“Your PET scan is clear.”
When you’re facing the prospect of melanoma cancer cells exploding within your body, that is amazing news to hear. That is exactly what my Sugarbabyluv, my Sharon, was told this week.
We are so grateful for the host of friends in Missouri and across the nation who took hold of the altar of God and pleaded for her healing. Thank you for being intercessors on our behalf.
Using surgery, radiation, dietary changes and faith to address the tumor and rogue cells, we are thanking the Lord, the Great Physician, for touching her body. We don’t see the oncologist for a checkup for six months, followed by another PET scan in a year. We are grateful indeed.
While we were on this journey, I read “The Pastor’s Justification” by Jared C. Wilson, the new director of communications at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and College. In his characteristically insightful fashion he writes, “Prayer is essentially acknowledged helplessness. We ask God for his glory, for his help, for his will and for his favor because we know we are powerless to ‘make things happen’ ourselves. . . When we cease praying for ourselves, it is because we think we are the captains of our destinies.”
We are helpless. Unless you’ve just arrived from another planet in the last few days, you know we live in desperate times that require desperate praying. Even if the midterm elections went your way, you know that the courts are wielding incredible, unjust power to rip apart the social fabric of our nation.
The community angst that exists in major cities is intensifying as decent-paying private sector jobs evaporate and government regulations exterminate opportunity.
Over the course of four decades, the value of life has diminished where the philosophy that terminates children in the womb is now openly verbalizing the extermination of those who are sick among us.
In such a historical context, the most important activity of God’s people is to call upon the Lord. There appears a stirring among God’s people, an intensifying of intercessory prayer for the physically sick among us, for the sin sick who need the spiritual healing, and for a nation that that is reeling from its overdose of hedonism and consumerism.
This nation’s history tells us we’ve visited these times of desperation before. Like awakening from hibernation, when God’s people began to rediscover their incredible birthright, they humbled themselves, and sought His face, and in an extraordinary fashion began to intercede.
What would constitute “extraordinary”? More than we do now. To seek the Lord in an extraordinary fashion would require a change in how we use our time. Doing so is difficult because we all operate without any “margin” in our busy lives.
There is very little time to pray, to worship or to serve. Our lives are too full of other obligations and expectations. However, if we are desperate enough, we must reprioritize our days to seek Him.
One of the things I love about the recent events in the life of Missouri Baptists is the renewed passion for intercession. The recent Heartland Prayer Summit II in Ferguson was part of a series of times when Missouri Baptists convened and the exclusive purpose was to humble ourselves and pray.
We recognize the enormity of what is broken, and apart from an intervention from the Lord, our nation is terminal. No amount of political muscle or manipulation will turn the rising tide of destruction—only a movement of God.
Thank you Missouri Baptists for your passion to pray. You are making a difference for generations through your extraordinary choices.
While there are many things to rejoice about from the Annual Meeting, one item stands out. Missouri Baptists’ response to the BGR “Buckets of Love” is overwhelming. After I announced this on Monday evening, Bill and Carol Bowers, BGR coordinators, told me they experienced a “rush” on Tuesday morning with people wanting more information about how they can be involved.
There are now 13 confirmed bucket collection points (hopefully 22 within the next few days), including: Maryville, Laura Street; Meadville, Linn-Livingston Assoc.; Raytown, First; Versailles, Trinity Southern; Gravois Mills, First; Troy, First; Arnold, First; St. Louis, Canaan; Bolivar, Mid-Lakes Assoc.; Reavisville, First; Rolla, Phelps Assoc.; Jackson, Cape Girardeau Assoc.; and others.
Our goal is to provide 5,000 buckets in 2015 for Baptist Global Response. Check www.MoBaptist.org/Buckets for locations and information.
My understanding is that our WMU is using the time of their annual celebration to collect buckets. Some ladies are bringing their Buckets of Love with them and others will pack some of the buckets when they arrive at the meeting. The goal is to fill a 50-foot trailer and take it to Houston.
Sharon and I are grateful beyond measure to serve with people who have a heart for God and the people He has made. Happy Thanksgiving!