My Country, 'Tis of Thee

A brass relief of George Washington kneeling in prayer at Federal Hall in New York City

By OptimumPx (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

“Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.” – King Solomon, 2 Chronicles 6:21 (NIV)

     
     
Over the 18 years I’ve written my weekly column and then this blog, I’ve avoided controversial topics. I figure you all get enough—more than enough, perhaps—of that elsewhere. My purpose has always been to give hope, to show that faith and life go hand in hand, that God cares intimately for each of us and is with us every moment of every day.
     
But I’ve had a heavy heart for my country—and it’s getting heavier.
     
No, I still will not address the hot button topics here, but I will address what I believe our response, as Christians, should be.
     
First, read, meditate, know, and obey the Word. Let it permeate every fiber of your being. Allow God to use His Word to transform you from the inside out—heart, mind, and soul. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2).
     
Next, pray! For revival to sweep the nation, one soul at a time. For the Holy Spirit to ignite the faith of believers and fill our places of worship—and us. For eyes to be opened to the truth, for hearts to be softened to receive the seed of the Word, for strength and courage to be Psalm 1 men and women.
     
Finally, be salt and light. “You are the salt of the earth,” Jesus said. “But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? . . . You are the light of the world. . . . Let your light shine before men” (Matthew 5:13–16).
     
How can you be salt and light? Simple: Live the Word.
     
And while we must stand up for that which we know is right, we must be careful not to judge other folks.
     
“Do not judge,” Jesus said, “or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you too will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:1–2).
     
“For I did not come to judge the world,” Jesus said, “but to save it” (John 12:47). “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him” (John 3:17).
     
Judgment Day is coming, be sure of that. But until then, remember the words of Billy Graham: “It is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, God’s job to judge, and my job to love.”
     
I just keep asking myself, “What would Jesus do?”
     

May we continue to pray as George Washington did on the inauguration of this country (April 30, 1789):
     
“Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy Holy protection; and Thou wilt incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the Field.
           
“And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the Characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Source for prayer: http://www.propheticroundtable.org/ForeFathers/GeorgeWashington/A%20Prayer.htm

More tea: 2 Chronicles 6:12–42

I've just finished reading The Harbinger and The Harbinger Companion by Jonathan Cahn.  

I highly recommend both of them. 

The grocery list

     
“Lord, teach us to pray.” – Luke 11:1 (NIV)
     
     
I grew up at a time when small, family-owned grocery stores perched on just about every corner in every neighborhood. My mother would call in her list, and they’d gather the items, pack them up in boxes, and deliver them by the end of the day. The stores extended credit, so when Dad got paid, they got paid.
     
I’m reminiscing those old grocery store days because I’ve been pondering prayer and our perspective of it.
     
Too often we approach prayer like writing up a grocery list and phoning it in to God, expecting Him to box up what we need and deliver it pronto.
     
It doesn’t work that way.
     
Like the disciples, we need to ask the Lord to teach us to pray.
     
So let’s look at Jesus’ response. “The Lord’s Prayer” is simple, but it contains all we need on our grocery list to the Heavenly storehouse.
     

First on the list is HONOR. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” Sometimes we’re so focused on the family relationship that we forget our Father’s holiness. We’re so busy crawling into Daddy’s lap that we neglect to bow down in worship to El Shaddai. Honor Him as your heavenly Father and honor Him as your God.
     
Second on the list is SUBMISSION. “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Submit to His will for you and surrender what you think you want. Father does know best. Too often we want what we want and nothing else, and get mad at God when we don’t get it.  “This wasn’t on my list,” we complain. “This isn’t the brand I ordered.” Submit to His best for you.
     
Third on the list is TRUST. “Give us this day our daily bread.” This isn’t a request only for food to sustain us physically. We also need bread for our minds, hearts, and spirits. And notice the words “this day.” Too often our lists contain more than what we need for one day. We feel better when we see caches stashed away for tomorrow (and tomorrow and tomorrow)—it’s much easier than trusting God (whom we can’t see) for today’s needs.
     
Fourth on the list is FORGIVENESS. “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” I prefer the word “trespasses” rather than “debts,” but both convey the same meaning: If you want to be forgiven, you’ve got to forgive others who have hurt you. And we all need to forgive and be forgiven.
     
The final item on the list is DELIVERANCE. “And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” God, being holy, will never lead us to do wrong. That’s our choice. I like the way the NIV Study Bible explains this verse: “Do not lead us into trials so deep that they would tempt us to be unfaithful to you. God does not tempt (in the sense of enticing us to sin).” Rather, we ask God to deliver us from the evil that surrounds us, so it won’t it affect us, inside or out.
     
Honor. Submission. Trust. Forgiveness. Deliverance.
     
And, remember, you have all the credit you need—Jesus' signature, written in His blood, is already on the check.
     
What’s on your grocery list?
     
Father, remind me to keep my prayers simple.  Amen.

More tea: Read Matthew 6:5–13

Coming to God with expectancy

Guest Blog from Patty Kyrlach

Patty Kyrlach

His power at work in us can do far more than we dare ask or imagine. - Ephesians 3:21 CEV

The wedding guests had been in party-hearty mode for a couple of days. When the maitre d' stepped forward to taste the wine, his eyes popped like a cork.  After a reception went on this long, the caterers usually set out the Hawaiian Chablis—the cheap stuff. But this was some sort of pricey cabernet sauvignon.  Surprise! The host had saved the best wine for last.

The New Testament is full of people who got more than they bargained for. A woman went to a well for a drink, but walked away with living water and a new life. A beggar asked for alms and got his sight instead. Peter just wanted to catch some fish but wound up leaving his nets to fish for souls. Saul was on his way to stamp out the Jesus freaks when he had an encounter with Jesus himself, changing his name and his mission statement.

Our expectations get tired, jaded, and grumpy. They were always rather limited anyway. So
as we come to God today, let's come expecting the unexpected - "far more than we dare ask or imagine."

    Come as a little child.
    Come with a smile of eagerness.
    Greet each new day as a special gift of love.
    Even if you're old and gray,
    Though you've come a long, hard way,
    Come ready to sing and play and dance,
    Ready to risk and take a chance.
    For of such is the kingdom.
    For of such is the kingdom.
                   -Avery and Marsh

Lord, we're ready to be surprised. Ready to expand our thinking. Ready to believe that if we ask for a loaf of bread, you won't give us a stone. "Ready to risk and take a chance. For of such is the kingdom. . . ."

In Jesus' name, we pray with expectancy. . .

. . .for all who are battling serious illnesses and all the devoted care-givers 
. . .for those who grieve the loss of dear spouses and other loved ones  
. . .for all who are facing difficult family situations   
. . .for pastors and lay leaders dealing with discord in their churches  
. . .for all who may feel discouraged, stuck, or even hopeless   
. . .for all who feel overwhelmed

Lord, in each situation we look for you to do amazing things. We await your surprise answers.

Patty Kyrlach writes for Cookies & Milk, a children’s page in several SW Ohio newspapers, and also serves as design editor for the page, now in its eighth year of publication. She is Director of Communications for the Writing Academy, a small but personable writer's group that holds an annual retreat in Minneapolis. She writes mythic tales, children’s non-fiction, drama, songs, poetry, curriculum, and lately—her bloomin’ blog: "Stark Raving Mythopath"

GUEST BLOGGER: KATHLEEN BOLDUC ON PRAYER

 

In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life. James 1:21 (The Message)
     
     
This morning I bring my Bible, journal, and cup of tea into the garden. A light mist hangs over the fields across the road, and I am surprised to see tender green shoots of corn forming rows where yesterday there was nothing but dirt. All around me, Dame’s Rocket thrusts purple and white spires toward the skies like holy hands reaching toward heaven. Boxwood shimmers greenly in the breeze, and a yellow weed at the fence line bursts into flame as a sunbeam peeks through the clouds.
           
The words of Psalm 63, my reading this morning, reverberate through my mind. “O God, thou art my God, I seek thee, my soul thirsts for thee; my flesh faints for thee, as in a dry and weary land where no water is.”
     
In the sanctuary of this garden the desert landscape of my heart—that dry and dusty place where worry and anxiety about my son, Joel, who has autism, sometimes threaten to overwhelm me—turns to an oasis of green, flowing with streams of living water. Prayer rises up within me as praise.
     
No wonder poets and songwriters often refer to the garden as a metaphor for prayer.
   
And yet, gardens are not always lush and beautiful. Think of the garden in the midst of drought. Parched plants wilt. Green leaves turn to brown. What was abounding in exuberance just weeks before suddenly sags under the weight of cloudless skies with no promise of rain in sight. Nothing will revive the drought-stricken garden like a soft, gentle, soaking rain.
   
It is no different for the gardens of our hearts. Sometimes, in the words of my son Joel at the end of a major melt-down, “We need Jesus!”   
   
As the mother of a son with autism, I was first drawn more deeply into prayer because of an intense thirst for God’s presence. I was desert-thirsty, parched for the living waters Jesus promises in John 4:14: “. . . but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
     
The more I spend time with God the more the garden of my heart blooms with an unquenchable love for the things of the Spirit. I need God’s presence just as my garden needs the rain.
  
Take some time to be quiet and meet with God. Listen to what rises up from within. Have a conversation with God. You may have questions to ask him. Ask, expecting to receive an answer. Tell Him what’s on your heart. Be honest with Him. Bare your vulnerable places. And then, once you’ve emptied your heart, simply listen. He has much to say to you.

Lord, I thank you and praise you for your living waters. Open me up, Lord. Open me up to your thirst-quenching presence. Water me, Lord. Water me.


* Where do you most often meet God? Nature? Bible study? Service? Worship? Journaling?

* How might you establish a pattern of going there to pray on a consistent basis?

* In what way do you most often pray? Do you feel “pot-bound”? Might God be calling you to a new prayer avenue?

* What kind of prayer will help you more often to be aware of Jesus’ presence with you?

Excerpted from The Spiritual Art of Raising Children with Disabilities (Judson Press, 2014)
Used with permission.


The mother of a 29-year-old son with autism, Kathleen Bolduc is a spiritual director in Oxford, Ohio, and the author of several books on faith and disability, including The Spiritual Art of Raising Children with Disabilities and Autism & Alleluias.  Kathy blogs at www.specialneedsparenting.net. 

To visit Kathleen Bolduc's Amazon page, click on her picture. 

How can I pray for you?

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. – Hebrews 4:16 (NIV)
      
      
One day as I was scrolling down my Facebook page, I noticed a few prayer requests sprinkled in with the posts. As I usually do, I bowed my head and whispered a prayer – right there at my computer, even though I felt the pressure of a demanding do-list.
       
“Wouldn’t it be nice to have all the prayer requests on one page?” I thought. It would save time because on a busy day, I could skip the social stuff and go straight to the prayer requests.
      
So I set up “Michele’s Prayer Page” on Facebook. Every day I ask, “How can I pray for you today?” Some days there are no requests. Some days there are several.
      
It’s been a humbling experience as folks open their hearts and their lives, sharing their concerns, pain and grief. What does it take to pray? Not even a minute to raise that request to the throne of grace. If there are seven requests on a particular day, what are seven minutes out of 24 hours?
      
I feel honored and privileged to pray for others.
      
As I look back on the past several years, I realize God has been calling me to a prayer ministry. My daughter occasionally calls me with a concern – usually for a friend – and asks me to “do my thing.” My son’s girlfriend has texted me with requests, asking me to “talk to the Man upstairs.”
      
I’ve prayed with hurting people in supermarket aisles, over the phone, in a church hallway, even at a Senior Expo – wherever I happen to be when I sense the Spirit prodding me, “Pray with her (or him). Now.”
      
I love the phrasing in The Message of Jesus’ words as recorded in Matthew 18:20: “When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.”
      
Wow! When we pray, God is right there with us – in the supermarket, in your kitchen, on the street, wherever you are when you wrap your arms around a hurting person and pray with them.
      
Sometimes I don’t know how to pray. That’s when I remember Paul’s words to the Romans: “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God” (8:26–27).
      
Sometimes I feel frustrated when I hear of a need and can’t respond in a tangible way, such as donating money or goods, or giving my time to help. But then God reminds me: Prayer is one the three most powerful forces in the world – right up there with God’s Word and the Holy Spirit.
      
All I have to do is ask, “How can I pray for you today?”
      
Teach me to pray, Lord! Amen.
Special-Tea: Read Luke 11:1–13


I invite you to visit “Michele’s Prayer Page” on Facebook, post a request and pray for the needs listed there. A team of prayer warriors prays every day for the needs posted there. 

My prayer chair

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. -- James 4:8 (NJKV)

As with every New Year, I started 2011 with a list of things I want to accomplish. But of all the goals, one takes precedence: to keep my daily appointment with God, reading His Word and talking with Him in prayer.
     
During the last two months of 2010 my quiet time was usurped first by NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), then by weariness. Instead of getting up each morning and heading to my prayer chair, cup of tea in hand, I headed for my computer to tap out my word count for the day. I’d wanted to write 50,000 words in my historical novel, but I petered out mid-month at 16,308. I’m not sure what happened—a flare-up of my carpal tunnel syndrome, the holidays, the inflamed nerve root in my neck, fatigue, discouragement, all of the above—but by December 31, I felt far from God. And I knew that He hadn’t moved (Hebrews 13:5).
     
I’d come to the place where the psalmist cried out, “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, O God” (Psalm 42:1NLT).
     
So since Jan. 1, I’ve been following a “Read the Bible in One Year” schedule, reading one chapter a day in the New Testament and two to three in the Old Testament. I’ve been keeping a SOAP (Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer) journal, writing down a Scripture verse to meditate on, noting my observations (what it says) and how it applies to me, and scripting a brief prayer. I read the New Testament chapter in the morning before work and the Old Testament reading when I come home.
     
It helps that I work half days. It also helps that by the time I come home, the pain caused by the inflamed nerve root in my neck drives me to the love seat for the rest of the afternoon. What better way to spend that “be still” time than to “be still and know that He is God” (Psalm 46:10)? The stillness allows both body and soul to heal.
     
On Jan. 2, I noted Genesis 6:8,9 in my SOAP Journal: “But Noah found grace [favor] in the eyes of the Lord . . . Noah was a just and righteous man, blameless in his [evil] generation; Noah walked [in habitual fellowship] with God” (Amplified).

I saw a connection: Noah found favor with God because he made a habit of spending time with Him. He made fellowship with God a priority, which helped him to become righteous and blameless even though the world around him was rampant with evil.
     
We, too, live in a time when evil is rampant. How important is your prayer chair?
    
O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My souls thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 61:1 NKJV).
       

Special-Tea: Read Genesis 6:8,9

Hacked!

The LORD is my light and my salvation? whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life?of whom shall I be afraid? – Psalm 27:1 (NIV)
     
I knew something was up when I logged into my HughesNet account Tuesday morning and read an email from Yahoo that I’d reset my password. I thought for a moment, trying to recall anything I may have done that would have inadvertently changed it. No, nothing. “If you didn’t authorize this change,” Yahoo wrote, “click here.” I clicked.
     
Not only had my password been reset, but 200-plus emails that had been in my Inbox were gone, as were all the emails that had been in the Sent box. Not good. Then someone forwarded me an email that I supposedly sent, asking me, “What’s up?” The subject line read, “SAD NEWS from MICHELE HUEY.” The next thing I knew, emails were flowing in, all wondering the same thing, all with the same forwarded message: I’d been robbed at gunpoint in Spain and needed money to get home. 
     
Now, the fact that the email I supposedly sent was one long, run-on sentence; the grammar, punctuation and other mechanics were horrendous; and the syntax atrocious, should have been a dead giveaway. Surely I’m a better writer than that. Which is why I received no less than a dozen phone calls and at least two dozen emails about it.
     
Nosing around further, I discovered that another email account had been set up, supposedly mine, but misspelling my name. My profile had been changed (I am now a 22-year-old New York City gal), and my address book was empty.
     
I’d been hacked. Everyone whose email address had been in that address book received the same damsel-in-distress email.
     
There went my plans for the day, as I spent it changing passwords, answering phone calls and emails, and ignoring a demanding, intimidating do-list. At one point, I felt desperation and frustration sinking their claws into my spirit. I’d had emails regarding financial matters in there. What if the hacker had gotten sensitive information and my accounts were now compromised?
     
Now, I’m not one to see the devil behind every tree, but when things start flying in left and right, I know ol’ Beelzebub is cranking up the heat. There had been several crisis points over the past few months, but this one was a real doozy. I must be doing something right.
     
As my panic mushroomed, a Scripture verse popped into my mind. I grabbed my Bible and opened it to Psalm 46 and read—prayed—nice and loud so the enemy would know where I stood: “God is my refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore I will NOT fear . . .”
     
The panic abated. It would be all right. I knew Who was in control.
   
Folks who know me know that had I really been robbed at gunpoint—in Spain or elsewhere—I wouldn’t ask for money. I’d ask for prayer. It is, after all, along with the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, the strongest power on earth, in cyberspace—and everywhere else.
   
Dear God, when things come flying in left and right, and the panic begins to rise, remind me to be still and know that You are God. Amen.

Special-Tea: Read Psalm 46

The pickled beets bomber

For he is God’s servant to do you good. – Romans 13:4 (NIV)

Last summer I promised a colleague in Colorado a jar of home-canned pickled beets. The only problem was getting it to Colorado Springs from western Pennsylvania. I didn’t want to take the chance mailing or shipping the glass quart jar, no matter how well wrapped and packaged. I still remember the time my son spilled beet juice on a pair of new white sneakers.

So when the opportunity came to fly to Colorado Springs on business last month, I saw a way to fulfill my promise. After wrapping bubble wrap around the jar—twice—and securing it with packing tape, I sealed it in a gallon-size freezer bag. Then I carefully placed it in my carry-on.

“Are you sure you can take it on the plane?” said my husband, who can be a real wet blanket sometimes. “Did you check the airline regulations online?”

“Yes, and I didn’t see anything about home-canned pickled beets.”

He raised a wary eyebrow.

“OK, OK,” I said. “I’ll look again.”

So after supper I did a more-than-cursory scan into what I could and could not take on the plane.

“Well?” hubby asked when he came in from his evening chores.

“I still didn’t see anything that told me I couldn’t,” I said. “If baby food’s allowed, why wouldn’t pickled beets be? I wrapped it up good and tight. Let me show you.”

It wasn’t until I placed the bubble-wrapped, taped and plastic-baggie-sealed jar on the counter that I saw the problem. Until then, I admit, I was just being stubborn, contrary, and, OK, a little bit rebellious. I wanted to take those pickled beets to my colleague, and, by golly, come the Secretary of Defense and the entire Department of Homeland Security—I was going to.

Until I saw the package.

It did look suspicious. I had visions of alarms and SWAT teams and bomb squads converging on me and my jar of home-canned pickled beets—and me getting escorted from the airport in handcuffs, with the headlines “Police Arrest Pickled Beets Bomber.”

So I left the beets at home—not without a little resentment and complaining about how our freedoms were being taken away one by one.

After I cleared security (they always have to wave that wand thingie over my CPAP machine to make sure it isn’t a you-know-what), I got on the transit to the terminal. As I looked around the crowded car, and saw all the baggage people carried, it hit me: I’m safe.

What I saw as a hindrance was meant to protect me.

St. Paul advised the Roman believers to “obey the government, for God is the one who put it there” (Romans 13:4 NLT). And the Roman government, in those days, wasn’t Christian-friendly.

No government is perfect. It is, after all, run by humans. And those humans need our prayers.

Thursday is the National Day of Prayer. For one day, let us replace our complaints with prayer. For “blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD” (Psalm 33:12 NIV).

Thank you, God, for those who have taken the responsibility to govern. Bless them with wisdom, discernment, and integrity. Amen.

Special-Tea: Romans 13:1–7

Click here for more information about the National Day of Prayer.