#2711 (6/23) SUNDAY SPECIAL: "Eros Isn’t Enough - We Need All Four Loves"

ATTENTION:  SCROLL DOWN  to get TODAY'S article entitled in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. PLEASE be sure to note the various PRAYER REQUESTS listed BEFORE and AFTER the posted article. (NOTE the list of DAILY prayer requests for the persecuted church.)  They ALL deserve  your intercession.

PRAYER ALERT:

URGENT: Pray for easing of tensions with  Iran, that further  escalation is prevented.

 1) Continue to pray for the many who are suffering from the tornadoes that swept through Okalhoma and the region the other weekend.

2 - Pray for the continued violent crisis taking place in Venezuela and for America’s and other Latin American countries to respond appropriately;

3  PRAY also that our leaders will finally implement an effective border policy that will prevent these incidents in the future.

4)  Pray for U.S. Pastor David Lin in China (see "Something Serious Is Happening In That Dark Place" -  Tony Perkins, Washington Watch, April 09, 2019; https://www.frc.org/updatearticle/20190409/something-serious)

5) Leah Sharibu is a courageous Nigerian Christian teen girl held captive by Boko Haram. The Islamic militia is threatening to kill or enslave her because she won't renounce Jesus Christ. Pray that the UN will intervene in her release. [2/13 – This day marked ONE YEAR since her kidnapping.]

ATTENTION!

DECLARATION FOR LIFE: Please be sure to sign this at:  https://www.focusonthefamily.com/pro-life

PERSONAL UPDATE: 6/10 Note my latest entry in the JOURNAL section on the right side of this page.

6/23- PRAY for the President and others in leadership
 (1 Tim. 2:1-3)

Heavenly Father,

 I pray that you will guide President Trump to seek YOU with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength in the New Year. May he act with wisdom and strength against those whose actions would bring harm to this nation and the world now and for generations to come. I pray that you would strengthen his marriage and deepen the love he and his wife Melania share. Pray that you give them wisdom to speak into the life of their son Barron. Please protect him and his family and others in our leadership from physical harm that any might seek to do against them. May all that our President does bring honor and glory to YOU and cause him to draw in closer relationship with you. I ask this in the powerful name of Jesus Christ, Amen. P.S. - 3/27: I just finished reading the newly released book, "The Faith of Donald J. Trump" that the public library had and sent to me. Greatly recommend you read it to better understand our 45th President.

(from Intercessors For America) As *the Lord Leads, please pray ...

*For guidance for the president and national security officials as they work to ease the tensions between the U.S. and Iran and work out an appropriate response to Iran’s recent aggression.
For President Trump and his staff as they prepare for the G20 summit this week in Japan.
*For wisdom for President Trumpent as he prepares for his meetings at the G20 summit in Japan next week. Pray esp. for wisdom for his meetings with the leader of China, Russia, and Turkey.
*That God would grant the president rest this weekend and safety as he travels next week.
*For unity for Congressional leaders as they work to resolve the current issues with immigration law.
*For guidance for the president as he continues to tackle complex issues such as border security and immigration.
*For wisdom and guidance for President Trump and for members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who are working on the important issues of immigration.

*For wisdom for Secretary Mnuchin, Trade Representative Lighthizer and others negotiating on behalf of the U.S. as they navigate what seem to be new renegotiating “speedbumps” in the trade talks with China.
*For wisdom for President Trump, Cabinet members and advisers determining the best course of action for the United States in Venezuela.
*For all the negotiations being undertaken on trade with many of America’s trading partners.
*For wisdom for the president as he faces the probability of another round of investigations by Congress.
*For God to guide the president and make clear the decisions that he should make related to foreign policy.

*For safe travel for members of the administration who are making trips abroad.

*For the military leaders of the U.S. and Turkey to come to a working arrangement over America’s departure from Syria and the protection of the Kurds.

*For unity in Congress as they work to solve the many pressing issues that face the nation.
*For guidance for President Trump  as he works on a variety of issues, that God’s will would be accomplished through him.

     BE Prepared TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST ABORTION 

(...because ALL Babies Matter! - http://www.lifenews.com/2017/03/01/why-do-unborn-babies-matter-just-because-they-are/ : Go to: LIFE Training Institute - http://prolifetraining.com/resources/five-minute-11/  

Be Prepared TO ENGAGE WITH THE PC CULTURE:Go to:"Tactics" - 

http://townhall.com/columnists/mikeadams/2016/04/29/tactics-n2154983

"Don't Argue the Exceptions - Beating Bad Arguments For Abortion and Transgenderism" - by John Stonestreet, Breakpoint.org, May 25, 2017; http://breakpoint.org/2017/05/breakpoint-dont-argue-exceptions/

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"EROS ISN'T ENOUGH - WE NEED ALL FOUR  LOVES" - by John Stonestreet and  G. Shane Morris, Breakpoint.org, May 3, 2019; http://www.breakpoint.org/2019/05/breakpoint-eros-isnt-enough/

      In a recent opinion piece at Business Insider, Shana Lebowitz proclaimed, “Divorce isn’t a failure…In fact, it could mean your marriage was a success!” According to the relationship experts cited by Lebowitz, the goal of marriage isn’t that two people become one flesh, or create a family, or even share lifelong love. No, the purpose of marriage, these so-called experts claim, is that we grow as individuals. Even marriages that end in divorce can accomplish that goal!
   If the goal of marriage is looking out for number one rather than two becoming one, then it makes sense that calling it quits could be a success story. But, I doubt that the abandoned spouses and children of even the self-improved would agree with that new way of thinking. This sort of sad nonsense can only be written in a culture where marriage has been redefined and reimagined around an already redefined and reimagined idea of love.

   Ideas have consequences, and bad ideas have victims. Individual lives and entire cultures are devastated whenever love is reduced to something less than God intended, much less when it is redefined as selfishness. The love, or more accurately, the loves God created for us are way bigger than most of us understand.

   Back in 2013 when Sean McDowell and I wrote our book on so-called “same-sex marriage,” I asked a friend to write the epilogue about what he, as an individual who struggled with same-sex attraction, needed from the church. “Don’t move the goalposts,” he wrote, and pretend the Scriptures aren’t clear on this issue. But, he added, if we are going to ask gays and lesbians to forgo sexual intimacy (which we should), we must not withhold friendship and family from them.

   Behind his remarks is C. S. Lewis’ life-changing book, “The Four Loves”—a book I think is more relevant now than ever. In it, Lewis identifies four types of love: affection (or the Greek word, storge), friendship or brotherly love (Greek, phileo), sexual love (or eros), and sacrificial love (agape, what older Bible translations call “charity”).

   Of course, Christians believe that marriage is the only rightful place for eros, but Lewis also makes it clear that affection, friendship and especially sacrificial love—the kind Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 13—should define all of our relationships, including and especially marriage.
  
  This  is why pornography is so devastating. Beneath this cultural epidemic is a terrible mis-definition of eros, which not only twists inward the good God-given eros that can define marital relationships, but it corrupts all other loves as well.
   I say “twist inward” because erotic love is intended by God to turn our attention outward, toward a captivation with the other. Think about it: Eros is literally life-giving. It’s what creates babies and families. Thus it can be said that erotic love is personal, but it’s far from private. By design it draws us out of ourselves, toward another person, toward her family, and Lord willing, toward new little lives who are the result of that love, who then take their place in the larger community.
   Pornography not only corrupts and twists eros, but also phileo and storge as well. When the relationship between men and women becomes as hyper-sexualized as it is in our culture, men and women can’t be friends or show normal signs of simple affection and caring. Today, even the relationships between men and men, and women and women have been hypersexualized, which places a queer question mark over normal, healthy same-sex friendships that should be based on phileo and storge.

   Re-orienting sexual love so that it serves both phileo and storge, and is sanctified by agape as Scripture teaches, isn’t just a recipe for a joyful and long-lasting marriage. It’s a recipe for healthy communities, families and friendships. Not to mention, it aims for things so much higher than “personal growth.”

     Every relationship we have calls us outside of ourselves and invites us to show forth the image of the God who not only chose love for His own name, but put so much of it in His world that one Greek word simply wouldn’t do.

[italics and colored emphasis mine]

RESOURCES
The Four Loves- C. S. Lewis | HarperOne - https://colsoncenter.christianbook.com/the-four-loves-c-s-lewis/9780062565396/pd/565396?event=ESRCG

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PRAYER MATTERS:

"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against 

the disorder of the world. -  Karl Barth

"Prayer is inviting God into a seemingly impossible situation and trusting/resting in His love and grace to accomplish His perfect will in His perfect time and for His greatest glory. Intercession is  one of the great privileges AND responsibilities for EVERY believer."- Stan

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“INTERCESSORS ARE THE RUDDER” – A WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT - Wanda Alger, June 28th, 2017; https://www.getamericapraying.com/blog/I was recently given a word by my good friend, Bill Yount. His word greatly encouraged me as an intercessor. Working for Intercessors for America, I soon realized it was not just a word for me, but for all who have been praying for our nation, wondering if their prayers are truly making any difference. Bill told me, “I kept seeing you as a small rudder on a huge ship. Hidden, but giving guidance. Although it seemed slow it was turning the whole ship. Patience was needed to see the impact of your…ministry. I sense the Lord saying, ‘Don’t jump ship! I’ve made you the rudder!’ ” I was immediately touched in my spirit by this encouragement, knowing that our seemingly small place in prayer was having a great impact.

James 3:4 talks about the power of a small rudder to steer a large ship. In this scripture about the power of our tongue, consider the power of prophetic intercession! In the Forerunner Commentary on this verse we read, “…rudders manipulate the course of immense ocean vessels with a slight movement of a pilot’s hand. Since it is underwater and aft, the rudder of a ship does its work UNSEEN. A passenger is ignorant of its movements most of the time. Yet, when it is in proper working order, the rudder holds more power over the ship than the wind. The wind will blow, toss, even destroy the ship’s rigging, but the rudder guides the ship exactly where it directs.”

This is God’s promise to the intercessors in this hour of national turbulence. Don’t stop praying! Your prayers have great power to turn the ship! Continue praying, interceding, and discerning the workings and movements of the Holy Spirit, being faithful to God’s commands. As we come together to declare God’s faithfulness, this nation will, once again, head in the direction that God intends. Don’t give up and don’t give in. Regardless of the winds of adversity and the fires of the enemy, God’s people have a power that cannot be matched. Let us join in faith and continue to pray and speak of God’s faithfulness in order to bring God’s people and this nation into the fullness of God’s plans. Note this additional encouragement from God’s word:

Colossians 2:15 – “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (ESV). 

Psalm 33:8-11 – “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. The Lord foils the plans of the nations; He thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.” 

Wanda Alger, IFA Field Correspondent

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) Short of that, we should not be saying "God Bless America"but instead "God be merciful towards America!"

PRAY FOR OUR LEADERS:  1) Pray for President Trump and his advisers, that they would select Godly leaders at the federal level who will be accountable to do an excellent job (or be fired!) ; that he would seek God's wisdom and be enabled to lead our country effectively in the years ahead; and 2) Pray our leaders at every level of government will Spirit-filled, leading us with Godly wisdom and integrity; that they will  only pass legislation and enact policies that will benefit Americans today as well as future generations and NOT do any lasting harm.

SUPREME COURT: PRAY that the justices will only hand down decisions that are Constitutionally sound and in the best interests of our country now and for future generations.

World-Wide Prayer Requests:

 PRAISE GOD for the continuing recent successes against ISIS! Pray that coalition forces will be able to  fully destroy the leadership and infrastructure of ISIS.

*For believers in Syria and in this region as they navigate so much uncertainty. May they remain faithful to God through these most difficult times as He sustains them with peace and His Spirit's strength.

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Praying Through the Open Doors World Watch List for persecuted believers:https://www.opendoorsusa.org/take-action/pray/monthly-prayer-calendar/

 In Nigeria (ranked #12 on the 2019 World Watch List), our brothers and sisters face increasing persecution on multiple fronts, including deadly attacks by Islamic extremists and extreme discrimination by Muslim families and communities.This month, we invite you to join us as we  stand in prayer for our Nigerian family.
June 23 | EGYPT - A non-biblical view of women is severely damaging the church in what a study labeled as the “worst country in the Arab world to be a young woman.” Praise God that local girls’ ministries are emerging.
*Names changed to protect identities

STANDING STRONG THROUGH THE STORM - OpenDoorsUSA.org

 At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them.- 2 Tim. 4:16                                               

SPEAK ON BEHALF OF THOSE WHO SUFFER

The Apostle Paul knew exactly what it was like to be alone, to be deserted by all who called themselves “brothers” and “sisters.” A former colleague who has done considerable travel among the persecuted says, “It is hard to believe that Christians are the largest persecuted group in the world today. But it is even more difficult to believe that this is so seldom mentioned in our gatherings and church services. More Christians know the names of their favorite actors than their fellow believers who are in prison.”

He continues, “With every trip something in my heart breaks as I hear the echoes of suffering:

I remember the echoes of an Egyptian mother as she shared how her young boy was stuck in a haystack because she refused to deny Jesus.

I remember the sounds of weeping as fellow students in Indonesia shared how Sariman, their co-student, was hacked to death.

I remember the cries of anguish as we walked from church to church that was burned to the ground on the island of Lombok.

I remember the tears of Rebecca in Iran as she showed the picture of her father who was stabbed to death for sharing the gospel.

I remember the voice of Pastor Daniel in Vietnam as he shared how he was chained to the ground for six months.

I remember the fear of Grace from Sudan as she shared how her church was attacked and her friend was shot through the head.

Oh, I remember the cries of Caleb in Eritrea as he shared with tears how two dear friends were executed in front of him because of their faith.

And I remember the tears of Joy in the southern Philippines as she shared how her fiancé was shot to death in their church in Mindanao.

But, most all, I remember the deafening sounds of silence every time I return home.

RESPONSE

How can I be silent today? How can I not speak on behalf of those who suffer? How can I desert those that belong to the same body that I belong to and who desperately need the encouragement of my interven