People use the word faith fairly often: “Keep the faith.” “Faith overcomes fear.” “Faith moves mountains.” “All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.” “Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.”
Allow me to add my own thoughts. Perhaps you can add yours, too.
Faith is not losing hope when hope seems lost, rather, it is something that lasts beyond our physical understanding.
It is not dependent upon seeing what is visible, but trusting what we do not see.
It is knowing in our spirit (despite what things look like) what IS.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
JM Barrie, Peter Pan; J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring; Hebrews 11:1
Some of you might be amused to learn and some of you remember that there was a high school class called “Typing”. This was back in the day when we learned about the Cold War and wondered how people in communist countries could actually believe what Pravda was selling them. We couldn’t visualize the struggle of nations under the thumb of tyrannical governments. We wondered if it had always been that way or how it became so. We struggled with the picture of empty churches but for a few old women listening to government-approved sermons. We wondered how in the world citizens would accept such a life.
We sat at typewriters with white paper in each cylinder and typed to the cadence of our typing teacher’s voice. F F F space J J J space F space J space F J F J and so on.
We typed sentences that used all of the letters on the keyboard. One such sentence was “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” Not terribly inspiring, I grant you, but helpful in learning where the letters on the keyboard are.
There was another such sentence. This one was inspiring, though we didn’t pay much attention to it at the time. “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.”
“You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the Lord is with you.” Well there you go. Sometimes we don’t need to fight a battle. But we still need to show up.
Then again there are battles that scare the wits out of us, but God didn’t put us here to run away. When we face something we’re uncertain of, it’s a good thing to know we don’t face it alone. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
Dear Heavenly Father,
What a ragtag bunch we are, but we’re not backing down. We can see there’s a battle to be waged all around us. The battle is for truth and righteousness, souls, and freedom.
Our nation is infiltrated with communism. Our main news has become propaganda and we don’t even know when that happened. Other reporters are now censored by technology we’ve become dependent on. Our morals slid so far down, we’re now fighting for a baby not to be killed at birth rather than at conception, a battle for life that should never have been lost in the first place. Sexual promiscuity and perversion is rampant and people don’t even recognize it. Innocents are trafficked. Little is regarded as holy. The list – oh dear Lord – the list is endless! Like Hezekiah did, we lay that terrible list before you. We plead for Your intervention!
Use us however you see fit to reveal good in its beauty and to unveil evil in its horror. To not shrink back from truth-telling, but to do so with as much gentleness as we can manage. But it’s awful, isn’t it? And awful isn’t often well-handled with a gentle hand. So give us discernment as we tell the truth which sets us free.
We decree and declare by the purifying blood of Jesus and in His mighty Name that chaos in all forms will dissipate into nothing and order will prevail, that devastation will be set right, and that righteousness will spread across this one nation under God. We ask You to crush evil completely. In ourselves. In family. In church. In government. In academia. In media. In entertainment. In business. We don’t want even a corner or crumb left of what dishonors Your Name.
We call down angels from heaven to work and fight alongside us. We ask for wisdom, discernment, and insight. We thank You that in our weakness, You are our strength.
You fought the battles of Israel alongside their mighty men and their quick-thinking women. Sometimes You threw the enemy into confusion and they didn’t need to fight at all; only be still. We’d prefer that of course. Ha. But we’re here. We want to be useful. Tell us go and we’ll go. Stay and we’ll stay. Speak and we’ll speak. And we’ll talk with You and listen for You the whole time, knowing that this battle truly belongs to You.
In Jesus’ Mighty Name and for Your glory, Amen
II Chronicles 20:17; Ephesians 6:12; II Kings 19:14-15; Image: Ethan Jones from Pexels
Someone should make a movie called Forgiveness: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. We’ve all encountered it: Having to face the ugliness of hurt, pushing through the pain, and exerting the discipline of forgiving someone who did us wrong – bad, if you will. And when we come to the place of letting go, cutting the cord, handing it all to the Lord, it really can be something very good. Jesus reminds us to forgive others so that we will be forgiven.
We know all about feeling we’ve been wronged. But we need to be truthful about being on the other end of it: of having wronged someone. Somehow it often doesn’t seem as serious to us when we’re on the other side of the story; but our excuses are a security blanket. As we continue in the shaking of our nation, we need to acknowledge a shaking in ourselves, as well. We look within and wade through every single sin, small or great against another. It’s not comfortable and can even be bad and ugly. And we repent, which leads to goodness.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We hate any damage that comes between us and another. We’ve cried, we’ve carried gut sadness and anger, we’ve spent too much time reviewing something that happened or was said or done. We know the hurt. But we also know how much You have forgiven – so much more than we are faced with. Maybe they haven’t or will never ask forgiveness. Maybe they don’t care. Maybe they still intend the hurt. But we don’t want the chain that comes with unforgiveness. We’ll leave that for them to deal with, and choose to walk into the beautiful light of forgiveness. Here and now we truly and completely forgive ________ and we wipe that slate clean. And should that hurt reappear we resolve to wipe it clean again. And again. Until it dissolves. Because Satan is the great accuser, but we don’t want to be like him. We want to be like You.
And we look inside ourselves and we confess every single thing. We list them here. ____________ And we are so sorry for the sadness or hurt or harm we have done. Please forgive us. We ask for healing for the person we have offended. We ask for help and blessing for them. As far as the east is from the west please remove our sins from us. We resolve to be better.
We know that in Your justice is mercy, the mercy for which we are all so very grateful. We pray that in our intention to show mercy, we will not get in bed with the devil. We will not agree with his intentions in order to make ourselves feel open-hearted. We will not pretend wrong is okay as long as we love. We will not dismiss holiness as outdated. We will be defensive of Your honor. We don’t want to hurt You or cause offense to Your Name. And we need Your insight, discernment, and wisdom in this. We ask for Your mind in these matters so that we don’t make light of the sin You died for just to make ourselves feel generous.
Thank You, Lord, for forgiving us. You are the Author and Finisher of our faith. We love You so much. So very much.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, 1966, story by Sergio Leone and Luciano Vincenzoni. Screenwriters: Sergio Leone, Luciano Vincenzoni, Furio Scarpell, Agenore Incrocci. Movie directed by Sergio Leone; Scripture: Matthew 5; Image: Fair Use.
Remember your first love? That heart palpitating experience of seeing, talking with, or even thinking of that special person? Your mind is focused on the lovely person of your affection, you find their quirks amusing, and you see that person as they can be rather than as they are in their current very ordinary state. Ain’t love grand?
Revelation 2 reminds us of another first love. It cautions us to not forsake the love we had at first; both love for Christ and for each other. As we work our way through these tumultuous days, let’s help each other remember love.
Our Dear Heavenly Father,
When we sit in Your presence and just rest in it; sensing Your Spirit, knowing Your love in a palpable way, all is well. And we know that is the way You meant it to be: for us to be in You and You in us and love permeating the atmosphere. We want it always.
Help us to hold on to that, Father. During days of frustration and discouragement and whatever else, whether good or bad, we want to first spend time with You. We do not want to lose that precious time when Your presence is very near. It is breath to us. It is life to us.
And when we’re with fellow Christians during those times when we are all in one accord, it’s a taste of heaven. We all know it. We can feel it. We care about what’s going going each other’s lives and we share our own. We raise our voices in song to You in a beautiful offering of praise, and it fills us with indescribable joy.
Despite disagreements we find ourselves in these days, help us, oh dear Lord help us to not lose our love for each other. Help us to live out our love for You. You are love; but we are weak, and we find ourselves swimming in a lake of disagreement. It’s easy to lose our love for each other – that sweet love You teach us when we’re in Your presence. So please help us during these days to discipline ourselves to love despite the pull of disunity from disagreement. Help our love to cover a multitude of wrongs. Before we do anything else, help us to first – love!
In the midst of the turmoil in our nation, I’ve grown to more fully appreciate our country’s citizens. Strangers all, we are together in the current troubles, and people are showing a fascinating variety of responses: from expressing indignation to being nonplussed to an amusing ability of humor and grace. And to my delight, many are coming to or rediscovering their faith. Some of us for whom faith is long familiar, are, rightly so, getting a remedial lesson in trust.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We can look back on life and recall some times when changes that seemed big – were big, actually – threatened to overwhelm us like rough waves on the deck of a tossing ship. And we worried and even whined to You. And You scolded us for whining, but we didn’t stop much. Sorry about that. Working on it. But looking back, those changes didn’t wash us out to sea. They just made things slippery for awhile and made our legs a little stronger. Not all, but some of those times, we even discovered how beautiful change can be.
And here we are again. Praying the same thing over and over and asking for things we don’t have the wisdom to ask for and worrying ourselves sick. We come boldly to Your throne and we believe that those things that are righteous in Your sight are good to request. We do, but with worrying hearts. But You remind us we are strong, and where we falter, You’re right there to catch us. You call us higher.
So we ask – no, we declare – that during this time of great shaking in our nation and in the world that we will not be driven by the wind and tossed; asking for one thing, then changing our minds and asking for another; then throwing up our hands and repeating “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” like a mantra. We will remember Your might and Your power and Your good purposes. We will remember the big and small ways You’ve kept us standing. And stand we will. WE WILL TRUST.
Decent people care if someone has suffered a wrong. We agree that wrong and right, while maybe not as distinguishable as night and day in every situation, are clearly two different things. We desire resolution and restoration of relationships.
God knows this, of course. For those who accept Jesus as their Savior, our wrongs are washed away. But as we make our way in this world, He’s also given us a pattern to keep us from careless assessment of wrong.
The first five books of the Bible, the books of law, provide some direction. Leviticus, for instance, addresses something that confuses some Christians of late. In chapter 24 we find: “’Anyone who takes the life of a human being is to be put to death. Anyone who takes the life of someone’s animal must make restitution—life for life. Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury. Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a human being is to be put to death. You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born. I am the Lord your God.’”
God lays it out. Justice requires punishment and/or restitution. But He cautions us to punish only as far as the harm that was done. If someone takes out your eye, their eye is the price of that, no more, no less. So when we get confused about who should pay back what for a wrong done, we must remember that in essence God said, Go ahead. But don’t do something to someone who didn’t do it to you; or you, yourself, become the criminal. Don’t go beyond what was specifically done to specifically you, or you’ve gone too far.
Father,
When we face judgment, we’d rather have You be our judge than anyone else. Your judgments are right and pure and merciful. You know our back story and you see our intent. In our guilt, we feel safer with You than anyone else. And though it’s a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God, we’d still rather be there than anywhere else.
We are distressed with the trouble around us. Some want to take justice one step farther than the wrong committed. But You caution us to have equal scales. Help us to be like You, to measure with equal weights.
Jesus, You forgave those who killed you and You forgive us. We can do that, even if we find ourselves doing it over and over again. We can do that, because You do it for us far beyond description.
But when punishment is best meted out in order to discourage lawlessness, give us courage, discipline, and wisdom to match the harm done, but not go beyond nor make excuse and leave the guilty unpunished, therein allowing lawlessness to continue. Crush the evil belief of handing judgment to those who did not harm simply because of skin color or status or withholding judgment for the same reasons.
And forgive our nation for the evil of calling justice by any other name but Yours, for You are the lawgiver and You are the judge; and misdirecting righteousness into social this and social that leaves us with misplaced hurt, misguided hearts, and a misdirected understanding of Your character. And we love Who You are!
We don’t like that David slept with Bathsheba or that Abraham had a child with his wife’s servant or that Zaccheus stole tax money. We cringe thinking of Rahab’s means of making money or of Jonah’s running from God’s instruction or of Peter denying being friends with Jesus while Jesus stood trial. And we’re disgusted with language we see on social media or the apostasy that has infiltrated some churches or the cancerous secrets entwined among those in power.
But we know this: God would rather transform than destroy.
Our Dear Heavenly Father,
We look around us at our nation and at ourselves. Things have become far worse than we realized. When we begin to see even part of what You see, we’re appalled at what our nation has become.
But You, Oh Lord are righteous and You, Oh Lord are merciful. You see how things are with a clarity we can only begin to touch. But You also see how You intend for things to be and what our nation was first founded to be.
You are the God of creation, the God of the nation of Israel and the God who led our founders to birth the United States of America. You led them, Father, to use Your Word as a pattern out of which to cut the cloth of this nation.
We know what it is to be transformed, because You move in our lives each day to guide and correct. We wouldn’t want to be what we know we would be without Your direction. We’re desperate for it.
If anyone, no matter their past, is willing to be transformed, we ask You to transform them into what You first intended for them to be – with all of their gifts and loveliness. We ask that their hearts be pricked and softened to receive Your Word and Your Spirit. But, Father, if they keep their hearts of stone and a rebellious spirit, we call on You to send Your angels to destroy them so their cancer will not spread.
And we are thinking of our forefathers – the people who instituted our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. We join our voices with theirs – whose prayers You heard then and can still hear now – to ask for Your great blessing on our land, for the people here to honor You in all things, for a desire for this nation to be a shining light and help to other nations.
We want to export the gospel instead of evil in any of its forms. We want to send light into the darkness some other nation experiences, to send healing when needed, to be an instrument of Your peace to nations longing for it. We want to drink from the river that heals the nations. We want to be an extension of Your mercy, Your grace, and Your righteousness.
We want to be one nation made of people from many nations Under God, a nation who claims You as her King, a nation who hears Your voice and carries out Your heart. Please transform us now. Transform every part of us we humbly ask.
