THE NEED OF THE HOUR

My pastor posted on his Blog about the reflections of some Zambian pastors of Reformed persuasion about 2010 and the challenges of 2011. It was not surprising to notice that their heart beat was on the need for more evangelism and church planting. They also expressed desire that more Christians would live lives that are fruitful and exemplary in character and morals. The responses sent me thinking about the need of the hour. Why is it that there is a general lack of zeal among our numbers? There is a general coldness of heart, where once we "burned with fire". In the previous years, prayer meetings and cooperate evangelism were attended with much zeal and dedication. But there is a general slothfulness that is evident in our numbers. Times have really changed! Why should all our pastors talk about similar things? Why is there this coldness of heart and general lack of zeal among us? What can be done to remedy this situation?

There are many reasons that could be advanced in order to understand why things are like this in our times. These might include worldliness, career demands including school and work, familiarity of the doctrines and the feeling that nothing new that one can learn, monotony of some church programs (we always meet on Tuesday for outreach and Youth Ministry on Saturday). These reasons and many others valid reasons explain why we are lacking zeal and fervency.

Upon my reflections on the same issue what I read that week from Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones about the 1900 Welsh Revival in his book Preaching and Preachers (page 225-226) was very instructive. In trying to illustrate that there are special periods in the life of the Church when the Holy Spirit is poured out in extra ordinary ways during a revival and there are also ordinary times when His operations are ordinary, he says that during these ordinary times there is need for hard work (in sermon preparation) and much prayer among God’s people in order that the work of the Lord might progress. Its sad to say, (and I hope am wrong,) that I think in Zambia, we are towards the tail end of the mini revival which begun towards the late 1970s to about 1990. Without claiming to be a prophet (of doom) but I think this is the situation that we are in! Times are becoming exceedingly difficult for the propagation of the gospel. Yes, the gospel opportunities are many and many of God's people are engaged in God's work. But there is a reduction in intensity, our zeal is drying up.

What ought to be done? Critical is to appreciate the demands that have been placed on our hands. We churches need to acknowledge that the “love of many will wax cold”. We ought not to think it strange that men are turning away from the things that once used to warm our hearts.

The need of the hour is to pray as elder Charles Bota sung many years ago. If there was any time when we really needed to pray is now. What ought we to pray for? We need to pray with fervency that God will revive us again. We need to pray that God by the power of the Holy Spirit will have mercy upon us and rend the heavens and descend upon us. We need to pray that this season of dryness might not continue but that we might know once again the blessings of His presence among His people. We need to pray that once again our prayer meetings will be filled and evangelism will no longer be a duty but a joy. That we shall once again evangelize on the minibus, at the office, to our neighbors with joy.

We also need to pray for our pastors and preachers! Over the years, the Lord has blessed us with many preaching points and lots of churches have been planted. God forbid that these pulpits might be dry and without power from above. We need to plead that God will preserve the pulpits and many will continue to be saved through the preached word. We should pray that our pastors and preacher would- like Richard Baxter put it- “preach as a dying man to dying men”. That our pastors might remain faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ and that they might proclaim Him and the Cross to their dying day.

We need to pray that God would preserve them from the wails of the evil one. These are really precarious times and as the love of many wax cold, may our pastors and sheppard’s of God’s people continue to be shining examples and leaders of the flock of God.

We need to take Paul’s exhortation seriously that we walk “circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” Ephesians 5:15-16. O that the Lord might grant us grace for His name's sake!