PLUS

Romans 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

American patriot and hero, Nathan Hale, had signed a teaching contract before the Revolutionary War began and was conflicted as to whether he should break that contract to fight for the cause of freedom.  He received the following advice from his friend and classmate: “Was I in your condition, I think the more extensive service would be my choice.  Our holy Religion, the honor of our God, a glorious country, and a happy constitution is what we have to defend.”  Hale took this advice to heart and selected the more extensive service.

What happened to Christians in this nation who would select the more extensive service?  Instead of defending our holy religion, the honor of our God, our glorious country, and our happy constitution, we relent to lesser pursuits.  We decide to invest our time, our attention, our energy, our talents, and our resources in things that are far less important and far less noble.  All the while, the opponents of our holy religion, our honor-worthy God, our glorious country, and our happy constitution are investing their time, their attention, their energy, their talents, and their resources in order to diminish the things that we hold dear.

PLEASE PRAY FOR A RENEWED FOCUS BY AMERICAN CHRISTIANS ON THE THINGS THAT MATTER MOST.  We must choose the more extensive service.

SET YOUR ALARM:  If you’re alarmed (more by the candidates’ spiritual and moral health than their physical health), set your alarm (to pray for our nation)!

Isaiah 9:9-10 “And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart, The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones:  the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.”

Isaiah 9:13 “For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts.”

II Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

In The Harbinger, Jonathan Cahn compares America’s response to the terrorist attacks on 9/11 to Israel’s response to the attack of the Assyrians.  Following the Assyrian attack, the Israelites were prideful; they were defiant; they were stout in their hearts; they were resolute; they were determined to rebuild in their own strength.  Yet, they failed to seek the Lord of hosts – the one thing that God had intended for them to learn from their circumstances.  Following the 9/11 attack, Americans were prideful; we were defiant; we were stout in our hearts; we were resolute; we were determined to rebuild in our own strength.  Yet, we failed to seek the Lord of hosts – the one thing that God may have intended for us to learn from our circumstances.

The formula for revival is not pride.  It is not defiance.  It is not stoutness of heart.  It is not resoluteness.  It is not determination.  Instead it is humility.  It is prayerfulness.  It is repentance.  It is an attitude that seeks the Lord of hosts.

Fifteen years removed from that horrible day, and far more in need of revival and repentance than we were in 2001, may we learn that lesson and embrace that truth without delay.

PLEASE PRAY FOR A SPIRIT THAT PROPERLY SEEKS REVIVAL IN THIS LAND.  Americans, like the Israelites, must learn the proper lesson from the attacks that we have had to endure.

I Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”

This week we remember the tragic loss of life that was brought upon us by the terrorist attacks 15 years ago.  That September day was one of the darkest days in our history, because a determined enemy exploited our weaknesses to bring their brand of evil to our shores.

A little removed from 9/11, President Bush made the following statement:  “As I tell them, as I’ve tried to explain to the American people, we’ve got to be right 100 percent of the time; the enemy only has to be right once.”

President Bush recognized that, as a nation, we needed to be sober and vigilant.  He was right, though that standard of defense required to protect us from terrorism is impossible to obtain.  No amount of vigilance can provide for a perfect defense … from a human perspective.

One of the many lessons we should have learned from that tragic day is that we are fully reliant on the Lord for our protection.  Only He can live up to the standard of protection required to completely guard us.  Only He can provide for the perfect defense.

Should we be sober?  Yes!  Should we be vigilant?  Yes!  But, we also must be humble and prayerful.  We can never make ourselves safe enough on our own.

PLEASE HUMBLY PRAY FOR AMERICA’S SECURITY.  We don’t ever want the enemy to be right again … even once.

SET YOUR ALARM:  If you’re alarmed (that our nation is less reliant on God than we were before 9/11), set your alarm (to pray for our nation)!

Genesis 39:12 “And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me:  and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.”

James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Lessons from Joseph and James should inform our lives as Christians and our lives as Americas in our strategy against sin.  When faced with sin, Joseph fled.  When faced with resistance, the devil flees.

Joseph made clear that he intended to submit himself to God.  He wasn’t comfortable lingering around sin, flirting with sin, or accepting sin.  He was only comfortable when he was as far away from sin as possible.

The devil isn’t comfortable around righteousness and resistance.  He flees from those who resist him and pursues other weaker targets.

In our Christian lives, we often don’t need to mount a heroic and grandiose stand to cause the devil to find another target.  We do, however, need to demonstrate that we are willing to resist sin, flee from sin, and submit ourselves to God.  Similarly, in our nation’s life, we don’t need to mount a heroic and grandiose stand to cause the devil to find another target.  We do, however, need to demonstrate that we are willing to resist sin, flee from sin, and submit ourselves to God.

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE RIGHT FLIGHT, RESISTANCE, AND SUBMISSION IN OUR LIVES.  We should all want the devil to flee from us and to flee from our nation.

For a related thought, please see:  https://prayatlunch.us/resist/

Ephesians 4:27 “Neither give place to the devil.”

Our nation’s complacency about sin has been a major part of our steady slide towards marginality and away from exceptionality.  As a nation, we have given place to the devil time and again.  In many cases that seem small at the time, we have yielded to sin and turned our backs on righteousness.  Frankly, as Christians we have followed society’s lead in this respect.  A little compromise here and a small dose of acquiesce there have led us far away from God’s plan.

Rock climbers are amazing as they scale smooth vertical faces of rock.  The best among them only need the tiniest of cracks or knobs to give them the leverage they need to haul their bodies up a cliff.  Similarly, a small foothold is all the devil needs to scale our lives.  We have given him such leverage, and are suffering now without direction, foundation, or support.

PLEASE PRAY THAT WE WOULD REFUSE TO GIVE ANOTHER INCH OF GROUND TO THE DEVIL.  We must no longer give him place in our lives or in our nation.  We must deny him any footholds upon which to take advantage because if they exist, he will use them.

SET YOUR ALARM:  If you’re alarmed (that our society is determined to avoid offending anyone except God), set your alarm (to pray for our nation)!