Psalm 71 starts off as a cry for help. The author was an older man who went through his own set of challenges, like we all do, and he cried out to the Lord.

We can relate to this aged man, whether it is a personal trial, at work, in our family, or maybe it is a cry for help in our nation. It’s clear - our nation is under judgement, but there are signs of good things that are happening.

When we see things through our fleshly eyes we often can’t see the forest for the trees. We only see what we can see. But when we look through our spiritual eyes with the spiritual truth God has given us in His Word, our eyes are opened and we see things from God’s perspective. God’s perspective is the only one that counts!

Praying for our leaders is something we all should do, and it is incredibly important because if our leaders and government go off track, it becomes more and more difficult to “lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.” (I Timothy 2:2)

There are days and weeks when attacks are thick and the pains are deep. I have been going through one of those seasons. There are sufferings that we choose – inconveniencing ourselves for the gospel, to disciple someone, giving up resources till it hurts for the Kingdom – and then there are times where we go through sufferings that we didn’t choose.

When life overwhelms you,  it’s normal to look for comfort. As Christians, we should  search in two places: God’s presence and God’s word. Trials will require you to shift your focus. Instead of looking all around you, or living in fear of your circumstances, you can look to the God who holds you. That begins with recognizing who God is.

The Psalmist opens with declaration (praise) of God’s might against the enemies of Israel, as easily defeated as wisps of smoke or melting wax, illustrating the commanding power of the God of Israel. 

These verses tell us about God, and what he does for His people. See that those who are not believers “shall flee before Him!” implying their terror at the might of God…God is our help, that every day He helps us carry our burdens. His strength, His help for us, is new each day. He is our salvation. Blessed be the Lord who daily bears us up, God is our salvation. Selah

When we are blessed by the Lord, as commanded by Him, when we receive His blessing, His word, His promises, when we practice praise and the Lord Himself is our ruler, then the earth shall yield her increase and our own God shall bless us. 

Christians around America are waking up. We can’t sit on the sidelines any longer.

God is breaking down walls between denominations, races, and generations and uniting us around a mission of prayer and action for the nation that we love.

America needs us, the Body of Christ, to be fully awake and engaged.

Join us at the Wake UP! Conference – September 23 and 24th in Dallas Fort Worth.

According to Jewish tradition – this Psalm was written as a Passover Psalm with two parts – First to celebrate the huge victory and “bigness” of God delivering the children of Israel out of Egypt and taking them out of the hand of Pharaoh. Secondly to declare the vow and the sacrifices that they would give God after seeing His goodness again.

How are you doing? Please answer honestly. Maybe things are going great, and you’re on top of the world! Or maybe you’re going through hard times and in need of some comfort and divine intervention. Either way, Psalm 65 is for you.

Have you ever been surprised by someone who talks about you behind your back, or who plots against you, perhaps while feigning friendship? This type of experience inspired David to write Psalm 64.

In Daniel 10, Daniel was serving a Persian King. He had made it through the Babylonian kingdom – the trials and tests of the Lion’s Den, the Golden Statue of Nebuchadnezzar and his friends getting thrown into the fiery furnace, and the dreams and interpretations from God surrounded by “the wise men”. He had been tested and tried and had come out of it all with a greater relationship with God and even more authority.

How does prayer impact a nation?

I never saw it coming. I had been a political consultant for 10 years and the main Member of Congress that I worked for announced his retirement. We couldn’t find a conservative candidate to take his place. So, after weeks of carrying a burden, seeing the need of the district, praying, and asking God to raise someone up, I acted on that burden. I jumped into the Congressional race. I never saw it coming.

Like a lawyer intercedes for his clients in a court of law, we petition God.

Like an assistant carrying out the orders of her boss and becoming the go-between of him and the other employees, we can ask for God’s will to be done here on earth as it is in heaven.

Intercession is delegation. It is mediation. It is carried authority through representation.

Behind the greatest evangelist of the Second Great Awakening — Charles Finney — knelt a man of intercession: Daniel Nash.

Finney, through his passionate appeals for people to come to God, saw hundreds of thousands of conversions happen all over New York and beyond in the early 1800s. Unknown to most, this move of God contained a secret weapon. Nash.

When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan. (Proverbs 29:2)

God’s Word shows us the best way to live. Believers are supposed to live righteous lives marked by virtue. We are supposed to honor and obey the government. But when the wicked rule, they harm the people by enacting unjust laws and unbiblical policies. So Scripture also authorizes civil disobedience, that is, obeying God’s law when doing so requires disobeying human edicts. But biblical civil disobedience doesn’t mean we can just do whatever we want, and it doesn’t mean we can disobey any law we don’t like. So what should we do when the government becomes unjust? And what should our civil disobedience look like?

Nebuchadnezzar was king of the whole known world. His empire was vast, his word was law, and his temper was infamous. That’s why the actions of the three young Hebrew men were so remarkable. Throughout their service to the king they had shown courtesy and obedience, but now they refused him to his face. Stubbornly, defiantly, they disobeyed his command. What would cause these otherwise respectful men to act this way? Aren’t God-fearing people supposed to obey the government?

At 78 with 50 years of ministry and almost 60 years of marriage, I could reminisce about the past seasons of my life and talk about retirement, but scripture exhorts us to “forget the past and reach forward to those things which are ahead; pressing toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus”. (Philippians 3:13-14)

I am anticipating with great joy the adventure that awaits me in this next season of my life, because I am daring to go farther with God rather than just take retirement.

It is easy to feel overwhelmed and not know where to start when praying for government. 

There is so much going on and so many needs that you could find yourself praying 24/7 and still not include everything burdening your heart.

The charges of racism levied against the United States of America as a whole are very grave. We have experienced and chronicled countless tales of racially-charged police brutality, mass incarceration, and the tragic murder of young Blacks, particularly men.

Ethnic minorities endure continual unwarranted suspicion, false accusations, and unprovoked assaults. Slavery, Jim Crow, the Ku Klux Klan, purposeful disenfranchisement, lynching, and redlining have brought incalculable pain.