PRAY FOR PRESIDENTIAL CABINET MEMBERS

The President of the United States looks to counsel from those around him. As you pray for the Cabinet of the President, focus your prayer on PHI 4:4-9: That our leaders fix their thoughts on what is true, honorable and right; on what is pure, lovely and admirable; on what is excellent and worthy of praise. Consider the words of Thomas 'a Kempis who remarks in the Christian classic, The Imitation Of Christ, "He who neither cares to please men nor fears to displease them will enjoy great peace." I would add that those who receive this kind of counsel will be better prepared for any eventuality. 

Vice President of the United States
Joseph R. Biden


Department of State Secretary 
Hillary Rodham Clinton


Department of the Treasury Secretary 
Timothy F. Geithner


Department of Defense Secretary 
Robert M. Gates


Department of Justice Attorney General 
Eric H. Holder, Jr.


Department of the Interior Secretary 
Kenneth L. Salazar


Department of Agriculture Secretary 
Thomas J. Vilsack


Department of Commerce Secretary 
Gary F. Locke


Department of Labor Secretary 
Hilda L. Solis


Department of Health and Human Services Secretary 
Kathleen Sebelius


Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary 
Shaun L.S. Donovan


Department of Transportation Secretary 
Ray LaHood


Department of Energy Secretary 
Steven Chu


Department of Education Secretary 
Arne Duncan


Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary 
Eric K. Shinseki


Department of Homeland Security Secretary 
Janet A. Napolitano

The following positions have the status of Cabinet-rank:

White House Interim Chief of Staff
Peter M. Rouse


Environmental Protection Agency
Administrator Lisa P. Jackson


Office of Management; Budget
Jeffrey Zients, Acting Director


United States Trade Representative
Ambassador Ronald Kirk


United States Ambassador to the United Nations
Ambassador Susan Rice


Council of Economic Advisers
Chairman Austan Goolsbee

Pray Twenty-One

It is imperative and Scripturally mandated that we pray for those in authority over us:

"Pray this way for kings and for all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity." 1Ti 2:2

Set aside personal time the next three days to pray for the twenty-one significant people who have major influence in your life and the life of your community. If you do not know who they are, find out.

FOCUS: Pray for seven each day. Intercede for them. Pray for their families and their moral integrity. Pray that God would provide a witness of faith and wisdom for these individuals. Pray for leadership and/or political integrity and transparency.

1. Your Pastor _________________ (Ministers)

2. President Barack Obama

3. Your US Senator _______________________

4. Your US Senator _______________________

5. Your U.S. Representative ___________________

6. Your State Governor ____________________

7. Your State Senator ___________________

8. Your State Representative ___________________

9. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts (Bush, GW - '05)

10.      "             "         "    Antonin Scalia (Regan - '86)

11.      "             "         "    Anthony Kennedy (Regan - '88)

12.      "             "         "    Clarence Thomas (Bush, GHW - '91)

13.      "             "         "    Ruth Bader Ginsberg (Clinton - '93)

14.      "             "         "    Stephen Breyer (Clinton - '94)

15.      "             "         "    Samuel Alito (Bush, GW - '06)

16.      "             "         "    Sonia Sotomeyer (Obama - '09)

17.      "             "         "    Elena Kagan (Obama - '10)

18. Your City Mayor __________________

19. Your City Council Representative ___________________________

20. Your Children's School Superintendent _______________________
21. Your Corporate/Company Head _________________________

Humble Yourselves by Richard Owen Roberts

When Thoughts Of Sin Thwart Awakening?

During a Bible study class recently, someone asked, "If you have a thought about sin (temptation to sin) and you don't act on it, but you do keep thinking about it, when does it become a sin?" The short answer is, I believe, that if you continue to dwell on any temptation it will ultimately be harmful. James 1:14, 15 tells us, "But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings fourth death".


But how does one know when he/she has dwelt on some sin too long? This is a matter of what is going on in the heart and whether or not there is any sense of conviction.
1 John 3:20, 21 says, "For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God." In other words, if you know in your heart that your thoughts are sinful, though you may not have acted on it, it is sinful to continue to entertain those thoughts.


My questions are these: Why would a believer want to dwell on, entertain, thoughts of sin? Why would he/she want to continue thinking about some sin? At what point do followers of Christ no longer continue in an old way of thinking. Romans 12:1, 2 says, "I beseech you therefore, brethern, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."


If we are to see an awakening of faith in our time Christians are going to have to get serious about how we live our lives apart from sin; live holy, consecrated lives before God. Will we continue to face temptation? Yes. But we do not have to continue to entertain sin in our hearts. In fact the crowning blow to an awakening in our nation and in our churches is that "If I [we] regard [think continually about] iniquity in my [our] heart, the Lord will not hear [our cries, our prayers]" - Psalm 66:18.

For a further discussion of preparing for awakening see the October 28 & 29, 2010 entry into this blog entitled, What Repentance Looks Like and The State of Humility respectively.

When God's People Prayed Revival Swept India

The year was 1904. A little known man by the name of John Hyde had left America to serve as a missionary to India. Through a series of events where the Spirit of God had been thwarted, a call was sent out for prayer. The call resulted in the Punjab Prayer Union. This union of prayer was the forerunner to the 1905 "Sialkot conventions" where great seasons of prayer and Spirit-filled preaching ignited a revival. John Hyde, "Praying Hyde" as he was called, and his spirit of prayer, was an inspiration to this movement of God's Spirit.

What insight can we glean from the Punjab Prayer Union that might lead our churches and our nation to a place of awakening, a place of repentance and cleansing? 

I quote from the book Praying Hyde: A Man of Prayer by Basil Miller.

Members of the Punjab Prayer Union sought to answer and achieve the following questions:

"1.  Are you praying for quickening in your own life, in the life of your fellow workers, and in the Church?


"2.  Are you longing for greater power of the Holy Spirit in your own life and work, and are you convinced that you cannot go on without this power?


"3.  Will you pray that you may not be ashamed of Jesus?


"4.  Do you believe that prayer is the great means for securing this spiritual awakening?


"5.  Will you set apart one-half hour each day as soon after noon as possible to pray for this awakening, and are you willing to pray till the awakening comes?"


Basil Miller goes on to say, "Revivals have never been the product of the spontaneous combustion of spiritual forces; rather they have been paid for by prayer...So now in Hyde's life as the revival was about to dawn, these men, with others, were paying the purchase price."

The "Sialkot conventions" mentioned above, where revival broke loose, came as a result of this Punjab Prayer Union. Basil Miller continues to explain that Hyde and two other men joined in prayer for thirty-one days and nights leading up to the convention. He says, "...that for [those] days and nights the Throne of God was bombarded by the prayer ammunition of three men, men who had long ago consecrated themselves to the task of bringing spiritual life to sin-deadened souls."

I'll convey this final note from my reading of these passages from Praying Hyde and then conclude. "The record of those thirty-one days and nights of prayer is closed in the Book of Heaven, for no word of them has ever seeped through to the outside. Those sainted prayer warriors were not on dress parade. They went forth to battle with their only weapon with as much earnestness as soldiers in any king's army."

FINAL THOUGHTS: Would it not be appropriate for another question to be added to the five questions of the Prayer Union listed above?

Here is the question:


6.  Are you willing that no man know the record of your prayers offered on behalf of our nation and for the church? Will you be satisfied in all humility that your prayers be offered in your closet, in seclusion, and for the eye of God alone?


Take this list of six questions into your prayer closet with the Lord. Over the next few days converse with Him about them. Answer them carefully and honestly. Then watch and pray for an awakening of faith the likes of which man has not seen in this country and the church in over 100 years.

PAY ATTENTION TO LONG TENURED LEADERS

Ecclesiastes 5:8-10
If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent perversion of justice and righteousness in a province, do not marvel at the matter; for high official watches over high official, and higher officials are over them. Moreover the profit of the land is for all; even the king is served from the field. He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity.

Do we see any oppression of the poor in our nation? Is there any perversion of justice, any perversion of righteousness in our nation? Don't be surprised at this if there are leaders who have been in office too long. Even good men and women tend toward stockpiling their own personal and political capital.

There is a tendency for leaders who hold high office for a long period of time to become oppressive and greedy. They may consider themselves above the law. They may consider themselves above the common man. They may twist and pervert justice and righteousness to suit their own gain.

We have an obligation to hold leaders accountable for their actions. We need to be sure that our leaders are close to the people and represent who we really are.

Pray a spirit of service and humility for those who lead:


Your Pastor and Church Ministerial Staff
Your President & his Cabinet
Your US Senators
Your US Representative
Your Governor
Your State Senator
Your State Representative
Your Mayor
Your City Council Representative
Your School Board
Your Company and Corporate Leaders