Hello Without Walls,
As we enter our seventh month of quarantine, we face a clear and present danger… an enemy we cannot see.
Truly these times are perilous, intense, and urgent.
I sincerely believe that God is reviving in each one of us what should be imbedded in the DNA of every follower of Jesus Christ—the call to prayer!
I am sharing this in the hope that we can all respond in faith and courage.
I believe that God is rallying us and calling us back to the Ministry of Prayer! If we are honest, we will admit that our churches have drifted away from this ministry. We have conveniently assigned this lofty role to a few passionate and eloquent people, whom we have named our “prayer warriors”!
Think. How long has it been since the whole church prayed?
The evidence is all around us. We see it in the frailties of our government leaders. We see it in the growing and open disregard of Christian values in our culture and society. We see it in our dire economic situation caused by seemingly endless corruption.
We desperately look for ways to assuage our fear and anxiety. The truth is that these are but symptoms of our real problems. The Bible tells us we are in this condition because of the prayerlessness of the church. We are at the root of the problem!
The Philippines is physically, spiritually, and morally sick because we, the followers of Christ, are either unaware of God’s call to pray or oblivious of how to go about it.
I am not espousing that Christians should not be involved in choosing or even serving in government. Neither am I suggesting that we should not vent our discontent. We should!
But political activism alone will not solve our problems! No amount of human energy can save our country! We need God. We need prayer.
My friends… the Philippines and even the world can still emerge from this horrible pandemic and from the decadence into which we have fallen.
But the Church must first rise up to be the Church that Jesus intended.
As Christians, we must respond to the call to pray, and we will find that God's Word is true and His power more than sufficient! 2 Chronicles 7:11-14 says it this way: When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, the Lord appeared to him at night and said: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices. When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
Take note that it says, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways...”
Church, that is us. You and me. Christians. We are His people. We are called by His name.
God speaks to us today. If we humble ourselves and pray, If we seek His face and turn from our wicked ways, Then Our God will hear. Then He will forgive our sins. And then He will heal our land.
It is only in the prayers of God’s people that there is hope for any nation.
This present darkness has still not passed over. There is disease wherever we turn. We do not even know whether it will get darker still.
But this we do know: We can pray. In fact, God calls us to pray.
We may not always agree with our leaders. But God ordained it to be so. Let us no longer look for anyone to blame or accuse. God is sovereign and He is good!
We must walk with Him in obedience, praying for our nation, with all our hearts. As if life itself depended on our prayer. Because, my friends, it does.
Where do we start? We start with forgiveness. Forgiveness opens the door to effective prayer.
Jesus did it for us! He stood before God on our behalf. While we were still sinners, He loved us.
You and I are called to follow Him. We cannot go to the Father in prayer with anger and bitterness in our hearts.
These days, the Church seems quicker to criticize and judge than to forgive!
Nailed to the cross Jesus forgave the very people that crucified Him. He cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)
We are children of God, joint heirs with Christ.
My friends, the Bible also says that God changes not. He is the same, yesterday, today and forever! We must ask God to forgive not just the sinful and broken people around us, but everyone in our society, no matter how loathsome, evil or corrupt they have become. But we must start with asking God to forgive us.
Church, let us pray...
Lord, we are a people called by your name. But we are unworthy. Forgive us for our disobedience of your commandments.
Lord, forgive us for always seeking your hands rather than seeking your face. Look upon us Lord with love and compassion.
Lord, we humble ourselves. Help us turn from our wicked ways.
Lord, our country has lost its way. We deserve your judgment. But we humbly ask for Your mercy instead.
Forgive our sins, Lord.
Lord, heal our land.
We pray this in Jesus’ name!
Can such simple prayers make a difference? Yes, they can. Our prayers can change things.
My friends, the Philippines can be saved!
I call on the people of WOW to set aside 15 minutes every day, starting 12 noon today, to pray.
Let this be the start of our unceasing “PUSH”… Pray Until Something Happens!
The tide can turn! The trajectory of our nation can change! This downward spiral can stop. But first, we must rise up and be the Church we were meant to be!
Jesus prayed! We too must pray!
God bless you, WOW! God bless the Philippines!
-Pastor Luigi