HCPN video Devotional - Awaken Houston

Introduction:

Hey HCPN family. My name is Matt Prine, and I serve as the Texas Global Engagement Coordinator for a missions agency called WorldVenture.

Thanks for taking the time today to watch today’s devotional and pray alongside other pastors, churches and leaders throughout the greater Houston area.

Our HCPN prayer theme this year is Awaken Houston (Fire in the Closet, Warmth in the Home, Shine in the Yard)

Devotional:

We are living through something that none of us have ever seen in our lifetimes.

There is worldwide panic

Economies are being completely devastated

We aren’t free to go about our “normal lives”

People have lost jobs

At the moment I am recording this, there have been more than 140,000 people killed by COVID-19

It would be easy for us to look at what is happening right now and be gripped with fear.

There is so much unknown… so much loss… so much discontentment.

Where do we find hope in the middle of it all?

How can we “shine in the yard” when we feel overshadowed by darkness??

These are some of the questions that we have to help lead others through.

Setting the stage:

Today we will be in Habakkuk 3:17-19, but I want to set the stage and make sure that we get the context of Habakkuk’s words.

Israel was under the rule of Assyria and they were about to be conquered by the Babylonians.

The first half of chapter 3 has apocalyptic imagery where Habakkuk asks the Lord to remember mercy in the midst of His wrath.

We are told that before the Lord went pestilence and plague followed at his heels

and that He marched through the earth in fury and threshed the nations in anger.

These words leave us with several questions:

How could the Lord allow such things to happen?

How could the Lord use something or someone as evil and destructive the Babylonians to bring about His will?

What good could come from something this terrible?

Yet in v. 17 there is a dramatic shift in tone - from darkness and despair to hope and even joy.

Habakkuk 3:17–19 ESV

17 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. 19 God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.

This is the source of hope for Habakkuk and for the rest of Israel.

Their hope would not be found in the bounty of their crops or their flocks

In fact, their hope would come in spite of those things all failing, because their hope would be in an unshakeable God.

Imagine the message that this would speak to the watching world!!

Instead of despair and despondency, God’s people responding with a declaration of hope and joy.

In spite of their livelihoods being taken from them, they embrace joy that can’t be taken away.

Peace in the midst of the storm

Here we are 2600 years after Habakkuk and we find ourselves facing some unsettling times.

No we are not being devastated by ruthless Babylonians.

But our lives have been upended - here in the US and all over the world.

We still have some of the same questions:

how can the Lord allow such things to happen?

How could something as devastating as COVID-19 be used to bring about His will?

What good could come from something that is this terrible?

In 3:13 we find this amazing declaration - You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed!

THIS is the good that will come from the devastation of COVID-19

As we face the uncertainty of the days ahead...

As we walk the path of loss and devastation alongside the rest of the world…

As we are personally affected and perhaps even afflicted by COVID-19

Our message needs to be on of hope that we “shine in the yard”

It is a message that the entire world is hungry for.

It is a message that they will see as Christians live out this bold confidence as the storm rages on around us.

May we have the refrain of Habakkuk 3:17-19 echoing through our hearts and souls

That though COVID-19 has affected almost every facet of our lives, yet, we will rejoice in the Lord. We will take joy in the God of our salvation. For He is our strength.

But my prayer is that we would bring people with us!!

May we invite others taste of the same hope we have been given.

Let us shine in the yard while our church buildings are empty and our churches scattered all over the city.

The Lord has come for the salvation of His people - for the salvation of His anointed.

Let us be found faithful to guide others to that salvation in this uncertain time.

Prayer:

Today, I want to challenge you to pray for these three things...

1)  That the Lord would remind you - and the other leaders throughout HCPN of this type of unshakeable hope from Hab 3. 2)  Pray for perspective for those in your community - that they would see that this earth’s pleasures are fleeting and pale in comparison to knowing Christ. 3) Ask the Lord to bring an awakening to Houston!! That while we fight this devastating virus, and that every man, woman and child in the Greater Houston area would hear about this great God who “goes out for the salvation of His people”.  

Pray out loud on the video. Following your prayer conclude the time together.

Conclusion: Something like...

Thanks for joining us today.

As a reminder we are setting our alarms/watches/clocks for 9:00 pm to pray each night on your own, or with those in your household.

Pray specifically for God’s continual renewal of our hearts, revival in our churches, and an awakening in our city.