"His love endures forever." (Psalm 136, NIV)
If I counted right, the psalmist repeats our text 26 times in this Psalm. Jews have been confessing this Psalm for millennia; and you know their history. Many confessed this psalm on their way to Treblinka, to Auschwitz. No matter what his Satanic majesty hurls at you and me, at Followers of Jesus, "HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER." The Hebrew Interlinear translates it, "His Covenant loyalty endures forever," viz., Father, Son Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit is bound by, "Covenant Loyalty," to you and me. And The Living Triune God just does not break covenant.
I will be in Washington, DC, tomorrow, July 29, 2015. Along with my "routine," I will be in the Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing. The topic this week is: "Examining the True Cost of Alcohol and Drug Abuse in Native Communities." I will be a "praying presence" during the hearing. By the way, contributions to FHMP helps us to regularly support missions to the First Nations People Group. Now some say, "What's the use of praying for America, for the nations? Look at the victory of the homosexuals' agenda. Look at the American Government State-sponsored-terrorism of the unborn, and someone like Donald Trump leading in the Republican polls?" Then there is ISIS, Iran, etc.
If you and I are ever tempted with a "give up" attitude, we should think of a Japanese Follower of Jesus who prayed 8 hours a day over 80 years for the Japanese Nation. Yes, you read correctly. I heard this in an "All Nations Convocation" in Jerusalem some years ago. People could have said the same to or about him, "What good did it do? Look at the Second War, at the fact that less than one percent of Japanese are Christian." Really? Do they, especially Americans, want to go there? Our Japanese Brother just never forgot, "His Covenant Loyalty endures forever."
"Also [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to turn coward (faint, lose heart, and give up)." Jesus' command is powerfully simple, "....always...pray," no matter what the "results" seem to be, no matter if the "answers" we desire never seem to come our way. Many Jews have been living examples of this. The Japanese man was an example of this, and we could probably name many others. We should shout it from the house tops, "His Covenant Loyalty endures forever." There never has been, never is, nor ever shall be any reason, "to turn coward (faint, lose heart, and give up)." Have the attitude of Paul, "I press on," through poverty, sickness, the debauchery of nations, and ceaseless attacks of The Enemy.
At any point, do you and I, "turn coward (faint, lose heart, and give up"? Yet you and I have the exact same reason to continue in what Brother Andrew calls, "The Fight," as did the psalmist, as do the Jews, as did the Japanese Brother, as did my parents, my grandparents, as the Faithful throughout the generations past, and generations future, until the trumpet sounds. Keep going, my friend. As one translation puts it, "For His great love is without end."
Father, in Jesus' Name, I have no excuse for anything contrary to You, "Your Covenant Loyalty endures forever." Amen.
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Please pray for me as I go to DC
If I counted right, the psalmist repeats our text 26 times in this Psalm. Jews have been confessing this Psalm for millennia; and you know their history. Many confessed this psalm on their way to Treblinka, to Auschwitz. No matter what his Satanic majesty hurls at you and me, at Followers of Jesus, "HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER." The Hebrew Interlinear translates it, "His Covenant loyalty endures forever," viz., Father, Son Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit is bound by, "Covenant Loyalty," to you and me. And The Living Triune God just does not break covenant.
I will be in Washington, DC, tomorrow, July 29, 2015. Along with my "routine," I will be in the Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing. The topic this week is: "Examining the True Cost of Alcohol and Drug Abuse in Native Communities." I will be a "praying presence" during the hearing. By the way, contributions to FHMP helps us to regularly support missions to the First Nations People Group. Now some say, "What's the use of praying for America, for the nations? Look at the victory of the homosexuals' agenda. Look at the American Government State-sponsored-terrorism of the unborn, and someone like Donald Trump leading in the Republican polls?" Then there is ISIS, Iran, etc.
If you and I are ever tempted with a "give up" attitude, we should think of a Japanese Follower of Jesus who prayed 8 hours a day over 80 years for the Japanese Nation. Yes, you read correctly. I heard this in an "All Nations Convocation" in Jerusalem some years ago. People could have said the same to or about him, "What good did it do? Look at the Second War, at the fact that less than one percent of Japanese are Christian." Really? Do they, especially Americans, want to go there? Our Japanese Brother just never forgot, "His Covenant Loyalty endures forever."
"Also [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to turn coward (faint, lose heart, and give up)." Jesus' command is powerfully simple, "....always...pray," no matter what the "results" seem to be, no matter if the "answers" we desire never seem to come our way. Many Jews have been living examples of this. The Japanese man was an example of this, and we could probably name many others. We should shout it from the house tops, "His Covenant Loyalty endures forever." There never has been, never is, nor ever shall be any reason, "to turn coward (faint, lose heart, and give up)." Have the attitude of Paul, "I press on," through poverty, sickness, the debauchery of nations, and ceaseless attacks of The Enemy.
At any point, do you and I, "turn coward (faint, lose heart, and give up"? Yet you and I have the exact same reason to continue in what Brother Andrew calls, "The Fight," as did the psalmist, as do the Jews, as did the Japanese Brother, as did my parents, my grandparents, as the Faithful throughout the generations past, and generations future, until the trumpet sounds. Keep going, my friend. As one translation puts it, "For His great love is without end."
Father, in Jesus' Name, I have no excuse for anything contrary to You, "Your Covenant Loyalty endures forever." Amen.
***************************
Please pray for me as I go to DC
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
