Archive for January, 2010
« Older Entries |Today's Devotional
Friday, January 29th, 2010
By Betty Miller
But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind … I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me. I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last. Therefore, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus.
Today as you pray for our nation, be sure to include our leaders, that their eyes might be trained on what truly counts Jesus’ sake.
Scripture references: Phil.3:13,14; John 17:24; 2 Tim. 1:12; Phil.1:6; 1 Cor. 9:24, 25; Heb. 12:1,2
Posted in devotional |
Daily Prayer
Friday, January 29th, 2010
Father, as we think back on the events of the week, we can see your involvement in our lives and nation. Please help us remember who you are and what you’ve done as we turn back to face what lies ahead. Please be with the president, other leaders, and armed forces in the days to come. Amen.Posted in Daily Prayer |
The President's Schedule
Friday, January 29th, 2010
President Barack Obama will deliver remarks and sign the Lilly Ledbetter Bill this morning in the East Room. Following the signing the President will briefly drop by a reception where (more…)Posted in schedule |
Prayer Updates
Friday, January 29th, 2010
U.S. Commander Offers Status of Haiti Relief EffortThe United States military is working with the Haitian government to build a temporary medical facility for Haitian earthquake victims recovering from injuries. The Commander of the U.S. Southern Command General Douglas Fraser said yesterday that the facility will have an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 beds and will dramatically improve the capacity of the medical care being provided. He said the U.S. Navy hospital ship, the Comfort, is reaching its care limit as some injuries have required more treatment than anticipated. He said the new facility would give discharged patients the space and time they need to recover. Efforts to supply victims with food are also falling short in some cases. He said though the situation in Haiti is improving, troops are still finding places where more than two weeks after the January 12 quake, relief has not yet arrived. The International Committee of the Red Cross says the situation remains “precarious” for hundreds of thousands of people. The head of the group’s delegation in Haiti, Riccardo Conti, says people in the poorest areas of Port-au-Prince still have pressing needs for shelter, food, health care and sanitation.
Pray for nations around the globe to join in an effort to rebuild the nation to support Haiti’s victims. Pray for shelter, food and water for all those displaced families.
World Leaders Discuss Afghanistan’s Future
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said America was not formulating an “exit strategy” but if the conditions were right NATO could “begin the transition” out of Afghanistan. But Secretary of State for Defense for the United said he believed Britain would remain in Afghanistan for a “very, very long time to come.”
Pray for military victory over the Taliban in Afghanistan. Pray for the families of our soldiers who continue to sacrifice for our nation.
President’s Budget Freeze Has Mixed Outlook
Congress will enact President Barack Obama’s proposed three-year spending freeze on some government programs, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer predicted yesterday. But he did not think the freeze should be extended to the military programs that make up a larger portion of the budget, contradicting remarks earlier in the day by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Hoyer agreed with Obama, who in his State of the Union speech to Congress on Wednesday proposed the freeze only for some domestic programs. “I would be much more reticent in looking at spending on our national security, because I think that we need to make sure we have the funds to get the job done,” Hoyer said in a phone interview.
Pray for an economic recovery in America to relieve the financial burden and restore jobs to millions of unemployed families.
Posted in prayerupdates |
Daily Prayer
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
Lord, last night President Obama laid out a vision for the future of this nation. Many questions were answered, but we also have many more. Help us to trust you as well as your leadership of him & the nation to accomplish your purposes both here and abroad; please also help us to do our own part – that which you are leading us to do individually – for these same purposes. Ultimately, we look to you. In your name we pray, Amen.Posted in Daily Prayer |
Prayer Updates
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
President Obama Addresses Economic ChallengesPresident Obama used his first formal State of the Union address last night to outline his efforts to rebuild the nation’s economy and put more Americans to work. In prepared remarks that took on Washington lobbyists in pointed language, Mr. Obama also painted a grim picture of the nation’s economic challenges and the dire state of health care costs in a nation that had been “tested” and “must answer history’s call.” “By the time I’m finished speaking tonight, more Americans will have lost their health insurance,” he said in his prepared remarks. “Millions will lose it this year. Our deficit will grow. Premiums will go up. Co-pays will go up. Patients will be denied the care they need. Small business owners will continue to drop coverage altogether.” But, he added: “I will not walk away from these Americans. And neither should the people in this chamber.”
Pray for an economic recovery in America to relieve the financial burden and restore jobs to millions of unemployed families.
Haiti’s President Appeals for More Aid
Haiti appealed to foreign governments and charities yesterday to do more to help earthquake victims. President Rene Preval said Haiti would indefinitely postpone February 28 parliamentary elections and he would not seek to stay in office after his term expires in February 2011. That means his government will have just over one year to rebuild the impoverished Caribbean nation before handing off the task to new leadership. Aid groups and troops from around the world have struggled to distribute food, water and medical care to an estimated 3 million Haitians injured or left homeless in the magnitude-7.0 earthquake. “I am not in a position to criticize anybody, not in the least people who have come here to help me,” Preval told a news conference. “What I am staying is, what everybody is saying is, that we need a better coordination.”
Pray for nations around the globe to join in an effort to rebuild the nation to support Haiti’s families. Pray for shelter, food and water for all those displaced families.
Leaders See Make or Break Year in Afghanistan
Facing a make-or-break year in Afghanistan, ministers from some 60 countries meet today to hammer out a strategy to try to bring an end to the war. The London conference is expected to back efforts to win over Taliban foot soldiers with money and jobs, and review a U.N. terrorism blacklist to encourage fighters to change sides.
Pray for the families of our soldiers who continue to sacrifice for our nation. Pray for military victory over the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Posted in prayerupdates |
Today's Devotional
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
By Charles Spurgeon“Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.”
1 Samuel 7:12
The word “hitherto” seems like a hand pointing in the direction of the past. Twenty years or seventy, and yet, “hitherto the Lord hath helped!” Through poverty, through wealth, through sickness, through health, at home, abroad, on the land, on the sea, in honour, in dishonour, in perplexity, in joy, in trial, in triumph, in prayer, in temptation, “hitherto hath the Lord helped us!” We delight to look down a long avenue of trees. It is delightful to gaze from end to end of the long vista, a sort of verdant temple, with its branching pillars and its arches of leaves; even so look down the long aisles of your years, at the green boughs of mercy overhead, and the strong pillars of lovingkindness and faithfulness which bear up your joys. Are there no birds in yonder branches singing? Surely there must be many, and they all sing of mercy received “hitherto.”
But the word also points forward. For when a man gets up to a certain mark and writes “hitherto,” he is not yet at the end, there is still a distance to be traversed. More trials, more joys; more temptations, more triumphs; more prayers, more answers; more toils, more strength; more fights, more victories; and then come sickness, old age, disease, death. Is it over now? No! there is more yet-awakening in Jesus’ likeness, thrones, harps, songs, psalms, white raiment, the face of Jesus, the society of saints, the glory of God, the fulness of eternity, the infinity of bliss. O be of good courage, believer, and with grateful confidence raise thy “Ebenezer,” for-
He who hath helped thee hitherto
Will help thee all thy journey through.
When read in heaven’s light how glorious and marvellous a prospect will thy “hitherto” unfold to thy grateful eye!
Posted in devotional |
Presidential Quote Of The Week
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
“We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We’ve staked the future of all our political institutions upon our capacity…to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”
- James Madison 1778 to the General Assembly of the State of Virginia
Posted in presidential quote of the week |
Guest Opinion
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
GUEST OPINION – “LET CHRISTIANS VOTE AS THOUGH THEY WERE NOT VOTING”
By John Piper
Voting is like marrying and crying and laughing and buying. We should do it, but only as if we were not doing it. That’s because “the present form of this world is passing away” and, in God’s eyes, “the time has grown very short.” Here’s the way Paul puts it:
The appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. (1 Corinthians 7:29-31)
Let’s take these one at a time and compare them to voting.
1. “Let those who have wives live as though they had none.”
This doesn’t mean move out of the house, don’t have sex, and don’t call her Honey. Earlier in this chapter Paul says, “The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights” (1 Corinthians 7:3). He also says to love her the way Christ loved the church, leading and providing and protecting (Ephesians 5:25-30). It means this: Marriage is momentary. It’s over at death, and there is no marriage in the resurrection. Wives and husbands are second priorities, not first. Christ is first. Marriage is for making much of him.
It means: If she is exquisitely desirable, beware of desiring her more than Christ. And if she is deeply disappointing, beware of being hurt too much. This is temporary—only a brief lifetime. Then comes the never-disappointing life which is life indeed.
So it is with voting. We should do it. But only as if we were not doing it. Its outcomes do not give us the greatest joy when they go our way, and they do not demoralize us when they don’t. Political life is for making much of Christ whether the world falls apart or holds together.
2. “Let those who mourn [do so] as though they were not mourning.”
Christians mourn with real, deep, painful mourning, especially over losses—loss of those we love, loss of health, loss of a dream. These losses hurt. We cry when we are hurt. But we cry as though not crying. We mourn knowing we have not lost something so valuable we cannot rejoice in our mourning. Our losses do not incapacitate us. They do not blind us to the possibility of a fruitful future serving Christ. The Lord gives and takes away. But he remains blessed. And we remain hopeful in our mourning.
So it is with voting. There are losses. We mourn. But not as those who have no hope. We vote and we lose, or we vote and we win. In either case, we win or lose as if we were not winning or losing. Our expectations and frustrations are modest. The best this world can offer is short and small. The worst it can offer has been predicted in the book of Revelation. And no vote will hold it back. In the short run, Christians lose (Revelation 13:7). In the long run, we win (Revelation 21:4).
3. “Let those who rejoice [do so] as though they were not rejoicing.”
Christians rejoice in health (James 5:13) and in sickness (James 1:2). There are a thousand good and perfect things that come down from God that call forth the feeling of happiness. Beautiful weather. Good friends who want to spend time with us. Delicious food and someone to share it with. A successful plan. A person helped by our efforts.
But none of these good and beautiful things can satisfy our soul. Even the best cannot replace what we were made for, namely, the full experience of the risen Christ (John 17:24). Even fellowship with him here is not the final and best gift. There is more of him to have after we die (Philippians 1:21-23)—and even more after the resurrection. The best experiences here are foretastes. The best sights of glory are through a mirror dimly. The joy that rises from these previews does not and should not rise to the level of the hope of glory. These pleasures will one day be as though they were not. So we rejoice remembering this joy is a foretaste, and will be replaced by a vastly better joy.
So it is with voting. There are joys. The very act of voting is a joyful statement that we are not under a tyrant. And there may be happy victories. But the best government we get is a foreshadowing. Peace and justice are approximated now. They will be perfect when Christ comes. So our joy is modest. Our triumphs are short-lived—and shot through with imperfection. So we vote as though not voting.
4. “Let those who buy [do so] as though they had no goods.”
Let Christians keep on buying while this age lasts. Christianity is not withdrawal from business. We are involved, but as though not involved. Business simply does not have the weight in our hearts that it has for many. All our getting and all our having in this world is getting and having things that are not ultimately important. Our car, our house, our books, our computers, our heirlooms—we possess them with a loose grip. If they are taken away, we say that in a sense we did not have them. We are not here to possess. We are here to lay up treasures in heaven.
This world matters. But it is not ultimate. It is the stage for living in such a way to show that this world is not our God, but that Christ is our God. It is the stage for using the world to show that Christ is more precious than the world.
So it is with voting. We do not withdraw. We are involved—but as if not involved. Politics does not have ultimate weight for us. It is one more stage for acting out the truth that Christ, and not politics, is supreme.
5. “Let those who deal with the world [do so] as though they had no dealings with it.”
Christians should deal with the world. This world is here to be used. Dealt with. There is no avoiding it. Not to deal with it is to deal with it that way. Not to weed your garden is to cultivate a weedy garden. Not to wear a coat in Minnesota is to freeze—to deal with the cold that way. Not to stop when the light is red is to spend your money on fines or hospital bills and deal with the world that way. We must deal with the world.
But as we deal with it, we don’t give it our fullest attention. We don’t ascribe to the world the greatest status. There are unseen things that are vastly more precious than the world. We use the world without offering it our whole soul. We may work with all our might when dealing with the world, but the full passions of our heart will be attached to something higher—Godward purposes. We use the world, but not as an end in itself. It is a means. We deal with the world in order to make much of Christ.
So it is with voting. We deal with the system. We deal with the news. We deal with the candidates. We deal with the issues. But we deal with it all as if not dealing with it. It does not have our fullest attention. It is not the great thing in our lives. Christ is. And Christ will be ruling over his people with perfect supremacy no matter who is elected and no matter what government stands or falls. So we vote as though not voting.
By all means vote. But remember: “The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:17).
Voting with you, as though not voting.
Reprinted with permission from www.DesiringGod.org
Posted in opinion |
