Text: Malachi 1:1

“The destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC had lacerated to rawness the spirits of the people of God. They asked themselves, what’s happening? What have we done? How can we get out of this awful mess? Then they were painfully, dreadfully awake.

“But now, in 430 BC, they were in a drugged stupor, too lethargic to care. It all seemed so useless anyway. But now they were in danger. T.S. Eliot wrote, ‘this is the way the world will end, not with a bang, but a whimper.’ In a long history of God’s dealing with mankind, few have ever had their faith violently torn from them. Rather, most have just watched it drift away. When they realized it was gone, they felt a vague emptiness, but no real distress. Someone has correctly said, ‘loss of faith is rarely a blowout. More commonly it is a slow leak.’

“But what was God to do for his people? And what is God to do for us? For we are not simply speaking of Judeans in the fifth century BC, Christians of our own century stand in the same danger.

“If Christianity ever dies in North America, it will be not because a jackbooted, commissar steals it from us. Rather, it’ll be that we blithely let go of the realities of our faith as we reach for the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Then when we are prodded by some pressure, be it political, social, or ethical, our faith will be revealed as a husk, hardly worth the pain to defend.”[1]

Prayer Focus

“Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you” (Hosea 10:12 KJV).

“I say, be faithful. You must continue to seek my face. The enemy has sought you. He has pursued you to weary you, to make you weary, to keep you from my presence. But I call you to me, I call you to come to me. Oh, stay on your faces before me. Seek me, seek me, seek me–seek my fire. For once my fire comes, I will send the rain. I see the difficulty, but I say, do not be perplexed! Look to me. For with me, this is but a little thing. I say, I say, prepare the sacrifice in prayer, offer it unto me, and see what I will do. I will send my fire and I will consume your sacrifice, and I will send the rain!” (Holy Spirit, August 17, 2009).