by Rebekah Harvey
We have started a new sermon series here at Crossroads called “Returning to the Ancient Paths”. If you haven’t listened to it yet I encourage you to start at week one and get caught up, it is very powerful. In our busy culture in which we live today we may not think that something that is referred to as ancient could be relevant or meaningful to us, however the ancient, accurately preserved Word of God is a rich wealth of treasure waiting to be discovered.

Pastor Doug shared in his first message of the series about something that he had heard calling Christians to be in prayer for our nation. I have been setting an alarm and doing this each day. As Christians we have a responsibility to those around us to pray for and share the good news of the Gospel with them. You most likely do not have the title of Pastor or Evangelist but we are each still called to share the good news with our families, coworkers, friends and even strangers.

In Jeremiah 29:7 it says, “And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace.” This was in a letter written by Jeremiah to the people that had been exiled to Babylon. He gave them several instructions about what they should be doing and praying for the peace of the city they were in was one of those instructions. He also told them to “Multiply! Do not dwindle away!” This was a command to an ancient generation but I believe we would be wise to follow these instructions, pray for Evanston and in doing that hopefully we will be able to increase and multiply those who believe in and follow Jesus with us!

One of the scriptures for this call to prayer is, Nehemiah 4:14 “And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.” If we as Christians and disciples of Jesus are not willing to “fight for our brethren, sons, daughters, wives and houses” who will? We have the powerful Lord, great and awesome with us! This is not a physical fight, but a spiritual one, a battle through prayer for the salvation of our community and loved ones.

Esther 4:14 “For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” This is our time to answer the call of prayer for our generation and make a difference for eternity!