P.U.S.H.

At Desert Reign Church in Downey we spent the entire month of September speaking and teaching about prayer, the “who, what, why, where and how’s” of prayer. We were taught on every aspect of prayer, from the prayer of salvation to the prayer for purification, from the prayer for the sick to the prayer for revival. I believe the people of God have always desired to experience a great move of God. The trouble is we don’t often seek it out in the right places. We don’t often prepare ourselves properly to be in God’s presence. When looking at the book of Acts chapter 19, we see that Paul began a great work in the city of Ephesus and God moved mightily, in fact it says in verse 11 that “God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul.” Looking at verse 18 it is revealed to us what was the results of God’s moving in their midst. It said; “and many of those who believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their evil deeds” and then in verse 20 it said; “so the Word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.” Notice the author Luke’s perception of what caused the change in the people’s hearts, the Word of God.


Today I want to look at the next step we need to take in order to bring about that mighty move of God we so anxiously await, and that is to P.U.S.H. It’s now time to push ahead! It’s now time to push on through!

One thing we know for sure is that God wants His people praying for revival. But if revival is to come, there must be a change in the prayer life of the Christians of America. It is time for us to return to our knees and remain there until something happens.

The prophet Hosea said, “Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until He comes and showers righteousness on you” (Hosea 10:12). God is looking for a company of believers with courage who are willing to do whatever it takes to bring another great spiritual awakening.

There is an acronym for the type of prayer life that is necessary to bring about change. The word is P.U.S.H., which stands for: PRAY –UNTIL- SOMETHING- HAPPENS!

This acronym also stands for four steps you need to take in order to see personal, family, and national revival.

P: Purify yourself – Search your heart, repent from any known sin. The prophet Hosea said, “Sow for yourselves righteousness.” Paul wrote “Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” (2 Cor. 7:1). You need to sow the Word of God into yourself until you see that you are a sinner under the searchlight of God’s righteousness. The Psalmist wrote, “The unfolding of your words give light” (Psalm 119:130). When you sin, be quick to turn away from it and cry for God’s mercy.

U: Understand God’s mercy – We need to receive mercy from God, and we need to deliver mercy as ambassadors for Christ to a lost generation. “Be merciful to those who doubt” (Jude 22). Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matt. 5:7). Your personal revival awaits your willingness for forgive all who have wronged you and to seek forgiveness of others you have wronged. “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.” (Mark 11: 25, 26).

S: Sanctify yourself – Learn to live a life of personal accountability to God. Regardless of what others consider to be righteous, keep yourself “from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27). Be separated for the purpose of God. “As God has said, I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord” (2 Cor. 6: 16, 17).

Separation for God does not mean we leave the world or neglect our families, just the opposite. It means that our commitment to the living, righteous, holy God becomes evident to all those around us. Hosea said, “Break up your unplowed ground.” We must learn to immediately obey everything God tells us to do. We never want to have a wrong heart toward Him.

H: Hold fast in prayer – Pray until something happens. Prayer is work, it is a blessed work, but it is work. As in any relationship, it takes effort to give up some of your own pleasures to bring pleasure to another. The chief sin of the church today is laziness. We are lazy about prayer. We’re lazy about changing ourselves. We’re lazy about good works. We’re certainly lazy about praying through for a great spiritual awakening in America.

God has made available incredible power to change this nation, and yet we remain in our dulled state of sin, complaining about the conditions of America, crime in the cities and corruption among our political leaders.

Just think of all the power that could be unleashed if all of God’s people in America would begin to P.U.S.H. for America. What would happen if each of us made a commitment to; Pray – Until – Something - Happens? Can you see what a serious force that would be?

Conclusion: Our problem is that we have no understanding of the power within us. We’re unwilling to give up our comforts, like morning sleep, for a few precious moments with God. “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me” (Proverbs 8: 17). The America of our founding fathers is sick and dying because the people have lost hope and vision (Proverbs 29: 18). Even the church is aimless. Why? Primarily because of a lack of faith in God, but why do people lack faith? Because those who say they are children of God are so seemingly helpless to bring about change. We say we pray and study the Word, but our friends and families see little evidence of it in the way we live our lives. Our prayer and study lives should have an immediate, ongoing effect on our everyday life and that of our family. They should be so moved by our love and mercy that they want to emulate what they see in us of the character and qualities of Christ.

Do we really believe that Jesus has risen from the dead and that God answers prayer? If we do we will continually develop that perspective through time with God on our knees – we will become the source of faith, hope, and vision that the world so desperately seeks.

God Bless and Press On
Larry