Pray for the World

Let us always remember to pray for the people in our world who are still suffering.  Prayers are effective, they're powerful.  God hears our prayers in a very real way, and very often answers them.  Recount in your past the many times God has answered your prayers.  Recall his faithfulness, and remind him of his promises.  He is our Father after all.  He loves us and he listens. 

Prayer isn't just something to be done on our knees at night and in the morning, though those are definitely good things to do.  Prayer is also in my head when I'm driving to work.  Prayer is while I'm walking, or jogging, or with family members.  Prayer is writing and journaling my requests to God.  Prayer is always. 

Philippians 4:6 (ESV) Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 

Some might think that since God has preordained everything and it's his will that is being done, that there is no point in praying for things or people.  But that would not be a Biblical view.  We're instructed in the book of James to pray for one another.

James 5:16 (ESV) Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 

 Guess who's righteous?  You are!  But not because of all the wonderful things you've done.  Let's just be real, there aren't that many.  But you're righteous because of what Jesus Christ did.  His birth, his life, his teaching, his healing, his atoning sacrifice, and his conquest of the plague upon mankind at this very moment: death.  Now, we have life.  Though we pass through the shadow of death (physical death) our souls can never die, and our bodies we be resurrected, free from the sin nature, the sin nature that is death.  Finally, the curse removed, forever.

But we're not there yet. And remember to stay faithful until the very last day.  But it's not so hard to stay faithful.  Pursue holiness.  Love your friends and family.  Keep Jesus Christ as your first love.  Be quick to show mercy to those who are sad, crippled, afflicted, and lost.  A great way to do just that is to pray.  

Pray, and pray more.  Pray all the time.  So let's do that.  I'll list some prayer suggestions, requests, ideas, whatever you want to call it.  As I write these things God is listening, so the act of writing is prayer in and of itself.  Try it sometime!  Yep, God does read this blog!  Oh my, so exciting!

Alright, prayer requests:

First of all Heavenly Father, thank you for hearing my prayers in this writing and the prayers of the people reading who I'm certain will commit these requests to prayer.  Thank you for the incredible gift of instant communication with you, no matter where we are.  Truly no one can snatch us from your arms.  

Prayers for the persecuted Christians in Iraq and Syria, who are being exterminated by ISIS.  Please Lord, protect them, guide them to safety, shelter, food, water, and sanctuary from evil men.  Additionally Father, we pray that you change the hearts and minds of those participating in ISIS, that you would meet them in their hearts, their minds, their dreams, and that they would come to know Jesus Christ as Lord.  

Prayers for the hundreds of thousands of children caught up in the sex trade industry worldwide.  Father please, may your Spirit go out in incredible force to save these children, bring them out of the industry, and to sanctuaries where they can rest and be healed.  Please raise up organizations dedicated to rescuing these children and fighting such a wicked industry.  And please Father be working in the hearts and minds of the men and women involved in the sex trade industry.  Prayers that they would be convicted of their sins and find themselves no longer able to participate in the sex trade industry, and instead to seek out and find Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  

Prayers for the millions of children who are aborted worldwide every year.  I pray Father that you would take these children into your arms and bring them safely to a place where you can care for them.  Prayers that the women considering abortions would think twice, and many more times about their decision, and that they would decide instead to have the children and give them up for adoption.  Prayers that political leaders would have rapid, powerful changes of heart regarding abortion and make it's practice illegal in all countries in our world.  Prayers that couples across the country and world would use temperance and thought consideration before engaging in sexual encounters that might lead to unwanted children.  

Prayers that Congress, the Supreme court, and the President would make wise decisions in all their legislations and decisions.  Father I pray that you would change their hearts and minds from corruption to a desire for purity.  I pray your Spirit would convict their hearts, challenge their minds, and meet them spiritually in powerful ways that would turn them from atheism, wickedness, satanism, and corporate/banking agendas of all kinds.  Please Lord convert many of these men and women who serve only private interests and international banking cartels, that they would becoming Christians and serve the will of the people, the republic.  

Prayers for the many churches across the United States, for humble servant leadership, wise spending of resources, a servant attitude in caring for the communities around them, and quality Biblical teaching and evangelism efforts.  

Prayers for the many atheist, agnostic, deist, naturalist, and "not interested" people in the United States and in the world at large.  Father please bring them into communion with Jesus Christ, by any and all means necessary.  

Prayers for the many Buddhists, Muslims, Hindi, Pagans, Universalists, and New Agers in the United States and the world at large today.  Father I pray that you would come to them in their religions and expose the truth of Jesus Christ to them in powerful ways, that they would forsake their past views and accept Jesus Christ, that they would have eternal life.  

Prayers for Jewish Israel.  The scriptures say that you still love the Jews Father, your first chosen people.  Please Lord intersect with them in their time of need, protect them, encourage them, but also instruct them and guide them to the Messiah you sent, Jesus Christ.  

Prayers for the many drug addicts, pill poppers, meth heads, heroin junkies, cocaine addicts, potheads, alcoholics, cigarette smokers, and all others lost in addictions of all kinds.  You love your people Father.  And you seem to have a great love and care and special mercy for those who are lowly and lost, like I was in the past.  Please Lord show these people incredible mercy, reach out to them in the form of your Holy Spirit.  Meet them where they are, and bring them about to recovery.  Bring the idea to their minds in their moments of greatest pain to call on Jesus Christ for help.  

Father your word says that the prayers of the righteous avails much.  We pray all these things in the righteousness of Jesus Christ that has been gifted to us. 

Mark 11:24 (ESV) says "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

We believe in your power Lord, your righteousness, your omnipotent ability to change anything and everything in the blink of an eye, and we believe in your desire to show incredible mercy and grace to your people.  We believe we have received these requested prayers.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Yeshua our Savior, Amen.  

The name "Jesus Christ" in world languages:

Arabic: يسوع المسيح

Bulgarian: Исус Христос

Catalan: Jesucrist

Chinese Simplified: 耶稣基督

Chinese Traditional: 耶穌基督

Czech: Ježíši Kriste

Danish: Jesus Kristus

Dutch: Jezus Christus

English: Jesus Christ

Estonian: Jeesus Kristus

Finnish: Jeesus Kristus

French: Jésus Christ

German: Jesus Christus

Greek: Ο Ιησούς Χριστός

Haitian Creole: Jesus Christ

Hebrew:. אלוהים אדירים

Hindi: यीशु मसीह

Hmong Daw: Huab tais Yesxus

Hungarian: Jézus Krisztus

Indonesian: Yesus Kristus

Italian: Gesù Cristo

Japanese: イエス ・ キリスト

Korean: 예 수 그리스도

Latvian: Jēzus Kristus

Lithuanian: Jėzus Kristus

Malay: Isa Al-masih

Maltese: Jesus Christ

Norwegian: Jesus Kristus

Persian: عیسی مسیح

Polish: Jezus Chrystus

Portuguese: Jesus Cristo

Romanian: Isus Hristos

Russian: Иисус Христос

Slovak: Ježiš Kristus

Slovenian: Jezus Kristus

Spanish: Jesucristo

Swedish: Jesus Kristus

Thai: พระเยซู คริสต์

Turkish: Tanrı aşkına

Ukrainian: Ісус Христос

Urdu: یسوع مسیح

Vietnamese: Chúa ơi

Welsh: Jesus Christ

The Power of Apologetics

Let's talk apologetics!  Yay, my favorite subject.  Apologetics comes from the Greek word "apologia" meaning to give an answer.  And many have given answers, all the way back to the first few centuries of Christianity.  Of note, Justin Martyr who wrote in response to critics in ancient Rome.  If you ever get the chance read some of Justin Martyr's apologies.  I've been able to find them free online, Librivox has two of them I believe in free audio format.  

Justin Martyr wrote in response to Greeks and Romans who had a lot of interesting objections to Christianity.  They said Christianity was for the intellectually simple in society.  They didn't like a religion that used a cross as it's emblem.  They didn't like Christianity's view on marriage.  Come to think of it, the arguments against Christianity have hardly changed in over 1,900 years.  

To give an answer for the faith in my heart is a great relief in a culture declaring "God is dead!"  Not to mention the "tolerance" agenda, gay rights, and Christians being called "bigots."  Scary stuff.  Especially since I used to hold a lot of those same views.  I just didn't know any better.  Not to mention I was much more concerned with what was hip and popular, or hipster popular, than what the actual truth was.  There's parties to get to, you know?  

I digress.

When Paul the former Jewish terrorist turned radical follower of Jesus Christ spoke to the Jews in the synogagues he reasoned from the scriptures as to why Jesus Christ was and is in fact the Messiah.  They were God-believers, so he reasoned from the scriptures.  But when he spoke to the Gentiles (all non-jews in the world) like the Greeks and Romans, he provided defenses of the faith, interacting with the worldview of the people in those cultures.  
That's what we have to do in America today.  Fifty years ago that would not have been the case; the great majority fifty years ago could've probably been, for the most part, shown the gospel from the context of the pages of the Bible.  Not so anymore.  

People are eating up the lame arguments of the so called new atheists, and declaring their superiority over Christianity by welcoming in eastern mysticism, new age beliefs, and in general accepting naturalism (the view that everything has a material cause without any need for the immaterial).  In another way, evolution is rolled out as adequately describing reality.  Science.  In another way, LGBT rights is being rolled out as superior to the teaching of the Bible.  A certain intellectual elite are attempting to claim the moral high ground.

Of course we Christians know that what is popular is not necessarily true.  Or at least we should know that.  But I keep hearing about defections by Christian musicians (how surprising) and Christian denominations to the gay rights agenda.  Scary stuff.  When it's easy to speak the truth, sure, Christians stand up for the Bible.  What about when it's hard?  And you could lose your job over it?  When people around you are going to slander your name and label you a bigot?  Then it's more difficult.  But the intolerance of those telling us to be "tolerant" is just amazing.  Such hippocracy..

The new hate speech is entirely unreasonable and unacceptable.  And no I'm not talking about racism or sexism, I'm talking about the people using those words to silence those of different view points.  Those who hold to intelligent design as a scientific theory are told to keep their "religious beliefs" out of science, even though intelligent design models use the same scientific models used by Darwin in his theories.  Those who disagree with President Obama's policies are told to keep their "racist views" to themselves.  And a lot of the time that will work, it will get the opposition to shut up, because they're so afraid of being labeled such a terrible thing.  And I'm sure assuming Hillary Clinton runs for president in 2016, I will then be told to keep my "sexist views" to myself.  

This new hate speech is really the new "politically correct" terminology.  It straw man's the view of another so it will be dismissed.

A fascinating example is when in Germany, as the Nazi's were gaining power and Hitler was dismantling the former democracy... There were these people claiming Hitler had this crazy plan to start a world war and exterminate the Jews, and all of this nonsense.  It was then that Hitler coined the term "conspiracy theorist" calling those who suggested such nonsense "conspiracy theorists."  Then Hitler invaded Poland, later France, and World War II began.  Hitler successfully used slanderous terminology to discredit the opposition so he could move forward with his plan to conquer Europe.  And he did, at least temporarily.  

We have to be on watch as Christians.  We need Christians trained in the art of Apologetics to look at and interpret the culture of the West and explain the continuing relevance and desperate need for Jesus Christ in a fallen world!  The arguments are powerful, and we need to continously counter the hate speech of the masses in the USA who are now embracing open sexuality, authoritarian government, and atheism.  

Jesus Christ is just as important today as two thousand years ago.  As we watch the USA and a lot of the world slipping into incredible debt (over 17 trillion owed by USA), wars, income inequality, corruption, and depravity we must continue to show why the USA is great.  The USA was founded by Christian men, on the principle of a sovereign moral God.  As the west rejects that to pursue their own sexual appetites and prideful arrogance we must call out to them: These things are false and wrong!  Jesus Christ is real!  God is real!  And you can know him too!  

So here are some wonderful presentations, giving an answer for the things we believe in our hearts.  Enjoy and keep up the fight for the hearts and minds of this great nation, and the world at large!

1. Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, William Lane Craig.



2. Intelligent Design and it's Rejection by the Science Community, Stephen Meyer & Eric Metaxas


3. A Message to Pastors regarding the value of Apologetics in Youth Ministries, William Lane Craig


4. Apologetics for those who feel Christianity has failed them, Ravi Zacharias


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Believing in the Miraculous: The Work of Jesus Christ on the Cross

John 6:29 (NLT) Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.”

There is very little I can do to please God, but only to believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior.

Rebirth.  New life.  His gifts are many.  Watching myself being sanctified is just icing on the cake.  But it's so important to understand the total completion of the work of Jesus Christ.  It's so important to abandon myself to God.  I've got to place utter trust in the work of Christ.  

I must believe in the miraculous.  I must believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.  

Romans 10:9 (NIV) If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

It's just so simple.  Yet the alternative is so terrible, and so many can't seem to escape the illusion, the society, the modern mindset that can't seem to grapple with the simple message of the gospel.  

Many in the scientific field turn hard against the miraculous.  That's often the topic of apologetic work, 'are miracles possible?'  Why shouldn't they be?  Since everything that exists has a cause, the universe needs a cause, and that cause would have to be intelligent, omnipotent, and self-caused, thus God, thus what we humans consider the "miraculous" is not a big deal to God.  He created a universe from nothing, suddenly raising Jesus Christ from the dead doesn't seem like such a big deal!

1 John (MSG)  1^1-2 From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we’re telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us.

^3-4 We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!

The joy is in personal contact with God himself.  I feel that joy sometimes, the incredible love of the Father interacting with my soul.  All thanks to Jesus Christ, and his atoning sacrifice.  He took the just punishment I deserved.  He stepped in for me.  And I can hardly understand the cost.  Terrifying enough that Jesus, God himself, was afraid of it.  The disconnection from God that I deserved, he received.  Incredible.  What love!   

So belief in Jesus Christ, his work on the cross, his defeat of death, his perfect life, is now mine.  His righteousness is gifted to me, so I can boldly speak to the Father of lights, the divine architect of the universe, space, time, reality itself.  My part is belief.  And I believe today, more so I place my trust there.  I trust Jesus Christ.  I trust God the Father.  And I know one day I will see my savior face to face.  That's a fact.  Until that day, praise him and trust him!  Amen.

 

Apologetics: Answering Atheism, Naturalism in the USA, and the Reliability of the Bible

Christian Apologetics is the reasonable defense of the Christian worldview.  Many would have you think that religious thought exists in a vacuum and runs absolutely contrary to reality.  That is not true.  It's not true.  

Christian apologetics is where a lot of the fire for my evangelistic spirit comes from.  Because people simply don't know, and no one is telling them.  The media is not telling them, the news is not telling them, the universities are not telling them, and the churches are absolutely not telling them the compelling reasons behind Christianity.  And only the Christian apologists stand alone, like noble knights of old, against the onslaught of lies, half-truths, and deceptions perpetrated in public schools, universities, the sciences, and the public square.  Naturalism is pushed in all those arenas, and Christian apologists stand to defend Christianity in a nation founded and lead forward by Christians.  And now in the last 80 years, Christianity is quietly evicted, while eastern mysticism is explored, and naturalism dominates the landscape.  

These three doctors of various disciplines walk through the facts on three key topics: Answering the objections of the new atheists, the Naturalistic framework and it's effect on the USA, and the reliability of the documents composing the Christian Bible.  Enjoy these video presentations on the truth of Christianity by some wonderful men of faith that stands the test of reason.

Dr. Ravi Zacharias answers the objections of prominent atheists.




Dr. JP Moreland discusses the dominance of the Naturalistic worldview in the USA and it's ramifications




Dr. Norman Geisler looks at the Bible and it's reliability.



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