Last month we made an agreement with 100.7fm in Colorado Springs to broadcast Blazing Grace radio. The end of March, I was interviewed by pastor Brian Michaels on his radio show in Colorado Springs. I met Brian for coffee a week later to discuss his church hosting a From Porn to Grace conference. The following week, on April 14, I had what I call a warfare night – mental and physical assault during the night and into the early morning. The next morning Brian let me know that his church was okay with proceeding with the conference on May 30 (details below).
I had 2 more warfare nights after that, then a gray cloud that followed with discouraging thoughts and other attacks. There has been an ongoing, energy-draining, stressful situation out of my control. Long covid crashes and shortness of breath come in waves. This past week I had another rough warfare night. Warfare like this is common before a conference or when I will be speaking publicly.
Sometimes in my internal musings I wonder why we don’t hear others doing the math on discussing sex in the church, the formula of which includes: The clear imperative in Scripture to make disciples and effectively address sexual issues (1 Cor. 5, Rev. 2) + decades of surveys show masses of Christians in bondage to porn and other forms of sexual sin + equipping God people in the sexual areas they’re struggling with + the enemy coming at us for doing so = clear evidence that this is a desperately needed front-line battle that every church should be stepping into on an ongoing basis. (One Sunday every two to three years won’t get it done).
I fear that for many the math looks more like this: We don’t make people uncomfortable + we’re afraid of talking about sex and offending anyone + our church doesn’t have this problem (yeah right) = the enemy splitting his gut from laughing so hard.
If our churches and ministries aren’t getting hit with warfare, what does it mean?
I can’t see into the spiritual realm but wonder if it might mean we’re not much of a threat to the gates of hell and Satan has little reason to fear many churches or Christians. Just keep them happy with easy to digest messages with all the loose ends tied up neatly at the end. Everyone lives happily ever after and we go home on a pink cloud.
In my musings I picture John the Baptist coming back. The guy didn’t talk about the love of God once yet Jesus called him the greatest man that ever lived up to that point. Which means holiness is a big deal to God (cue fear and trembling). No way John is making it into most modern churches. Not nice enough. Or Peter, who in his first sermon (Acts 2) didn’t talk about God’s love or grace, speared his listeners for their part in crucifying Christ (twice), and saw 3,000 enter the kingdom of God.
We could use some prayer-fired, desert-raised, thick-skinned Heaven-sent prophets who are so immersed in eternity that the rest of us are pierced with conviction when they speak. When is the last time you walked out of church so deeply convicted, so desperate for God, so sick of your love of the world, so discouraged by a prayerless life, that you felt that if you didn’t run home and go hard after God you would explode?
This isn’t to say we need the John the Baptist treatment every week or that we don’t need encouragement (“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up,” 1 Thess 5:11). Building up the body is a must during these upside-down, chaotic days when recklessness, arrogance, and lying are the norm. We all need a little spiritual shock therapy from time to time to wake us up from apathy, realign our priorities to God’s, break the spell of the love of this world, and rekindle our relationship with God.
Talk about revival or a spiritual awakening is everywhere. How rare it is to see a picture of a church on their knees. Prayer and confession of sin power revivals, not sermons, posts, books, or Youtube videos. Read Jonah 3. The church is supposed to be a house of prayer, remember? A praying group of believers will encounter resistance from the enemy, but if they persevere they will become a spiritual powerhouse.
Want to get started? Pray something like this: “Lord, please convict me of all of my pride, arrogance, lust, bitterness, gluttony, judging, fear, apathy, prayerlessness, and love of the world. Cleanse me and heal me of my sin and fill me with the power of Your resurrection.”
Keep praying like that and who knows what will happen.
You might find your love for God set on fire.
