The Kingdom Series – ‘Praying with Holy Fire While the World is On Fire’

     The world is on fire! This is how many have described what is happening in nations all around the world, including along the southern border of the United States. I honestly do not think it would be possible for me to list all the examples occurring at this very moment of just how true that statement is.

     As believer’s, we know that a nation’s greatest problems are not primarily economically or politically, but spiritually. The Psalms make it clear how eventually the wicked, and any nation that forgets God shall be turned into hell (see Ps 9:17). A nation or people will be blessed or cursed based on their response to the claims of God’s Word.  

     I recently ran across an article describing the events surrounding the life of former Wheaton College President, Raymond Edman. Being a student at Wheaton College one summer a number of years ago, a chord was struck in my spirit when I heard what had happened to Edman.

     While serving as a missionary to the natives in the Andes Mountains in Equador, Raymond Edman, who was only 23 years old and newly married, contracted the deadly typhus fever.

     The story relates how his illness was extremely severe. Physicians told his young wife he would not survive. To prepare for the inevitable she dyed her wedding dress black and a casket was purchased for the funeral.

     Raymond Edman, delirious with fever, saw his life pass before his eyes. He knew in his heart he was dying. But as he lay in his bed waiting for the end to come, he became aware of a divine Presence in his room. Here is how He recounts his story: “In those moments I experienced a sweet sense of the love of God in Christ such as I had never known before in all the years of my life. So overwhelming and stupendous was this love that the life beyond became ineffably beautiful and infinitely better than any possible condition in this present existence.

     The testimony continues how moments followed of such sacred intimate fellowship with the Lord that it was impossible to attempt to retell it except to say Edman no longer feared dying.

     Unbeknownst to Raymond and his grieving wife at the time, a small group of Christians in Massachusetts were on their knees crying out to God on his behalf. Their agony of spirit was so intense that they missed the lunch hour as they interceded for the ailing missionary.

     By mid-afternoon, they sensed in their spirits that their prayers for Raymond, 3500 miles away, were answered. And indeed they were! He was miraculously loosed from the clutches of death and gradually regained his health. He ultimately fathered four sons, wrote 19 books, mentored multitudes of students and left a great legacy of faith for others to follow.

     What comes through in this story is the amazing power of prayer to move the heart and hand of God! While He is truly all-powerful and doesn’t need us, our God chooses to partner with us and respond to us through our prayers. As John Wesley once stated, ‘God does nothing but in answer to prayer’.

     God is looking for those who will give Him no rest. Those who burn with holy fire praying fervently for God to bring a backslidden church and a dying nation back to Him and back to life.

     This morning I read from Acts 24:25 and what I believe is a stunning yet timely word. In the text Paul is speaking to Felix the governor of Palestine. “Now as he (Paul) reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.”

     Included in Paul’s words, was the message of judgment to come, and Felix did not want to hear anything about it. He was afraid and knew what Paul was discussing was serious. But Felix did not want to hear what Paul had to say. Yet his not wanting to hear about it would not rescue him from eventually facing it.  

     How many really understand how desperate these times are and that the world really is on fire? How many will not quit crying out until the prophesied Great Awakening arrives? More than the survival of a nation, the souls of multitudes are hanging in the balance.

     Oh God as this present world burns, keep the fires of intercession ever burning in our hearts until Your Kingdom comes and Your Will is done in every corner of the earth, just as it is in Heaven!

(Portions taken from an article from One Cry Ministries)