Hearts

Good question jwill. I've had this same discussion with several faithful already and we have differing answers, but the theme remains the same;

We all agree that we're a nation of multi-cultural individuals, forged together for these past 400 years, and blessed beyond our wildest measures in so many ways, most of which are material. Yet how can we know if America is truly a promised (capital P) land in the eyes of our Lord? There hasn't been a revelation to that effect.

So we repent of our own sins in biblical fashion (prayer over several days) as individuals and as families, so that hearts are changed as 330-Trapper mentioned. The hard-hearted will scoff as they always do, but we'll pray for them as well, because prayer for a nation is a corporate endeavor. All hands on deck so to speak.

Donna and I talk about our aim of humble, sincere, convicted repentance for our ungodly ways, and jubilant thankfulness to God, while once again committing ourselves to His Plan, however He might present it to each of us. His will, not ours.

It's a blessing to gather as one people and offer prayer to God, while many in our nation mock His name.

Like I mentioned before, it's about as basic as it gets.

I agree with my friend Chauncey, that all should be involved.

Blessings!
Mark

My wife was telling me about this we talked about going don't know. You will love DC the wife and I went up for the cherry blossom festival a few years back.

Hope to see you there Bandy!
I hope it's too hard to find ya because of the all of the "we the people"

I will keep those who go in prayer.

jwill,

It's past time to take a stand for the principles and the ideals this country was founded on...
And it sure isn't NFL football anthems, pandemics that may or may not harm you, or a whole host of side bars that keep us side tracked, eyes off the ball, and grumbling about stuff that has much less priority in the list of life's big themes.

Saddle up, bucket up, or trapper up. The time is ever present for a banner and some good hard sand to plant it into!

Blessings,
Mark

I definately agree. I believe it may well be to late. We, as a country have millions of dead babies, innocent blood on our hands. We have rejected God as creator. Roman's 1 goes into that. I dont think God will just overlook. I believe there will have to be a change in our behavior as a nation for God to lift his judgement (abandonment)
As for me, I am in the fight each and every week being involved in a addiction ministry at our church. Trying to lead people out of bondage and into truth, one at a time!

No matter where you stand, trying to help people recover from addictions is a noble thing to do, jwill.

jwill,

Helping the least among us is rewarding to all involved but is His Kingdom command;

When we read Jesus' parables in Matthew 25, we get a glimpse of how it all should be and how labors like yours are worthy beyond what we can know;

But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

Keep up the kingdom work brother.
Blessings!
Mark

The closer someone gets to God, the more humble you become. That process shows the created how sinful we are, and how glorious God is. This is why Moses called himself the humblest man on the earth, for he saw God, and now better understood his own sinful nature.

During this weekend, we'll pray for God to forgive our individual sins as a citizen of the US, and ask him to humble us through the power of the Holy Spirit. We'll also thank Him for the Son, who died in our place, as all are guilty of death - the wages of sin. We'll pray for our families and your families, asking God to please lift this nation up for His purpose, not ours. All we see is people all around us who are greedy, power-hungry, and more, and we ache for a peace, and comfort from all of it if it is His Will. And a bunch of prayer for just plain thanks for what we have, what He gives us every day. May we better help the least among us, especially the orphan and the widow.

Our prayers are with you, Mark. Please report back to us on your return. May the Lord be with you!

God did bless this country, through the hands and hearts of those who wrote the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Jonathan can is awesome, I listen to him quite a bit.

You can count on it Trapper7.
DC has been a bit hectic, so who knows what the Christians will encounter as they head to the National Mall, but it's time to gather as one, unified voice in front of the White House and DC politicians and pray for our country in 2 Chronicles 7:14 fashion;
and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

I don't have TMan on my iPhone, but perhaps I could text pics to someone and they could post on here as the day unfolds in Washington?

Oh and I notice some here are in lament, and seem to have lost hope in the future of our nation, based on all that the news portrays. Who can say? But I do know the answer to; "How many soldiers does God need to win a battle?"
Answer = "Zero."
He just needs more in our land to "Return" and chase after Him when we stumble, and when we fall, instead of all the false idols all around us.

As billcat points out, our nation was founded by Godly men and women, who publicly and valiantly declared our freedoms as emanating from God, not man, and drafted that language into the very fabric of the founding documents.

Call Donna and me old fashioned, but we agree 100%.

Blessings,
Mark

Getting a few PMs asking me about repentance and a general message here might help clarify some of them.

Repentance is certainly about being sorry for individual sins, but it's much more than that. Heart changing repentance, the type that really sinks to the affections we have, the sin under the rest of the sins, is usually identified as our self-salvation project.

First, obviously if we are willfully sinning, we should seek not to do wrong things (general term of course - lying, stealing), but what about our right things? Here's a big awakening for many. Healing starts with repentance, and repentance starts with confessing the things besides God that you have been relying on for your hope, significance, and security, the motivation behind our "good works." We love these things that we have created, that we place #1 in our lives, usually way out in front of God in our heart's priorities = sinful. Loving things is blessed. Loving them because I am captain of my ship to all manner of prosperity is not.

Second, we trust. Not in what we are able to do, but what Christ already did.

A repentant prayer isn't so much saying someone is "sorry" and I won't do it again. That's not possible. A prayer of repentance is built upon a humble request for God to find us, He is the great shepherd and we are need of a great shepherd. We pray He finds us, rather than us using all our right things to find him.

Some are asking me about biblical teachings, and I gotta admit, I have very few answers for some of you, since you PM a lifetime of experiences and this, thats, and the others. Here's about all I got: Tim Keller, pastor and teacher in downtown Manhattan, NY, an area where you can't hardly build an orthodox (traditional historical values) Christian church, but yet he and others have planted many that are thriving, says it well;

The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like God's teaching but whether or not He rose from the dead. - "The Reason for God" - Tim Keller. (this is a great book)



Blessings on a Sunday!
Mark

This was in the mailbox yesterday.

Will be nice to see that many God fearing Christians in one place peacefully praying for our country

^^^^ So true

I truly hope it goes well. In today's world, I'll be surprised if there isn't some negativity show up. I hope for the best. We do need help as a people for sure.