son is our High Priest, seated at Your right hand and ever living to make intercession for us. We know Lord that the ONLY way in which we can approach You is through Him. We acknowledge Lord that without the shedding of blood, of His blood, that we as sinful man CANNOT approach Your Holiness. We know that Your Son sympathizes with us, thank You for that Lord! He knew sorrow, rejection, pain, loneliness, and most of all, the weight of the guilt of my sin Lord. Thank You that He understands us. And Lord, because of all of these things that we acknowledge, we recognize that Your desire is that we TURN TO YOU, not try to live life on our own. We recognize Lord that Your word is telling us that when we come to the throne in prayer, we are told we are to come boldly (not arrogantly), but with great confidence. Confident that you will meet our needs with mercy and grace, because You promise it. Praise You Lord!