Back in the day when I used to run as part of keeping fit (admittedly, not a long period in my life), I learned a few things. How to spit, the importance of stretching, and to set sub-goals for myself. I’d anticipate getting to a certain point in my run – for instance, the corner store, then to the next point – the block a friend lived on, and so on until I arrived at my destination. I’m not so sure that spitting is a skill I’ve needed since, but setting sub-goals is a great life skill.
The days we’re living in are draining. But Galatians tells us to not grow weary in doing good, because we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.So stretch yourself in whatever ways you need it, spit if you must, and keep your eye on the goal.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We are so tired. It’s hard to be any good thing when you’re tired, but You’ve told us to keep going; to keep our eye on the prize; to persevere. We are determined to do so because You said to do it. Today we will spend time in prayer and in Your Word. Then we will do a nice thing or say something kind to a friend or stranger. Through the day we will listen for Your voice to direct us to something of which we were otherwise unaware. We will walk in Your Spirit, and though we might be confused or frightened, we will do what is right and ask for Your wisdom.
No matter what we face: whether ridicule, relationship troubles, confusion, or threats, we will still persevere. We will persevere when we’re bone tired. When we’re hungry. When we feel alone. When our prayers seem hollow. When our future looks bleak. We don’t know what’s in front of us nor sometimes even what we face this minute. But we know You. You are unchanging. And with Your help, we will persevere.
Think of the saints through history who lived during times of distress. Puritans, dedicated in their faith, endured a hard trip across the Atlantic and harsh winters and lack of food in this new land. But those Pilgrims were resolute in their faith in God.
Think of those who lived sometime in the two hundred years of persecution during the Roman Empire. Think of those who were painted with tar and set on fire, thrown to wild animals, or crucified. Think of their families and friends who witnessed it.
Think of the early church who faced threats and imprisonment and martyrdom. But they asked God for boldness to speak and He answered. We can almost imagine the troubles, hardship, and persecution of the prophets.
One of the good things about history is that we can take courage from people like us who lived during different times, remained firm, and were bold. It is something we desire for ourselves. It is something the world needs to see in us.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We’re living in a mess right now. But You are bigger than all of it. Like Hezekiah, who laid out the threatening letter from Sennacherib, King of the Assyrians, before You and called on Your Name for deliverance, we do the same. Here it is:
Threats and violence are everyday occurrences in our country and around the world. We are facing restrictions that don’t belong in a free country. We see places like Australia who are essentially under house arrest with even children being removed from homes for highly questionable reasons. People in restricted nations are taking to the streets in protest of socialist rules or communist leaders. Many people are living in fear, a fear generated by lying voices that change reports and numbers and rules at will, and, in so doing, keep the fearful unsteady. Free thought is censored so that even if someone wants to hear another view, it takes work to uncover it. Churches have shut down and reopened to far fewer numbers than they saw before. Christians are discouraged. And there is more – The UN, big pharma, the Davos group, worldwide trafficking, to name a few. Lucifer, that great deceiver, is behind this.
So we ask for boldness. The kind of boldness that ignores the assumptions and judgments of others. The kind of boldness that stands tall in a storm. We ask for boldness to strip every deception from our own minds and fix our eyes on You and Your Word. To acknowledge truth regardless of its source. We ask for boldness to speak truth and stand with others who do so.We are determined to not fear the terror of the night nor the arrows that fly by day.
We are Yours and we stand on Your side. We are watching Your hand. We plead with You to move in our nation and in us to reveal evil, to crush evil, to raise up righteousness, and to affect Your will on earth as it is in heaven.And we stand with You to do so.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
Acts 4:29-31 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.; Isaiah 37:14-20; Psalm 91:5; Image: Pexels, Alexas Fotos
Back in the day, my Grandpa would, from time to time, include the phrase, “Keep yourself puuure” in his sermons. Considering some of those sermons were directed to college students, we can guess what one of the implications of that sentence was or, at least, how it might have been interpreted.
Yet purity is multifaceted. Pure often refers to a physical state. We all want clean clothes, clean air and water; some people even practice clean eating (now where’s my donut?). But we also know that if something is pure, it is free of additives. If only everything we add to our lives was for good. I think we can acknowledge that our spiritual life as well as social behavior might benefit from a some sorting, throwing out, and scrubbing – a good cleaning.
The reason we do something merits significance in the same way as what we do. In regard to a pure life, for instance, our efforts to do what is right are best done without thought of personal gain or attention. Our encouragement of others is purest when we think solely of the one encouraged, not whether they will think well of us or even remember us. Time spent in private prayer is rewarded most.1 Ditto fasting.2 Ditto giving.3 (Virtual signaling selfies, anyone?)
As we maneuver this time in history, let’s attend to keeping ourselves puuure. Pollution isn’t something anyone wants.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We repent of mixed motives. The thought of the filthy rags we wear compared with Your brilliance disgusts us. We desire purity. Make us pure, for you are the only One who can completely cleanse us. We consider again the beauty of the cross because of Christ’s sacrifice and Your forgiveness, and turn away now from all that doesn’t belong. And we know that the fire of Your Holy Spirit will continue to purify us as we look at the cross and its terrible price. We aspire to live our Christianity not for the good impression of others, but with You as our only audience. We desire a pure inner life regardless of our surroundings. Dearest Father, make us pure so that we might see You.
References:Matthew 6:6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ; Matthew 6:16 When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.; Matthew 6:3-4 But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. ; Image: goodfreephotos
What happened to our faith? No, really. What has happened to the kind of faith that speaks life when those around are speaking death? The kind of faith that believes, truly believes, there is nothing – NOTHING – God cannot do. People sing those words. I’ve heard them sung and many of you have, too. But those same people are wearing a mask in their car. They stay away from things and people they love all for fear. I don’t get it. I really don’t.
Jesus made blind folks see and crippled folks walk. Some of them even jumped and ran! He raised Lazarus from the dead! He doesn’t care what people think. Maybe that’s what the vast majority of us need healing from. Or from a fear exacerbated by arbitrary numbers and rules that defy logic.
Oh I know we’ve all prayed for something that didn’t materialize or for someone who didn’t get well. But allowing a result we don’t fully understand decide our present and future actions is like quitting a baseball game after a strike or remaining sprawled on the racetrack after a fall. And who knows what came of those prayers that didn’t result in answers we sought. Perhaps other things happened because of them, and we just didn’t see it. Some of you might remember a miracle we shared just a few years ago due to faith-filled prayer.
We have many voices claiming many different things. We are looking at a virus. We are looking at an insurgency to take over our country. We are looking at troubles of many kinds in many places. We, my friends, are here to manage things as God instructed in Genesis. There are a lot of things that need changing, help, and God’s intervention. There are millions of people who need to know Jesus. We’re just getting started. Time to lean in.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Our weakness has been exposed to us. As your remnant, we’re supposed to be bold, and we pray for boldness just as those first disciples did. We pray for courage. But we know now that our faith is weaker than we realized and more pitiful than we want to admit – even to ourselves. So we pray for faith.
We pray for good memories. Memories of how You freed the Israelites from captivity in Egypt. Of how you parted the Red Sea and helped them across. And then how you engulfed their captors in the same waters. We pray to remember Jesus’ many miracles. And we pray to recall times in our own lives when You’ve intervened and given us a miracle even if we didn’t call it that.
We know You in part and You know us fully. We pray, oh dear Lord, we pray for faith to move that mountain. We pray for faith in the face of a storm. We pray for faith to heal the sick just as the disciples did and to walk on water – even just a little bit. Strengthen us. We ask for FAITH.
Dear Father in Heaven and our Blessed Savior, Jesus Christ,
We are so grateful to know your power, to know your perfection and holiness and might. We are so very thankful we can come to You and ask. You’ve said “you have not because you ask not”. You’ve said “whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I am doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me for anything in My name, I will do it.“
Okay. We are asking. We are calling on Your name. Our nation needs YOU. We need you to send your mighty warrior angels to fight alongside good men and women against the evil that has descended into our cities and towns. We call on the powers of heaven to COME DOWN and help us. We stand and ask You to stand with us against every Luciferian curse, spell, hex, vex, voodoo, and every other evil word. We don’t know what we’re dong, but You said – You said – whoever believes in Me will also do the works and greater. Okay. We’re here and we’re asking. We might not be ready, but we’re asking. Show us what to do, how to pray, what to say, where to go . . . We might not be ready, but, Lord, we’re here. Do a great work in this world and take us over.
Protect, surround, and guide our righteous leaders. If there are any who would deceive or mislead, we pray they will be exposed and brought low. We pray you will give great, great wisdom to President Trump, to Bill Barr, to Your righteous men and women who work so diligently for our nation. Give wisdom and protection to Your righteous judges. Give wisdom and protection to Your righteous military leaders and the armies they direct. Give wisdom and protection to our first responders whatever uniform they wear. And all the families.
Give wisdom and protection to Your men and women of faith, and especially those who are in positions of leadership. They need You, Lord. Help them. And expose those who wear that cloak, but don’t wear your Spirit. Expose them and bring them low. They harm Your church and Your Name.
Just now Lord, and we’ll keep on praying, but just now, CRUSH the evil in this land. This is one nation under GOD. Satan can’t have it. It is YOURS. We decree and declare in the might Name of Jesus that Your Spirit will pour over our citizens, that eyes will be opened, that hearts and minds will be changed, and that revival will break out so that the United States of America will be bright and holy as You desire.
We asked and we are keeping asking. You said You’d hear. You said You’d act. And this is what we believe in faith and pray mightily.
We have honored others before You: music, media, and entertainment stars, politicians, those we admire, pets, special places, those we love and have loved. We have put these things first: jobs, reputation, leisure pursuits, goals, wealth, status, and causes. We’ve loved the earth and animals so much, that they became our focus. We worshiped the creation more than the Creator.
You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
We have erected beautiful cathedrals and church buildings to admire while leaving adoration of You on the threshold. We’ve admired physical fitness until those with great bodies gained attention and acclaim beyond what we give You. We’ve been more concerned with our safety than with proclaiming Your Name. We’ve named a show American Idol and watched it without flinching. We cheered the immunity idol without a thought. We think if we say we idolize someone or something it’s to our credit.
We’ve purchased buddhas we think are cute and toured religious relics the activity of which we thought made us sophisticated. We have tried to fit in to other cultures by covering our face or bowing our head. We’ve exclaimed over these things made of wood and stone, wax and clay, and left little time and energy for admiration of our actual Creator.
You shall not misuse the Name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His Name.
We’ve carelessly thrown Your Name around like a trinket in speech, or used it in praise without a thought of who You truly are. We barely notice when Your Name is misused. We’ve been more concerned about how the worship team sounds and the songs that we sing than who is being worshiped. We’ve promised to pray and have not prayed. We’ve proclaimed Your power with faithless voices.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, not your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
We’ve become lazy about honor. We use the Sabbath as a day to catch up on work we didn’t do earlier. We shop. We take in entertainment or sports without acknowledging that a special day requires attention on Your creation, not our desires. We are undisciplined in reading Your Word; In praying and drawing ever closer to the One who loves us beyond description; In fasting to diminish our appetites for anything other than You.
Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
We give honor when it is convenient and does not wear us out. We dismiss old wisdom because it seems out of date. We make many excuses, but are without one that is legitimate.
You shall not murder.
We speak death with our words. We’re harsh with those we don’t like and who we don’t understand. Our criticism tears their spirit and we admit no fault.
We kill infants who aren’t yet formed or who are tiny enough to be at our mercy. We call it abortion and choice, not murder and child sacrifice. We torture those of any age, finally sacrificing them on the alter of satan, himself. We drink the blood and laugh at the sorrow. And if we hear of such horrors, we dismiss them because we don’t want to admit they exist.
You shall not commit adultery.
We watch television and movies that make sexual promiscuity and deviance common and expected. We let it seep into our thinking. We trade one spouse for another and find a way to claim victimhood. We not only approve perversion, but commend it.
You shall not steal.
We take someone else’s ideas, words, or inventions without giving credit, and say they are ours. We seduce the singular affections of another’s friend or family and keep them for our own. We steal from small businesses who have no protection or big businesses because they can’t track it. We accept money from a government who takes it from someone else. In all the slippery ways there are to misuse another’s earnings, we’ve done it. We have taken money and laundered it to increase our own estates. We’ve stolen children from families who are destitute and claimed we would help them. Instead we have sold them over and over for a pervert’s sexual pleasure. We’ve mismanaged money – our own and in our government – and made excuses for both.
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
We’ve gossiped. We’ve misled others to make ourselves seem better and our sins seem less. We’ve said someone has done or said something they never did or said. We’ve threatened in order to gain confessions to reach our desired legal result. We’ve plotted and planned and written or leaked or lied or spread information that mislead others. We’ve censored information we didn’t want others to read or know.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
We’ve wanted someone’s success or reputation and allowed it to discolor thankfulness for what we have. We’ve thought about their fortune while dismissing our own, we’ve cared about their lives while missing the goodness around us. We’ve lived lives of ingratitude.
God in Heaven, These and so many more are our sins. We don’t know how you can look on our nation without turning away. And we are laying our sin before You right now. It is filthy. It is despicable. It is stomach-churning. It is tarry and awful. We know we are a hardened wasteland that ingests garbage and doesn’t care. We REPENT. We are so sorry. We want to change.
Please heal. Please pour Your Spirit on us. Purify us from our sin. Purify us inside and out. Our thoughts return to You and You alone can heal us. We ask for Your mercy.
We come before you as a nation – one nation under God despite what some desire. Yes, this nation is still Yours. And we acknowledge all You’ve done for this nation in your love and might. You influenced the Framers in its design. You’ve called people from many nations to come together with all of their gifts and perspectives and molded us together as one. E pluribus unum. You’ve given us freedom in which art, invention, business, and a multitude of other blessings have thrived; in which hometown parades are enjoyed; in which each one in a family is valued; in which we are free to say what we think regardless of how silly or wise. We know You have protected us individually and as a nation, and we are so very grateful to You.
But we must pray for forgiveness. We’ve become despicable with what we’ve allowed: course speech, perversion, selfishness, cowardice, laziness, gluttony. If there was way to break one of your commandments, we found it and did so or turned a blind eye to keep the peace. Oh Dear Lord, cleanse us. We are sick of sin. We are appalled at wickedness. Drive it out from among us! Purify this nation, we pray.
And now we ask You to heal us. Heal us of this flu. Heal the folks who have it and keep it from the folks who don’t. Heal us, too, of the fear that embraces us just now. Take it away, far away. Descend on us with Your peace and the knowledge of Your presence. If someone spreads fear intentionally, this is what we ask: we ask that every word will produce not fear, but faith; not cowardice, but courage. And we ask that those whose intentions are to destabilize us with fear – we ask that every word they speak will bring fear to them, that every effort to tear down will reduce them to dust. For we are not just sick from a germ. We are sick of lies and we are sick of deception and we are sick of corruption. So as we ask for healing from sickness, we ask for a clean sweep of evil in whatever form it takes. And we give you all the honor and glory.
