8mm
Posted on 11/02/2006 9:13:31 PM PST by Knitting A Conundrum
Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people. A ruler who lacks understanding is a cruel oppressor; but he who hates unjust gain will prolong his days. Proverbs 28: 15, 16
With the election coming, I ask those of you who wish to to join me in prayer for the election.
Morning Election Prayer thread bump!
Who rises up for me against the wicked?
Who stands up for me against evildoers?
If the LORD had not been my help,
my soul would soon have dwelt in the land of silence.
When I thought, "My foot slips,"
thy steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.
When the cares of my heart are many,
thy consolations cheer my soul.
Can wicked rulers be allied with thee,
who frame mischief by statute?
They band together against the life of the righteous,
and condemn the innocent to death.
But the LORD has become my stronghold,
and my God the rock of my refuge.
He will bring back on them their iniquity
and wipe them out for their wickedness;
the LORD our God will wipe them out.
Psalm 94:16-23
O Lord,
On this last day before the election, we ask you to speak into the hearts of all those who wish this country well, and lead them into the actions they need to take for election day.
We ask you to restrain those who would lead our nation down the paths of unrighteousness, who would destroy our ability to follow in your paths, destroy those who are innocent, rip apart the fabric of our families, and try to teach us that what they want is good and not evil.
O Lord, be with those who stand up against the gathering darkness, and let the scales fall from our eyes when it is time to chose the right over the popular, the good over the celebrity, the truth over comforting lies.
Above all, let your will be done, and may those of us who call you Master be there, the tool in your hands, to do your work when you call us.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
BTTT
Bump and a ping.
Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful at the report heard in the land, when a report comes in one year and afterward a report in another year, and violence is in the land, and ruler is against ruler.
Jeremiah 51:46
The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.
Proverbs 28:1
"Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near;let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," says the LORD.
Isaiah 55:6-8
O Lord, open our hearts, minds, and will to your direction!
Guide us, and in the election tomorrow, be the force behind each ballot cast.
Teach us that our devotion to you does not stop at the ballot bax.
Amen.
Prayer bump
BTTT
Dear Father,
Please forgive us for any pride and for trusting in anything except Your providence. We are sinners and need Your grace. Help us to know what we are to do in the coming days and obey Your will. We thank You for everything You have done for us. I pray that You will continue to hold our nation in Your hands and guard us from our enemies. Thank You for Your guidance. In the Name of Your Son Jesus, Amen.
Amen to your Monday morning prayer, KAC
This reading is from this morning's devotional. Very interesting! Note verses 20-23 especially:
Psalm 94
1O Lord, you God of vengeance,
you God of vengeance, shine forth!
2Rise up, O judge of the earth;
give to the proud what they deserve!
3O Lord, how long shall the wicked,
how long shall the wicked exult?
4They pour out their arrogant words;
all the evildoers boast.
5They crush your people, O Lord,
and afflict your heritage.
6They kill the widow and the stranger,
they murder the orphan,
7and they say, ‘The Lord does not see;
the God of Jacob does not perceive.’
8Understand, O dullest of the people;
fools, when will you be wise?
9He who planted the ear, does he not hear?
He who formed the eye, does he not see?
10He who disciplines the nations,
he who teaches knowledge to humankind,
does he not chastise?
11The Lord knows our thoughts,*
that they are but an empty breath.
12Happy are those whom you discipline, O Lord,
and whom you teach out of your law,
13giving them respite from days of trouble,
until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14For the Lord will not forsake his people;
he will not abandon his heritage;
15for justice will return to the righteous,
and all the upright in heart will follow it.
16Who rises up for me against the wicked?
Who stands up for me against evildoers?
17If the Lord had not been my help,
my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.
18When I thought, ‘My foot is slipping’,
your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.
19When the cares of my heart are many,
your consolations cheer my soul.
20Can wicked rulers be allied with you,
those who contrive mischief by statute?
21They band together against the life of the righteous,
and condemn the innocent to death.
22But the Lord has become my stronghold,
and my God the rock of my refuge.
23He will repay them for their iniquity
and wipe them out for their wickedness;
the Lord our God will wipe them out.
That one jumped out at me, too...I posted it a bit earlier...
Check this out from 1 Samuel 30 which was from this morning too plus Isaiah 37.
I Samuel 30
30Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negeb and on Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag, burned it down, 2and taken captive the women and all* who were in it, both small and great; they killed none of them, but carried them off, and went on their way. 3When David and his men came to the city, they found it burnt down, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept, until they had no more strength to weep. 5David’s two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 6David was in great danger; for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in spirit for their sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.
7 David said to the priest Abiathar son of Ahimelech, ‘Bring me the ephod.’ So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. 8David inquired of the Lord, ‘Shall I pursue this band? Shall I overtake them?’ He answered him, ‘Pursue; for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue.’ 9So David set out, he and the six hundred men who were with him. They came to the Wadi Besor, where those stayed who were left behind. 10But David went on with the pursuit, he and four hundred men; two hundred stayed behind, too exhausted to cross the Wadi Besor.
11 In the open country they found an Egyptian, and brought him to David. They gave him bread and he ate; they gave him water to drink; 12they also gave him a piece of fig cake and two clusters of raisins. When he had eaten, his spirit revived; for he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. 13Then David said to him, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you from?’ He said, ‘I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite. My master left me behind because I fell sick three days ago. 14We had made a raid on the Negeb of the Cherethites and on that which belongs to Judah and on the Negeb of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag down.’ 15David said to him, ‘Will you take me down to this raiding party?’ He said, ‘Swear to me by God that you will not kill me, or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to them.’
16 When he had taken him down, they were spread out all over the ground, eating and drinking and dancing, because of the great amount of spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. 17David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not one of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled. 18David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken; and David rescued his two wives. 19Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken; David brought back everything. 20David also captured all the flocks and herds, which were driven ahead of the other cattle; people said, ‘This is David’s spoil.’
21 Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow David, and who had been left at the Wadi Besor. They went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. When David drew near to the people he saluted them. 22Then all the corrupt and worthless fellows among the men who had gone with David said, ‘Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except that each man may take his wife and children, and leave.’ 23But David said, ‘You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us; he has preserved us and handed over to us the raiding party that attacked us. 24Who would listen to you in this matter? For the share of the one who goes down into the battle shall be the same as the share of the one who stays by the baggage; they shall share alike.’ 25From that day forward he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel; it continues to the present day.
26 When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, ‘Here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord’; 27it was for those in Bethel, in Ramoth of the Negeb, in Jattir, 28in Aroer, in Siphmoth, in Eshtemoa, 29in Racal, in the towns of the Jerahmeelites, in the towns of the Kenites, 30in Hormah, in Bor-ashan, in Athach, 31in Hebron, all the places where David and his men had roamed.
Plus I got this from Isaiah a few days ago when I started to really pray seriously about this election.
Isaiah 37
37When King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. 2And he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3They said to him, ‘Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4It may be that the Lord your God heard the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’
5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6Isaiah said to them, ‘Say to your master, “Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7I myself will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.” ’
8 The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah; for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9Now the king* heard concerning King Tirhakah of Ethiopia,* ‘He has set out to fight against you.’ When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10‘Thus shall you speak to King Hezekiah of Judah: Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11See, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered? 12Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my predecessors destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’
14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; then Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. 15And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying: 16‘O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 17Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 18Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19and have hurled their gods into the fire, though they were no gods, but the work of human hands—wood and stone—and so they were destroyed. 20So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.’
21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying: ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria, 22this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:
She despises you, she scorns you—
virgin daughter Zion;
she tosses her head—behind your back,
daughter Jerusalem.
23‘Whom have you mocked and reviled?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and haughtily lifted your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
24By your servants you have mocked the Lord,
and you have said, “With my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon;
I felled its tallest cedars,
its choicest cypresses;
I came to its remotest height,
its densest forest.
25I dug wells
and drank waters,
I dried up with the sole of my foot
all the streams of Egypt.”
26‘Have you not heard
that I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
what now I bring to pass,
that you should make fortified cities
crash into heaps of ruins,
27while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,
are dismayed and confounded;
they have become like plants of the field
and like tender grass,
like grass on the housetops,
blighted* before it is grown.
28‘I know your rising up* and your sitting down,
your going out and coming in,
and your raging against me.
29Because you have raged against me
and your arrogance has come to my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth;
I will turn you back on the way
by which you came.
30 ‘And this shall be the sign for you: This year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that; then in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31The surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downwards, and bear fruit upwards; 32for from Jerusalem a remnant shall go out, and from Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
33 ‘Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, shoot an arrow there, come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege-ramp against it. 34By the way that he came, by the same he shall return; he shall not come into this city, says the Lord. 35For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.’
36 Then the angel of the Lord set out and struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; when morning dawned, they were all dead bodies. 37Then King Sennacherib of Assyria left, went home, and lived at Nineveh. 38As he was worshipping in the house of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. His son Esar-haddon succeeded him.
"That one jumped out at me, too...I posted it a bit earlier..."
Amazing isn't it?
Thanks Knitting. I really needed to hear this today. God is asking us to TRUST Him, even when our hearts are faint.I CHOOSE this day, to TRUST IN JESUS......
Continuing in prayer with all of you.
Our anxieties will step in and obscure it for us, but God is God. Sometimes, I feel like I just have to close my eyes and step forward, because I can't see the ground beneath me, but God does!
Yes, I keep running across things that don't work well into devotions like I'm posting, but seem to be reminders of who is in charge!
These readings are shocking and tell me that God is going to act powerfully in our behalf.
Would it be wrong to pray for as much rain as possible across the countries, but especially in the big cities? ;-P
Thanks for posting so many Psalms, Knitting, and everyone else. They speak very powerfully to our times.
You can pray for God to suppress the powers of darkness and yes for rain. Remember King David before he fought Goliath. He boldly proclaimed the defeat of his foe in spite of his circumstances. He knew who his God is. We Christians shouldn't be so timid and boldy go to God and ask Him to intervene. Jesus always honors true faith.
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