Helpers in Prayer

by David Wilkerson | October 4, 1999

Prayer is often one of the most selfish areas of Christians' lives. When you think about it, most of our prayers focus on our own needs. The two main subjects of our intercession are our own spiritual growth and the needs of our families and friends.

Occasionally, we may reach beyond our own narrow concerns and pray for others. Yet usually when we say, "I'll pray for you," we don't do it. Or, we pray for them once and then quickly forget about their need.

Recently I've been examining my own prayer life in light of the scriptures. And I've been convicted about the narrowness and limitations of my own praying. Like most believers, I spend much of my prayer time seeking the Lord about my walk with him. I cry out to him to be made holy, to have dominion over sin, to become Christ-like, to receive guidance for life, to have his anointing on my ministry. And I enjoy sweet communion with him, quietly worshipping him and being refreshed in his presence.

Read more HERE

It´s Thursday - reflections on Genesis

'On the third day, Joseph said, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God.' Genesis 42:18

 

Joseph's testimony that he was someone who feared God should have reassured his brothers.  If someone truly fears God we have nothing to fear from them. They will not be a danger to us, they will not treat us unjustly. Even if they do at times seem a little harsh they will have our best interests at heart, 'Wounds from a friend can be trusted,' Proverbs 27:6.

Joseph now reverses his earlier decision (see v16) and decides to keep one brother in prison and send the other nine back to Canaan with grain for their starving households, insisting that they return with their youngest brother to prove that they are telling the truth. They are distressed. They haven't forgotten what they did to Joseph all those years earlier and how he had pleaded with them for his life and how they had ignored his pleas. They see the predicament that they are now in as justice catching up with them for what they did back then, (v22,23).

It was and still is, 3,700 years later, natural to think that there is a reason for the times of calamity that we experience, a feeling that in some way we must have deserved it. People are heard to say, 'What did I do to deserve this?' wondering where the blame for something horrible lies. Seventeen hundred years after this event we see the disciples asking  Jesus, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' (John 9:1). Sometimes we do suffer because of our foolishness, carelessness or sin, but as Jesus pointed out on that occasion, suffering is not necessarily caused because of the victim's sin or indeed the sin of his/her relatives. We only have to look at the cross to know that. God bless you all.             

Whatever Happened To Repentance?

by David Wilkerson August, 1999

Whatever happened to repentance? You rarely hear the word mentioned in most churches today - even in Baptist, Pentecostal or evangelical circles. Pastors nowadays seldom call for their congregations to sorrow over sin - to mourn and grieve over wounding Christ by their wickedness.

Instead, the message we hear from many pulpits today is, "Just believe. Accept Christ, and you'll be saved." The text used to justify this message is Acts 16:30-31.

In this passage, the apostle Paul was being held in jail when suddenly the earth shook and all the cell doors opened. The jailer immediately thought all the prisoners had fled, which meant he faced execution. In despair, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself when Paul and Silas stopped him, assuring him no one had escaped.

Seeing this, the man fell down before the apostles and cried out, "...Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house" (Acts 16:30-31).


Read more HERE.

Outrage Against Christians: Public Schools In US Shun Christianity, Welcome Islam

- Prophesy News Watch -

Christians are up in arms against what they perceive to be a radical and sudden transformation of the American public school system where Christianity is being eased out of children's education and replaced with Islamic "indoctrination."

In its latest report, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) said students in US public schools are now being forced to learn how to convert to Islam and recite "Allah is the only God."

"It's Islamic indoctrination right here in our schools," the organisation said.

Several concerned parents in Tennessee and other parts of the county have been in touch with ACLJ and raised concerns over the things their children are being taught in school. Brandee Porterfield, one of the parents, told Fox News that her seventh grade daughter is learning about Islam as part of world history in her class at the Spring Hill Middle School in Maury County, Tennessee.

"They did this assignment where they wrote out the Five Pillars of Islam, including having the children learn and write the Shahada, which is the Islamic conversion creed," she explained.

When she approached the Spring Hill Middle School teacher and principal and asked if there would be similar lessons on Christianity and Judaism, she discovered that the upcoming lessons are only on Hinduism and Buddhism. The only difference in the future lessons is that the students will not be memorising a creed dealing with those religions.


Read more HERE.

It´s Thursday - Reflection on Genesis

'As soon as Joseph saw his brothers he recognised them, but pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them....' Genesis 42:7

It has now been over 20 years since his brothers sold Joseph into slavery, and although Joseph immediately recognised them when they met, they did not recognise him, (v 8). Joseph had managed to put the past behind him with the new life he had, (see 41:51), but suddenly memories came flooding back and, as they bowed down with their faces to the ground, Joseph remembered his dreams all those many years earlier. Some things can seem totally forgotten until we see something, hear something, smell something that opens that long sealed door in our memory and we are whisked back through the years to that place of joy or horror.

Why was Joseph harsh with them? The rest of the story would indicate that it was not out of revenge. No, there were many things Joseph wanted to know. Was his father still liveing and well? Benjamin wasn't with them, why? On Jacob's loss of Joseph did Benjamin become father's favourite and had they done something terrible to him? They say Benjamin is with his father back in Canaan, but are they telling the truth? They were hardly virtuous men back then, which is why Joseph was able to tell tales about them, (37:2). Over 20 years have passed. Had they changed? Did they still remember what they did to him? Did they regret it? Was there any remorse? Repentance? There were so many unanswered questions.

People change over the years and are not the same people we once knew. Sometimes, sadly, we maintain the memory of that foolish or sinful thing they did back then, and do not give them a chance to reveal how they have changed. 'Lord, forgive us. Amen.' God bless you all.

When You Come to the End of Yourself!

David Wilkerson  December 1998

As we read the words of David in Psalm 38, we find this godly, righteous man at the end of himself. He was downcast and discouraged, and his struggle had drained him of all strength. Listen to his distraught cry:

"I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long... I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart. My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me... I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth. Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs" (Psalm 38:6, 8, 10, 13-14).

As I read this psalm, I imagine David slumped in despair. Perhaps what troubled him most was that he couldn't understand why he was suddenly cast down so low. This man hungered for the Lord, pouring out his heart daily in prayer. He revered God's word, writing psalms that extolled his glory. But now, in his depressed state, all he could do was cry, "Lord, I'm at the end of my rope. And I have no idea why it's happening!"

Read more HERE.

Nearly 30,000 Jews Immigrated To Israel In 2015

- Sam Sokol in Prophesy News Watch -

"It looks like 2015 will be another record year for aliya, with more than 30,000 newcomers to the Jewish state, Immigration and Absorption Minister Ze’ev Elkin announced on Wednesday.

Some 29,500 immigrants arrived here over the past Hebrew year, with more than 14,000 hailing from the former Soviet Union, according to statistics for 5775 released by the Immigration and Absorption Ministry and the Jewish Agency. This marks a 13 percent increase over 5774.

“These figures, which show a significant increase in the number of immigrants to Israel, reinforce the overall picture that the year 2015 will represent a year of record aliya for more than a decade. We estimate that, at this rate, by the end of the civil year we will reach between 30,000 and 35,000 immigrants,” said Elkin.

“This is a window of opportunity that the State of Israel cannot miss. Therefore, we at the Ministry of Aliya and Immigrant Absorption, the government and Israeli society in general are faced with a fascinating and compelling challenge, to both ensure that immigrants who arrive in Israel are well integrated and do whatever we can to increase activities to encourage aliya.”

While around 3,600 immigrants came from North American, the largest sources of aliya were France (7,350) and Ukraine (6,900), increases of 10 percent and 50%, respectively."

It´s Thursday - reflections from Genesis

'When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, 'Why do you just keep looking at each other?' Genesis 42:1

Sometimes we can have such a difficult, seemingly insurmountable problem that we are flummoxed when it comes to being able to think of any way to resolve it. This seemed to be the case with Jacob's sons as they looked at each other, no doubt hoping someone would come up with a solution.

Although there were seven years of super-abundant harvests, even at the end of the first year that followed, (concluded from Joseph's words in 45:6 on the second visit his brothers made to Egypt to buy corn), the harvest in Egypt and beyond was so poor that there was a severe famine. One wonders if all the nations in that region had experienced massive surpluses during those first seven seven years and whether they squandered what they had? Even without the message from God that Pharaoh received, it would have been wise to have set some grain aside as a safeguard. It is so easy to become blasé when year on year we bathe in riches. It is so easy to lose sight of how things can change beyond recognition very quickly indeed.

The only place where food was to be found was in Egypt and the Egyptians were not the most favourable of nations towards Hebrews, (see 43:32). No doubt, when ordered to do so by their father Jacob, the brothers set off in fear and trembling, uncertain of what reception awaited them. 'Lord, may we never take for granted the riches of your grace that you bestow. Make us prudent and wise in the use of those things you give us, Amen.' God bless you all.