“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people”
1 Timothy 2:1
“And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.”
Acts 2:29-31
This weekend, 2,000 protests are scheduled throughout the US. Some will see these events through a political lens, others might think of them in terms of immigration or other issues.
Christ followers know that we have an enemy who comes to steal, kill, and destroy; they are skilled at fanning the flames of rebellion, anger, hatred, and division. It’s not hard to see how these protests could turn into riots and catch fire across the country like what happened in the summer of 2020. If we understand that we’re in the end times and are a church at war, it’s clear that the enemy is staging the battlefield.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
Ephesians 6:12
So what are we going to do about it?
For decades, churches everywhere should have been running prayer meetings on a daily basis; we are the most powerful when we’re on our knees in heaven-rending prayer. The prayer meeting has died in many churches; as a result of this and our failure to face the sin that has corrupted the church we’ve been losing significant ground for years. Sexual and other forms of sin have overrun the church while we have barely put up a fight.
We can preach our sermons and sing our worship songs until we’re purple in the face as we have been, but we will continue to get slaughtered in the spiritual realm until we make prayer a priority. It continues to amaze me that many believers who have been the church for decades know little about spiritual warfare, as the enemy has been playing them like a marionette.
The question is, have we had enough pain? Or are we going to continue to play Nero and watch Rome burn as we watch our Christian programs, post our memes, and delude ourselves into thinking we’re making a difference? Preaching about prayer will get us nowhere.
Prayer meetings should be going on now, every day, in every church. Every professing Christian should be crying out to God now, today, for mercy, for repentance, and for God to fight the spiritual battles that are raging all around us. This weekend especially, every church should have their people on their knees, crying out to God. Forget about your flock’s comfort zones; the time is long past for that. We are at war, the battles we’re facing are real and intense, and they’re not going away soon.
Consider this a call to prayer; a call to arms.
Daniel’s prayer in Daniel 9 is a good place to start:
”Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
“O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”
