{"id":5521,"date":"2014-09-19T03:34:48","date_gmt":"2014-09-19T03:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=5521"},"modified":"2014-09-19T03:34:48","modified_gmt":"2014-09-19T03:34:48","slug":"a-safer-walk-during-chaotic-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=5521","title":{"rendered":"A safer walk during chaotic times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Late in 2009 or in early 2010, the Lord gave me an acrostic to help direct my prayer concerning the upswing of chaos I was sensing in the spiritual\/political realm. It is called \u201cSAFER\u201d, and it is an outline I used to pray for the Church\u00a0during those turbulent times just four or five years ago.<\/p>\n

I was searching through my \u201cstacks of stuff\u201d this week for it, and\u00a0discovered two other items as well that I want to post here before we begin again a verse-by-verse walk through the Book of James.<\/p>\n

One of the items was a prayer I\u00a0prayed\u00a0for government leadership during the time I wrote the acrostic. I will post it on Monday. This prayer is extremely pointed and current. I am thankful I found it again.<\/p>\n

Today, along with the acrostic, I will post the other find\u2014a long-forgotten dream which I had in 1995. I\u2019m glad I wrote it down back then; I believe it is illustrative of our nation and even some among the Church in these very strange times we have entered.<\/p>\n

July 5, 1995 Dream <\/strong><\/p>\n

\r\n\t\t\t\t\t
I was in a room with folks\u2014believers (I don\u2019t know them, but I did in the dream)\u2014and there was a grate on the floor. Through the grate I saw a salt and pepper king snake winding and climbing up. As it nosed through the grate, it became a huge black, smooth-skinned alligator with large yellow dots. I jumped up onto the table to protect myself, knowing its jaws would be able to remove hands and feet. No one else seemed concerned; different ones attempted to help it through the grate, pet it, hold it, and play with its mouth. One girl, however, did attempt to muzzle it with her hand, but it was too strong for her. I was prepared to see a lot of blood and dismemberment and was hoping that someone would get to a phone to call 911.<\/div><\/div>\n

Since September 11, 2001, I have experienced the same sense of alarm and frustration I felt in the dream with what I’ve perceived as widespread nonchalance concerning the decay and apparent coup in our nation. Of course, evil men and women have always attempted to co-opt this nation, but the in-your-face flagrancy of their behavior has been incrementally notching up ever since that fateful late summer morning in 2001. And as I\u2019ve spoken with people since then about the alarming trends in the U.S., so often I have felt \u201cblown off\u201d or redirected by others to listen instead, to this prophet or that teacher. And yet, I know<\/em> what I\u2019ve been seeing in my spirit. A strange presence has been nosing through the grate as the nation\u2014and the Church\u2014has been largely aloof, unconcerned,\u00a0or even charmed\u00a0or intrigued by the reptilian\u00a0entity\u00a0gaining access\u00a0at ground level.<\/p>\n

I believe God has been seeking to gain our attention about this looming chaos, and many of us\u00a0have basically told Him, \u201cLater, Lord. I\u2019ve got other things to attend to.<\/em>\u201d Or perhaps\u00a0some of us attempted to block such warnings due to the extreme discomfort they aroused. Maybe a lot of us rebuked fear<\/em> when we should have\u2014like the boy David\u2014run<\/em> to the\u00a0fearsome thing\u00a0with our “insignificant” slingshot of prayer to deal a blow from which that giant could not easily recover.<\/p>\n

Every morning I pray or read the Word in my cozy prayer room or at my kitchen table overlooking my tree-lined backyard, I make it a point to thank God for one more day of comfort, beauty, and security. As I sip my coffee, I am grateful for the simple things that mean so much\u2026especially if they were to be suddenly stripped away. I realize that America\u2019s two hundred and thirty-eight year run of prosperity, peace, and safety has been the exception<\/em> in history\u2014not<\/em> the norm. I recognize the enormous sacrifice of life, finance, and reputation of generations now gone which was invested to secure for us the freedom to live as we do today. And I recognize that untold hundreds\u00a0of thousands of hours of agonizing prayer prior to our nation\u2019s independence and in the two centuries since have been clocked by men and women of vision, passion, and commitment to their Lord and His call\u2014many of whom were never known as great people\u2014and yet great and mighty in God they were, nonetheless. And I am eternally grateful for each and every one of them.<\/p>\n

My desire\u2014whether\u00a0we’re in the last generation or not\u2014is to be available and equipped to pray big prayers: binding and loosing, moving and shaking, confronting and confounding those forces of darkness that defy the will and ways of the magnificent One by whom we are called. I long to see stability and sanity to reign once again, and for that to happen, God must first have His way. Therefore, I will\u2014and I must<\/em>\u2014pray.<\/p>\n

For the Church to have a SAFER<\/strong> walk in increasingly chaotic times, I pray for:<\/p>\n

S <\/strong>haking [unto]<\/p>\n

A <\/strong>wakening [and seeing the state of the world as it really is]<\/p>\n

F <\/strong>orsaking [personal and private follies, vanities, lusts, and distractions]<\/p>\n

E <\/strong>scaping [the grip of outward forces\u2014operating through the fear of man\u2014that seek to control our words, actions, and behaviors]<\/p>\n

R <\/strong>etaking [ground through prayer in the name of Jesus and a right understanding of authority in Christ]<\/p>\n

May you and I be found in Christ\u2014doing His will and confidently trusting in Him\u2014for whatever time remains to us on the face of the earth.<\/p>\n

Dorothy<\/p>\n

The end of all things is near<\/span>; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit<\/strong> for the purpose of prayer<\/span>.<\/em> 1 Peter 4:7, emphasis added<\/p>\n

Be of sober spirit<\/strong>, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls<\/span> around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour<\/em>. 1 Peter 5:8, emphasis added<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Late in 2009 or in early 2010, the Lord gave me an acrostic to help direct my prayer concerning the upswing of chaos I was sensing in the spiritual\/political realm. It is called \u201cSAFER\u201d, and it is an outline I used to pray for the Church\u00a0during those turbulent times just four or five years ago. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prayerperspective"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5521"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5546,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5521\/revisions\/5546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}