PLUS

Galatians 6:9 “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

Adoniram Judson served faithfully in his adopted nation for nearly forty years. Especially in the early years of his Burmese ministry, prospects for success seemed dim and dreary. Yet, success in God’s calculus doesn’t mean fruit; instead, it means faithfulness. Using this metric, Judson was successful from the moment he set sail for Burma in 1812.

The faithful though weary Judson once said “I feel it is my duty to plog on while daylight shall last.” Sometimes, our faithfulness seems like we are plogging on. In today’s America, it is easy to grow weary in well doing as we are countered by secularism and ungodliness at every turn. Yet, in due season we shall reap if we faint not.

Like early nineteenth century Burma for Judson, there is daylight left in twenty-first century America for us. The nation is not yet consumed in total darkness. As long as there is a sliver of light left, then we must plog on. PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO PLOG ON IN WELL DOING. We will reap, as long as daylight lasts and we remain faithful.

II Chronicles 15:7 “Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.”

Adoniram Judson, nineteenth century missionary to Burma, was determined to remain faithful to his calling through doubt and discouragement. Even though he didn’t see a single convert in the first six years of his ministry, he continued on faithfully. By the time of his death, he left behind dozens of churches, thousands of Christians, the first-ever Burmese-English dictionary, and a Burmese translation of the Bible. The fruit came because he didn’t leave. Through the challenges of his ministry, Judson said “I will not leave Burma until the cross is planted here forever.” Two centuries have passed since his arrival in South Asia, and the gospel of Christ continues to thrive in his absence … all because he didn’t give up.

Judson’s work was rewarded because he was strong in the Lord and refused to let weakness overcome him. His dogged determination to serve Christ, even in the absence of visible progress, allowed God to use him in a mighty way.

American Christian, your work will be rewarded if you are strong, faithful, and determined. Your prayers will be rewarded if you are similarly strong, faithful and determined. Your work to return this country to its Christ-centered foundation may not yet have yielded any visible fruit. Your prayers for nationwide repentance and revival may not yet have produced any visible progress. Yet, God will work through us if we remain strong, faithful, and determined. He will produce amazing fruit if we stave off weakness, doubt, and discouragement. Indeed, He is already working though we may not see it. Don’t give up on Him. The moment we give in to weakness may be the moment before God’s Spirit is ready to sweep over this land.

PLEASE PRAY FOR STRENGTH, FAITHFULNESS, AND DETERMINATION TO REMAIN COMMITTED AND PRAYERFUL. Our work shall be rewarded!

NOTE: Last week on Twitter and Facebook I kicked off a new PLUS campaign – IF YOU’RE ALARMED, SET YOUR ALARM! This week’s thought – If you’re alarmed (by an American citizen being jailed for sincerely held religious beliefs), set your alarm (to pray for our nation).

Philippians 2:10-11 “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

As the Treaty of Paris (signed September 3^rd, 1783) continued from its opening statement, the document and its signatories recognized that it “pleased the Divine Providence” to mold hearts to bring about peace. In doing so, the treaty that was ultimately ratified in the national capitol of Annapolis, Maryland in January 1784 acknowledged God’s undeniable hand in the formation of America.

The leaders of this world, as they should, bowed to the name of Jesus. They confessed, as they should, that Christ is Lord. They gave glory, as they should, to God the Father. So should we! Our American forefathers refused to allow an important historical landmark to go by without acknowledging God’s role in it. After all, His role is always the preeminent role.

PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD BOLDLY PROCLAIM GOD’S PREEMINENT ROLE IN OUR LIVES AND IN OUR NATION. It would please Divine Providence for us to do so.

Philippians 2:8-9 “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.”

On September 3^rd, 1783, representatives from the United States of America and Great Britain signed the Treaty of Paris, officially bringing the Revolutionary War to a close. The terms of the agreement were very favorable to the new American nation (negotiations nearly prompted the British to even give us what is now eastern Canada). The document signed by British representative David Hartley and American representatives John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay began with the simple but important phrase:

“In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity.”

It is very sensible to begin this important treaty with His name. He is the source of all authority and credibility. He is rightly exalted and glorified. He rules nations and governs relationships. He has a name that is above every name.

The hopeful nation would never have succeeded in its bid for independence had the colonists not fully relied upon Him and His name. The fledgling nation would never have started on favorable terms had they not fully relied upon Him and His name. The maturing nation would never have grown and thrived had they not fully relied upon Him and His name. Similarly, our present-day nation will not succeed if we fail to fully rely upon Him and His name. PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD FULLY RELY UPON HIM, LEADING OUR NATION TO DO THE SAME. We successfully began “in the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity.” We will only successfully continue in the same.

Isaiah 1:25-27 “And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.”

Samuel Langdon did not see his current situation as beyond hope. Nor should we. Langdon’s formula for retrenchment and recovery was a personal and national revival:

“Would it not be much superior wisdom and sounder policy for a distressed kingdom to retrench the vast unnecessary expenses continually incurred by its enormous vices?  To stop the prodigious sums paid in pensions, and to numberless officers, without the least advantage to the public?  To reduce the number of devouring servants in the great family?  To turn their minds from the pursuit of pleasure and the boundless luxuries of life, to the important interests of their country and the salvation of the commonwealth?  Would not a reverend regard to the authority of divine revelation, a hearty belief of the gospel of the grace of God, and a general reformation of all those vices which bring misery and ruin upon individuals, families, and kingdoms, and which have provoked heaven to bring the nation into such perplexed and dangerous circumstances, be the surest way to recover the sinking state, and make it again rich and flourishing?  Millions might annually be saved, if the kingdom were generally and thoroughly reformed; and the public debt, great as it is, might in a few years be cancelled by a growing revenue, which now amounts to full ten millions per annum, without laying additional burdens on any of the subjects.  But the demands of corruption are constantly increasing, and will forever exceed all the resources of wealth which the wit of man can invent or tyranny impose.”

Our nation, like Langdon’s, is sinking under the weight of its own onerous errors. The demands of corruption are constantly increasing, and increasingly unbearable. The surest way to return to our former glory is to cling to the source of our former glory. Our distressed kingdom demands reformation that returns us to righteousness and the righteous One.

PLEASE PRAY FOR A SWEEPING NATIONAL PERIOD OF REVIVAL AND REPENTENCE. It is not yet too late to recover and retrench. To flourish once again, we must do so immediately.