Daily Archives: January 21, 2013

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How to Pray for a President – Charles Stanley

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Deuteronomy 17:14-20

As Christians, we have a responsibility to pray for those in authority over us—fathers, pastors, and leaders. When you talk to God about the President, ask that he will . . .

1. Realize his personal sinfulness and daily need of God’s cleansing power.

2. Recognize his personal inadequacy for the task and therefore depend upon the Lord.

3. Reject all counsel that violates spiritual principles and then trust the Lord to validate him.

4. Resist pressure from individuals or special interest groups that would have him act in violation of his conscience or godly principles.

5. Work at reversing our country’s trends toward socialism and humanism, both of which dethrone the Lord and deify man.

6. Be ready to forsake his political career and personal ambition for the best interest of the nation.

7. Rely upon the Word of God as his source of strength and key to success.

8. Bring dignity, honor, trustworthiness, and righteousness to the office of the presidency.

9. Be a good example, especially to the fathers and sons of the nation.

10. Be reminded daily that he is accountable to Almighty God for his attitudes, actions, and motivations while in office.

Leading a country is a very important, demanding job. The President and other elected officials need our prayers. But to be effective, our requests must be more specific than “Lord, bless the President” or “God, help our leaders do a good job.” The above list is a good way to start.

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The Just Will Rise – Ravi Zacharias

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In his famed “I have a Dream speech,” Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed: “We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.” At these words, King painted for a troubled nation a powerful image of hope, and forever rooted the civil rights movement in images of justice and the image of God.

The images presented in the book of Daniel are similarly rooted in images of justice and God. In fact, it is for this reason that the sixth chapter of Daniel was a favorite Scripture passage among civil rights preachers in the early 1960s. The story told in Daniel 6 presents a king who loses sight of his purpose as king and the purpose of the law, creating a system void of justice and a law that only hinders and traps its makers. But against the images of lawlessness and corruption, the story portrays a silent but active Daniel clinging to a higher law, bowing before the King of Kings in the midst of persecution, in the hands of his oppressors, and the shadows of the lions’ den. Living within the hopelessness of exile, sweltering under the heat of injustice, Daniel unflinchingly declares the sovereignty of God, and with faithfulness and perseverance refuses to believe otherwise.

In a kingdom in which he was a mere foreigner, Daniel was appointed a position of great authority because the king found him to be useful. The story quickly hints that in the peaceful dominion of King Darius all is not peaceful. The leaders serving under Daniel want to get rid of him. The story does not provide a thorough explanation for their hatred of Daniel and yet, perhaps in this silence much is said. The nature of any prejudice is absent of explanation. Without reason, without logic, we discriminate and are discriminated against. There is no explanation because to explain our reasons behind prejudice is to become our own judge. In fact, Daniel’s enemies announce their illogic when they conclude, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God” (6:5).

Whatever their motivation, the men proceed with their plan. Approaching the king with flattery that he does not refuse, they convince him to establish an ordinance that holds the kingdom accountable to praying only to him. The king, who is pleased with his high and lofty position and his authority to rule, agrees to test the loyalty of his citizens, and to make the law irrevocable.

It is significant to note that Daniel does not speak until the end of the story, yet throughout it, he is anything but complacent. Knowing the document had been signed, Daniel goes to his house, opens his windows, faces Jerusalem, and prays as he had done before. Just as planned, he is immediately caught by the men who are quick to point out his guilt before the king. While the king stands guilt-ridden, Daniel stands accused, and nothing can be done to save him. Bound by his own law, the king must release his faithful servant into the hands of injustice. Daniel is thrown into the lions’ den, which is then sealed at the remorseful hand of the king.

As we await the outcome, the injustice of the situation palpable, the voices we most want to hear from remain discouragingly silent. We hear nothing from the lips of Daniel. And we hear nothing from the mouth of Daniel’s God.

In the face of injustice, silence is indeed oppressive; filled at once with despairing questions. Where is God? What of the silent victims? Who will speak over the deafening sounds of injustice, over the word games and manipulative arguments, when hands are tied, options are exhausted, and fates seem irreversible?

Daniel eventually speaks, but only after his irreversible sentence was overruled by the hand of God. Daniel’s story, not unlike the stories of the civil rights movement worldwide, is a declaration that in silence God is still acting, in the weariness of injustice, in the shadows of those who seek to devour, God is sovereign. Justly, thankfully, God comes near to the oppressed. “Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise.”

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

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Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

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Morning “And so all Israel shall be saved.” / Romans 11:26

Then Moses sang at the Red Sea, it was his joy to know that all Israel were

safe. Not a drop of spray fell from that solid wall until the last of God’s

Israel had safely planted his foot on the other side the flood. That done,

immediately the floods dissolved into their proper place again, but not till

then. Part of that song was, “Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people

which thou hast redeemed.” In the last time, when the elect shall sing the

song of Moses, the servant of God, and of the Lamb, it shall be the boast of

Jesus, “Of all whom thou hast given me, I have lost none.” In heaven there

shall not be a vacant throne.

“For all the chosen race

Shall meet around the throne,

Shall bless the conduct of his grace,

And make his glories known.”

As many as God hath chosen, as many as Christ hath redeemed, as many as the

Spirit hath called, as many as believe in Jesus, shall safely cross the

dividing sea. We are not all safely landed yet:

“Part of the host have crossed the flood,

And part are crossing now.”

The vanguard of the army has already reached the shore. We are marching

through the depths; we are at this day following hard after our Leader into

the heart of the sea. Let us be of good cheer: the rear-guard shall soon be

where the vanguard already is; the last of the chosen ones shall soon have

crossed the sea, and then shall be heard the song of triumph, when all are

secure. But oh! if one were absent–oh! if one of his chosen family should be

cast away–it would make an everlasting discord in the song of the redeemed,

and cut the strings of the harps of paradise, so that music could never be

extorted from them.

 

Evening   “He was sore athirst, and called on the Lord, and said, thou hast given this

great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for

thirst?” / Judges 15:18

Samson was thirsty and ready to die. The difficulty was totally different from

any which the hero had met before. Merely to get thirst assuaged is nothing

like so great a matter as to be delivered from a thousand Philistines! but

when the thirst was upon him, Samson felt that little present difficulty more

weighty than the great past difficulty out of which he had so specially been

delivered. It is very usual for God’s people, when they have enjoyed a great

deliverance, to find a little trouble too much for them. Samson slays a

thousand Philistines, and piles them up in heaps, and then faints for a little

water! Jacob wrestles with God at Peniel, and overcomes Omnipotence itself,

and then goes “halting on his thigh!” Strange that there must be a shrinking

of the sinew whenever we win the day. As if the Lord must teach us our

littleness, our nothingness, in order to keep us within bounds. Samson boasted

right loudly when he said, “I have slain a thousand men.” His boastful throat

soon grew hoarse with thirst, and he betook himself to prayer. God has many

ways of humbling his people. Dear child of God, if after great mercy you are

laid very low, your case is not an unusual one. When David had mounted the

throne of Israel, he said, “I am this day weak, though anointed king.” You

must expect to feel weakest when you are enjoying your greatest triumph. If

God has wrought for you great deliverances in the past, your present

difficulty is only like Samson’s thirst, and the Lord will not let you faint,

nor suffer the daughter of the uncircumcised to triumph over you. The road of

sorrow is the road to heaven, but there are wells of refreshing water all

along the route. So, tried brother, cheer your heart with Samson’s words, and

rest assured that God will deliver you ere long.

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Reflecting God’s Ownership – John MacArthur

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You were sealed with the Holy Spirit “with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory” (Eph. 1:14).

Yesterday we saw that God seals us with the Holy Spirit as a pledge of our eternal inheritance. Here Paul says He does so “with a view to the redemption of [His] own possession.” That refers to when God takes full possession of all that is rightfully His.

Everything is God’s by creation, but Satan has usurped God’s rulership to become the “god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4) in whose power the whole world currently lies (1 John 5:19). Consequently, all creation is in bondage to decay and “groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Rom. 8:22, NIV). It eagerly awaits the time when the curse of Genesis 3 is reversed, all Christians are fully glorified, and sin is eternally vanquished. What a glorious time that will be!

You are God’s special possession because you are His by redemption as well as creation. In Revelation 5:9 the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders sing to the Lord, “Worthy art Thou . . . for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” In Acts 20:28 Paul charges the Ephesian elders to guard carefully “the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”

That makes you a priceless commodity to God–part of “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God” (1 Pet. 2:9-10).

As God’s special possession, you should reflect His ownership and sovereign rule in everything you do. Remember, “you are not your own . . . for you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

Suggestions for Prayer:  Thank God that you are His treasured possession.

Seek His Spirit’s leading in proclaiming His excellencies to others through your words and deeds.

Ask Him to teach you to esteem other believers as highly as He does.

For Further Study:  Read Ephesians 2:1-13, noting the spiritual privileges and responsibilities that are yours in Christ.

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Son of Encouragement – Greg Laurie

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And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. . . .—Acts 9:26–27

You would think that, upon hearing of Saul’s (later known as Paul) conversion, the early church would have given him a standing ovation. The fact is that the believers were still suspicious, because in Acts 9:26 we read, “When Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him. . . .”

They must have been thinking, Really? Yeah . . . no. He is not a Christian. There is just no way.

Where was their faith?

But the same thing happens to us as well. We may hear that a certain person has become a believer, and we’ll say, “Oh, I don’t know if I really believe that.”

Even after someone makes a commitment to Christ, sometimes there are rough edges that remain, and we are very quick to criticize: “He is not a Christian because he cussed.”

True, he shouldn’t have cussed, but I wouldn’t say he isn’t a Christian because of that. I would say that perhaps he is a work in progress. Maybe we should put a little sign around a new believer’s neck that says, “Under construction.”

Has it really been so long since we began to walk with Christ that we have forgotten what it is like for new believers? They don’t know how it works yet. I am not excusing anyone’s sin, but all of us have some growing to do, don’t we?

Saul was converted, but many of the Christians didn’t believe it. Enter Barnabas, who put it on the line and backed up Saul’s story, taking him to the apostles. We need more men like Barnabas today. The name Barnabas means “son of encouragement.” And we need people that are encouraging, because often people fall through the cracks after they have come to Christ.