Tag Archives: abraham lincoln

Presidential Prayer Team; J.R. – Restoration Business

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The Civil War started out badly for Abraham Lincoln. “We are utterly and disgracefully routed, beaten, whipped,” wrote one Northerner after the disastrous loss at the Battle of Bull Run. And newsman Horace Greeley told Lincoln it was best for the country to “make peace with the rebels, and on their own terms.” But the President, historian James McPherson writes, was “filled with grim determination.” He immediately began making plans for the prosecution of the war – and victory.

The great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him.

Nehemiah 1:5

How do you react to bad news? Nehemiah’s example, like Lincoln’s, is instructive. Upon hearing that Jerusalem had been broken down and its gates destroyed, he “wept and mourned for days,” (Nehemiah 1:4)…and then began to praise the God who would save His people. Even in the worst of times, remember that God is “great and awesome” and ready to do wonderful things.

America’s future looked bleak following Bull Run. Jerusalem was written off after being overrun by its enemies. But the Lord restored them and made them great again, against all odds. Today, pray for the nation’s leaders with the belief – and grim determination – that God is still in the business of restoration…and that you will be a part of it!

Recommended Reading: Joel 2:23-27

 

Presidential Prayer Team; A.W. – The Source of Blessings

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On March 30, 1863, Abraham Lincoln called the nation to recognize their source of salvation and blessings by proclaiming a national day of fasting and prayer. In his speech, he said, “We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God…we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.”

This is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

Ephesians 2:8

In today’s scripture, Paul taught the Ephesians the source of salvation, saying it is the work of a gracious and loving God for which He deserves recognition and praise.

During the hectic holiday season, why not proclaim your own day of prayer and fasting to remember your every blessing – including the greatest one of all, the ability to be freely saved by grace. Pray, too, for the country’s leaders to realize and remind the nation, as Lincoln did, that God is the source of true national prosperity and peace.

Recommended Reading: Romans 5:12-21

 

 

 

Our Daily Bread — Stand Firm

Our Daily Bread

Colossians 1:19-27

Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. —1 Corinthians 15:58

As our final project for a high school earth science class, a friend and I built a stream table. With extensive help from my father, we built a long plywood box with a hinge in the middle. Then we lined it with plastic and filled it with sand. At one end we attached a hose. At the other end was a drainage hole. After assembling all of it, we raised one end of the stream table, turned on the water, and watched as it created a path directly to the hole at the other end. The next part of the experiment was to place a rock in the stream and watch how it changed the path of the water.

This project taught me as much about life as it did about science. I learned that I can’t change the direction things are going if I’m on the bank of the river. I have to step into the stream of life and stand there to divert the flow. That’s what Jesus did. The Bible refers to salvation as a rock (2 Sam. 22:47; Ps. 62:2,6-7), and the apostle Paul clarifies that Christ is that Rock (1 Cor. 10:4). God placed Jesus in the stream of history to change its course.

When we remain steadfast in Christ, abounding in the work of the Lord, God uses us to change the course of history through acts of obedience that turn others to Him. —Julie Ackerman Link

The Master is seeking a harvest

In lives He’s redeemed by His blood;

He seeks for the fruit of the Spirit

And works that will glorify God.

—H.S. Lehman. © 1924 H. S. Lehman

Be sure to put your feet in the right place, then stand firm. —Abraham Lincoln

Bible in a year: Job 41-42; Acts 16:22-40

More Important Than Food – Greg Laurie

 

If you want to learn about God and His ways, then learn to study this wonderful book God has given to us, the Bible. It is the user’s manual to life. It tells us what is right and wrong and what is good and evil. It tells us how to live, how to do business, how to have a successful marriage, and much, much more.

But most importantly, the Bible tells us how to know and walk with God. In fact, everything you need to know about God is found in the pages of the Bible. That is why Abraham Lincoln said of the Bible, “All of the good from the Savior is communicated through this Book. All things that are desirable to man are contained in it.”

Sadly, many people today own Bibles but seldom read them. As many as 93 percent of Americans own at least one Bible, but little more than half read it, and only 25 percent read it every day.

Yet success or failure in the Christian life is determined by how much the Bible you get into your heart and mind every day, and then by how completely you obey its instructions.

Think about that for a moment.

If you want to grow spiritually, then regular Bible reading must become a part of your life. It is essential. It is not something you will outgrow, any more than you will outgrow eating or breathing. When you begin to grasp the central place Scripture must command in your life, then you will start to appreciate Job’s words about it: “I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12).