Author Archives: Jackie

Praying for the Nation: a Uniting Prayer

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Praying Hands

Many in America want to pray for our nation. But how? Praying for our own agenda to me, at least, feels arrogant. I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I’m convinced that we can do no better than praying the Scriptures. The verse I’m proposing is relatively short, easy to remember, and embraces all 3 Abrahamic faith traditions–Jewish, Christian, and Moslem. Truth be told, I think it can resonate even with those who have no faith tradition, because I believe there are a wide variety of ways to pray. The verse is Amos 5:24:
Let justice flow like a river, and righteousness like a never-failing stream. (NIV).

I personally am trying to pray it 5 times throughout the day, beginning at 9 a.m. & going through 9 PM at 3hr intervals–or whenever I happen to think about it. It takes very little time.

If you find this strikes a chord with you, please do share. I think this country needs all the prayers we can get. & others can join in praying for their countries using it as well.

Wishing You All Blessings for 2024

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Happy 2024!
fireworks

Party Balloons

The holidays are done, the partying’s over, and reality returns with a vengence.

We’re again in a presidential election year, and the consequences somehow feel even more dire than the last one, no matter who ends up winning.

One of the reasons for that is that a substantial part of the population feels as though the election was stolen, and that their vote didn’t count. That’s a feeling that hurts deeply. In the final analysis, though, either one or the other viewpoint is the truth, i.e., if there were ballot irregularities, they either would’ve made a difference in the outcome or they wouldn’t.

My prayer this week is that, as Christians, we will want to know the truth with all our hearts, because as Jesus said, “the truth will make you free.” And if it makes us individually free, then it stands to reason it makes us collectively free as well.

There are 3 verses I find particularly compelling:

    John 8:32 “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

  • The second is John 17:17:
    “Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.”
  • The last is John 14:6:
    6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”

Jesus is the truth, and He gives Christians His Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth. This week I pray that I will be sincere in my desire to know the truth. I pray that I will want to know it, even if it goes against what I believe to be the truth now. That’s hard, but I need to open myself up to that. I need to open myself up to others’ viewpoints that differ from mine. I can’t really do God’s will if I’m believing and spreading untruth, even if inadvertently.

We as Christians need to unite around the fact that Jesus is the truth, and our mission is also to know the truth. Therefore, please join me in this prayer.
God help me to want to know the truth with all of my being, as well as to actually know the truth, that I may be free. Amen. Please pray it daily.

Slight Name Change

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songatmidnight.org is now songatmidnight.com. The .org domain will redirect to the .com one. .com names tend to be more memorable anyway. Blessings for the upcoming weekend.

An Interfaith Coalition of Three

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star and crescent, star of David, and Christian cross contained inside a heart with sun shining on them
Three people from 3 countries and 3 different faith traditions united recently to accomplish a single purpose–the creation of a 4dwebsite for one of them–Ramy Moustafa–a blind musician from Egypt. The other involved parties were myself, a Christian from Arizona in the United States and Sandy Feldman, a Jewish sighted web developer from Canada. Across faiths, across timezones, across languages, across countries, the walls came tunblin down as we worked together to construct a multilingual English/Arabic site to showcase Dr. Moustafa’s musical abilities and knowledge.

Surely there are many instances when those of the three Abrahamic faith traditions united for a purpose. One of the most recent examples is certainly the earthquake in Morrocco. This is far more humble. It’s just three people from three different countries, backgrounds, and faith traditions uniting to promote a little good in the world. Having thus said, perhaps if there were more interfaith coalitions like this one, there might not be nearly as many fights among their members Small ripples make big waves.
turbulent ripples

Can We Unite Around This Prayer?

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I’ve long said that people have far more in common than we have differences. It holds true for Christians as well. Although we have many schisms, there are also many things that unite us–our love of Jesus, our desire to devote ourselves to prayer & scripture, and our desire to see our nation pursue a right course. The problem is, for the latter, there is a lot of debate as to what that is.

I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately about a prayer we might all be able to agree on. I’ve come up with one which I think is scripturally sound. What do you think?

Lord, you’ve said we will know the truth, and the truth will set us free. Help me to seek the truth, know the truth, and be freed by it. Help all those who are called by Your name to do so as well. Lead me in the path of righteousness for your name’s sake, & please lead our nation in it as well. Please help me and all those who are called by your name to hunger and thirst for righteousness, be pure of heart, and seek to make peace–not the peace of the world, but rather the peace of God. Help us to love you with our whole being, and help us love our neighbors as ourselves.

I wonder what would happen if, in sincerity and purity of heart, we Christians would pray this prayer and then act on what God instructs us to do? Would you try it with me till the end of the year?

Prayer for the Nations 11-17-22

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3 The legal experts and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery. Placing her in the center of the group,
4 they said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of committing adultery.
5 In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone women like this. What do you say?”
6 They said this to test him, because they wanted a reason to bring an accusation against him. Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger.
7 They continued to question him, so he stood up and replied, “Whoever hasn’t sinned should throw the first stone.”
John 8:3-7 CEB

Prayer for the Nations 11-16-22

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1 The earth is the LORD’s and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants too.
2 Because God is the one who established it on the seas; God set it firmly on the waters.
3 Who can ascend the LORD’s mountain? Who can stand in his holy sanctuary?
4 Only the one with clean hands and a pure heart; the one who hasn’t made false promises, the one who hasn’t sworn dishonestly.
5 That kind of person receives blessings from the LORD and righteousness from the God who saves.
Psalm 24:1-5 CEB

Prayer for the Nations 11-15-22

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3 Why do you see the splinter that’s in your brother’s or sister’s eye, but don’t notice the log in your own eye?
4 How can you say to your brother or sister, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ when there’s a log in your eye?
5 You deceive yourself! First take the log out of your eye, and then you’ll see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s or sister’s eye.
Matthew 7:3-5 CEB

Prayer for the Nations 11-14-22

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43 “You have heard that it was said, You must love your neighborp and hate your enemy.
44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who harass you
45 so that you will be acting as children of your Father who is in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both the evil and the good and sends rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous.
46 If you love only those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?
47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same?
48 Therefore, just as your heavenly Father is complete in showing love to everyone, so also you must be complete.
Matthew 5:43-48 CEB