Good Morning, Meetpastordan, Readers…Pam and I were at a fund-raising event last Saturday evening to honor an organization that helps the poor, the needy and the disenfranchised, and to pay tribute to its leaders. At each place-setting was a card with this message. Most of you will recognize this as the Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi.
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
I read this message at least a dozen times that evening, and continued reading it throughout yesterday. And I couldn’t help but think…”Can you imagine….?”
In this dark, perverted world in which we live that exalts the teachings of man over the teachings of God, the essence of these words have, for the most part, been snuffed-out. Unfortunately our culture today is characterized by hatred, anger, lying, cheating, stealing, sadness, and hopelessness. If you doubt that, I challenge you to turn on a news station and compare the number of news stories motivated by the attributes stated in the previous sentence with the news-stories reflecting the attributes found in the prayer of St. Francis.
As offensive as this truth is to our current leadership, we are a nation that was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. And when this great country lived and operated according to those principles, we experienced God’s blessings and were shielded by his protection. But unfortunately, we are following the same path every civilization and nation followed before it’s collapse: we have exalted the teachings of man over the teachings of God, and man’s plan is motivated by self-will, self-promotion, greed, and a desire for wealth, power and control. And to hasten the implementation of man’s plan, the teachings of God are marginalized, mocked, ridiculed at every opportunity by the reigning “intelligentsia!” What results is the world and culture we see today!
But can you imagine what it would be like if someone were to step forward, characterized by humility, and exclaimed, “Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace?” Wow! Would he be exalted as the answer to our prayers, or would he be stoned to death?? Is our country ready for Godly leadership, or has it sunk so deep in the quagmire of sin that it wouldn’t even recognize the life-jacket that was available to it? Obviously everyone reading this has their own opinion, but it doesn’t hurt to dream…right?
The Holy Bible is resplendent with stories regarding the rise and fall of individuals and nations. Quite simply, when individuals or nations were in line with God’s will they were blessed. When they were disobedient and out of line with God’s will, there was calamity, fire and brimstone! The lessons to be learned here are quite clear, as was the truth of the proclamation that was sounded by various prophets throughout the ages: “Repent! Turn from your sin and turn to God!” When people yielded to this message, they experienced mercy, as stated in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.” James 4:10 reinforces that need: “When you bow down (come in humility) and admit your dependence on the Lord, he will lift you up and give you honor.” You can see the importance of humility (realizing your own insufficiency) in both of these scriptures. Contrast that with the teachings of man, which epitomizes arrogance (sufficiency).
Now let’s look at us…followers of Jesus Christ. We too are called to live to the standard St. Francis proclaimed, and we all know how hard it is to achieve! In fact, humanly speaking, it is impossible for us to achieve it through our own effort. But because we are in Christ, we have something the rest of the world doesn’t have. It is our “secret weapon”. Our power comes when we realize our own insufficiency and turn to the indwelling Holy Spirit and ask him to give us the wisdom, strength, courage, patience, insight, revelation, perseverance, whatever it is we need, to accomplish our calling. That is God’s gift to us so we can become the person he created us to be. (Ref. Ephesians 2:10)
The interesting thing about this prayer is the stark contrast between this fallen world and the Kingdom of Heaven. What is being replaced is “worldly attributes” with “Heavenly attributes”. For instance hatred is replaced with love; injury with pardon (mercy); doubt with faith; despair with hope; darkness (evil) with light (goodness); sadness with joy. We are shifting the focus from our self and focusing on our fellow man: seeking to console rather than being consoled; seeking to understand rather than being understood; seeking to love rather than being loved; seeking to give rather than receiving; and seeking to forgive rather than being forgiven. And the gift from all of this is knowing that ‘in dying we are born to eternal life.” Thank you God!
Can you imagine a world like that? There is one…The Kingdom of Heaven. And as Christ-followers, we get be begin experiencing it right here, right now. But our charge is to pray for revelation in the hearts and minds of those who do not know the Truth; to pray for a leader who will have the anointing to lead our country back to its founding principles, and one who will first exalt the glory of God! Can you imagine our nation being like that?? I believe it is possible, because “nothing is impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37)
Feel free to respond to this message, and please “like” and share it with other social media friends.
May God Bless Ya…
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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