The Bulletin Board:(Please SCROLL DOWN this page to find the article titled on this post in LARGE CAPITAL LETTERS. Thank you.)
PRAY FOR AMERICA: THANK GOD for His many blessings on America throughout it's history. May we then ask that AMERICA once again be a blessing TO GOD, by once again submitting to HIS will in our affairs - both personal and national - that He may truly "heal our land." (2 Chron. 7:14)
NOW THAT THE
ELECTION IS OVER:1) Let's be
praying that God showed us grace in giving us representatives who
will sincerely work to DO NO HARM to us and future generations. Let's also be
praying that should He have chosen to give us those who WILL do us harm, that
He extends mercy to us now and for the years ahead. His will is now done as far as the results we have. Now it's
up to us to be diligent to hold those elected accountable!, and 2) Let's be
praying that the present lame-duck session in Congress will not be allowed to
pass legislation that will do harm to our country as they can easily do. (See post #1051 - 'Return of the Zombie).
URGENT PRAYER REQUEST: Save Christian Mom Asia Bibi from Execution - A Christian mom has been sentenced to death in Pakistan for her faith. Asia Bibi was falsely accused of “blasphemy” – speaking against the prophet Muhammad. Now this wife and mother of five will hang for her Christian faith.She would be the first woman executed under Pakistan’s Shariah blasphemy law.This is the ultimate human rights violation. We’re mobilizing our international affiliate – the European Centre for Law and Justice – and its partner in Pakistan to stop this atrocity. Add your name to our letter to the government of Pakistan demanding Asia Bibi’s freedom.Go to http://aclj.org/persecuted-church/save-christian-mom-asia-bibi-from-execution; please add your signature to mine and over 35,000 others AND pray for Asia Bibi.
U.S. Supreme Court has Reconvened: Let's be praying WHENEVER the Court is in session as their decisions can have impact on GENERATIONS to come. The fact that they may have an opportunity this session to actually vote on same-sex "marriage" where it has the same impact on this country that Roe v. Wade did should be motivating enough!
ELECTION DAY, NOV. 4th. Let's begin praying that the American people will have wisdom in voting into office those who will lead our communities and nation with integrity and wisdom from God and DO NO HARM!.
WORLD-WDE PRAYER REQUESTS:
Friday, Sept. 26th - Two Year Anniversary of Pastor Saeed Abedini's Imprisonment in Iran! - [NOTE TODAY'S POST!]
We need to continue to pray for Pastor Saeed - that his health will improve and that he will be re-united with his wife and two young children who live in the United States. [If you have not yet, please sign the petition for his clemency- http://beheardproject.com/saeed#sign]
PRAY ALSO : - For comfort and peace for Saeed’s wife and children here in the U.S.\
- For a strong witness and testimony from Pastor Abedini in the prison where God has placed him
- For Christians around the world who are being persecuted for their faith in Christ
- For leadership from the White House and State Department in defending the freedoms of Abedini and other Americans
"Not Everyone Happy with Religious Ambassador Pick," Caitlin Burke,July 29, 2014;
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2014/July/Obama-Taps-Rabbi-for-Religious-Freedom-Ambassador/ "..An estimated 76 percent of the world's population live in countries where religious freedom is restricted. Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States must take a strong stand against those violations. "Around the world repressive governments and extremists groups have been crystal clear about what they stand against, so we have to be equally clear about what we must stand for," Kerry said. "We stand for greater freedom, for greater tolerance, greater respect, for rights of freedom of expression and freedom of conscience," he said A key development in the 2013 report is the large number of displaced members of religious communities, including entire Christian communities in Syria and Iraq that have been forced to flee their homes because of persecution."
SIGN A PETITION TO THE UN FOR THE PROTECTION OF CHRISTIANS :" The church in Syria has shone brightly for 2,000 years. But today violence and persecution threatens its survival. Thanks to an incredible response, Open Doors is helping 8,000 families in Syria survive each month. We believe the signatures and prayers of 500,000 people will encourage the UN to act and protect the rights and lives of all Syrians, especially the vulnerable Christian community." Go to: http://lp.opendoorsusa.org/emails/nov-13-action/save-syria.html?utm_source=action&utm_medium=email&utm_content=button&utm_campaign=november
Of course, let's CONTINUE PRAYING FOR AN END TO THE EBOLA CRISIS IN WEST AFRICA AND THE HEALING OF ALL THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN INFECTED.
PRAY FOR THE CRISIS HAPPENING NOW IN IRAQ (see post #907) Pray that allied forces will be able to drive the group ISIS back (see post #964)
/PRAYER ALERT- UKRAINE: As the Lord leads, please pray:
*For God to suppress President Putin’s ambitions to "restore" the Soviet empire.
*For the people of Ukrainen [esp. for the church 'to be THE church'] as they wait to see if the Russian troops will advance.
*About President Obama and to use wisdom in crafting our foreign policy, and wisdom for his advisers.
Continue to Pray for EGYPT - Continue to pray for the tense situation in Egypt and especially for the Christian believers who are being targeted with violence by Muslim Brotherhood members.]
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"It's Not 'Who Won?' But 'What Do We Do?' - LESSONS FROM THE ELECTION" - By: John Stonestreet| Breakpoint.org:; November 6, 2014; http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/26356?spMailingID=9862078&spUserID=MTMyMjM2ODE5OQS2&spJobID=420527592&spReportId=NDIwNTI3NTkyS0
So the Republicans took the Senate. What’s next? The answer depends more on you and me, not them.
Look, there’s no doubt if you’re on the conservative side of politics, Tuesday was a good night. If you’re on the more liberal side, it wasn’t. But whether you’re cleaning up after celebrating or drying your tears, I would urge you to remember what Chuck Colson used to say—salvation won’t come on Air Force One. Or for this particular election, let’s just say that salvation won’t ring out from the Senate Majority Leader’s gavel.
Politics matter. And to all of you who exercised your democratic right—and as Chuck said—your Christian duty to vote, I commend you. And let's remember that entering politics is a high calling for many Christians. [A great reminder to PRAY for all those seeking to serve Christ in serving in public office.] They do the work of Christ just like any who are living out the Gospel in their day to day lives. [Amen.]
But we must not fall for what the French philosopher and theologian Jacques Ellul called “the political illusion”; the idea that our problems are mostly political ones, and so, therefore, are the solutions; that somehow we'll be able to build a New Jerusalem merely through government and politics. Politics alone cannot solve our deepest problems. Remember, most of the time, politics is downstream from culture. Culture shapes politics, and our culture is shaped by “the cult,” that is, a society’s belief system.
As Chuck would say, when the cult is sick, the culture is sick. And that’s precisely where the Church comes in—being salt and light, influencing our society’s worldview by the way we live out our faith in our daily lives and in the public square.
What comes at us from the important cultural centers of Hollywood and Washington DC matters of course, and many Christians are called to serve in those arenas.[A good reminder to pray for them] But all of us are responsible for culture, and not just to yell at what’s thrown down on us from the top of culture. Culture is most effectively shaped from the middle, not from the top.
When it comes to religious liberty, our greatest threats will not be coming from Washington, DC, but from well-meaning, but misguided voices on school boards and civil rights commissions and in City Hall: in other words, our neighbors! People we can relate to and care for and persuade.
Poverty, prisoners, community brokenness, education problems—these things won’t be solved by another government program, but by Christians living redemptively in our own neighborhoods and our towns.
Today I want to challenge us first and foremost to look out our front windows. What skills and influence can we put to work for the Kingdom and for our neighbors?
Here are four questions that I’m challenging believers to ask as I travel about the country—and I should credit my friend Gabe Lyons, who also asked these questions at a Q conference last year:
First, what are the good things that we can protect and promote and celebrate? Christians should be for things, not just against things. We should be for truth and goodness and beauty and freedom and human dignity. Any time we can celebrate those things we need to do so.
Second, what’s missing that we can contribute? What’s not in our local communities and our own backyards that needs to be there? Take marriage, for example. It’s slowly disappearing across America as fewer and fewer people are getting married. What can we do to give marriage back to the world?
Third, what evil can we stop? Stopping evil is a necessary ingredient of loving our neighbors.
And fourth, what’s broken that we can fix and restore? It won’t take us long to find something that needs fixing in our communities. How are the children of prisoners doing? Can your church help ex-cons find a job as they seek to re-integrate into society?
So, what good can we promote, what gift can we give to our communities, what evil can we stop, and what brokenness can we mend? I dare say how we answer these questions will make a much bigger difference than what happens the next two years on Capitol Hill.
[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]
FURTHER READING AND INFORMATION
"The Great ‘Now What?’: Thoughts on Election" - Chuck Colson | BreakPoint.org | November 3, 2010; http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/breakpoint-commentaries-search/entry/13/15709
"Charles Colson on Politics and the Christian Faith: Four Sessions on the Boundaries Between God and Government, DVD" - Chuck Colson | Zondervan
God & Government - Chuck Colson | Zondervan | January 2007
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