A Statewide Call to Pray! Day Twenty-Four

Thanks to Merrie Cardin of Granbury for today's blog.

It is my conviction that the typical American Christian is a bit mixed up about hope.  I confess to my own weakness in having propensity to connect hope with circumstances which  “I” hoped for.  Actually, Romans 5 tells us that true hope springs out of tribulation, patience and character.  As we draw near to The Response let us focus our hope on the ONE we are responding to.  He is alluring His people to Himself as He allows us to connect our hope solidly to Him who brings the rain.  The prophet Hosea heard the Lord speak of treasure in a wilderness.  He saw and spoke of the Father “alluring” a people to Himself in a wilderness and causing covenant love to be restored.

'Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

Will bring her into the wilderness,

And speak comfort to her. 

I will give her her vineyards from there,
And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope;
She shall sing there,
As in the days of her youth,
As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. 

"And it shall be, in that day,"

Says the Lord,

"That you will call Me 'My Husband,'

And no longer call Me 'My Master' (Hosea 2:14-16) 

The “therefore” in vs. 14 refers to the fact that Israel had trusted in Baal for rain and productivity.  God was going to use a dry desert to “allure” His people.  His desire was that a desert place would cause a return to HIM.  He wanted to comfort and bless His people.  Why do we tend to connect our “desert test” with punishment?  (1 John 4:17-19)  We experience confidence in the day of judgment  because we allow His Love to kick out worldly fear!  Let’s go hear His words of comfort and see our future vineyards that are planted in this place.

The valley of Achor means the valley of troubling.  It refers to the sin of Achan at the battle of Jericho.  (Joshua 6-7) A loving Father so wanted his people to trust Him and prosper and so He told them to not touch the riches inside those walls of Jericho.  However, Achan took gold and silver (mammon) and a beautiful Babylonian mantle (giving our identity to the world).  He buried those items inside his tent and hoped no one would know.  Go figure!  He is Yahweh Sees.

So, I speak to the people of a living God who are living tabernacles/tents!  Do we have buried deep within us false trust?  How much of our identity have we given over to the world systems even in the church?  Our Father wants His Love to unearth all of this and allow that valley to become a door of hope in us!  He says that our covenant love will be restored and all the false things that have attempted to “master” us will be done away with.  That sounds like revival rain to me!

For several weeks I have felt such an unusual intensity in prayer to see awakening in the American church!  May Texas travail in prayer! May we hear our Dad in the drought!  May we allow Him to show us our future vineyards and comfort us with His beauty.  May all of your past troubled valleys now become Hope!   May the sound of rain fill our hearts.