Hey Webmasters! Get a free website with holiday themes - Get it NOW!
|
|
|
 |
Beware of the leaven . . . . a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump! |
 |
| The Watcher |  |
On The Wall |
Dearest America -
We have heard your request for us to pray, and pray we shall. However, how shall we pray? Our hearts are broken for those who have suffered such great personal loss in this utter catastrophe of violence. We indeed pray to our Heavenly Father, the God of all comfort and consolation, to be with you and to grant grace for strength in your grief. We indeed praise God and thank Him for the spirit of care and concern and compassion in all those who have arisen to the occasion to offer help and assistance, God truly bless you all! We pray for our national leaders as they move toward decisive action in the determination that justice be served. Yet, I would have us to understand the appropriate position of the people of God in responding to your request for us to pray unto the Lord our God for you (for us), nationally, as we move forward. I feel led to offer the same response that the great prophet Samuel once gave to Israel when they asked him to pray for them: "Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way: only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart; for consider how great things he hath done for you" [1 Samuel 12:23-24].
May I also share something with you that was once offered by President Abraham Lincoln: "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! It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness." This statement could very well be offered by our president today. Things have not changed, because people (without God) do not change.
The Church in this great nation (and all over the world) is praying that God be with us and guide our leadership in making right decisions and taking right actions. Justice must be served! However, please be advised that, when it comes to judgment and justice, God is no respect of persons. We, as Christians, have a two-fold responsibility to God. He has charged us to pray for our nation, but He has also charged us to teach our nation what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. Our mandate here is taken from New Testament Scripture (1 Timothy 2:1-6): "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."
I should like to make a personal statement here. Although there must by necessity be appropriate channels, and legal documentation must be instituted by legislation, it is by no mere act of man that ours is "One Nation Under God" nor that we have the motto "In God We Trust" inscribed on our currency. For our God has set us as an example to the world as a nation under Him in the Gospel of Christ. Oh, we are by no means (nationally) a chosen (called-out) holy people of God, nor are we the "only people of God" in the world. America is not (by any stretch of the wildest imagination) "The Kingdom of God" in this world, nor is she the manifestation of the "Kingdom of Christ" in this world. However, America has long been the recognized world center of the propagation of the Evangelical Gospel of Salvation, and, as such, has been highly blessed of God as an example to all nations and kingdoms in this present world! The Lord has been pleased to make us so and He has not forsaken us for His own Great Name's sake. His name is in His Gospel, and He honors those who honor His Gospel. Yet, we have sought to go our own way and build ourselves up in the eyes of the world as a people who have made themselves great. We have (nationally) been guilty of rejecting the Gospel of Christ and, in doing so, have rejected the Christ of the Gospel.
Please hear the counsel that Samuel gave Israel: "And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart; and turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain" [1 Samuel 12:20-21]. Surely, we have learned that our vanity is not able to profit us nor deliver us in the time of need against the evil that is ever-present in this world (all around us). Wickedness in Scripture terms is to go against God's Word. Wickedness is the enemy of God, and God is the enemy of wickedness! As we are a nation blessed of God, let us continue in His blessings by returning to the source of His blessedness. Let's not be ashamed to be "One Nation Under God" that trusts in the God of the Gospel of Christ. Let's get back to teaching our children the fundamental truths of God's Word, that they might have a truly moral foundation upon which to build their lives. Let's put the Bible back in our schools and our jobs, in our homes and in our hearts. Let's not be afraid or ashamed to pray knowing to Whom we pray.
Yes, America, we will definitely pray for you. God
forbid that we should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you, but
we also must continually teach you the good and the right way. You trust
us to pray for you, for you know that God (our Father in Heaven) hears our
prayers, so, please trust us to teach you by knowing that God (our Father
in Heaven) speaks by us. I would like to offer the following as a Prayer
/ a Promise / and a Prophesy:
Psalm 20
[1] The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob
defend thee;
[2] Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;
[3] Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah.
[4] Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.
[5] We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will
set up our banners: the Lord fulfil all thy petitions.
[6] Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his
holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.
[7] Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the
name of the Lord our God.
[8] They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.
[9] Save, Lord: let the king hear us when we call.
Please Note: There is only one true King, who will be testified of in due time as King of kings and Lord of lords. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God!
Yours
In His Service
Rev. John Lowery
For Information About God's Great Redemption Plan!
For Pastor's Web Site
Return To Your Previous Web
Page
bravenet.com