Don’t Quit Now!

As usual this morning, the Lord woke me early to pray . . . about 3:30 a.m. it is by far the best part of my day. No distractions, the world is asleep. The only sound I hear in my office is the garbage truck making it’s rounds about 4 a.m.

It is a time I can hear God clearly. Without this time, I don’t know if I would have a good sense of what I am supposed to do for the day.

As many of you know, I have been in ministry since 1994, about 26 years. The main thrust of the ministry through that time was reaching young people. For several years, beginning in the year 2000, we produced evangelistic outreach events, and reached an audience in the millions through events and television.

Yet, through that time, prayer was always present in large doses, present really, as a lifestyle. A pastor friend with a prophetic anointing once told me, “Prayer is the most important part of your ministry.”

He may be right. Actually, he is probably right.

When I went into a community to start an event, the first thing I would talk about to the team was prayer. Usually I said, “If you pour enough prayer on this event, you could put sticks up there on the stage and people would come to Christ.” That usually got some laughs, or smiles or looks of amusement. Well, I was trying to make a point, and they usually got it.

Prayer is the strongest force on the earth. Sometimes in the morning I read a passage from Unto the Hills, a devotional by Billy Graham. I was amazed by the timeliness of the reading for November third. It began this way:

“Hezekiah prayed when his city was threatened by the invading army of the Assyrians under the leadership of Sennacherib, and the entire army of Sennacherib was destroyed and the nation was spared for another generation . . . because the king prayed (2 Chronicles 32).”

Never have I witnessed so much prayer in our country as in this election time. Because communication is so instant via the internet, many prayer initiatives were coordinated over the internet.

Is it enough? Is it enough prayer?

Can we ever have too much prayer? I doubt it.

So, we must continue to pray and never let up. There are many challenges in our nation still ahead.

Many of the prophets are predicting violence via demonstrating, burning, looting, and civil disobedience such as we have not seen to date. This morning, I believe God was saying to me that this violence can be greatly diminished and contained through prayer. So, let’s continue to pray and not let up.

Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart (Luke 18:1 NKJV).

Through the many events our ministry produced, I witnessed a phenomenon over and over again. It is this: Right after a big victory, we are particularly vulnerable. Through the event timeline we would push hard, the team worked themselves, sometimes into exhaustion to meet all of the deadlines of the event.

The big night would arrive, often record crowds would gather, hundreds gave their lives to Christ, and there would be general euphoria. Then in the days right after the event, the team would relax after the great victory, basking in the victory and letting their guard down.

This was the time I saw over and over again, the enemy strike, sowing discord and offense and in some cases taking back much of the ground we had gained. I began to urgently address event teams that they needed to keep praying and remain vigilant, especially in the week immediately following the event.

To those of us who are anticipating victory in this election, please hear my plea. Remain vigilant, continue to watch and pray, continue to storm the gates of hell in prayer. Don’t let up!

Remember, prayer is the strongest power on the face of the earth. Prayer reigns above governments, above the wealth of billionaires, above Marxist movements, above the power of the media. Continue to pray because prayer conquers all. 1Timothy 2:1-4 NKJV says:

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

What is God’s will for His people?

That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

Why? Well, contrary to what many preachers teach, God takes no pleasure in judgment and mayhem. Mercy is greater than judgment. God brings judgment only when He has no other alternative. He always looks for someone to stand in the gap and turn away evil. When the intercessors rise up and intercede, the plan of Satan can always be defeated.

Only when God can find no one to stand in the gap does He bring judgment, because then He has no alternative.

So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one (Ezekiel 22:30 NKJV).

The second question is, “What is His purpose and intent for a quiet and peaceable life for His people? The next sentence answers the question. God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. God desires a peaceable and “sane” environment in which we can effectively be about the business of winning the lost to Christ.

That is the reason we are still here on this earth, why the end has not yet come. God’s purpose for us being here is to win unbelievers to Christ. There is no other reason.

Winning the lost to Christ is always to be the heartbeat of the church. Most churches have a mission statement. Two churches I was a part of had for their mission statement, “To be fully devoted followers of Christ.”

It puzzles me why the focus of the church, the number one priority, isn’t to win the lost. This is the heart of God. In one church I attended, a very good and solid church, the pastor stated from the stage, “Evangelism is ninth on our list of priorities. He said it in a kind of apologetic, “I don’t know what happened here,” tone of voice.

Let me take it a step further. While I was producing youth evangelism events, I became painfully aware that the vast majority of the youth population is absent from the church. Some research shows that regular attendance to an evangelical or charismatic church by those 35 and under is less than one percent of the population. If you take a straight-line projection, you see that the result of this statistic is the eventual extinction of the the church. Why then, is not reaching young people for Christ our number one priority, because our church will die if we don’t?

For the life of me, I can’t figure out what the church is thinking. Lorraine and I hope to change this thinking in the American church. It is one of the primary reasons our ministry, George and Lorraine.com exists.

I challenge you to begin praying about the absence of the youth generation from our churches and what you might do about it.

In this very crucial time for our nation. Lets continue to pray as if our lives depended on it.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NKJV).

Photo designed and taken by Lorraine