Tag: prayer

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Celebrating Three Passovers

                Next Tuesday, on March 26, Jews will celebrate the feast of Passover. The Passover feast, enshrined by God into the Calendar, should be an important time of remembrance for Christians as well.

 

                The first Passover Christians should remember is the original Passover which occurred during the time God was setting Israel free from Egyptian slavery. God had humbled the gods of Egypt through the plagues, saving the final humiliation for last as the Angel of Death struck down the Horus God-King son of Pharaoh and the first born of Egypt. But God spared His people by having them sprinkle the blood of the Passover lamb on their doorposts, and the Angel of Death passed over them. This deliverance through the Blood of the Lamb has been celebrated in the Passover and the Seder meal from generation to generation ever since.

 

                A second Passover Christians should remember is the Passover Seder Jesus celebrated with His Disciples the night before He was crucified. Using a portion of the Seder meal, Jesus explained that his body must be broken and His Blood become the new covenant to set people free from slavery to sin and death. Jesus fulfilled the promise of Passover, shedding His Blood be the perfect Passover Lamb and providing through His Blood the way to reconcile God and man. Christians remember Jesus, the Lamb of God, by taking the portion of the Seder meal Jesus used, the broken bread and the wine, in communion with Him. 

 

                The third Passover Christians should remember occurred 40 years after Jesus was crucified, when a Roman army surrounded Jerusalem. The city Jesus wept over had crucified Him and persecuted His followers, and now the prophesied Abomination of Desolation had come. But Jesus warned Christians to flee from Jerusalem when it was surrounded by armies, and there were no Christians among the dead or those put in slavery after the city was destroyed. Those who had followed the Lord where again passed over, while those who rejected Him entered a worse slavery than their ancestors had endured in Egypt. This third Passover is symbolic of the deliverance of God’s people from the Judgment to come, as the Angel of Death passes over those sprinkled with the Blood of the Lamb. It will be celebrated in Jerusalem by both Jews and Gentiles, united into the Church, after Jesus returns.

 

                So on this Passover we join in celebrating the first Passover with the Jews and the second Passover with the Christians. We look forward to the celebration of the third Passover when all God’s people are united again.

 

                And we pray for the peace of Jerusalem

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Honoring St. Patrick

 

            St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, is recognized as an Irish celebration, but in fact the whole Christian world owes a large debt to St Patrick.

            Brought to pagan Ireland as a slave, Patrick escaped and returned to his home in Roman Christian Britain. However he was unable to forget the lost souls of Ireland and returned to evangelize the island. The Pagan wizards and priests were no match for the man of God, and the whole island was Christianized as the result of his efforts.  For this he is rightly honored as the evangelist of the Irish.

            But his legacy of a Christian Ireland blessed far more people than just the Irish. Even before his death in 461 AD the Roman Christian Britain of his boyhood was being overrun by the Pagan Angles and Saxons. Soon the British and Irish switched roles: The newly Christian Irish sent missionaries to the newly Pagan Britain. And in about a century the Anglo-Saxons were Christianized. So the British saved the Irish so the Irish could save the British.

            An even more remarkable turn about occurred as the European continent fell into chaos during the time known as the Dark Ages. The formerly barbarian, unlettered Irish were able to save countless manuscripts from destruction and became the custodians of the civilized Western worlds’ knowledge. They also expanded their evangelistic efforts into Europe, bringing about a revival of Christianity in France and Italy. Thus, Patrick’s Irish followers became a beacon of learning and hope in the Dark Ages, helping preserve the centers of European Christianity as well as its British and Irish outposts.

            Alas, the Irish were not immune to the instability of their times, as they were first invaded by the Vikings and then colonized by the ungrateful English. After the Reformation they were persecuted for their Catholic faith and allowed to starve in the horrible famine of the 1840’s. The Island remains divided between the Catholic Republic in the South and the Protestant North.

            It is ironic that these two peoples, still divided over religion, owe their Christian faith to the other: The Irish to the British Patrick, and the British to the Irish missionaries. Yet, there is progress being made to reconcile these peoples. Several years back we at Corporate Prayer Resources made a Prayer Journey to Ireland and saw our and many other prayers answered as a peace process began in Northern Ireland. There are also continuing reconciliation efforts underway between the Catholics and the Protestants to heal this terrible division.  

 

            As we look forward to this St Patrick’s day, the best way to honor St. Patrick would be to pray that there would be reconciliation, forgiveness, and peace between his British homeland and his beloved Ireland.

And may it be so.          

 

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Celebrating Chinese New Year

On February 10 the Chinese and many other Asian peoples will celebrate the beginning of a new year on their ancient calendar.

 Like the Israelites and many other ancient cultures, the Chinese use a lunar calendar based on the phases of the moon, with the dark new moon constituting the first day of the month. Since twelve lunar months is 11 days short of the solar year, there are 7 years with 13 Lunar months for each 12 years of 12 Lunar months, and this 19 year cycle keeps lunar and solar years in sync. Unlike other cultures which, like us, start our new year near the winter solstice in December or, like the ancient Israelites, near the spring equinox in March, the Chinese located their new year so that the winter solstice would be in the middle of their winter and the spring equinox in the middle of their spring. Thus, the second lunar month after the winter solstice begins their year.

  The Chinese new year says a lot about the Chinese, who have always wanted to maintain their distinctiveness. Thus, while their historical records trace back to the Middle East like all humans, they chose neither the Egyptian winter solstice not the Babylonian spring equinox to start their year. Their early writing bears some striking similarities to Egyptian hieroglyphs and Babylonian cuneiform, but has diverged significantly from western writing systems since. Their lunar zodiac has also diverged somewhat from ancient Middle Eastern Zodiacs, although about 75% of the Star Bible message remains intact. Their religious traditions of emperor worship and ancestor worship also reflect distinctive Chinese elements even though they trace back to Babylon.

  The Chinese carried forward the knowledge of the Father God in the name of Shang Ti, “Emperor of Heaven”, which is linguistically equivalent to Hebrew “God Almighty” El Shaddai or Egyptian “Incomprehensible God” Shetai. Chinese pictographic writing preserves many elements of early Biblical history, as in the picture of “Ancestor” being made from pictures of “God”, “Two Persons”, and “Grounded”, (i.e. Adam and Eve) or the word “Boat” being composed of “Vessel”, “Eight”, and “Mouth” (i.e. the 8 on Noah’s Ark). Sadly, this ancient knowledge of God was lost as pagan religion and emperor worship took its distinctive Chinese course.

 Today many Chinese Christians are unearthing their Godly heritage, which has been hidden for centuries, in such books as Faith of our Fathers by Chan Kei Thong. And the Chinese cultural desire for distinctiveness been turned back to its Godly purpose as it has produced a vibrant and distinctively Chinese church.

 This Chinese new year let us pray for the distinctive Chinese Christian Church and the rediscovery of their ancient Godly heritage.

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Dismal Day

In the early Church the date of February 4 was set aside as “Dismal Day”.

 Dismal Day was a somber day set aside to remember the plagues of Egypt during the Exodus. The name “dismal” itself means “Evil days” and was intended to memorialize the woe and suffering of the Egyptians. Rather than celebrate the victory of the Israelites, the purpose of the day was to serve as a reminder of the consequences of disobeying God. Thus, the reflective and introspective mood of the day.

 At the time of the Exodus in 1446 BC Egypt was the most powerful nation on earth. The Israelites, who had come in 1876 BC, had settled in an area of the Eastern Nile Delta known as Goshen. After the death of their champion Joseph in about 1806 BC, the Egyptian Pharaohs became fearful of the Israelites and made them into slaves. One of the Pharaohs had even initiated an infanticide against the Israelite children in about 1526 BC. It was a survivor of this holocaust, a stuttering 80 year old named Moses, whom God chose to confront the most powerful man in the world.

Of course the Pharaoh refused to submit to God’s command to let his people go, and God sent the famous Ten Plagues of Egypt. Because of their stubbornness, the Egyptians saw their river die, their crops fail, their livestock destroyed, and finally their children die. Then, to top it off, their army was destroyed chasing the Israelites and the entire country of Egypt was later overrun by foreign invaders. Certainly “Evil Days” for the Egyptians.   

 It is unfortunate that the Church no longer sets apart Dismal Day to remember the consequences of rebellion against God. To remember how the most powerful Nation on Earth brought judgment on itself by mistreating God’s people and killing God’s children. To remember how their river died, their agriculture economy shriveled, their children were lost, and their military was humbled. To remember how defiance of God’s commands destroyed the most powerful Nation on Earth. And to seek God because it is beginning to unfold again right before our eyes.  

 For his people, God had set aside the land of Goshen as a place of safety, and they were spared from the seven last plagues sent on Egypt. Today many Intercessors believe that God has set aside Lands of Goshen in America, and that He will make a distinction between those states, cities, and people who follow Him and these who do not. Just compare the economies of places like Texas where God is honored with California where He is not. This is no time to disregard God’s plans and purposes.

 The Nation is in serious trouble as it suffers more and more from its disobedience. The Church needs to humble itself and pray for an Awakening.

Dismal Day would be a good time to start.