Psalm 73:22-28 (NIV)
22 I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.
23 Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27 Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds!
I love this passage - because it pretty much describes my walk. I am just a character in a much larger story. I do not write it, but I live it to the glory of God. May we all realize how we must depend on the LORD our God for our every need, every desire, and we must not take lightly the promises he has made to us and all those who believe in him and call upon his name to be saved. "Whom have I in heaven but you?" Meditate on that passage. We have such a need for God, such a hunger, such a momentum in our relationship with God that other people stop and think. We must reach a level that only he can satisfy us fully. Only when he is the center of our world do we understand what living life to the fullest really means...I know this full well. May we not be deceived.
I'm sorry if I step on people's toes again, but I am just gonna be honest with you...so I'm sorry for that if it bothers you. I have many prayers for our nation this time of year/this weekend! We have fallen so far away from Scripture and so far away from all that God desires, and I am convinced that God has many strong desires for the United States of America - to be a significant part in bringing about his kingdom - but we must first pray and pray hard. I bet half of us don't even remember to pray for our country regularly, as the bible clearly says we should. In that, it is a crazy thing to take the time and meditate on the bigness of God and the goodness of his plan - the importance of following him in all we do - when we (as people and a country) are so small compared to him. So what could he possibly desire with us? What are we to do? We must pray, pray that his will be done in this nation, pray that people come back to sense with the purpose of life. God is so good to us, and his mercy and grace is so beyond anything we can even understand. Let us pray, let us pray for an awakening that sweeps over everything and everyone! Thank you LORD, for your grace.
2 Corinthians 5:18-21
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Meditate on that passage. Meditate on all God's done and all he's doing (in your life personally and in the lives of those you know!) Take those thoughts and think about what he can do here in America, what he also desires to do in us and through us for this country! I pray that what I am saying encourages you to be mindful of the prayers that I believe are more necessary now than ever before in the United States of America. The world may say that there is no such thing as an "absolute truth," or something that "transcends every aspect of life and reality," but they are wrong and it is evident to me that there is something bigger out there. Amen? What we need in America is an awakening! And it can happen. But we must be obedient and pray. We must pray that we ourselves follow God's calling he's placed in each one of our hearts, and also that we as a country follow God's desires and not our own!
2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
It is our calling, to do this. Again, we often times forget - I believe - to lift our country up in prayer...and no wonder we're struggling so much. We may remember to pray when we're struggling, stressed, nervous, hurt, upset, but do we pray for the United States of America and its leadership on a regular basis? May we, with every opportunity this coming weekend, get on our knees and pray for Barack Obama (I don't care if you don't like him), may we pray for the Church, may we pray for revival amongst the nation and the Church! It can happen. Remember - as the Psalm in the beginning said - he is our strength, our portion, and our refuge. Whom have we in heaven but you Lord? Guide us with your counsel and take us into glory! Pray. "Like the rising sun that shines, from the darkness comes a light, I hear Your voice and this is my awakening!"
Go. Serve.
Eph 3:19
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