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 each day's DAILY prayer requests for the persecuted church.)
Questions for Our New President
PRAYER ALERT:
*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)
*Pray for 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. [2/13/19 – This day marked ONE YEAR since her kidnapping.
PERSONAL UPDATE: 2/6 - Note my latest entry in the JOURNAL section on the right side of this page.
From the Presidential Prayer Team:https://www.presidentialprayerteam.org/daily-prayer-
FEBRUARY 7-*For God to be at work in every step of the process as the administration and Congress continue working on a relief bill.
*For the president to seek and do the will of God in each of his decisions this upcoming week.
*For healing and recovery for the nation and for the millions who have been impacted by the pandemic.
*For delivery and administration of the Covid vaccine nationwide.
"For protection for those most vulnerable to the virus.
*For God’s truth to prevail and His will be accomplished.
*For wisdom for the Coronavirus Task Force as they work to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
*For wisdom for the president and administration officials as they continue to lead in the midst of the pandemic and the ongoing economic impact that comes as a result.*For guidance for President Trump as he works on a variety of issues, that God’s will would be accomplished through him.
DECLARATION FOR LIFE: Please be sure to sign this at: https://www.focusonthefamily.com/pro-life
BE Prepared TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST ABORTION
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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"DOES THE SUPERBOWL REALLY MATTER ?"- Stan Guthrie, 02/4/21; https://www.breakpoint.org/does-the-super-bowl-really-matter/ [AS I SEE IT: As professional sports has become more and more politicized over the past few years (something not mentioned iin this article], I have increasingly lost interest in giving several hours at a time to watching any version of it. (I still hold up hope for college sports.) As a result, ironically, though I will not be working on a Sunday for the first time in over 5 years, I have no plans to watch "the big game" I have other things I would rather give 4 hours of my time to. - Stan]
Chicago sports fans have tasted the thrill of victory, especially recently. The Cubs (2016), White Sox (2005), Blackhawks (2010, 2013, 2015), Bulls (1991-1993, 1996-1998), and Bears (1985) have all hoisted the champion’s trophy. But too often Windy City aficionados have experienced the agony of defeat. As George Will has said, “Chicago Cubs fans are ninety percent scar tissue.” And yet despite our well-known habit of grumbling, we always come back for more.
Why is that? I believe that sports is not only in our genes. It’s also in our souls, in Chicago and around the world. But for all the time, money, and passion we pour into it, do big sports extravaganzas such as the Super Bowl really matter?
America’s love affair—or is it obsession?—with sports is well-documented. And it’s been with us for a while. On a harsh Saturday night in December 1929, Charles Sheldon walked into a jam-packed gymnasium in Kansas for a college basketball game, Religion News Service recounts. Sheldon, author of the iconic book “In His Steps,” later wrote, “I couldn’t help wondering, while looking at the big crowd and the athletic ten young men running around, how many church members would be in the fifty different churches at a prayer meeting on a night like that, and paying a dollar apiece for the privilege of going.”
As John Tunis, a successful author of sports-themed books, had already observed, sports are “a kind of national religion.” Sports have been likened to religion many times. Joseph Price of the University of Chicago Divinity School described sports as a form of civil religion in his book, “Rounding the Bases: Baseball and Religion in America” (Mercer University Press, 2006). Price notes that sports, like religion, build community and share life-shaping myths. “There is also something fundamentally human about trying to secure a victory, as passing as it might be,” Price told UChicago Magazine. “Theologian Michael Novak pointed out that the experience of defeat in a sport is a way to rehearse how one will deal with death. Issues of life and death are dramatized in a timeframe of sports competition that reflects questions of ultimacy. And that’s fundamentally a religious question.”
Those of us who live and die with our teams certainly can relate. But is all this sports passion healthy? And more to the point, is it Christian? Writing in Themelios, Los Angeles pastor and professor Jeremy R. Treat says yes, if we don’t idolize sports. Unfortunately, too many fans—short for fanatics—do just that.
“[M]any today look to sport for that which people traditionally found in religion,” Treat writes. “Sports are religious in nature; they are a vestige of transcendence in what Charles Taylor has called ‘the malaise of immanence.’ Peter Berger argues that in the face of such a secularized, disenchanted society, play can function as a ‘signal of transcendence.’ When a player is ‘in the zone’—what sociologists call ‘flow’—they are having a spiritual experience that begins with their physical body but connects them to something beyond the physical realm. And this is true not only for the athlete, but for the fan as well. As Allen Guttman says, ‘many sports spectators experience something akin to worship.’”
And yet with another Super Bowl (the LVth edition, by the way) right around the corner, America seemingly has been re-evaluating its long-lasting love affair with professional sports during our politically charged pandemic. Nielsen says television ratings for the National Football League have fallen 7 percent, and ad revenues are likely headed in the same direction. Other leagues have also been struggling with declining fan interest. Perhaps our sports idols have feet of clay after all?
In post-Christian America, too often our high ideals of sports as a breeding ground of teamwork, self-discipline, and character have been buried in an avalanche of gambling, greed, showboating, post-championship rioting, political posturing and virtue signaling, PEDs, and other forms of cheating. Many formerly devoted sports fans are fed up, and rightly so. But abusus non tollit usum—the misuse of something is no argument against its proper use.
And Christians are positioned better than anyone to point to a better way forward for America’s behemoth sports-industrial complex. Treat notes that the gospel—that Jesus is both saving souls and renewing creation—gives sportsmen and women a new purpose (enjoying sports as a gift rather than as merely an arena in which to prove our worth), a new identity (we are “in Christ” rather than mere athletes seeking selfish accomplishments), and a new ethic (focused on glorifying Christ rather than winning at all costs).
Further, sports are not just opportunities to point others to Christ—using everything from John 3:16 eye-black to church Super Bowl parties—as worthy as that purpose might be. They are also signposts pointing toward the coming restored creation.“If Jesus is tossing his fallen creation and saving souls into a disembodied heaven,” Treat writes, “then the shot clock is winding down on our sport experience. But the story of redemption in Scripture is not one merely of rescuing souls from the fallen creation but rescuing embodied souls and renewing all of creation.”
So, yes, the Super Bowl matters, but not in the way the NFL wants you to believe, and certainly not ultimately. But when creation is finally restored and all things, including sports, are offered to Christ, we will play. In that everlasting day, we will exult in our glorified, perfect bodies on the fields of a new earth without shame or scar tissue—joyously walking, dancing, running, swinging, throwing, kicking, catching, and jumping to the glory of our Creator. That is a victory infinitely more thrilling any Super Bowl.
[italics and colored emphasis mine]
Stan Guthrie’s latest book is Victorious: Corrie ten Boom and The Hiding Place.[https://www.amazon.com/Victorious-Corrie-Boom-Hiding-Place/]
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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!
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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/
Imprisoned in Eritrea.Christians in Eritrea continue to face imprisonment despite politicalchanges that had many hoping for better days. Open Doors hasworked with and through the local church in Eritrea since the 1990s. Our vision is to see a strong church that’s holistically empowered to support one another and disciple believers so they remain faithful and reach out to others in the face of persecution.
February 7 - Pray with Open Doors as we work to enable the Church to respond biblically to persecution
*Representative name or photo used to protect identity.
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 intervention?
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