Tag Archives: concert of prayer

Clinging to an Invisible God

Last week, a high school teacher in Florida gave an assignment to students, attempting to sway their worldview.  Using the newly developed Common Core curriculum, students had to explain why conservatives would believe giving to the poor is a waste of time.  This ploy to indoctrinate the minds of the next generation, outraged one parent who stood her ground.  However, as liberal ideology continues to highjack public education, parents who hold fast to Judeo-Christian values must cling to an invisible God.

I lift up my eyes to you, to you who sit enthroned in heaven, Psalm 123:1.

Sometimes, the practice of prayer can become mundane, stale for those who run out of words to say.  However, David reminds those who cling to an invisible God that prayer is a serious matter.  When you cry out to the heavens, you aren’t just talking to yourself.  Rather, you are entering the presence of a divine being, waiting for those whose hearts are right and appeal is filled with specific details.

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures, James 4:3.

In recent world history, church leaders in Scotland developed the concept called a “Concert of Prayer” in 1744.  Presbyterian Pastor John Erskine, a Scot, published a Memorial, pleading with other denominations to join him in a prayer for revival.  When this plea reached Jonathon Edwards in New England, he responded with a book entitled A Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of All God’s People in Extraordinary Prayer for the Revival of Religion and the Advancement of Christ’s Kingdom on earth pursuant to Scripture Promises and Prophecies concerning the Last Time.  While modern English teachers would consider this a run on sentence, this piece laid the foundation for America’s first revival.  Instead of watching a nation stray from God, stand up like this courageous mother in Florida by clinging to an invisible God with a heart expecting miracles to revive a dead and dying land.

by Jay Mankus

Awaken Your Might

A spirit of pessimism  has entered the church, anchored deep within the hearts and minds of Christian soldiers.  Instead of asking for things in Jesus name as the gospels suggest, the thought of failure cripples the power of God in their life.  Expecting defeat, lame prayer lives abound, void of any change, miracle or victory.

Thus, the devil has taken a foothold of prayer lives, Ephesians 4:27, given over to him by individuals who have lost hope.  Its no wonder that churches are in the state they are, empty by low attendance, filled with gossip or slander and corrupted by false teachings of the world.  Its time as Asaph urged many years ago to awaken God’s might, Psalm 80:2.

Another Pentecost is obtainable if saints are willing to follow the blue print left behind by the apostles, Acts 2:42-47.  We must put aside our petty disagreements, coming together  in a concert of prayer, united as one body in Christ, 1 Corinthians 12:12.  Once this point is reached, prayers like Acts 4:29, accompanied by immediate answers in Acts 4:31 will awaken God’s might, drawing others into the house of God.

by Jay Mankus

Faith Week

When I was a child, schools did not have many national holidays.  Sure, I would miss days for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter break, but once school began in the fall, days off were few and far between.  In recent days, political correctness has added several new holiday days and theme weeks for educators to shape the minds of children.  Unfortunately, facts and history are being replaced by ideology, liberal philosophies and unproven theories.

As Earth Week began yesterday, Monday 22nd, going green will be shoved down the throats of all those who watch television the next 7 days.  I am not saying that I am against this movement, as the days of using rivers and streams as dumping areas is disappearing.  Nor are their any river fires like the 5 which occurred on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, the last of which made national headlines in the early 1970’s.  My point is that the only thing individuals can really control their own life by being good stewards of those possessions God has bestowed upon them.

Well, since the media appears to have control the annual dates of days and themes, I want to declare April 29th-May 5th, Faith Week.  When I studied the Great Awakening in seminary, I was shocked by the moral decay of America in the 1790’s.  Societal patterns which existed in the late 1790’s are similar to those which exist in today’s colleges and universities.  Yet, when I few Christians began to meet together in a concert of prayer, another Pentecost occurred Acts 5:31.  If the church rises up, united in prayer, maybe another Great Awakening is around the corner.  As for now, follow in the footsteps of the apostles, 1 Thessalonians 4:1-2.

by Jay Mankus