Tuesday, 09 March 2010 23:51 Written by Bob Flack

I’ve just left a very long elder meeting. I am so grateful for the men who serve this church as shepherds. They guard, counsel, admonish, teach, and encourage this congregation in ways that most of the “sheep” of this fold do not realize. May the Lord sustain them as they must pursue their calling tomorrow on less sleep than they would get on most nights.

The prayer for today’s leg of the See God for the City journey is for God to display his love and power through answered prayer. Pray for answers to prayer. Sounds redundant. Lord, we’re asking you to do what only You can do. When we ask, we glorify You because we’re admitting our dependence on You. We’re acknowledging that we are looking to You and cannot do anything of eternal significance unless You empower and direct us.

When You respond You continue to glorify Yourself. We often do not even know how to pray. We belittle You with small requests. You are prepared to do beyond what we can imagine. We pray as if we were in control instead of recognizing the Majesty of the One who truly is.

Our prayer-lessness is troubling. We need a spirit of intercession to break out upon the church in our nation and our church in particular. You intend prayer to be a delightful duty and we have turned it into drudgery. Give fortitude to those who expect prayer to be easy. Give joy to those who find prayer difficult. Send answers to prayer in such unmistakable ways that it will move us to pray even more. Strengthen us to keep on asking, seeking, and knocking. As a Father, you love to see your children come and humbly ask.

Monday, 08 March 2010 23:23 Written by Bob Flack

Defend the Honor

The emphasis for this Day 20 of “Seek God for the City” targets a serious problem in today’s church, people who claim the name of Christ but live in ways that disgrace that name. We take up the prayer that God would defend the honor of his own name. This is fearful kind of request.

Lord, if you act to protect your honor you will have to deal with sin. You can no longer be a stranger in the land (as Jeremiah complained you were) and stay away while those who bear your name do not obey your voice. You will not be able to ignore the prolific idolatry by which we pour out our passion for so much besides your glory. You will have to come among your people and your presence will expose the foolishness of misplaced affections.

Home for Hypocrisy

The problem of backsliding is so thorny because we do not know the true condition of a human heart. Only You do. The church has always had people who identify and align themselves outwardly with Christ. As image bearers fall into sin and under the curse, we remain incurably religious. We are capable of using the trappings of true Christianity to practice a religion of self-righteousness.

Come and honor your name by exposing such hypocrisy and souring the satisfaction that people experience with this kind of religiosity. Create a hunger for Jesus that only He can satisfy. Send the gospel to cut through the deceptions that chain so many even in good churches. Infuse preachers with boldness to expose the dangers of decisionism which numbs people with false assurance of a pseudo-salvation.

Dangers of Being Dull

But there are genuine believers who for a time grow cold toward Christ and slip back toward the pit from which You saved them. Whole churches and the church of whole nations can grow callous and careless. How will hypocrites find the truth if those who have it are dull to it? If the church looks like the world, then those who straddle the fence feel no urgency to reject their double-mindedness.

Your prophecy of your Messiah-Son promises that he will not break a bruised reed or snuff out a smoldering wick. You show mercy to your people as you bring justice to victory. You will vindicate your own. You will give strength to your overcomers and they will overcome. You cannot indefinitely remain quiet when your name is being trampled. You will not let your children return to their rebellion. You will discipline them even with severity to ensure that they turn back to you.

Direct the Double-minded

You are a jealous God. Move your people to humble themselves before You. Clean hands and purify hearts. Focus the double-minded on your beauty and majesty and unite their hearts to fear your Name. Strengthen bruised reeds and ignite smoldering wicks.

Increase the love of your name among all who truly name the name of Jesus. Make it of such value that your people will deeply fear doing, thinking, or saying anything that does not promote your glory. Do this in Africa among the nations for whom we offer prayer today. Do it in our church so that we might take your name to the nations rather than disgrace it.

Sunday, 07 March 2010 23:18 Written by Bob Flack

Today opens the third week of the prayer journey to Palm Sunday. This is the middle of the journey. I sense the routine of this exercise. It wears on me. It is a challenge to pray without slipping into the same old verbal patterns. Jesus alerted us that we must not faint in our praying (Luke 18:1). He knew that we would face such a temptation. We do grow weary in well doing.

The words introducing the week’s emphasis offer such encouragement. “Now is the time to pray that God will move even more powerfully so0 that He will be glorified by a movement of loving obedience in every people in our cities and throughout the world.”

In this week we will pray for the cities and countries of Africa. We are praying specifically today for world evangelization and the glory of Christ to be evident among the world’s cultures. Today we seek God for His renown among all peoples of the earth. We pray for the business people who influence so much of our lives.

Saturday, 06 March 2010 13:59 Written by Bob Flack

Vibrant Hope

Today as we follow the forty day prayer guide we are seeking God for his light to bring abundant life. The words of Psalm 36:7-9 are so vibrant with the hope of the gospel that I copy them here for your immediate meditation.

Psalm 36:7–9 (ESV)

⁷ How precious is your steadfast love, O God!

The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

⁸ They feast on the abundance of your house,

and you give them drink from the river of your delights.

⁹ For with you is the fountain of life;

in your light do we see light.

Those who enter into God’s house by faith in Christ find it to be a storehouse of delightful joys. There is security (refuge, v. 7). There is nourishment for growth (feast, abundance, v. 8). There is comfort and refreshment (river, delights, v. 8). There is understanding and wisdom for life (light, v. 9). We long for the whole world to experience this kind of vitality.

Falling into the LIght

Father, pour out these blessings on people who long for your salvation all over the world. Draw to Yourself from the nations a people who find satisfaction in You and nothing less than You. In our own city people take refuge in their jobs, their social status, their educational achievements, or their physical prowess. Gently remove the false security of these idols and cause people to fall worshipfully into the strong saving arms of Christ.

The gospel is the power of God to overcome what is dark in our city. Crime, corruption, addiction, abuse, moral degradation, all these exist in our area in various forms. Openly expressed evil causes us to shudder. We cannot fathom what is done in secret. We know that one day every evil and injustice will be exposed to the light of your judgment through Christ. Before that day, shed your light on sin while repentance is still possible.  Cause your holy, flaming light to expose the blackness of evil and expose the need for a Savior.

In praying for mothers we recognize the influence that they have on children according to the way you have designed human life. The one who rocks the cradle rules the world is more truth than exaggeration. Godly mothers bear fruit in this world long after their life is over as their legacy lives on. Thank you for the many strong mothers we have in many different congregations throughout this city. Encourage them in the eternally significant work that they do to raise godly sons and daughters. Multiply the influence of godly grandmothers who physical strength may be failing but whose character can shake society.

Looking Beyond Our Borders

Thailand leads the long list of Asian nations on today’s page. How can the name cross through my mind without asking for your blessing on LeeAnn and the work in Pattaya. She is a spiritual mother to so many there. Transform the women she rescues into mothers whose Christ-light shines brightly in the slums and prostitute districts of that huge city. Cause the light of the gospel to burn hot in all these countries.