Pray Network Forum

In Isaiah 62:6, God says He has divinely placed His passionate and persistent Watchmen on the walls of a particular city for His eternal purposes.

Is there an actual city called Jerusalem? Not a metaphor, but an actual piece of real estate in this world today called Jerusalem? We know that there is, so God may just be speaking about THAT particular piece of land in Israel!

Isaiah 62: 6: “I have posted watchmen on your walls O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call upon the Lord, give yourselves no rest and give Him no rest till He establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.”  

Now this is not some wild stretch of the imagination because Scripture clearly reveals that the city of Jerusalem is a priority to God!

How do we know it’s a priority?

First, God inspired the writers of Scripture to mention Jerusalem 767 times in the Bible (KJV version); 626 times in the Old Testament and 141 times in the New Testament. As we well know, God’s word is never in vain; it always fulfills His purposes. (Isaiah 55:11). The most common reason for repetition in the Bible is to emphasize something that is really important to God. What is dear to God’s heart should be important for us to both hear and respond to. You see in the Hebrew culture, “hearing,” the Word of God, was synonymous with living out the appropriate action to His Word. One could not truly “hear” without “doing,” so God wants believers to do something regarding Jerusalem!

Secondly, Jerusalem was so important to God that He attached His Own Name to that city- not just once, but repeatedly.  In the Bible, He calls Jerusalem the City of God (Psalm 46:4), The City of The Lord (Isaiah 60:14), My Holy Mountain or The Holy Mountain of God (Isaiah 11:9;Isa. 56:7; Isa. 57:13; Isa. 66:20; Ezekiel 20;40; Daniel 9:16; Daniel 9:20; Joel 2:1;Joel 3:17; Zephaniah 3:11, Zechariah 8:3),The Mountain of the Lord of Hosts (Zechariah 8:3), The Throne of the Lord (Jeremiah 3:17), The Zion of The Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 60:14), and the City of the Great King…i.e., Jesus (Psalm 48:2; Matthew 5:35). And when God calls Jerusalem by other names, He still reveals His affection and love by calling her: The City of Joy ( Jer. 49:25), The City of Praise (Jer. 49:25), The City of Peace (Heb. 7:2), Great Among the Nations (Lam. 1:1), and The Perfection of Beauty ( Lam. 2:15).

The quantity of Scripture, related to Jerusalem, reveals how significant it is to God’s heart and His future purposes for it. He cares about what is happening in Jerusalem right now, and what will happen there in the future.

We are Christians who have been, “grafted into the Covenant of Abraham.” We may read the promises to Jerusalem, as though “Jerusalem” meant our city or our churches here in America. That’s not wrong to do, BUT we should always remember that the personal application of Scripture, to our lives, should never deny the primary one, which was to Jerusalem. His mandates and promises for “Jerusalem” are first and foremost, to the very real city of the same name, and His Word and promises are still true to that city. This is why believers from every tongue, tribe and nation participate in the Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem each year. Check it out!

This is Part II of a Five Part Series. Be sure to read Part I

I am copying this from my original post over at www.cityonitsknees.com.

This past week, a local youth leader of a ministry called The Basement here in Birmingham, AL was arrested a second time for impersonating a police officer. The fallout from the arrest will most likely be messy. People are very divided in their opinions about the situation. I debated and prayed for several days about whether or not to post anything, and if so, if it should be a whole blog post or just a post on our Facebook page. I also wanted to be careful not to just post my opinion on the situation. See, I'm the wife of a Birmingham police officer, so I have strong feelings regarding the case.

One of the tragedies, though, in any situation where a well-known person gets into trouble, is the onslaught of public opinion that person, and their family, have to endure. No matter how deserving the person is of the arrest/trouble they've brought on themselves, the comments are horribly abusive. We forget it's a real person with real feelings, and that but for the grace of God, we could find ourselves in a very similar situation someday.

So how should we, as Christians who are called to pray, respond? I think one of the first things we must do is choose to fast from our opinion and emotions about the situation. I had to choose to set them aside, because otherwise, I was too angry at the pride that caused such wrong choices, at foolishness, at sin. I was too hurt for all the young people who are very hurt and confused because of these events by someone they greatly admired. I feared for the direct harm he may have caused some of those young people, if they got sucked into his bad choices. I could not hear how the Holy Spirit wanted me to pray with all of those emotions and opinions drowning out His voice. It doesn't mean I shouldn't feel those things, but that I need to choose to lay them at the feet of Jesus.

The next and real first thing we do is pray for Matt Pitt. If we still can't bring ourselves to pray as we ought, and are tempted to either pray for his complete downfall so that he "gets what he deserves", as some comments have said, or if we are tempted to pray for so much grace that he gets off scott-free, then we can turn to Scripture and pray the Scriptures.

We can pray out of Genesis 50:20 by praying, "God, what the devil and man have meant for evil, You meant it for good. We pray that You would cause Matt Pitt's present result to accomplish Your purposes, to bring many people to You."

We can pray out of the Lord's Prayer found in Matthew 6:9-13 - "Heavenly Father, You are holy and Your name is holy. Would you preserve and display Your holiness in the face of this public fall-out from a Christian leader's bad choices? Let Your kingdom come through Your people, and let it stand in stark contrast to the kingdom of darkness. We pray that Your will would be done for Matt Pitt and The Basement here on the earth, as it already is in Heaven. Cause Matt to feed daily on Your Word so that He can receive Your forgiveness that You freely grant to all who sin and have fallen. Deliver him from the evil that has gotten a hold of his life right now. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Those are just two examples of how we can use Scripture to pray for Matt Pitt and any leader who lets us down by succumbing to sin. This kind of praying does not excuse their sin, nor does it condemn him. We have no right to do either of those things. This kind of praying lines us up with the heart of God for all of His children. May we all be so blessed to receive such prayers on our behalf in our time of need.

What are some other Scripture-based prayers the Lord has led you to pray for Matt Pitt or for The Basement ministry?

"Nothing could be more urgent than for God's people to come together and pray for our nation and our world. Our only hope is to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ in repentance and faith and to seek to obey Him in every area of our lives, as individuals and also as a nation...” – Billy Graham

We need to examine our hearts before leading our communities, churches, and families in prayers of repentance. We need to lay aside the sins that weigh us down. Sins such as:

Wrath...Sloth...Lust...Gluttony...

Envy...Greed...Pride

These Seven Deadly Sins were first recognized as a catalog of worldly evils compiled from early Christian sources by a scholar named Evagrius Ponticus. In 590 AD, Pope Gregory the Great re-examined Evagrius and declared seven sins deadly to body and soul. They are still deadly today. The fundamental problems faced by the United States can be traced back to these seven sins.

To help you increase awareness and target your prayers, World Impact with Billy Wilson has prepared seven short videos. These videos were recently featured at the America for Jesus rally in Philadelphia where thousands gathered at Independence Hall to pray for our Nation. They can help you focus your prayers too.

Videos can be viewed at www.worldimpact.tv or downloaded and used in your home or church with your “thank you” donation.

 Visit World Impact today.

Though not personally Benedictine, this prayer (which was originally written by Sr. Ruth Fox, OSB, in 1985) caught my attention as I was thinking through how to pray and what specifically to pray for during 2013. I pray that you will also find it useful. It is reprinted with attribution below:

A Four-Fold Benedictine Blessing

By Sr. Ruth Fox, OSB (1985)

May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships,

so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.

May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people

so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.

May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from

pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish,

so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really CAN make a difference in this world,

so that you are able, with God’s grace,to do what others claim cannot be done.

And the blessing of God the Supreme Majesty and Creator,

Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, who is our brother and Savior,

and the Holy Spirit, who is our Advocate and our Guide,

be with you and remain with you, this day and forevermore.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters, I greet you today in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I know that many of you are very troubled by yesterday’s election outcome and even more by the overall direction our country appears to be taking. You, like I, care deeply for this country and know that its ultimate hope lies in a set of values and beliefs that we appear to be rejecting as a nation. You view President Obama’s reelection as even further indication that the country we love is becoming something other, something different, something, quite frankly, you don’t respect as much. I understand that.

But I feel compelled to remind you today that what you and I do right now is very important. I feel this compulsion, in part, because I share some of your frustrations, but also because I have been quite frankly shocked at some things openly confessing Christians have said and/or written about our President over the last few days. It has not been a good reflection of the Christ we serve.

Our Lord described us as salt and light. He said that we are to be the preserving and directing forces in our culture. He said that it would be our love–not our theology, our religious performances, and certainly not our political persuasions–that would be our greatest gift to our society. But he also warned that if we ceased to be salt, if we ceased to be light, and if we ceased to love, then we would become ineffective and lose our right to serve in his name.

I am afraid that we are getting dangerously close to becoming like the gripy Israelites who God left to die in the desert, or worse, the churches in Revelation who were dangerously close to losing their holy lampstands.

Perhaps we need to be reminded that God never promised us a certain way of life, or that the pursuit of happiness is an American, not a biblical virtue.

Perhaps we need to be reminded that for two thousand years Christians have lived under oppressive, repressive and even hostile governments and yet were still commanded to pray for their leaders.

Perhaps we need to be reminded that the vast majority of believers around the world live hand-to-mouth, sleep on the ground or in extremely rough, impoverished and unsafe settings, will never own a Bible, will never go to college, don’t have retirement accounts, don’t own or drive cars, don’t play golf on weekends or go on spontaneous shopping sprees, don’t have air-conditioned and heated church buildings, and never have to decide what they are going to wear out the next day. Americans, even in the economic challenges of the last several years, still have far more wealth and enjoy far more freedom than any nation in history.

And to all of that Jesus would say, to whom much is given much is required.

Christian brothers and sisters, we have work to do. It is the Church (believers in Jesus), that are the thermostat of a nation. Whatever we are set on is what our nation will become. If we are troubled by the direction our nation is going, then perhaps we need to compare our American Christianity to biblical Christianity, and adjust our thinking so that we are more of the latter than the former.

The future of our nation depends on it.

Read more at willdavisjr.com

“Then Nahash the Ammonite came up and encamped against Jabesh Gilead; and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you.” And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, “On this condition I will make a covenant with you, that I may put out all your right eyes, and bring reproach on all Israel.” Then the elders of Jabesh said to him, “Hold off for seven days, that we may send messengers to all the territory of Israel. And then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out to you.” So the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and told the news in the hearing of the people. And all the people lifted up their voices and wept. Now there was Saul, coming behind the herd from the field; and Saul said, “What troubles the people, that they weep?” And they told him the words of the men of Jabesh. Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard this news, and his anger was greatly aroused.  So he took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, “Whoever does not go out with Saul and Samuel to battle, so it shall be done to his oxen.” And the fear of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out with one consent.” 1 Samuel 11: 1-7

The above text from 1 Samuel takes place during a time when the tribes of Gad and Reuben have been tormented by this King of the Ammonites named Nahash. If you recall, these two tribes were the ones who settled on the other side of the Jordan and chose to take the good pasture land there instead of staking a claim on the Promised Land. But, not neglecting their duties as full members of the tribe of Israel they left of their families and flock on the other side of the Jordan to fight with the rest of Israel to defeat the inhabitants of the land God had set before them, even though they knew the fighting gave their families no personal gain and it would put them in harms way.

So now fast forward to the time of 1 Samuel 11. The historian Josephus states that this King Nahash “had been grievouly oppressing the Gadites and Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant [them] a deliverer. No one was left across the Jordan whose right eye...had not been gouged out...[except] seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.” Do you not think the rest of Israel knew what was going on? Was there any account in the above text to indicate they were doing anything about this injustice? Not even their newly appointed King was doing anything – he was in his field plowing with his oxen. It was not until the people cried out and the Spirit of God led Saul to generate dread in their hearts, that the nation of Israel began to rise up against this injustice and fight.

As I sat and read this story this morning, my thoughts were quickly brought to places of injustice and the more typical response we as a Christian people have in those instances. It is sad but true, but we live in a nation defined by a lot of complaining and very little action to rectify the problems we see before us. We simply turn our backs on injustices when we hear about them, or if we do put out any effort we then speak words of disgust about them, but then go back to our own lives not wanting the bad news we have heard interrupt what we have planned for our own happy futures. But listen to what the following scripture verses have to say about that type of attitude:

“For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.  For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.  But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.  You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.  Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.  For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.  But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.  For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,  who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.  See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.  Do not despise prophecies.  Test all things; hold fast what is good.  Abstain from every form of evil.” 1 Thessalonians 5: 2-22

I don't know about you, but in light of all I have shared above, added to these verses here, I find it very hard to justify a lifestyle which turns its back on the injustices heard about in the world and pursues personal gain. And not only the injustices we by chance hear about, but those we are to be sobering searching out as is our calling as we watch and wait on the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

As the scripture verses from 1 Thessalonians states with the weapons of faith, love and salvation we are to comfort and edify one another in Christ as well as warn those who are laboring among us who are moving out of the will of God in their work for the kingdom (that is what admonish means). We are to stand up and speak out to those who are doing things against the law of the Lord. We are to bring comfort to those who have been pushed down by the injustices this world, as well as stand next to those who need someone to lean on if the weight of this world is crushing them in mind, body and/or spirit. We are to persevere with the best and the worst of this world, hoping and praying for salvation for all mankind. We are to show the world how good prevails by returning good for evil no matter what.

And as we seek to do these things, the way we stay on track is by rejoicing in the love of the Lord, by praying and keeping in communion with Jesus every moment of every day making sure all we do and say are directed by Him and are supplied by His overabundance of grace, mercy, and love for the world we live in. It is when we live in communion with the One true Judge that we are able to help in spreading the works of righteousness and justice through our land.

Finally, the warning we all must not ignore. Where the Spirit of the Lord grieves your heart you must lean into that injustice and pursue the way God is moving your heart to act out against it. Whether you are called to pray against it, comfort those who are hurt by it, speak out for those who are unable to speak for themselves in the midst of it, or be a strong pillar among a group that needs your spiritual strength to lean on, you cannot turn your back if you are to call yourself a Christian and a true follower to Christ.

The time is coming soon when Christ will return and we do not have the luxury of pursuing our own interests and seeking out happy havens in this world of evil. We must willingly put ourselves before the Lord daily and say, “Here I am Lord. Send me.” when the Lord shows us through His word and through the circumstances in our lives how we are each individually called to work as His kingdom and reign approach the coming day.

I leave you with theses words of encouragement today from 2 Chronicles 32:7-8:

“Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed ...[for]with [man] is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.”

Feel free to visit my personal blog at www.sheddinglightonthepath.blogspot.com

Dear Fellow Prayer Leader,

Dr. Rick Shepherd, the SBC Director of Prayer and Spiritual Awakening for the state of Florida, is offering resources being used in his state to call Christians to pray for God's honor, for neighbors, and for our nation this fall. The resources include a calendar document with prayer prompts for September 16 - November 10, a leader's notes document, and a sample pastor's letter to a congregation. Rick is offering these for your use in your sphere of influence as you see fit. His contact info is in the content if you have any specific questions for him.

There are many calls to prayer this fall and many tools available, this call to prayer deserves a look.

For God's glory,

Elaine Helms

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2012.PrayerCalendar.56%20Days%20of%20Praying.LEADERs%20NOTES.docx

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Recently we Christians celebrated Easter weekend, the holiday that makes or breaks our faith. Friday, the Savior died. Sunday He rose. Without Christ's death on the cross and His subsequent resurrection Paul says we who claim to be Christ followers are simply fools.

But I find it interesting that while most congregations and even groups of churches hold both Good Friday and Easter services, I don't know of one place that has held an Easter Saturday service. No one wants to come together to give attention to a day when seemingly nothing takes place.

And yet I would suggest that we live a lot of life in the Saturday between the tragedy of Friday and the victory of Sunday. Yes, the actual resurrection has taken place but often ours has not.

Saturday is the day after the bad thing occurred but the day before something good. It's the day after a prayer gets prayed but before it gets answered. It's the day after our soul gets crushed but before it gets lifted up. As Pastor John Ortberg described it in a recent message, it's the in-between day.

It's the day when Heaven appeared silent, the twenty-four hours when God asked the world to wait for an answer. Jesus appeared to be a failure uttering not the 23rd Psalm before His death but rather, Why have you forsaken me?  We now know that He overcame the grave, but often we're still in waiting.

In fact, some of you reading this blog are living your own Saturday right now - a struggling marriage, a wayward child, the loss of a job in a weak economy, an illness that won't go away. Certainly people in your church have their difficult Saturdays as well. And sadly, some of our prayers, though well-intended, do not take into account the Saturday factor, that perhaps God is asking us to wait, to be patient, to listen and to trust Him like never before.

Instead some of us like to claim an answer right now. We pray passionately, loudly and often for God to "take care of this immediately." We tell God that it's time for Saturday to be over and imply, "let's get on with it." And as a result we disappoint or send the message to those who are hurting that they just didn't have enough faith.

Paul spoke of this in II Timothy 2:18 explaining that some people teach that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some.

But God had a purpose for Saturday of resurrection weekend. Scripture tells us that Jesus went into Hell and to minister to the spirits there. (I Peter 3:18)  And sometimes today Jesus stays for a time with us in the hell of our experiences. loving and strengthening us while He teaches us to rely on Him. These are at least some of the moments God is referring to when he says, Wait on the Lord.

So when we pray, we sometimes need to acknowledge that possibly we or the person we are praying for is living out a Saturday and God is not ready or willing to instantly turn it into Sunday. There is often more at work in us that God wants to do beyond just fixing our problem or concern.

Yes, pray expectantly. Ask for a Sunday resurrection to take place, but leave the door open for waiting, even until Heaven if need be. But also pray for patience, endurance and perseverance. Pray that eyes will be open to see the greater good God is doing through a particularly challenging time of life.

Finally, pray compassionately. Don't imply that the lack of an immediate answer is the result of minimal faith. Let your prayer be part of a coat of love that you wrap around another person reminding them that the Father has not left them alone, that Jesus will continue to walk with them through the hell of their life and that yes, someday, Sunday will be here.

ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA 
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: assistnews@aol.com

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Obama talks openly about his personal faith in Jesus Christ
Speaking at the 2011 National Prayer Breakfast, the President talks about how he came to embrace Christ ‘as my Lord and Savior’

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

WASHINGTON, DC (ANS) -- President Barack Obama took the opportunity of set the record straight at the 2011 National Prayer Breakfast held on Thursday, February 3, 2011, about his personal faith.

President Obama speaking at the 2011 National Prayer Breakfast

He surprised the crowd of about 4,000 faith-leaders at the annual National Prayer Breakfast in the Hilton Washington International Ballroom, by speaking about his Christian faith in a most personal way.

In his most unusual speech, Obama called that faith “a sustaining force” in his life and he acknowledged persistent questions about his religion and offered what many believe were his most detailed comments about his spiritual beliefs and practices.

In his speech, the President said, “A call rooted in faith is what led me, just a few years out of college, to sign up as a community organizer for a group of churches on the south side of Chicago. And it was through that experience, working with pastors and laypeople, trying to heal the wounds of hurting neighborhoods that I came to know Jesus Christ for myself and embrace him as my Lord and Savior.”

The Obamas at a previous National Prayer Breakfast

Obama went on to say, “My Christian faith, then, has been a sustaining force for me over these last few years, all the more so when Michelle and I hear our faith questioned from time to time. We are reminded that ultimately what matters is not what other people say about us, but whether we’re being true to our conscience and true to our God. ‘Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you, as well.’”

Prayer Life

Obama then revealed that “When I wake in the morning, I wait on the Lord, and I ask him to give me the strength to do right by our country and its people. And when I go to bed at night, I wait on the Lord, and I ask him to forgive me my sins and look after my family and the American people and make me an instrument of his will.”

Obama went on to say, “Fortunately, I’m not alone in my prayers. Pastor friends like Joel Hunter and T.D. Jakes come over to the Oval Office every once in a while to pray with me and pray for the nation. The chapel at Camp David has provided consistent respite and fellowship. The director of our Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnership’s office, Joshua DuBois – a young minister himself -- he starts my morning off with meditations from Scripture.”

Then, on the subject of personal prayer, Obama said, “While I petition God for a whole range of things, there are a few common themes that do recur. The first category of prayer comes out of the urgency of the Old Testament prophets and the Gospel itself. I pray for my ability to help those who are struggling. Christian tradition teaches that one day the world will be turned right side up and everything will return as it should be. But until that day, we're called to work on behalf of a God that chose justice and mercy and compassion to the most vulnerable.”

He also said, “I pray that God will show me and all of us the limits of our understanding, and open our ears and our hearts to our brothers and sisters with different points of view; that such reminders of our shared hopes and our shared dreams and our shared limitations as children of God will reveal the way forward that we can travel together.”

Father Played No Role In His Faith Journey

With the controversy that has swirled around him since he became the 44th President of the United States [and the first African-American to hold that office], which has mainly concerned rumors that he was a Muslim, he explained his relationship with the Lord and the role his father, who was said to be Muslim, did not play a role in his decision to follow Jesus Christ.

“My father, who I barely knew -- I only met once for a month in my entire life -- was said to be a non-believer throughout his life,” said the President.

The young Obama with his mother

“My mother,” Obama continued, “whose parents were Baptist and Methodist, grew up with a certain skepticism about organized religion, and she usually only took me to church on Easter and Christmas -- sometimes. And yet my mother was also one of the most spiritual people that I ever knew. She was somebody who was instinctively guided by the Golden Rule and who nagged me constantly about the homespun values of her Kansas upbringing, values like honesty and hard work and kindness and fair play.

“And it’s because of her that I came to understand the equal worth of all men and all women, and the imperatives of an ethical life and the necessity to act on your beliefs. And it’s because of her example and guidance that despite the absence of a formal religious upbringing my earliest inspirations for a life of service ended up being the faith leaders of the civil rights movement.”

Twists and Turns

President Obama talked about how his “faith journey,” has had its “twists and turns.”

He stated, “It hasn’t always been a straight line. I have thanked God for the joys of parenthood and Michelle’s willingness to put up with me. In the wake of failures and disappointments I've questioned what God had in store for me and been reminded that God’s plans for us may not always match our own short-sighted desires.

Abe Lincoln’s Words

“And let me tell you, these past two years, they have deepened my faith. The presidency has a funny way of making a person feel the need to pray. Abe Lincoln said, as many of you know, once said, ‘I have been driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming conviction that I had no place else to go.’”

Obama noted that the godmother of his two daughters, Kaye Wilson, had formed prayer groups all around the country as he campaigned for the White House bid. He acknowledged his own prayer life, waiting before the Lord in the morning and evening. The president recognized the need for humility, and jokingly said his wife Michelle was the catalyst to that answered prayer. As “debates have become so bitter,” Obama noted that “none of us has all the answers.”

The president went on to say, “The challenge I find then is to balance this uncertainty, this humility, with the need to fight for deeply held convictions, to be open to other points of view but firm in our core principles. And I pray for this wisdom every day.”

He also stated, “When Michelle and I hear our faith questioned from time to time, we are reminded that ultimately what matters is not what other people say about us, but whether we’re being true to our conscience and true to our God.”

Obama had been largely private about his beliefs and religious practices, following controversies during the campaign about his Chicago minister. He and his wife have attended church services in Washington only a handful of times in the past two years. When at Camp David, they attend the private Evergreen Chapel.

Mark Kelly

The Giffords during happier times

NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, the husband of Representative Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona Democrat who was seriously injured during last month’s shooting rampage in Tucson, also spoke at the breakfast and gave the closing prayer and which he remarked about her steady improvement and he urged the national to keep her in its thoughts and prayers because “it's helping.”

He said, “Every day, she gets a little bit better. The neurosurgeons and neurologists tell me that that's a great sign. The slope of that curve is very important.”

Giffords, was injured on Saturday, January 8, 2011, when a gunman opened fire during a constituent event in Tucson. Six people, including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl, were killed, and 13 others were wounded. Giffords, whose condition was upgraded from serious to good last week, is undergoing long-term rehabilitation at a hospital in Houston, where Kelly lives and works.

“I was telling Gabby just the other night, two nights ago, that, you know, maybe this event, this terrible event, maybe it was fate,” he said. “I hadn't been a big believer in fate until recently. I thought the world just spins, and the clock just ticks, and things happen for no particular reason.”

Kelly told the crowd, which included a representative from the ASSIST News Service, that he has come to believe, however, that things happen for a reason, “that maybe something good can come from all of this. Maybe it's our responsibility, maybe it's your responsibility, to see that something does.”

Hospital officials say Kelly has been a constant presence at Giffords' bedside.

Three Trips to Space

On Thursday, he made reference to his three trips to space and the humbling feeling of looking out on “the Earth as God created it in the context of God's vast universe.” He described a realization that struck him one day as he gazed on a makeshift memorial that had sprung up in front of the Tucson trauma center where Giffords was initially taken for treatment.

“That reminded me that you don’t need a church, a temple or a mosque to pray,” he said. “You don't even need a building or walls or even an altar. You pray where you are. You pray when God is there in your heart. And prayer isn't just asking. It's also listening for answers and expressing gratitude, which I've done a lot lately.”

He closed with a prayer that Giffords’ rabbi spoke in her hospital room the day of the shooting.

“In the name of God, our God of Israel, may Michael, God's angel messenger of compassion, guard over your right side. May Gabriel, God's angel messenger of strength and courage, be on your left. And before you, guiding your path, Uriel, God's angel of light. And behind, supporting you, stands Raphael, God's angel of healing. And over your head surrounding you is the presence of the divine.”

Note: The National Prayer Breakfast is a yearly event held in Washington, D.C., on the first Thursday of February each year. The founder of this event was Abraham Vereide and is actually a series of meetings, luncheons, and dinners that have taken place since 1953 and has been held at least since the 1980s at the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue N.W.

Dan Wooding, 70, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 47 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried on the Calvary Radio Network throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 200 countries. You can follow Dan on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link.Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available here

Connect The Dots

I was very blessed to have an enjoyable drive to work. Most of it was back country road, no interstate highway or four lane road. Not much traffic unless I was running late and encountered school buses. As I was driving to work one morning, I looked to my left and saw two deer grazing in an open field. They heard the car and watched as I drove by. A half mile further, I looked up in time to see a flock of geese flying in formation overhead. The sun was just coming up and the sky was a brilliant shade of red and orange.

I had to just keep thanking God and praising him for the wonders he had placed in my pathway. As I was thanking him, it occurred to me that he orchestrated this beauty just for me. I never saw another car as I drove down the country road and that increased my awe in my creator.

Why would he plan such an event for me? He must really love me and want to bless me. That really got me to wondering how I fit into the scheme of things in the world.

I am a praying person, maybe more than some, but probably not as much as others. I am led by God’s Holy Spirit and when the Spirit asks me to pray for someone, I do.

Each morning I have my devotional time before starting my day. I need that time to get prepared for the day. It seems to help me be ready for any and every situation I may face.

I have been praying around the world with the help of a world prayer map. It directs my prayers to different countries on specific days. This is a tool that I use to pray for those who have never heard the gospel message. It amazes me that someone on the other side of the world may be blessed because I prayed for them.

Back to my story, I’m not sure what I was praying as I drove down the road that morning. I know that I was marveling at God’s work in the heavenlies. The sunrise was breathtaking. God spoke to my heart that morning and assured me that I was part of something much bigger than my own little corner of the earth.

In Psalm 139:7 - 8, David says, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.”

As Christians, we are never separated from God and his love. His word tells us so. (See Romans 8:35-39.) That being said, we know that we are to pray. We are instructed to pray for other Christians, for our enemies, for those who persecute us. We are told to pray without ceasing and we are told by Jesus to pray: “Our Father, in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” Matthew 6:9-13.

Did you hear what Jesus asked us to pray for? He said “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Wow, we are asking God to do his will on earth as it is in heaven. That is pretty awesome. I can’t really imagine what God does in heaven, but it is something fantastic. We know that Jesus is preparing a place for us in heaven. We know that the true temple of God is in heaven. We know that there is a throne in heaven.

When we ask for God’s will to be done, we are impacting our planet in a mighty way. When I pray for the gospel message to be preached in other countries, when I ask for God’s purpose and plan to be fulfilled in the leaders of other nations, when I ask that Christians would have the mind of Christ, my prayers are being heard in heaven and affecting the heavenlies.

Remember when God created the heavens and the earth? What did he do to create things? He spoke them into existence. Although I am not God, when I speak the things that his Holy Spirit instructs me to speak, I too am causing things to happen in the spirit realm.

What an awesome responsibility and how powerful are our words. I don’t really know the impact I have on other countries when I pray. I usually ask according to Jesus words in Matthew 9:36-38, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, (that is you and I) “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” We are asking according to God’s will when we ask him to send workers into the harvest field.

How does my life affect what happens in the universe? I can’t really say, but I do know that God hears my prayers. When someone is sent into the harvest field to become a missionary and preach the good news of salvation, I am there with them in Spirit. The impact they have on others may be a result of my prayers and the prayers of other saints around the world.

When someone hears and accepts the gift of salvation, the angels in heaven rejoice. “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” Luke 15:7 Now that is far reaching. A little prayer from me and others like me can open the doors of heaven, send workers into the harvest field, the message of salvation through Christ can be preached and people can have eternal life.

Eternal life, now that is universal. It is so far reaching that we may never know just how far that one little prayer went.

Multiply our prayers by thousands or hundreds of thousands and you may be able to understand how you can affect what happens in the universe.

Now I have never really read anything in the Bible to prove what will happen when we live for eternity, but I have heard it said that what we are experiencing here on earth is like pre-school compared to what we will experience in eternity. And yet, we cannot experience eternal life unless we give our hearts to Jesus here on earth.

Our prayers for the lost people of the world are so important. If they are lost they don’t know to look for Jesus. We have to share the message with them. Not everyone who hears the message will accept it, not everyone who hears the message will understand it, but Jesus died for everyone on earth. That means that everyone on earth should at least have the opportunity to hear what he did for them. God wants to give everyone the chance to accept his gift of eternal life.

Do your prayers make a difference in the universe? Yes they do. Even if you don’t see visible proof, you have to pray and keep on praying. God knows your heart and he knows that you are sincere in wanting to reach the lost.

Father,

We know that no matter where we are, you are there, your Holy Spirit is with us, as Christians, wherever we are. We thank you for the way you reveal yourself to us and we want you to reveal yourself to those who don’t know you.

We know that you are the Lord of the harvest and that you can send workers into the harvest field to share the message of salvation through Jesus Christ.

We know that you have a purpose and a plan for leaders of nations around the world, you are the one who has put them positions of leadership. We pray that your plans for the leaders of the world would be fulfilled and that they would become the men and women you created them to be.

We want to advance the gospel around the world and we pray that those who hear the gospel would accept your gift of eternal life. We know that heaven is poised and waiting to rejoice as people accept your gift and we rejoice with the angels.

Thank you for hearing our prayers offered in Jesus name. Amen