In these thirty four years of my life, I have only played on any kind of organized sports league for about three years. In fourth through sixth grade I played Miamisburg Rec. League Basketball. As I look back on those years of discovering my unathletic ability, I remember that I always like playing defense better than offense. I liked defense better because I was always better at blocking a ball ( I was tall for my age, so that helped) than I was at shooting the ball. In fact, I remember praying during the game that no one would pass the ball to me. And that is not the only time I have prayed on the defense.
Tonight during the men's accountability group we were looking at Acts 4 in the Bible. Acts 4:23-31 records the prayer of Christ Followers as they were facing there first onslaught of threats of persecution. The powers to be had told them in no uncertain terms to stop worshipping and preaching Jesus Christ. So, the Christ Followers all gathered for prayer.
What would I pray, if people were threatening to make me stop preaching Christ, if I did not stop my own? I can tell you what I would pray...I would pray for God to protect me and stop them. In other words, I would pray on the defense.
However, the Christ Followers in Acts, prayed just the opposite...they prayed on the offense. Listen to their prayer in Acts 4:29-30, "Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus." That is no prayer of defense...it is a prayer of offense! They don't pray for God to stop the threats but to give them courage in the face of the threats. They don't pray for the enemies of God to shut up, but for the people of God to speak up. They don't pray for the hand of Satan to no longer to be seen, but for the hand of God to be seen all the more clearer in the presence of evil.
In response to their prayers, the Bible says in verse 31, "After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly."
Do you want to see God shake things up? Instead of being filled with worry, fear, stress, sadness and weariness, do you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Instead of cowering on the defense, do you want to be bold in your faith? Then don't just play offense, pray it!
Instead of praying for God to put prayer back in school, let's pray for God to raise up students who are so on fire for God that nothing can extinguish what God will do through them.
Instead of praying for legislation to be passed to uphold our morals, let's pray for we the Church to shine so bright with God's love that those who are around us can't help but be transformed by the love of Christ.
Instead of praying for God to protect us from evil, let's pray for God to use us to put evil on the run.
Instead of praying for God to make our lives so easy that we never have to deal with any trouble, let's pray that even in the face of trouble God would make us courageous in him.
That is one of the reasons I love Baptism and Child dedication Sunday (this Sunday, October 26, at 11 AM). In Child dedications, parents are saying, "We know that we live in a broken world, but by faith we believe that He that is in us is greater than that which is in the world." Child dedication is an act of praying on the offense on behalf of a child. Baptism is also a bold and offensive move. It is a Follower of Christ making the decision to no longer allow his or her Faith in Christ to remain private. It is a courageous step of publicly proclaiming that without Christ I am dead even while I live, but with Christ I am alive even if I die! This Sunday, is going to be a powerful day of praying on the offense. I want to invite you to be with us...show up and I believe together we see God shake us up, fill us up and send us out with a renewed sense of boldness.
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