PLUS

Acts 17:6 “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”

A few weeks ago, I was able to sing as a part of a small group at the Sunday evening service (those who know about my lack of musical talent are undoubtedly giggling right now).  The song was “A Few Good Men” and you may recognize the first stanza:

What this dying world could use is a willing man of God
Who dares to go against the grain, and work without applause
A man who’ll raise the shield of faith protecting what is pure
Whose love is tough and gentle, a man whose word is sure
God doesn’t need an orator who knows just what to say
He doesn’t need authorities to reason Him away
He doesn’t need an army to guarantee a win
He just needs a few good men

Indeed, what this world and this nation need are a few good men who are willing to serve Him.  They don’t need to be skilled, polished, or educated.  They just need to be faithful.  After all, the apostles were very ordinary men and yet they turned the world upside down.

PLEASE PRAY FOR A FEW GOOD MEN TO RIGHT A CAPSIZING WORLD.  Our world and our nation have been steadily tipped askew and need faithful men to be righted.

SET YOUR ALARM:  If you’re alarmed (that as our nation strangles religious liberty it is erasing its own foundation), set your alarm (to pray for our nation)!

Psalm 81:13-16 “Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!  I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.  The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him:  but their time should have endured for ever.  He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.”

As Psalm 81 goes on (see previous post), it becomes a heartbreaking story of what could have been.  As God’s heart is revealed, it becomes clear that He desired to bless His people in mighty ways.  God stood ready to subdue their enemies.  He intended to turn His hand against their adversaries.  He was eager to feed them with the finest wheat and satisfy them with honey out of the rock.  Instead, Israel faced hardships instead of blessings.

If we are faithful, God desires to bless us today.  He stands ready to subdue our enemies.  He intends to turn His hand against our adversaries.  He is eager to feed us with the finest wheat and satisfy us with honey out of the rock.  Instead, we face hardships instead of blessings.

President Lincoln went on to say in his 1863 proclamation for a Day of National Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer that:

“It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.”

It behooves us to do the same today.  PLEASE HUMBLY PRAY FOR CLEMENCY AND FORGIVENESS IN THIS LAND.  Otherwise, we are yet another heartbreaking story of what could have been.

Psalm 81:8-12 “Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee:  O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me; There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god.  I am the LORD they God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt:  open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.  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.”

As a part of his 1863 proclamation for a Day of National Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer, President Lincoln declared the following:

“We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!”

Lincoln rightfully recognized our national complacency.  God had blessed our nation in amazing ways.  He had brought us out of our Egypt.  He had filled our wide-open mouths.  Yet, we had not hearkened unto His voice.

We must recognize our national complacency today.  We must see that God has still blessed our nation in amazing ways.  He has filled our wide-open mouths.  Yet, we are not hearkening unto His voice.

PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICA WOULD RETURN TO THE GOD OF OUR FOUNDING.  We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven and yet we are not hearkening unto Him.

Exodus 32:8 “They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them:  they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.”

I discussed the following picture in my previous post:

Yet in spite of our national motto, we have flipped the logic of trust on its head.  In today’s America we trust in everything but God.  Today, it is the Lord who must bring data to be trusted by a society who has made itself an array of molten calves in which to trust.  It is these calves that we credit with the positive qualities of our society.  It is these calves that we worship.  It is these calves unto which we sacrifice.  Our twisted memories reason that these be the gods which have brought us up out of our Egypt.  In doing so, we have clearly turned aside quickly out of the way which God commanded us.

Today, we trust in the calves of prosperity.  We trust in the calves of education.  We trust in the calves of globalization.  We trust in the calves of nationalism.  We trust in the calves of tolerance.  We trust in the calves of reason.  We trust in the calves of power.

In today’s American society, we trust in the calves of man’s philosophy.  We trust in the calves of a living Constitution.  We trust in the calves of a progressive mindset.  We trust in the calves of unbounded gratification.  We trust in the calves of a secular morality.  We trust in the calves of an accommodating doctrine.

We must trust in none other than the Lord our God!

PLEASE PRAY FOR A REPENTENT AMERICA TO FORSAKE THE MOLTEN CALVES THAT WE ERRANTLY TRUST.  We must take those calves and burn them in the fire and return to the One who is worthy of our trust.

Psalm 16:1 “Preserve me, O God:  for in thee do I put my trust.”

While in the Pentagon, my boss was ultimately responsible for all acquisition programs in the Department of Defense.  As one would expect, he was a very analytical man who took this massive responsibility seriously.  After all, his daily decisions affected billions of dollars and the future of American weaponry.  In light of this responsibility, the following sign was hung outside his office:

Indeed, in God we should trust.  We should trust Him for our daily mundane decisions as much as we should trust Him for grandiose strategic decisions.  We should trust Him during the difficult times as much as we should trust Him during the good times.  We should trust Him as much in 2016 as our Founders trusted him in 1776.  We should trust Him when we are surrounded by those who doubt as much as we should trust Him when we are surrounded by those who believe.  We should trust Him when we are facing a godless culture as much as we should trust Him when we are in the safety of the church house.  At all times, in all situations, and through all circumstances we must say … In God We Trust!

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO TRUST FULLY IN GOD IN 2016.  All others must bring data, but In God We Trust!

SET YOUR ALARM:  If you’re alarmed (that many have forgotten that “In God We Trust” is our national motto), set your alarm (to pray for our nation)!