TALK LESS! PRAY MORE! The Boundary

"Do not remove the ancient boundary which your fathers have set." Proverbs 22:28

One of the popular patriot posters of WW I warned of the danger of unguarded speech. Citizens were cautioned to watch what they say or it could put the troops of the nation at risk. The banner read,

"Loose lips sink ships."

By WW II, the German war machine had once again unleashed the wolf packs of the U boats. They were highly successful in shutting down the sea lanes and sinking the ships that supplied the island stronghold of England with the food and fuel required to survive the Battle of Britain.

America's maritime might was called on to replace the tonnage lost to the Germans, and their answer was the Liberty Ship. Originally intended to be a fleet of 500, rapidly 2,700 ships were built before the end of the war. Built fast and not to last, they could be turned out in less than 60 days. There were some shipyards, at the peak of production, that could launch a ship from keel to christening in 16 days. The life expectancy of these vessels was no more than five years, and many did not survive the crossing. Those that did make it to their intended destination, carried the planes, tanks, munitions and men that would defeat the Axis powers in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. It was a remarkable undertaking of American ingenuity and sacrifice.

Appropriately, the SS Patrick Henry was the first Liberty Ship to be completed and put into service. It was given the honor of bearing the name of one of the Founding Fathers, because of his famous quote in the days leading up to the War for Independence,

"Give me liberty or give me death."

Over 2,000 Liberty Ships followed in the wake of the SS Patrick Henry, and all of them carried the name of a patriotic figure or a contemporary citizen who had earned the respect of the American people. One of the best kept secrets in American history may be those ships named for Christian pastors, preachers, missionaries, evangelists, champions of religious freedom, and Christian education.

The list included leaders of each of the great Spiritual Awakenings that swept the nation for 300 years. There was a time, not so long ago, that their contribution to their country entitled them to be considered prominent patriots and worthy of honor.

History is written by those who remain in power after the battle has been won. In WW I the participants were warned, "Loose lips sink ships." Today the flashing light on the dashboard of the soldier in the culture war over the soul of America should say,

"Loose grips abandon ship."

The Liberty Ships were no longer needed after the war ended in 1945. Most of them were sold, or stored in mothball fleets, until they could be scrapped. Unfortunately the nation has also lost hold on the namesakes of some of these ships. For the past 67 years Americans have lost their grip on their memory, and cannot recall the impact of Christian patriots who served this nation with distinction. The "ancient boundaries" set by their forefathers have been removed far from the classroom and the history books. The purveyors of political correctness and cultural conformity have expunged them completely or considered irrelevant Deists who had a benign belief in something somewhere. They have led older generations to forget and left younger generations in ignorance of the boundaries that were set in place. To believe Christianity had little influence on the political climate and the contemporary culture of America is a protected right, but to teach it is tantamount to intellectual treason.

As we set sail in the rough waters of the culture war for the soul of America, perhaps it will comfort you to know that others have sailed these seas before. These are those who had Liberty Ships built, launched and sailed in their honor to defeat the terrorists that threatened America in WW II. They include the...

SS Roger Williams: 1603-1683, Williams was a powerful voice for absolute religious Liberty. He championed this radical concept of unrestricted religious freedom at a time when it was not popular to do so. The Puritan founders of Massachusetts Bay Colony and Connecticut proved to be hostile to his beliefs, and banned him. He established the safe haven for dissenters in Providence, Rhode Island, and founded the first Baptist church in America that remains in that city today.

SS Cotton Mather: 1663-1738, A graduate of Harvard at the age of 15, he became the pastor of the North Church in Boston, and a prolific author and pamphleteer. As a leading Puritan pastor in America, he had great influence on the spiritual, political and scientific community of his day. Though still criticized for not restraining the judges of the Salem witch trials, he is remembered as a proponent of advancements in the treatment of small pox. Long before the American Revolution, in 1688 he led a successful revolt against the royal governor appointed over New England by the King James II. He was responsible for preparing the way for the revolution to come.

SS John Harvard: 1607-1638, Born in England, this Puritan pastor was the teaching elder at the Charlestown Church outside of Boston. Two years before his death, the Puritan leaders founded a school "..to advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity, dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches, when our present ministers shall lie in dust. " Dying of tuberculosis, he bequeathed half of his considerable monetary estate and his prestigious 400 volume library to the fledgling "New College." In gratitude the founding trustees of the school named it in honor of their pious and generous young benefactor. Harvard College was established for the training of ministers and missionaries to serve churches and spread the Gospel in America.

SS Jonathan Edwards: 1703-1758, Edwards served as pastor of the Church of

Northampton, one of the wealthiest and largest in Massachusetts. The First Great Awakening broke through in his congregation as early as 1733. It continued with great intensity for two years. He authored books and sermons that helped spread the fire of revival all over America and Great Britain. A true scholar, he spent 13 hours a day in his study. Edwards was not only a leading theologian of his day, but a highly respected scientist and philosopher. He is still considered to have been one of America's greatest minds of the 18th Century on either side of the Atlantic. In 1749 his church forced him out when leaders of the congregation grew tired of his call for continuous revival. He became a missionary to the Indians, and shortly before his death from a small pox inoculation, he was called to serve as president of a small college in New Jersey that became Princeton University.

SS George Whitefield: 1714-1770, Anglican evangelist of the 1st Great Awakening, George Whitefield, between 1739-1770. He fanned the spark of the movement that began in Northampton into a flame of fire that traveled throughout the 13 colonies. He arrived in Savannah, GA as a missionary and established, an orphanage to care for destitute children of the colony that is still in operation today. The city of Savannah dedicated a beautiful city square in his memory and the shipyard of his adopted hometown was responsible for naming this ship after him as one of their favorite sons. Whitefield was a personal friend of Benjamin Franklin who verified his capacity to preach to a crowd of 30,000 people in the open air. Whitefield appointed John Wesley to take over the Methodist work he had begun in England, and crossed the Atlantic 13 times to continue fueling revival fires in America. He helped raise money for a building in Philadelphia that became the University of Pennsylvania. He preaching unified people from diverse denominations and contributed greatly to their concept of and their identity as Americans.

SS Francis Asbury: 1745-1816, circuit riding preacher and one of the first Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Asbury was the founder of American Methodism. A statue to his honor was raised in Washington D.C. in 1923 and President Calvin Coolidge delivered the dedicatory address. The land was donated by the United States government, and the U.S. Army Band played a concert of Christian hymns for the service. Coolidge paid tribute by name to the legacy of men like Whitefield, Edwards, and Asbury who made it possible for a nation to be birthed that protected religious freedom and nurtured representative government.

SS F.A.C. Muhlenberg: 1750-1851, well educated in theology at the University of Halle, he was a Lutheran pastor, politician, and the son of German immigrant, Frederick Muhlenberg, the founder of the Lutheran Church in America. He was a voice of the American Revolution, and when British troops arrived in New York City, his church was burned to the ground and he was driven out of the state. He was a member of the Continental Congress, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He became America's first Speaker of the House of Representatives. As Speaker, he opposed the bill that would lead to the translation of the laws of the land into German. Though he abstained from the final vote, it failed to be approved by the Congress by 42-41, he was quoted as saying, "The faster the Germans become Americans, the better it will be."

SS Timothy Dwight 1752-1817, Dwight was a distinguished preacher, pastor, and theologian. As president of Yale, he provided leadership to a generation of young men who were being influenced by the radical anti-God movement coming out of the educational centers of Europe. He mentored the leaders of the Second Great Awakening. Much of what it became is owed to him.

SS Adoniram Judson: 1788-1850, Judson was a Baptist preacher, and at the age of 25, he became America's first Protestant overseas missionary. He served in Burma for 40 years, before he died at the age of 61, in the Bay of Bengal. He left behind his translation of the Burmese Bible, 100 Baptist churches and 8,000 converts. His version of the Bible is still popular for its accuracy and it is used today by persecuted Christians in the nation troubled nation of Myanmar.

SS Peter Cartwright: 1785-1872, powerful Methodist circuit riding preacher of the 2nd Great Awakening, Cartwright baptized 12,000 converts who gathered in the frontier revival meetings that broke out on the western edges of America's borders of Tennessee and Kentucky. These camp meetings were interdenominational gatherings that lasted for days, and transformed the crime riddled culture into one of morality and the rule of law. Their excesses were ridiculed by the established churches of the day, but they could not deny the impact they had on the culture of America. In his later years, he became a political activist in Illinois, and lost to Abraham Lincoln for a seat in the U.S. Congress in 1846.

SS Lyman Beecher 1775-1863, Lyman Beecher was a leader in the 2nd Great Awakening. Because it was birthed on the frontier, and not in the parlors and salons of educated society, this movement of God was often referred to by the religious elite as the Camp Meeting Revival. Beecher blessed it and fueled it in spite of the criticism it received, and was instrumental in leading pastors to receive it even when they could not control it.

SS Henry Ward Beecher 1813-1887, popular Congregational preacher, and son of Lyman Beecher, he came from a long line of Puritan ancestors. His abolitionist preaching challenged the contemporary culture to end the evil of slavery, prior to and during the Civil War. The New York commercial interests that made money off of the trade with the South, made him a target of the contemporary scandal sheets of his day. Love him or hate him, he was a media phenomenon, and his voice was a powerful force for the abolitionist movement. His peers criticized him for politicizing the pulpit. He was convinced that he was Christianizing it. He ignored his critics and kept preaching. He saw slavery defeated in his lifetime.

SS Dwight L. Moody 1837-1889, uneducated, uncultured Moody was the poster-boy for the cultural earthquake fracturing the landscape of America, as thousands of young men and women left their rural homes to move to the big city to find fame and fortune. He came to a saving knowledge of Christ as a shoe salesman in Chicago. He became a powerful preacher of the Gospel in America and Great Britain. He founded Moody Tabernacle, and Moody Bible College, and held sway over the Christian movement that followed in the wake of The Prayer Revival of 1857. During that period, prior to the Civil War, one million people in America were converted. The equivalent contemporary impact would require the conversion and infusion of 30 million people into the nation's churches today. God used him as a powerful force for Spiritual Awakening, in spite of his lack of training and his crude use of the English language. Moody placed his evangelistic message on the hearts of the students of his day. Thousands of these young men and women fueled world wide mission ministries under the banner, "Reach the World for Christ in Our Generation."

SS Billy Sunday: 1862-1935, Sunday, a popular professional baseball player, was the Tim Tebow of his day. With his feet firmly planted in the middle of two centuries of volatile American history, he had a tremendous impact on two cultural arenas. As a ball player, he came to Christ and soon became a fiery evangelist leading huge city wide crusades all over America. His preaching was athletic, ferocious and unapologetic. All over America he called men to Christ and to turn their hearts toward their homes. He fought against the liquor industry because of the detrimental impact it had on the families of the inner cities and the social fabric of America. He was a champion who gave voice to the cries of abused women and children whose cries who could not be heard over the sound of addicted husbands screaming for more of what was killing their familes.

Forgetting history is often a prelude to repeating it. However, those who have been denied a true knowledge of history, have been robbed of their inheritance. They have no knowledge of the incredible boundary that was set by their ancestors. They live lives of impoverished imprisonment, when in fact they have been left a tremendous legacy that is theirs for the taking. They suffer most, who know least. They were never given the chance to reject or to be inspired by what was set in place for them.

The battle for the soul of America is real and the outcome of it holds severe consequences for those who survive it. The key to victory in it, begins with a true understanding of the way the conflict was won in previous generations. Spiritual Awakening is the only climate in which this nation was meant to survive and thrive. Know where the lines are drawn, and don't remove the boundary set by your ancestors. This is a battle that only God can win. Until then, know what has been left for you to defend, and let your prayer be,

"Lord! Do it again. Do it again." J. Edwin Orr

TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!

Gary Miller

The Whitefield Project

3717 Mossbrook Drive

Fort Worth, TX 76244

TALK LESS! PRAY MORE! The Love

"...But the fruit of the Spirit is love..." Galatians 5:22

It was Valentine's Day in February of 1978. I was a seminary student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and as they say in our part of the world, I was broke as Job's turkey. Broke and seminary student are probably redundant expressions of the same condition. One is not always synonymous with the other, but my best guess would lead me to bet that the comparisons would hold up today, if they were put to the test out on "The Hill."

Dana and I had been married for a little more than a year. We had begun our lives together on January 1, 1977. I was completing my Master of Divinity degree, cramming three years into four. I expected to graduate in May, but until then it was crunch time. On the weekends, I would put on my marrying and burying suit, and Dana would get dressed to kill and we would head out on the road. I had a spectacular, silver and black 1976 Rally Sport Camaro. It had a 350 cubic inch engine, dual exhaust, dual carburetor, flat back paint, racing stripe, smoking hot tires, and rally wheels. I miss that car. ALOT.

I knew God had called me to preach, but I was pretty sure it was a surprise to everyone else. To get some street creds, I was willing to preach anywhere to anyone who would invite me. I think Dana and I covered most of the farm and market roads in Texas, from Lazbuddie in the west to Lovelady in the east, and from Dalhart in the north to Eden in the south. We drove down thousands of miles of rural road to find those tiny Baptist churches tucked back into the highways and byways of the Lone Star State. It was great experience, and most of the time I got paid enough to buy the gas I needed to get back home. I grew accustomed to the full-time ranchers and part-time deacons walking me out to my car, and saying, "Keep at it son. We'd be glad to have you back, if you bring that pretty girl with you." Those old boys could always spot a thorough-bred.

After a weekend of handling the heavenly, Dana and I would come back to earth, and the daily grind of making a living. I was working at a military ordinance company, where I painted, packaged and shipped thousands of washers to military bases all over the world. It paid minimum wage, and it was work that a monkey could do, if he was down on his luck and out of peanuts. Fortunately for me, the monkey had too much self esteem, so they offered me the job. Every day after morning classes, I would eat a sandwich in the car, head to the office, punch the clock, and launch my ministry of world-wide washers. At the end of the day, I would head home to hit the books until late into the night. Dana worked as a hair stylist and managed a four chair barber shop in Arlington.

Between the two of us, we were living on love and the carcass of a tough, ten-point deer I had shot while preaching in Eden back in December. I had spent my last five bucks for a hunting license, and we prayed over it before I left home. If I could get a deer, we would have enough meat to get us through the winter. You can believe I had "buck fever" when I put the scope on that big boy. He was huge, but my biggest fear was going home without him, and explaining what happened to our last five dollars. One of us was going to have to die that day. It was going to have to be him. So, he went down, but every time we tried to swallow him, he kicked back. I can still hear Dana pounding that leather-like venison with a hammer hard enough to tenderize it before she could put it in a crock pot for chili.

When Valentine's Day hit, I regretted I could not do more to celebrate the day with Dana. Rent was due for our duplex apartment, and it was tough each month coming up with the $150.00 we needed. This time it was going to be really tight. Four weeks of unusual ice and snow had shut the roads down and closed churches all over Texas. What little bit I had been receiving from pulpit supply work had not been available to us that month.

I went to my study, and wondered what I could do to salvage the weekend. I found in the closet a box of art supplies Dana had collected when we both served in a church's youth ministry. I got busy turning them into a man-made expression of a Valentines' Day card. By the time I was done, I had taken 12 pieces of multi-colored paper and written a dozen expressions of my love for Dana on each one of them. I made each page an homage to what we had done together or places where we had gone that month. I attached pieces of candy, momentos, ticket stubs, poems and then bound them all together in a thick homemade replica of a Hallmark card. I made a promise to her that someday the gifts that she received on this day would improve, and they would be worthier expressions of the love I had in my heart for her.

I will never forget Dana's response that night when I came back into our small living room and handed my creation over to her. Silence. She smiled, sat on the couch, and slowly turned every page, reflecting on the year we had spent together. No fireworks. No tears. Just a smile. It may not have been worthy of a Hallmark movie finale, but it was a sweet time.

Just this week I asked Dana if she remembered that night 34 years ago, when we were so broke I couldn't even afford to buy a card to give to her for Valentine's Day. She assured me she did indeed remember. I told her I hadn't thought about that night for years, and for some reason I had a blast from the past hit me. I recalled vividly the experience of creating a card out of construction paper and giving it to her in hopes that someday it would be replaced by something better. The fact that she remembered it was not all that surprising to me. She has an incredible memory. Note: Men don't about what really matters. Most women do. But what caught me off guard was her next statement, "I still have it."

Dana's simple statement is so true on so many levels. In fact it speaks for both of us. We still have it. We hold dearer today what God gave to us over three decades ago. We still share God's gift of love to us. The love He gave us grows stronger for one another through every tear, every test, every trial and every triumph. What Dana held onto was more than paper, glitter and glue. She held onto a husband's heart. I had hoped then that someday my love could be expressed in a way that was worthy of the only one I have every truly wanted to impress. It killed me not to be able to give her something more substantial back in 1978. Her response was a huge part of the foundation for a solid marriage. Instead of treating my crude attempt at creativity with the look of disdain that can easily cross a person's face when expectations aren't met, she treated it with respect. I am so grateful she did. Like most winning race horses, the girl has a heart bigger than Dallas.

Well, once again it is Valentine's Day. The world has turned around a few times since Dana and I started out on this journey together. It is not lost on me that what goes around will always come around. In 2012 we are back on the road again. We teach a prayer conference called, TALK LESS! PRAY MORE! Among many things we share, we challenge husbands and wives to learn how to stay together by being willing to pray together. During the past 18 months of this new ministry, we have been all over the country, around the world, and in churches large and small. The one thing they have all had in common: they still want me to come back, if I bring Dana with me. The only thing missing is my Camaro. Gotta love the retro look of the new ones. Sweet rides. HMMMMMM. But I digress...

It is still a little too early for me to risk the wake up call, but I am looking forward to saying to Dana sometime this morning, "Happy Valentine's Day!" It will be followed up with my next question I know she wants me to ask, "Can you say Brighton?" I think I know what her answer will be. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! and by the way...TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!

Gary Miller

gmillerlight@gmail,com

garydonmiller.com

Twitter@garydonmiller

TALK LESS! PRAY MORE! The Gap

"I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but found no one." Ezekiel 22:30

"The Gap" commonly refers to a contemporary clothing store. It is rarely considered to be a perilous place to stand, unless it is a sale day during the Christmas rush. In our culture it seldom brings to mind a perilous position between two warring parties. In 1977, my father, Don Miller, launched his prayer ministry. He gave me a parchment paper poster with the above mentioned passage from Ezekiel superimposed with the words, "THE GAP." From that moment until now, I have associated those two little words with the call of God on my life to serve as a prayer warrior in His army.

35 years later, my wife, Dana, and I responded to God's call to begin our own ministry of prayer. We call it, TALK LESS! PRAY MORE! We have always known to associate prayer with the three words, "standing in the gap." For the past year and a half we have grown to appreciate intercessory prayer at a whole new level. We have always known prayer was something that we must do for ourselves. Recently we have grown to intensify prayer for and with each other. This kind of mutual prayer for one another serves to keep our marriage healthy, and replace panic with peace. It has also given us a way of expanding our ministry all over the United States and around the world. As we pray for others, we play a part in providing direction, protection and correction for those we love. It allows us to invest in the lives of people we know best, as well as those that we will never meet this side of Heaven. It turns the waiting room overwhelmed with anxiety into a war room focused on victory. It takes a sense of futility that comes when intimidated by the impossible, and turns it into a shout of victory that comes from seeing God do the HIMpossible.

"What is impossible with man, is possible with God." Luke 18:27

Standing in the gap gives us the capacity to Have Our Perspective Elevated on any issue that we face. This injection of H.O.P.E. into our lives at any time of the day or night sets us free from the intimidation of the enemy. When our conversation reveals we are overwhelmed by a crisis we face, we now stop the talk and we start to pray. If the enemy has hit close to home in the lives of our family and friends, or if we discover a need anywhere on the globe, we refuse to be conformed to the crisis. Intercessory prayer transforms our concern with any problem into a conversation with the Solution to every problem...Jesus.

Standing in the gap is simply, another way of expressing the call to intercede in prayer for people. All Christian soldiers are potential prayer warriors. The problem is that many of the are AWOL. Prayer is not reserved for an elite corps of disciples. Jesus modeled prayer, and provided prayer so that all of His followers could have intimate communication with His Father.

Prayer is available and accessible to all believers. It is impossible to become a believer without taking advantage of it as the way to call out to God for salvation. The way believers come on is the way they should go on. Prayer is the way to continue a conversation with Jesus. It should never begin and end with, "Lord, save me." Prayer is the beginning a beautiful friendship, and a walk down a long road. Enjoy the journey.

No doubt, there are those in this army of God who are a cut above the common soldier in their practice of prayer. Prayer warriors who have dedicated themselves to continuous conversation and consistent companionship with Jesus are the Special Forces and Seal Teams of God's army.

Intercession is a powerful weapon in the hands of these seasoned, battle hardened prayer warriors. They provide the "shock and awe" that terrifies the enemy and expresses the primary passion of the Glorified Christ. Prayer warriors who confront the enemy on behalf of others are the Special Ops of God's army. They are not content with standing guard at an embassy or marching in a celebratory parade. Both may be honorable service, but they are not crucial to the survival of or revival in the church. Standing in the gap and standing guard require different costs and have separate consequences.

Jesus promised His disciples that it was to their advantage that He go away, because He would send the Comforter to them, and He would be with them forever. After His death, burial, and resurrection, The Risen Christ ascended into Heaven. As The Glorified Christ, He took His place and was seated at the right hand of the Father. The Head of the Body of Christ, Jesus, lives to make intercession for His Church and for those who seek to draw near to God. Jesus is the Head of The Body.

Prayerless churches are made up of headless people who have lost their sense of direction and purpose. They have lost sight of the Head of the Body of Christ who lives for intercession. They will never get The Mind of Christ until they put on the Head of the Body of Christ, and think like He thinks and pray the way He prays.

Standing in the gap is intercessory prayer. It requires hand to hand combat with a persistent enemy for a prolonged period of time. There are no medals, citations, or ribbons given for service rendered, and most of the time it is done when no one else is watching or awake. Prayer warriors learn to use intercession as night vision goggles. They are often called on to pray when things are at their darkest hour.

The call for prayer goes out only when people have come to the end of their rope. This means that the enemy has been given time to entrench themselves in a situation and or a person's life. By all appearances they are safely hidden in their impregnable stronghold. Prayer puts a stop to the hand-wringing and the blame game. Prayer takes the attack to the enemy. At a time when enemy is most confident of victory and convinced they are hidden from view, prayer explodes in their faces, strikes them with fear, and puts them to flight.

Prayer warriors are tuned into the Commander. They are able to see through the dead of night, the movement of the enemy, and the helplessness of others in need. As they pray to God on behalf of the captives, God strikes fear into the hearts of the enemy, and reveals their position. The incoming prayers of the warriors terrify the enemy camp because they stir the heart of The Champion to take the field against them.

Prayer Warrior Mission:HIMpossible

• Attention: Pray!

" And the people came to Moses and said...intercede with the Lord...and Moses interceded for the people. " Moses (Numbers 21:7

"You can do more than pray after you have prayed; but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed." A. J. Gordon

• Hold your position! "Pray without ceasing." Paul, I Thess. 5:17 Standing in the gap is a way of life, not an hour in a prayer room. It is done while you walk, as you drive, at work, and in your home as a continuous conversation between the Heavenly Father and His child.

• Wait for further orders! "But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation." Micah 7:7 God's delay is not a sign of God's denial. God's silence is not a statement of his disinterest.

"God does nothing except in response to believing prayer." John Wesley

• Protect your supply lines! "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may with you forever." Jesus (John 14:6)

• Exhibit courage! "But I have prayed for you that your faith fail not..." Jesus (Luke 22:32) Courage is not so much the absence of fear, as it is faith under fire.

"Prayer strikes the winning blow; service is simply picking up the pieces." S.D. Gordon

• Focus on Jesus! "He always lives to make intercession for them." Heb.7:25 Never lose sight of the only one who has understood completely what the role of a prayer warrior is. Jesus is praying for you. Praying eyes can see Him.

• Follow the chain of command! "First of all I urge that prayer and entreaties be offered on behalf of all men...pray for those in authority." 1 Tim. 2:1-2

• Never surrender! "Pray without ceasing..." Paul (1 Thess. 5:17) Persevering prayer is a sign of strength to the enemy. They interpret prayerlessness are a prelude to surrender.

• Communicate on a secure line! "The Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." Romans 8:26 Never allow your enemy to overhear you talking about your fears. Pray about them, and the very thing that you fear the most, God will use to terrify the enemy. Talking is not praying. Talking is treasonous communication with an enemy that has tapped into your communication system and can hear everything you say.

• Complete your mission! "I have finished the work Thou hast given me to do." Jesus, John 17:4 The prayer warrior's mission on earth is fueled by the intercession of The Champion in Heaven. The prayer warrior continues on earth what Jesus did, and continues to do seated at the right hand of the Father. Intercession is the mission.

• Prepare for victory! "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." Phil. 1:6 Avoid being the victim of friendly fire. Prepare for victory over the enemy. When those closest to you hurt you the most, follow the leader to victory. "Father forgive them..." Jesus, Lk 23:3

Don't settle for survival. There is not hope of survival without complete and total victory over the enemy. Make no room for compromise or negotiation with the enemy. You cannot negotiate with terrorists.

"And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary...while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people and especially to those who are of the household of faith." Galatians 6:9-10

"Victory - victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival." Winston Churchill

Prayer Warrior Medal of Honor Recipients

1. "Prayer is the intimate communication between the Heavenly Father, and His child." Don Miller
2. "Man's extremity is God's opportunity." George Whitefield
3. "Discernment is given for intercession, not faultfinding." Oswald Chambers
4. "Its amazing what God can do with a broken heart, if you give him all the pieces." Samuel Chadwick
5. "The man who mobilizes the Christian church to pray will make the greatest contribution to world evangelization in history..." Andrew Murray
6. "The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless work, prayerless study or prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil,mocks at our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray." Sam Chadwick
7. "Prayer is where the action is." John Wesley
8. "Don't pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees." Corrie Ten Boom
9. "Satan trembles when he sees the weakest Christian on his knees." William Cowper
10. "You may as soon find a living man that does not breathe, as a living Christian that does not pray." Matthew Henry
11. "Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer." John Bunyan
12. "I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach." Charles Spurgeon
13. "If i could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet the distance makes no difference, He is praying for me. " Robert Murray M'Cheyne
14. "Prayer is the greatest of all forces, because it honors God and brings him into active aid." E. M. Bounds
15. "I never prayed sincerely and earnestly for anything but it came in some time, no matter at how distant a day, somehow, in some shape, probably the least I would have devised, it came." Adoniram Judson
16. "To make intercession for men is the most powerful and practical way in which we can express our love for them." John Calvin
17. "We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties." O. Chambers
18. "Faith in a prayer-hearing God will make a prayer-loving Christian." A. Murray
19. "Four things let us keep in mind: God hears prayer. God hears prayer. God heeds prayer. God answers prayer, and God delivers prayer." E. M. Bounds
20. "As is the business of tailors to make clothes, and cobblers to make shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray." Martin Luther
21. "The true church lives and moves and has its being in prayer." Leonard Ravenhill
22. "The battle for prayer is against two things...wandering thoughts and lack of intimacy with God's character as revealed in His word. Neither can be cured at once, but they can be cured by discipline." Oswald Chambers
23. "Prayer wonderfully clears the vision, steadies the nerves; defines the duty, stiffens the purpose, sweetens and strengthens the spirit." S. D. Gordon
24. "If the spiritual life be healthy,...praying without ceasing will be natural." Andrew Murray
25. "Definite prayer for those in the prison house of sin is the need of the hour." Dr. R. A. Torrey
26. "Prayer does not fit us for the greater work, prayer is the greater work." O. Chambers
27. "It is not enough to begin to pray...continue in prayer until we obtain an answer." George Muller
28. "Prayer can never be in excess." Charles Spurgeon
29. "Listening to God is far more important than giving Him our ideas." Frank Laubach
30. "Prayer is not learned in the classroom but in the closet." E. M. Bounds
31. "Whole days and weeks I have spent prostrate on the ground in silent or vocal prayer." George Whitefield
32. "There is no power like that of prevailing prayer...it turns ordinary mortals into men of power. It brings power. It brings fire. It brings rain. It brings life. It brings God." Samuel Chadwick
33. "Prayer is the secret of power." Evan Roberts
34. "There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer." A. T. Pierson
35. "The man who mobilizes the Christian church to pray will make the greatest contribution to world evangelization in history." Andrew Murray

Prayer Warrior Field Manual

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How do you pray for people on a prayer list for prolonged period of time without any sign of an answer.

A: The last blow of the hammer always breaks the stone. You never know when the break will come. You are responsible to pray. God is responsible for the answer. He is the Sculptor. Keep expecting God to break through. He is using you. You are not using Him. Prayer puts you in the His hands of God. Be the hammer and give God some elbow room.

Delayed answers are a challenge for the intercessor and for the one in need. Sometimes there is not a victory in a single battle, but the struggle is an endless campaign. There are ups and downs and the wins and losses that come with any unresolved issue. Health, financial, or family issues can all bring on a weariness for both parties. Those who pray feel guilty that they do not carry the burden as intensely as they once did. Those who need healing begin to feel that they are becoming a burden to those around them. When greeted with a request for an update, they are often hesitant to admit their need. They have seen the eyes of people cloud over who may have been willing to wear pink during "Breast Cancer Awareness Month," but they don't know how to be supportive the other 11 months of the year. Both parties are going to have to release their burden into the hands of God, and allow His Spirit to be the source of peace in the midst of the storm, as long as it takes.

Q: How do you pray for someone who has never seen a prayer list they didn't want to be on?

A: People in need of rescue often become discouraged by their prolonged imprisonment. All they can hear are the voices of their enemy captors. They loose hope in their situation, convinced of their defeat. Their prayers to God are silenced. They believe the lie from the enemy camp that is repeated to them over and over. "God's delay means God's denial."

Delay tempts them to take small comfort in the celebrity status often offered to a victim. This is an attempt on the part of the enemy to keep them trapped in prison and give up hope of escape. Prayer turns a victim of circumstances into victor over them. When being prayed for becomes more important than receiving an answer to prayer, it is a signal that Satan has hacked his way into their value system. The virus must be removed by gentle reminders that the passion of a Christian is to have a prayer list, not to be on one. Be warned. Sometimes the cure is more dangerous than the illness. If some people had all their prayers answered, the shock might kill them. That being said, pray for them anyway. They may have the wrong motive in for asking for prayer. You need to focus on your own integrity, and pray with the right motive.

Q: How do you pray with genuine concern for requests that appear to to be trivial?

A: A bone in the throat and a grain of sand in the shoe are small things to be sure. They have the potential to become huge problems if they are not removed. Intercessory prayer is more about you focusing on the size of God than the size of the request. What seems trivial to you may be of great consequence to one of God's children.

"Does anyone dare despise the day of small things?" Zechariah 4:10 (The Message)

Q: How do you intercede with passion for someone you do not know?

A: Jesus interceded, "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word." John 17:20 Jesus lives to make intercession. When you pray for someone you do not know, you are aligning yourself with His mission. You never become more like Jesus than when you are praying for someone you do not know to come to the saving knowledge of Christ, or to receive the answer to their prayer at the throne of His grace.

Q: What do you do when your mind wanders when you are praying for others?

A: There is a difference between spending time and paying attention. Oswald Chambers warned prayer warriors that the battle is always about two things, wandering thoughts and lack of intimacy with God. If your mind wanders, it is being influenced by the enemy. Discipline yourself to stop in your tracks at the first sign of an intruder. Rebuke the enemy, gather your thoughts, focus your attention, and begin again. If you fall asleep when you pray, you might try standing up as you intercede. You will break the habit or the floor will break it for you.

"The battle for prayer is against two things in the earthlies; wandering thoughts and lack of initmacy with Gods character as revealed in His word. Neither of them can be cured at once, but they can be cured by discipline." Oswald Chambers

Q: What do you do when you don't feel like praying?

A: Pray anyway. You will never feel your way into a new way of praying. You must pray your way into a new way of feeling. Athletes are told to learn to play with pain. Christian soldiers will need to learn to pray with pain. Intercessory prayer is spiritual warfare. There will be resistance from the enemy. Expect to be hit where you will feel it the most. Remember, when you feel like whining, it is because the enemy knows you are winning.

Q: Why do prayers go unanswered?

A: The enemy is full of deceit and deception. This may be their most effective lie. In fact, all prayers are answered: Three of the most common answers are: Yes. No. Wait. The three greatest hindrances to prayer cannot be blamed on the deception of the enemy camp.

Prayerlessness: "You do not have because you do not ask.." Jame 4:2

Motive: "You ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motvies."James 4:3

• Selfish, sweat drenched prayers that glorify the flesh do not pass God's smell test. There is a huge difference between my will and Thy will. Getting what you want and desiring to get with God reveals the motive of your heart. Do you want to get an answer from God or do you want to spend time with God? People who get what they want, but never get with God miss out on more than they can imagine.

Pride: "...not my will, but Yours be done." Luke 22:42

• God's waiting room is designed to conform you to Him, not for Him to perform for you. Jesus set the standard for prayer warriors. Those who pray like Jesus will always pray long enough to see "my" turned into "Thy." God's delay is not always a sign of God's denial. He uses prayer to conform you to His image, and His will. Pray long enough to come to the end of yourself, and the beginning of God. This is the true purpose of prayer. The prayerless always mock the "Tebow" but they defend their own ego. Prayer is more about listening to God than talking to God. It is not a way for you to give God instruction, but the means for you to listen to His direction. When you are talking, you are not learning. TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!

"Prayer power has never been tried to its full capacity...answer God's standing challenge: "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not." J. Hudson Taylor

TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!

Dr. Gary Miller, Founder and Executive Director

The Whitefield Project

3717 Mossbrook Drive

Fort Worth, TX 76244

TALK LESS! PRAY MORE! The Grip

"With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit." Ephesians 6:18

The sword of the Spirit is the word of God. The sword requires a strong five, fingered grip by the sword-bearer in order for this weapon to accomplish the task assigned to it in the arsenal of The Armor of God. It is the only attack weapon the Christian soldier has. Without it the warrior is dressed to kill, but is powerless to do so.

Looks can be deceiving. Pristine parade ground cadets are no substitute for seasoned battleground veterans. The major difference between gold-braided and grizzled soldiers their level of experience in the use of their weapons. Basic training provides a potential combatant with an introduction to the proper use of weapons and to the current rules of engagement. Hand to hand combat with the enemy, however, creates a whole new level of intimacy and intensity with the effective use of weapons. It is something that cannot be accomplished in the classroom of a war college or duplicated by an artificial obstacle course. After one particularly savage battle, the war weary Union Civil War General Tecumseh Sherman said, "War is hell." His most recent experience gave him a clear picture and he made an accurate evaluation of 19th century conflict. In his letter to the Church at Ephesus, the Apostle Paul warned 1st century saints they were in a, "War with hell."

Nothing has changed in 2000 years. Christian soldiers were never intended to admire themselves in the mirror of public opinion, or to march in a parade of political correctness. Their commission from The Champion was a result of His call to them to follow Him and to stand by Him in the struggle "against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12

The soldier-saint learn must learn to wrap five fingers around "the sword of the Spirit" by following the daily discipline of The Champion. Jesus is the ultimate drill instructor. His voice must be heard over the din of battle, and the distractions of the enemy, or the soldiers of His army will go AWOL in the face of the enemy. The disciple of Christ becomes a disciplined soldier by developing the character that displays immediate obedience to the marching orders of The Champion. Each finger of the fighting grip of a well-equipped soldier must close tightly around the sword of the Spirit when they...

• Hear the Word!
• Read the Word!
• Study the Word!
• Memorize the Word!
• Meditate on the Word!

The sword of The Spirit is the Word of God. It must never be loosely held, or treated like a frivolous accessory. When it is taken lightly, the sword will be easily knocked to the ground by a blow from the enemy. If it is not taken seriously or considered obsolete, the soldier risks showing up for a fight for his life without his attack weapon.

Paul calls on soldiers to "pray in the Spirit." Prayer tightens the five-fingered grip of the saint around the sword of the Spirit. The key to getting and to keeping a firm grip on "the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God" is to..."...pray at all times in the Spirit..." Ephesians 6:18

A glove takes on the life of the owner when he inserts fingers into the space designed just for them them. Any left handed ball player who has ever had to play in a game while using a glove designed for a right handed player knows exactly what this feels like. The mitt must fit each finger properly or an error is sure to follow. A ball player imposes his or her will on the ball glove by inserting fingers into it. The glove has no life on its own. It shows signs of life only because someone else has exerted a powerful influence into the glove. It is not enough for the glove to simply exist. It will never accomplish the purpose for which it was made until life is put into it.

In a similar way, the prayers of a soldier of Christ give life to the five fingers that must obediently be wrapped around the handle on the sword of The Spirit. Prayer releases life-changing power of The Spirit into the fingers of a soldier and enables each one to get their unique grip on the only offensive weapon of warfare available to them. By prayerfully hearing, reading, studying, memorizing, and meditating on the Word of God, the soldier will get a grip on the Truth that will give him courage for the battle. The sword of The Spirit silences the lies of the enemy and cuts the chains of those imprisoned in darkness. Preachers have long understood the power of this sword, and how to use it when the lies of the enemy camp become loud enough to drown out the truth of the Gospel.

"When Satan opens his mouth, he gives me an opportunity of ramming my sword down his throat." C.H. Spurgeon

Fingers of the soldier of Christ are deadened by the lack of prayer. Prayer energizes the spiritual senses, provides the infusion of the Spirit's courage into the heart of the warrior, and the Holy Spirit pumps supernatural strength into a believer's grip on the sword of the Spirit. Prayerlessness causes fingers to atrophy from lack of use, or to be paralyzed by the ferocious face and constant threats of the enemy. Praying at all times in the Spirit is an admission of one's own need for a moment by moment, breath by breath consistent companionship and daily dependency upon the Holy Spirit to provide His Presence, power and perspective during prolonged spiritual warfare.

"We must not be content to be cleansed, but be filled with the Spirit. The word 'comforter' as applied to the Holy Spirit needs to be translated by some vigorous term. Literally it means 'with strength.' Jesus promised His followers, 'The Strengthener' would be with them. No lullaby for the faint-hearted. It is a blood transfusion for courageous living." C.P. Hovey

Praying in the Spirit is the means by which a soldier engages in spiritual warfare with the overriding confidence in the victory over the enemy. Prayer enables the prayer warrior to stand next to The Champion during the worst of the battle. Prayer transforms life-draining fear into death defying faith by making connection with the life giving power and the life-changing Presence of the Person of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told His followers that it was to their advantage that He go away. He knew that His absence would lead to a fresh infusion of His Presence.

Praying in the Spirit provides access to His...

• Comfort: "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever, that is, the Spirit of truth,...you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you." Jn 14:16-17

• Companionship: "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples." Jn 15:7

• Communication: "If you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you...ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full." Jn 16:24

• Courage: "In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." Jn 16:33

• Citizenship: "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of this world. I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one." Jn 17:14

• "Completion: I in them and You in Me that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me." Jn 17:23

The First Great Awakening in America had its most visible lightning strike in Northampton, Massachusetts, during 1734-1735. A few years later, in response to a call to prayer from a pastor in Scotland, Jonathan Edwards wrote the seminal work on The Role of Prayer in Spiritual Awakening. He entitled it,

"An Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of God's People in Extraordinary Prayer for the Renewal of Religion and the Advancement of God's Kingdom on Earth." Jonathan Edwards 1747

Edward's book outlined what had happened in his church in Northampton and the surrounding communities. He described what they saw God do, and called for a renewal in 1747 of the kind of prayer they had experienced 13 years earlier. It is still needed today to prepare for the next Great Awakening. The marks are: Explicit Agreement - Visible Unity - Unusual Prayer

Praying in the Spirit is a vital responsibility of the Church, but its influence is not limited to those within the walls of a church. Praying in the Spirit's power has the capacity to generate a gentle touch to turn one life around. God intends for His children to lead the way in obedience to His commands. Spiritual Awakening, sometimes called revival, is just one step of obedience away. It knows know limits. It has been described as a community totally saturated by the Presence of God. Praying in the Spirit can be released upon one person, or this kind of prayer can launch a tsunamai. The tidal wave of the Spirit's power has proven to be able to surge across an entire nation, and reverse the direction of generation that has turned its back on God.

As early as 1739, Benjamin Franklin became a personal friend and business partner of the Anglican Evangelist George Whitefield. Franklin saw the fires of the First Great Awakening transform the lives of the citizens of the city of Philadelphia. In his autobiography he recalled the impact of the open-air preaching of Whitefield on the colonial citizenry,

"...one could not walk through the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street."

Franklin remained friends with Whitefield until the preacher's death. He shares in his autobiography that he never gave the evangelist the satisfaction of knowing that his prayers for his salvation were ever answered, but he never forgot what he had seen God do through the life of the man.

Years later he would recall how he had seen God work in his nation's history through answered prayer. The War of Independence had been won. The nation had been struggling for years with the implementation of the inadequate Articles of Confederation. Once again delegates from the various United States met in Philadelphia to reorganize the government into a more effective union.

After five weeks of tumultuous and fractious meetings at the Constitutional Convention in Independence Hall, Benjamin Franklin reminded them of answered prayers they had received in that very room during the American Revolution. Although he was not a a professing member of any denomination, he called on the members of Congress who claimed to be Christians, to remember what they believed in, and to pray to God once more for guidance. With the Congress at an impasse, members were threatening to go home, and disband the effort. Rather than the birth of a nation, the convention was about to dissolve into a complete failure. Franklin rose before the Congress in session and appealed to the presiding officer, George Washington. He said in part,

" In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, we had daily prayers in this room for the Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and graciously answered...I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God Governs the affairs of men...I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business..."

In spite of opposition to the motion from members of Congress who did not want word to get out that the convention had come to this kind of desperate measure, prayers were offered. There was a change in the climate of the room. In short order, the fog of confusion was lifted and a constitution was completed, passed on to the States, and ratified. The rest, as they say, is history.

"The story of every great Christian achievement is the history of answered prayer." E.M. Bounds

There is always a high cost to pay for those praying their way towards Spiritual Awakening. The enemy has always known that fallen leaders weaken a movement of God. Discredited, discouraged, disoriented, defeated, or dead, it makes no difference to the enemy camp how a leader falls as long as a leader leaves the field. People left without a leader are prone to wander from the field of battle, or eventually retreat from it.

It was so in the lives of leaders of the First Great Awakening. After being used as a catalytic converter for the Awakening that began in his church in Northampton, Massachusetts, Edwards saw it spread all over New England, and throughout Colonial America. His writings and the preaching of Whitefield were instrumental in seeding the Great Awakening throughout Great Britain.

Three years after writing his monumental treatise on the role of prayer in Spiritual Awakening, Jonathan Edwards was removed from his pulpit in 1750. He had refused to retreat, and return to the way things were before the Great Awakening. He refused to accommodate the widening, secularized culture that sought acceptance and membership in his church, but did not want a relationship with God. Today he is remembered as the one of America's greatest theologians, scientists and philosophers, and the Father of the First Great Awakening. His former church is a forgotten footnote in history. Go figure.

George Whitefield, from 1839-1870 exhausted himself by 13 crossings of the Atlantic, preaching thousands of sermons in the open air, and traveling by horseback the length and breadth of colonial America. He was one of the first white men to travel non-stop by horseback from Boston to Charleston, SC. His heart gave way at the age of 55 after preaching his last sermon in Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1770. He was buried in that city beneath the pulpit of what is now the First Presbyterian Church. From 1739-1770, his preaching forged ties between the colonies, and prepared the way for the establishment of a national identity. He gave his last breath to fan the flames of Spiritual Awakening in his adopted homeland of America. His prayer journals are an inspiration, and leave potential prayer warriors with a powerful and profound reminder,

"Man's extremity is God's opportunity." George Whitefield

The cost of a getting a grip on the sword of the Lord comes with a high price. Those who accept the challenge to pray in the Spirit are are driven by the prophetic passion that the price paid for losing one's grip on the sword is even higher. Historical and theological evidence reveal the peril that comes when the Church replaces an intimate communication with God with an inexcusable connection with its culture. The unbalanced substitution results in a nation that expects God's protection and prosperity, but despises His correction and purity.

"For the nation and the kingdom that will not serve You will perish." Isaiah 60:12

The Role of the Word of God and Prayer in Spiritual Awakening are inseparable from one another. The process of breathing, inhaling and exhaling, supplies the body with life-giving oxygen, and rids the lungs of what is life-threatening. Light from the Word of God protects Spiritual Awakening from losing its way and keeps it from being consumed by secondary issues and unsound doctrine. Prayer softens hands that have become calloused and hearts that have become hardened handling the holy sword of The Spirit. Praying in the Spirit prepares people to receive the Word of God. Prayer and the Word of God are two sides of the same coin. For the citizens of The Kingdom who are willing to pray the price for Spiritual Awakening, they must invest in and expend the currency that is recognized and minted in Heaven.

One of the greatest church historians, who gave his life to the study and the documenting of the role of prayer in Spiritual Awakening, passed on this wise counsel to his students before he died.

"What is the lesson for us, Let us pray. Lord, do it again. Do it again." J. Edwin Orr

TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!

Gary Miller, Founder and Executive Director

The Whitefield Project

3717 Mossbrook Drive

FTW, TX 76244

gmillerlight@gmail.com

garydonmiller.com

TALK LESS! PRAY MORE! The Word

"...the sword of the Spirit. which is the word of God." Ephesians 6:17

The Armor of God contains an arsenal of weapons available to equip the soldier of Christ.

"Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand against the schemes of the devil." Ephesians 6:11

• The one common denominator of each of these items of armor is their defensive nature. With the exception of "The Sword of the Spirit," these weapons do not prepare the warrior to attack the enemy. However, they do offer ample protection from the attacks of the enemy.

• The soldier's dress code requires that the weapons be put on or taken up by those who intend to take their stand in the battle line. Undressed soldiers are more than an embarrassment to themselves. Harsh but true, ill-equipped soldiers are a liability to everyone around them.

• The key to effectiveness in battle against evil is the capacity of the saint to stand next to The Champion in the face of the enemy assault. The enemy is at a distinct advantage when the saintly soldier chooses to run from the battle. The armor provided for victory simply will not protect a soldier who is prone to retreat. The bearer of the armor must stand and face the adversary in order to receive the maximum benefit from these weapons of this kind of warfare. Jesus is the only one the enemy really fears. When the soldier stands next to Jesus, there is no fear of defeat. AWOL saints must find their confidence in the word of God, and obey the written orders of The Champion.

"...The sword of The Spirit is the word of God." Paul's use of the word "sword" to describe the word of God should not be underestimated. The Roman short sword had been used to conquer the known world. This side arm was the primary attack weapon of a solider in one of the vast legions of the Empire. Paul had ample opportunity to observe the weapon on the hip of his guards while they were chained to him in prison. It is no great stretch of the imagination to suggest that Paul took advantage of his close proximity to his guards to discuss the use of the sword with them. Paul was known to take an object of the Roman culture and communicate the Gospel of Christ to his audience. In Athens, he used a statue built to honor an unknown God to tell his listeners about Jesus. Soldiers assigned to him would receive the same kind of message, but with a different illustration. Paul's use of their sword as a word picture for the word of God would have a profound impact on them and they in turn would help him spread the good news of the Gospel.

"So that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else." Philippians 1:13

Spiritual Awakening and The Word of God:

"So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." Romans 10:17

The Puritans arrived on the shores of America with the Geneva Bible under their arm and a passion in their heart to build a "city on a hill." The King James Bible, though completed was not widely available in print. The early Puritan preachers started churches, built schools, and limited government. They established in the lives of their people a profound respect for the word of God. The Geneva Bible was taught in their churches, used in their schools, read in their homes, and guided their government. These first bibles brought to America were either New Testaments published in 1557 or an entire bible published in 1560. Surviving copies today are rare finds and difficult to read because of the oil stain residue from generations of hand prints and the tears that sank into the pages.

These bibles were the work of Protestant translators in Geneva Switzerland who had been under the tutelage and influence of John Calvin. They also contained margin notes that disturbed King James I of England to such a degree that he was determined to rid his realm of the Geneva Bible. The margin notes he hated the most had to do with references to limited government. These notes expressed the right and the moral responsibility of believers to disobey kings when their behavior and orders contrasted with the word of God. The Geneva Bible was a radical document in an age when rulers claimed to hear directly from God and King James I was determined to protect any erosion of his "divine rights."

Preaching and teaching from the word of God by Jonathan Edwards in 1734-35 seeded the fertile soil in the hearts of men and their families who would bear the fruit of the First Great Awakening. What broke out in Northampton, Massachusetts would spread throughout New England and then up and down the coast of colonial America through the ministry of George Whitefield.

Whitefield arrived in Philadelphia in 1739. His close friend, Ben Franklin, reported in his autobiography, "In 1739, arrived among us from Ireland, the Rev. Mr. Whitefield, who had made himself remarkable there as an itinerant preacher. He was at first permitted to preach in some of our churches; but the clergy taking a dislike to him, soon refused him their pulpits, and he was obliged to preach in the fields...It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if the whole world was growing religious, so that one could not walk through the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street."

For the next two decades until his death in America in 1760, Whitefield would crisscross the Atlantic Ocean 13 times as a tireless evangelist. He played a key part in the spiritual transformation of both America and Great Britain. In England he formed the first "Methodist" Society and passed the leadership baton of that fledgling movement to his friend, John Wesley. The ministry of John and Charles Wesley was a huge part in changing the spiritual climate of an empire and led to the eventual abolition of slavery in Great Britain.

The Geneva Bible had taken its first breath when it was birthed in the rare air of the city state of a small republic in Switzerland. The leaders of this small city were elected by the people and were responsible and accountable to them. The earliest founders of America had their hearts rooted in the word of God and their understanding that their rights came from God and not from the state. Their preaching and teaching led the generations to follow, but who were yet to be born to lead out in a theologically fed political awakening that impacted the concept of self- government with the American Revolution.

The sword of the Spirit is the word of God. It is the only offensive weapon in the hands of the saint in this battle against evil. The "devil" is identified by his very name as the one who "throws against" or "the accuser." His negative voice shouts insults in the ears of the followers of Jesus, and tempts them to recall every hurtful thing that has ever been said to them. The proactive saint will mute the evil one by opening the Word of God, and letting it drown out the lies and hate-speech of the voice of the evil one.

The Word of God is best heard, up close and personal. Saints achieve their tightest five finger grip on "The Sword of The Spirit which is the Word of God" when they hear it, read it, study it, memorize it, and meditate on it. Taking their stand next to The Champion gives them the confidence they need in the heat of the battle.

Hearing it leads to reading it. Reading it leads to heeding it. Heeding it leads to believing it. Believing leads to applying it. Applying it leads to seeing it... change a nation...one life at a time. The Word of God remains a powerful weapon of warfare for those who desire to take the field and experience the victory of the next great Spiritual Awakening. Suit up! Take up your sword. The battle is on.

TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!

Gary Miller

The Whitefield Project

3717 Mossbrook Drive

Fort Worth, TX 76244

garydonmiller.com

gmillerlight@gmail.com