Rachael Weeping for her Children Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “God blesses you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. God blesses you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied. God blesses you who weep now, for in due time you will laugh.
What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way.”
Prayer: “On the 40th Anniversary of Roe v Wade”
Heavenly Father, Thou hast given us the gift of freedom to love and to follow in Thy ways and commands. Some parents choose to abuse this freedom by destroying the gift of life which Thou hast given to their offspring. Please forgive those who destroy human life by aborting their unborn babies. Give these unborn children the opportunity to enjoy Thee for all eternity, if it according to Thy ordinance.
Assist me in being one in solidarity with Thy little ones by taking to heart the words of Thy Son, “whatever you did for one of these least brothers of Mine, you did for Me.” (Mt. 25:40)
Therefore, allow me today, Father, to adopt spiritually an unborn child and to offer my prayers, works, joys and sufferings for that little one, so that child will be able to be born and live for Thy greater honor and glory.
We pray this in Jesus’ name, in union with the Holy Spirit one God forever and ever. Amen.
Peanut Gallery: Christian Persecution – Saudi Arabia – #2 (worldwatchlist.us)
Saudi Arabia
There is no provision for religious freedom in the constitution of this Islamic kingdom. All citizens must adhere to Islam and conversion to another religion is punishable by death. Public Christian worship is forbidden; worshippers risk imprisonment, lashing, deportation and torture. Evangelising Muslims and distributing non-Muslim materials is illegal. Muslims who convert to Christianity risk honour killings, and foreign Christian workers have been exposed to abuse from employers. Despite this, converts are responding to Christian TV programmes and to dreams and visions from God.
Anecdotal Report: Rashid (not his real name) is a Saudi Arabian student who attended a Western university and surrendered his life to Christ after his roommate shared the gospel with him.
Excited about his newfound faith, Rashid returned home and shared the good news of Jesus with his loved ones. But he chose a public venue to tell one relative about his decision. A bystander reported Rashid to Saudi religious police, who threw him into jail.
“Jesus Heals the Sick” Etching by Jan Luyken, Bowyer Bible
When they came down from the mountain, the disciples stood with Jesus on a large, level area, surrounded by many of his followers and by the crowds. There were people from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and from as far north as the seacoasts of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those troubled by evil spirits were healed. Everyone tried to touch him, because healing power went out from him, and he healed everyone.
Prayer: Lord Jesus – Everywhere we look we see people who are sick – in body, in soul, in mind, and in spirit… people who are bound and broken… people who are caught up in the downward spiral of sin and death.
Send your healing power… come Holy Spirit… fall on us. Make us instruments of your mercy, grace and healing power – that all may know Jesus as the Lord of their lives and Lover of their souls. Amen.
Hymn:“Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior” – Fanny Crosby (1868)
Pass me not, O gentle Saviour, hear my humble cry; while on others thou art calling, do not pass me by. Saviour, Saviour, hear my humble cry; while on others thou art calling, do not pass me by.
Please click on audio player – “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior” – Bart Millard
Let me at thy throne of mercy find a sweet relief, kneeling there in deep contrition; help my unbelief. Saviour, Saviour, hear my humble cry; while on others thou art calling, do not pass me by.
Trusting only in thy merit, would I seek thy face; heal my wounded, broken spirit, save me by thy grace. Saviour, Saviour, hear my humble cry; while on others thou art calling, do not pass me by.
Thou the spring of all my comfort, more than life to me, whom have I on earth beside thee? Whom in heaven but thee. Saviour, Saviour, hear my humble cry; while on others thou art calling, do not pass me by.
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!
Genesis 1:26-28 NLT – Made like God
Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 NLT – Made for God
“Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. For I command you this day to love the LORD your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.
“But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.
“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!
You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the LORD, you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
John 10:10 NLT – Made for Life
“My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”
Matthew 25:40 NLT – “Precious to God”
“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’”
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God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we come into your presence in His name. We have heard the voice of your Son, and therefore we can make our voices heard. We have been justified in the blood of your Son, and therefore we can oppose every form of injustice.
We have repented of our sins, and therefore we can lead the sinner to repentance. We have done battle with the power of evil, and therefore we can have compassion on those still within its grip. We have been freed from the kingdom of darkness, and therefore we can bear witness to your Kingdom of Light.
Lord, as we come before you today, we repent, we resolve, and we rejoice.
We repent of every instance in which fear has made us silent when we should have spoken. We repent of the ongoing bloodshed in our land, and for ever daring to think that we can deprive the unborn of protection but keep it for ourselves.
We resolve that we will work more generously to advance your Kingdom. We resolve that we will advance the cause of righteous candidates for public office, and that we will be more afraid of offending you by our silence than of offending the IRS by our speech. We resolve that we will declare boldly to our people that no public official who fails to respect the life of a little baby can be trusted to respect our lives.
Father, today we rejoice, because we are not simply working for victory – we are working from victory. The victory of life, truth, and grace has been won by your Son’s death and Resurrection. Today we hear his voice again. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I hold the keys of death and of hell. Behold, I make all things new.”
Father, we rejoice that we have been made new, and as we work to renew our culture we look forward to the great day of his coming, When every eye will see him, even of those who pierced him, and every knee shall bend, and every tongue confess, to the glory of God the Father, JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!
In his Blessed Name we pray. Amen!
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