APRIL, 2007
REFLECTION
T he following is in the form of a parable, but it
is actually a true story of three UP Team
members who were discussing their commitment to
their hour(s) of prayer. When I heard about it from
one of the ladies, it struck me that this is something
important to share with all current and potential
UP intercessors. Do you remember the story of the
three bears and the
three beds and the three
bowls of porridge? One
was too hard or too hot,
the second was too soft
or too cold, and the third
was just right. Well, the
“true parable” is
something like that in
terms of comparing
three people’s comfort level with prayer. Here is a
summary of their discussion: The first one said
that she absolutely loves her hour of prayer. She
sets her alarm to get up right before it begins and
she dives right in with great enthusiasm. She
considers it a tremendous blessing in her life. The
second one said that she remains totally committed
to her hour of prayer, but she is really struggling.
Her mind wanders, she finds herself at times almost
dreading the hour, but she knows that her
commitment to it is right. The third one said that
she has multiple hours of commitment, but because
of her health struggles she is not really praying the
full hours or even the specific ones she committed
to. She said that she can only offer the time to the
Lord and try to make her offering a pleasing prayer
to God. Three commitments, three different places
in the journey of life – and, of course, the question
in their minds and perhaps in yours is if there are
three different degrees of effectiveness here, three
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different degrees of being pleasing to God. And my
answer is “Absolutely not!! There is a principle of
Christian living: God always looks at the heart.
When praying is easy and we do it with passion and
love we are pleasing to God; when we are struggling
and distracted but are trying our best we are
pleasing to God; and when we for whatever reason
just have to spiritually offer the time to God and
have trouble praying at all we are pleasing to God.
In all three cases, the prayer is effective; God
always answers prayer from the heart – not always
as we want Him to, but always in a way that is
absolutely best. So, wherever you are right now in
your comfort level with prayer, keep on going on;
you are in God’s will. Thanks to the three members
of the Team who provided this important insight.
All prayer is highly valuable and effective – we are
praying, after all, for spiritual transformation and
that is indeed God’s perfect will.
REFLECTION #2
T
his is really a good lead in to the Reflection
that I indicated last month would be the topic
for this Newsletter: Spiritual warfare. There are,
to be sure, purely physical, emotional or spiritual
reasons why prayer is easy or difficult. But there is
something else that we should be keenly aware of,
and that is that Satan both hates and fears prayer.
In fact, he is powerless in the face of true prayer
from the heart, and that is why he hates it. So, we
can be sure that the enemy will try to keep us from
praying, because he knows what impact spiritual
transformation would have on him and his plans.
Last month I shared from a little book entitled
“Praying Effectively for the Lost,” by Lee E.
Thomas. As I stated last month, the bottom line of
spiritual transformation is the salvation of souls.
That should be the #1 goal for all Christians – to see
the lost saved, to have the light of Jesus shine in
their hearts and minds. The
reason why every genuine
Christian is at war is that
there is a spiritual
battle raging for
human spirits; Satan
wants them in hell,
God wants them in
heaven. But God will
never force a human
being to choose one way or the other; our free will is
one major way that we are created in the image and
likeness of God. Prayer is the key and primary
weapon in this battle, and every intercessor is on
the front lines. That is why it is so critical for us to
put on the armor of God (see Ephesians 6). Let’s
return now to Mr. Thomas’ book; I will be quoting
from Chapter 5, “The Spiritual Warfare.” “The
primary purpose in praying for the lost is NOT to
convince God to save them, for He is ‘not willing
that any should perish’ (2 Peter 3:9), having sent
Christ to die for the sins of the whole world (1 John
2:2). But rather, it has to do with spiritual warfare
– freeing them of demonic influence so they can be
saved…The lost are prisoners which Satan refuses
to release (Isaiah 14:17), slaves under Satan’s
authority and jurisdiction (Acts 26:18), children of
the devil (John 8:44), blinded to the gospel (2
Corinthians 4:3-4), ‘energized’ by Satan (Ephesians
2:2), helplessly held in Satan’s grasp (1 John 5:19),
and a strong man’s house (Mark 3:27)…The lost
are literally ‘energized’ by the spirit of the devil. Of
course, a lost person doesn’t know that, and
certainly would not admit it if he did. He thinks he
is free (that’s part of his lostness), but in truth his
course of action is dictated by the prince of the
power of the air…Mark 3:27 is what I consider to
be the most important verse in the Bible concerning
winning the lost to Christ. In this verse Jesus
Himself says, ‘No man can enter into a strong
man’s house and spoil his goods, except he will first
bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his
house.’ If this verse means anything, it means that
no lost person will ever be saved unless someone
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frees him from the demonic influences that control
him. This is absolutely the first thing that must be
done. And this freeing process is accomplished
through prayer!! (My note: This is an expression
of the absolute importance and power of prayer –
and the devil wants to blind us to that.) In order to
win the war for souls, there are some basic things
we need to do. The first of these is to use our God-
appointed weapons…God has provided powerful
weapons for us to use in this spiritual war. ‘For the
weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty
through God to the pulling down of strongholds’ (2
Corinthians 10:4). Our problem is that we are
neither familiar with our weapons nor indeed the
war itself. But before I acquaint you with your
weapons and how to use them, let me remind you
that the actual combat is prayer – we fight by
praying…So when we aren’t praying, Satan is
winning by default, but when we are praying, he is
losing because he has absolutely no defense for
prayer. Could this be why God wants us to ‘pray
without ceasing’ (1 Thessalonians 5:17) (Note: This
is the Scriptural slogan of the Uninterrupted Prayer
Team.) and why the apostles gave themselves
‘continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the
word’ (Acts 6:4)?…Let’s get familiar with our
mighty weapons and use them when we pray. The
blood of Christ is one of our most powerful
weapons. Revelation 12:11 says, ‘And they
overcame him by the blood of the Lamb’…When
we plead the blood of Christ, we are reminding
Satan and all his demons that they are already
defeated. This is especially significant in the battle
for souls, since the shedding of Christ’s blood on
Calvary paid the sin-debt for all mankind, and now
Satan holds souls captive only by default – because
we have not insisted that he turn them loose!!
Another very powerful weapon is the name of
Jesus! The Lord’s disciples, returning from their
witnessing mission, joyfully exclaimed, ‘Lord, even
the devils are subject to us through your name’
(Luke 10:17). And they are
subject to us also!
There are three Biblical
reasons why the name
of our Lord Jesus is so
powerful in the spiritual
realm. Firstly, because He
is Lord over all by creation:
‘For by him were all things
created, that are in heaven and
that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether they
be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or
powers; all things were created by him and for him’
(Colossians 1:6). Secondly, He is Lord through
crucifixion: ‘…that through death he might
destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the
devil, and deliver them who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage’
(Hebrews 2:14-15). And thirdly, He is Lord
through coronation: ‘…who is gone into heaven
and is on the right hand of God; angels and
authorities and powers being made subject unto
him’ (1 Peter 3:22). The Word of God is another
mighty weapon we can use in
prayer…All Satan has to
work with is a lie. However,
he is pretty good with it
seeing as how he is able to
‘deceive the whole world’
(Revelation 12:9). But the
Word of God is truth, and
truth beats a lie every time.
Therefore, if we use the Word
of God in warfare prayer, we
will win every time and souls
will be set free. Praise is another powerful weapon
we can use, for when we begin to praise God, He
comes into the situation (Psalm 22:3) and how
wonderful it is to have the ‘commander-in-chief’ on
the scene of battle!! A wonderful testimony to the
power of praise is the story found in 2 Chronicles
20…Most of us have no concept of how powerful
praise is in the battle for souls – could it be that we
haven’t used it enough to understand its mighty
power?…Fasting is another powerful but little-used
weapon in our arsenal…My personal opinion is that
fasting enhances the power of prayer by at least
tenfold! (Note: Fasting does not always mean not
eating or drinking, for many are physically unable
to do that. The “Daniel Fast” consists of not eating
choice and desired foods. Also, we can focus on
“fasting” from impatience, unforgiveness, lack of
service to others, and we can “fast” from some of
our purely recreational use of time, etc.)…One
other weapon that exerts much force in the spiritual
realm is love. The one who loves the Lord with all
of his being and loves lost souls as himself cannot be
stopped!! Revelation 12:11 says, ‘And they
overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and the
word of their testimony; and they loved not their
lives unto the death.’ When you love someone
enough, you will do whatever it takes to keep him or
her out of hell. As a matter of fact, love cannot fail.
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Love ‘beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth
all things, endureth all things…it never faileth.’ (1
Corinthians 13:7-8)…The strongest of all
strongholds that Satans uses in the lives of people to
keep them from being saved is UNBELIEF. It is the
major stronghold in every person – saved or lost!!
In a Christian it is designed to keep him from really
believing certain truths in God’s Word that will
make him/her powerful and effective in God’s
kingdom. In the unsaved it is designed to keep him
from believing in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord…
There is absolutely no reason for even one single
soul to die and go to hell because Christ as already
paid their redemption price. And the only reason
why anyone will go to hell is that we have not taken
our place of authority and bound the strong man.
The devil will not release them until we make him…
To resist the devil means that you do not let the
negative reactions, circumstances, etc. stop your
continued fervent effort of prayer…I mention one
last strategy that works well for the individual
praying alone – a prayer list!! I, along with
thousands of others, have used a prayer list for
years, having seen many souls come to Christ
through this method. I leave you with a story that
blessed me, hoping the same for you: ‘Some years
ago in Springfield, IL, an earnest man gathered
about him a praying band and made this suggestion
to them: ‘When you reach home this evening, write
down the names of all persons in Springfield whom
you would like to have saved, and then pray for
them by name, three times a day, that they may be
saved. Then make your best possible efforts to
induce those persons to turn to God for salvation.
There resided in Springfield at that time an invalid
woman who physically was almost absolutely
helpless. She had been bed-ridden for seventeen
years. She had been for a long time praying to God
in a general way to
save a multitude of
souls. When her
family told her of the
suggestion made to the
praying band, she said, ‘Here is something I can
do.’ She could use her right hand. There was an
adjustable writing table at the side of her bed. She
asked for pen and paper. She wrote down the
names of fifty-seven acquaintances. She prayed for
each of each of them three times a day. She wrote
them letters telling them of her interest in them.
She also wrote to Christian friends, in whom she
knew these persons had confidence, and urged them
to speak to these person about their souls’ welfare
and to do their best to persuade them to repent and
believe. She had unquestioning faith in God. In her
humble, earnest dependence upon Him she thus
interceded for the unsaved. In time every one of
those fifty-seven persons avowed faith in Jesus
Christ as Savior.’”
STORY
“T here once was a Shakespearean actor who
was known everywhere for his one-man
shows of readings and recitations from the classics.
He would always end his performance with a
reading of Psalm 23. Each night, without exception,
as the actor began his recitation, ‘The Lord is my
Shepherd, I shall not want,’ the crowd would listen
attentively. And then, at the conclusion of the
Psalm, they would rise in thunderous applause in
appreciation of the actor’s incredible ability to
bring the verses to life. But one night, just before
the actor was to offer his customary recital of Psalm
23, a young man from the audience spoke up: ‘Sir,
do you mind if tonight I recite Psalm 23?’ The
actor was quite taken aback by this unusual
request, but he allowed the young man to come
forward and stand front and center on the stage to
recite the Psalm, knowing that the ability of this
unskilled youth would be no match for his own
talent. With a soft voice, the young man began to
recite the words of the Psalm. When he finished,
there was no applause. There was no standing
ovation as on other nights. All that could be heard
was the sound of weeping. The audience had been
so moved by the young man’s recitation that every
eye was full of tears. Amazed by what he had
heard, the actor said
to the youth, ‘I don’t
understand. I have
been performing
Psalm 23 for years. I
have a lifetime of
experience and
training, but I have
never been able to
move an audience as
you have done tonight.
Tell me, what is your
secret?’ The young
man quietly replied,
‘Well, sir, you know the Psalm. I know the
Shepherd.’”
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ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
I n honor of mothers and Mothers’ Day: Answers
given by 2nd grade school children to the
following questions: 1) Why did God make
mothers? a) She’s the only one who knows where
the scotch tape is; b) Mostly to clean the house; c)
To help us out of there when we were getting born.
2) How did God make mothers? a) He used dirt,
just like for the rest of us; b) Magic, plus super
powers and a lot of stirring;
c) God made my mom just the same like He made
me; He just used bigger parts.
3) What ingredients are mothers made of? a) God
makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and
everything nice in the world, and one dab of mean;
b) They had to get their start from men’s bones;
then they used mostly string, I think. 4) Why did
God give your mother and not some other mom? a)
We’re related; b) God knew she likes me a lot more
than other people’s moms like me. 5) What kind of
little girl was your mom? a) My mom has always
been my mom and none of that other stuff; b) I
don’t know because I wasn’t there, but my guess
would be pretty bossy. 6) What did Mom need to
know about Dad before she married him? a) His
last name;
b) She had to know his background, like, is he a
crook or does he get drunk on beer? b) Does he
make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs
and YES to chores? 7) Why did your Mom marry
your Dad? a) My Dad makes the best spaghetti in
the world; and my Mom eats a lot; b) She got too
old to do anything else with him; c) My grandma
says that Mom didn’t have her thinking cap on. 8)
Who’s the boss at your house? a) Mom; you can
tell by room inspection because she sees the stuff
under the bed; b) I guess Mom is, but only because
she has a lot more to do than Dad. 9) What’s the
difference between moms and dads? a) Moms work
at work and work at home and dads just go to work
at work; b) Moms know how to talk to teachers
without scaring them; c) Dads are taller and
stronger, but moms have all the real power ‘cause
that’s who you got to ask if you want to sleep over
at your friend’s; d) Moms have magic, they make
you feel better without medicine.
10) What does your mom do in her spare time? a)
Mothers don’t do spare time;
b) To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long. 11)
What would it take to make your mom perfect? a)
On the inside she’s already perfect. Outside, I
think some kind of plastic surgery; b) Diet – you
know, her hair; I’d diet, maybe blue. 12) If you
could change one thing about
your mom, what
would it be? a)
She has this weird
thing about me
keeping my room
clean; I’d get rid
of that; b) I’d
make my Mom
smarter; then she
would know it
was my sister who
did it and not me; c) I would like for her to get rid
of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.
MORE ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
A lso in honor of Mothers’ Day – sort of: A man
and his wife walked into a dentist’s office. The
man said to the dentist, “Doc, I’m really in a hurry!
I have two buddies waiting outside in my car
waiting for us to go play golf. So forget about the
anesthetic and just pull the tooth and be done with
it. We have a 10:00 tee off time and it’s already
9:30. I don’t have time to wait for the anesthetic to
work.” The dentist thought to himself, “My
goodness, this is surely a brave man asking to have
his tooth pulled without using anything to kill the
pain.” So the dentist asked him, “Which tooth is it,
sir?” The man turned to his wife and said, “Open
your mouth, Honey, and show him.”
PRAYER MOBILIZATION
P lease pray for the following: International
Renewal Ministries (Pastors Prayer Summits)
and for the health of the Director, Dennis Fuqua
and his son, and for the upcoming National Pastors
Prayer Summit…for the Marketplace Prayer
Summit on the National Day of Prayer (if you
would like to participate, from 9 to 3, please call me
at 331-1028 for more information)…for the Mayors
Prayer Breakfast in Branson on the National Day of
Prayer – and for CBMC who is sponsoring it, for
the speaker, Paul Teas, Founder of Camp
Barnabas, and for the new Branson Mayor
Rayeanne Presley and the outgoing Mayor, Lou
Schaefer (if you would like to go to the 7-8:30 a.m.
5
breakfast and talk on May 3 at Celebration City,
call me at 331-1028)…for the health of Danny
Webb, and for his family…for a young boy,
Connor, who has a brain tumor…for the health of
Kelly Riggs…for Reina Daleske and her family…
for Missouri Prayer, Regina Shanks and upcoming
prayer events…for the Otleys from St. Louis, MO
coordinators of the National Day of Prayer…for the
prayer team in Lee’s Summit and IHOP in Kansas
City…for the continued health improvement of
John B….for Jackie Hartman, health issues…for
Lyle Burchette, health…for Seth…for Alvin Nelson,
health…for the embryonic stem cell issue in MO, as
some legislators are working to have human cloning
banned…for Brenda Jackson, as she returns to
work after a long time following an auto accident…
for Sarah, health and direction…for
Torchbearers…for Backstage Ministries…for
BMFI and CBNC, that both men’s organizations
grow in drawing men to praying together…for a
permanent home for First Baptist of Hollister, and
for a quick rebuilding of the Branson Hills Church
of God destroyed by fire…that God will bless the
couple who have pledged some seed money for an
area prayer center, the dream of Don Gabriel, and
will draw others to commit to the dream…for all
businesses and attractions in the region as they
begin a new season…for Mike Leidecker and One
Passion Ministry…for open jobs to be filled with
the right people and for all people to find
employment…for the Lordship of Christ to be
boldly proclaimed in all sectors of our
communities…for Asleep kNOw More (see below)
…for all other needs, personal and corporate.
LOCAL STORY
Love In the Name of Christ (Love INC) story:
“We have just had an awesome year in knowing
that the Lord is alive and well in Branson,
Missouri! Recently our office manager took a call
from a woman who had severe dental problems
(infection and a broken tooth needing to be pulled)
and no way to pay for a dentist. One of our
churches offered to pay the dentist bill in full, but
we asked that they let us see if there were other
churches who would go in on the expense. In
calling another church coordinators cell phone, our
office manager misdialed the number. When she
introduced herself and asked for Kimily, the reply
was ‘This isn’t Kimily’s phone but hi Cally from
Love INC.” Cally asked if she knew her and the
lady said no but that she had talked to Anita, the
Love INC executive director, the previous week
about doing some parenting classes for Love INC
clients. As she and Cally visited, Cally apologized
for bothering her and told her who she had been
trying to get a hold of and why. The lady said,
‘What a coincidence, my son-in-law is a dentist in
Springfield and I have been telling him and my
daughter that they need to find a way to give back
to the community. Here’s his number, call him and
tell him his mother-in-law sent you to him.’ Cally
called the dentist who not only agreed to call in
prescriptions to treat the infection, but to see the
lady once the infection was gone and remove the
tooth at no cost. Misdialed number? You decide.”
UP TEAM GROWTH
O ne of our UP Team members e-mailed me
recently, saying that she felt bad because she
is having trouble sticking with her scheduled prayer
times. I told her that she was certainly welcome to
take a different hour or hours. Well, she did – and
she wound up taking about six hours, including two
open slots (a midnight and a one a.m. time)! Thank
you! Also, Gregory Thompson in his travels with
Asleep kNOw More Ministry, has been very
successful recently in signing up quite a few folks
who want to pray for both Polk and Cedar Counties
(where the UP Team he established focuses) and for
Stone and Taney
Counties! As soon as I
firm up their names
and addresses and
desired times (some
have specific hours,
some do not), then I
will put them on the
mailing list. Thank
you Gregory and Judy
and Coleen and all
who are working so
diligently with Asleep kNOw More! Right now, and
from this day forward, all UP Team members
please add Polk and Cedar counties to your prayer
hour(s). Their sectors are the same as ours, with
the exception of Monday: Instead of Entertainment
they have Agriculture and Agri-Business. That
region, north of Springfield, includes Humansville
and the school district that fired Gregory from his
position as Principal because of his stand on the
Ten Commandments. Also, please keep telling
people about the UP Team and remain committed
to your hour(s) or consider joining if you are not a
member. One new member has already recruited
another new member. One lady who was at the
Gathering has joined. And a new employee on the
same Team I am on at Silver Dollar City has just
joined.
FINAL TRIBUTE TO MOTHERS DAY
BEFORE I WAS A MOM
“Before I was a Mom – I had hot meals, I had
unstained clothing, I had quiet conversations on the
phone. Before I was a Mom – I didn’t worry
whether or not my plants were poisonous. I never
thought about immunizations. Before I was a Mom
– I had never been puked on, wet on, spit on,
chewed on or pinched by tiny fingers. Before I was
a Mom – I had complete control over my thoughts,
my body, my mind; I slept all night. Before I was a
Mom – I never held down a screaming child so that
doctors could to tests or give shots. I never felt my
heart break into a million pieces when I could not
stop the hurt. I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much. I never knew that I
could love someone so much. I never knew I would
love being a Mom. Before I was a Mom – I didn’t
know the feeling of having my heart outside my
body. I didn’t know how special it could feel to feed
a hungry baby. I didn’t know that bond between a
Mother and her child. I didn’t know that
something so small could make me feel so
important. Before I was a Mom – I had never
gotten up every ten minutes, in the middle of the
night, to make sure that all was okay. I had never
known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache,
the wonderfulness, or the satisfaction of being a
Mom. I didn’t know I was capable of feeling so
much – before I was a Mom.”
May you and yours have a Blessed Easter Season.
He is Risen, Alleluia!!
Peace and love,
Bob Burton