Unite in Prayer

The Old Testament is a history of God’s people. We begin seeing them in the Patriarchs and the twelve sons of Jacob. Next, we see the people of God in slavery in Egypt.

Next, we see them wandering in the wilderness. The majority of their history is in the promised land. The next period of seventy years they are in exile in Babylon.

The latter half of the Old Testament is a history of their return leading up to the time of Christ. It is in exile that gives us the image in Peter’s epistle of how we must see ourselves as the body of Christ.

It is as “aliens” and “strangers” that we see ourselves as we are journeying onwards towards the new heavens and the new earth. This is not our homeland!

I love my country and am very grateful to live in this great land. As I see our culture slipping deeper into darkness, I am reminded that this is not my real home!

It was in the exile that Israel experienced a deep transformation in terms of their faith and security. With Jerusalem and the temple destroyed, they had to rely more deeply on the word of God.

It was also in the exile that the prophets were able to cast a vision of the future that would radically shape their faith. This same dynamic is available for us as believers.

We must remember that the Kingdom of God cannot be built by human effort. We are to seek it, serve it, pray for it to come and occupy the present in community and witness.

There are no “Christian” nations. There can be nations that adopt Christian values. I would hope that our national leaders and citizens would adopt Christian values.

Our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian values. My prayer is that Judeo-Christian values would permeate throughout our society.

My only expectation is that body of Christians in our country live out the values of the faith. This begins with you and me!

Pastor Fred