Tomorrow is Sunday. The minister will deliver a short sermon that is usually less than 30 minutes long. The general comment is that the minister's sermons are boring, shallow, and useless. "I get nothing out of it"....is the general comment when asked how they like the minister's sermon. Why?

Having fought in a small war....let us see what is actually taking place to cause such a problem.

The minister has his books, internet, and Bible to use along side his plan for the next couple of months for the latest topic hitting series. He puts an effort into creating the sermon, the 3 points highlight for the bulletin, and by Thursday everything is ready. Now to finish everything else that needed to wait while drafting the sermon.

Here is the main problem....the minister puts in 15 minutes praying about everything per day. That is the polled average of ministers praying time. So that might mean the sermon gets 1 to 4 sentences in prayer. Jonathan Edwards prayed and fasted for 3 days and nights over his famous sermon that God used to start the Great Awakening in the USA in the 1700's. The ministers do not attempt to hit anything but the intellect in order to secure their position, membership numbers, and salary.

Now the poorly prayed over sermon is done. As soon as the service is over....the Devil and his Demons are fastly doing everything to pull the sermon out of the people's hearts. Stand up and LOOK around. The minister(s) is greeting everyone and talking about everything but the message delivered. Each person walks away from the minister having the message taken from their heart by the Devil using the minister(s).

Now look around at the congregation....look first at the Large group of people that would never step foot into a real praying Prayer Meeting....they are the next group of busy tools the Devil is using....listen to the conversations.....the football game, golf, sale at the store, grandkids, problem children....everything but the message....each person leaves as messed up as they entered.

The next group of people to notice is the quiet ones....the people who attend every praying Prayer Meeting and does not allow weak excuses to cause them not to attend like someone's ball game, dance show, or whatever....look and listen at them. Some are talking spiritual things with others. Some are checking to see how to pray for people they feel need more prayers. A couple are escaping everything by talking about their problems or hopes for the day.

Do you notice anyone praying at all? Praying John Hyde states that the busy time for the Devil and his Workers are right after the service is done and one hour afterwards. Jesus talked about it in Luke 8:12 - "Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved."

Are YOU allowing the Devil to use you to show innocent new born baby pictures to someone after the service is over? Are you talking to others about the game, the sale, work, the family, etc...after the service? Or are you leaving in prayer to FIGHT the Devil in attempting to keep the Holy Spirit working on the hearts of the people at the Church?

Do you Love the People at Your Church enough to stop the Madness and Fight like a good Soldier?

Take time tomorrow to look around right after the service....put a digital recorder in your shirt pocket and listen to it afterwards. Listen to yourself, others, and the Minister who are actively working for the Devil at that moment and do not even know it....and if they do know it...they don't want to be bothered by the thoughts....it just is not a "feel good" kind of thing.

Is the Devil working in your church on Sunday???