This past year, when Sheldon and I met on Friday nights, God had told us to think big, and not to despise small beginnings, and to see the future. And so we have prayed some incredible prayers. However, now that I’m working more solo, I’m still trying to take some pretty big steps in my prayers of faith as God would lead me.
Lately, the Lord has been asking me, “What do you see?” And as a son I understand that my Father wants me to see beyond the obvious, and then to pray about it. He has also told me not to think or pray small prayers. They don’t necessarily have to be long prayers, but ones that simply reflect God’s heart and will. So I have been doing it. For example, one day a couple months ago I was back in central Washington, where I used to live. I was looking at some fields that surrounded our acreages that were once was covered in natural grasses and wildflowers, but now they were covered mostly with weeds that had spread or blown in; chocking out most of the other plant life. It was a shame to see what had happened over the past twenty years in this county. It was an endless battle trying to kill all the weeds. And this has been happening all over the world. But, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. The garden that God had made for mankind was meant to be beautiful. So I prayed and asked God to remove the curse off our property, our country, and the earth as the result of Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden. And to remove the weeds from our hearts that have also hindered or chocked our relationship with God. What usually happens in the spiritual realm also reflects and affects the natural realm one. This is why we need to change first. As it says in II Chron. 12:7, “If My people who are called by My name, will humble themselves, pray and turn from their wicked ways, then I will forgive them and will heal their land.” (Most of us do not see our own wickedness, that’s the reason the world is the ways it is. But we have to start some place and so it must start with the church, by faith through repentance our prayers.)
Lately, the Lord has been asking me, “What do you see?” And as a son I understand that my Father wants me to see beyond the obvious, and then to pray about it. He has also told me not to think or pray small prayers. They don’t necessarily have to be long prayers, but ones that simply reflect God’s heart and will. So I have been doing it. For example, one day a couple months ago I was back in central Washington, where I used to live. I was looking at some fields that surrounded our acreages that were once was covered in natural grasses and wildflowers, but now they were covered mostly with weeds that had spread or blown in; chocking out most of the other plant life. It was a shame to see what had happened over the past twenty years in this county. It was an endless battle trying to kill all the weeds. And this has been happening all over the world. But, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. The garden that God had made for mankind was meant to be beautiful. So I prayed and asked God to remove the curse off our property, our country, and the earth as the result of Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden. And to remove the weeds from our hearts that have also hindered or chocked our relationship with God. What usually happens in the spiritual realm also reflects and affects the natural realm one. This is why we need to change first. As it says in II Chron. 12:7, “If My people who are called by My name, will humble themselves, pray and turn from their wicked ways, then I will forgive them and will heal their land.” (Most of us do not see our own wickedness, that’s the reason the world is the ways it is. But we have to start some place and so it must start with the church, by faith through repentance our prayers.)
Another time I was sitting in the car waiting to get a pizza, and I felt the Lord ask me, what do you see? I looked and saw a young woman get out of a car and she was extremely skinny. I thought that doesn’t look natural and so I prayed that God would help her and that I cast down that spirit of anorexia and declared that she is free, and that she would see herself through Christ‘s eyes. I also prayed that God would also set others free across the planet from their eating disorders.
Then a few days later, I was in a J.C. Penny department store and I felt God asked me, what do you see? From where I was standing, I saw large photographs of beautiful people everywhere, and manikins draped in the latest clothes fashions, plus racks and tables displaying all kinds of new clothes. I told the Lord, “I see vanity.” Everything there was to try and make people look better on the outside with no thought or cares about the inside. The stores only interest was in making money. (Many people in America have far more clothes than they need while other poor nations struggle to have something to wear. I remember one time seeing a large 40’ container filled with new and use clothes, because there was no longer any interest in them at the Goodwill Store, so they were hauling them to the dump, because it was too expensive to do anything else with them. That to me was a shame on our society.) Anyway I asked God to forgive us, and America, for our vanity. To help us see our true self. Some people spend more time in front of the mirror, than they do considering what is really mattered to God. “Man looks on the outside, but God looks on the heart.”
Again, one evening I went out for a walk and I saw papers and trash all over the street and in yards that people had thrown from their cars after leaving a local convenient store. I was seeing how lazy and careless some people had become. This was reflection of their heart and attitude. Garbage in and garbage out, and where are we going to put it all? Only God can clean up the mess we’ve made of His creation, both on this planet and of mankind. Again I prayed, Father forgive us for we know not what we do. I wondered what this world would look like a hundred or even a thousand years from now. God help us! And give us wisdom on how to restore this world and people’s lives. On my way back to our apartment, I picked up some of the garbage and then put it in a trash bin.
Then this last week I saw lots of moths in one of our fir trees and lots of rust on the water pipes I was repairing, I prayed that God would remove the curse of pestilences, rust and mildew from the earth that devour the beauty of His creation. I also prayed that He would remove the pride, greed and thoughts of lust from my heart that devour my time and emotions that I seem to be unable to remove. My point in sharing all this is that as sons and daughter of God we need to speak bigger prayers—to declare things as though they are. I know to some people this may sound crazy, but God wants us to restore this world and His people. So how is it going to happen if we don’t pray and speak those things that are not as though they are? That’s what faith is all about. Right? We need to think outside the box, beyond our self and beyond our personal family. We need to speak and act on behalf of future generations. God wants us to pray, and pray His will and see heaven on earth once again. “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
