Thanksgiving

It's fascinating to read the differences between President Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation and President Barack Obama's 2011 Thanksgiving Proclamation.  Below are the two proclamations and I'll let you notice the differences.  As Christians it is our duty to examine everything under the light of the Scriptures.  Please consider that as you read the following.

A Proclamation.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the conscienceness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln

You can read Obama's here.

Learning to delight in Jesus,
Hannah

Benjamin Franklin's Call to Prayer

My sister and I read this in our history book and I had to post it!  After several days of debating and arguing, the Constitutional Congress was getting nowhere.  Finally, Mr. Franklin called the delegates to remember God, the One who set them free from the tyranny of Britain in the first place.  It's rather long but I promise you it's worth it!  I wish all members of Congress would read this!
 

Mr. President [president of the Convention, not the nation]:

The small progress we have made after 4 or five weeks close attendance & continual reasonings with each other -- our different sentiments on almost every question, several of the last producing as many noes as ays, is methinks a melancholy proof of the imperfection of the Human Understanding. We indeed seem to feel our own wont of political wisdom, since we have been running about in search of it. We have gone back to ancient history for models of government, and examined the different forms of those Republics which having been formed with the seeds of their own dissolution now no longer exist. And we have viewed Modern States all round Europe, but find none of their  Constitutions suitable to our circumstances.

In this situation of this Assembly groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings? In the beginning of the contest with G. Britain, when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the Divine Protection. -- Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a Superintending providence in our favor. To that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? or do we imagine that we no longer need His assistance.

I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth -- that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings that "except the Lord build they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall be become a reproach and a bye word down to future age. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human Wisdom, and leave it to chance, war, and conquest.

I therefore beg leave to move -- that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of this City be requested to officiate in that service.

Learning to delight in Jesus,

Hannah

Which Seed are You?

 

I was once again doing my morning devotions, reading a familiar passage, when the Lord revealed something new to me.

*As a side note, whenever I see something new in something "old" it reminds me that my God is alive and does speak to His people.  What a blessing!*

The passage was Mark 4:3-8, 14-20 about the seeds and the sower.  Jesus mentions 4 specific places the seeds fall: the wayside, the stony ground, the thorns, and the good ground.  The place I want to focus on is among the thorns.  What are the thorns?  Jesus said the thorns were, "...the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things..." Mark 4:19a.  These seeds sprang up but because of the thorns they were unable to mature and therefore produced no fruit.  Although they were still alive they were weak and useless for the Kingdom.  The Lord revealed to me that unfortunately in America there are far too many "thorns" and far too many "seeds" that fall among them.  Called by some carnal Christians these believers struggle to maintain a living relationship with Jesus because of all the riches, pleasures, and distractions surrounding us.  While they still will spend eternity with Jesus they fail in their mission to "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations..." Matthew 28:19a.  If we are weak how are to reach those who do not believe?
I pray every day that I will be useful and fruitful for my King!  I hope and pray that I will be like the seed that fell on the good ground which produced, "some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred." Mark 4:20c.  What is this life worth if it's not spent for the King?

So, which seed are you?

Learning to delight in Jesus,
Hannah 

The Way of the Cross

The way of the cross is not easy and smooth,
But Jesus is there to travel with you.
He'll not leave you to fight the battles alone,
But strengthen you from His heavenly throne.

Chritians of old have followed that Way,
They've been beaten and bruised and cast far away.
Although they were rejected by land and by sea,
To You alone did they bend their knee.

Help me, dear Lord to carry my cross,
To follow the Way no matter the cost;
To step out in faith and follow you plan
Even though I may not always understand!

Inspired by: A.W. Tozer's Book "The Radical Cross"

Learning to delight in Jesus,
Hannah