I just can’t explain it, but I’m constantly overwhelmed by a strong urgency to pray. One evening, last week, I was just going about our nightly routine to prepare for the next day when I just had to get down on my knees on the side of the bed.
My sleep is filled with prayer and dreams about our nation and world. I don’t mean to come off as some type of prophet of doom and gloom. I honestly don’t know what we’re about to go through. I just know that I have a very strong call to pray.
Absolutely bizarre things are happening in our communities now. Overt racism has risen back to 1960’s - 70’s levels. Gun violence is out of control. Police brutality is horrendous. Meanwhile, hatred is intensifying and growing stronger, everyday, against anyone who claims to be a Christian or a follower of Jesus Christ.
Personally, not necessarily prophetically, I see a day in which we will see terror attacks against churches and various ministries and our government and police forces will do nothing to stop it because they will be in secret approval.
All I know is that God is directing me and Carol to lead you in a very specific strategy of prayer, teaching, and fellowship. Somehow, this simple little strategy will be enough to fortify and prepare our families for the future.
I sincerely believe God is setting the stage for something that will be so profound and powerful that we will all know that HE alone gets the glory. We just need to be willing to be stagehands that He can depend upon to do our part.
We say it all the time at Urban Life: We don’t need to be in the spotlight. God did not call us to be famous. He called us to be faithful. There is never any question about the faithfulness of God towards us. The question is: Will we be faithful to God?
If the day comes, in our lifetime, that we have to decide between faithfulness to God versus imprisonment or death, Carol and I have already decided that we will never turn our back on God.
I urge you to make every effort to spend personal time with God daily. Read from a daily devotional book or a daily Bible verse. Take the time to pray. I mean really pray. I also encourage you to meet with us on Sunday mornings or at least connect with our new Urban Life Daily Postings that are designed to build your faith.
I always hated the times when I was completely unprepared for a serious trial that came into my life. Trials seem to always come when I had not been attending church very much. I had not been reading my Bible very much. And I certainly had not been praying very much.
When the trials came, I would scramble to get back into fellowship with God and the church community; struggling to build my faith in the midst of a crisis. Trial moments are not the best times to try to build your faith. Trials will test whatever level of faith you already have.
At some point, we all have to stop living like that. We have to get prepared BEFORE the crisis moments. The Proverbs state that a wise man sees trouble coming and starts getting ready for it. We can see a lot of trouble on the horizon for America, Pennsylvania and Harrisburg. The trouble will no longer be in the news, in some country far away. It will be knocking down your door or a neighbor’s door. There will be gunfire in your children’s school. There will be disaster in your family tree.
I’m not speaking negative confessions. This is a prophetic warning. It’s the kind of warning that Jeremiah gave Israel, but hardly anyone believed him because others were prophesying about prosperity.
We will no longer be able to get away with the immature patterns of the past; back when we quoted a few scriptures and screamed out a prayer and God bailed us out. I believe the bailout prayers are coming to an end. Now is the time to seek the Lord, while He may be found.
