Reliance: Prayer During the Shaking - 2020

Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, Welcome back. This is Stephen Menking of the on the Objective podcast Network. Our website is on the Objective dot org, and i'd appreciate if you could subscribe over on YouTube and follow on Twitter just typing on the Objective and we'll come up on both those platforms. And I'm pleased to be bringing you another broadcast in partnership with Reliance of the Prepper Broadcasting Network. You've likely heard many different messages and speeches and podcasts and themes about the times that we're living in, and there's a great deal of repetition in terms of dealing with the fear and the panic, and the challenges abroad, and dealing with uncertainty and things shutting down, and how to take care of our families and all of the above. And as I was thinking through what I wanted to bring to you today for this week, I was just struck again and again with the notion that I can tell you the basics that we should use this time where our distractions have evaporated in many respects, to press into the Lord, to cry out to him. We could teach about these things. We could point out how important it is, and maybe we are getting to the point where people have exhausted all of the default distractions, the Netflix, the YouTube, it's just gonna get boring and you're gonna get a little bit cooped up. And this is a luxury for those who can afford that sort of dynamic, because from any people, the question is, well, where am I going to get the funds to pay my next set of bills? Is my job going to be there on the back end of this, is my business going to survive? And so to take a break from the constant stream of political and economic news, to take a break from the speculation about the big picture and what may or may not be going on behind the scenes today, I would simply like to pray and to use the scriptures as a jumping off point. So we're going to be looking at some one hundred and twenty one, but more importantly, we're just going to be. Crying out to God for a bit our help. Our help is in the Lord, and there's no kind of message I can provide or feel capable of providing in this moment that is going to lead to the kind of clarity where you say, oh, that was very incisive commentary. Now I know what to do. When we focus on practical solutions. There's a time for teaching those practical solutions, and then there's a time for implementation. And today we are going to implement the practical solutions by going to the Throne of grace. So please join me in prayer. Please share this broadcast with people who need to come alongside, to cry out, to repent, to seek God's face, to actually do the things that we say we should do. So, Father, we just thank you, We bless you in all circumstances, knowing Jesus, that you are worthy, that you are the King of king in the Lord of Lords, that your mercies endure forever, that your power is never abated, that your love for us never subsides, that your protection of us is absolute, and that your name will be brought to glory in this generation, even through and especially through these challenging times. We know Lord that in so many situations throughout scripture and throughout history, in all of these examples that we have before us, we understand that revival and spiritual restoration can only come when we cry out to You, and that Father, typically, sadly, tragically, only happens when we have exhausted all of our own resources. In times of affluence and comfort, we are less likely to call out to We're less likely to take the spiritual and eternal thing seriously. Many do, Lord, and me, thank you for all of them. But collectively, as a group, we have ignored. We have perhaps even sat under good teaching, good preaching. Perhaps we are familiar with what's going on in the world, Maybe we're maybe we're even awake to the dynamic of the spiritual battle that's unfolding. But Lord, have we have we really done what we're supposed to be doing. Have we really sought your face? Have we really sought your kingdom? Have we, with the full degree of seriousness, spent time alone with you? And Lord? If people don't make that decision and change that time allocation, If people don't do that now under these kind of circumstances, when will they ever do it? Is it the case, Lord, that this is your judgment, that you are using this as an opportunity to clean out the evil and the corruption, to expose everything? Or Lord, is this an attack of the enemy. Where is ultimately this headed? Lord? We have so many questions and the answers that you have may not be the answers that we want to hear. It may not be the case that we are spiritually and emotionally ready to know what the answer is. Lord, you don't have any obligation to reveal to us the end from the beginning. God, you have also not given us a spirit of fear. And I pray and lift up your people who are feeling overwhelmed, fearful, despondent, perhaps people even. Dealing with the lies of the enemy, the fiery. Darts that tell them all is lost, that there is no recovery, that there's no way out of this. Even speaking thoughts of suicide or relapse into addiction, or any weak point that the enemy seeks to exploit, or we come against that work. In Jesus' name, a father, in this time of great uncertainty, we thank you that you are our rock, that you are our firm foundation, that you are our fortress. Jesus show us how to pray, keep us in your will, establish a hedge of protection around us. And we thank you, Lord, and we bless you in Jesus name. Let's go to Psalm. I will lift up my eyes to the hills from whence comes my help. My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil. He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and you're coming in from this time forth and even forevermore. Lord, preserve us from evil. Preserve our souls. Lord, even if there is a threat to our bodies, Lord, preserve our souls. Preserve our spiritual situation, Preserve our relationship with you. Preserve us from the evil that attends to it, the lies and the fiery darts and the wickedness and everything else. Lord, preserve our going out and our coming in. Keep us safe. Lord, thank you for clarifying in your word, Lord, just that you need to watch over us as we come out, as we go in. Now, in a time of quarantine and self imposed isolation, this is more important than ever. God, Please please be with us. Please don't allow our feet to be moved. We know, Lord, and thank you that you do not tire, You do not slumber, as your word says, you do not rest, but you continually look out for us. You continually protect us, You continually support us, You continually love us with greater and greater affection. A Lord, look upon the hearts of your people. Motivate us to prayer, Motivate us to godly sorrow, Motivate us to repentance, motivate us to right action. To our audience, please join me in prayer in lifting up first responders, medical personnel for protection and wisdom. Lord, I pray that all of the people who are, because of their duty to others and their service of others through medicine and through other professions, are willingly exposing themselves even while taking precaution. They are taking the risk of infection by delivering crucial life saving medical services to others. Lord, I pray that each and every day you would surround each and every one of them with the hedge of protection, whether they know you or not, Lord, please protect them and keep them safe and give them a confidence that is unshakable in their heart of hearts, in their soul in their mind. Lord, Just give them a firmness of the importance of the work that they are doing, and continue to give them the strength and the faith, Lord to press on with that attitude of self sacrifice. Don't cause them, Lord to succumb to weariness and then simply to say, well, this is a risk that I'm not willing to take. What about me? What about my family? Lord? You have placed these people in those positions for such a time as this, and I pray that your power, your holy spirit, your protection would be would be over them, and that you would hold them together as groups, as communities. Lord, that they would lean on one another, that they would be safe, that they would practice proper hygiene and proper disinfectant protocols. Lord, I pray. For miraculous healings and interventions. I pray for safety for these people, and I pray that you would continue to give them boldness. Lord. For the anti viral treatments that are being distributed starting starting today on Tuesday, the twenty fourth of March, and through this week. Lord, I pray that those would be totally and completely effective in mitigating the spread of this virus and in treating its symptoms. I pray that it would bring people back from the brink, that the successful treatments would free up resources in the medical system that could be used for other patients, whether they are also dealing with this virus, or whether dealing with other medical issues and challenges or events. God, you and you alone know the effectiveness and the ultimate result that this is going to have. I pray that you would continue to lead and guide the people who are making these decisions and these judgments as we go through this uncertain time. Lord, your word says that the heart of the king is as water in your hands, and I pray that you would guide President Trump and Vice President Pence and the entire team who is working on this response to the coronavirus. Lord, I pray that you would give them wisdom and discernment, and that this treatment would work, and that we would wisely and appropriately take measures to get back to normal. Lord, but in your time, in an appropriate way, not too soon. Don't let us be overly hasty in these things. God, you know the right path to let things play out. You know how this crisis has shaken people's confidence, not just in key aspects of their everyday circumstances, whether it's their job or the institutions around them, their families, the banks, the stores, etc. I pray Lord that this event, in this time continues to open people's eyes to the fluidity, uncertainty, and the challenges of living in a society where the near ofivility and stability is drawing ever thinner. Lord, I pray that this would be a crisis and a challenge that brings people together, but for the right reasons, and that it wouldn't be hijacked by the enemy to institute additional levels of tyranny and control and restrictions on the God given rights that you have granted to us. Lord, in your sovereignty. Please, Lord, use this time to change things, Use this shaking to change the way that our society, and our churches and all. Of our institutions are structured. Please let this be the transformative moment that so many have waited for for so long. As it rolls on and rolls out, God had prayed that you would strip away the unnecessary restrictions and encumbrances that have been placed upon us, whether you're talking about business owners or churches or individual citizens. God, clear out. The works of the enemy that have been built up for so long in our institutions that have led to corruptness and festering and wastefulness. And Lord, I pray that you would open everyone's eyes to the reality of the proper balance and the proper ordering of things. Where you are supreme, Lord, you are at the top of that hierarchy. You are the ultimate, You are the only Alpha and Omega, the creator of all things, Jesus, and that you are Savior, You are Lord, and you are King forever and ever, and that there will be no end to your kingdom. Lord, I pray for a great harvest for your kingdom at this time. Jesus, you deserve a harvest in this generation. So many have for so long simply ignored or focused on other things, or even inside the church, focused on our religious system and our works, as opposed to the basics of faith in You, the basics of obedience, the basics of surrendering thesis, basics of listening and following You and God. To just pray in your name, Jesus, that this would lead to an awakening of your people first and foremost, and that the institutions that have been built by man that are powerless, that are that are godless that are anti anti God, that are fighting against you and mocking it, scorning at every turn. Lord, I pray for mercy and the forgiveness of sins on all the people involved with that. Lord, But I pray also for a change of heart or miraculous turning, a kind of clarity, a moment of clarity that we have been asking for for so long, for a time when everything would be shaken, for a moment of clarity to come from it, and for a harvest to be the ultimate result. So we're seeing the shaking now, and so Lord, we just pray in your name Jesus, for this moment of clarity, a moment of clarity where everything comes into focus for people. And Lord, I pray that far from people looking at this and using it as ammunition to turn away from you, using the argument from evil, how could a good God. Allow something like this to happen? Lord, I pray that that argument would be defeated generally, and that the emphasis would be placed on your ability to deliver, your ability to transform, your ability to save, your ability to bring your people into a necessary place and through a necessary place to be better, to have all of these distractions fall away, so that we can be properly equipped for the service of your kingdom, the kind of service that all of us are called to have. Lord, Show us where our help comes from, Show us who you are, Show us your majesty and your strength and your power. Cause us to rest in you. Lord. This is a time when so many are losing sleep and under dramatic stress and dealing with intensive concerns, and they don't just wear it on their face, they wear it on their sleeve. Lord. We can see it. We can see it in the way that people communicate, We can see it in the way that people type, that people write, etc. Lord. But we know that all of this, all of this, God, this will all be wasted if it doesn't lead into a harvest. But God, we pray that that is the direction we take it, and that we do not tilt into the kind of tyrannical state that you describe in all of that discourse Jesus and in the Book of Revelation. Lord, we pray for the forgiveness of sins and for mercy on any people who have had a hand in lying, deceiving, creating, spreading anything having to do with this virus. Lord, Because we know that sin, unrepentant and unforgiven, sin gives power to the enemy to intervene, power to the enemy to influence, power to the enemy to corrupt. And so Lord, we pray that you would stop that and tracts because because of your forgiveness, for the sake of your people and for the sake of all those who are going to come to know you in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead, God willing, Jesus, we praise you, and we ask Lord that you would continue your vigilance. You are the same yesterday, today, and forevermore, and we give you all of the praise for it. Jesus, you are constant and reliable and steadfast and glorious and mighty and victorious. Lord, and we pray that you would be victorious in each one of our lives and in this situation. So, going in order of several editions things, Lord, we just first pray for protection, establish again a hedge of protection around us from physical threats, from psychological threats, from intellectual threats, from spiritual threats. Lord, give us greater faith and taw us with the kind of faith that we need to be able to carry a shield of faith with us at all times, Lord, as we look to you, and as we look to a scenario where we know that each and every day we are walking out onto a battlefield in many different fronts. Lord, we pray for health to be first and foremost restored to those who have been afflicted with this virus and who we're experiencing severe symptoms, and who are fighting for their life right now, not just in the United States, but in Italy, in Iran, in China, and everywhere everywhere else that this has impacted elsewhere in Europe, like Spain and France. Lord, please give health, pour out health, whether it is through the anti viral treatment, whether it is through normal, normal operation of medical machinery, whether it's through some other medication, whether it's through something else that hasn't yet even been developed. Lord, I pray that you would ordain and that you would provide, even through miraculous healing, Lord, health to these people who are severely compromised and who are vulnerable to this virus. In particular, Lord, we pray that you would give your people boldness at this time. Lord, we have been cowardly for so long. We have refused to stand for what you desire us to stand for we have simply not been obedient to your word. We have given up territory that we should have held. We have rolled over when we should have stood up. We have refused, Lord, to properly and fully advocate for the most innocent among us, the lives of the unborn. We have failed miserably to pursue that with the fervency that your heart requires. Lord, we are distressed because of our lack of boldness, because of our lack of courage, because of our lack of faith. Lord, because we know, deep down, we know that if we truly knew who you were, then boldness would not be a question. If we really knew the God who we served, then we would be overwhelmed and compelled to go forth and to follow your will, and to heed our callings, and to lean on you in such a way where the factors that usually take away our boldness and take away our courage, they just wouldn't come into any consider at all in light of in light of your word and light of your view, Lord, no other word, no other light, matters at all in the slightest bit, Jesus, you are all in all, And we pray, Lord that your name would be glorified and lifted up in this situation. And through the boldness of your people, through the boldness of your body, Lord, give us wisdom and discernment through the leading of your Holy Spirit, through your word, through teaching, through preaching, through counseling, through direct communion with you in prayer, through the time that we spend at your throne of grace. Lord, we need wisdom. We need wisdom now to know what to do, to know what to say to our families, to know how best to allocate our time, to know what to pray for, to know what medical treatments to get at what point if it comes to that, Lord, we need that wisdom. We don't know, overcome with uncertainty and fear in many situations. And Lord, you gave me a word two years ago. You gave me the word to be overwhelmed, telling me and instructing me and teaching me that I need to be overwhelmed by You on a regular basis, by your mercy, by your grace, by your power, by your love, by your compassion, so that I wouldn't be overwhelmed by the world, overwhelmed by its corruption and difficulties and challenges and uncertainties. But God, give us wisdom, give us discernment. Open our eyes, open our ears, open our hearts, open our minds. Lord, cause us to hear only what you would be speaking to us. Now. There are so many different voices, so many different sources of information, so many different misrepresentations and challenges. Lord, I just pray that you had shut the mouth of the liars. I pray that you would remove the influence of the people who are propagating incorrect, misleading, or inciting information simply for the purpose of stirring people up for their own benefit. God, we need to be calm, We need to think soberly. We need to reason with you. And that requires us, Lord, to put away the so called wisdom of the world, not to ignore it completely, but to weigh it in the balance. Lord. Where the ultimate weight, the ultimate emphasis, the ultimate component, Lord, is the wisdom that you give us. Show us where to go and where not to go. If we need to stay home, Lord, give us the wisdom to do that and to know how to do it. If we need to go out, Lord, give us the wisdom to be in certain places where we are safe and where you keep us safe. And if there are places that we need to avoid. Lord, tell us so guide us away, lead us in the way that only you can through your Holy Spirit. Jesus, we love you and we need your knowledge. We are overcome in many ways by fear because of the uncertainty. But Lord, if. You provide us wisdom, and you will according to your word, as we ask for it, and as we begin with the fear of the Lord, as we begin with a proper understanding, Lord, of who you are and how we are in relationship to you. What it took the sacrifice of your son, the death of the perfect One, the flawless one, the sinless One. The Holy One. Jesus, how you had to give yourself up in order for us to be reconciled and for our sins to be atoned. For God cause us to have everything in its proper perspective. It takes wisdom in these days cause us to make appropriate, direct, proper decisions. And Lord, I pray for our leadership, the people who are making macro level decisions in this country and around the world. I pray in Jesus' name that you would protect them, that you would keep them, that you would give them wisdom, that all of these prayers that we have applied to ourselves would also apply to those elsewhere in our communities, and anyone in power who has a vote or a say into the kind of responses that will take place. Lord, let no sabotage, let no challenge, Let no work of the enemy infiltrate that component of the decision making process to influence it for a negative for a negative reason, Lord, we pray that you would just expunge all of the evil, all of the corruption, all of the destruction that has been wrought by people seeking to undermine and by spiritual entities seeking to undermine the circumstances that we have set up that you have set up. And God, pray in Jesus' name that our leadership would be given direction and words from you, and that they would be given the. Faith to obey. Lord, raise up leaders inside of your body, inside of your church, people who understand the magnitude of the moment, who are called and equipped by you for such a time as this, Lord Jesus, I pray that you would raise those people up in mighty number. However many there are the people who you have made ready since before the foundation for this moment in time. Let it be so. Let it be so. Lord, release these people, send them out, even people who do not consider themselves leaders and may not feel like they have much influence. Lord, I pray that you would place people in the right positions. I pray that you would allow this broadcast to find its way into more people's hands. Lord. In general, I just pray for leaders to leaders to arise. People are desperately looking for leadership, not just from the President of the United States and everyone else at that political level, but also Lord, from just your people, not even in an institutional sense in the church, but just the people around them. Lord, I pray that you would raise each and every one of us up and give us the demeanor and the understanding and the clear headedness that we need to become leaders that we need to have in order to balance the tremendous variety of different considerations that are. Going on right now. And Lord, just make us obedient, Please please God. We repent of all the distractions. We repent of all of the disobedience. We repent of our sins. We repent of everything that has so easily beset us, everything that has so easily encumbered us, whether we're talking about consumption of media or any other number of things. Jesus, you are with us. You will never leave us nor forsake us. And I thank you for it. I praise you for it. I worship you for it. And I ask in Jesus' name that your holy Spirit would show us what it means to be obedient. Already, Lord, you're speaking to our hearts about what it means to be obedient to you in this moment, to follow through on this promise, to relinquish the reigns of a particular initiative, to have a conversation with a particular person, to repent of some sin. God, you alone can speak to the hearts of all of your children, of all men and women at once to get their attention. And God, we pray that this would be a moment where your holy Spirit is poured out, that all of those who are following you, Lord and endeavoring to seek Your kingdom, Lord, that they would begin to see with even greater clarity the contrast between those living a godly life empowered by You, Jesus, versus those who are not living that empowered godly life. Lord, your name is going to be glorified in this circumstance, your name is absolutely going to be glorified. And I pray Lord that it will be glorified, not in the complete righteous judgment that that we SA richly deserves as an overall society, Lord, but that your name would be glorified based on the transforming power, the healing power, the protecting power of your ability to bring your people through, to bring more people into the fold, to save, to heal, to deliver, to set free. Now is the shaking, Lord, leads to the awakening that leads to the harvest. We're here now. The soil is being tilled, the seeds are and have been planted, and the harvest is going to be ripe. Lord, Please send forth labors into the harvest. Please raise up people to be leaders of the right sort, of the godly sort. Please place people in the positions that they need to be in. Please magnify your name in this hour, Lord, we are desperate for it. We repent of not valuing you, of not seeking your face, of not caring enough about who you are to truly press into you, of not going to you first, of not keeping you as our top priority with our time, of always thinking of you as an afterthought. Lord, Lord, you are not an afterthought. You were the only thought, the only proper direction of our thoughts. Everything else is derivative. Lord, we repent for the corruption that we have allowed to fester in this society, in this world. We repent of the lives that have been snuffed out while we've stood by and done nothing. We repent of making idols, even out of our bank accounts, or our distractions or our careers. Lord, we repent of it all. We come to you, Lord, knowing that in you is our help, and that we have no other source. We come to you, Lord, knowing that your word is true, that your word is faithful, and that your name is going to be lifted up. So, Lord, we look at Psalm one twenty one, and we read your word, and we take it as it says. I will lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence comes my help. My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. Lord, you will not allow our feet to be moved. Lord, you who keeps Us will not slumber. Behold, You who keep Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. Lord, you are our keeper, You are our shade. At your right hand, the sun shall not strike us by day, nor the moon by night. Lord, you shall preserve us from all evil. Lord, you shall preserve our soul. Lord, you shall preserve our going out and our coming in from this time forth and even forevermore. Let the changes, let the transformations, Let the spiritual victories one in this time be thorough, complete and permanent. Let them be eternal victories. Let the treasures that get stored up be eternal. Let your name ring eternal. Let your victory be eternal. Jesus, We love you, and we thank you God. We thank you that we can come to you, that we have the privilege of being able to come to you, to pour out ourselves, to cry out to you, to seek your face, knowing Lord that you are faithful, knowing Lord that your answer has already arrived. Lord, be glorified in our lives. Use our lives for the glory of your kingdom, for your name. Not for our sakes, Lord, but for your Lord. You are the worthy, when you are the deserving, when you are the one who will receive all the glory from now and through eternity. Jesus. And that is. Proper, do fitting, and right. It is the righteous order of things. Lord, for you to receive all the glory. Win a mighty victory in this battle. Conquer the fear that is in the hearts of so many, Quench the voices of those who would corrupt and twist and mislead. Destroy the works of darkness in this generation. Heal many miraculously through treatments. However you see fit, Lord, let your people grow more obedient. Call us into your harvest, and let your will be done at all times in Jesus name. Amen.