We can never overstate the importance of prayer. I need to be reminded of that from time to time so I assume you may need to be reminded and encouraged as well. So I want to issue a reminder today for myself as well as for you.

What if God refused to do anything until he received a request? What if God refused to do even the things he wanted to do or willed to do until he received a request? What if God had issued a directive in heaven stating that he had turned the rule of planet earth over to his people and that no agent of heaven could move on any project until requests had come in from his governing body on earth? If we believed that nothing out of the natural order of things would ever happen unless we prayed, we might pray more. My questions may overstate the case a bit, but not as much as you might believe.

For instance, while James was writing under the influence (of the Holy Spirit), he told his audience, “You have not because you ask not.” An amplified version might say, “There are many things that you desire which your heavenly Father would be willing to give…but not until you ask.” I know that God does give much without our asking because he is a loving Father who enjoys gifting his children. But, James clearly tells us that many things are left undone because we haven’t asked or prayed about them even though God is willing.

But isn’t God always going to do what he wants to do, with or without me? The standard view of God’s sovereignty would tell us that his will is always accomplished but, apparently, that is not always the case. For instance, Ezekiel records a lament of God when he says, “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. So I will pour out my wrath on them…” (Ezek.22:30-31)

In this text, Jerusalem’s sins had come up before God and his holiness was demanding judgment. However, his heart did not want to judge Jerusalem and was looking for a man who would stand before him and plead for the city as Abraham had done for Sodom and as Moses had done on several occasions for Israel in the wilderness. Mercy triumphs over judgment and God was searching for a man who would plead for that mercy. However, he could not find one and so he had to execute judgment when it was not his first choice. Prayer would have made all the difference, but no one asked.

In 1 Kings, Elijah had prayed for drought and famine in Israel, at God’s prompting, as a discipline on a wicked nation led by King Ahab. After three and a half years of severe drought, God told Elijah, “Go and present yourself to Ahab and I will send rain on the land.” Elisha then told Ahab, “Go, eat and drink for there is the sound of heavy rain.” But then, Elisha took his servant and climbed to the top of Mt. Carmel and began to pray for rain. He offered seven prayers before his servant finally saw a small cloud forming over the Sea of Galilee.

Why pray for what God had already declared? This scenario only makes sense if God had declared first that even his prophetic declarations would not be released on the earth until someone prays. The Book of Daniel also speaks to this principle. In Daniel 9, the prophet discovered a prophetic promise in the writings of Jeremiah that the desolation of Jerusalem would last 70 years and then the city would be restored. He was aware that the 70 years was close to fulfillment.

n response to this discovery, Daniel began to fast and pray for God to fulfill the prophecy and even prayed a prayer of confession and repentance for the nation. But if God had already prophesied the restoration of Jerusalem, why pray about it? Wouldn’t it happen just as he declared whether anyone prayed or not? And wouldn’t praying for it almost be an expression of unbelief, as if God had to be reminded or talked into keeping his promise?

Again, Daniel’s actions only make sense if even the things God wills or declares are only released on the earth after his people pray. God’s love is unconditional but most of his promises are conditional. At a minimum they require some level of faith. Often they require repentance and confession. Many will not come to us if we do not forgive others, etc. One of those conditions must also be prayer and, sometimes, sustained and enduring prayer.

The key to faithful prayer is understanding how much responsibility God has given us in the affairs of the Kingdom of God on earth. God has placed us here to rule and establish his kingdom. He rarely inserts himself without our requests or declarations over a situation. God is very relational and very committed to our maturity. Think of it this way. What if a CEO made you a manager over a part of his company, but then continued to micromanage and make decisions for your department before you could even submit plans or by overriding your plans each time they were submitted?

First of all, you would never grow into management and, secondly, he would undermine any authority that “theoretically” was attached to your position. When God gave you the position of “ambassador” or “his representative” on the earth, he attached authority to your position – authority to represent and to govern. Authority means that we are responsible for directing the power of the kingdom through our prayers, declarations, and actions as we push back on the kingdom of darkness.

Ideally, the Holy Spirit will put the impulse in our hearts, then we come into agreement with the Spirit through prayer and as we do the plans and power of heaven are released on the earth. In Revelation 8, prayers from the saints are mingled with incense given to an angel and the incense and prayers of the saints rise together before God. After that, power is released or poured out on the earth. The symbolism seems to be that the prayers of the saints mix with the activities of heaven and then power is released on the earth.

I am certain that God will do some things with or without our prayers but I am also biblically certain that much of God’s will may not be accomplished if we do not pray, pray fervently, and continually. The failing is not on God’s part, but on ours. I simply wanted to remind you and myself of how important our prayers are and hope that if your prayer life has grown cold that you will rekindle it. People around you need your prayers. Our nation needs your prayers. The world needs your prayers. God wants your prayers so that all of his will can be done on earth as it is in heaven. Be blessed.

For the past week, the news has given microscopic coverage to the latest shooting on a school campus that reflects the brokenness of our culture. It took only minutes for those who seek greater gun control to speak out and for those who want more guns to reply. We are a culture that wants to focus on symptoms rather than causation. More or less gun control is like trying to find a cure for AIDS rather than addressing the sexual behaviors that produce and maintain AIDS in a society fueled by the emptiness of the hearts that try to find some semblance of love and belonging in promiscuity.

The problem is not guns or AIDS but the human soul that needs regeneration by the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit of God that pushes back against sin. Genesis declares, “Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years” (Gen.6:3). Two verses later, we are given clarity about this verse. “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen.6:5).

God’s Spirit had been striving or contending with man’s sinful nature that had been corrupted beyond the “fall of man” in the Garden. The presence of demonic spirits on the earth had magnified the problems of a fallen nature. As a result, man had become almost incurably evil. What restraint there had been, was produced by the Holy Spirit contending against evil in the hearts of men. It is no different today. The primary constraint against sin in the world is the activity of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of men.

As we fumble around trying to find solutions to STD’s, school shootings, terrorism, racism, and so forth we seem to miss the essential cause – the broken and sinful hearts of men. Man has a fallen nature that will only deteriorate as he distances himself from the Spirit of God. So…let’s remove prayer from public life; forbid the reading of the Bible; forbid mentioning the name of Jesus in our schools and universities; strip any suggestion of the Ten Commandments from public buildings; push back against Christian standards; put people in jail for trying to be faithful to those standards; lobby to eliminate the term Merry Christmas (Christ Mass); and ridicule anything or anyone who stands for Biblical truth. In essence, let’s quench the Spirit, ridicule the Word of God, and create as much distance as possible between our culture and the Spirit of God – who restrains sin – and wonder why our culture is deteriorating.

Not only that, but let’s short-circuit another of God’s established restraints against sin – personal responsibility. Paul clearly states this principle when he says, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Gal.6:7-8). God has established a law that says we reap consequences from our chosen actions.

Negative, sinful actions produce negative consequences, which should then act as teachers to point us to better decisions. If I put my finger in a fan, a painful consequence arises. If I am teachable at all, I will learn not to put my finger in the fan. If I touch a hot stove, the painful consequence should teach me not to duplicate that action. That is God’s Learning Channel. Make good decisions and reap positive consequences. Make bad decisions and reap pain and sorrow.

But our culture is bent on erasing both the notion of personal responsibility and the consequences of bad behavior. Everyone gets a trophy – even if you didn’t try or didn’t care. Everyone will be supported by the taxes of hardworking people – even if you have the capacity to work but choose not to. For the sake of self-esteem, there will be no real negative consequence if you are nine years old and disrupt a classroom daily, year after year. Any negative decision will be assigned to genetic predispositions or brain chemistry. We could go on, but you get the drift.

I’m not saying there should be no grace and forgiveness for people in those situations, but I am saying we no longer point to the sin that brings the consequence but only work to eradicate the consequence without holding anyone responsible for their actions. Negative consequences for bad decisions are part of God’s grace to restrain sin in the world. I’m not saying they eradicate sin, but I am saying they were designed by God to restrain or inhibit sin. When we hold no one responsible for their negative actions, remove discipline from the classroom, or take away from those who worked hard and reward those who have made no effort, we undermine God’s principles.

When a culture chooses to distance its people from the influence of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and biblical principles, what is left to restrain sin? When people are severely broken, counseling will only get you so far because the dangerously broken people will not show up for counseling. If you take away the gun of a bitter, broken, angry person he will simply drive his car into crowds or learn how to make explosives out of household chemicals. He will poison water supplies and explode dirty bombs.

Government is busy trying to control and reduce the influence of the only thing that can change hearts and heal a culture – the saving grace of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit who heals and reconciles. We are in a downward spiral that our leaders recognize but for which they offer no solutions – except more control. Who then will control the controllers who also have a fallen nature? Spiritual revival in this country is the key to solving shootings in our schools, snipers on our highways, drug dealers on our street corners, and racism in our hearts. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph.6:12).

The church needs to say so and we need to lead others to Christ in this nation in unprecedented numbers. Government has no solutions, only temporary stopgaps. The church offers the only lasting solution because Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God are the only antidotes to sin. Waiting for government to come up with a program or platform to stop school shootings or any other tragedy is a pipe dream. The battle is in the spiritual realm and our constant prayers for this nation are critical.

We need to pray for God to elevate faith-filled leaders who will point this nation to righteousness once again. We need to pray for a spirit of revival and reconciliation to be poured out on America. We need to pray against the spirit of anti-Christ that is so evident in Washington and against a host of other spirits that are trying to possess this nation and our children. We must also do our part to share Jesus with those around us because the Kingdom of God typically advances one heart at time. Pray for the families who lost loved ones in Oregon but also pray for

God’s hand to rule this nation once again – not guns or government. Remember peace and grace come from our Lord Jesus Christ. Be blessed today.

I’ve always been fascinated by the focus of Jesus. His reference point for life was not found in the natural realm but in the spiritual. He didn’t make decisions based on natural logic but rather spiritual logic and those are diametrically opposed. The world says that the first shall be first and the last is a loser. But in the spiritual realm, the first shall be last and the last shall be first. In the natural realm, the rich and powerful will be remembered and venerated but in the spiritual realm, the servant of all will be considered the greatest. In the natural realm, the narcissist and the self-indulgent will get ahead but in the spiritual realm, he who gives up his life will save it. In the natural realm resources are finite. In the spiritual realm there is no lack. In the natural realm raw power and aggression get their way but in the spiritual realm the Spirit of God always carries the day. Jesus always lived by kingdom principles with the kingdom of heaven as his reference point.

The church in the past century has faithfully taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and has defined it as the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins – and that is definitely good news. But it is more than that. Jesus taught an amplified version of that gospel which was called the good news of the kingdom of God. John the Baptist preached that the kingdom of heaven was near (Mt.3:2) which is a phrase synonymous with the kingdom of God. Jesus preached over and over the good news of the kingdom of God. The good news was that the kingdom was suddenly within reach for those who would believe. After his resurrection, Jesus spent 40 days on earth showing himself to many people and talking about the most needed things. Luke tells us, “After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).

The gospel or good news of Jesus is that he died for our sins. But there is more. His death, burial, and resurrection not only purchased forgiveness but also opened up the kingdom of God to us and made us citizens of heaven now. Jesus even taught us to pray daily about the Kingdom. “They kingdom come, they will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” So what exactly is the kingdom of God?

The definition of the kingdom is the “king’s domain.”  It is the rule and reign of God and heaven is heaven because God’s will for his people is expressed perfectly there. When we think of heaven we usually think of majesty, joy, peace, eternal life, perfect health, lack of want, overwhelming love, angelic beings, etc. Those things are expressions of who God is and his will for his people. Jesus taught us to pray that experience down to earth – for God’s will to be done on earth as it is done in heaven.

Many believers agree with that prayer but assume that it refers to the millennial reign of Jesus or to a restored earth after the final judgment. Jesus, however, clearly taught that an experience of heaven is available now. “But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you” (Lk.11:20). Both Jesus and John the Baptist declared over and over that the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven was near. They didn’t mean that the kingdom was near in the sense of “coming soon,” but rather that it was within reach of those who believed. In heaven there is no demonic affliction, no disease, no death, no bitterness, no fear, no turmoil, and no lack.

Jesus declared that, by faith, we can touch heaven now. Two essential qualities of the kingdom are love and power. God is both love and ultimate power. Both of those permeate the kingdom. The truth is that every believer needs both in his or her life now – the love of God and the power of God. Both are available through Jesus and the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The love of God alleviates fear, bitterness, sorrow, anguish, rejection, and turmoil. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, etc. The power of God can set us free from the demonic, sickness, poverty, and every form of bondage. Those things are available now. That is God’s will on earth as it is in heaven.

If we live with our hearts and minds anchored in heaven as Jesus did, then we can anticipate the provision and protection of heaven in our lives. When Jesus was faced with feeding 5000 men plus even more women and children with only a few loaves of bread and a few fish, he wasn’t dismayed. The power and provision of heaven had come to earth and he was confident that he could draw on that reality to get the job done. By faith, heaven was expressed on earth. Every person had plenty to eat with twelve baskets full of bread and fish left over. God’s love approved of the provision and his power provided it.

Today we have the same God with the same love and the same power and it is available to those who believe. As we count on both, heaven comes to earth. Most Christians believe in the love of God but are uncertain about the power of God in their lives. However, from Genesis to Revelation, it is clear that God desires to express both in the lives of his people. If I love you, but have no power, I can sympathize with your dilemma and even weep with you but I cannot help you. If I have power but no love, I won’t care to help unless it increases my power. It takes both for good outcomes. Great love coupled with great power is the ticket out of every dilemma.

Power directed by love is the mark of the kingdom of God. Both are there for you today. In whatever circumstance you find yourself, God is willing and able to provide your solution. God is the same – yesterday, today, and forever. Jesus modeled the reality of the kingdom of God on earth. He died so that we might possess the kingdom. It is time for the church to anchor its thoughts and expectations in heaven rather than the natural world. It is time for each of us to do the same. Ask for it, expect it and wait for the love and power of heaven to be expressed in your life today. Blessings in Him!