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23 May, 2013

Prayer for the Dark Places


After I read today’s headlines in the HUFFINGTON POST at first I was so sad, I wanted to cry but for some reasons I had no tears. Five minutes after I posted on Facebook, the sadness I felt was overwhelming and out of the blue tears were running down my face uncontrollably. I wanted to pray for the darkness that surround us, the darkness that some of us even though we have the Bible in our hands, yet we cannot see, so we too give in to the darkness and walk in it. I wanted to pray simply because way too many are ignorant of the true God.  Another reason why my heart is heavy is because Satan has so many disguise as angels of light right in the leadership of the Church to lead thousands, millions and billions astray.
Through His Grace, I will follow the true path, not matter what it takes! 

While I am dying for His return so that I do not have to witness the mess the Church has become, but it is not about me. Not only that, there are so many that are not ready for His return yet.  

Can I please ask those of you who are willing to let God break your heart with what breaks His heart, to pray with me?  Today’s Huffington’s posts demand that we stop looking at Salvation from our standpoint alone and let God move our hearts to reach out to others.

How can you reach out? You do not have to go around the world, on a mission to reach out. In fact, those who are given to prayers can actually reach more people than the missionaries that are constrained in one place at the time.  We can pray for God mercy to reach those that are ignorant and also pray for Him to open the eyes of people so that they could see Him. Pray for people who are going to read those posts and buy into them. Please pray without ceasing

We owe it to God to go forward with our Salvation through surrender, walking in the Spirit and abide in Him. We need to stop messing around while we take our Salvation for granted and stop being self-centered and ungrateful. Every time I read or see so many that are ignorant of the true God, especially when they are in the Church, I am grateful that He found me and opened my eyes, because it could have been me amongst those who do not know better, in the darkness.

I love you all, and keep up the faith you have received from Him!

Prayer for the Dark Places
James Smith, 1861

What mischief has SIN done in our world! What misery it has introduced! Sin is indeed a fearful evil — full of deadly poison! Wherever we look — we see the terrible effects of sin; and the further we look — the more fearful those effects appear. It is no wonder therefore, if we are often led to cry out with the Psalmist, "Have regard for your covenant, because haunts of cruelty fill the dark places of the land!" Psalm 74:20
 
 
We desperately need you Holy Spirit
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The People's Condition. They are in the dark, therefore their dwellings are called the dark places of the land. They are in a state of ignorance, represented by darkness, gross darkness.
They are ignorant of God — of his nature, which is spiritual.
They are ignorant of his law — which is holy, just, and good.
They are ignorant of his gospel — which is a glorious proclamation of salvation — salvation for the vilest, salvation for all who need it, for whoever will — salvation without money and without price.
They are ignorant of themselves —
of their immortality,
of their sinful and condemned state before God,
of their danger as rebels against God, and
of their need of the salvation which is in Christ Jesus.
They are ignorant of the church of God — it's privileges, happiness, employments, and prospects.
They are ignorant of the nature of the eternal state of the sinner and the saint; they know nothing of a dreadful Hell, nor of a glorious Heaven.
O distressing condition in which to be found!
 
Their Conduct. Cruelty. Ignorance leads to cruelty; the ignorant are generally cruel. It makes men cruel to themselves — inflicting tortures, and putting themselves to terrible pain. It makes them cruel to their relatives — the husband to his wife, the parents to their children, the children to their parents, neighbor to neighbor, rulers to their subjects, subjects to their rulers, tribes to tribes, and nations to nations. What is the history of a heathen country — but the history of cruelty! O the cruel customs, the cruel ceremonies, and the cruel wars, which are still so common! Well may Asaph say, "haunts of cruelty fill the dark places of the land!" Nor is cruelty confined to them — but just in proportion as sinners are in a state of spiritual ignorance — are they unkind and cruel. Let us then join in,
 
The Prayer. "Have regard for your covenant." In God's covenant with Abraham he promised, saying, "In you and in your seed, shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." And in the covenant of grace he has said, speaking to his beloved Son, "I the Lord have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will keep you, and give you for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles." Just the very thing they need, therefore it is repeated in another place. "I will also give you for a light of the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation unto the ends of the earth." Well then may we plead, "Have regard for your covenant," and do as you have said. Fulfill your word where it is written, "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest." Then there will be no longer any dark places of the earth, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
This covenant was ratified, sealed, and confirmed with the blood of Jesus, called "the blood of the everlasting covenant." Of this covenant Jesus is the Surety, the Mediator, and Intercessor — we may therefore pray, "Have regard for the promise of the covenant — to the blood of the covenant, and to Jesus in whom the covenant stands, and who fulfills all its glorious offices."
 
What Is Our Duty? It is to sympathize, and to sympathize deeply with those who reside in the dark places of the earth, and who dwell in the haunts of cruelty. Nor is sympathy enough, we should pray and plead for them with God. Nor is prayer enough, we should use every means in our power to send the gospel to them. Nor is it enough to send them the gospel, we should so live as to stimulate by our example all around us, to engage in this important work.
The knowledge of God, which they need, and we should send them — will civilize them, and teach them industry, civility, mercy, and love. The covenant rightly understood, encourages missionary effort, as it awakens sympathy, reveals God's provision, makes known his gracious promises, and sets before us the glorious end. Be sure then, the man does not understand God's covenant of grace — who shuts up his compassion from the heathen world, neglecting to pray for, and send the gospel to the dark places of the earth. O my brethren, can we read the accounts sent us from time to time of the cruelties practiced in heathen lands, remembering that those who do so, are our brethren and sisters in the flesh. Or can we think of the dreadful consequences of dying in sin, and in ignorance of God — and not from the deepest depths of our souls cry out, "Have regard for your covenant, because haunts of cruelty fill the dark places of the land!"



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