Have you ever been lost? When I was twelve, my family went on a summer vacation to visit Dad's cousins in Detroit. Going from a small town in New England to the big city of Detroit was an exciting adventure for my family. There was one particular point on the journey I will never forget. It was dark outside, and I was awakened by the sound of Mom yelling and the jolt of Dad quickly applying the brakes. We all piled out of the car, and before us was an eerie, frightening, black immense of water. We almost had driven into Lake Erie! Fortunately, my parents realized our peril, and we were saved from what probably would have been a disastrous situation. But what about those who are spiritually lost? Will they be able to apply the brakes in time before driving straight into the eerie, terrifying, black abyss of hell? The Redeemed of the Lord: A Call to Pray is an appeal to Christians to pray for the spiritually lost. This book describes the prayer journey of one woman who decided to do what she could for the lost by using the most powerful weapon at her disposal-prayer. The story includes how this journey began, some of the lessons learned along the way, some of the prayer recipients, and a praise to our glorious God and Father, who is willing and able to save us all. Please, get a cup of coffee, sit in a comfortable chair, set aside an hour or two to read, and consider joining me on this prayer journey. The spiritually lost are counting on us, even if they don't yet know it.
THE REDEEMED OF THE LORD
A Call to PrayBy Debbie HaskellAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2009 Debbie Haskell
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4389-1340-7Contents
Acknowledgments................................ixOpening ThoughtsA Call to Pray.................................1A God Who Loves................................7Lessons I Have LearnedThe Father of the Fatal........................17Eyes Wide Open.................................25Heart Wide Open................................33Praying on the Edge............................45Closing RemarksAnswering the Call to Pray.....................55Give Praise....................................63Endnotes.......................................69Sources........................................71
Chapter One
A Call to Pray * * *
May we, oh Lord God, who are Your children, Your people, Your redeemed, hear the call on our hearts to pray for those who do not yet know You as their Heavenly Father.
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Forever engraved on our minds, whether Americans or not, are the images of September 11, 2001.
Like many of you, I will always remember where I was when I first heard the news of that horrific day. At the time, I was teaching English at a small Christian college. I was in my office preparing for a class later that morning when Ronnie, one of the information technology (IT) guys, came flying out of his office yelling, "People, come quick! You're not going to believe what just happened!"
Several people came running, myself included, and Ronnie told us that a plane had just flown into one of the World Trade Center buildings in New York City. I looked at him rather dazed, my mind not really comprehending what he had said. Ronnie hooked up a line to the monitor in the IT room, and a handful of us stood there watching as one of the towers was engulfed in flames.
Then, to our utter disbelief, we saw another plane fly into the other tower.
Along with all of you, I stood there watching an event with my eyes that neither my mind nor my heart could begin to grasp. I was stunned.
As the day progressed, classes at the college were canceled, and our small community gathered in our assembly hall to watch the day's events on the big screen. I doubt any of us will forget that day.
Later that afternoon, the weekly prayer group that I was involved with at the time gathered to pray. We were a small group, four women, but we wanted to pray for the victims, the survivors, our leaders, and God's presence.
During the weeks that followed, we continued to pray about that day-a day that had forever changed the America we knew. We prayed for all the people affected, for protection for this country, and for the capture of those responsible for such despicable acts. After several weeks, I discovered a growing desire in my heart to pray for the Muslim nations. Of course, I prayed against any militant movements that would continue to terrorize this country, or any other, but I also began to pray for the Muslim people. I realized that the militant group of Muslims who committed such terrible acts was not the everyday Muslims who were walking the streets of America-or even the Middle East-and my heart grieved for the way these people were sometimes treated. Eventually, I began to pray that these people would come to know the God of heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ, as their Savior.
More than six years later, that prayer still continues. I wrote this book to ask you to please join me in this prayer. And lest you think that I am only asking for prayers for people of the Islamic faith, please, allow me to continue with my story.
In the months and years that followed 9/11, I felt a burden on my heart to pray for another group of people, and just this past fall, I added a third group to my prayer list. My desire in writing this book is not only to call us to pray over a host of issues, but also to share what I have discovered about praying for the lost. We, as the redeemed of the Lord, play a crucial role in the salvation of our world. Only Jesus, of course, saves people from their sins, but He did leave the spreading of that message in our hands. Not all of us can be missionaries. Not all of us can teach Bible classes. Not all of us can be speakers or writers. But all of us can pray!
The purpose of this book is to call the redeemed of the Lord to pray for a lost world. Specifically, I am asking each individual Christian to open his or her heart to a commitment to pray for an individual, a group of people, or a specific issue. I will address this request in greater detail in the closing section of this book.
But first, I would like to offer some thoughts about the God who loves us so much He chose to become human and die for us on a Roman cross, and secondly, to share some of the lessons that I have learned as I have prayed for the lost over the past few years.
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A God Who Loves
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May You, oh Giver of all that is good, shower us with Your divine love. May this sacrificial and unconditional love transform us into the likeness of Your Son.
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God loves people. As a matter of fact, people are the most precious creatures on earth to God. I sometimes ask myself why God loves us so. After all, we can be pretty unlovable at times. For instance, I sometimes picture unbelievers as a group of people who live in the goodness and care of a Heavenly Father yet refuse to recognize or acknowledge the One who makes their very lives possible. And I picture believers as a group of people who sometimes are reluctant to be transformed by God's presence and the power of His word.
Describing all the possible individual circumstances that may exist in the two sweeping statements above is not the intent of this book. Suffice it to say that all of us, believers or not, have hurt the heart of a loving God. This does not change the fact, though, that God loves all of us.
As the redeemed of the Lord, we believers are privileged to know the Father who abides in heaven, His Son who died for us, and the Holy Spirit who lives in us. Though the concept of the Trinity may be beyond our understanding, what is not is the love this Triune God has shown to His creation. Words do not exist on this side of eternity to fully express the depth of love the Father in heaven has for His children. The Bible captures the idea, however, in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
The love of the Father is the most precious gift the Almighty can bestow on us, for His love is complete, embracing eternal wisdom, peace, grace, joy, and all the other divine attributes that make our God who He is. God's love for humankind is so profound that He willingly shares His perfect love with an imperfect world. We know that mature love is sacrificial; it seeks the best interests of the beloved. We see this love in action by God the Father in the sacrifice of Jesus, His Son. What better way could God show us the depth of His love than by dying on the cross to redeem our souls for eternal life with Him? God loves us-all of us. And He sacrificed His Son to show us that is so!
And how does one describe Jesus's willingness to leave heaven and live and die on this earth? The Bible expresses the idea in Philippians 2:5-8:
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross!
The sacrifice of Jesus is truly unfathomable. I have no idea what heaven will be like, but I feel confident saying that once I am there, residing in the presence of perfect love, I will not want to leave. I can only imagine the distress suffered by the Godhead as Jesus willingly left heaven to take up residence on the earth. The life and death of the Savior express a depth of love which gives the word "love" tangibility. Jesus shows us divine love in action-action that shows us and teaches us the way divine love acts, responds, and gives. In the life of Jesus, we see the definition of love. I doubt, however, that I can fully grasp the definition or the sacrifice on this side of eternity.
How do we even begin to comprehend the role the Holy Spirit plays in our lives? For He lives within us and guarantees our inheritance with the God of all the universe. As 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 states, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." Ephesians 1:13-14 also tells us, "Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession-to the praise of His glory." The unsearchable, mysterious work of the Spirit of God defies human comprehension. The Spirit lives within us on good days and bad days, during thankful times and sinful scenarios, and the Spirit interprets our prayers continually. That is certainly much more than even the best of us deserve. God-this Triune God-loves people with everything that makes Him the God of heaven, the Savior of the world, and the guiding Spirit of humankind.
As the redeemed of the Lord, we can see that behind the above scriptures is the indescribable and unexplainable love of the God who will do anything and everything to secure the salvation of those He loves. Love motivated God to send Jesus; love prompted Jesus to leave heaven and willingly die on that cross; love drives the Holy Spirit to live within us to steadfastly guide us. Love is behind everything that God does and is. God extends His love to all people, and God desires that all people come to know His love. God does not want to leave anyone behind.
As Christians who desire to be like our God, we must take on this quality of love for people. It is not a matter of whether or not people deserve love; it is simply that God loves people-the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, the rich and the poor, the deserving and the undeserving, the lost and the saved. God loves people; as His children, we are called to love people as well.
Because of the great love that our God has for all people, I have written this book to call the redeemed of the Lord to arms. We already know that we are engaged in a war-not a war for land or power or greed, or even democracy; we are engaged in a war for souls. Our arms are not ships or airplanes or tanks or guns. Our arms are prayer and prayer and prayer and prayer, for the enemy we fight against is Satan-a formidable enemy indeed!
As I share with you, in the next few chapters, what I have learned by praying for the lost, I ask that you consider joining with me and others in bringing the lost souls of this world to the throne room of our God. I realize that many people already are in the habit of praying for the lost. But now I ask that all of us extend the boundaries of who and what we pray for, and I challenge all of us to regularly take to God an individual, a group of people or an issue that is currently not on our prayer list.
Please give this request prayerful consideration as you read the next few chapters. I will revisit this request again at the end of the book.
Lessons I Have Learned
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The Father of the Fatal
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May the Lord God Almighty, who is the Lion of the tribe of Judah and the Lord of the Heavenly Host, protect us from him who seeks to destroy all that is good and right and wholesome.
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If we are going to join hands (and prayers) in battle against Satan, prudence demands that we know our enemy. As a matter of fact, that was the title for this chapter: "Know the Enemy." Originally, I wanted to collect some battle statistics on some of the major wars over the course of recent history. I thought perhaps some numbers concerning how many soldiers were injured or killed in World War I or II or in the Gulf War or even the war in Iraq would help to underscore the gravity of going to war-both physical war and spiritual war. I even called my brother, who has an eighteen-year career in the air force, and asked him a few questions about knowing the enemy. I also considered reading a couple of books on spiritual warfare to see what others had to say about doing battle with the enemy.
As I began to head in this direction, though, I sensed I was not going down the right path, so I changed direction. Now, there is nothing wrong with studying one's enemy. In the heat of battle, knowing the possible methods and moves of the enemy is invaluable. However, our enemy is someone we already know. The face behind the hurt, behind the bondage, behind the lostness of humanity is the angel who was cast out of heaven: Satan.
Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:12 that "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."
The leader of these forces is none other than Satan. Actually, his leadership abilities are beyond compare-and his hate for God and humankind is without end. He is an enemy whose thirst for destruction is unquenchable. He is an enemy who does not play by the rules, who uses any and all weaknesses against his foes. He is an enemy to respect. And though his destiny is hell, his intention is to take as many with him as possible. No, we must not underestimate this five-star general, this hater of righteousness, this destroyer of good, this seducer of souls.
Perhaps Satan's greatest joy (and God's greatest grief) is that people are so easily seduced by him. In John 8:44, Jesus calls Satan "a liar and the father of lies." The capacity people have for swallowing a lie is amazing. How many times have we been taken in by a lie? Satan lies to us in innumerable ways. He seduces people-both the saved and the unsaved-by whispering to us that we have the right to feel the way we feel and think the thoughts we think, even when those feelings and thoughts run contrary to God's word. He whispers to us that we need this or that, and we should do anything necessary to obtain the desired object-be it person or thing. Satan is the father of the fatal: the fatal passion of hate that assassinates people, both in body or character; the fatal idea of revenge at all costs; the fatal mistake that destroys personal integrity; the fatal rendezvous that comes at the expense of the marriage; the fatal apathy or arrogance that turns man or woman from God.
Some of you may be thinking, "Yes, Satan is the rogue that he has been painted to be here, but we have a choice"-and we do. We do not have to listen to Satan. We do not have to succumb to his temptations. But we all do, don't we? He is shrewd, relentless, and powerful.
Do you remember the story of the transfiguration in Matthew 17? When Jesus came down from the mountain, He was met by His disciples and a crowd of people. In the crowd was a father who had brought his demon-possessed son to be cured, but the disciples were unable to cast the spirit out of the boy. Naturally, Jesus dispatched the spirit forthwith. Later, the disciples asked Jesus why they couldn't cast the spirit out. Jesus told them in verse 21 (a footnote in some translations) that "this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." The demonic forces of hell are formidable. We are not able to deal with Satan and his demons on our own. Adam and Eve found that out in the garden, Jesus's disciples found that out in Matthew 17, and we discover that every time we sin. Our battle with the hellish host is in the heavenly realms, and our weapons are heavenly as well-faith in a God we know is more powerful than they and prayer to a God who guides and protects the ones He loves. Satan, the demon who so eagerly tempts us to numerous fatal mistakes, may only be thwarted by the power of the Lord God Almighty.
Another indication of Satan's power is in Matthew 12, when the Pharisees accuse Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebub. Jesus's response is, "How can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house" (verse 29). Prayer in the name of Jesus Christ gives us the ability to bind the strong man, to silence the seducer, to rout the father of the fatal. We must remember that against Satan and his attempts to add all of us to his fatality list, there is a weapon he cannot withstand: prayer in the name of the Son of God! One of the most amazing aspects of being a Christian is that I can call upon the name of Jesus Christ, and Satan has no choice but to take a hike!
When was the last time you saw a movie and wanted to stand up to clap and cheer? We all know the feeling. The movie was so good, so stirring, struck such a chord with the heart and spirit that we wanted to jump up, clap, and cheer. The last time that feeling came over me was when I saw Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from THE REDEEMED OF THE LORDby Debbie Haskell Copyright © 2009 by Debbie Haskell. Excerpted by permission.
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