The following article, containing dozens of spiritual quotes by our United States Presidents, is taken from Ed Moore's book, Prayer Force One: Across America. It is presented here in order to preserve the foundations of our nation's spiritual heritage. You may order Ed Moore's book by clicking on the book at the right.
A clarion call has been made to gather the saints for a grassroots effort across the state of Tennessee. We will serve those in authority from the Courthouse to the White House. We will serve through intercession for and interaction with governmental leaders in order to impact our cities, our state and nation. We will not only minister to those in the high place, but also those in the forgotten place. We will discern the heartbeat of cities and communities from mayors and city and county officials to determine how we can best serve those in authority. May we rise up rather than fall back in this hour and walk through the gates of government to serve with the heart and mind of Christ.
Each year, students gather around their school's flag pole for SYATP - the Global Day of Student Prayer. This year, SYATP is on September 25 and we want to show the power of prayer in the Nashville community.
Welcome to The Belonging! We are a Church that loves God and loves people. We are passionate about seeing people encounter God through worship, and experience the freedom that comes through knowing Jesus. Whoever you are, and wherever you come from, you are welcome!
The power of prayer is an incredible thing. At Philanthropy, we know that prayer is something important – but let us attempt to explain how much the Lord blesses us every day. About a year ago, Philanthropy started The Prayer Wall based on a story of a personal battle with cancer, and a mission set on our hearts from one of our customers. A random interaction turned into a very important day for all of us.You know, just because someone says the right thing, there could be an entirely different story going on. . .on the inside of them. Take Judas, the one that betrayed Jesus, for example. When Mary brought the costly ointment to anoint the feet of Jesus, he said,
Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? We find his true motive for saying this in the very next verse. . . This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. John 12:1-8
The religious leaders at that time also said one thing and thought another. These leaders looked good, sounded good, but Jesus said within them lay. . .dead men's bones Matthew 23:27
What a curious thing for Him to say. Well, when you think about it, dead men’s bones are a sure sign of, absence of life, and for a very long time. The religious leaders of that day, sat in Moses’ seat, but Jesus called them hypocrites. A hypocrite is like an actor. They know how to play a part well. They know how to engage their audience in a narrative. Jesus also said their doctrine was hypocrisy. Even though they promoted and taught the law of Moses, their motives in doing so were far from pure. Here let me show you what I mean.
The Pharisees and religion scholars asked, “Why do your disciples flout the rules, showing up at meals without washing their hands?”
Jesus answered, “Isaiah was right about frauds like you, hit the bull’s-eye in fact:. . .Moses said, ‘Respect your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone denouncing father or mother should be killed.’ But you weasel out of that by saying that it’s perfectly acceptable to say to father or mother, ‘Gift! What I owed you I’ve given as a gift to God,’ thus relieving yourselves of obligation to father or mother. You scratch out God’s Word and scrawl a whim in its place. You do a lot of things like this.” Mark 7:5-13 Message
And this is just one example of their lifeless obedience. Love is always key in pure obedience to God. So, when they took life out of it; when they took love out of it, they became hypocritical. Jesus Christ came to show the world a new way of obeying God. . .from hearts of love.
These leaders did not like that Jesus was invading their space and they hated Him for it. Just as Creator God is the Spirit behind love, the devil is the spirit behind hate. What other things did these religious leaders do that showed impure motives?
They wanted recognition
They desired high positions
They craved popularity
They hindered freedoms
They insisted on tradition
They recruited followers
They had warped priorities
They were petty (please read Matthew 23)
The leaders of that day banded together in their pursuit to silence and shut Jesus Christ down. They prepared traps for Him; they spread lies about Him; they were intolerant of Him; they demonized Him; they hated Him.
How do we know they hated Him? Well, let’s look. Scripture references are at the end of this section.
They were bitten by the green monster
They were jealous of Him: They were displeased when they saw the wonderful things Jesus Christ did. When a person is envious, they want what the other person has, whether that be love, possessions, talents, power, etc… They were jealous of the power and authority Jesus displayed because they didn’t want to lose their power and authority over the people. The chief priests were so jealous of the resurrection of Lazarus, they wanted to kill Lazarus to destroy the evidence.
They told tales
They spread lies about Jesus. They sought out false witnesses to witness against Him. They wanted to ruin or kill His reputation so, with their words they painted a negative picture of Him by saying things like, He casts out devils through the prince of the devils, He eats with sinners and the like.
They prosecuted Him
They set traps for Jesus. They asked Him question after question so they might entangle Him in His words. They wanted to prove Him wrong.
They were radical
They were intolerant and put people out of the synagogue just for confessing Jesus Christ.
They were abusive and cruel
They delivered Jesus over to be beaten, mocked, spit upon and crucified.
They were failures
They watched helplessly as the world went after Jesus Christ.
Matthew 9:11,34 12:2,14 15:1-2, 16:21, 19:3, 21:15 22:15, 26:67, 27:41, Mark 2:6, 16, 24, 3:6, 11:18, 12:13, 14:1, 55-59 Luke 5:21, 6:7, 18:11, 23:10 John 12:19, 42, 19:2-3, Acts 13:5
I suggest to you that there were two forces at play in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Love and hate. Love is Who sent Him there and Love is what held Him there. . .for all of us. Hate was used to nail Him to the cross. Little did hate know, but the crucifixion of Jesus Christ would produce untold numbers of God kids, who would find new life, renewed purpose and great love in their hearts. Yes, Love rose up out of that grave because Love can never die and love always wins!
A bully throws his weight around. A bully is loud and brash. Yes, hate is a bully and will always try to crucify its opposition. But we find out that the bully is the one that is really afraid. All that noise is there to cover up. . . the real fear within. When a heart is filled with hate, there can be no love, and that, my friend, is a scary thing.
The devil is the source of hate, and I think it is interesting how he is using a ‘hate narrative’ to silence and suppress the opinions and freedoms of so many people today. There is a growing fear in the world today of, not being hated necessarily, but of being accused of hating. People are more and more afraid to speak up for what they believe because of some modern day Pharisees out there ready to shame, blame and destroy them. Remember, love is all about freedom; hate is all about suppression. When people are bullied into silence, it is not love!
At one point, the disciples of Jesus were afraid to speak openly of Him.
…no man spoke openly of him for fear of the Jews. John 7:13
After Jesus was led away to the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were plotting to accuse Him to death, Peter denied Christ three times because he was afraid. Read Matthew 26
Joseph of Arimathaea was a disciple of Jesus, and when he asked Pilate for the body of Jesus Christ so he could bury Him, he did so in secret because he was afraid. John 19:38
After the crucifixion, the disciples were afraid, but then. . .a resurrected Jesus stood in their midst,
Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and said unto them, Peace be unto you. John 20:19
With the resurrection, life-giving power of Jesus Christ in our hearts, we can have peace despite all the chaos of hate. When we believe in God’s love to and for us, we just grow stronger. Hate trying to kill love is like throwing a can of gasoline on the fire instead of water and the fire grows and grows and cannot be contained! God’s great love in our hearts can never be put out by a weak thing like hate.
So let us react to hate with love and faith, not fear.
Let us pray. . .
Prayer
Father, Deliver us from the hands and plans of those that hate. Nothing and no one can separate us from Your great, unfailing love. We will not be offended. We will not fall away. Help us love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to those that hate us, and pray for those that despitefully use us, and persecute us. Grant us patience and faith to endure mistreatment and deliver us out of them all. In the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord we pray, amen.
Last Thought
Dead man bones are a sure sign of death. . . hatred in our hearts will kill the very life of us, so let us resist hate and go with Love. . .God is Love. 1 John 4:8