Archive for November, 2009
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »Inspirational Video
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
[youtube width="300" height="225"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_SB-SpNm00[/youtube]
Posted in praynowvideo |
Our Nation's Godly Heritage
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
President Abraham Lincoln’s Proclamation of Thanksgiving
Issued, October 3, 1863
“The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to invite and provoke the aggressions of foreign States, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
The needful diversions of wealth and strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship. The axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battlefield; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people; I do, therefore, invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer to our beneficent Father, who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to him that, for such singular deliverances and blessings; they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.”
Posted in our nations godly heritage |
The President's Schedule
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
In the morning, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will welcome Prime Minister Singh of India and Mrs. Kaur to the White House in an East Room ceremony.
The president and the prime minister will then meet in the Oval Office. They will then (more…)
Posted in schedule |
Prayer Updates
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
President Obama Meets with War Council
President Barack Obama held a meeting last night with top advisers on Afghanistan as he closes in on a decision about whether to send thousands more U.S. troops to confront a growing insurgency. The war council with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and other officials got under way at 8:13 p.m. in the White House Situation Room. It is the ninth such meeting as Obama nears a decision on whether to add as many as 40,000 troops to an eight-year-old war that began after the September 11 attacks. Officials said they expected the president’s announcement next week, before a NATO meeting on December 7. The White House has given no firm date for the news, but “the first possible time would be sometime next week.”
Pray for the president in his decision to deploy more troops to Afghanistan after meeting with his War Council again yesterday evening. Pray for wisdom in support of armed forces.
American Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan
Bomb attacks and a firefight killed four U.S. troops in 24 hours in Afghanistan adding to the growing toll as NATO and the U.S. consider whether to send more forces to the war. Three of the Americans died in southern Afghanistan on Sunday. Two of them were killed in a bomb attack and the third in a separate firefight. The statement said a bomb killed the fourth American in the east yesterday. The deaths bring the number of Americans killed in Afghanistan in November to 15. October was the deadliest month for U.S. troops in the eight-year war, with 58 dead. NATO currently has about 71,000 troops in Afghanistan, nearly half of them American. The U.S. military also has another 36,000 soldiers in Afghanistan who serve outside NATO.
Pray for the protection of our soldiers fighting overseas as they continue to face increasing violence. Pray for the comfort of their families supporting them at home.
Billy Graham Hosts Sarah Palin for Dinner
Billy Graham met with Sarah Palin Sunday at his Montreat, N.C., home for dinner. The two were joined by Franklin Graham, who had extended the invitation to Palin last winter after the two delivered aid together in Alaska, During their meeting, the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee spoke of her spiritual journey and her life in Alaska. “It was an honor having Governor Palin and her family in our home this evening,” said Billy Graham in a statement. “I, like many people, have been impressed with her strong commitment to her faith, to family and love of country.”
Pray for the support of those in the American public square standing firm for faith and families.
Posted in prayerupdates |
Presidential Quote of the Week
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
A prayer offered on D-Day, June 6, 1944:
“Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity…. Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith. They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph…. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.”
Posted in presidential quote of the week |
Today's Devotional
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
By Charles Spurgeon
“Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.”
Isaiah 49:16
No doubt a part of the wonder which is concentrated in the word “Behold,” is excited by the unbelieving lamentation of the preceding sentence. Zion said, “The Lord hath forsaken me, and my God hath forgotten me.” How amazed the divine mind seems to be at this wicked unbelief! What can be more astounding than the unfounded doubts and fears of God’s favoured people? The Lord’s loving word of rebuke should make us blush; he cries, “How can I have forgotten thee, when I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands? How darest thou doubt my constant remembrance, when the memorial is set upon my very flesh?” O unbelief, how strange a marvel thou art! We know not which most to wonder at, the faithfulness of God or the unbelief of his people. He keeps his promise a thousand times, and yet the next trial makes us doubt him. He never faileth; he is never a dry well; he is never as a setting sun, a passing meteor, or a melting vapour; and yet we are as continually vexed with anxieties, molested with suspicions, and disturbed with fears, as if our God were the mirage of the desert. “Behold,” is a word intended to excite admiration. Here, indeed, we have a theme for marvelling. Heaven and earth may well be astonished that rebels should obtain so great a nearness to the heart of infinite love as to be written upon the palms of his hands. “I have graven thee.”It does not say, “Thy name.” The name is there, but that is not all: “I have graven thee.” See the fulness of this! I have graven thy person, thine image, thy case, thy circumstances, thy sins, thy temptations, thy weaknesses, thy wants, thy works; I have graven thee, everything about thee, all that concerns thee; I have put thee altogether there. Wilt thou ever say again that thy God hath forsaken thee when he has graven thee upon his own palms?
Posted in devotional |
The President's Schedule
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
In the morning, President Obama will receive the Presidential Daily Briefing and meet with senior advisers in the Oval Office. Later, he will deliver remarks at an event highlighting (more…)
Posted in schedule |
Prayer Updates
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
President Obama Responds to Health Care Concerns
President Obama was asked about his position on the issue of abortion being integrated into the proposed health care reform legislation. The president responded, “I believe in the basic idea that federal dollars shouldn’t pay for abortions,” he continued. “But I also think we shouldn’t restrict women’s choices, so, I think there’s some negotiations going on, not just on the Democratic side, but I think among people of good will on both sides, to see if we can arrive at something that meets that criteria and I’m confident we can do that.”
Pray for the president to bar federal subsidy of abortion in the health care reform legislation. Pray that life will be protected in the tenants of any legislation he supports.
Christian Persecution in Egypt
Hundreds of Muslim protesters this weekend burnt Christian-owned shops in southern Egypt. Police repelled the demonstrators in the town of Farshut using tear gas and also arrested 60 people during the clashes in which seven Christian-owned shops were destroyed, the official. Roughly ten percent of Egypt’s 80-million-strong population are Christians, who complain of discrimination and are sometimes the target of sectarian attacks.
Pray for the protection of Christians in Egypt who are facing increasing violence and persecution because of their faith .
Coalition of Religious Leaders Make Proclamation
A coalition of 150 Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christian leaders are calling on Christians in a new manifesto to reject secular authority if laws force them to accept abortion, same-sex marriage and other ideas that betray their religious beliefs. Their statement says, “We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united at this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the common good, and to call upon our fellow citizens, believers and non-believers alike, to join us in defending them. Throughout the centuries, Christianity has taught that civil disobedience is not only permitted, but sometimes required,” says the document. “Because we honor justice and the common good,” it states, “we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide or euthanasia or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family.”
Pray for the preservation of our Christian heritage in our American culture, our legal system, and our educational system as new legislation appears to be degrading it day after day.
Posted in prayerupdates |
Today's Devotional
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
By Charles Spurgeon
“Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.”
Hebrews 9:20
There is a strange power about the very name of blood, and the sight of it is always affecting. A kind heart cannot bear to see a sparrow bleed, and unless familiarized by use, turns away with horror at the slaughter of a beast. As to the blood of men, it is a consecrated thing: it is murder to shed it in wrath, it is a dreadful crime to squander it in war. Is this solemnity occasioned by the fact that the blood is the life, and the pouring of it forth the token of death? We think so. When we rise to contemplate the blood of the Son of God, our awe is yet more increased, and we shudder as we think of the guilt of sin, and the terrible penalty which the Sin-bearer endured. Blood, always precious, is priceless when it streams from Immanuel’s side. The blood of Jesus seals the covenant of grace, and makes it for ever sure. Covenants of old were made by sacrifice, and the everlasting covenant was ratified in the same manner. Oh, the delight of being saved upon the sure foundation of divine engagements which cannot be dishonoured! Salvation by the works of the law is a frail and broken vessel whose shipwreck is sure; but the covenant vessel fears no storms, for the blood ensures the whole. The blood of Jesus made his testament valid. Wills are of no power unless the testators die. In this light the soldier’s spear is a blessed aid to faith, since it proved our Lord to be really dead. Doubts upon that matter there can be none, and we may boldly appropriate the legacies which he has left for his people. Happy they who see their title to heavenly blessings assured to them by a dying Saviour. But has this blood no voice to us? Does it not bid us sanctify ourselves unto him by whom we have been redeemed? Does it not call us to newness of life, and incite us to entire consecration to the Lord? O that the power of the blood might be known, and felt in us this night!
Posted in devotional |
The President's Schedule
Friday, November 20th, 2009
President Obama has no scheduled public events on Friday, after returning home Thursday afternoon from an 8-day trip to four countries in Asia.
Posted in schedule |