Call to Prayer

See my discussion of this day below the more urgent issue of this call to prayer for the election.

Below are PROMISES that your prayers will be answered if they are in God's will. Read them and wield that POWER! Unless we have gone so far down the road of sin that God's will is to punish us, there can be little doubt of His will in this election. Pray, repenting of personal and national sins. Ask God for mercy, deliverance and intervention. Pray for a miraculous turnout of voters whose eyes have been opened to the truth.

My friend Jerri says, "Specific states that need prayer are Colorado, Nevada, Virginia, Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, West Virginia, Missouri, Pennsylvania, North Dakota. I’ve also heard Michigan tossed in. If the Lord brings it to mind, pray for it."

Ask God to defuse the explosion of hate that wells just below the surface... on both sides. Remember, Obama is not the enemy, but a tool of the enemy. Pray for his salvation and that of his family and supporters. At the same time, recognize the danger of his rhetoric and history, his agenda and his allegiances.

I cannot believe any true follower of Jesus Christ would consider voting for Obama even if they believed his fanciful plans to care for us all by taxing the "rich" and the corporations. The Bible says we cannot serve God and money. If a believer votes for Obama in some misguided belief that it is better for the fiscal health of the country, that believer has replaced allegiance to God with faith in materialism. So, if you claim Christ, be still and know that He is God. Stop. Think. Pray. He is either Lord of your life and your vote or you need to seriously consider if He is your Lord at all. For if He is Lord, He is also Master. Will you "lose" your salvation by voting for immorality, murder and socialism? No. But you might want to have a serious talk with Jesus as to whether you have ever really turned your life over to Him at all. Jesus did not mince words about those who claim His name and refuse to do His will, and neither shall I.

It is my prayer that our nation will once more become a praying nation; that we will begin to comprehend and apprehend the amazing POWER of prayer. Now, more than ever before, we need to tap into that power. Tuesday, America will make a crucial choice, as Pat Boone has put it, we will choose between Resolution Road and Capitulation Highway. We will also vote on how to define marriage, as if it isn't obvious. As I said, America needs prayer as never before! And prayer WORKS!

Consider these promises from the Word of God:

The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." James 5:16

"The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." Cor 10:4-5

"And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it," John 14:13-14 Note: "...in my name" implies in His will, for to be identified with His name is to be identified with He, Himself and His complete will.

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him." 1 John 5:14-15

We know we have what we asked for when we pray in God's will, (and we should always qualify our prayers by asking that HIS will supersede ours) and it matters not how pretty our words are, nor whether we are in church or in the car, etc. There is no ritualistic requirement other than sincere faith, simple trust and a longing for HIS will to prevail.

Notice the last two quotes have the condition of praying in the Lord's will. We must use caution when citing any Bible reference because for the meaning to be valid, it must be considered with and tempered by what the whole Word says about the subject within the confines of the Old or New Testament, ie: Under the Law or under Grace.
___________________________________________

Read what Pat Boone has written:
ELECTION 2008 -What we need? Or what we deserve?
Exclusive: Pat Boone sees America on cusp of choosing capitulation over freedom
By Pat Boone

Well, here we are. We've arrived at the intersection of two roads, one of which this country will decide to take. We'll choose between Resolution Road and Capitulation Highway.

By our voting – or not voting – we'll set out irreversibly on the road to our future. And it's one or the other.

Resolution Road is not a new thoroughfare. It's bumpy and hilly, and it needs repair. There are patches where it's not well lit and others where trees or rocks have fallen across it, creating obstacles that must be removed. But it's been there a long, long time, and it's been the chosen route for millions for almost 230 years. It's always been the way home, to the Land of the Free, to that Shining City on a Hill, as President Reagan described it.

Remember what Ben Franklin said, when asked what the Constitution had created? "A republic … if you can keep it." He knew even then that only resolve, watchful dedication by the citizens, would preserve the dream.

On all previous maps of the United States of America, at least since the Civil War, Resolution Road has been the direct, sure way back to the most incredible civilized society the world has ever known. Sure, it takes concentration and focus and even occasional sacrifice – resolution – but it's the proven way to what most of us have cherished and the rest of the world has envied.

But, now, there's also Capitulation Highway – a wide open, mythical new road that millions seem ready to travel. Though no one has yet traveled on it, they've been told it leads to an enchanted new place called CHANGE. Its extravagant advertising promises great education and total health care for every American, and even 12 to 14 million illegal aliens. Taxes? What taxes? Except for the evil rich, of course. Oh – and corporations! Why should 90 percent of the people have to pay taxes, especially if people don't choose to work, since the rich obviously can and should pick up the tab for everybody else?

In this exciting new destination, laws are loose and easily changed or abandoned if they get in the way of popular trends and desires. "Marriage" and "family" have only vague, fuzzy definitions, applicable to virtually any combination or variation. Pregnancy and childbearing? Sure, it's necessary for a continuing population, but nobody should be obligated or "punished" with an unwanted child as a result of sexual escapades. Abortion will be available to all, including the youngest – and, best of all, it's tax supported. Religion, for the few simple-minded or old-fashioned folks who still want it, is permitted, but only in the privacy of homes and some churches. And under no circumstances is any religious babble or judgmental talk allowed in the halls of government or on the airwaves.

The architects of this superhighway say that all will travel at such a happy speed that they'll have virtually no worries, every need met by a benevolent Big Brother government, with wealth evenly distributed, and any potential enemies diplomatically sweet talked into waving cheerily as the "New Americans" sweep by. At last, the nation will be just like Europe, with a socialistic way of life where everybody is just like everybody else, anything goes, and any sort of moral absolutes are just quaint notions from the past.

Yes, this road and its destination sound so appealing to so many now. There's no apparent toll, either, but all who travel this road must be willing to capitulate, to surrender all outmoded ideals like independence, obedience to annoying laws, earning advancement by hard work and dedication, and resisting absorption into the greater brotherhood of nations, the New World of The Future.

Best of all, it seems, our guide on this Capitulation Highway is an articulate young man who – though he's never traveled the road before nor been to whatever is at the end of it – claims to know exactly how to get there and to lead us all there safely.

He's cast a spell over much of the populace, wooing them with dreams of happy unity, a restored environment, new sources of energy, a bustling economy with affordable everything for everybody, the approval and admiration of all other nations, Supreme Court justices with whom he has no "ideological differences" – and subsequently a revamped constitutional order that can accommodate just about anything anybody wants to do.

Sounds like Paradise, doesn't it? A real Shangri-La. Everything Karl Marx imagined, and more! And really, all it requires is total capitulation, a giving in to the baser instincts of mankind, a relinquishing of those old ideas of the sanctity of all life, even the unborn, and all those needless restrictions on behavior and instant gratification. Fifty million abortions since 1973? Hey, you ain't seen nothin' yet! With Planned Parenthood and increased government funding, no young girl ever has to have a baby if she doesn't want to!

Why, this young guide to CHANGE can even make the wholesale slaughter of innocent children sound like a laudable right of women; and to placate those who still oppose abortion, he and his religious advisers promise to promote adoption, letting some babies live, and provide prenatal and postnatal care to young mothers who keep their children alive. He hopes we'll forget that the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision opened the legal door to a national holocaust unequaled in mankind's history, and he's determined to appoint judges to see it stays in place. And he and his sold-out advisers ask if reducing the number of child murders to maybe only a half million a year won't suffice.

This guide with the Muslim name and several longtime Muslim extremist friends supports allowing same-sex marriage, socialistic plans for the economy and toning down military response to just about anything, favoring dialogue as our primary defense. And he makes it sound reasonable and appealing! And all we have to do, to acquire all he promises on the superhighway, is to surrender every last shred of moral restraint … to capitulate.

The only alternative we have to Capitulation Highway is Resolution Road – recommitment to the strong principles that created this republic. The biblical writer proclaimed long ago, "Righteousness exalts a nation; sin is a disgrace to any people."

Time to choose. We're about to get either what we need – or what we deserve.
_____________________________________________

The Vine went to two services today for the first time. We had begun to max out our parking and children's facilities, and the sanctuary was closing in on 80% full. That seems to be a magic number, not only for churches, but for any group that gathers for meetings. Several research projects have shown that once you fill about 80% of the seating, growth slows and levels off.

Since people generally don't like change, especially in the group dynamics of a close knit bunch like a church family, there is normally a certain amount of resistance to splitting into two Sunday services. Also, there is a substantial amount of effort involved to duplicate the worship, sermon, children's program, etc. I have been through this process in the past with two churches and was quite surprised at how well things went today. I really shouldn't have been for we have been praying for God's special blessing on the entire process.

I was called to develop and oversee a new prayer ministry at The Vine which is still in its fledgling stages. It involves three prayer teams, an Intercessory Prayer Team, a Pre-Service Prayer Team and an Altar Prayer Team which also prepares and cares for the elements of the Lord's Supper. We have over 40 Prayer Warriors on the Intercessory Team, praise God! We have only three on the Pre-Service Team (pray for God to draw more to this important ministry), and the Altar Team still needs to be trained and organized, and although it has a good compliment of men, we need more ladies (again, please pray for that).

But mostly, PRAY for America!