Thoughts on Prayer and Fasting

Carter Conlon from the historic Times Square Church in New York City. There is a divine purpose for your life and for my life on the earth. I am not called to live for myself. I'm called to live for the glory of God and for the salvation of the lost in this world.

That's the calling of God on my life. Welcome to A Call to the Nation and this week's message from Pastor Carter Conlon today in Psalm 78. It's a message about a certain group of people who turned back from a day in battle. But why did they do such a thing?

Why did they not have the strength to move forward? Let's discover more about this puzzling reaction as we join Carter with today's message titled, Thoughts on Prayer and Fasting. I want to look at something in Psalm 78. If you have your Bible, I would appreciate if you could turn there with me in Psalm 78.

I want to talk to you about a certain group of people that turned back from the battle. Psalm 78 verse 9, just one verse, says, The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. Now the children of Ephraim, now you remember Joseph was one of the sons and he was sold off into Egypt. And during the seven plentiful years he gave birth to his son, or he had a son called Ephraim. So Ephraim was the son of Plenty. He was a boy raised when there was all kinds of food, there were crops, it wasn't a season of hardship. And these are the descendants of Ephraim and they are a type, I guess, of us who have been raised in a culture of Plenty. Not that everybody has had an equal share of that, I understand that. But in essence, we have had it, no matter how hard it has been, we've had it a lot easier than some people in the past have had it.

In other places and at other times. And you can just see these children of Ephraim, another translation talks about they had armor, they had bows. In other words, there was talk at least of the battle and I suppose they had been to spiritual warfare conferences. They had gotten their armor, maybe they had memorized the portions of scripture that say put on the full armor of God, the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation. And they had their feet shod with the preparation and maybe they got up, I know people who do this, they get up every morning and practice putting on this spiritual armor to get them throughout the day. So they were armed and this part of the armor was defensive.

And so they knew who they were in God as you and I know who we are in Christ. They knew they couldn't be condemned, they should have known it at least. They knew that the weapons of the enemy could not prevail against them or at least they should have known it. And the scripture also says they were carrying bows, in other words these were, they had a defensive armor but they also had offensive weapons. And they would have had to practice with their bows so that their arrows of course would have some kind of a possibility of bringing down their enemies. In other words, they were equipped to fight. They were equipped for this warfare they found themselves in but there's something happened to them that caused them to turn back.

And it poses the question, what caused them to have no strength to stand when they were needed? And you and I are living in a generation where we are needed now. Our prayers are needed. Our faith is needed. I happen to believe that there is nothing left in this generation between the wrath that could become ours and the mercy that's available to this generation in God.

The only thing that stands between the two is the church of Jesus Christ. You and I who are supposed to know what our purpose on the earth is. We should know by now that our prayers have power. We should believe by now that we can speak to mountains and command them and they would be moved.

We should have believed by now the words of Jesus when he said, whatever you ask believing you shall receive. This should be part of our makeup. We should be coming into prayer meetings across the nation as the people of God and taking authority over the powers of darkness that want to destroy marriages and devour our children and pillage our homes. Bring fear into the hearts of our society. Cause us to be listless and aimless and futile and foolish. We should know what our purpose is.

There should be no debate about this. It's not hidden in the scriptures. It's plain. It's clear.

For anybody who wants to see it, it's there. There is a divine purpose for your life and for my life on the earth. I'm not called to live for myself. I'm called to live for the glory of God and for the salvation of the lost in this world.

That's the calling of God on my life. Why did they turn back? Why did they stay home? Why did they hunker down and try to preserve themselves in a day when they were needed? These children that were raised in a time of plenty. These children who had studied warfare.

These children who should have known the purpose of their lives. Yet when the day of battle came, inexplicably they turned around and they just walked away. They walked away with their armor. They walked away probably with their bows in their hands. And they just simply decided not to enter into this battle. Well the scripture goes on to tell us why they had no strength when they were called. In verse 10 it says they did not keep the covenant of God and they refused to walk in his law. You know folks, they had never made the decision or the determination that they were called, as you and I are, we are called to glorify God on the earth. That's the purpose of your life.

Did you know that? You and I are called to be an irrefutable testimony of the reality of God. Since the day of Pentecost when 120 people came out of an upper room and their lives were an undeniable testimony of the reality of God.

And they came out of that room at the very peril of their own future and their own safety and their own health. The children of Ephraim knew this. They had to have known it from the scriptures. They had to have known it from the testimony of God even through Abraham their father that they were called to be a blessing on the earth.

And through them the whole world was supposed to be blessed. But somehow they perhaps chose just to not walk that way with God. We want God and we want life and we want a sense of power and purpose but we don't want to do it His way. We don't want to make a break with the thinking of this world.

We want to retain on one hand the things of this world that cause us pleasure as we see it and security. But on the other hand we want the armor and the bows and the sense that we're doing something for God. And many people just going to conferences they think they're really doing something for God until the real battle comes. Until there's nothing left but prayer and standing in the marketplace and being an open declaration of the reality of God.

Then you find out who's in and who's out. Verse 11 tells us they forgot how faithful God had been in the past. They forgot his works and his wonders that he had shown them. They were looking at their present challenge and the present challenge just seems so big. And you look at the challenge of this generation we're living in. When evil is becoming good. When terror is becoming commonplace. When violence is hitting our schools. When families are breaking apart. When politicians are confused. When civil debate is gone.

Everybody, it just seems whoever's the most vile gets the microphone. And division is coming between classes, races, cultures, countries. Just as Jesus said it was going to happen in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 24 in the last days.

When ethnic culture would rise against ethnic culture and country against country. It's happening now just as it was foretold. And when the season came where they should have known. They should have been prepared.

They should have been ready. They forgot how faithful God had always been in the past. They forgot the works that he had done. And in their hearts they began to doubt his ability to provide the strength that they needed. It says in verse 18, they tested God in their heart by asking for food for their fancy. Yes they spoke against God and they said can God prepare a table in the wilderness? Behold he struck the rock so the waters gushed out and the streams overflowed.

Now that's a type of Christ. You remember when the soldier after the crucifixion pushed a lance into the side of Christ. Out came what? Blood and water.

It was a type of this rock that had been struck in the wilderness. And water came out of that rock and provided drink and provided strength for the people of God in their journey. They knew these truths. They fully understood and measured the cross.

But they looked in their own heart. They looked at the situation before them and they said, Can God give us strength in this kind of a time? Can he prepare a table in this wilderness? I know Psalm 23, David said, Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies and my cup overflows.

I know David said that but can he do it now? Can he prepare a table before me where I can eat sufficiently to be given sufficient strength? I know what he did in the past. I know he gave drink to his people in impossible places.

I know historically people have come through difficult times, as difficult as what we face today. But can he provide for me? Can he give me bread? Can he provide meat for me?

David began to doubt his ability. It was all just a show. They didn't mind going to church. They didn't mind going to clap their hands. They didn't mind going to spiritual warfare conferences where you pick up your cardboard sword and you fight against your pinata. And go home and say, Whoa, did we do spiritual warfare this weekend? But when a real devil showed up, but when a real warfare presented itself to them, when real enemies were on the border, when real difficulty hit society, when real fear began to abound, they marched up to the border. I can see them in their polished armor with all their learning and all their knowledge and their shiny bows that had never really been used in a real battle.

Only had ever been used in these safe environments. The only place they'd ever fought is among the people of God. Now there's real enemies in front of them that are going to fight back.

And I can see these children of Ephraim weighing the options that were before them. They had never, ever fully understood that there would be a fight one day before them. They would have to believe God.

They would have to press through just like all others throughout history have had to do. They would have had to believe God. And they began to doubt. You know, King David once found himself in a place with all of his training and all of his history and all of the things that had come his way in the years past. He found himself in a place of failure and weakness. He had taken a wrong turn and suddenly his bravados just seemed to have leaked out of him.

It's gone out the window. He once faced Goliath but now he can't face the enemy that's before him. He could have turned away and history could have been so different. But instead the Bible tells us that he encouraged himself in the Lord. He began to remember what God had done. He began to remember the promises that God had made him. He began to remember how faithful God is and he started to think on these things.

Verse 12 says, Marvelous things he did in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt and the field of Zoan. He divided the sea and caused them to pass through and he made the waters stand up like a heap. You remember the day that Christ came into your life. It looked to you like there was no way forward but suddenly out of nowhere. But the pages of scripture, the water opened up and God made a way for you. God made a way for you to live.

If you've been walking with God any amount of time all you have to do is start to think and you remember the things that God has done for you. Things that were impossible. Those days when you never thought you could get through. I remember as a young pastor one time I was in search and I just ran out of gas. I was giving God's kingdom everything I had and I was standing in the front of the church I was supposed to preach that morning and I just had no more strength. I had no more heart. It just seemed like life had been drained out of me.

I was absolutely exhausted. I couldn't even raise my hands when the people started to sing. I opened my mouth but nothing would come out. I couldn't even sing and in my heart I said, God I can't do this anymore. And I heard a voice and I make no apology for it.

I thought it was a person beside me. It so started me I turned. I heard a voice and this voice said right in my ear, I've come to help you. In the strength of that voice I got into that pulpit and preached and the presence of God came. I have never turned back from that day.

He is a very present help in time of trouble. And so when I get tired and I do get tired just like you get tired but I think back and I remember that voice. I remember that moment.

I remember the despair in my heart and I remember. I don't know if it was an angel. I don't know what it was but God said to me, I've come to help you. And he is an ever present help in time of trouble. He will never fail you. He will never forsake you.

No matter what you have to go through. And those things that you thought were going to drown you suddenly gave way. They had to give way because God's hand was on you. They could not impede your journey. They could not stop you and he drowned your enemies that were pursuing you and trying to take away your testimony. Scripture says in the daytime also, he led them with a cloud and all the night with a light of fire. In other words, there was a leading of God that started to come into your life.

Do you remember that? A leading of God that told you to get away from this and move towards that. And the strength of God came into your life to begin to do what you know you couldn't do on your own.

You know it. Be honest. You couldn't have done it. He split the rocks in the wilderness. Those things that stood in your way.

Those mountains that stood and said this is far as you go. And then suddenly the voice of God comes and the rocks part into as much as the water had. And God made a way for you through these difficult places and gave them drink in abundance in the depths.

He also brought streams out of the rock and caused waters to run down like the rivers. This is what God has done for you. I know there are testimonies here tonight.

I know there are testimonies online tonight. I know it. I know it. Think back.

If you can't remember, think back to what God has done for you. Can he furnish a table in your present wilderness? You better believe he can. You better believe he can set a banquet. Now that table is the word of God.

That banquet are the promises of God. Can he furnish a table? Yes he can. Can he give you the strength to go forward? Yes he can. Can he make your life count for glory? His glory?

Yes he can. Will people get saved through you? Yes they will. Will your prayers matter at the throne of God?

You better believe they matter. David encouraged himself in the Lord and he went forward. And the scripture tells us that he began to pray and when he began to pray, God gave him his word. And when he believed the word of God again, he saddled up whatever strength he had left. And the strength that he had and the men that were with him was vastly inferior to the army that he was going up against. But he wasn't trusting in himself anymore. He wasn't looking to his own resources. And he wasn't asking God the question, can you furnish a table in this wilderness?

Maybe his armor by this point might have been a little bit rusty and his bow, his arrows might have been a little bit dull. But he picked up what God had given him. And you must have remembered that day when all he had was a sling and five stones out of a brook. It's important to look back. It's important to remember what God has done for you.

And he picked up and said, there's a divine purpose for my life. Somehow I lost it. Somehow I put it away.

Maybe the years of comfort have caused me to forget it. But he picked it up again, just as he had in the days of old. He said, by the grace of God, this enemy is not stealing my family. This enemy is not robbing my friends. This enemy is not taking the glory of God into his bosom. This enemy is not robbing me of my testimony in God.

This enemy is not taking away my ordained purpose of God on the earth. And he got up and he saddled what he had left. And he came upon that troop.

And when he came upon them, they were dancing and reveling and partying. Just like the powers of hell are in this generation. But the devil himself wasn't expecting one man and a few soldiers with him. They were once again God gripped in the power of God and knew they had a divine purpose on the earth. I tell you, there's power in prayer. There's power in God. There's power when we've come to nothing. And then we realize once again that God is everything to us.

God is everything in us. There's power in prayer. There's power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy.

There's power to bring into captivity every thought that exalts itself above the knowledge of God. There's power in prayer. There's power to move mountains. There's power to obtain promises. There's power to quench the violence of fire. There's power to stand against every enemy.

Doesn't matter how many, doesn't matter how big. God does not change. So I'm not turning back.

And don't you turn back either. This is not a time to drop your bowl and take off your armor and go home and try to survive. This is a time to fight. This is a time to pray.

If ever there was a time, it's now. We have incredible armor. We're coming to the communion table tonight. That armor is the covering of the blood of Jesus Christ.

Nothing, nothing can penetrate that armor. Nothing can take us away from the love of God. We have a bow and arrows that go deep into the heart of the king's enemies, the scripture said. These are the promises of God. That's what the bread represents tonight is every promise.

That's the table he spreads before us in the wilderness. We have these incredible promises of God and we can stand with them and we can fight with them. Our fight is not a physical one. Our fight is a spiritual warfare. We stand with the promises of God. We stand not to hurt but to restore. We stand not to enslave but to see people set free. We stand to bring people into the saving relationship that God wants to have with every man, woman and child. And you and I by God's grace are not going to turn back in the day of battle.

What do you want written over your life? I bet you the children in Bethlehem had good jobs, nice cars, chariots rather. Nice armor, wonderful testimony, Joseph was our father.

Great lineage but when it came time to fight, when it really mattered, they turned. We are not going to turn back. We're going to go forward by God's grace. And we're going to see this generation released from darkness and brought into the light of Christ. By the grace of Almighty God.

And that's my challenge to you tonight that are listening online. You can only sit and nurse your wounds for so long. It's a time to get up and fight. Even Ecclesiastes says it's a time of peace, a time of war. It's time to fight. This is a spiritual war. We don't fight like the insane who don't know God. We fight on our knees.

We don't fight against anybody, we fight for all people. And we believe that God will give us the victory. That's what the communion service is about tonight.

It's about not turning back. And I want that to be in your heart as we partake together. Now we're having communion tonight with people from potentially 161 countries.

I want to challenge you because this is a very dark hour we're living in now. In your heart to say by the shed blood of Christ that covers me. And by the promises of God that empower me. I will not turn back. I will not seek to preserve myself. I will not draw back and try to live for myself in my own comfort and somehow pretend I'm part of the battle. I will not let others do my fighting for me. I will go to the place of prayer and I will pray and I will believe God.

My voice will be heard. Thank you for joining us this week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon from Times Square Church in New York City. For more information log on to tsc.nyc. That's tsc.nyc. You can count on a powerful message each week on A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon.