day fifteen of the fast

Day fifteen of the fast.

Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. (Joel 2:12-13))

Today we pray for Europe (that the Lord will bring a new reformation among these countries that will spread like wildfire across the globe).

Seven more days to go. I wait for the Lord. I know he is near and I wait.

The thing about a fast is that it has to be done with your whole heart. If you do not pray and seek God when you fast, all you do is starve.

It is hard for me to pray for long periods of time. My prayer tends to be shorter. I do not think it is any less intense or prayerful, but I have always envied people who could spend three hours in prayer in the morning. I could not. for one thing, I hate getting up early. I will if I have to, but I do not and never have liked it.

However, yesterday, as I said before, it seemed I had a bit of a breakthrough in that. I found that I had prayed much longer than I had before. I remember that breakthrough from the last long fast.

At that time, I was part of a Thursday morning prayer group that met and prayed for a couple of hours. During the fast, it became easier and easier to do so. But since that time, I haven’t had the opportunity to do so with a group of people. I miss that.

So today, I will pray and I will wait.

Europe is a picture of the United States in a post-Christian society. With the removal of Christianity from Europe, it has made for a desperate people, a people searching for meaning in all the wrong places. They are a very immoral people.

I remember that from when I was over there in the early 1970’s. It astonished me that people could be so openly vulgar. Public nudity (usually at beaches, but still), complete lack of modesty, lack of any real values that meant anything.

It was especially made manifest to a 20 year old man in the way girls dressed. The way girls acted when they were dressed in the very short skirts popular at the time almost caused many a wreck by startled GI’s. American girls wore much of the same thing, but held onto feminine modesty. The European girls didn’t.

As our morals shift, you see that same thing here almost all of the time, especially among Hollywood women, women who would be our role models. With real values gone, so many women are desperate to retain their sex appeal. It is all they have left.

My wife, even though she is 59, is more beautiful than any of them because her beauty comes not only from physical beauty, of which she has a good amount, but also from the inside. Her beauty reflects her Lord’s beauty.

That we can bring that reflection into our world today and into our country once again is my prayer.

Father God, I ask you for your renewed presence in Europe, to bring a new reformation across that land, one that will spread to all countries in Europe and into the rest of the world. as the last reformation made so much impact, we pray for a new one, to make that same impact. Send your sovereign presence to them and let your Spirit rain on them. Send that new reflection of your beauty and your glory once more. Thank you for your presence in my life. I praise you. Amen.