Category: Life in Christ

Stop & Pray: Billy Graham’s Prayer for the New Year

Peanut Gallery: Making plans for tonight’s New Year celebrations? Getting together with friends and family to watch the ball drop in Times Square? Here’s an idea…
Mute the sound on the TV at 11:30 pm – that will get everyone’s attention – and stop and pray.

Don’t know what to say? Print out Billy Graham’s prayer… or just call it up on your new iPhone or iPad. The words are timely and timeless. If you make hard copies, you and your friends can pray together.

And here’s a reality check. If you’re with people who would be offended… consider getting some new friends.
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Billy Graham’s Prayer for the New Year
billygraham.org

This prayer from Billy Graham, written for “The Saturday Evening Post” in 2008, is just as relevant this year.

Our Father and our God, as we stand at the beginning of this new year we confess our need of Your presence and Your guidance as we face the future.

We each have our hopes and expectations for the year that is ahead of us—but You alone know what it holds fJudior us, and only You can give us the strength and the wisdom we will need to meet its challenges. So help us to humbly put our hands into Your hand, and to trust You and to seek Your will for our lives during this coming year.

In the midst of life’s uncertainties in the days ahead, assure us of the certainty of Your unchanging love.

In the midst of life’s inevitable disappointments and heartaches, help us to turn to You for the stability and comfort we will need.

In the midst of life’s temptations and the pull of our stubborn self-will, help us not to lose our way but to have the courage to do what is right in Your sight, regardless of the cost.

And in the midst of our daily preoccupations and pursuits, open our eyes to the sorrows and injustices of our hurting world, and help us to respond with compassion and sacrifice to those who are friendless and in need. May our constant prayer be that of the ancient Psalmist: “Teach me, O Lord, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end” (Psalm 119:33).

We pray for our nation and its leaders during these difficult times, and for all those who are seeking to bring peace and justice to our dangerous and troubled world. We pray especially for Your protection on all those who serve in our armed forces, and we thank You for their commitment to defend our freedoms, even at the cost of their own lives. Be with their families also, and assure them of Your love and concern for them.

Bring our divided nation together, and give us a greater vision of what You would have us to be. Your Word reminds us that “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 33:12).

As we look back over this past year we thank You for Your goodness to us—far beyond what we have deserved. May we never presume on Your past goodness or forget all Your mercies to us, but may they instead lead us to repentance, and to a new commitment to make You the foundation and center of our lives this year.

And so, our Father, we thank You for the promise and hope of this new year, and we look forward to it with expectancy and faith. This I ask in the name of our Lord and Savior, who by His death and resurrection has given us hope both for this world and the world to come.

Amen

“Living with the end in mind.”

The-End-Is-Near-DIF-2

“Begin with the end in mind.”
Steven Covey (7 Habits… # 2)

I’m a guy who likes to know where I’m going and what I can expect along the way. I don’t need all the details filled in, but I do need to know my general direction. “Whatever” doesn’t cut it for me. But that has not always been the case here in The Peanut Gallery… particularly during the last election cycle. At times I’ve been disoriented… off on tangents. So, I’d like to re-focus in 2013.

Refocus with the end in mind.

As I see it, America has crossed the spiritual/cultural “Rubicon” – our nation is rapidly moving into post-Christian territory. Where it will all end, I don’t know. But the failed secular/socialist European states have become our government’s role model. And, to turn a phrase, “I have never been more ashamed of my country.” Truth be told, I never thought I would ever say those words about America. But the lights are dimming on “the shining city on a hill.”

And… there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. I’m a dinosaur… a Christian social, economic, constitutional, and national security conservative… one of the aging remnant – yesterday’s news. So what now?

Live knowing the end is near.

“Live life, then, with a due sense of responsibility, not as men who do not know the meaning and purpose of life but as those who do. Make the best use of your time, despite all the difficulties of these days. Don’t be vague but firmly grasp what you know to be the will of God.” Ephesians 5. 15-17 (Phillips NT)

At my age, the end will come sooner… rather than later. My 4 year old grandson asked me, “Poppa, how old are you?’ I said, “I’m old.” But he wanted a number, and pressed, “But how old?” I said, “I’m 72.” He said, “That is old.” Then thought about it, and added, “I can’t even count up to 72.”

So the Apostle Paul’s counsel “to make the best use of [my] time… and live life as one who knows its meaning and purpose” is a timely word to me… especially in relation to The Peanut Gallery. I want to address the issues that I believe are important to God, to the future of my grandchildren, to America and to the world.

“Jesus at the center of it all” will be the theme of The Peanut Gallery in 2013 – offering “help and hope” as best I can… albeit from an old guy’s perspective, sitting in the cheap seats.

Thank you for reading this far. And thank you for your insights and blogging contributions that broaden my Christian world view. You are greatly appreciated.

Christmas Reading & Hymn: John 3.16-17 – “God so loved the world” (YouTube)

nativity sceneReading: John 3.16-17 NLT

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”
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Christmas Reading & Carol: Luke 2.8-14 NLT – “Angels from the Realms of Glory” (YouTube)

Govert Flinck (1615–1660) "Angels Announcing the Birth of Christ to the Shepherds" - Govaert Flinck (1615-1660)
Govert Flinck (1615–1660)
“Angels Announcing the Birth of Christ to the Shepherds”
Reading: Luke 2.8-14 – “Shepherds and Angels”

That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior — yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
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