Jim Elliot was an American Christian missionary who forfeited his life, along with four other people, during Operation Auca, an attempt to evangelize the Huaorani people of Ecuador. He once said, “I have prayed for new men, fiery, reckless men, possessed of uncontrollably youthful passion lit by the Spirit of God. I have prayed for new words, explosive, direct, simple words. I have prayed for new miracles…How long dare we go on without tears, without moral passions, hatred and love?”
Might we pray that God will do such a work in us and that He will raise this class of men for such a time as this. Like David, let us cry out, “Hear my prayer, O God,” for this kind of holy boldness will only come by the moving and indwelling of the Spirit. Though this “recklessness” and “youthful passion” may present itself in different ways, might we all play our role in “turning the world upside down.”
Any who will embrace this kind of Spirit-led life will have come to recognize the truth of Jim Elliot’s most recognized quote: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
This week’s Decency Minutes move my mind to the above thoughts and prayers. As you read them or listen to them by clicking on their title, I pray that a spark is lit in you. I trust that a part of your prayers will echo those above.
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English parliamentarian and abolitionist Henry Thornton is credited with this prayer, and if it was appropriate for him in eighteenth century England, it is even more so in our day:
“We thank you for having poured down upon us so many blessings of this life; we thank you for our health and strength; for our food and dress; and for all the comforts and conveniences which we enjoy. Above all, we praise you for the inestimable privilege of being born in a land of religious light and knowledge. For these, and for all your various and great mercies, we would render unto you a grateful heart; and we would endeavor to show our gratitude, not with our lips only, but with our lives; by giving up ourselves to your service, and by walking before you, in holiness and righteousness, all our days on earth.”
May this be the prayer of our hearts!
The First Amendment guarantees free speech, including the expression of ideas which run contrary to the party line. When conflicting ideas are discussed respectfully, it makes us stronger and has the potential to lead to prosperity.
Be warned; every tyrant and every communist government throughout history has always tried to shut down free speech.
Christians must understand that the First Amendment only protects free speech and religious liberty. Should that protection be removed in our lifetime, we still have the God-given responsibility to share the gospel and speak the truth of God’s Word. It must be done in love and with grace, forgiving those who mistreat us and attempt to silence us. If ever our government punishes us for carrying out that sacred responsibility, let our response echo Peter’s in Acts chapter 5 – “We ought to obey God rather than men.”
Believer, pray for grace, mercy, and strength.
Crackdowns on Christians exercising their freedom of speech are becoming more and more frequent.
Recently, Wisconsin police arrested several Christian young men who were peacefully protesting a public drag show targeting children. When the Christians began reading Bible passages on a public sidewalk, they were arrested, supposedly for violating of a noise ordinance – using a microphone and speaker. Yet there were no arrests made of the drag queens who were gyrating in front of children, in violation of Wisconsin law which forbids individuals from causing a minor to view or listen to “sexually explicit conduct.”
One of the Christians arrested stated: “I’d do it all over again if it gives me an opportunity to share the good news and rescue innocent children being sexualized by their parents. God will use it for good. We will stand for truth even if we stand alone.”
First, we ignore evil, then permit/celebrate it, and then persecute those who still call it evil.
For many years, we have been watching the fulfillment of former President Obama’s promise of the “fundamentally transforming of the United States of America,” which he proclaimed in Columbia, Missouri, on Oct. 30, 2008, shortly before his historic presidential election. During these almost fifteen years, religious liberties have been eroded, Christians and conservatives have been “othered,” and a realization that persecution is on America’s doorstep has begun to awake in the hearts and minds of not a few believers.
We urge you to grow your faith by God’s grace. Dig deep in the Word and spend time in serious prayer. It’s only by God’s grace and fulfilling our God-ordained responsibility and putting on His full armor that we can hope to “withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” May we have our “loins girt about with truth, and [have] on the breastplate of righteousness.”
If Paul asked for prayer “that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel” and that he “may speak boldly, as [he]ought to speak.” How much more do we, likewise, need to hold one another up in prayer?
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