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!

An Unconventional Redemption

He e-mailed me and introduced himself about a year ago. He said he was working on a Facebook application called Praybook, and wondered if I would partner with him in writing devotional content for the application. I guess he did a search on the Internet related to writers and prayer – and came up with me.

Well, actually, I believe that God, in His graciousness toward me, led Tim to my website. Although I did not fully understand what Tim was describing to me, I sensed I was to say yes to the opportunity. It sounded like it might be designed by God to help redeem Facebook for His Kingdom purposes. How could I resist being part of something with that kind of vision? After praying and pondering just a bit, I decided I was in!

Now, a year later, Praybook has been launched. I love the tagline: “Lifting up the world…one friend at a time.” Another way of putting it: Friends praying for friends. Praybook organizes your Facebook friend list into a manageable prayer list each day, with the encouragement to bring each of your friends before the throne of God on a regular, systematic basis. By the simple press of a button, you can send a notification that you’ve prayed for them.

What a great idea! I'm glad God and Tim thought of it - and included me in the project.

Honestly, this has breathed new life into my prayer times. I get up in the morning (way earlier than I used to), get my list of friends for the day from Praybook, and go on a “prayer walk” around my community. (Getting up early and also wanting to walk….truly, God is in this!) With the Spirit’s guidance, I find myself praying for friends who had never before entered into my prayer life (yes, an embarrassing confession).

Think about it. Seven hundred million people on Facebook. Friends of friends of friends of friends, praying for each other. Could this be the launch of a worldwide prayer movement?

I suspect it is. I praise God for His unconventional redemption of Facebook.

Praybook: www.praybook.com/page/login

Gotta Love Finney!

What a great name for my grand-nephew! Finney Charles. Of course, my first thought upon hearing his name was, "How wonderful that my nephew Brent and Kathryn named their child after one of the greatest revivalists ever in our nation!" I was certain they did that to warm my heart.

I had to scale back my enthusiasm a bit when I learned they weren't really familiar with Charles Finney. They selected Charles to honor a grandfather - and they just plain liked the sound of Finney. Any connection to the famous Charles Finney was slim, and most certainly an after-thought.

Nevertheless, I will enjoy Finney's name every time I say or write it. I will think of the heritage of Charles Finney as the man during the 1800s known as "The Father of Modern Revivalism." After all, he led our nation in a call for holiness and revival in the Second Great Awakening. And I owe him great gratitude for his innovation in allowing women to pray in public!

I will pray and think of Finney Charles as a new generation of hope for another great move of God in our nation. I will smile and think to myself, How kind of God to lead someone in my family to inadvertently name his child according to my heart-cry for revival!

I think there is a connection.

(Pictured: Joshua Stanley and Finney Charles Madison)