Author: John Page 118 of 172

Esther 4:14 “For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Esther 5:3 “Then said the king unto her, What wilt thou queen Esther? And what is thy request? It shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom.”

God could have sent Esther to 21^st century America to stand up to the kings of this world. Though it took a bit of prodding for her to stand up for her people and her God in her country, she courageously did so and her courage was rewarded.

It may take a bit of prodding for us to stand up for our people and our God in our country. Consider this the prod. We have been placed here for such a time as this. We have nowhere else to turn. We have no one else to rely upon. We are it, and God desires that we would courageously stand up to the kings of this world. Our courage will be rewarded.

PLEASE PRAY THAT EACH CHRISTIAN WOULD RECOGNIZE OUR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY TO STAND FOR GOD IN OUR LAND. When we courageously stand up to the king, we may find our requests given unto us. Esther did.

Please see these prior posts for similar thoughts:
https://prayatlunch.us/this-time/
https://prayatlunch.us/who-knoweth/

Hebrews 11:33-34 “Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.”

God could have sent any of the heroes-of-the-faith from Hebrews 11 to current day America. He could have sent Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sara, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Israel or Rahab. For that matter, He could have sent Peter, John, Paul, Timothy, Silas, Lois, Eunice, or Stephen. Instead, He sent you and He sent me.

These heroes of the past did amazing things by being faithful. They fully relied upon God and watched Him work through them. Out of weakness they were made strong.

God has entrusted us to subdue our own kingdom – 21^st century America. He could have sent others, but instead sent us. Through faith, we can do things just as marvelous as these heroes-of-the-faith. Without faith, we will continue to flounder while others subdue our kingdom instead.

PLEASE PRAY THAT, THROUGH FAITH, CHRISTIANS WOULD RISE TO OUR RESPONSIBILITIES IN MODERN DAY AMERICA. Only through faith can we subdue a kingdom badly in need of our influence.

SET YOUR ALARM: If you’re alarmed (that we’re far more interested in past scandals than solving today’s tough problems), set your alarm (to pray for our nation)!

Matthew 7:26 “And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand”

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

If we don’t act on our faith, then we are letting our country go. It we don’t hear AND do God’s commands, then we are foolish. If we know to do good and doeth it not, then we are sinning.

In spite of a four-month-old Supreme Court decision, we are as responsible as we always have been to put our faith into practice. If we don’t, then we are bound to be swept away by the rushing waters of secularism and godlessness that will overwhelmingly erode any flimsy foundation.

We know to do good. We know that we must act. We know that we must be hearers and doers of God’s word. We know that a prevailing culture that opposes us is not a valid excuse for inaction.

PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD RESOLUTELY ACT FOR CHRIST IN OUR LAND. We can dismiss our inaction by a variety of euphemistic excuses. Yet, it is still sin!

II Timothy 2:2 “And the things thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”

One of the massive dangers corresponding to failing to act on our faith is the failing to replicate our faith. If we stop short of demonstrating our faith through our words and our actions, then others may not become faithful. They certainly wouldn’t be able to teach others who could teach others also. In the matter of a generation, faith would be dead in our land.

The devil and secular culture don’t mind our influence staying confined to the church house. They may even think we comprise a quaint artifact of misguided times past. They don’t mind if a dwindling church audience hears about a hollow faith that isn’t put into practice in the needy mission fields of our communities. They are content to let us gather dust stemming from static practices. They realize that the above inevitably lead to harmless extinction.

We will become extinct if we don’t replicate; we can’t replicate if we don’t act. PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO REPLICATE OURSELVES THROUGH A CHRISTIANITY THAT IS PUT INTO PRACTICE. We must replicate or we will quickly fade towards extinction.

SET YOUR ALARM: If you’re alarmed (by America’s outward weakness and resultant loss of international credibility), set your alarm (to pray for our nation)!

Matthew 7:24 “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock”

Psalm 119:60 “I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments”

Dissenting opinions in June’s Obergefell v. Hodges recognize the erosion of religious liberty by the majority decision. Justice Thomas wrote the following:

“The majority appears unmoved by that inevitability. It makes only a weak gesture toward religious liberty in a single paragraph. And even that gesture indicates a misunderstanding of religious liberty in our Nation’s tradition. Religious liberty is about more than just the protection for “religious organizations and persons . . . as they seek to teach the principles that are so ful­filling and so central to their lives and faiths.” Religious liberty is about freedom of action in matters of religion generally, and the scope of that liberty is directly correlated to the civil restraints placed upon religious practice.”

Justice Thomas goes on to say that the majority decision has “potentially ruinous consequences for religious liberty.” Furthermore, Chief Justice Roberts wrote: “the First Amendment guarantees, however, the freedom to ‘exercise’ religion. Ominously, that is not a word the majority uses.” Ominously indeed! Four months removed from this decision we see these warnings sprouting into reality around us. There already have been ruinous consequences for religious liberty.

We are to make haste in keeping God’s commandments and putting them into action. We are to make haste in being hearers AND doers. We are to do so now, before these rights erode away. We are to do so later, regardless of whether these rights remain. We are to do so because our responsibilities to God are unchanged by Supreme Court rulings.

PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD MAKE HASTE TO ACT ON GOD’S COMMANDMENTS. When we hear and do God’s will we are building our lives on a solid foundation that can withstand the erosive forces of an increasingly godless culture. We must make haste in doing so!