So many good things have happened in the first eight weeks that I’ve started to forget some of them.

Last week as we were leaving Thomas and Carissa (two awesome pro lifers) brought up Terence. I had

not thought about him since the update that mentioned him was sent out – which means I had also

stopped praying for him.

Terence is the homeless man who approached us as we were packing up who showed us his bullet

wounds and stab wounds. I told Thomas I had forgotten and he smiled and pointed to heaven and said

he hadn’t forgotten.

As humans we’re frail and forgetful, but God is the exact opposite. That might be why God said, “Be

strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go

with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” – Deuteronomy 31:6. And then later in the New

Testament it was repeated, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such

things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” – Hebrews 13:5

Even when it seems the world has forgotten us, God still remembers. In fact, he sent us a message in the

person of Jesus Christ that he loves us. And he leads his flock (all of us) to the spiritual battlefield with

that same message of love.

And sometimes it can be very, very specific. Last week a pro lifer walked up to me and said, “God told

me the security guard is having car troubles. Please pray for him.”

If you’ve been following the pro life stories where I’m involved you already know the recurring theme is

my cynicism. I definitely wasn’t going to be praying about his car… mainly because I struggle with

“revelation.” Ironically, another pro life had already prayed with me that very day asking for

“revelation.”

A couple days later I was thinking about the events of the day and I reflected on the very first moments

of the day. When I arrived early that morning the only car in the parking lot was the security guard. And I

remember thinking, “It’s really odd that he’s brought his wife or girlfriend to sit with him for the entire

day. He must get REALLY bored out here.”

They sat in the car for fifteen or twenty minutes and then he got out of the car with his sack lunch and

his water and she drove off. The pro lifer who told me about his car troubles arrived hours later – and I

didn’t connect the dots until days later.

Could he really be having car trouble? Is God that specific?

I’m not saying it’s proof positive – it could very well be a coincidence … but this cynic has seen enough

miracles to know that we should probably be praying for Chris and his car troubles. ;-)

And I completely forgot to mention the cool free stuff we all received last Saturday. We were all given

free t-shirts that say, “Ready or not, here I come – Jesus.”

Jesus has arrived on the grass in front of the Plano Planned Parenthood. And long before any of us

thought about Plano, TX he had sent faithful prayer warriors to soften up the enemy stronghold. And

this Saturday we get another opportunity to walk with God and talk with God. And God speaks to us

(and this world) through his faithful servants – I get ministered to in ways that never occurred in the

decades I sat in a church pew.

Standing with all of you is like having a walking, talking Bible with me.

Everyone who is reading this has a gift from God. And sadly many Christians keep their gifts bottled up

inside of them and never share them with the world. Imagine if someone gave you an unlimited supply

of the world’s tastiest chocolate chip cookies and you never shared them. Pretty soon you would get

sick of those cookies and you might want to eat everything EXCEPT chocolate chip cookies – but all of

your friends and neighbors would have been thrilled to get a batch or two.

And that’s what we’re supposed to do with our spiritual gifts. God intended for us to share them! The

Bible tells us that it is better give than to receive, “I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye

ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more

blessed to give than to receive.” – Acts 20:35

Who is the “weak” among us? Isn’t it the unborn babies, the frightened mothers, and the homeless man

lost in the dessert?

The gift that God has given you is a lot better than chocolate chip cookies -- I know that might seem hard

to believe if you enjoy chocolate chip cookies as much as me, but it’s true. God may have given you the

gift of being a great listener or perhaps a great speaker. He might have given you the gift of hearing the

voice of the Holy Spirit – or seeing the pain in others. The list is very, very long when it comes to spiritual

gifts.

God wants to pour our spiritual gifts out on the grass in front of the Plano Planned Parenthood – but

God has also given us the gift of free will. The Lord leads a volunteer army that is based on “conversion”

and not “coercion”. None of us are forced to serve God and that speaks to his personality – our God is

the source of freedom. Freedom to separate ourselves from Him or to walk with Him and receive the

many blessings he has for us.

And I don’t mean we’re going to have worldly riches and drive a Mercedes (although God has rich

servants too, which is a special calling) … but rather, that we will be spiritually blessed. Most of us know

the scripture verse, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” – Colossians 3:2

Often what keeps us from serving God is our worldly desires (career, secular goals for our family, etc.).

However, those desires are temporal and they will not last, “The world and its desires pass away, but

whoever does the will of God lives forever.” 1 John 2:17

Let that soak in for a minute. God isn’t trying to punish anyone. God is saying, “In my hand is eternal life

… which I give to you.”

Imagine eternal life on Earth without God! That would be hell. And many lost sinners are focused on life

extension because their struggle on Earth is their only hope, but Christians no longer have to fear death!

And that’s because Jesus Christ defeated death on the cross.

Of course, not fearing death is easier said than done! ;-)

According to the Bible what awaits the faithful servants of God is awesome, “No eye has seen, no ear

has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him —but God has

revealed it to us by his Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 2:9-10

Why wouldn’t we want to share that with others? We can even tell the world who it is that prepared

this wonderful place, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto

myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” – John 14:3

The other promise in that verse is striking: I WILL COME AGAIN!

And that brings us back to the t-shirts, “Ready or not, here I come!” The Bible tells us how the world is

going to react to that second coming, “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh

as a thief in the night.” 1 Thessalonians 5:2

When Christ returns triumphant the fallen world will be shocked. We see all the signs of a world not

preparing for that day: sexual perversion, abortion, etc. But the good news is that the Christians in

Dallas, Texas were called to prepare the way for his coming!

I mean that quite literally.

Even as those prayer warriors prepared a path for us – we’re supposed to prepare the path for Jesus

Christ. And that path is on the grass in front of Planned Parenthood. A warning sign to a fallen world:

God is returning!

“Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman

of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not

have suffered his house to be broken up.” – Matt. 24:42-43

We are the fulfillment of scripture – even as John the Baptist prepared the way before the first coming

of Jesus Christ. “The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the

purpose of prayer.” 1 Peter 4:7

Peter tells Christians to be perseverant in prayer. Here is what perseverant means, “To continue in a

course of action even in the face of difficulty or with little or no prospect of success.”

To the untrained eye it might seem like we’re fighting a losing battle. The United States Supreme court

legalized human sacrifice and more recently they gave their seal of approval to sexual perversion.

Despite their eloquence our political leaders have not stopped human sacrifice. It continues in every

state in the union – even after videos showing the atrocities have been seen by the world.

The only debate is to stop giving the group federal dollars. Nobody is voting to shut them down.

We pray because we know that God is victorious and that through our relationship with Jesus Christ we

too are MORE than conquerors, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that

loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor

things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to

separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37-39

These scriptures give us the clarity of why we’re praying. And why we’re called to the spiritual

battlefield. The Supreme Court, a fallen United States Congress, a fallen President, and fallen state

legislature are simply no match for God.

The Bible says that EVERY knee shall bow and EVERY tongue confess – including our fallen leaders,

“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at

the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the

earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Philippians 2:10-11

Every Supreme Court Justice will kneel. Every President that has ever lived will kneel. Every King and

every Queen in recorded history will bow before His throne. And today we pray before the throne of

mercy covered in the blood of a perfect king – but sinners will soon kneel before a throne of judgment.

And there will be no long discourses defending the sin that surrounds us.

There only be weeping. And then the final judgment.

According to the Bible, sinners who reject God will sacrifice the only thing they have left to give: their

eternal existence. They will get their just reward for murdering, lying, stealing, etc. What is their “just”

reward for rebellion against God? Eternal life separated from God: Hell.

We stand at the gates of hell to rescue sinners in the name and at the behest of Jesus Christ. We were

given clear instructions, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” – Mark

16:15

What is the gospel? The word literally means “good news”. And the good news is that Jesus Christ was

born according to the scriptures which prophesied his coming, lived a sinless life for our benefit, and

then freely sacrificed his life on the cross so that we could be born again (e.g., given a second chance)

and then defeated death and rose again on the third day.

And God chose us to deliver it! Woohoo! “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy

nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of

darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of

God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.” 1 Peter 2:9-10

A friend of mine said to me last week, “You know… these prayer vigils are how it’s going to be in heaven.

People who attend different churches but we’re all one body of Christ.”

Jews and Gentiles are grafted together on the grass in front of the Plano Planned Parenthood as one

body in Christ. All of us adopted as children God through the death of Jesus Christ. The Jew and the

Gentile rarely stand together in church – but they do on the spiritual battlefield!

But our hearts are fickle and our strength weak – okay, at least that’s true for me! And it always come

back to the same issue: my goals and God’s goals. And so I ask God for the strength to overcome my

selfish desires and my selfish ways to use the precious time that remains to serve Him.

We know that even with those worldly desires and distractions we still have enormous amounts of time

to give to the Lord and yet so many Christians let those hours slip away on worthless investments:

television for 5 or 6 hours, internet, music, etc. And some of us are so consumed by our work that we

decide to keep working when we get home. We’ve been blessed with so much free time we don’t even

know what to do with it.

Thankfully God told us what to do with it, “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” – Ephesians

5:6

I remember reading that scripture verse as a kid and it made no sense to me. It wasn’t until I was older

and I started redeeming coupons that it finally clicked. That coupon was good for a sandwich! It could be

converted into something that I actually wanted. And the same is true of “time” – it can be converted

into something beautiful and priceless if we give it to God.

Imagine what would have if you gave a McDonald’s coupon to the mailman. You wouldn’t get anything

in return except perhaps a curious look. Similarly, when we stare at the television for hours we don’t a

thank you or a special reward. Nothing happens.

But God converts our sacrifice of time into His glory. If you give your money to the best investment

advisor in the world he might get you a good return… but nothing even close to the spiritual return that

God will give you for your investment of time on the spiritual battlefield.

There is no better use of your time on the planet Earth. Period.

I understand from untold hours of personal experience the temptation that keeps us from serving God.

We want watch to television because we’re bored with God. God doesn’t excite our senses like the

fallen world. God asks so much of us, while the fallen world asks us relax on the couch or our bed and

stop using our minds and let a sinner direct our thoughts.

We even call them “directors”.

And so we waste hour after fruitless hour passively watching television and filling our minds with

thoughts that come from men and women separated from God. We all know how Satan derails the

Christians who are not on the sidewalk and what they’re “busy” doing: watching television, listening to

secular music, and surfing the web. And these “directors” chip away at our conscience which results in

Christians committing adultery, fornication, stealing, coveting, etc. The goal is to separate us from the

love of God and His will for our lives and replace it with a lie.

Praise the Lord! God has given us all the time we need to start a revival in Plano, TX.

The only open question is whether the Christians in Plano and the surrounding cities will redeem their

time for a revival or use their time for something else.

They’re like talents in the New Testament – God gave us gifts with the expectation that they would be

invested in others and multiply. And when we are selfish with our time and our gifts the Bible is very

clear on how God responds, “But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew

that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have

invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with

interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has

will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will

be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be

weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” – Matt. 25:26-30

If you can sing and play the guitar – God wants it on the spiritual battlefield. If you can draw beautiful

pictures – God wants it on the spiritual battlefield. If you’re an awesome organizer then God wants

those skills used for this glory. If you’re a talent chef then God wants that food on the spiritual

battlefield.

The only limit is our willingness to obey God.

-Steve