A Matter of the Heart

    "But Daniel set in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself. Now God granted Daniel lovingkindness and compassion before the commander of the officials, and the commander of the officials said to Daniel, 'I am afraid of my lord the king, who has appointed your food and your drink; for why should he see your faces looking more haggard than the youths who are your own age? Then you would make me forfeit my head to the king'” - Daniel 1:8-10.

    God was carrying out His long promised judgment and discipline on His Old Testament children Israel. He had chosen them to share the good news of His coming Messiah with the nations of the world... "He says, 'It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to cause the preserved ones of Israel to return; I will also give You as a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth'" - Isaiah 49:6. But they had consistently rebelled against Him in substituting other gods in their worship, elevating themselves into the place of gods, and disrespecting the value of human life. As a loving Father, God had warned them and now was disciplining them... "For whom Yahweh loves He reproves, even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights" Proverbs 3:12 (see also Hebrews 12:6). While many were praying for a revival His mercy, few were answering His call for a personal return to holiness and righteousness. To be holy and right with God is truly a matter of the heart.

    "But Daniel set in His heart that he would not defile himself" - Daniel 1:8. Daniel understood that in order for a nation to be set apart from other nations unto the special privilege and responsibility of the Lord's work, the individual hearts of the members of that nation must be set apart unto the Lord. Perhaps he was raised in a holy family or he discovered and surrendered to the truth of God's Word as he heard it. Despite the collapse and captivity of the nation around him, and despite his own personal enslavement to a foreign culture, Daniel was still "set in his heart" to remain set apart to His true Heavenly Father. As a result, despite his physical imprisonment in Babylon, he was in the perfect position to be used of God as a prophet to foreign kings and officials, an exhorter of the remnant of God's faithful children, and a witness to the unholy culture that surrounded him.

    Let's face the truth. Today, America has become a reflection of the same sins that had consumed Israel. In addition, many in America are vocally and violently attacking Israel and defending her terrorist enemies. There are many faithful New Testament children of God ("as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name" - John 1:12) praying for a national revival. I hope you are among them. But God is still searching for individuals who are willing to surrender their hearts to Him, to be set apart and available to be His prophets, exhorters, and witnesses to the collapsing culture that surrounds them, wherever He may place them. To be like Daniel, we must be set in our hearts that we will not defile ourselves, because to be part of the answer to the prayer for revival is truly a matter of the heart.

Living a Holy Life in an Unholy World

    "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god.

Then the king said for Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal seed and of the nobles, youths in whom was no defect, who were good in appearance, showing insight in every branch of wisdom, being thoroughly knowledgeable and discerning knowledge, and who had ability to stand in the king's palace; and he said for him to teach them the literature and tongue of the Chaldeans. And the king appointed for them a daily ration from the king's choice food and from the wine which he drank, and appointed that they should be educated three years, at the end of which they were to stand before the king. Now among them from the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Then the commander of the officials set names for them; and for Daniel he set the name Belteshazzar, for Hananiah Shadrach, for Mishael Meshach, and for Azariah Abed-nego" - Daniel 1: 1-7.

    If we are reading and studying the Bible systematically, we have just completed the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, and Ezekiel. The focus of the Holy Spirit-inspired prophets that God used to produce these holy words was the rebellion of God's old covenant children Israel. They also highlighted the sins of the nations that surrounded Israel. All of these nations had two major sins in common. They worshiped idols, sometimes even imagining themselves to be equal to or greater than God... "Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you think you are as wise as a god, therefore, behold, I will bring foreigners upon you, the most ruthless of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and defile your splendor" - Ezekiel 28:6-7. They also turned their backs on Israel, rejoicing in Israel's suffering under the judgment of God... "For thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet and were glad with all the scorn of your soul against the land of Israel, therefore, behold, I have stretched out My hand against you, and I will give you for plunder to the nations. And I will cut you off from the peoples and make you perish from the lands; I will destroy you. Thus you will know that I am Yahweh’” - Ezekiel 25:6-7. Living in the shadow of impending judgment must have been terrifying and difficult, but God promises to help those who are living a holy life in an unholy world.

    In far too many ways, the words of these prophets reflect the heart of America today. No longer content to be one nation under God, we have elevated ourselves above God in redefining the value of life, the makeup of the family, and gender identification. More recently too many of us are abandoning Israel, rejoicing in her afflictions, and demonstrating approval of the violent attacks against her by radical terrorists. Behold... God has not changed, "For I, Yahweh, do not change" - Malachi 3:6a. Because we do not read His Word and our pulpits fail to rightly proclaim His Word, we are blind to His impending judgment... "And I will put My glory among the nations; and all the nations will see My judgment which I have executed and My hand which I have placed on them" - Ezekiel 39:21.

    But the very next book in the Holy Bible reveals hope along with instructions for how we are to live in the light of God's impending judgment. In the midst of His judgment and discipline of His children Israel, God delivered a young man named Daniel into the hands of His enemies, prepared Him to serve as His prophet to foreign kings as well as to the remnant of His children, and used him to encourage us today to be living a holy life in an unholy world.

A Call to Prayer

 

Leonard Ravenhill’s classic book entitled Why Revival Tarries continues to challenge our generation toward revival. He reminds us of the formula for revival revealed in the past; prayer, preaching, repentance, and reformation as he writes:

“Poverty-stricken as the church is today in many things, she is most stricken here, in the place of prayer.

We have many organizers, but few agonizers; 

many players and payers, but no pray-ers; 

many singers, no clingers; 

lots of pastors, few wrestlers; 

many fears, few tears; 

much fashion, little passion; 

many interferers, few intercessors; 

many writers, but few fighters. 

Failing here, we fail everywhere."

The preaching ministry is open to a few; the ministry of prayer—the highest ministry of all human offices—is open to all. If we're willing to come together to pray we may find ourselves at stage one, at the very beginning of a much needed great awakening here in America. Will you join the Wexford chapter of God's worldwide prayer team today?

Liberty is the Gift of God

Washington is so filled with references to God and scriptural quotations that the city is virtually a Bible engraved in stone. The Washington Moment is crowned with an aluminum tip bearing the Latin phrase Laus Deo—“Praise be to God.” At its base is a 24,500-pound cornerstone with space hollowed out for a zinc case containing a copy of the Holy Bible. Up and down the giant obelisk, a host of Bible verses and prayers are etched into its walls.

Lincoln’s second inaugural address, inscribed on the wall of the Lincoln Memorial contains fourteen references to God and four Bible verses. At the National Archives, there is a bronze emblem of the Ten Commandments in the floor and the display of the original Declaration of Independence with its its four references to God:

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature’s God entitle them.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.

Appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world.

with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Moses and the Ten Commandments are all over the Supreme Court Building, where every session opens with the words: “God save the United States and this honorable court.” Across the street, the US Capitol Rotunda contains eight massive oil paintings. Two portray prayer meetings and a third shows a baptism. One of the paintings has a large open Bible at the center of it where you can read the words “God with us.” Two of the paintings feature the cross being held aloft. 

At the US House of Representatives, above the speaker’s rostrum are the words: “In God We Trust.” At the US Senate you’ll see “In God We Trust” over the south entrance, and over the east entrance the phrase Annuit Coeptis—“God has favored our undertakings.” In Statuary Hall, there's a bronze statue of missionary Marcus Whitman holding a Bible; another of missionary Junipero Serra, holding a cross. Plans are underway to add evangelist Billy Graham to the Hall. 

Along the ornate Cox Corridor of the Capitol are the words “America! God shed His grace on thee.” In the private congressional chapel, a stained-glass window depicts George Washington kneeling in prayer. Over him are the words “THIS NATION UNDER GOD,” and around him in beautiful golden letters is Psalm 16:1: “Preserve me, O God, for in Thee do I put my trust.” 

In the Library of Congress there is the Giant Bible of Mainz and the Gutenberg Bible. On the ceilings and walls of the Great Hall are inscribed Bible verses like John 1:5 and Proverbs 4:7. A bronze statue of Moses stands in the Main Reading Room, and nearby are more verses—Micah 6:8, Leviticus 19:18, and Psalm 19:1. The apostle Paul gazes down from the balustrade.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial displays a quotation from the book of Amos. At the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, you’ll find Proverbs 28:1: “The wicked flee when no man pursueth but the righteous are bold as a lion.” The US Holocaust Memorial Museum highlights these words: “You are my witnesses—Isaiah 43:10.” 

Etched into the wall of the Jefferson Memorial is a prophetic summary and warning for all generations of America... 

GOD WHO GAVE US LIFE GAVE US LIBERTY. CAN THE LIBERTIES OF A NATION BE SECURE WHEN WE HAVE REMOVED A CONVICTION THAT THESE LIBERTIES ARE THE GIFT OF GOD?

His Kids Deserve His Truth

The teacher asks... "Can a man get pregnant?"

The world's answer here

God's answer here...

“Ask now, and see, can a man bear a child?

Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor?

Why has every face turned pale?” - Jeremiah 30:6

Consider an education that teaches truth for your children or grandchildren.

It’s not more difficult, in fact the answers are actually much simpler…

Classical Christian Education

Your Heart is Showing

 

Most folks believe Karl Marx was an atheist. However, honest inspection of his words and actions reveal the truth that He believed in God and he hated Him. With his heart set against God, Marx became the target of Satan's affection and in his own words, Marx gave his heart to the devil.

"Thus Heaven I’ve forfeited, 
I know it full well. 
My soul, once true to God, 
Is chosen for Hell." - Karl Marx

Why did Jesus make such a big deal about loving God with all of our heart? Because we were made to enjoy and respond to the overwhelming, everlasting, loving heart of God. Whoever or whatever has our heart is revealed in our words and actions...

"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." - Luke 12:34

Karl Marx believed the devil had his heart. His Satan-inspired words and actions have influenced many who have not guarded their hearts and through them have brought much tyranny and misery to our fallen world.

Who has your heart? It shows in the way you are influencing and impacting the lives of others...

"No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us." - 1 John 4:12

Is there someone close to you who needs to experience God's love today? Be aware, to them, your heart is showing!

Revival Requires a Return to Righteous Royalty

We've been here before. In America we seem to be particularly vulnerable to worshiping our government instead of the One who truly has endowed us with our unalienable rights. We can look to history, with an honest and sincere desire to see the truth, and discover how our forebears were delivered from a precarious and foreboding time much like we are immersed in today.

Samuel Adams gave his American Independence speech shortly before the fifty-six Founders signed the Declaration of Independence. In this prophetic speech Adams said, 

“We have explored the temple of royalty (regarding many previous appeals to King George), and found that the idol we have bowed down to has eyes which see not, ears that hear not our prayers, and a heart like the nether millstone. We have this day restored the Sovereign, to whom alone men ought to be obedient.... From the rising to the setting sun, may His kingdom come.”

 The direction is clear. Who will lead the way? Those of us who have experienced the forgiveness, healing, and deliverance of the Lord as a result of our personal repentance and surrender to Him through Jesus Christ know the way back to where we belong. Let's echo the cry of the prophets throughout our great land once again...

"Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces; now he will heal us. He has injured us; now he will bandage our wounds." - Hosea 6:1

“Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other." - Isaiah 45:22

Is there someone in your life that you can nudge, inspire, redirect toward the One True God today? Become a part of the revival of America.

American Greatness Springs from Humble Leadership

President Abraham Lincoln’s words in the dark days of the Civil War speak to us today: 

"We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever known. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness." - Abraham Lincoln, Proclamation of a National Fast Day, March 30, 1863.

As we pray for revival in our land, let's ask the Lord to raise up the kind of humble, God fearing leaders like Abraham Lincoln that have challenged us as God's people to obey God's call to prayer...

"If my people, who bear my name, will humble themselves, pray, seek my face and turn from their evil ways, I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land." - 2Ch 7:14.

 A humble, honest look into HIStory reveals the truth that God responds to this kind of prayer, and just as He did before, HE will make America great again.

Precursor to the American Covenant

 

When things go wrong it seems the smart thing to do is stop, look for the cause, make corrections, and get back on course. It's obvious that things are going wrong here in America. As a nation and as individual citizens, we no longer live together like we believe that we are all created equal and endowed by our Creator with the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We no longer see the role of government as being limited by a constitution to protecting those rights, but we increasingly see government as our enemy, threatening on many sides to take away our rights. It seems it's time to stop, make some corrections and get back on course.

But just where is the course? To rediscover the course that America should be on, a good place to start might be to re-examine our earliest agreements as they are the precursors of our American Constitution. Here's a glimpse of the Mayflower Compact, the first written, signed agreement between Christian and non-Christian citizens of the new colony of Plymouth...

"Having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and advancements of the Christian faith, and the honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another; covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience."

The Mayflower compact is the first American covenant, between God and a group of men and women beginning life together in a new world. These forefathers and foremothers were bound together by a covenant to glorify God because they assumed that as individuals, they all existed for the glory of God. This belief was so strong that both Christians and non-Christians understood and accepted this truth...

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of His hands." - Psalm 19:1

The course is clear. A rededication to the American Covenant is the best hope for a revival of the vitality of our dear republic. But before nations make such course-corrections, individual citizens must make a personal covenant to live for the glory of God...

"Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" - 1 Corinthians 10:31

Thus, to pray for revival in America is to pray for a personal rededication to living in both words and actions for the glory of God, and to pray for the salvation of lost souls that they may be freed to enter into the personal covenant that is the precursor to the American covenant.

 

The Interposing Hand of Heaven

 

"I take a particular pleasure in acknowledging that the interposing hand of Heaven, in the various instances of our extensive preparations for this operation, has been most conspicuous and remarkable." - Washington, Letter to Thomas McKean, President of Congress, November 15, 1781

George Washington's reflections on the most conspicuous and remarkable providence of God in the events leading up to the surrender of Lord General Cornwallis at Yorktown are the result of the following divine activity...

1. If General Washington had not decided to leave New York and march to Yorktown when he did, Cornwallis would have been reinforced.

2. If Robert Morris, the generous and capable merchant, had not used extraordinary means to raise money to pay Washington’s troops, they would have gone home rather than to Yorktown.

3. If France had not sent a fleet from the West Indies (unknown to Washington), which arrived just in time to defeat the British fleet sent to relieve General Cornwallis at Yorktown, Cornwallis could have escaped. In this battle, the French fleet, under Admiral de Grasse, soundly defeated the British, cutting off all sea routes.

4. If a sudden tornado-like storm had not stopped Lord Cornwallis in his last-minute attempt on October 16, 1781, to cross the York River and escape to New York, the war would have dragged on. - Marshall Foster, The American Covenant, the Untold Story.

Praying for revival is inviting the interposing Hand of Heaven to  break into the chaos and conflict of our nation once again. Such a request should be natural and urgent when it comes from the heart of believers who have experienced the providential Hand of God in their own lives...

"If 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 and will forgive their sin and heal their land." - 2 Chronicles 7:14.

Where in your heart, your home, your community, and your nation do you urgently need the interposing Hand of Heaven today?

Our Only Real Hope

 

Alexander Solzhenitsyn , in his acceptance speech for the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion (May 1983), summarized our present state well when he said...

"We are witnesses to the devastation of the world, be it imposed or voluntarily undergone. The entire twentieth century is being sucked into the vortex of atheism and self-destruction . This plunge into the abyss has aspects that are unquestionably global, dependent neither on political systems, nor on levels of economic and cultural development, nor yet on national peculiarities... Different parts of the world have followed different paths, but today they are all approaching the threshold of a common ruin.

Solzhenitsyn ended his sobering address in London by directing us toward the only hope for the reformation our world, a revival of our relationship with God...

"Instead of the ill-advised hopes of the last two centuries, which have reduced us to insignificance and brought us to the brink of nuclear and non-nuclear death, we can only reach with determination for the warm hand of God , which we have so rashly and self-confidently pushed away. If we did this, our eyes would be opened to the errors of this unfortunate twentieth century and our hands could be directed to set them right. There is nothing else to cling to in the landslide: all the thinkers of the Enlightenment can give us nothing."

As we pray for revival in America, we must be ready and willing to obey the Lord's command to help others reach with determination for the warm hand of God...

"Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." - Matthew 28:19

Who can you introduce to Jesus today?