Do You Believe, or Don’t You? 5 Responses to the Gospel

Belief in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, equals eternal life in Heaven. Denial of the Son of God equals eternal death in Hell. There is nothing in between. In which place do you make your eternal dwelling?

John 3:16-18 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

I have a friend who recently lost his mother. Understandably, he took it pretty hard, and I felt blessed that he spoke with me about it and was able to grieve and heal just a little bit in that way. In our conversation, his main comfort was that he knew his mom was now in Heaven, which I was pleased and comforted to hear, for his sake. One of the things he said did not strike me until later. It is something I have heard countless times when grieving a loved one, as he stated that his confidence in his mother’s entrance to Heaven was that she “was strong in her faith” or a “great woman of faith.” I of course nodded in encouragement, belief, and thankfulness.

However, while listening to a song on the radio today (“Stonger” by Mandisa) that said “if only you believe it,” you can be saved and God is faithful to complete the good work started in you (Phil 1:6), I recalled my friend’s words in a slightly different way. I realized that we place our faith in loved ones’ salvation in the word “strong” or “great” in the phrase “was strong in their faith” or “great person of faith,” when our confidence should simply come in the word “faith” alone.

There is much to be said about someone strong and great in their faith, and Jesus often distinguished between great and small faith with statements such as “ye of little faith” (Matt 8:26, 16:8, 17:20) or “you have great faith” (Matt 15:28). Yet, we see the power of even the smallest faith as Jesus pointed out in Matt 17:20, addressing the disciples’ question of why they could not drive out a demon that Jesus did:

Matt 17:19-21 – “Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” 20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Furthermore, Jesus says to anyone who believes that He is the Son of God:

John 14:11-12 – “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”

This is a most powerful belief! To do things even greater than the miracles Jesus performed?! Simply because we believe He is the Son of God? Yes. Jesus said so; therefore, I repeat it to you.

I see in this the simplicity and truth of the Gospel; that it begins and ends with belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who died in our place for our sin, conquered death by rising from the grave, and ascended to Heaven to the right hand of the throne of God to rule, reign, and judge forever; and that if we believe and ask to be saved by His name and His blood, we are assured of eternal salvation and entry to Heaven with Him.

So let me ask you, do you believe or don’t you? If you say “no,” you might be much more honest than many who say “yes,” and there is hope for you. It is my prayer that you die saying “yes” to Jesus Christ, so that we may live together forever with Him in Heaven. To those who say “yes,” I encourage you to take a moment and examine your inner self to see if you really believe in Christ. Here is a litmus test:

Upon hearing the good news that those with the tiniest faith in Jesus are granted Heaven and that a “great faith” or “strong faith” is not required, what is your response? Most will respond in one of 5 ways:

1. Relief and rest that you are going to Heaven, even though you know your faith is small and inconsistent.

2. Questioning if that is really true and desiring to know the real answer.

3. Disappointment because you believe that you have great faith and think that those with small, inconsistent faith should not be granted the same reward as you.

4. Happy because you don’t have to worry about doing anything the Bible instructs, as long as you say you believe in Jesus. You have the smallest faith that is necessary, that’s all you desire, and what you do next is irrelevant to that faith.

5. Rejecting the entire idea as hogwash with no desire to have any faith in this “Jesus.”

First, the good news: There is hope for you, no matter which of these responses you have (or a 6^th that I have not captured). Especially for responses 1 and 2, God has you in a good place to be closest to Him.

If you have the first response, you are indeed ready to receive grace, which is the simple necessity for the child of God. There is no pride in receiving grace, only gratitude, and that is a pure heart that God loves and is pleasing in His sight. Take heart #1, you are loved and precious in the Kingdom of God!

If you have the second response, you are a person that desires truth and are pursuing God’s very heart and Spirit, which is truth. Search the scriptures and you will find this truth. Start with John, read the Gospels, and go from there. Take heart #2, you are pursued as a son by a loving God as you pursue Him and His truth.

Here’s the bad news: Responses 3-5 need immediate revision and are not consistent with the heart of God and Holy Spirit that indwells the believer.

Eph 2:8-10 – “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

If you have the third response, that is actually quite despicable. There is no grace in that response—it is only by the grace of a perfect God that you have even a mustard seed of faith, let alone strength in that faith. And if this is your response, I wonder how strong and close to your Savior you really are. Pay close attention to this parable of Jesus:

Matt 20:1-16 – ““For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. 3 “About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went. “He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. 6 About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ 7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ 8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ 9 “The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ 13 “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.””

Salvation is granted to the man who asks Jesus in his final breath the same as the man who is baptized at an early age. And so we see that there is to be no comparison and salvation is not obtained by works “so that no man can boast,” but instead I humbly proclaim the graciousness of God to save a sinner such as me. Be convicted number 3, and then take heart, for God is faithful when we are not.

Perhaps response number 4 is the most dangerous of all. At least the man with response number 5 is not lukewarm. The Lord God says, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” (Rev 3:15-16)

If you are one with the fifth response, I understand, and I pray for you with great concern. Be afraid, number 5, for you are lost and facing Hell in this moment; but also take heart, for you are not beyond the reach of your all-powerful Creator God, and you can still be saved if you will repent and call on the name of Jesus. It is my prayer that you turn to Him, whatever it takes.

And so, back to number 4. This is the most dangerous of mindsets because if truly felt, it proclaims that your “belief” in Jesus Christ is only lip service and you do not truly believe. That may seem like a bold statement, but it could not be a simpler truth. Jesus states that those who believe seek to follow Him. He never makes the statement that those who believe will never sin again…He commands that we don’t (John 5:14, 8:11, 15:10)…but the distinction is that those who believe in a Savior, acknowledging and comprehending what that means, seek to serve and worship Him for the rest of their lives. That is still somewhat ambiguous, so let me make is very plain and simple: those who believe in Jesus Christ experience change in their hearts that leads to change in their actions. This is the work and empowerment of the Holy Spirit that is beyond ourselves. If you declare to believe in Christ and your behaviors as well as your motivations have not changed, and even worse, if you say that you “believe in Christ” and therefore it does not matter what you do now because those with the smallest faith reach the Kingdom of God, I say to you, Wake Up! You have been deceived! For you do not truly believe and are the farthest from Him, for He spews the lukewarm from His mouth! If at any point, you or I strive for the minimum, we strive for the absence of God in our lives…that is the exact essence of sin.

The Greek word for sin (as translated in the New Testament) is hamartano, which literally means to miss the mark or “to be without a share in.” It could often be used to describe an archer who did not hit the target’s bullseye no matter how close he may have come. We must strive for the center, the bullseye, and if we do, although we cannot live perfectly on our own and reach the Kingdom of Heaven, God assures us through Jesus Christ that declaring our intent and smallest seed of real faith and belief in Him, He will bring us to the bullseye, the place of sinless Heaven, upon the conclusion of our lives. We must have genuine intent and genuine belief that Jesus is the Way and the only Way. That is it. Number 4, I encourage you, take heart, for God replaces the heart of stone with a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26)…cry out for Him to create a pure heart within you and He will (Psalm 51:10).

Ezekiel 36:26 – “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

Psalm 51:10 – “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

And so I ask you one more time, do you believe or don’t you? Do you have “great faith” or “strong faith.” No matter…do you have any faith that is real in your Savior Jesus Christ? That is the principle question and nothing further. If you answer “yes” in truth, then I look forward to seeing you in Heaven forever. Amen.

Pray It Through - Praying for a Sure Thing

When you’ve been praying for something, maybe for a long time or maybe just one day, and you get the news that your prayer is going to be answered in the near future, what is your response?

Praise and thanksgiving are very appropriate here. But what about more prayer for the thing that you already found out is a “sure thing?” And I’m not just talking about the word of a man saying it’s a sure thing, I’m talking about the Word of God Himself. Unfortunately, I have to confess that in that moment, my prayers often cease. What if instead our response was not only to continue to pray, but actually pressing the accelerator and diving into continual prayer and fasting? That doesn’t sound very logical, but it is the response of Daniel to the revelation of God’s promise for the Israelites in Daniel chapter 9.

Daniel 9:1-4a – “In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom— 2in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. 3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. 4 I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed…”

Notice first of all that the promise, the revelation, was discovered by sincere searching of the scriptures and an intimacy with God’s Word that Daniel certainly practiced (It earned him a trip to the lion’s den, as chapter 6 tells us that Daniel “got down on his knees and prayed” three times a day, even when it was forbidden.). The same will be true for us: if we are seeking a word from our God, if we are seeking direction, it will most often be found in the Bible. Daniel had one of those moments where you’re reading something that you’ve read before, but then suddenly it jumps off the page and you understand it like you never have before. Daniel suddenly understood the promise given in Jeremiah 29:10:

“This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.” (see also Jer 25:11-12)

Daniel was able to see that not only would the captivity last only 70 years, but the 70thyear was approaching! Suddenly excitement as freedom was near! When you see the light at the end of the tunnel and it is so close that you are only steps away (things like financial security, full health, marriage, children, freedom from addiction, or anything you’ve been longing for and can see is almost yours after waiting for so long), do you get fixated on being in that place you’ve been longing for or do you respond like Daniel and pray even harder for the promise, the “sure thing?” I want to challenge you and myself to respond as Daniel with renewed fervor, not lacking thanksgiving, to seek Him fully and pray it right through to completion.

But let’s make sure we understand the nature of Daniel’s prayer. If you haven’t read Daniel 9 recently, I encourage you to stop reading this and read it now (if you have only enough time to read either my blog or the Bible today, please read your Bible! It is the only pure truth that lasts and anything you read outside of the Bible should point you right back into it.).

Daniel’s prayer was of sincere, sweeping repentance. In addition to prayer and petition, he fasted. In addition to fasting, he put on sackcloth and ashes, a sign of grief and repentance. Grief and repentance in the face of a fulfilled promise? Yes, this is the response of a human heart pure before the Lord, recognizing our sinful nature, His perfection, and confessing in His presence in response and awe of a gracious, loving, powerful, sovereign God of justice who would relent for “[His] people who are called by [His] name” (v. 19).

Every single verse from 4 through 16 speaks of confession of sin and repentance. So we see revelation followed by a full repentance, as Daniel confesses personally and on behalf of the entire nation, for “all Israel has transgressed your law” (v. 11). Finally, Daniel makes an appeal to God for who he knows God to be in verses 17-19. This is an appeal to grace, mercy, and for the sake of God’s own name to be glorified, because the Israelites bear God’s name before all men and nations. Revelation and conviction, followed by thorough repentance (13 of the 19 verses here), followed by an appeal to God’s character--His face, not just His hands.

2 Chron 7:14 – “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

You see, Daniel was a man seeking much more than personal gain or the hands of God to bless him and his nation. Daniel had an intimate, dedicated relationship with God through His Word. We have the same Word of God in the Bible, and additionally, we know that through Jesus Christ, “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). Through the Word of God, most purely Jesus Christ in our lives, we too can have this intimate relationship with a pure, just God who is also loving and merciful such that He saves those who call out to Him through the name of His Son Jesus Christ.

2 Chron 7:14 speaks to repentance and seeking God’s face, and the promise that follows: restoration, both spiritual eternity and the physical present. It is interesting how much Daniel’s prayer models this promise, in that He spoke up on behalf of an entire nation “who are called by [God’s] name,” he offered repentance for the entire nation and sought God’s face on behalf of an entire nation, all of which are prerequisites to the promise of forgiveness of sin and actual healing of the land.

What I see in this prayer is a leader stepping up in intercession for His people. Boldly, powerfully, humbly, and purely. This is a leader well acquainted with God and His Word. A leader who answered to God alone and not men. A leader blessed by God to rise to this position for a time such as the one described in chapter 9. These are real leaders and the kind that we need to be seeking in America and across the world. What good is a leader who can provide one generation of wealth and prosperity? We would fall all over ourselves for a leader that could deliver on 4 years of prosperity, yet we struggle to find even that. Yet what future do we preserve for our families and our nation if even a full generation of prosperity can be promised and delivered, but no more? We need to stop being so short-sighted and see the eternal picture, or at least 2 or 3 generations past ourselves for starters. We need a leader who will seek God’s face. A leader who knows His Word. A leader that answers to God alone and not men. A leader who will be an intercessor to God for his people, through Jesus Christ the Supreme Intercessor.

Can you imagine what great works God would come and do in America if a Daniel became President of the United States? How about a Daniel that became the leader in your school, your church, your office, or your family? What might be started on this small level and propagated by the hand of God? I don’t believe we grasp the power and value God places on a sincere intercessor who seeks the heart of God and His face.

Isaiah 59:15-16 – “So truth fails, And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Then the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him That there was no justice.
16 He saw that there was no man, And wondered that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him.”

“He wondered that there was no intercessor.” In the book of Isaiah, this speaks to the absence of men to intercede on the behalf of the defenseless, such that evil abounded; to intercede to God the Father on behalf of a sinful nation; and the inability for a man to properly intercede for the sins of any man, such that God Himself would have to become a man, live a perfect life, make the sacrifice of death that results from sin, conquer death on our behalf, then take His place at the right hand of the throne of God with a the title of King of Kings and Lord of Lords and the only adequate intercessor on our behalf.

Do to this lack of an intercessor in the time of Isaiah, the Israelites would soon enter into the 70 years of Babylonian captivity. And with Daniel as an intercessor at this time, according to the promise given through Jeremiah, at 70 years, they would be delivered.Notice also that right at the very onset of Daniel’s prayer, God gave a command:

Daniel 9:21,23a - “…yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering… 23 “At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved…””

An empowering truth and realization is that at the onset of our first words of prayer, God has already seen our heart and begins to act swiftly in our favor when we bear such an attitude as Daniel.

In view of all this, as we stand in the climate of our times, will you join me as an intercessor for our people? Will you search the scriptures with me for truth and receive God’s promises and revelations? Will you give yourself to sincere prayer and repentance, thoroughly and personally, as well as for our entire nation? Will you set out with me to seek God’s face, desiring an intimate knowledge of His very character? If so, we will be the leaders through which God will accomplish His every promise to be fulfilled in our lifetimes. And when we see the eminent fulfillment of God’s every promise, every personal small or large thing, or on a national or global scale, let's respond as Daniel responded, diving deeper into prayer.

God’s promises are a sure thing. Let’s pray them through to completion. I pray that we discern and seek leaders like Daniel and that we ourselves would be those leaders right where we are today. Amen.

(To see all posts for "Pray It Through," click here.)

The Response - National Prayer Gathering

Have you heard about The Response, a national prayer gathering being held in Houston, TX on Saturday, August 6th? I wasn’t 100% sure about it when I first heard, but with the American Family Association (AFA) and my church publicly behind it, I’m definitely going. If you’re not going to be in Houston on Saturday, Aug 6, you can actually still register and get involved in many ways: streaming live video of the event, pray at home, get together with your local church to pray on this day, signup to fast during the week, or signup for a daily prayer guide for the first week of August. Please check it out here: http://theresponseusa.com/

This might be the largest coordinated prayer effort I’ve ever been aware of. Not only the 62,000 prayer warriors in Reliant Stadium, but nationwide, especially with AFA behind it. In the book of Isaiah, God cited Israel as forsaking Him and failing to call on His name (Isaiah 43:22) and furthermore “wondered that there was no intercessor” (Isaiah 59:16) to plead for mercy and grace for a nation in greatest need of those two things. In this passage, Isaiah points to Jesus as The Intercessor, but we as the body of Christ are also to be intercessors right here, right now. This is an opportunity to be lifted from the same allegations brought against Israel, such that God will not wonder “that there was no intercessor” but will instead be pleased by those who sought Him with their whole heart and therefore He is found by them (Jeremiah 29:13).

Isaiah 59:1-4, 15b-16 –

“Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened,
That it cannot save;
Nor His ear heavy,
That it cannot hear.
2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood,
And your fingers with iniquity;
Your lips have spoken lies,
Your tongue has muttered perversity.

4 No one calls for justice,
Nor does any plead for truth.
They trust in empty words and speak lies;
They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity…

…Then the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him
That there was no justice.
16 He saw that there was no man,
And wondered that there was no intercessor;
Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him;
And His own righteousness, it sustained Him.”

Within the church community, we often hear Jeremiah 29:11 quoted and I love it, but verses 12-13 are just as important:

Jeremiah 29:11-13 – “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

When I read the book of Isaiah, I cannot help but see the stark reality that the words do not just describe Israel in the time of Isaiah...they are absolutely a description of the United States of America today. Think about these parallels that we in the U.S. have with Israel: a nation established by God, founded on the Bible and God's principles; a nation that has borne fruit for God's kingdom; a nation that has taken an egregious moral wrong turn, embracing greed, lust, deception, selfishness, and idolatry of all forms; justice and truth have become relative terms instead of absolutes based upon God's holy, righteous standard; a nation that has become prideful and forgotten to give glory to God for our successes. What is chilling is what happens to such a nation, as described by Isaiah: it is torn down and sent into captivity for 70 years. I am going to tell you without any reservation, because this is not far-fetched whatsoever, but is simply the obvious truth as a student of God and his ways with His people and nations that He establishes--if our nation does not repent, cry out to God for mercy and grace, and commit ourselves as individuals and as a people to seeking the Lord first, forsaking and abolishing all of the moral decay that we have embraced as a culture, we as the United States of America will also fall, cease to exist, and become slaves to a foreign nation that hates our God and persecutes us for it.

Isaiah 43:22-28 -

"But you have not called upon Me, O Jacob;
And you have been weary of Me, O Israel.
23 You have not brought Me the sheep for your burnt offerings,
Nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices.
I have not caused you to serve with grain offerings,
Nor wearied you with incense.
24 You have bought Me no sweet cane with money,
Nor have you satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices;
But you have burdened Me with your sins,
You have wearied Me with your iniquities.
25 “ I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake;
And I will not remember your sins.
26 Put Me in remembrance;
Let us contend together;
State your case, that you may be acquitted.
27 Your first father sinned,
And your mediators have transgressed against Me.
28 Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary;
I will give Jacob to the curse,
And Israel to reproaches."

I am struck by the contrast displayed in this passage. In the same passage, God proclaims two seemingly opposite things: punishment and salvation. He assures wayward Israel that they will have both. How is this possible? Perhaps punishment by hard earthly circumstances is actually the path to salvation...perhaps that is the only way that a rebellious heart can be humbled and confess the need of a Savior. Verse 25 assures us that in the moment we call upon Jesus, our Savior and Intercessor, our sins are blotted out and we are restored to God. In fact, the preceding 21 verses of this chapter are amazing, offering encouragement and the description and assurance of full redemption for God's people.

The following verses in chapter 1 speak to the future of a nation such as wayward Israel and the U.S.:

Isaiah 1:21-28 -

"21 How the faithful city has become a harlot!
It was full of justice;
Righteousness lodged in it,
But now murderers.
22 Your silver has become dross,
Your wine mixed with water.
23 Your princes are rebellious,
And companions of thieves;
Everyone loves bribes,
And follows after rewards.
They do not defend the fatherless,
Nor does the cause of the widow come before them.
24 Therefore the Lord says,
The LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel,

“ Ah, I will rid Myself of My adversaries,
And take vengeance on My enemies.
25 I will turn My hand against you,
And thoroughly purge away your dross,
And take away all your alloy.
26 I will restore your judges as at the first,
And your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.”
27 Zion shall be redeemed with justice,
And her penitents with righteousness.
28 The destruction of transgressors and of sinners shall be together,
And those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed. "

The message in its entirety is clear then, that the wayward nation will be punished, and just as gold is refined in the fire, so are God's people. Even if only a remnant remains faithful, they come forth as pure gold. Let's repent now, and spare our nation. Let's cry out in intercession now, with all sincerity, such that God's ear is inclined to move in favor of us and re-establish us as His people. Repent now and fulfill His greatest will, or face the fire, being purified by the trial, such that a smaller remnant remains. We the people have the choice, and we must make that choice right now. Will you pray with us? Will you speak truth publicly, such that evil is exposed and the Gospel is proclaimed? Will you intercede for a nation on the brink of utter captivity--spiritual first, and then physical? If the worst happens, will you be the remnant, purified by the fire instead of burned away for eternity? I pray that you can answer confidently affirmative to each of those questions.

As for The Response prayer gathering, our nation needs this. Our families need this. We need this. God desires this. Let’s stand together and do this! My prayer is that this isn't just a one day or one week event, but that instead it is simply the kickoff of a prayer revolution in our nation and world. Let's first commit to focused prayer time in the coming week for our nation. Let's next commit to this being our new lifestyle--one of sincere prayer and intercession. May the God of all grace and comfort, of all holiness and justice, of all righteous wrath and chastening of those whom He loves, of all sovereignty and power, the God of our salvation and our Redeemer, our hope and our strength, our Counselor and Intercessor, be glorified in all that we do from this day forward, forever. Amen.