May, 2005
REFLECTION
L isten to the Word of the Lord
in Judges 6-7: “Because the
power of the Midianites was so
oppressive, the Israelites prepared
shelters for themselves in the
mountain clefts, caves and
strongholds. Whenever the
Israelites planted their
crops, the Midianites,
Amalekites and other
eastern peoples invaded
the country. They
camped on the land and ruined the
crops all the way to Gaza and did not
spare a living thing for Israel,
neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys.
They came up with their livestock
and their tents like a swarm of
locusts…Midian so impoverished the
Israelites that they cried out to the
Lord for help. When the Israelites
cried to the Lord because of Midian,
he sent them a prophet, who said,
‘This is what the Lord, the God of
Israel, says: I brought you up out of
Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I
snatched you from the power of
Egypt and from the hand of all your
oppressors. I drove them from
before you and gave you their land.
I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your
God; do not worship the gods of the
Amorites, in whose land you live.
But you have not listened to me.’’…
The angel of the Lord…appeared to
Gideon and said, ‘The Lord is with
you, mighty warrior.’ ‘But sir,’
Gideon replied, ‘if the Lord is with
us, why has all this happened to us?
Where are all his wonders that our
fathers told us about when they said,
‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of
Egypt? But now the Lord has
abandoned us and put us into the
hand of Midian.’ The Lord turned
to him and said, ‘Go in the strength
you have and save Israel out of
Midian’s hand. Am I not sending
you?’ ‘But Lord,’ Gideon asked,
‘how can I save Israel? My clan is
the weakest in Manasseh, and I am
the least in my family.’ The Lord
answered, ‘I will be with you, and
you will strike down the Midianites
as if they were but one man.’…Early
in the morning Gideon and all his
men camped at the spring of Harod.
The camp of Midian was north of
them in the valley near the hill of
Moreh. The Lord said to Gideon,
‘You have too many men for me to
deliver Midian into their hands. In
order that Israel may not boast
against me that her own strength has
saved her, announce now to the
people, ‘Anyone who trembles with
fear may turn back and leave Mount
Gilead.’’ So twenty-two thousand
men left, while ten thousand
remained. But the Lord said to
Gideon, ‘There are still too many
men. Take them down to the water,
and I will sift them for you there.’…
So Gideon took the men down to the
water. There the Lord told him,
‘Separate those who lap the water
with their tongues like a dog from
those who kneel down to drink.’
Three hundred men lapped with
their hands to their mouths. All the
rest got down on their knees to drink.
The Lord said to Gideon, ‘With the
three hundred men that lapped I will
save you and give the Midianites into
your hands. Let all the other men
go, each to his own place.’…
Gideon…called out, ‘Get up! The
Lord has given the Midianite camp
into your hands.’ Dividing the three
hundred men into three
companies, he placed
trumpets and empty
jars in the hands
of all of them, with
torches inside…Gideon and the
three hundred men with him reached
the edge of the camp at the
beginning of the middle watch, just
after they had changed the guard.
They blew their trumpets and broke
the jars that were in their hands.
The three companies blew the
trumpets and smashed the jars.
Grasping the torches in their left
hands and holding in their right
hands the trumpets they were to
blow, they shouted, ‘A sword for the
Lord and for Gideon!’ While each
man held his position around the
camp, the Midianites ran, crying out
as they fled. When the three
hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord
caused the men throughout the camp
to turn on each other with their
swords.”
So, what application does this have
to us, to the Uninterrupted Prayer
Team? First, the Israelites were in
danger from the Midianites because
of their sins. So, too, the Church
and our nation is in danger because
of sin. Second, the Israelites
repented. So, too, we must repent,
first for our own sins and then for
the sins of our region and our
nation. Third, God wanted to
intervene and He did. So, too, He
wants to today. Now note what God
did: He was teaching Gideon that
numbers were not important in the
battle, that if they overwhelmed the
Midianites by sheer numbers of
fighters, the temptation would be to
give credit to themselves rather
than to God. So God began
trimming down the army. First, he
told Gideon to send away anyone
who was fearful and trembling; that
reduced the fighters from 22,000 to
10,000. The conclusion for us is
that we as intercessors must not be
fearful, not trembling in the
presence of the enemy –
Satan and his demonic
hordes. God is looking
for people who will
fight, and fight with
confidence in God’s
protection. Then
God did something
amazing: He reduced
the 10,000 fearless
soldiers to a mere 300! The test?
Those who knelt to drink were sent
away, while those who lapped from
their cupped
hand – the 300 – were chosen as the
final army. What does that mean?
It has nothing to do with drinking
and everything to do with a sense of
urgency, a passion to get with it.
Those who knelt down were being
much more leisurely; those who
lapped like a dog were alert, ready
to move, in battle mode. And so
through 300 fearless soldiers with a
strong sense of urgency God
defeated a large and mighty army –
causing so much confusion that they
turned their swords on themselves
as the fled. This latter description
is apt for all fallen angels; they are
ultimately cowards, they hate one
another as much as they hate us,
and the power of God routs
them. So, brothers and
sisters, what is the final
conclusion? The UP
Team is a band of
warriors, over 200 strong.
I urge you and me to do
the following: 1)
Renew
commitment to and
confidence in the hour or
hours of prayer. God is
listening! 2) Ask for an ever
increasing sense of urgency
to seek and find other
intercessors willing to commit
to an hour a week or more to
praying for spiritual
transformation in our
area and spiritual
transformation in our nation
through our area. Please, let’s pray
for a quick move to prayer 24 hours
a day and 7 days a week; we are
about 20 slots away from that.
Please, let’s pray, too, that we
continue to grow intercessors in all
slots, whether they are open slots or
not. It would be wonderful to have
thousands of intercessors joined
together; but we know through
Scripture that God’s grace moving
does not depend on numbers, but
on fearless confidence in the power
of prayer and a sense of urgency.
Please spread the word; each of us
knows intercessors who will readily
capture the vision, and each of us
can be an instrument of prayer and
of recruitment.
PROMISE KEEPERS
J une 9-10 is fast approaching.
FromRazorback Stadium
Fayetteville will be hearing, not
“Whoooo, Pig, Sooooey!!” but
praises to the Almighty God. Please
pray for an outpouring of
God’s grace – moving
people to participate,
transforming lives of
husbands and fathers,
and the spiritual
transformation of all of Northwest
Arkansas. It is not too late to sign
up or encourage other men to
participate; nor is it too late for
women to become intercessors
specifically for this event. Please
call me at 338-8036 for more
information.
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
P
mood:
uns like these just cannot
permit us to stay in a bad
1) How do you catch a unique
rabbit? Unique up on it. 2) How
do you catch a tame rabbit? Tame
way, unique up on it. 3) How do
you get holy water? You boil the
hell out of it. 4) What do Eskimos
get from sitting on the ice too long?
Polaroids. 5) What do you call a
boomerang that doesn’t work? A
stick. 6) What do you call Santa’s
helpers? Subordinate Clauses. 7)
What do you get from a pampered
cow? Spoiled milk. 8) What do
you get when you cross a snowman
with a vampire? Frostbite. 9)
What lies at the bottom of the ocean
and twitches? A nervous wreck.
10) (Oh, groan!) What’s the
difference between roast beef and
pea soup? Anyone can roast beef.
11) Why do gorillas have big
nostrils? Because they have big
fingers. 12) Why did the pilgrims’
pants always fall down? Because
they wore their belt buckle
on their hats. 13) What’s
the difference between a
bad golfer and a bad
skydiver? A bad golfer goes
“Whack, dang!” A bad skydiver
goes “Dang! Whack.” 14) How are
a Texas tornado and a Tennessee
divorce the same? Somebody’s
going to lose a trailer.
20 RULES OF WISDOM
1 ) God wants spiritual fruit, not
religious nuts. 2) Dear God, I
have a problem. It’s me. 3)
Growing old is inevitable; growing
UP is optional.
4) There is no key to happiness; the
door is always open. 5) Silence is
often misinterpreted, but never
misquoted. 6) You do the math:
Count your blessings. 7) Faith is
the ability not to panic. 8) Laugh
every day; it’s like inner jogging. 9)
If you worry, don’t pray; if you
pray, don’t worry. 10) As a child
of God, prayer is kind of like calling
home every day. 11) Blessed are
the flexible, for they shall not be
bent out of shape.
12) The most important things in
your home are the people. 13)
When we get tangled up in our
problems, be still; God wants us to
be still do He can untangle the knot.
14) A grudge is a heavy thing to
carry.
15) He who dies with the most toys
is still dead. 16) We do not
remember days, but moments. Life
is moving too fast, so enjoy your
precious moments. 17) Nothing is
real to you until you experience it;
otherwise it’s just hearsay. 18) It’s
all right to sit on your pity pot every
now and again; just be sure to flush
when you are done.
19) Surviving and living your life
requires courage. The goals and
dreams you’re seeking require
courage and risk taking. Learn
from the turtle: It only
makes progress when it
sticks out its neck. 20)
Be more concerned with
your character than
your reputation; your character is
what you really are, while your
reputation is merely what others
think you are.
“WHY GOD CREATED CHILDREN”
“T o those of us who have children
in our lives, whether they are
our own, whether grandchildren, nieces,
nephews, foster children or exchange
students, here is something to make you
chuckle. Whenever your children are out
of control, you can take comfort from the
thought that even God’s omnipotence did
not extend to His own children. After
creating heaven and earth, God created
Adam and Eve. And
the first thing He
said was ‘Don’t!’
‘Don’t what?’ Adam
replied ‘Don’t eat
the forbidden fruit,’ God
said. ‘Forbidden
fruit? We have
forbidden fruit? Hey, Eve, we have
forbidden fruit!’ ‘No way!’ ‘Yes, way!’
‘Do NOT eat the fruit,’ God said. ‘Why?’
‘Because I am your Father and I said so!’
God replied, wondering why He hadn’t
stopped creation after making the
elephants. A few minutes later, God saw
His children having a fruit break, and He
was ticked! ‘Didn’t I tell you not to eat
the fruit?’ God asked. ‘Uh, huh,’ Adam
replied. ‘Then why did you?’ said the
Father. ‘I don’t know,’ said Eve. ‘She
started it!’ Adam said. ‘Did not!’ ‘Did
too!’ ‘Did not!’…..So, let’s not be too
hard on ourselves; if God had (and has)
trouble, what makes us think it is a piece
of cake for us? Some things to think
about: 1) We spend the first two years
of their life teaching them to walk and
talk; then we spend the next sixteen
telling them to sit down and be quiet.
2) Grandchildren are God’s reward
for us not killing our own children.
3) Parents of teens know why some
animals eat their young. 4) Children
seldom misquote us. In fact, they usually
repeat word for word what we should not
have said.
5) The main purpose of giving parties for
children is to remind ourselves that there
are children more awful than our own. 6)
We child-proofed our homes, but they are
still getting in. Advice for the day: Be
nice to our kids; they will select our
nursing homes. And, finally, if you have a
lot of tension and you get a headache, do
what it says on the aspirin bottle: ‘Take
two aspirin’ and ‘Keep away from
children.’”….Of course, in reality, thank
the Lord for children, and for making us
His own kids!! So, a bit in advance,
HAPPY FATHERS’ DAY’ and once
again looking back a bit, HAPPY
MOTHERS’ DAY.
A STORY
T
he following came from Daniel
Norr, the precious Christian
man with terminal cancer: “A little
girl had been shopping with her
Mom in WalMart. It was pouring
outside – the kind of rain that
gushes over the top of rain gutters,
so much in a hurry to hit the earth
it has not time to flow down the
spout. Many
shoppers stood
there under the
awning and just
inside the door.
The little girl
spoke in a loud
voice, “Mom, let’s run through the
rain.” “No, honey, we’ll wait until
it slows down a bit.” After about a
minute: “Mom, let’s run through
the rain.” “We’ll get soaked if we
do,” Mom said. “No, we won’t,
Mom; that’s not what you said this
morning.” “This morning? When
did I say we could run through the
rain and not get wet?” “Don’t you
remember? When you were talking
to Daddy about his cancer, you said,
‘If God can get us through this, He
can get us through anything.” The
entire crowd became silent. Mom
paused and thought for a moment;
this was a moment of affirmation in
a young child’s life, a time when
innocent trust can be nurtured to
that it will bloom into faith.
“Honey, you’re absolutely right!
Let’s run through the rain. If God
lets us get wet, well, maybe we just
need washing.” Off they went; and
they got soaked. Then others began
running through the rain also,
laughing as they went, knowing that
they, too, needed washing.
PRAYER MOBILIZATION
T here have been many prayer
needs identified over the last
month, too many to mention by
issue here. But I am becoming
more and more aware that right
around us there are so many, many
needs for prayer and for a helping
hand: People who are in danger of
being evicted; sick children and the
resulting medical bills; heart
attacks and cancer and other types
of debilitating illnesses; people with
late mortgage payments, car
payments, insurance payments;
people wondering where food for
their families will come from…
Please pray for people in need, ask
the Lord where and how we can
help in addition to praying, pray for
agencies and churches and other
organizations whose mission is to
reach out to hurting individuals and
families.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
“Love nourishes, comforts,
strengthens, sustains. Love creates
invisible lines of connection. Love
begets miracles.”…“How far can an
act of kindness spread? From this
end of the earth to the other and
back to our very own front
door.”…“All is a miracle. The
stupendous order of nature, the
revolution of hundred of millions of
worlds around a hundred million of
stars, the activity of light, the life of
all animals, all are grand and
perpetual
miracles.”…”Appreciation of life
itself, becoming suddenly aware of
the miracle of being alive, on this
planet, can turn what we call
ordinary life into a
miracle.”…”How differently we
would experience life, if we would
live with eyes filled with wonder,
considering each day through the
prism of ‘radical amazement’.”
I love you all! Please, let’s pray for
another; we are Gideon’s army!!
Peace to you and yours.
Bob Burton