OPC

Recently, Time Magazine named their "Person of the Year" as "The protester." And you know how we've all seen the initials "OWS" emblazoned in recent newspaper articles and headlines, and heard them as TV newscasters race to cover the latest antics of the "Occupy Wall Street" protesters and their affiliates around the country in recent months? Well, the Holy Spirit weighed in on this matter during my prayer time this week, so I thought might share with you some of the interesting points He shared with me about this situation.

The way He got my attention on this matter is kind of funny...in fact, at the time, it made me chuckle. I haven't really gotten anything new to blog about in my recent prayer time because I've been focused on trying to hear from God on how to accomplish the most recent project He has given me to work on, which is to try and establish a presence in social network media (such as Facebook) for the Prayer Directed Life Ministries, like something akin to The Jesus Daily fan page. Anyhow, I was closing up my computer at the end of my prayer time Friday when those initials, OWS, caught my eye momentarily in a Yahoo story; almost immediately, the initials OPC popped into my spirit and just kind of hung there for a few seconds as I tried to comprehend what the initials meant and why were they coming into my spirit now. As I mentioned earlier, I had a good chuckle when the Holy Spirit told me what the initials OPC stood for: Occupy Prayer Closet! But as I meditated on this concept and how it related to the OWS movement, He began to reveal some interesting and important truths that we - especially we Christians - need to get a hold of if we expect to see the world change for the better.

Have you ever noticed that this element of today's way of life is conspicuously absent from any description of the life, times or teachings of Jesus Christ and His disciples as presented in the Gospels and the Epistles of the Bible? Oh, believe me, there were some juicy social and moral issues to take on and protest at that time, but the only Occupy Israel activity going on at that time was the brutal and oppressive occupation by Caesar's Roman Empire. For instance, the killing of unborn babies was not so much an issue, because unwanted or inconvenient babies were just "aborted" after they were born...much easier that way; kinda like they do in India today. (Recall that King Harrod had all male children under the age of two in Bethlehem and the surrounding area "aborted" after he learned of the birth of the King of the Jews. [Matt 2:16-18] Yet no protesting or rioting took place, less the whole town be killed for "exercising their 'rights'.") Yet, Jesus led no anti-abortion rallies or "Thou Shalt Not Kill" protests against the ruling authorities to start the ball rolling on getting change. Then, there was the capital punishment issue: Both the Roman and Jewish authorities were very creative in establishing ways to slowly and painfully kill a "criminal"...or a "sinner." Yet Jesus never condemned those authorities or led his followers in anti-death penalty protests. And if you think there is a difference between the "haves" and the "have nots" today, the average American citizen can't begin to imagine the well documented conditions of intense, widespread poverty that existed then; and the "government" didn't care whether your basic human needs were provided for or not, in spite of the fact that everyone had to pay taxes or go to jail (or, in the case of the Temple tax - required annually of every male over age 20 - be excluded from Synagogue events) ...including the poor! Yet, once again, Jesus did not organize a group to "occupy" the town square or the Synagogue to protest the "one percent" who owned and controlled everything. In fact, He dined with both the rich and the poor, the upper class and rulers and the lower class and beggers; His words and actions in Matt 17:24-27 even suggests that Believers will be provided funds to pay their taxes, even when they are exempt from them, in order to "not offend the authorities." Interestingly enough, the one person who joined up with Jesus and His disciples because he thought Jesus was going to lead a "revolution" for societal "change" - that be Judas - helped have Him killed when he realized that He had no intention of leading or promoting that kind of change. Jesus wasn't a rebel...Everyone else was...and is!

Could He have amassed legions of followers to mount effective protests? You bet He could have; consider the huge gatherings at the "Sermon On The Mount"(Luke 6:17), the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 (Mt 14:15) or the miracle of the feeding of the 4000 (Mt 15:32). But Jesus knew that it is often futile and usually fruitless to try badger people into "changing" by assailing their ideologies, life styles and philosophies: such attacks always provoke negative responses...whether it be defense, flight, or counterattack.

Jesus was clear about His mission on Earth: He came to change hearts and to establish and build a spiritual Kingdom, not to change minds, destroy nations and build an earthly kingdom. You see, the only thing Jesus Christ wants to "occupy" and "change" is men's hearts, one heart at a time; because when a person's heart is changed to want to "love your neighbor as yourself" in all that he/she does, the heart of human nature is vanquished, and the fuel for protests and rebellion is neutralized. And the primary way for us to hear how Christ wants to accomplish this mission through our lives is to "OPC", Occupy our Prayer Closets, early and often!