PLUS

I Kings 19:11-13 “And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake, a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?”

Psalm 85:8 “I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.”

John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”

Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

There is a memorable old time series of commercials for financial management company EF Hutton. Whenever a customer starts to share a piece of investment advice in a public place –  “EF Hutton says …” – the entire surrounding environment goes silent as people strain to hear information and guidance that will be profitable to them. “When EF Hutton talks, people listen” is the catchy tagline.

If only American Christians in 2024 would similarly strain to hear the still small voice of the Lord. When God speaks, He provides information and guidance that would be eternally and immensely profitable to us in ways far more significant than the returns of our financial portfolios. His Word offers peace to His people, avoidance of folly, and fellowship with the Divine.

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO SQUINT WITH OUR EARS TO HEAR THE STILL SMALL VOICE OF THE LORD. When God talks, we must listen.

Ephesians 3:20-21 “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”

Jeremiah 33:3 “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”

Philippians 4:6 “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

I recently came across the amazing poem from Sir Francis Drake from 1579

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope and love.
This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.

What a series of stunning thoughts. By faith, we must thirst for the waters of life, to dream of eternity, to expand our vision of heaven, to dare more boldly, to venture on to wider seas, to expand our horizons of hope, and to push into the future with strength, courage, hope and love.

PLEASE PRAY FOR A BOLD FAITH. Only when we lose sight of land shall we find the stars.

Isaiah 53:5-6 “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Recently I read an amazing book about our American founding documents: “American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation – And Could Again” by Yuval Levin. Levin makes the following powerful point:

“We is the first word of the Constitution. It is the first word of the glorious second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. Both documents speak in the first-person plural, because they both speak for a people taking joint ownership of their common fate.”

Our world is obsessed with picking and displaying their pronouns. While we rightfully see this as a misguided secular trend, they are right to some extent – pronouns matter!

In the powerful doublet of verses in Isaiah 53, the intentional use of pronouns provides a poignant, instructive reminder to all humanity. Jesus – as revealed by the five-time use of he/him/his – endures unimaginable wrath through a sacrifice that bears the burden of all iniquity. As a result, He was wounded, bruised, chastised, and lashed.

Yet, it is the Bible’s use of first-person plural pronouns that punctuates the powerful point. Seven times, we vividly see our Lord’s personal sacrifice for us through the use of our/we/us and His resulting love. We have gone astray and turned to our own way. It is us who transgressed and lived in iniquity. Yet, through these intentionally placed words that we sometimes overlook, we witness a God whose connection to us is personal. He isn’t an untouchable being who sits on a distant throne, but a personal loving God who understands our needs and perfectly meets our desperate condition. It is joint ownership, but He does all the giving and we do all the receiving. Praise God for all of it!

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO RECOGNIZE AND CONVEY THE PERSONAL NATURE OF OUR ALL-GIVING, ALL-LOVING SAVIOUR. Pronouns matter and we/us must live passionately and humbly grateful for He/Him!

Isaiah 30:21 “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.”

II Timothy 4:6-8 “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

I Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray without ceasing”

As a part of the Greek sailing trip that I described in a recent post, my wonderful wife and I first landed in Athens and spent a few days seeing the sights in that historic city. Then, in order to get to the sailing point of departure four hours north of Athens on the east coast of Greece, we rented a car and started our short journey. We were armed with only a high-level map, when people had to figure things out on their own without GPS and cell phones. The signs were all in Greek, and our success hinged on our innate direction, a bit of map-based dead reckoning, and knowledge of Greek characters stemming from our STEM educational backgrounds.

The streets of Athens were frenetic, and I was trusting Melonie to do the majority of the navigating. Our routine on the journey was amusing. At every upcoming consequential intersection, I would point to the street sign and give my wife a countdown … 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. No later than reaching 1, she would have to tell me left, right, or straight. This exercise happened dozens of times, and she was on it! Most importantly, we successfully made it out of Athens and on to the port for our sailing extravaganza. Our marriage survived intact as well!

Life is filled with dozens of decisions a day where we need to properly navigate by turning left or right, or continuing straight. It is a tricky navigational exercise, with plenty of routes that would lead us astray and a slew of time sensitive decisions that will yield long term consequence. The upcoming election is an example that heavily weights on our minds, but the onslaught of decisions throughout our lives can be overwhelming.

We need a navigator who can properly guide us in the right direction at all times. Only the Lord can provide us the guidance that can allow us to finish our course. We must constantly pray to do so, while hearing and yielding to his leading.

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO RESPOND TO THE LORD’S LEADING AT EVERY INTERSECTION OF OUR LIVES. The endless steams of decisions – left, right, or straight – are vital to our well-being and our ability to safely and effectively reach our destination.

I Timothy 2:1-4 “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”

Hosea 8:4 “They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.”

I Corinthians 4:2 “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”

James 4:17 “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

Early voting has started in most places across the country, and shocking results about voting patterns were recently released. The appalling outcome was punctuated by news that 41 million Christians may not vote in this year’s election. Further fidelity reveals that 68 percent are not interested in politics and 52 percent believe that their vote won’t make a different.

While you may not be interested in politics, it is interested in you. And your vote will make a difference!

I wouldn’t dare to tell you how to vote. Yet, there are critical decisions to be made at the federal, state and local levels. Each should be bathed in prayer and your electoral decisions, just like all your decisions, are to be guided by biblical values.

Our nation’s first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court reminds us that “Providence has given our people the choice of our rulers.” We are stewards of that right and responsibility, and failing to vote is a deleterious deviation from faithful stewardship. (I Corinthians 4:2, James 4:17)

Additionally, Biblical truths remind us that God has been displeased with political decisions made by His people. Failing to vote causes us to follow in the footsteps of these believers who God has condemned for their errant decisions of the past. (Hosea 8:4)

Furthermore, God has directed us to prioritize prayer for those who are in authority. (I Timothy 2:1-4) Their decisions determine whether we are able to live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty. It also drives whether we have the freedoms to share the life changing truths of the gospel. While this portion of scripture doesn’t command us to vote in concert with our prayers, God’s Word consistently tells us to act in alignment with our faith and our prayers. Thus, if we fail to pray and act when given an opportunity to select our leaders, it is NOT good and NOT acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.

Finally, our failure to vote today diminishes our future influence and subsequent opportunities for stewardship. Those populations who don’t vote are ignored and marginalized in the political process. Therefore, if we fail to vote today then we diminish the opportunities for godly influence and impact in the days, weeks, months, years, and decades to follow. We are condemning our future generations to the harmful results of bad decisions today and a lesser voice in the future.

CHRISTIANS VOTE! It is good, it is right, and it is God’s command for us to do so!

ADMIN NOTE: The study about voting patterns referenced above can be seen here – https://justthenews.com/nation/religion/millions-christians-may-choose-not-vote-november-study