Category Archives: Fasting

July 1, 2014 · 4:15 pm

Tuesday’s Prayers for America (7/1/2014)

Paul Cain spoke the following at a conference in 1991:

The tragedy of the Corinthian church is that they began to think they had “arrived” when they began to gain the world’s respect. Respectability is not wrong in itself; in truth most of us could use a little more than we have, but we must be careful how we get it. The more the church has sought to be respectable and prosperous according to present cultural standards, the more we have been humiliated and scorned. We need respectability and authority with God more than we need it with men.

The Apostle Paul later wrote to the Galatians, “If I were still trying to please God, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

Our job on earth is not to gain the respect of the world! As James affirmed, “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

Joining ourselves to the ways of the world is spiritual adultery. Seeking the friendship of the world puts us in jeopardy of making ourselves enemies of God. There should be no greater fear in our life than to seek friendship with the world! (The above excerpt is taken from The Anointing vs. Respectability, spoken by Paul Cain in May, 1991.)

Today, I prayed:

Lord, I pray that we American believers submit ourselves to You, resisting the devil so that he flees from us, drawing ever closer to You, cleansing our hands, purifying our hearts, weeping and mourning for our sins, humbling ourselves before You O Lord, so that You may exalt us. (Based on James 4:7-10)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you today?

Join with me on Tuesdays to fast and pray for America.

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June 27, 2014 · 3:23 pm

Friday’s Prayers for Prisoners (6/27/2014)

The above picture of a street scene in India does not show one person in chains or behind bars. All seem to be moving about freely and carrying on with their lives. But if our spiritual eyes were opened, we would see almost all of them shackled and chained to the power of darkness without any hope of ever being released from the sentences of death upon them.

What can we do to help them?

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Romans 10:14-15)

Two thirds of world’s population lives in the 10/40 Window, which is the rectangular area of North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia lying between 10 degrees north and 40 degrees north latitude. This region includes the nations of China, India, Iraq, Sudan, and nearly sixty other nations. The majority of the world’s followers of Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism live in these nations.

These nations are the least evangelized of all nations in the world.

Fasting and prayer is always needed for these nations, but so are preachers. Consider supporting a native missionary, like one through Gospel For Asia.

Today, I prayed:

Lord, I pray that we Americans would pray earnestly to the Lord of the Harvest to send our laborers into Your harvest in the 10/40 Window. (Based on Luke 10:2)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you?

Join with me on Fridays to fast and pray for prisoners, according to Hebrews 13:3.

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June 24, 2014 · 2:10 pm

Tuesday’s Prayers for America (6/24/2014)

Approximately eighteen months ago, I felt the Lord spoke to my heart and said: “Your politicians will kill you.”

Now, we Americans want to think that our political leaders have our best interests in mind. That’s why they are called public servants, right?

But the truth seems to be that almost all of our political leaders are deceived. I believe they have fallen prey to the spirit of bitter jealousy and selfish ambition, the evil principality which I think rules over Washington, D.C.

For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder [or confusion] and every vile practice. (James 3:16)

Maybe you agree with me and maybe you don’t.

If you disagree with me, you will probably continue on your way and do nothing. Relax, eat, drink, be merry.

But if you do agree with me in part or in full, then you need to do something now. Why wait until it’s too late?

Today, I prayed:

Lord, I pray for American Christians to blow our prophetic trumpets to warn people, call for fasts and solemn assemblies, gather the people from the greatest to the least, and cry out, “Spare Your people, O Lord.” (Based on Joel 2:15-17)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you today?

Join with me on Tuesdays to fast and pray for America.

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June 10, 2014 · 10:59 am

Tuesday’s Prayers for America (6/10/2014)

“You are that man!” Nathan said to David.

I have often been there. So I know what it is like to have the Holy Spirit point out my hypocrisy and sin. I understand just how crushed David felt when Nathan confronted him with the murder of Uriah and his adultery with Bathsheba.

Oh, I may not have committed murder or adultery, but like David, I knew that I had sinned against the Lord. It sickened me to realize how easily I forgot all the Lord had done for me and how simple it was to fall into temptation and then into sin.

Today, I prayed:

Lord, I pray that we American Christians recognize our rebellion so that it haunts us day and night. Help us to realize we have sinned against You and have done what is evil in your sight. Then, give us a broken and repentant heart before You. (Based on Psalm 51:3-4, 17)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you today?

Join with me on Tuesdays to fast and pray for America.

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June 6, 2014 · 4:16 pm

Friday’s Prayers for Prisoners (6/6/2014)

Why does God allow evil to exist on earth? And for that matter, why does He allow evil governments like North Korea to exist?

What if I told you that God has no choice and that He has to allow evil to exist on earth?

It’s true that God is the sovereign King and Ruler of all creation, but there is one big exception for now: our world. Satan is the god of this world. We are stuck with this harsh reality because God made a covenant with man through Adam, which was declared null and void when Adam sinned. Earth then fell under an angelic form of government ruled by Satan.

But thank God, we believers now have a new covenant and a new kingdom that is not of this world. The Kingdom of God is not an external one for all to see, but lives inside each believer. It will never be shaken or overturned.

Our King, who lives within us, has all authority and power and has called us to be His ambassadors of change on earth.

So, if we want to see change on earth, let’s quit waiting for God to do something first. He has already supplied us with everything we need.

“God does nothing but in answer to prayer.” (John Wesley, 1703-1791)

Today I prayed:

Lord, help us to believe that You can do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. (Based on Ephesians 3:19)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you?

Join with me on Fridays to fast and pray for prisoners, according to Hebrews 13:3.

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June 3, 2014 · 3:15 pm

Tuesday’s Prayers for America (6/3/2014)

A heavy snowstorm slammed Louisville one winter evening when our clothes needed to be washed. Carol wanted to first watch a movie before tackling the washing chores, but I didn’t. She begged me to wait, but I shook my head, trudging back and forth to the laundry through the storm and its seven inches of snow.

Each time I returned to the cozy comfort of the room, there she sat on the bed, enjoying herself, eating popcorn, and watching the movie. But good old Larry, slave and martyr for the Holy Cause, kept on kicking the can down the road.

The movie ended at the same time I finished. Carol looked at me.

“Honey, did the Lord speak to you while you were washing clothes?” she said.

“No, but the devil did.”

“Really?”

“Yes, and to be honest with you, not everything he says is an untruth.”

“What?”

“That’s right! He told me I would always have to be your slave, doing the hard labor while you watched movies and took it easy. I think he’s right on the money, honey.”

This incident ended up being another opportune time for me to repent of my attitudes toward my wife.

Today, I prayed:

Lord, I pray we American believers walk in humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another in love, and eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. If we have a complaints against other people, I pray we forgive them as the Lord has forgiven us. (Based on Ephesians 4:2-3 and Colossians 3:13)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you?

Join with me on Tuesdays to fast and pray for America.

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May 30, 2014 · 10:30 am

Friday’s Prayers for Prisoners (5/30/2014)

A few years ago, I had a vision which demanded a decision.

In it, I visited a dark, smelly prison cell in North Korea. A young Christian woman was the only prisoner there. She had been repeatedly raped, beaten, tormented, and abused. The cell was freezing cold because it was winter time. She wore a tattered, thin dress and had no blankets to protect her from the frigid temperatures. She ate rice husks and was starving to death. A bucket in the corner was her toilet. Rats scampered around her feet.

My level of Christianity could do little to help her. She needed something more than a big smile, a pat on the back, and a “Just trust Jesus ” from me.

As I stood there, the Holy Spirit spoke to me. “Will you trade places with her?”

If the young lady had been standing in front of a firing squad, I would have gladly volunteered without hesitation. I am not afraid of death, but that was not the case.

The horrible conditions paralyzed my tongue.

If I could have, I would have rebooted the vision to anywhere but that rat-infested cell. I wanted to yell, “No. Find someone else to take her place. I will pray for her and give extra money to missionaries, but this it too much to ask from me.”

Somehow, I remembered my words to the Lord on the day He saved me. I asked Him to send me to the places no one else wanted to go to. What could I do?

“I trust You, Lord. I will take her place,” I whispered through sobs.

The vision ended.

Today, I prayed:

Lord, help us American believers to remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since we are also in the body. (Based on Hebrews 13:3)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you?

Join with me on Fridays to fast and pray for prisoners, according to Hebrews 13:3.

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May 27, 2014 · 2:45 pm

Tuesday’s Prayers for America (5/27/20140

Lazarus was just an unknown guy from a small village named Bethany, located two miles from Jerusalem. He, along with his sisters, Martha and Mary, followed Jesus.

Then, Lazarus became sick. The two sisters sent for Jesus and hoped He would come quickly to Bethany and heal their brother. Jesus remarked, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son may be glorified through it.

Jesus waited two more days and then said, “Let us go…Our friend Lazarus has died.”

The One who holds the keys of death and the grave eventually arrived at the tomb of Lazarus. He had the stone rolled away and said, “Lazarus come out.”

Lazarus walked out of the tomb.

From this day forward, Lazarus became well-known. Crowds wanted to see and meet him. Chief priests wanted to kill him because many Jews believed in Jesus on account of Lazarus’ testimony.

Eusebius, the historian, wrote in the second century that the village was no longer called Bethany, but its name had been changed to the “place of Lazarus.”

Today, I prayed:

Lord, for all the prophets and apostles in America whose callings and ministries are lying dead in tombs of bad finances, impossible relationships, sickness, mistakes, errors, and whatever hopelessness has befallen them, I pray, “Lazarus, come forth and change America by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimonies.” (Based on John 11: 43 and Revelation 12:11)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you?

Join with me on Tuesdays to fast and pray for America.

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May 23, 2014 · 2:43 pm

Friday’s Prayers for Prisoners (5/23/2014)

The Apostle Paul referred to himself as a “prisoner of the Lord or a prisoner of Christ Jesus” six different times in his letters to the Ephesians, Timothy, and Philemon. Paul wrote these letters when he was an old man by first-century standards. He was approximately fifty-six years old.

Ten years earlier, Paul wrote:

We wanted very much to come to you, and I, Paul, tried again and again, but Satan prevented us. (1 Thessalonians 2:18 NLT)

Wait a second, right?

In the letters to the Ephesians, Timothy, and Philemon, Paul was in prison or under house arrest in Rome. When he stated that Satan hindered him, Paul was in Corinth planting a church and was a free man.

Was Paul a prisoner of the kingdom of darkness when he wrote the letter to the Thessalonians? No, I don’t believe so.

It is my opinion that Paul’s revelation of Christ grew over the ten years between the writing of Thessalonians and his writing the three letters. He understood that if Satan prevented him from going somewhere or doing something, it was because Christ allowed it. Paul was Christ’s chosen ambassador. Demons could not deter him from running the race set before him.

Today, I prayed:

Lord, I pray for your prisoners of the Lord in America that the Father of glory may give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of their hearts enlightened, that they may know what is the hope to which He has called them, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward those who believe. (Based on Ephesians 1:17-19)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you?

Join with me on Fridays to fast and pray for prisoners, according to Hebrews 13:3.

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May 13, 2014 · 2:29 am

Tuesday’s Prayers for America (5/13/2014)

I hurried down West Broad Street in my Ford pickup truck, carrying Toyota parts to a mechanic who needed them right away. As I drove along, I had a graphic vision.

Do you remember the iron lungs that polio sufferers used during the 1950’s? They looked like large cylindrical metal tubes and encased polio victims, helping them to breathe via a pressurized airflow system. The bulky machines filled entire hospital wards during the height of the polio epidemics.

In my vision, the American church system was terminally ill. As a last ditch effort to save its life, the whole church system lay in a white iron lung, gasping for its every breath. The long power cord, attached to the rear of the unit, meandered itself through other electrical cords to a unique power source: money. The life support system was plugged into bags and bags of money.

I stared at the strange sight and then a thundering voice interrupted my thoughts.

“Pull the plug!” proclaimed the voice.

Carol and I prayed about my vision that night. We felt we needed to leave the traditional church system.

Our decision to not attend churches sounds easy now, but at the time, it seemed like we were the only people in the whole nation walking away from churches. A little research on the Internet revealed hundreds of thousands of Americans had done the same thing over the years.

Still it was not easy to break our church attending habits. We were used to sitting in pews on Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, Wednesday evenings, and whenever the church doors opened.

A well-meaning pastor once took me aside and gave one of those lectures no one likes to ever hear.

“Larry, you need stability in your life and for your marriage,” he said, shaking his head at our nomadic life. “No one will ever take your prophetic ministry seriously if you don’t settle down. You need to settle in a city and find a good church to park yourself so others will take you more seriously. Please, seek the Lord on this advice.”

This vision blew any thoughts about obeying his words out of the water.

(Excerpt from my memoir, The Hunt for Larry Who, Amazon eBook, 2014)

Today, I prayed:

Lord, I pray that if judgment is going to hit America, let it begin at the household of God. (Based on 1 Peter 4:17)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you?

Join with me on Tuesdays to fast and pray for America.

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