I have written many times about how proud I am to be part of the intercessory prayer team at Grace Church St. Louis. There has never been a time when I’ve left one of our gatherings that I did not experience the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in our midst. As you know, I have written many times about the fallen state of our culture, and the prayer team targets our city, our state and the nation every time we get together. That particular commitment is what drew me to the prayer team.
If you are unfamiliar with “intercessory prayer”, Mike Bickle, author of “Growing in Prayer”, provides this definition: “Intercession is prayer for others – the lost, the oppressed, missions, families, friends, the church, leaders in government and in every sphere of society. Intercession is prayer that is in agreement with what God promises to do.” The fact that Jesus intercedes on our behalf reveals how important intercession is. Hebrews 7:25 tells us, “He (Jesus) always (forever) makes intercession for us.” The purpose of His interceding is to release God’s power to and through us.”
Our church is not only concerned about the moral and spiritual decline of our society, but offers programs and activities to counteract this decline. Most recently, the focus of the intercessory prayer services has been to break down strongholds that harbor and perpetuate this moral and spiritual decay. And so we pray for revival in the mind and hearts of our leaders. (For clarity sake, a definition of “stronghold” is in order here. Again, I’ll turn to Mike Bickle: “A stronghold is a collection of ideas that are in agreement with Satan’s lies and accusations against the truth of God. They are lies about God, who He is, and what He says He will do. When we receive, meaning when we accept these lies, they bind our hearts in darkness.”) Not only can we have personal strongholds to deal with, but whole geographic regions can be affected by the same lies and demonic darkness that affects the minds and hearts of its leaders.
I realize that the subject I am writing about will be totally foreign to any non-believer who might be reading this. To those who exist only in the natural realm, a discussion about the spiritual realm is gobbledygook or nonsense to them. Apostle Paul addressed this in 1 Corinthians 1:18:2:24 “I know very well how foolish the message of the cross sounds to those who are on the road to destruction. But we who are being saved recognize this message as the very power of God. But people who aren’t Christians can’t understand these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them because only those who have the Spirit can understand the truth hidden in the spiritual realm.
Unfortunately, our society is a secular society that keeps sinking deeper and deeper into a black quagmire of disobedience because it elevates the truth of man over the truth of God. Throughout the Bible there are accounts of people and societies that were in line with God’s will, and they were blessed. But there are also accounts of people and societies that turned away from God, much like our country today, and the consequences of such an action were disastrous. (Remember Sodom and Gomorrah?) The only way to gain insight and wisdom about the truth of that event is to be familiar with God, and to be familiar with the truth of His Word. Unfortunately, that is a practice that has certainly fallen out of favor with our culture. In fact, the Bible is mocked and ridiculed – even prohibited in some cases, by secular laws.
Our country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. In fact, those very principles were in the minds and hearts of our Founders as they wrote a timeless Constitution. In a book by James D. Best entitled “A Republic…If You Can Keep It”, he recounts the following scenario. “At the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Franklin was queried as he left Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation. A lady asked Dr. Franklin, “Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a democracy?” Franklin replied, “A republic . . . if you can keep it.” Our Constitution created a limited representative republic. A republic is different from a democracy, in that in a democracy, the majority can directly make laws; in a republic, elected representatives make laws. Basically, in a pure democracy, the majority has unlimited power, whereas in a republic, a written constitution limits the majority and provides safeguards for individuals and minorities.
This has been true of all cultures throughout history; governing bodies can affect the shape of the culture based on the agenda from which they govern. For instance, if the agenda is to perpetuate freedom and prosperity, with a time-honored moral compass (Judeo Christian principles), there is, generally speaking, a concerted attempt to live within those boundaries. But today those traditional values have come under attack by a “new way of thinking”, which proudly presents this all-important “hook”: “Things will be better for everyone this way.” That hoped-to-be governing body is what I have referred to many times as the Liberal Progressive Agenda, (LPA). Below is how I see, what I believe to be, an evil agenda.
The LPA is an agenda wrapped in wealth, power and control. “It” seems to be under the umbrella of a huge, bureaucratic government that believes the more “it” can make the populace dependent on government, the more “it” can control the populace. “It” believes in the distribution of wealth, ie. those who have earned wealth and status should be mandated to share it with those who have not; “it” believes in high taxation to keep the “gravy train” coming; “it” believes in chip, chip, chipping away at traditional values on which this great country was founded, ie. the Constitution, traditional family values, and religious freedom; “it” professes freedom of speech, yet vilifies anyone who expresses a different opinion, hence…political correctness; “it” professes a disdain for “Wallstreet”, yet allows those who further the LPA to become billionaires at taxpayer expense, ie. the “green energy industry”, and the “abortion industry”; “it” keeps people divided rather than unified, ie. today’s political tension fanned by such inflammatory words as “racist”, “white supremacism”, “xenophobe”, “homophobe”, or “misogynist”, and last but not least; ”it” never lets a crisis go by without making political gain, ie turning the mass shootings of the past week into a political platform. (This list is by no means complete, but it serves my purpose for this article.)
The biggest obstacle facing the LPA in advancing its agenda is the inconvenient truth of God and His Word. Therefore, the latter has to be marginalized, ridiculed and condemned as “out of touch”, “out dated” “nonsense” or just too confining for man’s “enlightened” way of thinking. Over the years we have seen an assault on the 10 Commandments, public prayer,religious symbols and holidays, and the concept of truth. Today truth is popularly defined as “relative”, meaning it depends on the circumstances. Unfortunately, this agenda is perpetuated by an intelligentsia that believes the more “gray area” it can create around traditional values (traditional family unit, religious freedom, tolerance, etc.) the more it has wiggle-room to redefine and advance its agenda. And I would be amiss if I didn’t give credit to the obvious co-conspirators in this “new way of thinking”: the press, the media, the entertainment industry, and a plethora of wealthy backers whose intent is to numb down and dumb down our society, while at the same time creating and establishing a new norm. This is happening right now, right before our very eyes.
What I just wrote about is an example of a “cultural stronghold” as referenced above: “a collection of ideas that are in agreement with Satan’s lies and accusations against the truth of God. What we see represented in the insidious LPA is motivated by greed and the desire for more wealth, power and control. The more the LPA can edge God out of our culture, the easier it is to accomplish its purpose.
So, can the direction of our culture be reversed? In my opinion, not by a political solution. Since the crux of this problem is a spiritual problem, I believe the answer can only be found in a spiritual solution. The God we serve is bigger than our cultural malaise The good news can be found in 2 Chronicles, 7:14: “… if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.”
This is why intercessory prayer is so vitally important. NOW is the time for action! Individual prayer, and especially intercessory prayer, is the very power of God at work! We are doing what Jesus is doing on our behalf…calling on God to release His power of the Holy Spirit through us. We are asking God to provide revelation of the Truth in the hearts and minds of our leaders, and to heal our city, our state and our nation. We need all the workers we can get. The challenge is great, but our God is GREATER than any challenge!
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May God Bless Ya…
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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