Life Down Under

Musings

In the interest of bring an element of closure to my previous post, let me briefly say that we are now the very happy owners of our own dehumidifier. I am definitely looking forward to a drier, slightly warmer, and healthier home. If any of my American readers thought I was exaggerating in my last post, I dare you to come to New Zealand and see for yourself.

Now that we have that important part of life sorted, we can now move on to a discussion of slightly more significant proportion. In this week that we've had off, I have spent a fair amount of time pondering and praying through the season we are in, asking the Lord for His perspective and His thoughts on the matter. Following the hunch that what I am feeling is not representative only of us as a couple or us as a ministry, but perhaps is being felt on a regional, national, or even global scale, I'd like to share some of my recent musings, on a whim that perhaps it may strike a chord in the hearts of some of my readers. Following is an excerpt from an email which I wrote to a friend recently, which summarizes my thoughts quite well.

...This is a season to arise; to contend and hold fast; much is at stake, much hangs in the balance. It is a critical hour. Even as I write this, I am feeling again the sobriety of this...

It seems to me that we are in one of those seasons in which there is a window of time mercifully granted to us from the Father in which we have the choice to respond in wholeheartedness and devotion. It may or may not come as a surprise to you that the landscape of life, soceity, politics, and the church is changing rapidly. The battle between good and evil is raging, perhaps more intensely than ever before. And in light of that, I feel the urgency to arise and stand firm and labor in the place of prayer in order that the purpose of God may be brought forth ~ personally, corporately, nationally, globally. To wrestle with Him through the night until He releases the blessing of His power and presence and glory upon the earth. It's not time to play games anymore. Not that we have been before, but the reality of the significance of the seemingly mundane is pressing in upon us, and is demanding a response proportinate to the intensity of the times.

So, how, then, do we carry our hearts and respond? The only two things I know to do in such a time as this are to pray and fast. With as much grace as Heaven will bestow, pray and fast.