Archive for February, 2010
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Presidential Quote Of The Week
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
“I only look to the gracious protection of that Divine Being whose strengthening support I humbly solicit, and whom I fervently pray to look down upon us all. May it be among the dispensations of His Providence to bless our beloved country with honors and length of days; may her ways be pleasantness, and all her paths peace!”
- President Martin Van Buren (1837-1841)
Posted in presidential quote of the week |
Legislative Prayer Needs
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
PRAY FOR OUR CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSSenate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nevada) is planning to ask for unanimous consent to extend key provisions of The Patriot Act set to expire on February 28.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (California) reports that tension between the House and Senate is mounting while the Senate is sitting on 290 bills already passed by the House.
Pray with urgency for members of Congress to legislate responsibly during this time in our nation.
Posted in legislative prayer needs |
Executive Prayer Needs
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
PRAY FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA AND HIS ADMINISTRATIONPresident Obama has scheduled a six-hour health care reform meeting with a bipartisan Congressional group for Thursday, February 25, beginning at 10:00 a.m. at the Blair House across from the White House in Washington.
The Obama Administration has continued its push for the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency that would regulate mortgages, auto loans and all credit cards, as part of the financial regulations endeavor.
Pray with urgency for God’s will over our nation as it relates to increases in government regulation and expenses.
Posted in executive prayer needs |
Featured Member of the Judicial Branch for Prayer
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
Associate Justice John Paul Stevens
Associate Justice John Paul Stevens was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1975 by then-President Gerald Ford, who said, “He is serving his nation well, with dignity, intellect and without partisan political concerns.” He is the only Justice to have served with three Chief Justices and seven Presidents.
Stevens is the most senior justice, both in age and years of service, second only to Chief Justice Roberts. His position allows him to speak second in conference after Roberts and he can assign opinions in the event that he is in the majority and Roberts is in minority. Though widely considered to have liberal tendencies in consideration of the interpretation of law, he holds a individualistic personality that keeps him permanently outside the mainstream of the Court. Some believe that his voice only appears more to the left as a result of more conservative presence on the bench.
John Paul Stevens was born on April 20, 1920, in Chicago, Illinois, to Ernest and Elizabeth Stevens, a wealthy family due to involvement in the insurance and hotel businesses. He grew up near the University of Chicago campus and enjoyed involvement in the university’s laboratory school for preparatory education. Stevens attended college at the University of Chicago, graduating in 1941. After this, he married Elizabeth Sheeren, with whom he had a son and three daughters.
After college, Stevens enlisted in the Navy during World War II, where he earned a bronze star for his efforts in code breaking when they resulted in downing the plane of Japanese Admiral Yamamoto. Following the war, he entered Northwestern University Law School to study law. He also become editor-in-chief of the school’s law review and graduated with the highest grades in the law school’s history. After graduating, he served a term as law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Wiley Rutledge.
After completing that term, Stevens joined a prominent law firm in Chicago specializing in antitrust law. After three years, he started his own practice, Rothschild, Stevens, Barry & Myers, and also began teaching law at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago law schools. His abilities in antitrust laws earned him positions with various special counsels to the House of Representatives and the U.S. Attorney General’s office.
In 1970, President Richard Nixon appointed him to the Unites States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. When Justice William Douglas stepped down in 1975, Attorney General Edward Levi proposed Stevens’ appointment to the Supreme Court, which President Ford did and the Senate confirmed without controversy.
Stevens’ approach to judicial decision-making can be summarized in a general sense: he will typically examine the facts of each case carefully and on its own merits. He also seeks to defer to the judgments of others who he feels are better suited to decide. He has demonstrated considerable judicial restraint and deference to the Congress.
Posted in judicial prayer focus |
Our Nation’s Godly Heritage
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
A Great AwakeningThe “Great Awakenings” are described as periods of rapid and dramatic religious revival in Anglo-American religious history, generally recognized as beginning in the 1730s. They have also been described as periodic revolutions in colonial religious thought.
The “Awakening“ or spiritual renewal that swept the American Colonies, particularly New England, during the first half of the 18th Century began in England before moving across the Atlantic. Unlike the somber, largely Puritan spirituality of the early 1700s, the revivalism ushered in by the Awakening brought people back to “spiritual life” as they felt a greater intimacy with God.
Ministers from various denominations supported the Great Awakening in a time of denominational strife and competition. Pastoral styles began to change. In the late colonial period, most pastors read their sermons, which were theologically dense and advanced a particular theological argument or interpretation. Leaders of the Awakening such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield had little interest in merely engaging parishioners’ minds; they wanted far more to elicit an emotional response from their audience, one that might yield the workings and evidence of saving grace. Some have argued that these new ministers eschewed logical or rational sermons, but this was patently not the case the vast majority of the time. Edwards, for instance, continued to preach an ardent and intellectual vision of Calvinism, with his “transparent emotion, heartfelt sincerity,…[and] inexorable logic,” which along with a sustained theme, could create quite the “cumulative impact.”
The cause of the Great Awakening in America
In late 17th Century England, fighting between religious and political groups ended with the Glorious Revolution of 1688 when the Church of England was established as the primary religion of the country. Other religions, such as Catholicism, Judaism, and Puritanism were then repressed.
From a political perspective, all was well because everyone practiced the same religion. But rather than being good for religion, this created complacency, or a sense of spiritual “dryness” among citizens. Religion became a boring and cold pastime. Eventually, a reaction against this complacency developed into a new spiritualism – or “revivalism” – where Christians would actually believe from the depths of their hearts during worship, rather than just go through the motions during services.
Note: Historically accepted “Awakening” periods in US history: First (c. 1730–1755) Second (c. 1790–1840) Third (c. 1850–1900) Fourth (c. 1960–1980)
What do you think – could another “Awakening” take place in America?
Posted in our nations godly heritage |
Judicial Prayer Needs
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
PRAY FOR OUR JUDICIARYThe Supreme Court ruled that investigators may resume questioning a suspect who has invoked Miranda rights to remain silent and have a lawyer present after a 14-day period has lapsed, thus easing the rules on interrogation.
In a landmark case, the Supreme Court is deliberating whether a federal law that bans support of designated terrorist groups violates First Amendment rights to free speech and freedom of association.
Pray with urgency for the members of our Supreme Court as the decisions they render impact law enforcement.
Posted in judicial prayer needs |
Other Prayer Concerns
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
THE WARAfghan Administrator Abdul Zahir has arrived in Marjah, the most overt sign so far that the military campaign for that city is winding down in favor of civilian administration of economic and public services.
Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, still admits that the surge in southern Afghanistan is going slower and is more costly than expected due to Taliban resistance and deadly roadside bombs.
Pray with urgency that God would look favorably upon the allied efforts in this region and bring about peace.
TERRORISM
Pakistani officials report they have arrested 7 of the 15 senior members of Afghanistan’s Taliban leadership, council, including the head of Taliban military operations in Afghanistan.
A senior Russian diplomat has warned the West against trying to paralyze Iran by targeting the Islamic Republic’s energy and banking sectors with crippling sanctions in view of Iran’s nuclear development programs.
Pray with urgency for all those working overtly and undercover to stabilize these terror-driven regions of the world.
THE ECONOMY
Confidence among U.S. consumers fell in February to the lowest level in 10 months; a sign that concerns about job prospects may hold back the spending needed to sustain a recovery.
The FDIC reported that the number of “problem” U.S. banks jumped 27% to 702 banks during the fourth quarter of 2009, a sign that the industry’s recovery is shaky at best.
Pray with urgency as so many economic indicators point to an ongoing long-term recession impacting many.
ISRAEL AND THE MIDDLE EAST
Israel’s claim to two Biblical shrines in the West Bank, the Tomb of Rachel and the Tomb of the Patriarchs, has resulted in swift condemnation by the Palestinians, with Mahmoud Abbas stating the claim “could spark war.”
Ancient stone fortifications were recently uncovered outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City that date back some 3,000 years to the time of King Solomon and First Temple days, according to archeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar.
Pray with urgency that God would protect those places and artifacts, which clearly show support of His Word.
HEALTH CARE
New federal guidelines caution that Americans taking a daily dose of aspirin to lower their risk of heart attack or certain types of stroke should reconsider due to the risk of intestinal bleeding.
A poll taken in January by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation shows that Americans continue having misgivings about the Obama health care reform legislation as being too sweeping, although numbers are declining.
Pray with urgency about every level of government influence and participation in Americans’ health care issues.
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord,
Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11
Posted in other prayer concerns |
Featured Member of the Executive Branch for Prayer
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
Arne Duncan – Secretary of Education
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was nominated by President-elect Barack Obama and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2009. He brings as a priority to this office addressing the state of education in the U.S., as he believes it is the most pressing issue facing the nation, is a moral obligation of society to prepare young people for success in life, and an economic imperative. “Education is also the civil rights issue of our generation,” he said, “the only sure path out of poverty and the only way to achieve a more equal and just society.”
Prior to his appointment as secretary of education, Duncan served as the chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools, a position to which he was appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley, from June 2001 through December 2008, becoming the longest-serving big-city education superintendent in the country.
As CEO, Duncan’s mandate was to raise education standards and performance, improve teacher and principal quality, and increase learning options. In that time, he pursued an aggressive education reform agenda that sought to tackle many of the challenges facing Chicago public schools. Several improvements were seen through different standards ranging from elementary through high school.
A study released in June 2008 by the Illinois Education Research Council recognized the efforts of the Chicago Public Schools to increase the level of teaching talent in the classroom. The number of teachers achieving National Board Certification—the highest education credential available to teachers—increased from 11 in 1999 to 1,191 in 2008, making Chicago the fastest-growing urban district in this area of achievement.
Before joining the Chicago Public Schools, Duncan ran the non-profit education foundation Ariel Education Initiative (1992-1998), which helped fund a college education for a class of inner-city children under the I Have A Dream program. He was part of a team that later started a new public elementary school built around a financial literacy curriculum, the Ariel Community Academy.
Duncan formerly served on the boards of the Ariel Education Initiative, Chicago Cares, the Children’s Center, the Golden Apple Foundation, the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, Jobs for America’s Graduates, Junior Achievement, the Dean’s Advisory Board of the Kellogg School of Management, the National Association of Basketball Coaches’ Foundation, Renaissance Schools Fund, Scholarship Chicago and the South Side YMCA. He also served on the Board of Overseers for Harvard College and the Visiting Committees for Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education and the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration. He has also been recognized by several civic organizations.
Duncan graduated with great honors from Harvard University in 1987, majoring in sociology. He was co-captain of Harvard’s basketball team and was named a first team Academic All-American.
His late father was a professor at the University of Chicago and his mother has run a South Side tutoring program for inner-city children since 1961. Duncan is married to Karen Duncan and they have two children, daughter Clare, 8, and son Ryan, 5, who attend a public elementary school in Arlington, Va.
Posted in executive prayer focus |
Daily Prayer
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
Heavenly Father, as our president has announced new planned reforms for our country’s educational system, we ask that you would grant wisdom to those who are laying out these strategies and will need to execute them. We remember all the times you have been present in our past, and we ask that those occurrences will not be omitted from what our children learn, and that we remember that our nation’s values grow out of what you have taught us.Help us to continue to be reliant on you. Amen.
Posted in Daily Prayer |
