Author: John Page 152 of 167

Philippians 4:11-13 “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

Regarding his experience in a Nazi concentration camp, Viktor Frankl wrote the following:

“And there were always choices to make.  Every day, every hour, offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to those powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, your inner freedom; which determined whether or not you would become a plaything of circumstance, renouncing freedom and dignity to become molded into the form of a typical inmate.”

As Christians, we should never confine ourselves to the dictates of our circumstances.  We serve a God who is far greater than our circumstances, and far more powerful than the immediate contextual constraints of our lives.

Specifically regarding our role as American Christians, we have choices to make.  We could allow our current culture to dictate our personal convictions.  We could allow our current culture to deny our nation’s Christian heritage.  We could allow our current culture to define the limits of our faithfulness.  We could allow our current culture to destroy our institutional foundations.  We could allow our circumstances to rob us of our freedom, our dignity, and our spiritual fervency.

If we do these things, then our current culture will determine the future direction of this nation absent our Christian influence.  Or, we can make different decisions, every day, every hour.  We could refuse to become playthings of our cultural circumstances and instead cling to the promises of our powerful Provider.  PLEASE PRAY THAT TODAY’S AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD MAKE THE DAILY DECISION TO RELY UPON CHRIST INSTEAD OF CIRCUMSTANCE.  Our Lord stands by to strengthen us.

Romans 15:13 “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”

Viktor Frankl is a difficult man to ignore.  As a Holocaust survivor who has written extensively about his experiences in Nazi concentration camps, his perspective is unique and compelling.  Though written from a largely secular perspective, his works challenge the thinking of today’s American Christians.

One such area of challenge comes in the form of our hopefulness about the future.  Frankl, echoing the thoughts of others who have endured long times of captivity, reminds us that “the prisoner who had lost faith in the future – his future – was doomed.”

The level of our hope about the future corresponds directly to the state of our future.  Hopefulness or hopelessness become self-fulfilling prophecies.

Christians should be the last ones to lose hope, regardless of our personal conditions or the conditions of our land.  Christmas poignantly reminds us that our hope is tied to a Saviour who was not limited by the humble earthly conditions evident at His birth.  Christmas reminds us that we serve a God of hope, and through His power we may abound in hope.  Regardless of our earthly conditions, we have a source of hope that transcends our conditions.

PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD EMBRACE A UNIQUE HOPEFULNESS STEMMING FROM THE GOD OF HOPE.  The moment we lose a perspective of hopefulness, then our testimonies are doomed and the cause of Christ in America suffers.

Psalm 136:1-3 “O Give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.  O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever.  O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.”

As a fitting close to the Thanksgiving season, it is appropriate to post President Lincoln’s 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation.  Even in the midst of national division that we cannot even comprehend, Lincoln declared the following:

“The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies.  To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.  In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.  Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore.  Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battlefield; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.  No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things.  They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.  It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.  I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.  And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.”

Even in the worst of times, there is plenty for which to give thanks.  Lincoln recognized this truth as he poignantly described the reasons for which Americans in 1863 should give thanks.

Even in times that we consider difficult in America today, there is plenty for which to give thanks.  We must recognize this truth, and poignantly declare our thankfulness to those around us.  PLEASE PRAY FOR AN APPRECIATIVE SPIRIT THAT FOCUSES ON THE MANY THINGS FOR WHICH WE SHOULD BE THANKFUL.  Oh, how we should give thanks.

Hebrews 13:5-6 “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.  So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”

Thankfulness is akin to contentment.  A thankful spirit provokes satisfaction with the things that we have, and resists restlessness that always requires more.

These simple principles demonstrate the most duplicitous back-to-back days on the American calendar – Thanksgiving and Black Friday.  The former is intended to display thankfulness for what we have.  The latter is designed to enable a reckless dissatisfaction with what we have by prompting us to greedily grasp for more.  The former is intended to be a peaceful day with friends and family reflecting upon our current blessings.  The latter is intended to be a frenzied day trampling strangers to satisfy our most selfish urges.  The former is intended to focus on God’s blessings with a satisfied spirit.  The latter is intended to focus on selfish desires with a dissatisfied spirit.  The former is intended to be about contentment.  The latter is intended to be about discontentment.  The former reinforces Christian principles heading into a season that celebrates the birth of our Saviour.  The latter reveals the antithesis of Christian principles and is at cross-purposes with Christ’s message.  The former is a fitting celebration for a Christian.  The latter is a disquieting reminder of the secular celebration that Christmas has become in America.

PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD ENTER THE CHRISTMAS SEASON WITH A SPIRIT OF CONTENTMENT.  God has blessed us greatly.  We should be satisfied with His gifts, and content with such things as we have.

Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

The same people who had signed the Mayflower Compact in 1620 had endured a difficult year as winter approached in 1621.  Yet, they remained faithful.  In the midst of a severe drought that threatened to destroy their harvest, the pilgrims prayed and fasted.  In response to their faithfulness, the Lord brought crop saving rain.  Indeed, the pilgrims had much for which to be thankful as they established a feast that we now celebrate as Thanksgiving.

Their faithfulness and thankfulness provided witnessing opportunities to the American natives who observed the pilgrims and their relationship to the Lord.  Because of their strong testimony, a native remarked:

“Now I see that the Englishman’s God is a good God; for he hath heard you, and sent you rain, and that without such tempest and thunder as we used to have with our rain; which after our Powawing [Indian worship] for it, breaks down the corn; whereas your corn stands whole and good still; surely, your God is a good God.”

Similarly today, a thankful and faithful spirit provides us opportunities to let our light shine before men.  May we not squander an opportunity during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons to let others around us know where our thankfulness is directed, towards the Lord.

PLEASE PRAY THAT TODAY’S AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD USE A THANKFUL SPIRIT AS A WAY TO LET OUR LIGHT SHINE BEFORE MEN.  Others should see us act as if our God is a good God.  He is!