Why go on a 12 city tour to end abortion as birth control?

I was once again watching National Treasure with my son tonight and there came a moment in the movie when I said, “Wow, that is it. That is why busy people take a week off work and go on a 12 city tour.”

Nicholas Cage was standing in front of the Declaration deciding to steal it. He said to his side kick/Riley.

Nicholas Cage – “Of all of the ideas that became the United States there is one here that is at the heart of all others.

“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

Nicholas Cage – People don’t talk that way anymore.

Riley – I have no idea what you just said.

Nicholas Cage – It means that if something is wrong, those that have the ability to take action, have the responsibility to take action.

When something is wrong it is the moral obligation of those who can to do something. Solomon wrote something similar in Proverbs 24:10-12

If you fall to pieces in a crisis,
there wasn’t much to you in the first place.
Rescue the perishing;
don’t hesitate to step in and help.
If you say, “Hey, that’s none of my business,”
will that get you off the hook?
Someone is watching you closely, you know—
Someone not impressed with weak excuses.

I am not advocating doing anything against the law. The legal process to take things to a vote is being followed to a T. This is too important to mess up or sit out.

If you can … you must.

Urgency Tour – Friday

Thanks to those of you who have been praying for Steve and the team as they have been traveling across South Dakota. I didn’t realize that we would benefit from the prayers for good weather! I’m thinking of breaking out the flip flops and grill now that we are going to be in the upper 30’s again today and then – yes! – the 40’s tomorrow.

Meetings have been going well and there have been some great contacts. God has been orchestrating the attendees and we are thankful.

Please continue to pray for the team as they travel. They were in Kadoka this morning. Pierre for lunch at Minervas – makes my pbj sandwich look pretty unappetizing – and dinner in Spearfish tonight. Pray for divine contacts, and for the team to continue to hear the voice of God for His heart on all of this.

Benin – Answers

Don’t know why I didn’t think of this before…any answer you want on Benin or any other country God gives you the heart to pray for can be found in a book called Operation World.

THis is a classic. It has been around for years, but is up dated with new information on a regular basis. The Operation World web site is a treasure trove of resources and encouragement as you pray for countries. The book covers each country of the world. Gives you vital statistics on the country such as the make up of religious groups in the country, government and economics. Each country has a list of praises for the way that God has been working in the country and a list of ways to pray for the country.

The book itself sells for $15.29 on their web site. And there are many other resources available. How to pray for unreached people groups in China, prayer calendars, maps and tons more.

This gets my whole hearted endorsement. And did you know that the president of Benin is a born again Christian who advocates for Christian ministry in his country! Very cool!

Urgency Tour

Thanks for all of you that have had patience and waited for me to blog again. I’ve been pretty busy plotting and planning Steve’s 12 city tour. There’s been a ton of stuff from hotel reservations and follow up on meals in restaurants and organizing the calling pastors and keeping rsvp lists…I need a nap.

Please keep praying for Steve and the team with him as he travels. They’ve had a great time so far and are connecting with some great people here in our state. They do need your prayers for safety as they travel for good weather, safety and no more car repairs!

Benin?

As we were singing last Sunday the words of the song sparked a question in my mind.

Here’s the phrase that caught my attention:
“Ask and I’ll give the nations to you”
My immediate thought was Benin.

I knew it was a country in Africa, but beyond that I know nothing.

Anybody got any connections to Benin, know any missionaries there? I’d love to pray with understanding.

Wide Awake…Again Part 3

OK, last alphabetical thought, I promise. (See the last two entries for that to make sense.)

I just throw this out there as a little aside.

When our kids were little, but school age, this is one way I used to pray with them. We’d think of things to thank God for using the alphabet. Someone would start and the next person got to do the next letter, and so on. But again, the rules were that nothing could be repeated. So if someone thanked God for dogs, the next person to land on “D” could not use dogs again.

They had so much fun with it that we would go through the alphabet two or three times a night, and then I would leave and turn off the light saying that they needed to go through the alphabet one more time on their own. Which usually produced sleep in a short amount of time.

Of course sometimes it got a little silly…but I think God was laughing too. And I suspect, if Mary had served it, Jesus would have been thankful for Captain Crunch when he was a kid too.

Wide Awake…Again Part 2

Hmm, then there was the whole vengeance thing that popped into my head with the whole “‘D’” is for dangerous” thoughts that I had during my sleepless night. (You’ve got to read the previous entry for this to make any sense at all.) But as I thought about what it means for God to be a dangerous God, I knew that his danger was directed at anything that separated his people from him. Sin does that and the enemy does that and life on earth does that so the dangerous God would unleash his anger and vengeance against anything that messes with his children.

I know and I cannot emphasize enough here that when I am talking about the vengeance of the LORD, I know that I do not “struggle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12

But I really need God to make the wrong things right. To exercise his justice against the enemy. Justice for the poor, abused, aborted, poor, wounded, and on and on. Justice is a major of the theme of God’s heart. And a prevalent theme in scripture. That would make an interesting word study.

I’ve digressed again.

This morning I went to look up vengeance in response to my sleepless alphabetizing, and I found Isaiah 35 again. It is written out here in whole, because I am praying that it will minister to you the way that it has touched my heart this morning.

Be blessed today! God is for you…who can be against you in the face of a dangerous God.

Isaiah 35
1 The wilderness and the desert will be glad,
And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom;
Like the crocus
2 It will blossom profusely
And rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
The majesty of Carmel and Sharon
They will see the glory of the LORD,
The majesty of our God.
3 Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.
4 Say to those with anxious heart,
“Take courage, fear not
Behold, your God will come with (J)vengeance;
The recompense of God will come,
But He will save you.”
5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened
And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
6 Then the lame will leap like a deer,
And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy
For waters will break forth in the wilderness
And streams in the Arabah.
7 The scorched land will become a pool
And the thirsty ground springs of water;
In the haunt of jackals, its resting place,
Grass becomes reeds and rushes.
8 A highway will be there, a roadway,
And it will be called the Highway of Holiness
The unclean will not travel on it,
But it will be for him who walks that way,
And fools will not wander on it.
9 No lion will be there,
Nor will any vicious beast go up on it;
These will not be found there
But the redeemed will walk there,
10 And the ransomed of the LORD will return
And come with joyful shouting to Zion,
With everlasting joy upon their heads
They will find gladness and joy,
And (Z)sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Wide Awake…Again

Last night turned into alphabetical attributes of God night.

If you didn’t see my last blog about being awake in the middle of the night, I threw out there that when I can’t sleep, I “sing” myself through an alphabetical list of hymns. In the simple rules for my game, Amazing Grace cannot be used, because it is too easy.

When I do alphabetical attributes of God, the same type of rules apply. If you go through the alphabet more than once, there can be no repeats or “easy” attributes. “Easy” attributes like – awesome, beautiful and creative – don’t count.

My favorite last night was “D” = dangerous. How incredible that we can personally know the God who holds the whole universe together, can blot out life with a blink of his eye, who will exercise vengeance against his enemies. And yet THIS God will not allow my foot to slip, He never slumbers, He is the shade on my right hand, He will protect me from all evil, and guard my going out and coming in. There is no doubt. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.

Spiritual Anorexia – Part 3

No eat = no strength

IMAGE OF ANOREXIA

Ephesians 6:10-13Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

Jesus, I want to be strong in you. Give me an appetite for your word that will give me the energy and the strength to confront and conquer, embrace and support, enjoy and celebrate everything that comes my way today.

Spiritual Anorexics – Part 2

“Oh taste and see that the Lord is good.” Psalm 34:8

I find it interesting that when the body becomes dehydrated that feeling is often masked as hunger. And when we fast, that hunger’s edge goes away after awhile. The physical illustrates the spiritual.

When we don’t feast on the word, the feeling of hunger for the word goes away. I’ve found it so hard to get back into the discipline of regular times in the word, when I’ve gotten away from it. My sluggish, undernourished self drags back to regular quiet times like I’m off to a banquet of gruel. When what really awaits me is a banquet that meets every nutritional need of my heart.

Hunger also could be masked as something else. When I’m hungry, I have a choice – I could eat the things that are good for me, or I could rely on a Snickers and a Coke. So rather than go to the word itself, I could head off to books written by others, or cd’s and podcasts that are unlimited. (Sometimes I think we live in a Christian convenience store with delicious, but empty calories abounding.) Don’t get me wrong…these are all extremely valuable tools and drinking in the vast resources around us is a gift from God. Possibly to store us up for the famine to come. (Amos 8 ) But compared to eating the word itself, the nutritional benefit is markedly less.

The writer of Hebrews compares all this to milk and solid food. Milk having passed through the digestive system of another, and is fit for babies.

Hebrew 5:12-13 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.

I don’t want to be a baby or a spiritual anorexic. I’m praying for divine hunger pains to drive me (and everyone I know) deeper and deeper into the Word of the LORD.

Jesus, give me a voracious appetite for your word.