Have you ever been lost? When I was twelve, my family went on a summer vacation to visit Dad's cousins in Detroit. Going from a small town in New England to the big city of Detroit was an exciting adventure for my family. There was one particular point on the journey I will never forget. It was dark outside, and I was awakened by the sound of Mom yelling and the jolt of Dad quickly applying the brakes. We all piled out of the car, and before us was an eerie, frightening, black immense of water. We almost had driven into Lake Erie! Fortunately, my parents realized our peril, and we were saved from what probably would have been a disastrous situation. But what about those who are spiritually lost? Will they be able to apply the brakes in time before driving straight into the eerie, terrifying, black abyss of hell? The Redeemed of the Lord: A Call to Pray is an appeal to Christians to pray for the spiritually lost. This book describes the prayer journey of one woman who decided to do what she could for the lost by using the most powerful weapon at her disposal-prayer. The story includes how this journey began, some of the lessons learned along the way, some of the prayer recipients, and a praise to our glorious God and Father, who is willing and able to save us all. Please, get a cup of coffee, sit in a comfortable chair, set aside an hour or two to read, and consider joining me on this prayer journey. The spiritually lost are counting on us, even if they don't yet know it.
THE REDEEMED OF THE LORD
A Call to PrayBy Debbie HaskellAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2009 Debbie Haskell
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4389-1340-7Contents
Acknowledgments................................ixOpening ThoughtsA Call to Pray.................................1A God Who Loves................................7Lessons I Have LearnedThe Father of the Fatal........................17Eyes Wide Open.................................25Heart Wide Open................................33Praying on the Edge............................45Closing RemarksAnswering the Call to Pray.....................55Give Praise....................................63Endnotes.......................................69Sources........................................71
Chapter One
A Call to Pray * * *
May we, oh Lord God, who are Your children, Your people, Your redeemed, hear the call on our hearts to pray for those who do not yet know You as their Heavenly Father.
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Forever engraved on our minds, whether Americans or not, are the images of September 11, 2001.
Like many of you, I will always remember where I was when I first heard the news of that horrific day. At the time, I was teaching English at a small Christian college. I was in my office preparing for a class later that morning when Ronnie, one of the information technology (IT) guys, came flying out of his office yelling, "People, come quick! You're not going to believe what just happened!"
Several people came running, myself included, and Ronnie told us that a plane had just flown into one of the World Trade Center buildings in New York City. I looked at him rather dazed, my mind not really comprehending what he had said. Ronnie hooked up a line to the monitor in the IT room, and a handful of us stood there watching as one of the towers was engulfed in flames.
Then, to our utter disbelief, we saw another plane fly into the other tower.
Along with all of you, I stood there watching an event with my eyes that neither my mind nor my heart could begin to grasp. I was stunned.
As the day progressed, classes at the college were canceled, and our small community gathered in our assembly hall to watch the day's events on the big screen. I doubt any of us will forget that day.
Later that afternoon, the weekly prayer group that I was involved with at the time gathered to pray. We were a small group, four women, but we wanted to pray for the victims, the survivors, our leaders, and God's presence.
During the weeks that followed, we continued to pray about that day-a day that had forever changed the America we knew. We prayed for all the people affected, for protection for this country, and for the capture of those responsible for such despicable acts. After several weeks, I discovered a growing desire in my heart to pray for the Muslim nations. Of course, I prayed against any militant movements that would continue to terrorize this country, or any other, but I also began to pray for the Muslim people. I realized that the militant group of Muslims who committed such terrible acts was not the everyday Muslims who were walking the streets of America-or even the Middle East-and my heart grieved for the way these people were sometimes treated. Eventually, I began to pray that these people would come to know the God of heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ, as their Savior.
More than six years later, that prayer still continues. I wrote this book to ask you to please join me in this prayer. And lest you think that I am only asking for prayers for people of the Islamic faith, please, allow me to continue with my story.
In the months and years that followed 9/11, I felt a burden on my heart to pray for another group of people, and just this past fall, I added a third group to my prayer list. My desire in writing this book is not only to call us to pray over a host of issues, but also to share what I have discovered about praying for the lost. We, as the redeemed of the Lord, play a crucial role in the salvation of our world. Only Jesus, of course, saves people from their sins, but He did leave the spreading of that message in our hands. Not all of us can be missionaries. Not all of us can teach Bible classes. Not all of us can be speakers or writers. But all of us can pray!
The purpose of this book is to call the redeemed of the Lord to pray for a lost world. Specifically, I am asking each individual Christian to open his or her heart to a commitment to pray for an individual, a group of people, or a specific issue. I will address this request in greater detail in the closing section of this book.
But first, I would like to offer some thoughts about the God who loves us so much He chose to become human and die for us on a Roman cross, and secondly, to share some of the lessons that I have learned as I have prayed for the lost over the past few years.
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A God Who Loves
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May You, oh Giver of all that is good, shower us with Your divine love. May this sacrificial and unconditional love transform us into the likeness of Your Son.
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God loves people. As a matter of fact, people are the most precious creatures on earth to God. I sometimes ask myself why God loves us so. After all, we can be pretty unlovable at times. For instance, I sometimes picture unbelievers as a group of people who live in the goodness and care of a Heavenly Father yet refuse to recognize or acknowledge the One who makes their very lives possible. And I picture believers as a group of people who sometimes are reluctant to be transformed by God's presence and the power of His word.
Describing all the possible individual circumstances that may exist in the two sweeping statements above is not the intent of this book. Suffice it to say that all of us, believers or not, have hurt the heart of a loving God. This does not change the fact, though, that God loves all of us.
As the redeemed of the Lord, we believers are privileged to know the Father who abides in heaven, His Son who died for us, and the Holy Spirit who lives in us. Though the concept of the Trinity may be beyond our understanding, what is not is the love this Triune God has shown to His creation. Words do not exist on this side of eternity to fully express the depth of love the Father in heaven has for His children. The Bible captures the idea, however, in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
The love of the Father is the most precious gift the Almighty can bestow on us, for His love is complete, embracing eternal wisdom, peace, grace, joy, and all the other divine attributes that make our God who He is. God's love for humankind is so profound that He willingly shares His perfect love with an imperfect world. We know that mature love is sacrificial; it seeks the best interests of the beloved. We see this love in action by God the Father in the sacrifice of Jesus, His Son. What better way could God show us the depth of His love than by dying on the cross to redeem our souls for eternal life with Him? God loves...
