PLUS

Titus 2:13 “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

I Peter 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.”

Matthew 28:5-6 “And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye:  for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.  He is not here:  for he is risen, as he said.  Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”

A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated the resurrection of Christ on the day we call Easter.  It is the most hopeful day on the calendar, reminding all of the ultimate and eternal hope provided by Jesus even in the midst of a context seemingly filled with the deepest of despair.  He is risen, as he said!  Our blessed hope and lively hope boosts our spirits and secures our destiny.

Unfortunately, this message stands in sharp contrast to a world that is filled with despair and hopelessness as it rejects the good news of the gospel in the name of individual intellect and societal improvement.  As our self-sufficiency drives apparent progress and the crowning of individualism as our highest value, it also propels us towards a meaningless existence. This tragic turn is revealed in a stunning way in an article I came across recently entitled “Why Suicide Has Become an Epidemic – and What We Can Do to Help.” (https://www.newsweek.com/2013/05/22/why-suicide-has-become-epidemic-and-what-we-can-do-help-237434.html)

This epidemic is most acute in developed societies, prompting the author to beg the question: “What’s gone so rotten in the modern world?”  Stunning quotes from the article include:

• In a time defined by ever more social progress and astounding innovations, we have never been more burdened by sadness or more consumed by self-harm.
• More and more of us are living through a time of seamless black: a period of mounting clinical depression, blossoming thoughts of oblivion and an abiding wish to get there by the nonscenic route.
• In the land that commercialized positive thinking and put pill bottles in every drawer, depression has emerged as the most debilitating condition we face.
• But suicide is not an economic problem or a generational tic. It’s not a secondary concern, a sideline that will solve itself with new jobs, less access to guns, or a more tolerant society, although all would be welcome. It’s a problem with a broad base and terrible momentum, a result of seismic changes in the way we live and a corresponding shift in the way we die—not only in America but around the world.
• Sociologists in general believe that when society robs people of self-control, individual dignity, or a connection to something larger than themselves, suicide rates rise.
• Where conditions improve, life expectancy does too, and somewhere in this transition there is a tipping point, a Rubicon beyond which death is no longer a bone-fingered stranger but the man in the mirror.

The conclusion: “we’ve become our own greatest danger” and “humankind’s biggest health problem is humankind.”  Progress may be a misnomer in the modern and developed world.

The antidote may be to roll back the clock in some facets of a society that is recklessly and determinedly rushing forward at an unchecked pace.  It appears that we should be uplifting community, connectedness, and reliance on others.  We should be trumpeting purpose, dignity, and morality.  We should be reminded that we were created by a loving God and not fashioned by a random cosmic accident.  We should be turning back to the cross, where hope reaches far beyond the temporal.  We should be seeking a living hope through a Savior who has risen.

PLEASE PRAY FOR A SOCIETY THAT IS CRUMBLING FROM WITHIN, BURDENED BY SADNESS AND A STUNNING LACK OF HOPE.  May we point them toward the One who has risen … as He said.

Ephesians 6:12-13 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

Late at night on May 2, 2011, IT consultant Sohaib Athar was working on a computer project in the hills of Pakistan.  On this unremarkable night, he was annoyed by the noises of helicopters and explosions. During the minutes of this distraction, he Tweeted out his observations and closed that string of thoughts with the following … “I hope it’s not the start of something nasty :-S.”  In reality, it was the end of something nasty.

Eight hours later, the world learned about what Athar had been Tweeting about.  Breaking the silence of the highly classified raid, President Obama proudly declared on live television that Osama bin Laden was dead. The nighttime noises heard by Athar were the ongoing raid itself and he had unknowingly journaled one of the world’s most noteworthy events live eight hours before anyone understood the full context of those observations.

There is much going on around us at all times.  Sometimes we understand all of it.  Sometimes we understand some of it.  Sometimes we understand none of it.  Sometimes it is related to flesh and blood.  Sometimes it is related to principalities and powers.  We rarely understand the full context of our observations.

Regardless of our perspective, we need to be vigilant and well-armed spiritually for the rigors and the nastiness of the day.

PLEASE PRAY TO BE SPIRITUALLY ARMED FOR THE CHALLENGING CONTEXTS WE WILL FACE.  Sometimes it is the start of something nasty.  Sometimes it is the end of something nasty.  Sometimes we are a part of breaking news without even knowing about it.

Pslam 66:17 “I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.”

Psalm 118:25 “Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD:  O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.”

General Jerry Boykin is a well-known special operations leader and Christian.  His combat experience is stunning, with roles in Vietnam, Iran, Granada, Panama, Columbia, and Somalia.  One of the formative experiences in his life was his failure to rescue the American hostages in Iran in April of 1980 as the Delta Force Operations Officer, something he considered “the greatest disappointment of [his] professional career.”

On April 24, 1980, a special operations team stopped at a remote staging location in the Iranian desert to refuel for their final push to the rescue location at the American Embassy in Tehran.  At that location, two aircraft collided causing a fiery death trap for the 45-warriors trapped in the C-130 engulfed in flames.  Boykin had a front row seat for the seemingly impending tragic death of his trapped men.

Boykin’s thoughts at the time were humble and spiritual:

“It took only seconds before I instinctively began pleading with God for the lives of these men.  My prayer was that of a desperate man who knew that only God could save those forty-five souls in that wreckage.”

He went on to say these powerful words about prayer: “It was all I could do – and the most important thing I could do.”  Sure enough, God answered miraculously as each man was able to escape completely unharmed.

One of the mottos of the PLUS ministry is strikingly similar to Boykin’s thought – praying for our nation and our leaders is the least we should do and the most we can do to make a difference in this land.  It is the least we should do and the most we can do!  We need God to answer miraculously.

PLEASE PRAY INSTINCTIVELY AND DESPERATELY FOR OUR NATION.  In many ways, it is simultaneously all we can do and the most important thing we can do for this great nation.

II Timothy 4:7 “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith”

Philippians 3:14 “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

The Revolutionary War started on April 19, 1775 in the colony of Massachusetts.  On that day, British forces unexpectedly fired against the citizens of Lexington killing eight militiamen.  Their ultimate objective was a large stash of colonial arms at a militia armory in Concord just a few miles west of the Lexington Green. It was there that the colonial soldiers successfully stood their ground, causing the mighty British army to retreat back to Boston.  The retreat route took the British forces back near Lexington where 78 year old Samuel Whittemore was waiting.

This seasoned war veteran was not going to let the slaughter of his fellow countrymen stand.  He singlehandedly ambushed and killed three British soldiers before being shot in the face, stabbed by bayonets, beaten, and left for dead.  This old timer’s bravery boosted the spirits of the Revolutionary forces, and his toughness allowed him to recover and live another 18 years.  He died a free man under an American Constitutional government.

Whether we are old or young, we have a mission to complete.  We have a fight to win.  We must finish our course while keeping the faith.  We must press toward the mark.  We must aggressively answer the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  We must urgently serve God and fulfill our purpose.

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO FINISH OUR COURSE WHILE KEEPING THE FAITH.  All Christians, young and old alike, must press toward the mark.

Judges 7:2-3 “And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.  Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead.  And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.”

Judges 7:7 “And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand:  and let all the other people go every man unto his place.”

In a previous post (https://prayatlunch.us/a-needy-people/), I discussed the important truth that even the “one-percenters” need to rely upon God.  The verses above provide a different reminder in a different context with respect to the “one-percenters”.

God whittled down the manpower of the Israelite army to less than one percent of its original size to battle against the Midianites.  He trimmed it from 32,000 men, to 20,000 men, and then to 300 men.  It is with this group of “one-percenters” that the Lord brought a great victory that could only be attributed to Him.

God doesn’t need a majority to succeed.  He doesn’t need a majority to bring great victory.  He doesn’t need a majority to win a battle or win the war.  He simply asks for a faithful group of “one-percenters”.

Don’t be dismayed by our lack of numerical superiority in our twenty-first century American culture. With God, we have the power of a mighty majority.

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE FAITHFUL MINORITY IN THIS LAND TO HARNESS GOD’S POWER.  We may just be “one-percenters,” but with God we are a mighty minority.

Please see the following for related thoughts:

https://prayatlunch.us/minority-miracles/

https://prayatlunch.us/spiritually-alert-minorities/