Author: John Page 144 of 166

Proverbs 13:20 “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.”

Proverbs 1:10 “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.”

Mark 15:15 “And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.”

There is a flip side of the peer pressure coin that is described concisely in Proverbs 13:20.  While we are influenced to be wise by the wise around us, we are also influenced to be foolish by the fools around us.  Sometimes, this negative impact even comes from other Christians who are less faithful, less trusting in the Lord, or less confident in God’s influence in our lives than we are.  These types of negative peer pressure may have even influenced us against praying daily for the United States.  Consider the following thoughts that may have been generated by negative peer pressure:

• Have you given up on our nation?
• Have you given up on the Lord and His willingness or power to prompt a widespread revival in our nation?
• Have you come to believe that you can do more personally to impact our nation than the Lord can do to impact our nation?
• Are you plagued by such busyness in your life that you cannot break away for a short period to pray daily for our nation?

We must first recognize the forces that entice us away from the Lord, and then consent not to them.  Indeed, these forces can be so powerful that they prompted Pilate to release Barabbas instead of Jesus.  They may also be acting on you in a way that draws you away from recognizing the importance, relevance, and necessity of daily prayer for our nation.

PLEASE PRAY THAT WE WOULD BE INFLUENCED BY THE WISE AND GODLY AROUND US, AND NOT BY THE FOOLISH AND UNGODLY AROUND US.  By being a companion of the fools in our midst, American Christians have allowed our nation to slip towards destruction.

I Corinthians 11:1 “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.”

Matthew 16:24 “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

I am thrilled that the month of March is finally over.  Because of peer pressure, I spent the entire month looking foolish.  There is a long time Air Force tradition, Mustache March, started by fighter pilots during the Vietnam War.  When at home station and not deployed I have never participated.  This year General Welsh, the USAF Chief of Staff, issued a challenge for an ‘all-in Mustache March.’  Out of loyalty and in buckling to peer pressure, I did participate.  My wife and kids regularly mocked me, and strangers did double-takes as they strained to notice my pathetic attempt to grow facial hair.  Last Tuesday, I happily shaved it off and my source of shame was removed.

Peer pressure and leadership by example are akin to one another.  The combination of verbal encouragement coupled with reinforcing action by a leader can move the masses to do things that they wouldn’t otherwise do.  In fact, Paul used peer pressure in I Corinthians 11 and Jesus did in Matthew 16.  They did so to prompt action in accordance with the word of God.  My goal with PLUS is to do the same.  Please consider the following questions:

• Have you been faithfully praying for our nation daily?
• Have you been encouraging others to pray daily for our nation?
• Have you been directing others towards the PLUS ministry?

I’m hopeful that these challenging questions will convict you towards action that is in accordance with the word of God.  I’m not encouraging you to do anything as foolish as growing a mustache.  Instead, I’m encouraging you to do something that is truly important, relevant, and necessary.  PLEASE PRAY DAILY FOR OUR NATION AND ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO DO THE SAME.

Luke 18:1 “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint”

Luke 18:5 “Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.”

As in Luke 11, the Lord uses a parable in Luke 18 to remind His followers that their prayer life should be characterized by fervency and regularity.  Our petitions should be characterized by persistence and passion.  Our requests should be characterized by relentlessness and restlessness.  Like the widow, we should continually come before our Judge for those things with which we are burdened.

American Christians have failed to meet these standards in our prayer lives.  PLUS has been designed as a tool to help us meet the Lord’s guidance for praying for our nation without fainting.  Please use it and encourage others to use it as a way to always pray as the Lord has instructed.  PLEASE PRAY ALWAYS FOR OUR NATION WITHOUT FAINTING.  The alternative has failed to yield the Judge’s advocacy on our behalf.

Luke 11:1 “And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”

Luke 11:8-10 “I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.  And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”

Does our prayer life for our nation live up to the standard that Jesus used in the parable in Luke 11 as He taught His disciples to pray?  Do we demonstrate importunity in our requests?  Are we “troublesomely urgent?”  Are we “overly persistent in our requests?”  Or instead, are we more passionate and persistent in our complaints about our nation without taking our concerns to the Lord in daily, fervent prayer?

Not only does the Luke 11 parable provide us with Jesus’ guidance for prayer, but it reveals His promises for prayer as well.  Are we asking in the way Jesus described?  If so, then it shall be given unto us.  Are we seeking in the way Jesus described?  If so, then we shall find what we are looking for.  Are we knocking with importunity?  If so, then the door will be opened unto us.

PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD BE IMPORTUNE IN OUR PRAYER LIFE FOR OUR NATION.  We need much in our land, and must persistently ask the Lord to give us as much as we needeth.

Psalm 145:3 “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.”

Romans 11:33 “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!”

I have been constantly amazed at how the Lord has directed the PLUS posts during this past year, regardless of my plans.  I will use the last three months of posts as an illustration.  On 4 and 8 January, I published the PLUS posts as expected regarding annual motivation and reflection.  Following that week, I expected to publish a series of six PLUS posts on my personal annual theme of trusting the Lord.  The Lord took the next several posts in a direction I never imagined.

• The following week (12 & 16 Jan) I published two posts on the death of a godly Chief Master Sergeant
• The next week (19 & 22 Jan) I returned to publish two posts on trusting the Lord
• The next week (25 & 29 Jan) the Lord impressed upon me to publish posts on faithfulness related to the year anniversary of my daily pray journey for our nation
• After the Lord brought the 1983 Year of the Bible to my attention, I published the next four posts on this topic (1, 5, 9 & 12 Feb)
• After watching the Bill Nye and Ken Hamm debate, I dedicated the next eight posts to science related topics (16, 19, 23 & 26 Feb; 2, 5, 9 & 12 March)
• After hearing about an Academy Awards acceptance speech that acknowledged the Lord, I focused the follow two posts on related issues (16 & 19 March)
• That brought me to this week, the anniversary week of PLUS, where it was a natural fit to focus on God’s ways that are superior to our ways (23 & 26 March)

Maybe next week, I’ll return to the theme of trusting in the Lord.  Then again, His ways are unsearchable and I look forward to seeing how He will direct.  It may be nothing that I would expect, but it will be far better.  Indeed, the Lord has taught me far more in the last few months about trusting the Lord through the course of my life than I ever would have learned by writing about these issues.

PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD WORSHIP GOD FOR THE DEPTH OF HIS KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM.  Doing so will help us trust the Lord more than anything else we could do on our own.