PLUS

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.

Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways.”

On March 24, 2013 (with the kickoff the next day), the PLUS ministry began with the first post entitled “The Responsibility of the Christian Citizen”.  It was Lord-led from the outset and has been Lord-led ever since.  Yet, I have to admit that it has not followed the path that I originally expected.

I expected a widespread, immediate, and visible impact.  I expected word-of-mouth to quickly spread among Bible-believing Christians and through Bible-believing churches.  I expected Christians to begin lunchtime prayer groups to encourage others to join in this needful ministry.  I expected regular, daily prayer for our nation to be preached from pulpits in every corner of our land.  I expected a grassroots up swell of American Christians who were faithful in prayer and faithful in action for our nation.  I still expect all of these things, though they haven’t yet come to fruition.

Yet, the Lord reminds me on a regular basis that He is the midst of this ministry and that it is having the impact on a timetable that He intends.  I am reminded by a God-given thought for a post.  I am reminded by the encouragement of a friend.  I am reminded by a story about others praying.  I am reminded by an anecdote of the use of posts for devotions and curriculum.  I am encouraged by all of these things and praise God for them!  After all, His ways are far higher than my ways.

PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD LIVE FAITHFUL LIVES, ACKNOWLEDGING THE SUPERIORITY OF THE LORD’S WAYS.  Even when our life paths don’t unfold in a textbook manner, the Author has a far superior chapter awaiting us all.  It will play out according to His thoughts and according to His ways, and they are much higher than we can even imagine.

I Chronicles 16:8 “Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.”

Before I was saved, I came across a perspective at my first gospel preaching church that I did not originally understand.  After a particularly good music solo, I would do my best to track down the soloist and express my appreciation for the beautiful music.  The soloist’s response was often the same, but confusing to me at that stage of my life.  The soloist would respond with something like “Praise God!”  In my attempt to praise them, they would deflect the praise to the Lord.  In my unsaved mind, I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t accept the compliment I intended for them.

They understood something important that I did not, that God was the source of all the good that came out of their lives.  With that in mind, it would be selfish and dishonest from them to accept my praise when it rightfully belonged to Him.  Furthermore, they recognized that deflecting praise gave them an opportunity to praise and worship God and to provide a witness to His greatness.  They were making known His deeds among the people.  In my specific case, they were making known His deeds to a person who badly needed to hear it.

PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD DEFLECT ALL TYPES OF PRAISE TO THE LORD.  We must let others know who it is that rightfully deserves such praise, and it isn’t us.

Matthew 10:32-33 “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.  But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.”

Though I don’t watch the Academy Awards, I heard something about this year’s event that caught my attention.  While I don’t know much about his testimony, Matthew McConaughey started his acceptance speech by rightfully thanking God.  He went on to say “He’s graced my life with opportunities that I know are not of my hand or any other human hand.”  What makes these words so surprising is their rarity.

In the last 30 years, there have been 750 Academy Award acceptance speeches.  In only 14 of those has someone expressed thanks to the Lord.  In fact, in the last decade at the Academy Awards more people have thanked Meryl Streep than have thanked God.  Of course, we shouldn’t expect the unsaved in an event like this to thank the Lord, but how are we as American Christians doing at explicitly thanking the Lord for the blessings in our lives?  If the world doesn’t hear such a confession from us, then they won’t hear it from anywhere.

PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD WILLINGLY EXPRESS APPRECIATION FOR OUR MANY GOD-GIVEN OPPORTUNITIES.  Indeed, the opportunities in our lives are gracefully given not by human hand.  We need to boldly confess that truth to ourselves and to others.