I awoke from a restless night of mostly tossing and turning but as sometimes happens my eyes opened and my mind was immediately fixed on the day ahead....in this instance.... the Lord's Day. Whether it was the tossing and turning or the reading I had done prior to going to bed or the increasingly ominous headline news of the day... my thoughts this morning were in the form of a prayer.
I asked that God might open our minds as to the evil that this our president continually inflicts upon us, that He might make us acutely aware of his real intentions and even possibly his true allegiances.
I asked that God would also make known to us how we ourselves are complicit in the overbearing culture of greed that permeates seemingly every major 'for profit' entity in this nation, and how we are culpable in the deteriorating security of our country, and that because of our intellectual laziness, selfishness and pride in electing those who nonchalantly lie and condescend to us that we would realize that have no one else to blame for our sordid state.
I asked that these epiphanies would come from the pulpits....that many of those men would speak words they had not prepared, but as the Spirit spoke through Balaam, and as Caiaphas prophesied unawares that Jesus would die for those who were His, that they would proclaim the imminent judgement of God upon this world.
I prayed lastly in those few moments that we would also see this day the heavens filled with the glories of the approaching King of Kings and Lord of Lords, that we might hear the trumpet and envision the myriads of mighty angels that are with Him. I prayed that this might be the day that the mists, the fog, and the smoke of the battle that we have been in are blown away, and that we might awake from our slumber, hear the growling and snarling of the enemy and smell the sulfur of his lair but that with bated breath we would look to our Savior and solemnly yet joyfully offer praise to the name that is above all names with the reverence that it is due.
All this came to mind within a few minutes. I glanced at the clock and had overslept, then hurried in preparing to hear His Word preached which I heard with great thankfulness....and thus begins not only another week but a new year.
I asked that God might open our minds as to the evil that this our president continually inflicts upon us, that He might make us acutely aware of his real intentions and even possibly his true allegiances.
I asked that God would also make known to us how we ourselves are complicit in the overbearing culture of greed that permeates seemingly every major 'for profit' entity in this nation, and how we are culpable in the deteriorating security of our country, and that because of our intellectual laziness, selfishness and pride in electing those who nonchalantly lie and condescend to us that we would realize that have no one else to blame for our sordid state.
I asked that these epiphanies would come from the pulpits....that many of those men would speak words they had not prepared, but as the Spirit spoke through Balaam, and as Caiaphas prophesied unawares that Jesus would die for those who were His, that they would proclaim the imminent judgement of God upon this world.
I prayed lastly in those few moments that we would also see this day the heavens filled with the glories of the approaching King of Kings and Lord of Lords, that we might hear the trumpet and envision the myriads of mighty angels that are with Him. I prayed that this might be the day that the mists, the fog, and the smoke of the battle that we have been in are blown away, and that we might awake from our slumber, hear the growling and snarling of the enemy and smell the sulfur of his lair but that with bated breath we would look to our Savior and solemnly yet joyfully offer praise to the name that is above all names with the reverence that it is due.
All this came to mind within a few minutes. I glanced at the clock and had overslept, then hurried in preparing to hear His Word preached which I heard with great thankfulness....and thus begins not only another week but a new year.
