Author: John Page 139 of 166

Revelation 3:16-17 “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot: I will spue thee out of my mouth.  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked”

The most dangerous characteristic of our nation is not that we are drifting away from the Lord at an accelerated rate.  It is not that we are a rebellious people.  It is not that we are rejecting Biblical principles.

Instead, it is that we consider ourselves enlightened when in fact we are ignorant.  It is that we are oblivious to our perilous path; American Christians have been fooled along with the rest.  We think that we are rich and increased with goods.  Dangerously, we think that we “have need of nothing.”  In fact, we are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, though we don’t even know it.  We have replaced Savior reliance with self reliance, and the One who provides for all our needs can take everything away at any moment.

As we drift away from the Lord, we are comfortable.  As we rebel, we are intellectually satisfied.  As we reject Biblical principles, we are convinced that we are not rejecting God Himself.

PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICANS WOULD IMMEDIATELY RECOGNIZE THAT WE HAVE BECOME IGNORANT INSTEAD OF ENLIGHTENED.  Like the Laodiceans, we best “hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” (Rev 3:22).  We best do so soon.  Otherwise, we will only wake up to our wretchedness, misery, poverty, blindness, and nakedness after it is too late.

Jeremiah 48:29 “We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart.”

Jeremiah 48:42 “And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified himself against the LORD.”

While our Independence Day should be a wonderful reminder of the power of humble reliance upon the Lord, we should not neglect the lessons that are on the flip side of the same coin.  Indeed, we should be mindful of the powerful trap of pride at the national level and how quickly it can cause an empire to crumble.  When a nation (or that nation’s leader) is characterized by loftiness, arrogancy, pride, and haughtiness of heart, there exists extreme risk that it will transform from mighty to a measly historical footnote as its citizens are “destroyed from being a people.”

History is replete with such a tragic path, from humble beginnings to heavenly blessings to haughty bluster.  It is filled with those whose self-sufficiency caused them to magnify themselves against the Lord as they become exceedingly proud.  As a nation on the same path, may we be urgently mindful that it will not end well for us if we continue along it.

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR NATION TO IMMEDIATELY RETURN TO HUMILITY AND AWAY FROM HAUGHTINESS.

I Peter 5:6-7 “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:  Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”

The Declaration of Independence ends with the following sentence:

“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor.”

The Founding Fathers recognized that if they were going to be part of something as miraculous as the birth of a new nation like the United States of America, then they needed to firmly rely upon the Lord.  They humbled themselves and cast all their care upon Him.  The result was an exalted nation.

If American Christians today are going to be part of something as miraculous as the rebirth of our nation through widespread revival, then we need to firmly rely upon the Lord.  We must humble ourselves and cast all our care upon Him.  The nation will never be exalted once again unless we do so.

If you are like me, you yearn to be part of something miraculous in this land.  Such a transformation won’t come from the magnificent works of our hands, but by the heavenly reliance of our hearts.  PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD EMBRACE THE SAME FORMULA FOR NATIONAL EXALTATION AS DID OUR FOREFATHERS.

Joshua 4:6-7 “That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?  Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off:  and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel forever.”

Hebrews 12:1 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”

Though it is often overshadowed by its proximity on the calendar to Independence Day, the Battle of Gettysburg is one of the most pivotal events in our nation’s history.  During the first few days of July in 1863, Union and Confederate forces faced one another in a bloody battle whose outcome likely determined the fate of the American Union.  Several months later, Abraham Lincoln memorialized that battle with the following words that we know as the Gettysburg Address:

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

President Lincoln used the motivational tool of past successful sacrifices to motivate those in the present.  He recognized that if the nation were to endure through its perilous struggles, then its people needed to harness the memory of past victories.  The passages in Hebrews and Joshua do the same.

Now like them, it is up to the living to be dedicated to the unfinished work of the past, so nobly advanced by our Christian forefathers.  The task ahead of us is great, and we must resolve that the sacrificial efforts of previous generations of Christian citizens would not be in vain.  We must dedicate ourselves to a new birth of freedom in this nation so that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

PLEASE PRAY THAT THE SUCCESSFUL SACRIFICES OF OUR CHRISTIAN FOREFATHERS WOULD MOTIVATE TODAY’S AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO COURAGEOUSLY STAND FOR CHRIST.

Psalm 127:1 “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it; except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”

In the speech referenced in the previous post, Dr. Ben Franklin went on to say:

“I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God Governs in the affairs of men.  And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?  We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that ‘except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it.’  I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel:  We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages.  And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.

I therefore beg leave to move – that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of this City be requested to officiate in that Service.”

Whatever we attempt to build or keep will be in vain unless we relinquish control unto the Lord.  Ben Franklin specifically applied this truth to the political realm in the attempt to create and sustain the United States of America.  How did Dr. Franklin recommend that the Founding Fathers put this truth into action?  His recommendation was a simple one, to pray daily for our nation while imploring the assistance of Heaven.

May we take this advice and apply his recommendation today as our Founding Fathers readily did during late June of 1787.  For them, it created an environment that mended their divisions and yielded a Heavenly wisdom that formed our founding document.  For us, may it mend our divisions and yield a Heavenly wisdom that returns us to the truths contained in that founding document.

PLEASE PRAY DAILY, IMPLORING THE ASSISTANCE OF HEAVEN TO REDIRECT OUR ERRANT NATION.  God does govern the affairs of men and our efforts are in vain without Him.