Believers around the world are setting aside this Sunday, April 15, as a day of prayer and fasting for the country of North Korea and the believers who live there. The situation in North Korea is increasingly problematic with the country facing its worst food shortage in a decade.
I love the Puritans for their emphasis on God's greatness and grace. Listen to this prayer of Thomas Reade.
This Sunday, November 13, is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, a global day of intercession for persecuted Christians worldwide. It’s a day to remember and pray for the hundreds of men, women, and children killed for Christ each day.
I’ve said before that one of my delights is exploring the vast reservoir of sermons by Charles Haddon Spurgeon. I came across one called “The Mighty Arm.” In this portion of the message, which is about one fifth of the whole, he talks about the power of God available to us as Christians, which we are free to call upon.
As a young Christian, forty years ago, I read David Wilkerson’s The Cross and the Switchblade and Run, Baby, Run, written by Nicky Cruz, a New York City gang warlord who David had led to the Lord. Both books had a profound influence on me. After Wilkerson died in a car crash April 27, I listened to a seven-minute excerpt from his message "A Call to Anguish."
Nanci and I often read The Valley of Vision, or listen to it (Max Maclean does an excellent audio version). These are brief and profound Puritan prayers. We find them powerful and penetrating, prompting us to pray in ways that this culture, and even most of our church cultures, don’t prompt us toward. Here are two out of the many I’ve appreciated.
In light of the 112th Congress opening today, here is the prayer that opened the First Continental Congress on September 7, 1774. May we be encouraged to pray that our leaders will have the same dependence upon God as these men did during very difficult times.
I have read outspoken atheist Christopher Hitchens, listened to his debates, and attended a debate he was part of. I marveled that there are some Christians he seems to respect, while radically disagreeing with them. I have prayed for him now and then, but this note (from Faith & Freedom Network) and the link prompts me to pray for him in particular now.
Check out this video produced by a company I really respect, Chick-fil-A. I think it’s very moving. It reminds me of the divine appointments God gives us daily. It also encourages me to pray, even if briefly, for many people I see in passing and do not know.
Some of you liked the story and six quotations about prayer from my earlier blog. So here’s six more, followed by a story.
The first two quotes come from two Puritans:
Richard Sibbes said, "God can pick sense out of a confused prayer."
Thomas Watson said, "The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer that fetched the angel."
Abraham Lincoln said, "I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day."
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