Be Sober & Pray Fervently

Be Sober and Pray

I have been like the rest of you watching the news and thinking that society has really taken a turn for the worse. We are seeing the days of Noah and Lot just like Jesus prophesied to the disciples. We have now been hearing of warnings coming to the church this November. I am not here to discredit the warnings. I believe God does give us warnings; however, they are conditional.

The days of Noah

We see in several places in scripture where God gave a warning. He would search and find someone to stand in the gap for people or nations. God gives a way to prevent destruction from happening or he provides a way for people to avoid perishing. We see this with Noah. God said He was going to destroy the world. Noah a righteous man would have been preaching about the pending doom, and it was up to the people at the time to heed the warnings and make a change. Because of stubbornness, they missed the only chance to live. They did not enter the ark and perished rather than surviving.

The days of Lot

We see in the days of Lot, Abraham pleaded with God that if there were 50, 30, or even only 10 righteous people living in Sodom and Gomorrah, would He spare it? God told Abraham if there were 10, they would be saved. Well there was only Lot and his family, but God gave them a means to get out before destruction came down upon the cities. We know what happened to Lot’s wife as she disobeyed the instructions by God.

Praying for our nation

I have been praying for our nation and the mess we are in. We see the rise of a far-left coup trying to take over our government and steal the presidency away in order to bring on their globalist views. Some members of the millennial generation are rising up with the BLM to destroy our nation and the foundational values of this nation. We see the hatred between certain ethnic groups.

Jesus even said

that nation will rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Matthew 24:7-8.

Ethnic groups rising up

If you look at the Greek word for nation it is ethnos where we get the word ethnic today. We have so many different ethnic groups, and some of them rising up against each other. For example on the news we see the BLM organization rising up against Law Enforcement. We see the left (democrats) rising up against the right (republicans).

This isn’t about politics. Jesus said when we see these things it is the beginning of sorrows and that the time wasn’t yet.

God took me to 1 Peter 4:7-9.

But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging.

We see some things that we need to get ourselves engaged in today. When Peter was speaking here, he was talking about an impending doom. Sound familiar? The destruction or the end of all things happened approximately 10 years later when Rome destroyed the temple. Again, we have been hearing words about impending doom and destruction, then we as the church have some things to do.

Peter told the church at the time to:

Be sober and be watchful. He is saying do not be drunk but be awake, and watchful and be ready to pray. The definition of sober is do not be given to wine (drunk) but be ready. We have to be ready and watchful of what is going on. Are we allowing the things in the news to hinder our prayer life, or are we bringing our prayers before God?
We are called to be in fervent prayer without ceasing in charity or love. The bible calls us to pray with such a fervency towards each other, and not bicker at each other but show love. If we would take time to lift each other up in prayer, we wouldn’t be facing this problem. In Ephesians, it says we should sing psalms and praises to each other. I don’t see where it says to curse them because they don’t feel the same way that you do. When we pray for each other we need to pray out of a place of love, and when we do, we will see things happen. It is only when we act in love do we see things change, or miracles happen.
We are called to be hospitable towards one another without grudging, griping, moaning, or speaking ill. We can’t be two-faced where we act one way in front of people and then curse them behind their back. I have seen this happen in the church way too much. If you don’t fit in, people will love on you face to face and then behind your back, they will curse you and speak ill towards you. Oh, the stories I could tell, but that wouldn’t be right.
1 Peter 4:11 tells us that we need to get back into speaking sermons and minister the glory of God. We all have received ministry gifts, but the question I have to ask is are you doing them unto God or yourself? Who gets the glory?

Getting back to righteousness

It is time we get back into the days of preaching on the righteousness of God and the goodness of his Grace. So many today are confused as to what grace really is. Today our focus should be on the gospel rather than on our surroundings.

Here in northwest Florida, our lives changed all because of a Cat 5 hurricane. If I preached each week on the storm and the damage it caused, then how am I giving God glory? If I talk about the destruction going on in America, how am I preaching the gospel? We need to be examples to the rest of the world on how we can stand strong through the atrocities that are going on.

I am not saying it is easy to do but that is why we need to increase our prayer life. We need to begin praying in a fervent manner. Again, fervent means without ceasing. So, we need to pray, pray, and pray some more without giving up and quitting because we see a change happening. It means, we keep coming back to the Father saying, “Remember my prayer for this nation, Dad.” We need that childlike faith.

I have a 2-year-old son, and when he wants something he keeps asking, asking, asking, until he gets what he wants. Many circles say and teach we are not to do that to God. I find that interesting because with fervent prayer we keep bringing our needs to him. The Lord even says remind me of my words. Well then, we have the right as dear children to keep coming back to the Father with our decrees until we get what we want **as long as it is scriptural**.

Fervent prayer and worship

We need to get back to a place of fervent prayer and worship. By doing so we will see a move across our land that we have not seen before.

I hear the Lord saying, it is time for My Church to awake. You cannot sleep any longer. Now is the time, and it is important that My Church wakes up and revives itself. It is time to shake off the days of old and put on the garments of praise, the garments of prayer, and come boldly before Me. It is time My Church, it is time, says the Lord. Wake now or you will miss what I am trying to do upon your land, says the Lord. If you choose to continue to sleep, I will wake you up with a shaking, says the Lord. I will wake up My Church by any means necessary, says the Lord. It is time to awake and mobilize. The time is now, says the Lord. AWAKE!!!!

It is time we stop watching things happen and begin to mobilize our prayer teams, our worship teams, and our ministry teams. We need to saturate the atmosphere with praise, worship, and prayer. It is time we move.

We can’t miss what God is trying to do. We must move forward with a new boldness and begin to pray.

God Bless,

Eric Schroeder