PHOTO BY JODIE BRIM

What makes you cry that you know makes God cry, too? What can you do this day to help bring change in that area? Maybe it feels small. But the Lord shows us repeatedly that nothing is too small for Him to use mightily.

One of the most profound and impactful persons I’ve ever studied must surely be William Wilberforce. This wealthy, brilliant young man from England experienced an encounter with God that radically altered every part of him. (That’s when you know it’s legit! We cannot truly come upon this Magnificent God, so much higher than our greatest comprehension of Him, without being fundamentally changed!)

Wilberforce’s newfound relationship with God led him to run for office in Parliament. He spent his life fighting for the things that mattered to God’s heart. It’s impossible to list all the ways this great man altered society for good. (Truly! Look it up!) But his chief burden centered around abolishing the horrors of slave trade and eventually ending slavery altogether.

Fighting this demonic, oppressive stronghold required everything he owned, his wealth and his health, but he willingly gave it all. IT TOOK DECADES (and we think we’ve been waiting a while for God to move)!

I imagine all the times Wilberforce felt like he had nothing left to give. How many times did he want to “call it a day” and return to some semblance of calm? How many times did the impenetrable mountain seem too impossible to move and too costly to continue confronting?

One of the last letters penned by the great John Wesley (another of my heroes!) spoke into this brave Wilberforce and his relentless struggle to do God’s work in the earth.

Wesley said to Wilberforce, “Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? O be not weary of well doing! Go on, in the Name of God and in the Power of His Might!”

And so, he did! God used Wilberforce to completely destroy the demonic strongholds of slavery upon that nation.

Friends of God, He is calling us in this hour to something so much greater than ourselves. Can we dare believe that God will use US (YOU AND ME!) to bring down demonic strongholds in our nations?

Let us stop cowering in fear of all we see coming against the Church. Let us stop buckling beneath the weight of evil agendas that completely oppose God’s heart for the nations and their people. “Are all of them together (the opposition of men and devils) stronger than God? O be not weary of well doing! Go on, in the Name of God and in the Power of His Might!”

We must stop waiting for God to swoop down and fix everything. He’s waiting on US to get up and MOVE in the Power of His Might! #BEthechange #BEthemove #beHisagentintheearth

For comments or prayer, please contact Dr. Lanier at HopeCommunityChurch.tv.