Freedom of speaking

Posted by Admin on Jun 25, 2013 in June 2013, Prayer Perspective | Comments Off on Freedom of speaking

I want to introduce you to someone for the purposes of prayer. This individual, Marine Le Pen, is entirely secular in her political views and comes from a Catholic background. She is a member of the European Parliament, outspoken, brilliant,  controversial, and stands in a large arena of influence. And her outspokenness has landed her in hot water, threatening her freedom in her native France.

She spoke to a crowd in France in December of 2010 about the growing population of immigrants illegally entering that nation. She warned against the surge of these masses into the nation and likened the current obstruction of public streets and squares all over France on a weekly basis for Muslim prayers to the WWII Nazi occupation of parts of French territory. At the time, the media and political class decried her comparison as racism, but she found increasing popularity among the French people.

In fact, her impact had grown to the extent that she was named on the 2011 TIME 100 list of the most influential people in the world, landing her somewhere on the list between President and Mrs. Obama.

And now, earlier this month, it was reported that her immunity from prosecution as a member of the European Parliament has been removed, opening the door for her to face criminal charges of inciting racism due to her December 2010 comments.

Why should we care about the fate of secular figures in France or anywhere else in the world, for that matter? One reason is that many of us on American soil have at least a portion of our roots in Europe, and our culture is linked by blood and history to all parts of Europe and the world. And central to our American civilization and that of the western Europe we’ve visited on business, vacation, and mission trips in our lifetime, is the right (purchased with both American and European blood) of men and women from every race, religion, and walk of life to live freely and to speak and debate openly. My thought is that the outcome of any decision concerning Ms. Le Pen’s freedom of speech will profoundly influence, one way or another, the longevity of the right to speak freely for the rest of western civilization.

I feel strongly about freedom of speech. I was raised in a family in which fundamental Christianity was scorned, but I watched as the lone voice on behalf of Christ—my grandma—refused to bow her knee to the prevailing viewpoint or back down in silence.

I also discovered something very enlightening in my personal Bible study a few years ago.

I was reading Hebrews 10:35-36, “Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.  For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.”

As I dug into the various words in that verse, I stumbled upon something amazingly liberating about the word “confidence”. It is the Greek word parrēsia, and means primarily “freedom in speaking, unreservedness in speech”  [Blue Letter Bible. “Dictionary and Word Search for parrēsia (Strong’s 3954)“. Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2013. 24 Jun 2013.]

In other words, believers are commanded not to throw away or discard as valueless their “freedom in speaking and unreservedness in speech”.

This is why freedom of speech is so important. It is bound intrinsically with our confidence level—especially in Christ!

Therefore, I urge you, when you think of it, to pray bold prayers for Ms. Le Pen, likely to face criminal charges for her right to speak freely in her native France. Pray for her focus to turn toward the God who can deliver her, and pray for others to rise up powerfully on her behalf—in the legal realm, in the arena of public opinion, and in prayer. And pray that God has His way in revealing once again to the nations the precious right He’s given us to boldly, confidently speak freely.

“Therefore, Culture, do not throw away your confident right to speak boldly and freely, discarding it as a worthless thing. Instead, endure in the face of twisted, trumped up charges against you or your faith and stand resolutely, doing the will of God with unshakable faith. And when you have done the will of God with endurance, you shall receive the promised reward—freedom preserved, not only for yourself, but also for generations to come” (my very loose paraphrase of Hebrews 10:35-36).

Hold fast your confidence!

Dorothy

Freedom from the dome

Posted by Admin on Jun 24, 2013 in Everyday Observations, June 2013 | Comments Off on Freedom from the dome

Bear with me for a bit as I meander down the river. We’re going to hit the bank a couple of times as we move along, but I believe we’ll arrive safe and sound.

First of all, yesterday morning as I walked up to my church, I greeted a woman who’s been a faithful member for years. I respect her because she’s sensitive to the Holy Spirit and very practical all at the same time. She asked me, “What were you doing this morning before you got here?”

I told her, “Well, I fed some cats, ate breakfast, and scooped some litter pans.”

She pressed in. “Were you worshipping?”

I said, “As a matter of fact, I was singing out a prayer to God on the way here.”

She nodded and said, “I can tell you’ve been in His presence. It’s all over you.”

Well, let’s backtrack. As I was driving to church, some “same old hurts” that have nagged me recently were throttling me again, insisting I rehash how wrong “those people” were. And as I prayed about it, I seemed to be hitting a wall.

Let me tell you what that wall was like. Have you seen the commercials for the new TV show coming soon called “Under the Dome”? I can’t vouch for the program—probably won’t watch it—but what I was experiencing reminded me of constantly running into a clear, thick dome around me, keeping me stuck in rehash-mode. It was time to break that thing down.

So I did what I often do—I started praying to the tune of whatever song bubbled up first. This time it was to the tune of “It’s So Good to Trust in Jesus”, and I sang to forgive, once and for all, “those people”. As I sang, I acknowledged their humanness to God and also acknowledged that they were not Him—couldn’t read my mind or even have any idea how I felt. And I felt compassion rise up in me for them and realized I needed God’s forgiveness just as much as they did, because I had clung to a hurt I had no business clinging to.

And then I arrived at church, parked in the lot, and walked up and greeted that dear woman who said, “You’ve been in the presence of God. It’s all over you.”

A few thoughts:

1.  God is the help of our countenance.  I imagine He wouldn’t have been able to help my countenance yesterday morning, though, if I hadn’t crashed through the dome that was keeping me under lockdown.

2.  I am an epistle—a letter—read by others. Even though folks can’t read my mind—only God has that ability or right—they can read my prevailing mood and spirit. They can read if I am weighed down or if I’m free from care. They may not know what the weights are or how I came to be free, but they can read me like a meteorologist can read a barometer. And they can read you, too.

3.  It’s time for you to deal a breaking blow to the dome of rehashed hurts that has been holding you captive. Next time “those people” start dominating your thoughts with all the wrongs they’ve done to you, aggressively forgive them. Acknowledge their humanness and—since they aren’t God—their inability to read your mind, and release them once and for all.  Pray it, sing it, shout it, whisper it, cry it. Do whatever you have to do to crash through that thing. And as you do it,  don’t forget to ask for forgiveness for yourself for setting up camp under that dome—the dome of rehashed hurts.

May you find help for your countenance and freedom from the dome!

Dorothy

Weekend: Psalm 91

Posted by Admin on Jun 22, 2013 in June 2013, Weekend | Comments Off on Weekend: Psalm 91

One of the most comforting and encouraging portions of Scripture for me is Psalm 91. As a young woman, I lived in this Psalm for nearly a year as I confronted alarming symptoms in my body. Some would say I dwelt on it too much because of what happened one evening when a few friends and I were taking a walk. A young man, about our age, approached us righteous babes and asked where we lived. Before my brain went in to action, my mouth declared, “I live in the secret place of the Most High. I abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1). Shockingly, the would-be “suitor” was not intrigued in the least by my pronouncement, and he wasted no time as he high-tailed out of there!

Psalm 91 has played a prominent role in the history of men and women who have experienced Divine intervention and protection in dangerous circumstances. Many of my personal acquaintances have themselves received strengthening comfort from this Psalm as they watched God come through for them in unsettling predicaments.

In her book, Hand on the Helm (© 1977), Katherine Pollard Carter retells a story she discovered in her research about a young Texan who enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

This young man and his mother had made a pact with each other before he shipped off that they would both pray Psalm 91 at the exact same time every day so he would be kept safe “under the shadow of the Almighty”.

His mother later shared a letter he had written to her from his ship. The vessel, he related, had been in battle mode, under attack from both air and sea. With American anti-aircraft weapons continually firing and every one of the ship’s battle stations in full operation, a torpedo was launched from an enemy sub, quickly approaching for a direct hit.

The Texan began praying Psalm 91 and realized that the hour he and his mom had agreed to pray had arrived. Fear left him, and as he quoted the psalm, he watched as the torpedo “seemed to go crazy”. Instead of the certain direct hit, it pivoted around in the water and abruptly changed direction, just missing the bow of the ship. No more enemy torpedoes were launched; soon the American vessel was alone in the sea, without an enemy in sight. As the sailors inspected their craft, not a nick or a scratch could be found. They had just experienced the protective coverage of God under the shadow of the Almighty.

Psalm 91 (NKJV; Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.)

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
² I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”

³ Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.
⁴ He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
⁵ You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
⁸ Only with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked.

⁹ Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
¹⁰ No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
¹¹ For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
¹² In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
¹³ You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

¹⁴ “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
¹⁵ He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.”

Examine everything

Posted by Admin on Jun 21, 2013 in June 2013, Prayer Perspective | Comments Off on Examine everything

“…But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good…” 1 Thessalonians 5:21, NASB

“…On the other hand, don’t be gullible. Check out everything, and keep only what’s good. Throw out anything tainted with evil.” 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22, Message Bible

“Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.”  Franklin D. Roosevelt, radio address, October 26, 1939

Here are a few snares that can blindside a believer due to the fast pace of our culture and the inordinate amount of information being thrown at us on a continual basis:

• It’s so much easier to go with the flow of popular opinion, because really trying to understand an issue takes too much time…
• And there is safety in popular opinion. If everyone else feels a certain way, then it’s a good bet that they are right. After all, isn’t the majority always right…usually…?
• And even if the majority isn’t right on something, it couldn’t hurt too much to go along with everyone else, could it? After all, I do have my reputation to consider…

One thing that will likely happen to you when you pray for the nation according to the Word of God is that you will find the need to examine some uncomfortable issues. You may discover as you read the Word, pray, and learn about issues that certain things are not as they appear to be. You will probably notice some falsehoods and twisted truths being reported and accepted as fact by a huge segment of society. Don’t be alarmed; the Bible warns us that this will happen and gives us the tools to discern between good and evil, lies and truth. Your job is to make sure that you always use God’s Word as your bottom line.

If you discover that you have stumbled upon a lie that is being embraced on a large scale as truth, then that is probably one of your prayer assignments. Seek God to bring truth to light in the hearts and minds of the people and ask Him to equip and protect those that He has chosen to step out on the world’s stage on behalf of this truth.

Don’t think that your prayer part is small potatoes. Your prayers for this nation are secret weapons, hidden from prying eyes, used to right wrongs and to turn lies on their heads. Your prayers are used by God to empower those He calls to confront lies on every level, granting them wisdom, timing, discernment, and effectiveness. Without your prayers and those of others, even the boldest of the bold and the brightest of the bright will be easy pickings for those of darker motives. But with your prayers, God can bring forth His champions.

And His champions in the natural realm cannot fully complete their tasks unless His champions in the prayer realm arise first and take their place. Arise, champion.

Dorothy

The power of a praying grandma

Posted by Admin on Jun 20, 2013 in June 2013, Prayer Perspective | Comments Off on The power of a praying grandma

My grandma was a Southern Baptist dynamo. She was so passionate about her family having a saving relationship with Jesus that the majority of them despised her for it! Sure, they loved her, but they thought she was a religious fanatic, and she made them very uncomfortable.  And they let her know it.

Grandma’s three daughters all pulled out of the Oklahoma dust-bowl Depression to put themselves through college. Each one married intellectual men–my mom married an engineer and my two aunts married professors (one of whom was rumored to be a card-carrying member of the Communist party). Grandma’s pleas of “are you saved?” rubbed every one of them the wrong way, but she didn’t care. As a kid, I was fascinated by the dynamics and secretly admired her refusal to be bullied out of what was widely viewed  by the family as an offensive and ridiculous stance. I loved my Grandma and never felt threatened by her faith.

Grandma, I am sure, prayed nearly as much as she preached, and years later, even though the others in my generation of the family seemed to embrace worldviews far different than hers, I was still seeking.

One night, during a particularly stressful Christmas break, I was sitting in a bar getting drunk as quickly as I could. My friends, all dolled up, were on the prowl for good-looking guys, but I wanted nothing of that. You see, my step-grandma (my dad’s step-mom) had just passed away, and days before Christmas, I had surgery to remove a large mass from my breast. As a nineteen year old, right before I went into surgery, I was required to sign a paper stating that the doctors could remove the breast if cancer was found. Although I was relieved to learn that the mass was benign, I was not in a good frame of mind.

So there I was, in a “19-year-olds-are-legal” bar, getting drunk and spiraling into cynicism and despair. I absent-mindedly watched as the band played song after song and the patrons (mostly female) danced in front of the musicians. When I noticed that they were swaying with their arms lifted up to the sky, I heard a voice in my ear, “Lifted hands are a sign of worship.”

I dropped my head and said, “I’m in hell.”

Days later, while alone at my parents’ home, Jesus visited me, and Grandma’s prayers were answered.

Don’t give up on your loved ones. Prayers over distance and time are powerful tools in the hand of God. You can be sure that He is working behind the scenes on behalf of a loved one–or a nation–if you don’t grow weary and give up. Stick with it. Don’t quit!

Dorothy

Halfway through the book

Posted by Admin on Jun 19, 2013 in June 2013, Prayer Perspective | Comments Off on Halfway through the book

I  spoke last night to a woman who is about halfway through my book, First of All, Pray. She grabbed me by the arm and said, “I know why you wrote this book! You wrote it so we wouldn’t give up on praying for our country!” I honestly couldn’t have put it any better.

She continued, “I’ve grown so tired of everything going on in government and politics, that I just backed off of praying for the nation. But now I see that we can’t afford to quit–we’ve got to keep pressing in no matter what it looks like.”

She also shared that she and her prayer partners have sensed the Holy Spirit saying to them, “As goes the Church, so goes the nation,” and she said that she is seeing the results in the nation of a complacent Church.

She beautifully summed up my purpose for writing this book. I know that there are many others far more adept and way more experienced in the things of prayer than I am and who have articulated the art of prayer far better than I ever could. Yet, at the same time that I was witnessing widespread, far-reaching decline in my nation, my heart also burned with the desire to see the Church in the U.S. stirred from what seemed to be a lull in her primitive, raw pursuit of the move and power and glory of God. And I knew that for God to have His way, truly, in this nation, He must first have His way in the Church.

And so, God, may Your will be done–in the Church and in the United States of America and on the entire face of the earth–as it is in Heaven. May Your people in this nation not give up on the high calling and privilege to stand in the gap and pray for America!

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

Are you too overwhelmed to pray?

Posted by Admin on Jun 18, 2013 in June 2013, Prayer Perspective | Comments Off on Are you too overwhelmed to pray?

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the intensity of the current events that continue to fill the airwaves and internet? I know I have at times, and the feeling of oppression that accompanies the state of being overwhelmed often pressurizes believers into back off of praying for our nation. I imagine that they might feel like grasshoppers before such seemingly insurmountable circumstances facing the country, and as a result, could be tempted to retreat from praying about the issues at all.

In the Bible, the majority of the men sent in to spy out Canaan were overwhelmed by what they saw. They said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us” (Numbers 13:31b).

And yet Caleb, who had declared, “We should by all means go up and possess the land, for we will surely overcome it” (Numbers 13:30b), was commended by God who described him as having a different spirit in following after Him fully (see Numbers 14:24).

Many hold back on interceding about current events due to the fear of praying against the will of God. After all, are we not in the end times—the days of difficulty? Shouldn’t we expect things to go from bad to worse? If we pray against such things, won’t we be in danger of attempting to thwart the plan of God?

Jesus said that the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy (see John 10:10a). Many of the events we are witnessing clearly fall into those categories, so when you pray to thwart such things, you are not praying against God but against the master of stealing, killing, and destroying, the devil. And remember, the Lord did not condemn the man mentioned in a parable for pulling his sheep out of a pit on the Sabbath (see Matthew 12:11-12). Instead, this man’s mercy on the innocent animal was acknowledged by Jesus as appropriate despite the seemingly taboo timing of the rescue. In light of this, are we called to turn a blind eye to creeping agendas of lawlessness meant to ensnare our neighbors and countrymen when we have been given the power in prayer to bind and loose? (See Matthew 18:18.)

The Bible calls you more than a conqueror (see Romans 8:37) even now, even when things seem to be falling apart. As you refuse to cast away your confidence (see Hebrews 10:35), you will find that the prayers you pray will become bolder, more targeted, and more saturated with Scripture.

It is written in two places in the Old Testament that God sought for an intercessor but found none (Isaiah 59:16, Ezekiel 22:30). Be found of Him, willing to take a stand in prayer about those things in the nation that grip your heart. Then, if Jesus returns in your life, He will be able to say that He did, indeed, find faith on the earth, for He found it in you.

Dorothy