My dear brothers and sisters in Christ whom God has given a heart and hunger to prayer for revival in the Church,

I've not posted here in a while and would like to update you today. The following is something I originally posted on my other website here in response to my concern that we who are seeking God's face for revival are too thinly spread on the wall, something I had touched on here. I know some of you may have already seen this post, but some of you may not.

I've been reading and reflecting on Nehemiah both here and on my other blog (see here).

The devil loves to undermine the work of the people of God anyway he can, and he particularly loves to nip in the bud any stirrings of prayer in the heart for he knows the effectual fervent prayers of righteous men, women, boys and girls avail much. Therefore I am praying God would keep all of us steadfast, immovable and abounding in the work of prayer for we know prayer with an eye to the glory of God is never in vain! May the resurrection Spirit of Jesus Christ who dwells in us keep us steadfastly setting our faces toward His throne of grace our Lord set His face like a flint and set Himself steadfastly to Jerusalem to finish all the work the Father had given Him. So long as we are here on the earth, we are called to intercessory prayer for the Church.

If you are already here you know God's desire is for His Church to give glory and praise to His Name. We also know that we as individuals as well as the Church as a whole continue to fall far short of that. However, we also know that God has promised to hear us for Jesus' sake as we ask anything according to His will. So may God give us grace and strength to persevere in prayer like the importunate widow and acknowledge, "Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross i cling." We all clung to the cross for saving grace in the first place, and we must continue to cling for sustaining grace to persevere in prayer. We are nothing apart from Him. He is the Vine, we are the branches, without Him we can do nothing. Yet He has placed us in His Body, the Church, and given us to one another so we might strengthen, support and encourage each other through the life we share in Him in one Body through one Spirit.

My prayer is that my writing on my blogs, our prayers together, and our conversations with and messages to one another might serve to build up the Body and help us to put our eyes once more on Him because for too long we have sought help in all else but Him. We cannot orchestrate a revival because true Biblical revival comes through the sovereign grace and will of God alone as He chooses when and where He might pour down blessings upon His Church, but we can continue to seek the face of the sovereign God who may be gracious to us and have mercy on us and rend the heavens and come down and revive us again for the sake and the honor of His Name.

Therefore let us continue to work as God has directed us, yet while we work let us also continue watching in prayer in much the same way Jesus commanded the Church to tarry at Jerusalem. May we trust that in His sovereign time He will shake us once again and fill us once more with His Spirit to empower us to speak His Word with boldness and witness to Him to the ends of the earth. (e.g.- Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-8; 4:23-31; Eph. 5:18)

If you know of anyone at all who has a heart for revival, I would encourage you to let them know there are others here whom God is also raising up with a similar passion. I am continuing to pray God would raise up laborers broken-hearted over the ruins in the Church and stirred in their hearts by His Spirit to pray for revival in the Church.

If you have any questions or comments, please message me or comment below.

Nehemiah 4:19  And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. 20  In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”

Though we're each to be part of a local congregation, we are each also part of the church universal. Over the past few years of blogging, I've made a couple close friends here, friends that have encouraged me and prayed for me and I've done the same for them.

For quite some time now I've felt a bit like Nehemiah did, i.e.- The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another.

God has placed each one of us in the church for a reason (both the local church as well as the church universal). We are not only dependent on Him, but we are interdependent on one another. That's part of God's design. It's a reflection of the diversity and unity we find in the Godhead: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

I've always felt an affinity, a calling, to minister cross-Church/cross-denomination, what have you. I love being able to fellowship with believers from all across the Body of Christ and for now, that's primarily the harvest field to which God keeps sending me (e.g.- please see my posts here and here). Yes, with that, there's always a bit of tension...

Now I'm expecting, Lord willing, to enter into a commitment to my local congregation, so I do have a calling and responsibility to minister there. However I also have a calling to minister to and in the church beyond that particular body of believers.

Specifically, I have seen that God has brought some of us together here who have a passion for Him and a heart to pray for revival. There are some of us who have seen the ruins in the Church and have been grieved over them. Please see my posts here, here, here, here, here and here. Please, please read these things if you've already been grieved as an encouragement to stay the course, and if you've not been grieved, I ask you to read them; my prayer is that the Holy Spirit might prick some of your hearts and show you things you've not seen before and be grieved like Nehemiah for we are in great trouble and shame...we are broken down.

In addition my blog here, which is devoted primarily to the teaching of the Word, a year ago I opened up tent of meeting, a blog devoted to prayer for revival. If God has been putting into your heart a burden to pray for the Church, I invite you to visit tent of meeting; you can read more about it here.)

For quite some time now I've been praying about a way we might support one another in a more tangible way, in a bit more organized way...

I shared some of my thoughts and desires about that in this post a few months ago...

I've had contact with some of you via your comments here, your own blogs and personal messages. I have been blessed to have found some like-minded believers who have a passion for God. I am eternally grateful for your prayers and support for me and your challenges to me to press on toward the mark of the prize of the high calling.

In case you didn't know it, a few days ago I started up another blog, deerlife. (Yes, some of you might be tempted to say I am beginning to collect blogs much like Imelda Marcos collected shoes... )

You can read more of my vision for deerlife here. If you have a heart for God and a passion to see the people of God revived through the local church, and if God is leading you to be involved in that work and to encourage others in that work, I invite you to check out deerlife. I'm hoping that deerlife might be one means God uses to bring us together as we work on the wall, similar to Nehemiah's intent:

Nehemiah 4:19  And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. 20  In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”

The work is great. The work is widely spread. We are separated on the wall, far from one another.

If we back up in Nehemiah 4, we see another reason for us to come together: the world is united in opposition against Christ and against those who are working to do His will (Nehemiah 4:8):

(Please also see my posts on Nehemiah here and here about the opposition we face.)

Notice that the enemies of God were united: Plotting together. Conspiring all of them together. (How often does the church come together as God intends?)

Of course this opposition to God's people and God's work is nothing new:

As we look at Jesus' words in John 17, we love to read about the essential unity we as believers share in Jesus Christ and how our unity brings glory to God and is a witness to the world, but let's not forget this: the world is also unified: unified against us because we are of Christ, because we are no longer of this world, because we have been born again into a new life through the Holy Spirit and are no longer of the world. Yet we are sent into the world; as a result we will have tribulation and trouble.

The race set before us is a race we must run by faith despite the tribulations and troubles we will face in this world. But God has given us the means to do so. He given us His Word, His Spirit and one another to assist us in running the race. And of course, our great high priest Jesus Christ is continuing to intercede for us at the right hand of God in glory. He was in the world and was victorious over the world and conquered the grave, overcame sin, death and Satan. He can sympathize with our weaknesses; consider that He was tempted and yet without sin! All these things are necessary ingredients so we might press on to know Christ and make Him known.

So as we are sent into the world (in this case: many, many places all over the earth), my prayer is that deerlife might be one means we sound the trumpet and rally to one another: to fellowship with, encourage, exhort, build up one another and bear one another's burdens, to rally to one another to stand strong against the wiles and taunts of the devil and our own flesh. That includes rejoicing with one another and weeping with one another, and even our having fun on occasion as well for we know that a cheerful heart is good medicine. Much like Elijah, we sometimes lose perspective and forget there are many, many others God has called to His work (at least I know I do).

My intent here is not to undermine or supplant or minimize the local church but rather to encourage others to rise and go and minister primarily in their local churches and communities, wherever God leads. I will add that for some of you, your local church may actually be a church plant or a mission or God knows where. I want each of you to be where God wants you to be, to fulfill the holy ambition He has for your life and not to waste your lives! I am praying as we run the race, we might be a means of support for one another as we rise and go and minister wherever God sends us (including here on Xanga and Revelife as He leads us).

Last year I wrote how I believed that God could bring something good out of Xanga. Though my faith has wavered, I still believe that. Yes, it seems preposterous if we begin to look at the situation through human eyes, but may God anoint our eyes to see Who He really is! Is His arm shortened that He cannot save? Our God is the God who can do immeasurably above all we can ask or image. Why can't God bring something good out of Xanga and Revelife? I know many of us have gotten discouraged disenchanted and dismayed with much of the watered-down content here (as well as in many congregations and denominations, even those which were once strongly orthodox):

• the tearing down of the authority of God and the Bible
• the lack of solid Biblical teaching rooted in Christ and Him crucified
• Christianity being remade into just another religion rather than the only way of salvation
• the Jesus who would never sit as Judge over anyone
• the watering down of Biblical definitions of sin and holiness
• so-called gospels which allow for continuing sin without conviction of sin
• Jesus as our boyfriend
• Christianity rooted in emotions with no doctrinal foundation
• Christianity rooted in intellectual profession with no room for the working of His Holy Spirit
• Christianity that is more concerned about the outward appearance than the heart
• so-called gospels which are but legalistic bondage
• moral teaching, family values and social gospels which cleverly disguise themselves as Biblical Christianity
• entertainment being exchanged for discipleship
• the pick-and-choose, self-centered Christianity which makes Christianity a means to gaining happiness

There are more, I know, but those are just a few off the top of my head. Looking at this list can either make us depressed...or press us into our Master's service to work on the wall once again! If we look at the situation through our own eyes and forget the power God provides us, we will have every reason to be depressed! I admit I've been depressed about these things, but God has been gracious and hasn't ever let me stay in my depression for very long...He's kept taking my eyes off the ruins and put them on Him time and again. He is Lord! He is Lord! He is King of the Church! He is Head of the Body! He will have the preeminence in His Church, which was created by Him, for Him and to His glory! When we see the ruins (which we will and should), we need to help one another to keep looking away to Jesus, our sure hope! He whose live birthed us into being will not fail to revive us again for His glory!

Do the things I've listed above bother you? (Have you ever noticed them?) Do you care? Do you see how far short we are falling of the glory God has intended for us? Will you do whatever it takes?

Wouldn't it be just like God to take the blogging communities of Xanga and Revelife and use them to sweep through the world with the wind and fire of His Holy Spirit, starting with a few of us here! Remember that the King of kings and Lord of lords delights to use the foolish, despised and weak things of the world for His glory! Look through the Bible and Church history and see the unlikely people He uses to accomplish His will!

I believe He can do that. Will He do it? Who's to say? I can't say He will. God is sovereign. But let's not be guilty of limiting God based on what we see or what we think is possible but trust by faith what He can do in the blink of an eye! With Him all things are possible! We know how His mighty Spirit has come in and worked in many of our lives and brought us from death to life and begun to transform us into the image of Christ. (If you've not known that work in your lives, then perhaps you've not really known Him...) Can almighty God not work in a similar way many times over to bring revival to thousands and thousands of people? After all, is He not the God who orchestrated the saving of 3000 souls on the day of Pentecost almost 2000 years ago? Is He not the God that preserved the nation of Israel time and again from extermination all so He could preserve the line of Jesus Christ? We see God preserving and providing for His people time and again. Let's walk with the same faith we read of in the great cloud of witnesses. We have the same God as they did!

Until God calls me elsewhere, I am willingly offering myself to remain here (Nehemiah 11:2). It is my heart's desire to encourage anyone who has but a mustard seed of faith that God wants to bring revival to His Church once more to come alongside you to help to plant, water, nurture and fertilize those seeds of faith and trust God to give the increase. The Church today in many places is much like Israel and Jerusalem were after the exile: we are in great trouble and shame...we are broken down. We are sorely in need of revival. We must look to the living God and His power to work in and through us what we cannot do apart from Him. May almighty God be gracious to us and rend the heavens and come down and restore, revive and renew us once more for His glory!

If you have further questions, please comment below or message me

Yours in Christ, seeking His face for revival in my own life and in the Church for His glory,
Karen

 
Nehemiah 5:1  Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers. 2  For there were those who said, “With our sons and our daughters, we are many. So let us get grain, that we may eat and keep alive.” 3  There were also those who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine.” 4  And there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king's tax on our fields and our vineyards. 5  Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children. Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.”

6  I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. 7  I took counsel with myself, and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. I said to them, “You are exacting interest, each from his brother.” And I held a great assembly against them 8  and said to them, “We, as far as we are able, have bought back our Jewish brothers who have been sold to the nations, but you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us!” They were silent and could not find a word to say. 9  So I said, “The thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies? 10  Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest. 11  Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them.” 12  Then they said, “We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say.” And I called the priests and made them swear to do as they had promised. 13  I also shook out the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not keep this promise. So may he be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said “Amen” and praised the LORD. And the people did as they had promised.

(I would encourage you to read the rest of Nehemiah 5, as well as Ezekiel 34 and Paul's words to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20.)

Chief Shepherd,

We thank you for shepherds like Nehemiah, shepherds who hear the great outcry of Your people. There are so many irresponsible shepherds lurking and prowling right in the midst Your people today.

Be merciful and gracious to us. Raise up good and true and faithful shepherds of the flock like our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ:

Be merciful and gracious to us. Raise up laborers in Your own image and after Your own heart, laborers filled with Your Holy Spirit:

Holy Father, You purchased us to be Your flock. Though we are Yours, we confess we are still prone to wander. Though we are each responsible to walk in Your ways, You have also promised to give us shepherds to lead us and to care for us and lead us in Your ways. You know how many bad shepherds there are out there. They bring reproach to Your holy Name. Hear our great outcry this day against the many irresponsible shepherds. Have mercy on them. Turn their hearts so they might turn back to You and walk in Your ways and lead Your people as they ought.

Good Shepherd, You shed Your blood for us. You never did anything out of selfish ambition. We thank You that You hear our cries and are continuing to intercede for us to save us to the uttermost in spite of the attacks and wiles of irresponsible shepherds. We pray as we are given opportunities to care for the sheep, You might help us to shepherd as You did: with humility, love and integrity, with that perfect balance of grace and truth.

Holy Spirit, Your anointing remains in us and will lead us into all truth. Thank You! You know that we are so easily deceived! Give us ears to hear Your voice. Help us to remain in Your Word and may Your Word abide in us. May we not follow the hirelings but only have ears to hear Jesus, the Good Shepherd. Turn our ears and our hearts from listening to and following all other voices.

Lord God,

Be merciful and gracious to us. We are Your people, the sheep of Your pasture. Send us shepherds after Your own heart, shepherds like You and shepherds like Nehemiah.

We pray You would raise up shepherds after Your own heart, men who have ears to hear and have compassion on Your flock and do not turn a deaf ear to the great outcry of Your people – rather than men who are self-absorbed with their own thoughts and speech and have no ears to hear the cries of the hurting.

We pray You would raise up shepherds after Your own heart, men who have tears to cry for the crying sheep – rather than men who turn away with bald indifference to the great outcry.

We pray You would raise up shepherds after Your own heart, men who walk in the fear of the Lord – rather than men who walk in the fear of men.

We pray You would raise up shepherds after Your own heart, men who are seeking to lift You up – rather than men who are seeking to lift themselves up.

We pray You would raise up shepherds after Your own heart, men who take heed to themselves and the flock – rather than men who forget they will stand before Your judgment seat one day and give account.

We pray You would raise up shepherds after Your own heart, men who have soft hearts and admit when they have sinned against the flock and confess their sins and make reparation and restitution to the flock  – rather than men who are hard-hearted and continue in sin and deny wrong-doing.

We pray You would raise up shepherds after Your own heart, men who are filled with Your love and are seeking to love Your flock – rather than men who abuse and oppress Your flock.

We pray You would raise up shepherds after Your own heart, men who have eyes to see the harassed, helpless and hurting souls and seek their welfare – rather than men who have only an eye to their own needs are seek the welfare of their own souls.

We pray You would raise up shepherds after Your own heart, men who are seeking to feed the hungry flock – rather than men who consume it upon their lusts and feed their own fleshly hungers.

We pray You would raise up shepherds after Your own heart, men who travail in labor to see the flock bear fruit through the freedom they have in Christ – rather than men who rape the flock with legalistic teachings producing fruit leading to death.

We pray You would raise up shepherds after Your own heart, men who are seeking to build Your Kingdom – rather than men who are seeking to build their own kingdoms.

We pray You would raise up shepherds after Your own heart, men who are seeking to serve the flock – rather than men who seek to be served.

We pray You would raise up shepherds after Your own heart, men who encourage and build up the flock – rather than men who seek to oppress the flock and tear them down.

We pray You would raise up shepherds after Your own heart, men who love the flock a self-sacrificing love – rather than men who slaughtering the flock for their own personal gain.

We pray You would raise up shepherds after Your own heart, men who disadvantage themselves and make themselves nothing like You did – rather than men who take advantage of the flock in any way (particularly in terms of sexual abuse).

We pray You would raise up shepherds after Your own heart, men who help, defend and gather the flock – rather than men who attack, harass and scatter the flock.

Great Shepherd of the sheep, be merciful and gracious to us. Hear our prayers for Jesus' sake. Raise up shepherds after Your own heart to lead us. Amen.

I've previously written about the opposition that had arisen against the building of the wall and repair of its gates in my prayers here and here.

Today I'd like us to focus on our need to continue in prayer day and night as we work because just as was happening in the time of Nehemiah, opposition to God's work is continuing day and night. Throughout the book of Nehemiah we see how the enemies of Israel kept coming back again and again to discourage and dissuade the people of God from the work of building and repair. That's particularly apparent in Nehemiah 4:

Nehemiah 4:6  So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.

7  But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. 8  And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. 9  And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.

10  In Judah it was said, “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.” 11  And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.” 12  At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.” 13  So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. 14  And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

Notice that the wall had already been built to half its height, and notice how the people had a mind to work (after being mocked prior to this time). At this point there is real visible progress, and even so the people began to lose perspective, they became fearful and began to despair and wonder if the work could really be completed all due to the continuing attacks of the enemy. I've known that feeling. Have you?

This is a real reminder to us of our need to encourage one another (I wrote on this here on my other blog yesterday) and to continue on in prayer as we work, not only at the beginning of our work but throughout the entire span of our work (which means we ought always to be praying for our work on earth is not completed until our days here on earth are completed!). We must not ever sit back and relax and let down our guard – and we must especially persevere in prayer once we begin to see answers to our prayers. The devil is ready to step in, take advantage when we let down our guard and take a foothold wherever and whenever we give him an opening to do so!

15  When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. 16  From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, 17  who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. 18  And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. 19  And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. 20  In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”

Once more we see here the continuing guard, the day and night diligence we must have as we work, which includes a day and night covering in prayer. So often we can get busy, busy, busy with our work and we neglect to persevere in the necessary work of prayer.

21  So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out. 22  I also said to the people at that time, “Let every man and his servant pass the night within Jerusalem, that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day.” 23  So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes; each kept his weapon at his right hand.

The work of the devil and his minions is 24/7. That's why Paul told us to pray without ceasing...

Holy and everlasting God,

Make us more and more aware of our need to pray without ceasing. We confess we so often busy ourselves with working and doing and we so easily forget the work of prayer. We think that prayer is a secondary thing, but it is a primary thing. Prayer must undergird, guard and surround all we do. The devil is prowling waiting for an opportune time to come and attack us as we work. May we be steadfast, immovable and abounding in all the work You call us to, and that work includes the work of prayer. May we take heed, lest we fall. When we think we are strong, when we think we can do all things, remind us we have no power, no reserves and no protection unless we continue to root all we do in prayer, that we can do nothing apart from You, but praise God, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us! We can build, and we must build, but we must continue to set a guard and protection in prayer. We can plant Your gospel seed, and we must plant, but as we plant, we must continue to water it with prayer.

May we be like the watchmen described in Isaiah, may we never give you rest but continue to intercede to your for guidance, protection and help.

All the day...All the night...

You know our spirits are willing but our flesh is weak.

Yet we know enough to know we must continue in prayer.

Strengthen us, O Lord, to pray, through Your eternal, omnipotent Spirit who dwells in us. You are the God who never ceases in prayer in heaven. You are the God who never ceased to search after us while we were lost sheep. You are the God who is from everlasting to everlasting. You are the God who has the power of an indestructible life. Apart from You we cannot even desire to pray all the day and all the night. So certainly then apart from You we cannot even begin to pray all the day and all the night. These things are possible for us through Your life which dwells in us.

We confess we find time for all sorts of other things, but seem to find little time for prayer. Father, forgive us for quenching Your Holy Spirit and grieving You. Our Father, forgive us for Jesus' sake. We are not our own, but we are Yours. Our lives are hid with Christ in God. Therefore help us to set our minds on things above, to remember we are Your ambassadors here sent to build the wall wherever You send us and we cannot do so apart from continuing in prayer day and night.

Whom have we in heaven but You? You are are guide. You are our protector. You are our help. We confess we often forget we are totally dependent on You for all things. All things. We can do nothing apart from You. Jesus Christ is our life. Your Holy Spirit is our breath. Our Father, we are Your children. We ask You to remind us when we forget, when we begin working and have a zeal to work, but when we do not continue to abide in You and continue instant in prayer. We confess we need Your zeal for prayer.

When we do not draw our strength from You in prayer, our labor will be in vain, for it is not being done in You. Forgive us, O Lord, when we forget, and draw us back to You once again, take us to our knees in utter dependence on You, the Chief Shepherd. How can the sheep do or know anything apart from the Lamb who bought us, the Lamb whose lives indwells us, the Lamb who is seated at the right hand of the throne of God in heaven interceding for us? Forgive us, good Shepherd, when we forget You. May we continue in prayer without ceasing. May we continue in prayer day and night at Your throne of grace. Lord Jesus, You are continuing there on our behalf. Our Father, we know You are waiting to hear our prayers. Your Spirit longs to pray along with us there.

We come to You, our Father, in the Name of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit. While we continue to work strengthen us to continue in prayer without ceasing, to continue in prayer day and night...all the day, all the night...so we might see Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. So Your Kingdom might come in greater measure here in our own lives, in our churches, in our communities, in our countries, to the ends of the earth, as well as in the blogging communities of Xanga and Revelife. We long for the Church to be a praise in the earth. We long to see the earth filled with Your glory, O Lord. Amen.