Prayers of the Saints

Sunday, May 31, 2009, 7:54 a.m. – I have this song in my mind:

Breathe on Us Again / Steve Fry / Maranatha Music 1997

O Lord, hear,
O Lord, forgive us.
We have lost the awe of You
Have mercy
Have mercy

O Lord, cleanse our hearts
Which are divided.
Stir the faith that we once knew
We’re thirsty
We’re thirsty

O Lord, restore the church
That bears Your name.
O Spirit, send a revival
To this nation.
Breathe on us again,
Breathe on us again.

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Revelation 8:

The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer
1When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
2And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.

3Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. 4The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand. 5Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

The Trumpets
6Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.
7The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

8The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, 9a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

10The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— 11the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.

12The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.

13As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: "Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!"

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My Understanding: The Lord most always begins our times together with a song, and most all of those songs go right along with where I am reading in scripture. So, I read the words to the song and then I began reading the scripture and all of a sudden a light bulb went on inside my head.

Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

The angel offered incense to God along with the prayers of the saints. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints went up before God. So, what were the saints praying for? I believe the Lord is showing me here in this song. They were praying for revival. Why? – 1) Because the church has lost the awe of God.

And, that is so true. God has been reduced to some grandfatherly figure who spoils us rotten, who never disciplines us, who is pleased with us no matter what we do, and who does everything for us but who never requires anything of us in return. In this line of thinking, there is no cost, no sacrifice, no death to us because Jesus paid it all, which he did. Everything is optional and we do whatever we do because we want to out of gratitude for what the Lord did for us. The term “believe” has been reduced to words said at an altar but that evokes no real change. They forget that the Bible says that even the DEMONS believe and they shudder!

Romans 8:9-14: You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

12Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

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I love these “IF” words, because they help us to understand that “belief” is so much more than just words or intellectual assent or even an acceptance of what Christ did for us on the cross, but belief puts action to our words. We have an obligation… if it is not to live according to the sinful nature, then it is to live according to the Spirit. Notice it says “obligation.” This is not an option. This is a requirement. To live according to the Spirit means to put to death the misdeeds of the body. It does not mean that we can keep living however we want and think we have our ticket into heaven. It doesn’t work that way. True sons of God are led by the Spirit of God.

So, why else are the saints of God praying for revival? – 2) Because the church is divided and its people have divided hearts. The biggest division in the church is denominations. They can be compared to the scripture where it cautions us against following one man over another (I Co. 1:10-17). God is not pleased with these divisions. He desires that we all be one church again.

Also, we are a church with divided hearts. The church of today is so mixed in with the world and its methods and philosophies and practices that it is difficult to tell the difference between the church and the world. So much of today’s church is about appealing to the flesh of men and about providing enjoyable entertainment, yet the church in the USA, overall (some exceptions), does not call people to repentance any longer. Sin is rarely mentioned. The best writing on this subject that I know of was written by A. W. Tozer in 1946 – he was seeing this trend over 60 years ago: The Old Cross and the New by A. W. Tozer

Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

This, to me, is monumental! After the angel of God offered these prayers of the saints to God, THEN came fire to the earth, peals of thunder, lighting, earthquakes, hail and a third of the earth was burned up, etc. This will be God’s answer to the prayers of the saints. Why? Why must God do this? Because we have lost the awe of God; because we have divided hearts; because we do not see that we have an obligation to live according to the Spirit; because we take God for granted and we take his grace for granted and use it as a license to keep on sinning.

If we are to truly experience an outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit on this nation of ours, then we must be willing for God to do whatever he needs to do in order to get his people to turn back to him as their one and only God and to honor Him alone as Holy, righteousness, and as King of kings and Lord of lords. If we would turn back to him without him having to send disaster, that is what He would prefer, but we are a stubborn and rebellious nation which is filled with people who are self-sufficient. Christians are so caught up in the world. God has been placed on a back burner. We need to change!

O Lord, restore the church
That bears Your name.
O Spirit, send a revival
To this nation.
Breathe on us again,
Breathe on us again.