PLUS

Acts 17:5-8 “But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when there heard these things.”

A few weeks ago, my son got stuck on a roller coaster … upside down … for 45 minutes! It was quick a harrowing experience for him and his fellow riders, especially because the theme park failed to communicate with them throughout the entire event. It was confusing and disorienting. Then, the coaster started again without warning as the young people scrambled to make sure that they were fully strapped in. Fortunately, he ended up safely on the ground right side up, finally flipped in the right direction.

The doubters in the Book of Acts bemoaned the activities and the influences of the apostles and early disciples. These agitators had stirred the city into an uproar, troubling the people and the rulers of the city. They angrily stated that the faithful had “turned the world upside down.” They were probably right!

Yet, there is an important element of such a situation to consider. When you are already upside down, turning you upside down again actually returns you to being right side up. It flips things in the right direction.

We live in a world that is already upside down. It is confused and disoriented. Based on its errant orientation, it is time to turn it upside down again. We need Christians to shake things up and flip things in the right direction.

PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD STRIVE TO TURN OUR SOCIETY UPSIDE DOWN. Turning an upside down world upside down will get us back to where we belong – safely on the ground right side up and flipped in the right direction.

Acts 16:22-24 “And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.”

Acts 16:25 “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.”

Acts 16:32-34 “And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believed in God with all his house.”

Something caught my attention for the first time after recently reading through this passage in Acts. Previously I had noticed that Paul and Silas had a praise-filled demeanor while in prison, and that such an expression of their faith directly related to their ability to represent the Lord well and successfully witness to the jailor and his family. Yet, there was something additionally important in this context that I had previously missed.

Before being arrested, Paul and Silas had been beaten. Once released, the jailor washed the stripes on their backs, indicating that these wounds were fresh and raw. Thus, while they sang praises to the Lord, they had open wounds that would have been stinging with pain.

Not only was their demeanor praise-filled while they were in prison, but it was praise-filled in the midst of the pain and discomfort of stripes that riddled their back and caused them to be racked with pain.

It easy for American Christians to bemoan the tough situations we face in a society that is quickly diverging from the Lord. We face reputational discomfort as we stand for our faith and speak out against the sin that is all around us. Yet, very few of us are imprisoned for our testimonies, and it is highly unlikely that if we are, we do so with backs stinging and oozing with lash-induced stripes. How is our demeanor, then, with such relatively minor discomfort?

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO LIVE PRAISE-FILLED LIVES IN ORDER TO ATTRACT PEOPLE TO OUR PRAISE-WORTHY GOD. The multitude that could rise up against us at any moment needs to hear about the reason for our praying, singing and praising.

Psalm 31:14-15 “But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God. My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them the persecute me.”

Psalm 107:19-20 “Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.”

This past week marked the 80^th anniversary of D-Day – the aerial and amphibious invasion of mainland Europe by allied forces during World War II. It was a perilous operation designed to create the foothold for forces that would eventually end the war on the European continent.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower made the difficult decision to launch this massive operation on the evening of June 5^th, 1944. It would start the following morning. Once he made that fateful decision, Eisenhower did two noteworthy things as he waited.

First, he drafted an official message that brilliantly models the personal accountability and responsibility of a leader. Fortunately, it was never sent because it was only prepared in the case of failure:

“Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops.  My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available.  The troops, the air and the Navy did all that Bravery and devotion to duty could do.  If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.”

Second, as General Eisenhower waited for news from the front lines, he wallowed in the weightiness of his occupation and the helplessness of his situation. He recorded this powerful thought in his journal: “there was nothing we could do but pray, desperately.”

In the midst of our present turmoil, Christians in this land must do the same as we consider the weightiness of our occupation and the helplessness of our situation. We must pray, not just lackadaisically or casually, but desperately.

PLEASE PRAY DESPERATELY FOR OUR NATION. We cannot expect to win without doing so.

Proverbs 16:3 “Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.”

Daniel 9:18 “O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name:  for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.”

Galatians 6:14 “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”

As we enter the full-fledged political season, we can expect our politicians at all levels to say everything they can to gain a competitive advantage. Many will invoke the name of the Lord, while striving to convince us that we should support them because God does. Whenever we hear such things, we must hearken back to a story from the 1860s involving the words of President Abraham Lincoln in response to a bold statement from a group of ministers.

In the midst of the Civil War, a group of ministers boldly proclaimed the following to Lincoln: “Mr. President, our cause will prevail, because the Lord is on our side.”  Lincoln wisely responded: “Gentlemen, the question we should always ask ourselves is: ‘Are we on His side?’”

In our lives, we must spend far less time assuming that God is on our side, and far more time ensuring that we are on His side. We are to avoid the presumptuous activities that seek to bend His will to match our will. We must not assume His alignment, but instead assure our alignment.

Whenever we hear a political figure coax us with their faith-filled phrases, we must use the Lincoln litmus test. The question we should always ask ourselves is: Are we on His side? By the actions of our leaders, are they on His side? By their words, are they on His side? By their platforms, are they on His side? By their policies, are they on His side? By their track records, are they on His side? By their attitudes, are they on His side?

As a very related aside, a statue of Reverand Billy Graham was unveiled in the Capitol a little over a week ago. The Bible in the hands of the statue figure is intentionally opened to Galatians 6:14. God forbid that Americans and our leaders glory in ourselves. Instead, may we all glory in a God Who deserves our dedicated alignment.

PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD HUMBLY AND RESOLUTELY STRIVE TO ALIGN OURSELVES AND OUR SOCIETY WITH THE LORD. There is one question we should always ask ourselves – are we on His side?

NOTE: I won’t be posting next weekend, but please keep praying for our nation and our leaders!

Zephaniah 1:12-13 “And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil. Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation: they shall also build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof.”

Psalm 81:11-13 “But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels. Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!”

Every year on this day, I remember one of the most impactful moments in my life – the eruption of Mount St Helens. The sound of the eruption and the spewing mushroom cloud of ash was an awe-inspiring sight and dream come true for a volcano-loving, seven-year-old boy.

It was no surprise that an eruption was looming. A dome of volcanic material was growing in the crater as described daily by the local news. Authorities had established a mandatory evacuation order around the base of the mountain, directing all residents and visitors to a safe distance until further notice. There were even songs by local bands chronicling the impending disaster.

As far as I remember, there was only one person who refused to abide by the evacuation order. Not to be confused with President Harry S. Truman, old-timer Harry R. Truman, owner of Spirit Lake Lodge at the base of the mountain, famously, defiantly, and complacently stood his ground and said, “The mountain ain’t going to hurt me.” However, around 8:30 on the beautiful morning of May 18^th, 1980, it did.

Before the thunderous explosion of the eruption reached my young ears, Truman was covered by over 150 feet of volcanic debris. No one has seen him or Spirit Lake Lodge since.

Too many Christians today in America are watching the looming disaster of secularism and selfishness grow all around us with defiance and complacency. The lava dome of immorality is ready to burst. We marvel at the looming mountain as if we are waiting to be buried by the eruption that is possible at any moment.

Yet, we fail to hearken unto His voice and are comfortably settled on our lees as we defiantly stand our ground.

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO SHAKE OFF OUR COMPLACENY AND DEFIANCE, AND ENGAGE WITH ALL OUR MIGHT TO WRESTLE OUR NATION BACK TO WHERE WE BELONG FOR THE LORD. As we are settled on our lees, we are defying God Himself and are complacently ignoring His warnings.