Introduction: As you all know… This week we saw another tragic college shooting transpire. This time near ROSEBURG, Ore. Ten people were killed during a shooting at Umpqua Community College Thursday morning. And I think there were nine others who were wounded.
What makes this story even a little bit more heartfelt… is that it seems that the killer was targeting Christians. “[He started] asking people one by one what their religion was. ‘Are you a Christian?’ he would ask them, and if you’re a Christian, stand up.
And they would stand up and he said, ‘Good, because you’re a Christian, you are going to see God in just about one second.’ And then he shot and killed them.” If they denied having faith or said nothing, he then shot them in the leg!
So in only a few short moments… he had brought such devastation and destruction to this otherwise peaceful, quiet college campus.
And if that isn’t bizarre enough… it has now been reported that just before Thursday’s attack at Umpqua Community College, Chris Harper-Mercer, handed a manifesto with “666” scrawled across it… and a thumb drive to a person at the Roseburg campus.
In those notes, Harper-Mercer, who was biracial, spewed hatred toward black men and Christianity and society at large. He said… “He had no life,” and “He felt the world was against him.”
But knew that he would be… “Welcomed in Hell and embraced by the Devil.” He expresses interest…“To serve darkness.” And explained that what he was about to do… he did so that he could become a God in hell! Isn’t that crazy?
Now whenever I hear or read stories like this… I find my I find my mind turning towards the verse 2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. KJB
Other translations put it this way…
• For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power, love, and self-control.
• For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.
Of course the word that stands out most to me is the last word… that God has not only given us a spirit of power and love… but he is also given us a sound mind… a mind of sound judgment… a mind earmarked by discipline and self-control!
But what we see going on in the world is the exact opposite… nothing but more and more insanity! And sadly… these kind of ruthless, bizarre killing sprees are becoming the new norm.
It had dawned on me how much I have been thinking about this verse over the last year… So I thought I would do a little research and see how many shootings and we had this year… and this is what I found:
So far in 2015, we’ve had 274 days and 294 mass shootings… where 4 or more have been shot at a single time. So it’s no wonder that I have been thinking about this verse a lot!
But this is not the only form of insanity we see happening. When I think of how easily and quickly the Supreme Court discarded 2000 years of traditional marriage… and when I think about the brutal barbaric rampages of Isis… who wantonly kill people simply for thinking different than them. When I think of the new military alliance between Iran, Syria and Russia in the Middle East… and the US not doing anything about it… I think the world has gone insane!
When I look at some of the candidates both on the Republican and the Democratic side running for president… I just shake my head in disbelief that there is such support for them! It just feels to me like the whole world is going crazy!
So I find myself praying… God, what are we supposed to do? God, how do we navigate through all this? God, what’s really happening across the face of the earth right now?
And the only two things I get from the lord when I’m pray those prayers… Is I’m reminded of the message in revelations that says… That the closer we get to the time of Christ’s return… The crazier the world is going to get. The more insane the world is going to appear. How everything is going to be turned upside down… What was once called good… will now be called evil. And what was called evil… will now be called good.
The second thing I get back from God… Is a conviction that more than ever we need to learn what it is to be a people of fervent prayer! Now I’m not talking about the kind of prayer that is nothing more than a grocery list of requests… That we beseech our benevolent God to fulfill.
Nor am I talking about the kind of prayer that is merely an occasional afterthought like… oh ya God, less I forget, bless so in so.
Nor am I talking about people who routinely pray every night… Now I lay me down to sleep, if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.
Nor am talking about those who mindlessly recite the Lord ’s Prayer every day.
Now don’t get me wrong… All prayers are good. But they’re not the kind of prayers I’m talking about. I fear we might be finding ourselves more and more like it was in the prophet Isaiah’s time… Where he declared…
Isa 64:7 No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins.
The King James puts it this way… There is no one… who stirs himself up to take hold of You;
The phrase stir himself up literally means…"rousing" someone to action. It expresses the idea of "being excited" or "stirred up" as one does when one wakes up from sleeping.
And once awaken… We are to "take hold of, to seize God" in such a way that we…"become strong and courageous."
We get the same sense in the New Testament from the example found in to the Colossians where the apostle Paul writes about one of his coworkers… A guy named Epaphras.
Col 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers NKJV
• The NIV puts it this way… He is always wrestling in prayer for you,
• The TLB says… He is earnestly praying for you
Or as the Message puts it in its own usual unique way… What a trooper he has been! He's been tireless in his prayers for you, praying that you'll stand firm, mature and confident in everything God wants you to do.
You see… There is a whole different kind of prayer out there than what most people think of. We see very few modern day examples of people who really know what it means to wrestle in prayer over something.
This is why I got excited when I saw the movie… “War Room.” This is the first feature film that actually gives us great picture of what it means to be fervent in prayer over someone or something.
And this is why I think this film is kind of prophetic. With all the craziness that is going on all around us… I believe that God more than ever is calling us… is inviting us… into a whole new prayer experience! The more the world seemingly goes insane… the more we need to learn what it is to seek God with our whole heart.
So for the next five weeks… I would like to take a deeper look into some of the messages that this movie has concerning our prayer life… and just how powerful of a weapon Prayer really is!
Whether you are aware of this or not… we have been given everything we need to navigate through everything that life throws at us!
The only question becomes… have we learned how to use the tools and weapons that God has given us? Have we really learned what it means to strive and lay hold of God through prayer… in such a way that our circumstances are radically changed according to his plan and will. But before we go any farther… Let’s pray!
SUMMARY OF MOVIE:
For those who haven’t seen the movie… the movie zeroes in on this whole dynamic of how easy it is for believers to fall into a state of spiritual complacency. You see, when we come to know Jesus as our Savior and Lord, our journey is only just beginning.
Nevertheless, it’s still easy to get wrapped up in our hectic lives to the point of forgetting our first love! In the movie… “War room”, Tony and Elizabeth Jordan are typical churchgoers who have become complacent.
And, in Tony’s case, even hostile, toward the God. Meanwhile, the Devil is subtly wrecking their lives and marriage using their own pride, busyness, financial issues, and outside temptations.
Elizabeth on the other hand… is a successful realtor. She assumes she is doing fine spiritually, but gets unexpectedly tested.
She has a providential encounter with a new client… which leads to a mentoring relationship that will forever change her life.
In the scene I am about to show you, and elderly lady named Ms. Clara… Who has learn what it means to be a prayer warrior in real practical ways… Begins to ask heart to heart questions of Elizabeth… In hope of helping her to be open and honest about where she is spiritually.
Clip Hot or cold
Now obviously there is a whole lot one can glean from that clip. But I just want to zero in on three statements…
1) Ms. Clara: “You say you attend church occasionally. Is that because your pastor only preaches occasionally?”
Throughout the whole first part of that clip… Ms. Claire is asking all kinds of questions. Why? Because she is trying to evaluate Elizabeth. She trying to get a handle on where she really is at spiritually.
She realizes that before she can really help her… or mentor her… she needs understand where she’s really at.
Right at the very beginning of the film… We see pictures of bunch generals surrounding the table with maps on it. That room was known as the “War Room”.
As the movie is flashing between war scenes to activity in the war room… Ms. Clara is narrating the main idea that drives the whole movie…
Here are a few of her quotes… War has been part of humanity in every age. We fight for power, or riches, or rights or for freedom. There always seems to be something to fight for.
But regardless of what we are fighting for… behind every battle, someone has to develop a strategy.
This was part of Clara’s husband’s role in the war. He would look at what the enemy was doing, and then he began putting together the resources and a plan to fight against the enemy. Unfortunately, he died of a heart attack… Leaving Ms. Claire to fend on her own.
As the years go pass… She then goes on to say… I am amazed at the many battles that we engage in today… be it money or control or matters of the heart… very few of us know how to fight the right way!
Very few of us even understand who we really are fighting against. To win any battle, you need to know your enemy and what they’re up to. And then you have to get the right resources and strategy put together… because victories don’t come by accident! How true!
If we could just get hold of that one principle in regards to the multiple battles that we all fight day in day out… I think life would be a lot easier!
So the very first step to developing your strategy to overcome any difficulty… Starts with evaluating what’s really going on. So that’s what Ms. Claire sets out to do in her conversation with Elizabeth. She starts asking all the questions because she wants to get a sense of who she is and how she can help her.
In reality… I believe that this movie begins by trying to get us to spiritually evaluate ourselves.
This is actually very biblical… For example, consider second Corinthians 13:5…
2 Cor 13:5-6 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you — unless, of course, you fail the test? NIV
• The amplified version puts it this way…Examine and test and evaluate your own selves to see whether you are holding to your faith and showing the proper fruits of it.
• The living Bible translates this verse like this… Check up on yourselves. Are you really Christians? Do you pass the test? Do you feel Christ's presence and power more and more within you? Or are you just pretending to be Christians when actually you aren't at all?
• The message version is even more to the point… Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don't drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it.
The word “evaluation” in 2 Corinthians 13:5 literally means… To try to learn the nature or character of someone or something by submitting such to thorough and extensive testing and examination.
Now personally… I’m not thrilled about taking tests, and I’m glad my years of schooling are behind me. At my age the tests I take now are usually physical tests… Like stress tests & EKGs & hearing & vision tests. Fortunately, I don’t have to study for them.
For you younger folks… I realize it is a bit different. Even after we get beyond the academic life of school…we still find our lives are filled with all kinds of tests. We take driver’s tests, most people have to take drug tests at their work, and for others may find themselves having to take polygraph tests and sobriety tests.
If you want to go to higher education you have to take entrance exams. Most jobs these days require ongoing education. So like it or not, tests are a part of life. Now reality is… Not all tests are the same… nor offered for the same purpose.
I read the story of how this one College professors really enjoyed giving tests. He didn’t give just made exams and final exams. He gave his students a test every single week without fail.
On one such occasion… he gave a very difficult test. You could tell that by the groans of the students. And as one question followed another, the groaning got louder.
Then, after the test was finished, each student was told to grade his own paper. One of the people who was taking the tests… Recalled, "He read us the correct answers and to my dismay, I found I had scored just 65 on the test. In other words, I failed the test. And I thought for sure, ‘This will ruin my grade point average for the whole semester!’"
But just then the professor said, "Now I’m not going to record the grades of this test. I gave you this test for your benefit, and not for mine." What a sigh of relief he must’ve had… Like he just dodged a bullet!
Fortunately for us, at times… God does the same thing. And this really shouldn’t be a surprise because you can see this happening all the way through the Bible.
Starting in Genesis… God presented Abraham and Sara with a wonderful gift in their old age, their son, Isaac.
But later, God tested Abraham. He said, "I want you to take your son Isaac, and offer him as a sacrifice on the mountain."
Perhaps one of the most vivid tests in the O.T. involved Jonah. God gave Jonah a test and Jonah failed. Instead of going to Nineveh, as God had directed, Jonah fled in the opposite direction.
And it was not until he was caught in the storm and then in the belly of the great fish that Jonah repented and God was able to use him. The test was for Jonah’s benefit, not for God’s.
Moving ahead to the New Testament… We read that God tested Philip the day that Jesus fed the multitudes.
And that God tested Peter on the seashore after the resurrection, when Jesus asked him, "Do you love me, Simon? Do you really love me?"
So it shouldn’t surprise anyone of us when he asks us to evaluate ourselves. If you were asked, "Do you love God?" “Do you believe?” How would you answer?
One of Paul’s points in the Corinthians passage… Is that there should be evidence in your life that bears witness to your faith in Christ. In other words…if Jesus Christ lives in you and His Spirit affects the way you think and speak and act, then the answer is “Yes.”
But if the way you speak and act shows that Jesus Christ is not living in you, then no matter how much you may say you love God, the answer is “No,” and you have failed the test.
We all know that there is a big difference between claiming to be a Christian and actually knowing Christ and living as a maturing believer.
The point being… That before we can come up with a strategy concerning any type of struggle in our own lives… We need to know where we are at personally with God. We need to ask ourselves the hard questions.
And one of the main reasons why we need to take on the responsibility of asking yourself questions… Is because if we don’t, there will be a time where Jesus himself asks us the hard question. That course is far more intimidating and stressful than asking the questions ourselves.
This brings me to Ms. Clara second statement…
2) Ms. Clara: “So if I asked you what your prayer life was like, would you say that it was hot or cold?”
Of course the passage responsible for the inspiration of this question comes from revelations chapter three.
Rev 3:14-22 "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
For those of you not familiar with this particular church… You need to know that it was a real church! Paul actually refers to it in his letter to the Colossians.
One of the things that makes this particular church so interesting and relevant today… Is its unique culture that just happens to be very similar to ours here in the USA. Listen to this…
Laodicea was a very, very wealthy city, founded by Antiochus II and named after his wife Laodice.
The city was strategically located where three highways converged, thus it was highly commercial and financially prosperous. It was well known for its banking industry, its manufacture of black wool and a medical school that produced eye ointment.
The wealth in the city had been used to build theaters, a huge stadium, lavish public baths and fabulous shopping centers. Sound familiar? Does that sound like any typical American city?
If you were a real estate agent at the time… it wouldn’t be hard to sell Laodicea. It was a great place to live. It was considered the land of opportunity! Once again, doesn’t that Sound familiar?
The only real negative about the place was its lack of an adequate water supply (but we will deal with those details later).
Now while all this sounds marvelous… It becomes clear from the text that Christians there had become victims of their environment. Meaning that there is a valuable lesson for us here!
Jesus judges them to be Lukewarm! What does that mean? According to the dictionary, it means lacking warmth of feeling or enthusiasm. To a Christian, it describes a state of indifference, complacency, or apathy.
And according to this text… this state of Luke warmness was a result of them becoming self-satisfied and self-sufficient.
So the question becomes… what would a lukewarm church look like today? Most likely they would be described as a church that just goes through the motions. Sure… they gather to worship… But when they sing... there is no heart. They just mouth the words without ever thinking of them.
When they gather to Fellowship and break bread… There’s no real love between them. Yes, no doubt they are very kind to one another and very polite… But there’s no real conversations going on between them.
And when it comes to the mission of the church… To bring the kingdom of God to the lost and the hurting and the broken… There is No zeal, or passion.
You see… these are people who don’t outright oppose him, but neither do they even attempt to draw near to him.
In terms of how they arrived at the state of lukewarmness… There are two schools of thought: One is that it was due to their prosperity. They had become rich and used the money to multiply their possessions. They were so taken up with material things that they were neglecting spiritual realities.
For whatever reason… According to this text… this church suffered no persecution. It was not troubled by false doctrines or false apostles. No doubt, to the other churches, their situations must have seemed to be ideal.
But the Laodicean Christians had allowed themselves to become so self-satisfied in the enjoyment of riches and the things money can buy… that they lost their desire for the things of God.
Another view as to the cause of their lukewarmness is that they had begun to see their physical wealth as God’s blessing and affirmation of them being spiritually mature. In other words… their physical wealth and luxury was a direct result of their mature spiritual life.
Thus they considered themselves more spiritual than others… and in doing so became self-righteous… Believing that they needing nothing.
But unfortunately this couldn’t be further from the truth! When God looked at them… what he saw were a people who were wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Thus they were not only self-satisfied, they were self-deceived.
Another thing that stands out to me in this series of verses… Is the statement…. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
I had always been told that hot and cold in this verse were two opposite states of existing in faith. Either your faith was hot for God… Or you had no faith whatsoever, thus you were described as being cold.
But I could never get my mind to wrap around that… When Jesus said that he wished that we were either one or the other. That somehow God thought it was better if I was a complete atheist… someone who didn’t even believe in the existence of God… than to be lukewarm.
That of course changed when I discovered some of the background to the city… which give us some insight into how these people would have heard these verses.
Do remember when I said that the one thing that they had a hard time with… Was getting water.
That even though Laodicea was as rich as it was, it had a serious water problem. The city’s water had to be “piped in” from two different cities… from an aqueduct. The city of Hierapolis, just seven miles north of Laodicea, was famous for its hot springs… and so they piped to them their hot water.
Another city called Colosee…less than ten miles away, and was known for its cool refreshing drinking water. And so they had their cold water piped in from there. So obviously… Depending On the weather… Much of the time the water came to the city lukewarm. This of course drove them crazy. They wanted the hot waters so they could soak in them as well find healing… Any one of the cold water to refresh them as they drink it.
But much of the time they got neither… All they got was lukewarm. So what was Jesus saying to them when he said that he desired that they be cold or hot?
He was saying that He would rather they be spiritually beneficial like a refreshing drink of cold water or like the soothing warmth of the hot springs!
Unfortunately… they were neither. Their faith had lost its potency… thus they had lost their ability to impact the people around them positively for Christ! Meaning that there spiritual condition was of no benefit.
So what’s the message? It’s this… if we are just going to act like Christians… just go through the motions of looking the part, with no real heart or passion in it, it is of no worth.
If you’re going to worship God… sing the songs… pray the prayers… without any real heart or love or passion behind it… It has no value to God.
Even if you do all kinds of wonderful Christian acts of service for others… yet do them without any real love driving it… It is of no value.
1 Cor 13:1-3 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
And if you going to pray without a heart or passion behind… It will have little impact!
But the person who has really learned… to strive to lay hold of God… or the person who learned what it means to be laboring fervently for others in prayers… is going to be effective.
So the question that each of us needs to ask ourselves is… How is your prayer life? Are you passionate in your prayers… or have you become lukewarm or complacent… something you can take or leave it.
Please don’t feel condemned if you feel your prayer life is lacking… Because Jesus word to you is the same as his church was to Laodicea… Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
God loves you… And he will never give up on you. And so the first step to reigniting your prayer life… Is to throw door open wide to Jesus… And let him come in and do whatever he needs to do in your heart of hearts.
To some… That means he needs to heal you of your brokenness or wounded hearts… To others he might needs to give you a gentle rebuke… And to others he will show you how to make some major course changes in direction.
This brings us to our last statement that Clara said…
3) Ms. Clara: Just because you argue a lot… Does not mean that you fight well!
Elizabeth’s first response to Clara exhortation to pray… Was that she didn’t have enough time to do that. She was too busy just living life.
But Ms. Clara calls her on it… By saying… But you have all this time to argue with your husband… Yet you never feel like you win. Every time you argue… You feel defeated.
Of course what she is implying… Is why not spend your time in prayer rather than spend your time in fruitless arguing! That maybe the real battle is not winning the argument or getting your spouse to change in a certain way… But something totally different.
That brings us to our last verse… Eph 6:10-18 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
From this scripture we can determine a number of things…
• There Is An Invisible World That Is Just As Real As The Visible World
• We Are Involved In An Invisible War, A Cosmic Conflict That Has Eternal Implications
• Our foe is not flesh and blood… like our spouse or our kids or some crazy neighbor or some wacky coworker. But rather… spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places… And they are formidable… Their goals are to destroy you and discredit the cause of Christ within your life.
So the very first thing when it comes to creating a strategy… to work through or overcome some type of difficult situation… whether it be a conflict in your marriage or with the children or with your neighbor or with your coworker… Is to look within and evaluate your own life to see if you are in a good place with God.
In the movie… Elizabeth’s whole focus was on her husband… And wishing he would change. She believed that he was the problem. In her mind… He was the enemy. And so she would react to every time he disappointed her expectations… which just cause him to be more defensive and push them further away!
But when she realize after meeting with Ms. Clara… That her own heart wasn’t right. That she first had get her life right with God… that she had some forgiving that she needed to do… and that she had to quit looking to him to be her source of joy and start looking to Jesus for that… only then would the door open for God to deal with her husband.
You see… She didn’t realize that she was actually getting in God’s way of healing their marriage. That her ungodly reactions to her husband’s bad behavior… Was creating more problems than solving.
So the very first step in her strategy to see her marriage grow… Was to focus on her getting right with God and relinquishing control of her spouse into God’s hands. She had to get her heart right with God. She had to stir her own heart up out her lukewarmness… And begin to learn what it means to be fervent in prayer. To be hot for God!
Final thoughts…
So how about you? How much would your life change if you begin to view and treat God like your closest, most intimate friend rather than a casual acquaintance? How would your life be transformed if you began to see prayer as a constant necessity… Rather than some take it or leave it option?
How would your life change if prayer became a potent weapon rather than just a random religious act? Let me leave you with this last verse…
2 Cor 10:4-5 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. One of those weapons… Is prayer!
So I challenge you to begin praying that God will give you a renewed hunger for himself… and the grace to help you seek him more passionately. Ask God to use this series as a springboard to a deeper and closer walk with him. Ask God… to stir your prayer life out of its lukewarmness… and show you how to open the door of your heart… so He can come in and sit on the throne of your heart! Let’s pray…
