A Statewide Call to Pray - Day Forty-Two!

It's been 42 days.  When I was impressed by the Lord to write these blogs, I originally thought it would only be seven days.  The Lord had asked me to call a time of prayer for Texas.  On the eighth day He extended it until August 5th - the eve of The Response in Houston. He added 42 days to our assignment of prayer -- an assignment akin to Elijah's walk through the wilderness that ended at the Mount of the Lord.

And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. And the angel of the LORD came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God. (1 Kings 19:3-8)

As I retired to bed last night I was meditating on this journey.  It's been long. During this time period I've been reading the trilogy by Michael Shaara and his son Jeff on the Civil War: Gods and Generals, The Killer Angels and The Last Full Measure.  I am approximately 200 pages from finishing and the thought that has been running through my mind and heart is the weariness that has set in on both armies of the war.  They "thought" it would be a swift victory.  That one battle.  That quick strike.  But it has gone on and on and on.  Tens of thousands have died.  The bands accompanying the armies are no longer playing the victory chants but dirges and quiet lullabies.

The wilderness journey is an arduous one.  It is not meant to be easy.  It tries our soul.  It tests our spirit.  It pushes our flesh to the limit.  Yes, we might live in a microwave, quick paced world, but that is not how the Lord fashions us.  Seven days from now we will witness the gathering of God's kingdom in Houston for a solemn assembly.  Even as we gather - it is not a quick fix, but another element of our journey in Him as a state and nation. 

One more thought.  I realized in meditating on the 1 Kings 19 passage above that Elijah's wilderness journey started after he arrived at Beersheba -- the place of covenant.  Remember, our journey begins and ends in covenant -- a covenant sealed with our Redeemer's blood.  Let's press on toward the goal!

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead... (Philippians 3:12-13)