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A safer walk during chaotic times

Posted by on Sep 19, 2014 in Prayer Perspective | Comments Off on A safer walk during chaotic times

Late in 2009 or in early 2010, the Lord gave me an acrostic to help direct my prayer concerning the upswing of chaos I was sensing in the spiritual/political realm. It is called “SAFER”, and it is an outline I used to pray for the Church during those turbulent times just four or five years ago.

I was searching through my “stacks of stuff” this week for it, and discovered two other items as well that I want to post here before we begin again a verse-by-verse walk through the Book of James.

One of the items was a prayer I prayed for government leadership during the time I wrote the acrostic. I will post it on Monday. This prayer is extremely pointed and current. I am thankful I found it again.

Today, along with the acrostic, I will post the other find—a long-forgotten dream which I had in 1995. I’m glad I wrote it down back then; I believe it is illustrative of our nation and even some among the Church in these very strange times we have entered.

July 5, 1995 Dream

I was in a room with folks—believers (I don’t know them, but I did in the dream)—and there was a grate on the floor. Through the grate I saw a salt and pepper king snake winding and climbing up. As it nosed through the grate, it became a huge black, smooth-skinned alligator with large yellow dots. I jumped up onto the table to protect myself, knowing its jaws would be able to remove hands and feet. No one else seemed concerned; different ones attempted to help it through the grate, pet it, hold it, and play with its mouth. One girl, however, did attempt to muzzle it with her hand, but it was too strong for her. I was prepared to see a lot of blood and dismemberment and was hoping that someone would get to a phone to call 911.

Since September 11, 2001, I have experienced the same sense of alarm and frustration I felt in the dream with what I’ve perceived as widespread nonchalance concerning the decay and apparent coup in our nation. Of course, evil men and women have always attempted to co-opt this nation, but the in-your-face flagrancy of their behavior has been incrementally notching up ever since that fateful late summer morning in 2001. And as I’ve spoken with people since then about the alarming trends in the U.S., so often I have felt “blown off” or redirected by others to listen instead, to this prophet or that teacher. And yet, I know what I’ve been seeing in my spirit. A strange presence has been nosing through the grate as the nation—and the Church—has been largely aloof, unconcerned, or even charmed or intrigued by the reptilian entity gaining access at ground level.

I believe God has been seeking to gain our attention about this looming chaos, and many of us have basically told Him, “Later, Lord. I’ve got other things to attend to.” Or perhaps some of us attempted to block such warnings due to the extreme discomfort they aroused. Maybe a lot of us rebuked fear when we should have—like the boy David—run to the fearsome thing with our “insignificant” slingshot of prayer to deal a blow from which that giant could not easily recover.

Every morning I pray or read the Word in my cozy prayer room or at my kitchen table overlooking my tree-lined backyard, I make it a point to thank God for one more day of comfort, beauty, and security. As I sip my coffee, I am grateful for the simple things that mean so much…especially if they were to be suddenly stripped away. I realize that America’s two hundred and thirty-eight year run of prosperity, peace, and safety has been the exception in history—not the norm. I recognize the enormous sacrifice of life, finance, and reputation of generations now gone which was invested to secure for us the freedom to live as we do today. And I recognize that untold hundreds of thousands of hours of agonizing prayer prior to our nation’s independence and in the two centuries since have been clocked by men and women of vision, passion, and commitment to their Lord and His call—many of whom were never known as great people—and yet great and mighty in God they were, nonetheless. And I am eternally grateful for each and every one of them.

My desire—whether we’re in the last generation or not—is to be available and equipped to pray big prayers: binding and loosing, moving and shaking, confronting and confounding those forces of darkness that defy the will and ways of the magnificent One by whom we are called. I long to see stability and sanity to reign once again, and for that to happen, God must first have His way. Therefore, I will—and I must—pray.

For the Church to have a SAFER walk in increasingly chaotic times, I pray for:

S haking [unto]

A wakening [and seeing the state of the world as it really is]

F orsaking [personal and private follies, vanities, lusts, and distractions]

E scaping [the grip of outward forces—operating through the fear of man—that seek to control our words, actions, and behaviors]

R etaking [ground through prayer in the name of Jesus and a right understanding of authority in Christ]

May you and I be found in Christ—doing His will and confidently trusting in Him—for whatever time remains to us on the face of the earth.

Dorothy

The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. 1 Peter 4:7, emphasis added

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8, emphasis added