1Timothy 2
First of all, then, I ask that requests, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving be made for all people.
2 Pray for kings and everyone who is in authority so that we can live a quiet and peaceful life in complete godliness and dignity. 3 This is right and it pleases God our savior,
4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
1Timothy 2:1-4
Jackie
Prayer for the Nations Oct 31 2022
Our Father, who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Matt 6:9-11
Prayer for the Nations Oct 30, 2022
Let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Amos 5:24, Berean Standard Bible
Praying for the Nation–And They’ll know We Are Christians Cuz We Pray
The fires of hatred seem to be burning with an ever-increasing intensity within our nation. Mass shootings, sometimes violent protests, senseless acts of random and not-so-random violence are all part of the fabric of our experience on a daily basis. The divisions in our society feel like our nation is being split apart. Indeed, articles now freely circulate about a topic that only a few short years ago Americans would have thought unspeakable–to wit, the possibility of civil war. Where has the “united” in United States gone?
Stephen Covey, in his book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” listed 7 habits in which effective individuals regularly engage. His 5th was “Seek to understand, then to be understood.” Most folks are so busy shouting their viewpoint from any and every imaginable platform possible that they’re way too busy to listen to any other point of view but their own.
So I’m making a modest proposal. I’m asking every person of faith who is committed to the welfare of our nation to promise to spend at least 5 minutes a day praying for it. And if you happen to live outside the United States, great! Either pray for us (friends should pray for friends, after all) or pray for your own country. And if faith isn’t your thing (which I find a bit puzzling since you’re reading this blog), then send positive thoughts or energy or whatever it is you manifest.
These things tend to be more successful when committing to a specific time with a specific trigger. Doing this during one’s devotions, while taking a shower, or going to and from school or work may be good alternatives.
The Thing About Prayer
There are a couple things possibly worth pointing out about prayer. The first is that although we often do it, prayer at its best isn’t a telegram to God telling him how things should be run. I rather suspect he’s figured all that out long before any of us ever existed. Rather, it’s telling God how we feel, pleading for things that are dear to our heart.
The 2nd thing about prayer is that it often requires feet, specifically, ours. What steps can each of us take toward mending our nation’s fabric? We can say “o, it’s too large, what can one person do?” And the truth is not much. But when that person stands with God and others who want the same thing, and are willing to make the necessary sacrifices, then the power of that is unstoppable. As the song “Pass It On” posits, “It only takes a spark to get a fire going.”
I also note that one of those sacrifices may well (and likely will be) exiting one’s comfort zone.
So what is it that you can and will commit to do? First pray, but with the object of determining how God would have you act to bring about the answer to your prayer and be a co-creator with Him to advance his kingdom. Because surely a nation and a world being ripped apart is not that. We are God’s children. We are not helpless.
Lastly, ask yourself how Jesus might act. Let the Scriptures inform your decisions. WWJD (what would Jesus do?) was rather trendy in the 90’s and was derived directly from Charles Sheldon’s book called “In His Steps” which was written in the late 1800’s but is a very salient guide for our actions even today.
Please comment, either on songatmidnight.com or the Facebook page. I look forward to uniting with each of you. Thank you, & God bless.
Praying for the Nation–Jesus’s Unanswered Prayer
The title likely comes as a bit of a jolt, as most people don’t think about the fact that some of Jesus’s most fervent prayers seemed to go unanswered. If we consider it at all, most would probably think of His prayer in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-44 among others), but few would think about John 17:21 “I want all of them to be one with each other, just as I am one with you and you are one with me. I also want them to be one with us. Then the people of this world will believe that you sent me.” (CEV).
We Christians seem to be splintered into so many factions it makes Humpty Dumpty look whole. From conservatives to liberals, from exuberant worship to quiet and staid, from those who love modern music to those who treasure the ancient hymns–we look at all these differences, and it’s hard to figure out how we could ever remotely be united with each other. And yet I think in a very real sense, we are.
Those who are called by Christ’s name, i.e., who bear the name of Christian, or “little Christs”, must first of all love and follow Jesus. We’re also told in numerous Scriptures we need to love each other, Luke 10:27 being just a single example.
Ephesians 4-10 says:
“Before the world was created, God had Christ choose us to live with him and to be his holy and innocent and loving people.
God was kind and decided that Christ would choose us to be God’s own adopted children.
God was very kind to us because of the Son he dearly loves, and so we should praise God.
Christ sacrificed his life’s blood to set us free, which means that our sins are now forgiven. Christ did this because God was so kind to us. God has great wisdom and understanding,
and by what Christ has done, God has shown us his own mysterious ways.” (CEV)
He did those things for you, for me, and for all whom he has chosen. God is our Father, which makes us a part of God’s family. Christ has already united us, but our lives have to make that a reality.
Unification will not come in putting aside our differences in worship style, music, and political beliefs. That’s not necessary, though putting away our animosity toward and quarrels with each other regarding them most certainly is. Unification will come when we begin to understand that God doesn’t play favorites with His children and that He loves each one of us equally–so much that His Son died so we could be with Him.
Christ washed His disciples’ feet–even the one who would ultimately betray him and instructed us to do likewise (John 13:14). To that end, Bob Goff, in his book entitled “Love Does”, points out that love is not a feeling, it’s actions. (check out Bob’s site here . In this footwashing scene, Jesus was saying the same.
This week I join in Jesus’s prayer that we would be united, so the world would know that God sent Christ to be with us. Or, perhaps, to put a little different spin on it, I pray that we Christians would be united so that this nation would know God Sent Jesus to be our brother and example.
Praying for the Nation–The Truth Will Set Us Free
“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”. John 8:32 CEV
Contrary to much current thought, there is universal truth. Our forefathers knew this when they penned the declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” …
The truth of the words remains, the fact that they were applied by their authors strictly to white men notwithstanding. Nonetheless, truth doesn’t always seem to be very clear-cut. Pilate’s question to Jesus, “What is truth? (John 18:38, CEV), is a question that’s been asked many times throughout the ages. As Christians we at least say we believe that Jesus is truth (John 14:6), but often find ourselves in sharp disagreement regarding anything beyond that point. And yet, that’s an important unifying force.
Though we may not now (or ever) agree on the specifics of what constitutes the truth, perhaps we can agree to pray that Jesus will open our hearts to it, no matter how painful it is, no matter the preciousness of our beliefs that need to be set aside in deference to it. My mom used to say that truth hurts–& she’s right–it often hurts a lot. But just like surgery, which is initially painful but often eventually curative, the application of truth, though at first painful, provides us with freedom, because being imprison by falsehood often causes wasted, and at times lost, lives.
I’m going to meditate this week on the verse that began this post, and I’m going to pray that we as individuals and as a nation will unite in a fervent search for and being open to the truth. I pray you’ll join me, and I pray you’ll ask your friends to do so as well.
MAGA
For everyone, or just about everyone, this has been a rough year. First, there’s been a global pandemic, the likes of which few have ever seen. Many have experienced severe economic upheaval. Then, there was a contentious election in the US, which, although it’s been called, still may not be over.
Given all that, it’s hard to find gratitude. Yet, there is still a lot to be thankful for, & I want to give a particular call out to a client with whom I’ve recently had the pleasure of working who pointed that out. His name is Rob Prater, and he works with and for the Desert Rose Bahai Institute here in AZ. He suggested that perhaps MAGA should stand for “Make America Grateful Again.” I think he’s right. Thanks, Rob, for the reminder.
You’re Acting Like An Idiot
To many, the old Testament seems frought with images of blood and guts and war, and a wrathful God who takes vengance on helpless humans at any chance He gets. A lot of folks would therefore be surprised at this single verse penned by an obscure profit in a little-known book of the Bible called Zephaniah. It’s found in chapter 3, v. 17:
“The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”
Any of you who have ever held children in your arms and sang over them as you rocked them, rejoicing, know precisely what this verse means. Have you ever thought about the fact that God loves you just exactly like that? Yeah–I know–it’s hard to fathom, but He does.
The Other side of that coin is that he loves others like that as well. And he loves us even when our behavior doesn’t warrant it, because He knows we are separate from our behavior. We might be acting like an idiot, but we ourselves aren’t one. We can change our behavior, but God created us in His image, and that will never change.
Again, that applies to others as well. I’m trying very hard during these extremely stressful times to understand that even when people act like idiots, God nonetheless sings over them just as He sings over me. They’re created in His image just as I am. And just because they (or I) act like idiots doesn’t mean we are one.
I pray we’ll all extend grace and prayers to one another during these extraordinarily frought times.
A Bird, A Girl and a Rescue–by J.A. Myhre
Note: I received this book free for my unbiased review. The problem is, I’m not biased. My review is unaffected by the free book. However, I’m biased towards kids’ books. The constant sex, violence, & profanity found in so many adult secular books, or the insipid, predictable romances of most Christian fiction makes finding a good read, at least for me, difficult. So, with that disclaimer finished, my review follows.
Please also note that there is also a first book of the series, “A chameleon, a boy, and a quest”. Perhaps a good analogy for these books might be African Chronicles of Narnia, as they contain many of the symbolic & whimsical elements found in the Narnia series. This is definitively a book for older children, as one of the scenes, where the schoolchildren are locked in their dorm, which was subsequently set ablaze, is disturbing, even for some adults, although the end result was ultimately not as one might expect. It’s an action-packed book where Christian truths are taught without hitting readers over the head or shoving them down their throats. The book also provides a platform for families to discuss conditions that exist in various parts of the world, as well as actions that can be taken to ameliorate them. African words are sprinkled throughout, & I would’ve liked to see those defined at the bottom of the page instead of in the back of the book, as looking them up broke up the reading experience a little, but that’s a small criticism.
Lastly, please note that “the author donates half of her royalties to a fund that enables real children to emerge with resilience from childhoods threatened by poverty, rebel warfare, human trafficking, malnutrition, loss, and fear.”
“Your purchase of this book “enables orphans to receive an education, babies of HIV-positive mothers to receive food, children who have never held a book to receive a library, and much more. These small acts of justice and mercy have the power to bring hope and enable communities to write new endings to their own stories.
For more information, or to make a donation to the Rwendigo Fund, which supports the work described above, please visit serge.org/hope. ”
Despite the free book, I’ll definitively be visiting the site to do that, & I hope folks will purchase the book in order to donate as well. Thank you, Ms. Myhre, for a heartwarming read & your generosity toward the least of these who can’t defend themselves. Ultimately, the good read & the donation make the purchase a win-win for everyone. Buy it–you’ll like it.
Journey Through the Jesus Prayer–Part 1
This past Sunday I stumbled across a book on a prayer that’s been prayed by the Easternn Orthodox church for centuries. They call it the “Jesus prayer”. The book was very much written in the context of the Eastern Orthodox faith & almost led one to believe that this prayer should not in fact be attempted outside that context. Being the rebel I am, however, I decided to politely put that suggestion aside and attempt it anyway
So What Is This “Jesus Prayer?”
As with so many things of great antiquity, the Jesus Prayer actually has several versions. The short one is: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” It’s the one I’ll be teaching my grandson Jaden.
Another is “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
A 3rd version is: “Lord Jesus Christ, son of the living God, have mercy on me.” My version is: “Lord Jesus Christ, son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
I like to say it in conjunction with my breathing. I start by inhaling “Lord Jesus Christ,” and exhale on “son of the living God,”. I again inhale on “Have mercy on me”, & exhale on the words “a sinner.”
That’s just me, and others will want to use a different version or vary the breathing pattern, if they use it at all. I rather think it’s kind of like a Reese’ss–there’s no right way to eat one, & there’s no right way to do the “Jesus Prayer”, either, except the one that works for yu.
It goes without saying that sincerity is a requirement, and if this isn’t something you really believe, i.e., you don’t believe that Jesus is the son of God, etc., then don’t do this. This is so much more than just some sort of mantra.
So Why Do I like It?
I like saying the Jesus prayer for a number of reasons. Here are just a few:
- It gives me something good to think about when I’m doing mindless things.
- It’s a great cure for feelings of entitlement.
- It’s also a wonderful cure for self-righteousness.
- It’s great for minimizing anger–I mean, it’s pretty tough to get angry at another’s imperfections when you’re begging for mercy because you’re a sinner yourself.
- It helps me relax throughout the day.
- It helps keep God uppermost in my consciousness.
- I’m starting to see Bible stories in an entirely new light.
As this journey continues, I’ll likely come up with even more reasons, and I’ll cover the ones I’ve listed in more detail in separate posts.
Meanwhile, I think this is a prayer from which all Christians can benefit greatly. Perhaps my thoughts on the matter will inspire you to try it as well. I’m looking forward to any comments you might have.