The Cry Of A Christian Heart

The Cry of a Christian Heart

Sunday, January 06, 2019 – 6 pm

By Rev. James May

The most prolific writer of the New Testament was the Apostle Paul as he wrote many letters to the church of his day. How much he thought of the church that would be around in 2019 I don’t know, but the words he was inspired to write are eternal and they reach out to us right now just as powerfully as they did when he wrote them.

Paul had come a long way, from being one who persecuted the church, to being converted on the road to Damascus and being filled with the Holy Ghost prior to stepping out onto the pages of church history as the Apostle to the Gentiles.

But Paul was a Jew who had been trained in the greatest schools of Israel on the Law of Moses. At one place he refers to himself as a Pharisee among the Pharisees, meaning that no one could best him at the knowledge of the Law and how to force men to comply to it. He was a great debater, even at one point taking on the seekers of mysteries among the great thinkers of the Greeks on Mars Hill, where he declared unto them the Lord Jesus Christ as the one they knew only as “The unknown God”.

One thing that Paul had was a heart after God. When he was converted he “got the real thing”. This gospel was no plaything to him. When he gave his heart and soul to Jesus, he did so without reservation, committing his life to the preaching of the gospel at all costs, and counted everything as loss in this world, so that he might comprehend all that he could about Jesus and have a greater revelation of the power of the Holy Spirit.

One man, fully committed and sold out to God, under the anointing of the Holy Ghost, laid the foundation of the church upon the same foundation that Jesus had laid for there is no other foundation that will stand the test of time and eternity. The words that he spoke revealed the very heart and nature of Jesus to a world that was lost and dying in the sin of darkness.

As I look around today, I still see that same world! It’s a lost and dying world, steeped in idolatry and wandering around without eyes to see, ears to hear, and unable to come to the Truth of the gospel which has the power to see men free.

It’s a sad thing to look around you, everywhere you go, into the eyes of people you meet and know that the great majority of them are living without hope of eternal life. The worst part about it is that they don’t know that they are blind and being led astray to fall off of the cliff of life into the pits of the flames. Many go there daily, and there they will remain forever! What a terrible thought, to know that the very people you see in Walmart today may be burning in the pits of hell tomorrow.

As I see this I am reminded of the words that Paul wrote in the Book of Romans as he looked at the spiritual blindness and hopeless darkness which engulfed his own people in Israel. Paul saw them as men walking blind in a deep spiritual darkness; as men grasping for straws of hope but never having a full reassurance and hope of being delivered because the Truth that would give them freedom was completely rejected.

You can sense the sorrow, the concern for their souls and Paul’s heart given to him by Christ, as he spoke about the lost condition of his fellowman.

Romans 10:1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

I want to tell you that this prayer and this heart’s desire should be in every one of us right now!

I know that we are all concerned about lost souls, especially those of our own household. We are concerned about the condition of our nation and of other nations and people around the world. Like Paul, our heart’s cry is Lord, send a mighty revival! Send the Outpouring of the Last Days! Send the wave of reformation one more time! So many are lost, and they need salvation!

May prayer, every day is, “Lord draw people into your kingdom. Help us to be strong and ready to each out to everyone we can.”

Yes, I am concerned about the sick! Yes, I do care about seeing our brothers and sisters in the church being blessed. But nothing is more important than the saving of the lost!

Many times I am moved upon during prayer services to go beyond the prayer for the physical body, to see beyond the true source of that which is bringing death and sickness upon the body, and to seek God to move upon the heart and soul of those who sick.