THE WARRIOR KINGS OF 2014

When I read and study Psalm 23 it is difficult to think of David as a person with the same struggles in life that you and I have. The tendency is to see David as a “super warrior,” almost like Spiderman or Superman or other comic book heroes.

But David was just a man—with the same struggles, the same fears and failures that we experience. Let’s take a moment and briefly look at his life.

David was a shepherd, the youngest of his father’s sons. When all his brothers went off to join King Saul’s army and fight the Philistines, David was required to stay home and look after the sheep.

David’s father sent him to take supplies to his brothers and at that time he made a brief appearance on the “big stage.” We are all familiar with the story of David and Goliath. As wonderful as this victory was, however, it did not win him a lasting friendship with King Saul who, within a short time, became insanely jealous of David. 

Saul’s carnality caused him to want to get rid of David and if he had to kill him to make him go away, then Saul was willing to stoop that low. David fled for his life and spent seven years running from Saul’s assassins. During those years of running and hiding, David’s character as a man of God began to be forged on the hot anvil of adversity.

Finally David became the king of Judah and, eventually, Israel. His kingdom extended far past the tiny bit of real estate the modern-day nation of Israel holds. It encompassed the Mediterranean Sea east to the Euphrates River (in eastern Iraq) and went from the Nile River in the south up to northern sections of what is Lebanon today.

The shepherd boy had become a powerful king and is considered the greatest warrior king in Israel’s history. In addition to his powerful leadership, David left a tremendous legacy of stories and writings. I don’t think any other individual dominates the Old Testament as David does.

When we briefly recount David’s life, it’s very easy to slip into the mind-set of focusing only on the victory side of things, quickly forgetting the rest. What am I talking about?

First of all, we see the chaos in David’s married life and among his children. David’s first wife, Michal, despised him for being an overt worshiper of the Lord. She was dismayed when she saw him publicly worshiping the Lord (see 2 Samuel 6:16-23). One of his sons, Amnon, raped his sister, Tamar, and David got angry but then just shrugged and turned away from the whole mess (see 2 Samuel 13).

Absalom, another of David’s sons, tried to take the kingdom away from his father. Again David turned a blind eye to the behavior of this son and ultimately had to run for his life. Absalom then mocked his father by openly engaging in sexual affairs with some of David’s wives (2 Samuel 16:20-22).

And then there is the moral failure of David. At a time when he should have been with his army protecting the kingdom, David instead stayed home and ended up in an adulterous affair with Bathsheba. From this affair, Bathsheba became pregnant and, in an attempt to hide his sin, David had Bathsheba’s husband killed (see 2 Samuel 11).

David tried to hide his sin, just as we sometimes do, and he seemed to forget that God knows everything; there is nothing we can hide from Him. When the prophet Nathan confronted David with his sin, the full revelation of his foolish behavior fell on him and he knew he couldn’t ignore it or hide anymore. So David did the right thing and repented (2 Samuel 12:13).

David was human just like us. He was not some kind of super warrior who lived on a spiritual level that we can never attain. He faced many of the same struggles that we do and did not live in victory all the time. Sometimes he failed and sometimes he gave in to temptation, but he always repented. He came clean with God and God forgave him and blessed him.

I think one of the most damning thoughts being pushed forward in segments of today’s contemporary church is that once you become a Christian you never have to repent again. This is the product of carnal Christianity that does not really teach believers how to live in victory, how to live a life that pleases God! In writing to believers in the church at Ephesus, the apostle John said, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9, NKJV).

King David was a warrior and you and I are called to be warriors, too. There is nothing magical about it—just a firm resolve that no matter what, “I am going to serve the Lord; I am going to please the Lord!”

You and I are the “warrior kings” of 2014!

SOUNDING AN ALARM by Dr. Jack Hayford

Dear Friend,

Although I am not, by nature, an alarmist, I am writing you today to sound an alarm. To alert you to a danger that has arisen in America in this hour, and to encourage you to respond to it with faith-filled action.

What I am about to say, I believe comes not just from me but from the heart of the Holy Spirit. I am convinced He is speaking to us these days with great urgency and intensity. As we move through this 4th of July season, and are mindful of the blessings God has poured out upon America, the Lord Himself is sounding the alarm

He is re-awakening us, as Christians in America, to a call that is fundamental to the ministry of every believer. He is alerting us to the danger we face and, for the sake of our country's future, He is calling us to do the only thing that can avert it.

He is calling us back to the ministry of intercession.

For the past 20 years or so, the church in America has drifted away from this ministry. You may not be aware of it if you're younger than I am (and, given my current age, most likely you are). But from my vantage point the change is unmistakable.

In my early years when I began pastoring, intercessory prayer was woven into the very fabric of the church. Our congregation at Church on the Way, like many others, was very much "into it," (as we might have said back then) not because intercession was hip or popular, but because in those days it was considered foundational to the Christian life.

Sadly, however, this is no longer the case.  Interceding congregations are scarce these days.

The praying church in our nation has declined. We are considerably distanced from the intercessory pattern that characterized the lives of believers 30 or 40 years ago. Although there are believers here and there who still know a good deal about it, multitudes of Christians don't. Even some of those who have been faithful intercessors in the past have let it slip. Rather than continuing to watch and pray, some have drifted off to sleep.

I don't mean to be melodramatic, loved one, but this is the unvarnished truth: Neglecting the ministry of intercession has cost us dearly. It has taken a great toll, not just on the church, but on our entire nation.

We see the evidence of it all around us: Economic and governmental problems too numerous to mention, a disregard for Biblical values in our culture, an absence of the fear of the Lord. As believers, we are all disappointed and frustrated by such conditions and are quick to voice our dismay. We call for political action. We talk about getting out the vote and booting out of office the politicians and government officials who got us into this mess.

But the scriptural reality is politicians and government officials are not the cause of our problems.

America is in the condition it's in today because of the prayerlessness of the church! Our nation is spiritually and morally sick because so many Christians are either unaware of God's call to intercede, or unaware of how to go about it.

I'm not suggesting that as Christians we shouldn't vote and be active in government. But our votes alone will not make enough difference. Political activism will not meet the need. No amount of human energy or enterprise can save this country.

The only thing that will save America now is prayer.

Some might consider this bad news, but it's actually not. The future of America, though seriously imperiled, is salvageable. If the living Church will rise to be the Church God intends, this nation can be turned around. If believers will once again become responsible and sensitive to the call to intercede, we will find God's Word is still good. His power is still sufficient. In our day, as in the days of Solomon, He will fulfill His promise:

If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chron. 7:14-15)

"But Pastor Jack," you might say, "the problems we face are so massive, I don't know what to pray. I'm so disgusted and distressed by them I don't know where to start."

Then start with forgiveness. Forgiveness opens the door to effective intercession.

Why? Because to intercede is to step in on behalf of someone else. It is to do for another, through prayer, what Jesus did for us. As the ultimate Intercessor, He stood before God on our behalf when we were too unworthy, rebellious, or ignorant to stand before Him on our own. "He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for them all" (Is. 53:12).

As believers, we're called to follow His example, to go to God in prayer for those who cannot and will not go to Him themselves. But we can't do it with anger and irritation in our hearts. We can't intercede for people when we're mad at them. On the contrary, our intercession must begin, as Jesus's did on the cross, with the cry, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do!" (Lk. 23:24, KJV).

That cry is not often heard in the church these days. It seems we are better schooled in political judgmentalism, analysis, and criticism than in being the first to forgive. This is one reason the ministry of intercession has been crippled.

But you and I can help turn the tide. We can ask God to forgive, not just the sinful and broken people around us, but everyone in our society, no matter how grotesque, corrupt, or evil they've become. Instead of calling for condemnation, we can say, "Lord, what's happening in our nation is not worthy of You. It merits judgment but I ask You for mercy. Father, forgive us, as a people, and breathe on us Your redemptive grace."

Can such simple prayers make a difference? Absolutely. You are an anointed child of the Most High God. Even a brief prayer uttered from your lips can change things.

What's more, you don't have to stop there.

You can do more. You can pray on-beyond yourself and your own abilities because, as Romans 8:26 says, "The Spirit . . . helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."

Imagine a child trying to put together a puzzle that's too complicated for him. Then envision a father taking hold of the child's hand and helping him put the pieces in the right places. That's what the Holy Spirit does for us. As we yield to Him in intercession, He helps us. He takes hold together with us and gives us spiritual words and groanings that are beyond our natural comprehension so that we can pray exactly the right thing.

Oh, how good and how great is our God! I simply can't fit in this letter all I want to say about Him and what He is calling us to do in this hour. I would like to share more about it, though. That's why, as a thank you gift for your gracious support this month, I want to send you my two books, Ten Steps Toward Saving America and Prayer is Invading the Impossible, as well as my new audio message on CD, Pray Beyond the Limits. The books and the message will pick up where this letter leaves off. They'll help further inspire you and equip you to fulfill your intercessory calling as a believer. Find out more.

Beloved, America can be saved! You and I, as Abraham's spiritual seed, can help bring God's blessing on this nation. So let's do it. Let's change history by rising up and being the Church God intends us to be.

Until I write again, I'll be thanking God for you and counting it an honor to be- 

Your Servant in the Lord, 
Pastor Jack 

and Your Friends at Jack Hayford Ministries

P.S. Please don't miss out on the special resources I mentioned above. Click here to find out how to receive your copies of Ten Steps Toward Saving America, Prayer is Invading the Impossible and my new audio message on CD, Pray Beyond the Limits. I truly believe it will be a blessing to you.

IT WILL RETURN AND BITE US!

(I wrote this blog in June of 2006. There is a prophetic quality to it that I did not fully comprehend at that time. If this article doesn’t say anything else to you I trust it is a wake-up call to pray for our nation. Our borders are being violated with impunity and the government in Washington seems to be hopelessly useless to do anything meaningful about this. It is time to pray, pray, pray that God will have mercy on our nation!)

IT WILL RETURN AND BITE US!

In April of 1966, Carol and I had been married for just about nine months. I flew to Vancouver, B.C. to interview at the U.S. Consulate and finish the paperwork necessary to become a permanent resident of the U.S. I had attended college in the U.S. on a student visa that allowed me to work and to go to school and now I was getting my permanent residence visa (the infamous green card, which is now a subtle but attractive shade of pink).

I have watched the news over the last few weeks about the immigration issue with a sense of disgust and dismay. For years the problem of illegal immigration has been an open secret and an exposed wound. Unfortunately, the wound has festered and the sore has erupted in a way that no one anticipated. For decades the bureaucrats have turned away from doing anything really meaningful to close the borders of our country. Businessmen who wanted cheap labor exploited the open secret, exploited the illegals, and have seriously damaged our nation.

If you were a poor worker in a remote village in Mexico, Guatemala or Honduras making a few dollars a day doing hard physical labor, and knew you could sneak across the border and get to Los Angeles or Dallas and get a job doing the same thing and making $75 or $100 a day, what would you do? And besides, the gringos don’t really do anything about it. They talk a lot about the problem and once in a while they catch a few illegal immigrants and send them back, but basically they just ignore the situation.

For decades America has winked at the problem. Businessmen and businesses have said that we needed the cheap labor to stay competitive and that the illegals were doing jobs that Americans wouldn’t take. I believe this is primarily a lie and the truth is that these businessmen did not want to cut into their profit margin and pay living wages. They were content to exploit the illegals, pay at or under the minimum wage, and offer no benefits.

For years, Washington has done nothing. The liberals have tried to stymie any legislation or action that would effectively lock down our borders. And if we think that the problem is just with the border between Mexico and the U.S., we are dreaming. The border between Canada and the U.S. is more open than the southern border. There are stretches along the North Dakota and Montana border with Canada where it is almost impossible to know what country you are in.

Now we have 11 to 12 million illegals living in the U.S. and they are demanding a fast track to citizenship. They are here illegally and they are demanding rights and threatening anarchy.

The last paper that I signed at the U.S. Consulate in Vancouver in 1966 was crucial; if I didn’t sign it I didn’t get into the country. The essence of what I signed said that if I was granted entrance to the U.S. as a resident, I would obey all the laws of the land, including serving in the military. I happily signed the paper and I was on my way.

For years we have turned away from the problem of illegal immigration. We did not acknowledge that it was serious and it has turned around and is trying to bite us.

There is a spiritual lesson to be learned from all of this and simply put, it is this: To ignore sin and God’s dealing in your life is to do so at your own jeopardy. To try to hold on to sin after God has shown us that it is wrong is to risk disaster.

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:7-9, ESV)

I do not know what will happen with the borders and the immigration issues that our nation is facing. What concerns me is that the issue has now become political and compromises will be made and deals will be cut in order to arrive at a solution. Sin cannot be dealt with politically. God does not negotiate when it comes to dealing with disobedience. The kingdom of God is not a democracy; we do not have voting and negotiation rights in heaven.

TOUGH LOVE!

“Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, for you are still controlled by your human nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world? When one of you says, ‘I am a follower of Paul,’ and another says, ‘I follow Apollos,’ aren’t you acting just like people of the world?

“After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow” (1 Corinthians 3:1-7, NLT).

Paul began the church in Corinth, a highly pagan and very immoral city. The Corinthians would have been quite at home in today’s American culture and probably would have felt most comfortable in cities such as San Francisco or New York.

In 1990, Carol and I were in Greece for a time of ministry and a short vacation. We were able to visit the ruins of “Old Corinth,” the city of Paul’s day. As we walked through the central marketplace, it was fascinating to realize that this place had been very familiar to the apostle Paul. He had walked on these very streets and shared the gospel with the Corinthians.

Interestingly, First Corinthians is actually the second letter that Paul wrote to the Corinthians; somehow the first letter has disappeared. However, we get a little insight into the message of the “lost letter” in 1 Corinthians 5:9 where Paul indicates that he had written to them about their immoral behavior and lack of maturity. He pointed out that they were not breaking free of their old lifestyle.

Paul sees the potential in the Corinthians and he is trying to lovingly push them toward becoming more mature, responsible believers. He admonishes them for being babies and for showing their immaturity through their behavior.

Paul is practicing “tough love.” He loves the Corinthians enough to say some strong things to them. Why? Because he wants them to become fruitful believers who are not caught up in the seduction of self-centered, childish thinking and behavior.

How does he know they are still babies, aside from the fact that they are still on the bottle, unable to eat solid food? Paul lists a number of issues that show the childishness of the Corinthians— including envy, jealousy, quarreling, and factions (see verse 3).

In verse 4 Paul really gets personal about the whole issue when he says, “When one of you says that you are a Baptist, and another responds by saying he is Assembly of God or Methodist or a fundamentalist, you are actually proving just how childish and immature you are in your faith.”

Verse 7 kind of puts it all in perspective for me. Let me put it in my own words: “All your talk about what church you belong to, and who you know in the church, doesn’t mean a thing! We are all in God’s family and it is God who does the work and brings the increase. It is time to grow up and get off the bottle.”

Tough words, tough love—’cause it’s tough to grow up!

Human nature causes us to be kinder, gentler to those who are close to us. It is so much easier to say something direct and even punishing to someone you hardly know—at least it is for me. In my years in leadership in ministries, the hardest thing for me to do, ever, was to discipline or fire someone whom I had known and worked with for several years. I hated to have to do that and still do.

In dealing with inappropriate behavior, what is the kindest thing to do? Is it right to avoid dealing with the issue, allowing the guilty person to get into even more serious difficulty or cause more serious damage? Or is it kinder to risk being misunderstood by lovingly and firmly pointing out the dangers of continuing a bad behavioral pattern?

To me, there is no alternative but to risk being misunderstood because you have the person’s best interests at heart—and that is what the apostle was displaying to the Corinthians.

Real love is never unkind . . . but it can be tough!

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful” (Proverbs 27:6, NKJV).