November 11 — A Day of Prayer

Sunday, November 11, is an important day of praise and petition.

First, it’s Veteran’s Day.  Please take time to sing praises to God for the freedoms we share and to petition Him on behalf of all those who have served or are serving in our Armed Forces.  At this time, our military is comprised completely of volunteers, people who willingly and purposefully work to keep us safe.  Having grown up in a military family and having a daughter in the U. S. Army today, my heart is filled with gratitude to all the men and women who serve and is filled with awe of those who gave the extreme sacrifice of life.  Thank you, Lord, for these wonderful men and women!

Second, Sunday is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.  Thousands around the world suffer for their faith in Christ.  They are rejected by their families, fired from their jobs, suffer violent attacks, taken into prison, and even killed.  All the while we sit in our beautiful warm in the winter, cool in the summer church houses, oblivious to the plight of our brothers and sisters.  Our country also turns a blind eye (e.g. designating China as a favored country while knowing that they imprison and execute Christians).

For more information on Christian persecution — on these veterans of the spiritual war around us — check out the Voice of the Martyrs at www.persecution.com.  Or watch the video (link below) made many years ago by VOM’s founder, Richard Wurmbrand.  And, please, pray for our brother and sisters in chains around the world.

Remember those in prison

as if you were their fellow prisoners,

and those who are mistreated

as if you yourselves were suffering.

Hebrews 13:3

  

Richard Wurmbrand video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqdPkDPMCwk.

The LORD has spoken

 

“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;

He changes times and seasons;

He sets up kings and deposes them…

The Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men

and gives them to anyone He wishes…”

–Daniel 2:20-21, 4:17 (emphasis mine)

 

The sun rose this morning; God is on His throne.  We awoke this morning; God is on His throne.  Barak Obama is president this morning; God is on His throne.  GOD IS ON HIS THRONE. 

Sometimes God gives us what we ask for.  Sometimes He gives us what we deserve.  Sometimes He gives us what we need.  With this election cycle, which is it?  Only He knows at this time; we will know in due time.  But one thing is sure: He gave out of love.  Everything He does is based on love because God is love (1 John 4:16). 

In Revelation 3:14-22, Jesus sent a letter to the lukewarm, complacent church of Laodicea, in which He chastised it for thinking it was rich, self-sufficient, and in need of nothing — not even Him.  The truth — the spiritual truth?  It was wretched (teleo – ceasing to be what it once was), miserable (eleeinos – worthy of pity), poor (ptochos – fallen from a better estate into abject poverty), blind (tuphlos — enveloped in the smoke of self-conceit), and naked (gumnos – stark naked before God).  Sound familiar? It could be a letter to the Church in America or to America herself!

And then Jesus said, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.  So be earnest, and repent” (v. 19).  Love rebukes and disciplines!  It doesn’t coddle and spoil!  The warning of discipline is to the Church, but the invitation that follows it is to the individual: “Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (3:20).

America’s problem is not the re-election of President Obama; it’s not Congress; it’s not governmental at all.  It’s not financial; it’s not social; it’s not racial; it’s not moral.  America’s problem is spiritual.  And unless she repents, she will continue to be rebuked and disciplined by the one true and sovereign God of the universe who loves her.  The discipline won’t be fun, but it will be necessary.  It won’t “feel” like love, but it will be. The nation needs to repent.  And repentance begins in the Church, within the heart of each believer.

So here we are for another 4 years.  Therefore, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.  Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted…”(Romans 13:1-2).  Only when that authority goes against the Word of God do we have permission to disobey. 

And so we must pray for our President, his Cabinet, and our Congress.  We must be aware of the issues and let our voices be heard — respectfully.  We must press on to protect the godly principles upon which this nation was founded.  And we must continue to vote our consciences.

So as we await the return of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords — as we await His perfect, righteous, and just kingdom — what must we do?

Love the brotherhood of believers,

fear God,

honor the king.

(1 Peter 2:17)

Elections: Exhilaratingly Sad

I just exited the voting booth.  It was an exhilaratingly sad feeling.

EXHILARATING:  The right to vote is a privilege we have here in the United States, one we often take for granted.  I never really understood it until 2007 when the company I work for held several contracts for rebuilding Iraq.  A coworker returned and showed me pictures of Iraqi workers walking through the green zone gate, holding up their ink-stained fingers.  They had gone together as one to vote, some for the first time in their lives, and returned almost too excited to work. 

Since then, I take this responsibility very seriously.  I not only cast my votes but I do my best to make them informed votes.  What are the issues?  What are the different platforms?  What does the Bible have to say about such issues, or how do biblical principles apply to the situation?  The last one is often very evident; at other times, very difficult.

SAD:  The fact that we need a President and a governing body is somewhat sad to me.  In Samuel 8-9, Israel broke the heart of God when they asked for a physical king.  The perfect, righteous Jehovah was their King, yet they asked for an imperfect, sinful man-king.  God even had Samuel tell the people what this king would do to them — take their children and their servants for his work and demand a tenth of their grain and land for his purposes — yet the people refused to listen.  They said, “No, but there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles” (8:19-21). 

Does that sound familiar?  We want a king to “fight our battles.”  Life is hard.  If only someone, something could make it easier.

A human ruler will never meet that request, no matter how many laws or programs he/she passes.  Life is hard; but, for the Christian, the hardships of life work in our favor.  They refine us, strengthen us, and make us wise.  Most importantly, the strife of this life keeps our eye peeled on the eastern sky from whence our salvation comes.  Then the toils of this life will be over. 

No more struggle.

No more tears. 

No more pain. 

No more elections.

Come, Lord Jesus!