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Can You Hear the Call?

Face the Facts!

It was a beautiful fall day—a perfect time to curl up in a chair and read the mountains of journals that had been accumulating on the floor of my den. Fully appreciating the break from all responsibility, I felt relaxed and carefree. I had just completed a magazine when as I glanced down at the next journal in the stack, I was jolted by its horrific headline: "Killer Kids: An American Tragedy." I could feel my stomach tighten as I picked up the journal and opened it to the featured article.

My heart began to race when I read, "Fourteen-year-old Eric Smith was convicted of bludgeoning 4-year-old Derrick Robie to death. His lawyer attempted to prove the teen's innocence, saying the reason for his action was a mental disease—intermittent explosive disorder, which causes eruptions of uncontrollable rage. Eric was sentenced to a maximum prison term of nine years to life." Stunned, tears flowed down my cheeks as I found my way into the prayer closet, knowing the only answer for the decadence of our society is a divine visitation of almighty God.

Our society is reaching the depths of decay and degradation. Abortion, murder, suicide and war ravage every continent. As Kay Arthur, outstanding Bible scholar and vice president of Precepts Ministries recently said, "America's cup of iniquity is full." Not only that, but hunger, starvation and disasters abound. Our world is in a state of chaos. Society is being destroyed by its own evil devices.

We are foolish to think we can solve these problems ourselves. Contrary to popular belief, education is not the answer to AIDS, drug abuse, crime, premarital sex nor the many other ills of our world. The time has come for us to admit that we are helpless! Many of our best plans, including many plans of the Church, have failed.

In the spring of 1995, Oprah Winfrey introduced Families for a Better Life. Her aim was to give poor urban families $30,000 a year for a two-year period, along with education or job training, health care and counseling. She also pledged to donate an additional $6 million and hoped to enlist corporate sponsors to continue the precedent she had set.

Although Winfrey's motives were benevolent and one might think this kind of giving would reduce crime, statistics prove that giving welfare is an ineffective means for conquering the problem. A survey of the U.S. Department of Justice in 1991 revealed that while welfare spending increased by 800 percent, the crime rate tripled. Who has the answer?

Powerless, Prayerless and Purposeless

The Church has the answer! The answer is the presence and power of God expressed through an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. But many in the Church seek His presents rather than His presence. They seek the power of God rather than relationship with the God of power. The Church is generally powerless. We can no longer say, as Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk" (Acts 3:6). When the world needs us most, sin, division and faithlessness have left us impotent.

We are unable to do the works Jesus did, let alone the greater things He claimed we would and could do. He told us that "anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father" (John 14:12). So why aren't we doing them?

The apostle Paul could say, "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power" (1 Cor. 2:4). Yet, we must pitifully beg the world to believe us for our word's sake. We aren't doing His works because many believers are too out of touch with God to allow the Spirit to display His power!

Perhaps the Church's strength is its own greatest weakness. Refined and rigid, the Church has assessed, prioritized, planned and prayed with superficial consideration for God to bless its plan. Strangely, we have overlooked a powerful key to the ministry of Jesus, who said, "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does" (John 5:19). Jesus had power for ministry because He had an intimate relationship with the Father. We must discover what is on God's heart and join Him! Only by praying intimately are we able to discover what He is doing. "Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants" (Amos 3:7, NKJV).

Our powerlessness is largely a result of our prayerlessness. We are eating the bitter fruit of prayerlessness and our children, government, churches and society are reaping the result of dry eyes in the pews and crusty hearts in the pulpits. Ed Silvoso says it well in his book That None Should Perish:

When Christians begin to pray for the felt needs of the lost, God surprises them with almost immediate answers to prayer. In fact, prayer for the needs of that one-hundredth sheep is the spiritual equivalent of dialing 911.

Another problem is our commitment level. Not only are we prayerless, but we are also purposeless. Rather than a commitment to reach the world with the gospel, most of us are satisfied to attend weekly services. Too often they are "weakly" services. Where is the "salt" in our society? Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men" (Matthew 5:13).

Salt that has lost its saltiness (or flavor) takes on the taste of the food with which it is mixed. Ironically, the Church has taken on "the flavor of the world." As someone has said, "We are good, but we are good for nothing!" We are not willing to die for Christ, much less lay down our lives for one another.

My husband Eddie's father, Robert E. Smith, is an example of one who was willing to lay down his life for others. He not only demonstrated purpose but also commitment. For years, Eddie and I watched as Dad and Mom would pay their bills, then cash the remainder of their paycheck and drive into Northern Mexico to share their money with several struggling Mexican pastors. Robert—we call him Dad—has faithfully pastored several churches, was president of the Valley Baptist Academy (a secondary school for Latin American children), served as chairman of the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board and for more than 17 years was area missionary for the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

When Eddie's mother passed away recently, I spent one afternoon reading hundreds of beautiful expressions of love for both Robert and Marguerite Smith sent by their friends.

I will never forget one letter in particular. It was from Paul Powell, president of the Annuity Board for the Southern Baptist Convention. Many years ago, Paul was the pastor of Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas. Each summer, churches bring busloads of people to the Valley for mission trips. (I know because I was in a youth group that went one summer.) Dad would take them across the border into Mexico. Paul Powell's church was one of them. In his letter to Dad he said,

I remember the first visit with Dr. Smith at Diaz Ordaz, Mexico. You (Robert) stopped before we got to the International Bridge and said, "I want to warn you, once you see the ignorance and spiritual darkness of this city, you are as responsible as I am for doing something about it. Do you still want to go?"

That made a lasting impression on me. I shall never forget it and will forever be indebted to you for it.

(You will be blessed to know that Paul Powell acted on what he saw. He understood the purpose and responsibility of the Church. He went back to the church he pastored and raised more than $40,000, of which $20,000 helped to build a Hispanic Baptist Church in Mexico. The other $20,000 was given to the mission fund of the Southern Baptist Convention. This was twice the money that Paul's church had ever given to missions.)

United We Stand—Divided We Fall

Not only are we powerless, prayerless and purposeless, but we are also polarized, pulled apart and pitted against each other. Division is reducing the Church's effectiveness by causing it to operate in a spirit of dysfunction, disharmony and disillusionment.

Jesus warned us about this when He said, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand" (Matthew 12:25). The city of Zion and the household of God are divided. Christian brothers and sisters are arguing over minor doctrinal issues and complaining about services that linger past noon while men, women and young people from every nation slip hopelessly into eternal hell.

Christ is the only solution to this counterproductive grumbling and bickering. He gave us the perfect example of unity by showing us the relationship between the Father and Himself. The intimacy of this Father and Son relationship is revealed throughout Scripture. Christ said, "I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me" (John 17:23, italics added). Our world doesn't believe us! Why? Because we are not one with Jesus Christ and we are not one with each other. Why should the lost world have faith in us when we do not have confidence in God or each other? We must be willing to imitate the unity Christ and the Father have modeled for us if we are to successfully build His Kingdom.

At the building of the Tower of Babel, the Lord explained, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them" (Genesis 11:6, italics added).

Satan has learned this lesson well. Satanists defend witches while abortionists support gay rights and vice versa. When will the Church grasp what the Father said? When will we begin to stand with each other across denominational and cultural lines as one person, Christ's Bride, for the intention of God?

Linking Hearts and Hands

A recent news broadcast reported about a little boy who wandered away from his family in a state park. After a couple of days of air searches, an alert was released encouraging people to come to the park for a final sweep. Thousands of caring people came together on the campgrounds and received instruction. As directed, they clasped hands and formed a single line hundreds of yards wide. They walked slowly through the wooded area. In almost no time the search ended. There, in a small ravine where he had curled up in the cold of the night, lay the dead body of the tiny boy. The grief-stricken father's response was sobering. He simply said, "If only we had taken hands sooner, my boy might still be alive."

Is this what a grief-stricken heavenly Father will say to us? "If only you had taken hands sooner, millions would not have slipped into outer darkness."

Unity comes when we link hearts and hands in prayer to partner with the heavenly Father in His plan and purpose for saving the lost. And when we are prayerless, we are powerless. Overcomers are developed in the prayer closet. The more time we invest at His feet, the longer we will be able to stand as a whole (unified) Body empowered and charged with God's energy and authority to trample the enemy under our own feet.

We must remember that behind divisions in the Church are spiritual forces of darkness that can only be pulled down through prayer. Paul wrote, "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" (Ephes. 6:12). This conquering authority for the Church is found in prayer. Let me say it again: The person who is prayerless is powerless.

Chosen to Partner

But those who do pray are united with the Father as partners in bringing about His purposes and plans on earth. Through prayer the Church is empowered to be salt and light in this troubled world. God has chosen to include us as His partners. This partnership, however, is based on daily intimate prayer. Thus, it is the unfamiliarity of relating to our heavenly Bridegroom (see John 3:29), who knows all and can do anything, that sometimes robs us of our privilege to partner with Him.

We can learn of Him by building relationship with Him. And that relationship is formed as we invest intimate times of listening, learning to trust through obedience to His Word and living in oneness with Him—abiding in Him. "If you remain [abide] in me and my words remain [abide] in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you" (John 15:7). The Lord will entrust the powerful things of His Kingdom to those who have found an abiding place in Him.

Some wrongly assume that what the Father is going to do, He will do with or without us. Right? Wrong! We are God's chosen partners. Need I remind you of Joshua's battle in Exodus 17? Moses told Joshua to go fight the Amalekites while he lifted his hands as a token of victory. As long as Moses' hands were lifted, God enabled Joshua's army to win. When Moses' hands began to drop, so Joshua's men began to drop. Listen! This was life and death! These sons and dads were dying. Spears were being driven through their bellies and arrows were piercing their hearts.

It was a critical moment. Moses didn't say, "Well, if God wants our army to win, it will. He doesn't need me. I am too inadequate to be used of God this way. After all, He is not only sovereign, He is also omnipotent. He will use someone else to do it." No!

Aaron and Hur were summoned into duty until the battle was won, knowing that holding up the hands of their leader, Moses, meant life or death for others! After the victory was secured, Moses built an altar and called it, "The Lord is my Banner. He said, 'For hands were lifted up to the throne of the Lord'" (Exodus 17:15, 16). Obediently holding up the hands of others, especially our leaders, is our responsibility as believers!

Why, Lord?

Rather than being instantly obedient, however, we often sit around wanting to know why. For example, God has told us the importance of persistence in prayer. He is the One who said to keep on asking and you will keep on receiving, keep on knocking and it will keep on being opened to you, keep on seeking and you will keep on finding (see Luke 11:9, 10). Yet I often hear people teach that to ask God for something more than once is unbelief. If this teaching were correct, why would Jesus have declared, "Pray always and do not faint" (see Luke 18:1-8)?

Kay Arthur recently told the following wonderful story that illustrates how perseverance works to bring us to a place of intimacy in prayer:

My husband Jack and I were watching a medical program on television one night. They showed an open heart surgery. Two human hearts were laying side by side. Each was beating at different rhythms. The surgeon moved them together, until the tissue of one heart touched the other. Suddenly, both assumed the same rhythm."

This is an amazing picture of intimacy. As our hearts touch the Father's heart, we assume the same rhythm, the same desires and the same goals. The more we know Him, the more we love Him. Hopelessly in love with Him, our goals are lost in His.

His burden becomes the focus of our intercession. We begin to see issues as He sees them. Our hearts become united with His. The hungering heart that burns with desire for intimate communion will be enabled by the Holy Spirit to taste the joys of heaven and experience the ecstasy of seeing many people prayed into the kingdom of God.

Intercession Is the Key

C. Peter Wagner said that in the decade of the 1980s we saw the restoration of the prophetic ministry, and in the 1990s we are seeing the restoration of intercession. Regarding the prophetic purposes of God, and the desperate need of humanity, this generation cries out for intercessors in the house of prayer! This despairing generation cries out for people who know their God intimately!

But many do not bother to develop intimacy because they are not convinced that their prayer will make a difference. Perhaps you too are wondering: To what extent does God honor our prayers? That question can best be answered by observing what God has done through the intercession of others. Let's consider one of the great revivals in American history.

In October 1976, James Edwin Orr presented a lecture in Dallas, Texas, giving the account of the Great Revival of 1800 in America. He described the deplorable conditions of the society, both secular and sacred:

There was an unprecedented moral slump following the American Revolution (1775-1783). Drunkenness was epidemic. Out of a population of 5 million, there were 300,000 confirmed drunkards. Profanity was of the most shocking kind. For the first time in the history of the American settlement, women were afraid to be out at night. Bank robberies were a daily occurrence.

In 1794, conditions reached their worst. Of course, dire circumstances never open the illimitable resources of heaven, but prayer does. A Baptist minister, Isaac Backus, known as much for his praying as for his exhorting, had an encounter with the Holy Spirit. The impression left upon him was: There's only one power on earth that commands the power of heaven—prayer.

He wrote "Plea for Prayer for Revival of Religion" and mailed it to ministers of every denomination in the United States, pleading each pastor to set aside the first Monday of each month as a time to open his church all day in order to conduct extraordinary prayer for revival. As a result, people humbled themselves and began to cry out to the Lord. God poured upon them the spirit of supplication. (Burning, believing, prevailing, persuading, persevering, intimate prayer always precedes a move of God.)

Fanning the Flames of Revival

The intercession of Backus and those who joined him fanned the fires of revival during 1798 in New England. Churches were unable to accommodate those inquiring about salvation. Multitudes were won to the Lord. As the flames of revival were fanned, new fires were kindled.

By July 1800, unprecedented numbers began arriving in Cane Ridge, Kentucky. A multitude estimated at 11,000 flocked to this camp meeting. (The largest city in Kentucky was Lexington, which had a population of only 1,800!) James McGready, a staid Presbyterian pastor from Pennsylvania, described the scene in the following words:

The cries of the distressed arose almost as loud as [Methodist pastor] McGee's voice. Here awakening and converting work was to be found in every part of the multitude, and even some things strangely and wonderfully new to me.

The Cane Ridge Camp Meeting of 1800 brought a change to the spiritual face of the United States. Thousands upon thousands of souls came into the Kingdom.

One humble, desperate, Baptist minister, Isaac Backus, had called for a national day of prayer for revival each week and from this humble call, revival swept across all denominational and racial barriers!

Let's retrace the steps of this revival:

• First, a solitary man had an encounter with the Holy Spirit.

• Second, a solitary man initiated the effort.

• Third, a united prayer emphasis developed.

• Fourth, revival came!

Revival begins in the prayer closet! It happens as a result of intercession!

I am convinced that the reason so few accept God's call to intimate intercession is that we do not understand His original purpose nor are we committed to it. We are so busy living out our own agendas that we are unwilling to take the time to get to know Him intimately. And it is only out of an intimate relationship that intercession will flow.

When we get serious about prayer, then the tears, fasting and travail of intercession will cause the golden bowls of incense in heaven to overflow:

Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints (Rev. 5:8).

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 (Rev. 8:3, 4).

In the unseen heavenlies, before the throne of God, the prayers of the saints rise as incense to the Father and He smells the sweetness of their cries.

Our prayers coupled with the Father's great unlimited compassion for His children will set into motion the greatest outpouring of His Spirit the world has ever seen.

Time is fleeting! Earnestly ask the Lord to fan the flames of passionate love for Him in your life as you enter the Promised Land of intercession. Your life will never be the same! Eternity is at stake! Listen to the voice of the Bridegroom. He is calling you! He loves you! Jesus longs to fellowship with you! His heart is full of secrets that He is wanting to tell you now. "The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them" (Psalm 25:14). Hear Him today!

A Window of Opportunity

Those who have been remiss about prayer can start today. God is giving us another chance. This may well be our last chance. The Holy Spirit is stirring up what is already the greatest prayer movement in the history of the Church!

George Otis, Jr. states in his book, The Last of the Giants:

As the Church proceeds toward the year 2000, no other reminder is more appropriate to the occasion. Multitudes still wait in the valley of decision: the question is simply who will reach them first? Never before has the competition for souls been so fierce. Never before has the Church had to contend with such a diverse assortment of rivals so utterly committed to the principles of activism. Fortunately, it is into just such an hour that God has promised through the prophet Joel to pour out His Spirit upon all flesh.

There are 180 million Christians worldwide committed to praying for global revival and the completion of the Great Commission. Twenty million report that intercession is their primary calling.

World prayer is now focusing on unreached people. Ninety-seven percent of the world's neediest reside in the 65 nations of what is known as the 10/40 Window—an imaginary rectangle that stretches from the 10th to the 40th parallel north, and extends from Spain to Japan. The goal of the A.D. 2000 and Beyond Movement is "A Church for every people and the gospel for every person by the year 2000!" There are signs of revival! There are signs of unity! The Father is calling the Bride to be one with His Son!

The door of intimacy is open to all those who will enter. The Lord delights in the believer who, yearning to know what cannot be known naturally, enters the Holy of Holies through prayer with simplicity and humility. Beyond this veil, which formerly separated us from the Holy of Holies (see Matthew 27:51; Hebrews 9:3, NKJV), the child of God will touch the heart of God, bask in His loving words of affirmation, tremble at His unlimited power and authority, and come away forever changed. If we do not enter in, the problem does not lie with the Lord withholding from His Bride—the problem is that we are unwilling to "lose all to gain Christ."

Unveiling the Truth About You

1. Do you agree that the Church has been powerless, prayerless and purposeless? In which of these areas do you struggle most? What steps are you willing to take to bring about change?

2. Is unity a priority in your life? What is the heart of the Father regarding the issue of unity? (See John 17:23.) As much as it's up to you, how will you bring unity to the Church?

3. Is prayer a priority in your life? Have you found yourself doing for God instead of being with God? How has this affected the depth of intimacy you now experience in prayer?

4. In what ways does revival need to occur in you? in your family? in your church? in your city? in your nation? What price will you pay to bring it about?

—Beyond the Veil