Watch My Purse

Perhaps you saw it on the news. A woman, incensed that some teenagers were stealing liquor from a store, pleaded with the store clerks to stop them. When no one was willing to take the risk and chase after the thieves, the middle-aged woman decided she had to do something about it.

That’s when she told the clerk to “watch my purse.” The woman then found an adrenaline-fueled strength to run after the young men and jump on the hood of their car. (Note: this is probably not the wisest thing to do, but we all understand getting caught up in the moment.) Although she eventually fell off the car and sustained a black eye, the thieves were later caught by police.

Perhaps her words sum up how we should all respond to the injustices that are occurring around us with increasing frequency. Rather than standing around, hoping someone else will take responsibility, perhaps it’s time for us to rise up and say, “Enough.”

Watch my purse!

But There’s a Catch
I’m not suggesting that we jump on fleeing getaway cars. I’m not even suggesting that we take to the streets to protest or take drastic actions against those we believe are harming society.

But I am suggesting that we need to reach a place in our prayer lives when we say, “Watch my purse.” It’s a place of determining that we will not be complacent anymore. It is taking our rightful place by rising up and praying with great faith and belief that God wants to intervene in our families and in our nation.

But here’s the catch: To rise up means to humble ourselves, take a look at our own hearts, and pray with an attitude of repentance for our own sins and for the sins of the church. I know this is hard to accept. But if you call yourself a follower of Jesus Christ, you are now responsible for the dire condition of a society where teenagers will brazenly steal liquor and heartlessly run down a bystander.

God has called His people to pray with abandonment for the sake of others. He states that the “healing of our land” depends our willingness to humble ourselves, acknowledge our desperate need for God, and seek God’s forgiveness for the way that we have lived our own lives (2 Chron. 7:14-15).

He does not call us to point accusing fingers at a band of lost and broken teenagers. Rather, He is calling us into accountability for the way that we have let society down through our own complacency. Our weak prayer lives. Our willingness to look the other way when people are acting out their need for God.

Watch my purse. I’m getting down on my knees to pray with greater hope, believing that God loves and wants to redeem and restore even a group of desperately needy teenagers. And just perhaps God will respond to our prayers with the greatest Christ-awakening our nation has ever known!

Take the Challenge

I recently read a classic book by Andrew Murray on Humility, written in the 1800s. I’ve decided that we are suffering a lack of truly powerful writers like those of past centuries. Perhaps they were better able to write out of places that were desperate for the Lord, and thus knew His powerful presence in revival. I am surely not one of those writers!

Murray wrote that humility should be perhaps the greatest marker of a Christian’s life. It is in that place of humility that we truly empty ourselves of our own pride and fleshly motivations – and thus let the character of Christ dwell more richly in us.

Murray issued a 30-day challenge to ask the Lord moment by moment to reveal the places of pride in your heart. Upon confessing and repenting of that pride, Murray suggested then inviting the Holy Spirit to fill you with greater humility that represents more of the life of Christ.

I decided to take that challenge. But I sensed the Lord telling me I needed to take an extra ten days. Apparently there was greater work to be done! So I have been fasting and praying that simple prayer, asking the Lord to reveal the places of pride in my heart.

My Painful Discovery
Wow. I have been overwhelmed with what I have discovered. I am a prideful person. There are attitudes of my heart that I did not really consider pride, but the Lord has clearly pointed them out. It has been as simple as being annoyed with people I thought were “too wordy” in their prayers. Or thinking that my prayer has stormed the heavens far more effectively than someone else’s. Ouch.

I’ve also discovered that I really don’t know as much as I think I know. The Lord has convicted me of needing to speak less and pray more. I’m not as smart and humble as I thought I was!

But it is all good. The Lord is always faithful and even somewhat gentle with those who earnestly seek Him.

But don’t ask me how I’m doing with my humility quest. Depending on my answer, the Lord might just tack on another ten days!

The Next Spiritual Awakening

If you don’t believe we are in need of a spiritual awakening in our nation, you aren’t obsessed with Fox News and other media outlets like I am! Seriously, you cannot live in this nation without some awareness that a movement of God is desperately needed.

Historically, this nation has experienced some powerful spiritual awakenings that have dramatically changed the spiritual climate of society. However, we are perhaps 150 years overdue for another nationwide, saturating awakening.

But there are hopeful signs! Before every great spiritual awakening, there were some common indicators that we’re beginning to see emerge once again.

One of the first signs is an increase in the use of revival and spiritual awakening language. In the past few years, great movements of prayer have been rising up, including alliances of Christian ministries devoted to prayer for revival. Eighteen years ago I wrote my first article on revival. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but I was aware that there had to be something more to faith in Christ than what I was seeing displayed in the Church. Now the call for revival is becoming commonplace in prayer circles.

Another sign is an increase in the fervency of prayer among the “remnant.” These are the pastors and intercessors who have prayed faithfully and sought God for a greater move of His power in our midst. More and more prayer warriors are joining the ranks of those praying fervently for revival. This is one of the most encouraging and hopeful signs, as almost all revivals have started with less than 12 people praying. God loves to work through a remnant!

As we close in on a desperately needed move of God in our nation, there are two more indicators that will increase just prior to revival breaking out (I learned this through an interview with Billy Wilson of Awakening America):

• There will be an increase in united, extraordinary prayer. This prayer is passionate, fervent, and repentant in nature—and this is increasing exponentially!
  



• There will be a restoration of integrity to the pulpit. You will begin to hear greater boldness in messages based on the truth of the gospel, and it will include the message of repentance. Not only will the messengers of the gospel proclaim the integrity of the gospel more clearly, they will also experience their own repentance and transformation. This is something we should all long for our own lives.

Keep your eyes on the horizon. Revival fires are not far away. Keep praying; keep repenting. As we humble ourselves in brokenness, God will draw closer and closer to us. Come, Lord Jesus!

Let's Review

I had breakfast with my nephew this morning so that we could explore the “R” word just a bit more. You know the “R” word—the one we don’t really like to talk about. The one that gets left out a lot because it makes people uncomfortable.

Repentance.

It seems a very fitting topic for this Good Friday morning because without repentance, the cross of Jesus Christ seems a bit pointless. If Jesus was willing to take the sins of the world upon Himself, die a humiliating and torturous death, and then provide a way for us to be redeemed from our own hopelessness and destruction—well, isn’t repentance really a small sacrifice on our part? Acknowledging our sin by confessing and repenting is the most powerful thing we can do to honor Christ today.

Yet much of the Church today leans toward downplaying the message of repentance. It doesn’t seem to attract people to the gospel message, so maybe we should tone it down a bit, seems to be the trendy Christian thought.

That’s perhaps part of why so many people are drawn to books like The Shack. It makes God a bit more comfortable, more to our liking. No mention of repentance and our need to turn from sin. No mention of judgment and eternal death. Whew…I like the God of the New Testament over the God of the Old Testament, who seemed so harsh. A new and improved version of God, many like to think.

Really?

Today my nephew and I went back to the basics of repentance. We both want to know what Scripture really says about it. Did Jesus back off on the message of repentance so that the gospel could be more comfortable to the masses?

Here are the words of Christ, just as a reminder on this Good Friday:

• Jesus’ first message after 40 days of temptation and ministry preparation: “Repent and believe.” (Mark 1:15)



• Jesus’ continuous message throughout His ministry: “From that time, Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” (Matt. 4:17)



• Jesus’ instructions to the disciples as He prepared them for ministry: “With my authority, take this message of repentance to all the nations…” (Luke 24:47)



• The disciples’ response to Jesus’ instructions: “And they went out, telling all they met to turn from their sins.” (Mark 6:12)



• Jesus’ message to five of the seven churches in Revelation: “I have this against you...repent! (Rev. 2-3)

So let’s review. It’s the first message of Jesus, the message He passed on to the disciples, and it’s the message He continues to give for the Church today.

Please honor the Lord Jesus Christ in your life by embracing the message—and gift—of repentance. I believe as we walk out a lifestyle of repentance, we will become more and more Christ-like. That’s the kind of revolutionary life that will be used of God to bring revival to our churches and transformation to our land.