ACH Study Groups
Ben & Fran Gilmore – Cofounders
7659 Gingerblossom Drive
Citrus Heights, CA 95621
916-722-2501 histbuff@garlic.com
www.ACHStudyGroups.com
Saturday, March 27, 2021
This is a letter to our friends –
Sheep without a shepherd
Lord you said you would heal our land if we would humble ourselves and pray, and seek your face, and turn from our wicked ways. [2nd Chronicles 7:14]
Our land does not appear to be healing. Our nation is founded upon your principles. If our nation is not healed, the world will believe your principles do not work! It is true that our nation has violated your principles again and again. We deserve to fail!
Time after time when your people repented and prayed for salvation, you granted grace over justice. We, your people in America, have been praying, not so much for our sakes, but for your name’s sake, and the witness to the world validating your principles.
I believe we have humbled ourselves in prayer. I believe we have asked for direction (i.e. “seek your face”). I suspect you are waiting for more of us to, “turn from our wicked ways.” Hidden, unconfessed sin of one person can hold back an entire nation. [Akin and the battle over Ai.] I know of an influential, growing church that appeared strong and healthy. A guest speaker was led to preach on adultery. The church exploded and is no more!
Again you said, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. [Malachi 3:10]
Lord, I know this is on your compassionate, forgiving heart. I know from personal experience, how hard it is to expose and confess hidden sin. I also know the wonderful, priceless grace and liberty that comes from doing so! If that is what is causing America’s problems, then I pray with a compassionate heart, that hidden sin will be confessed.
“The blood of Christ will not cover, that which man will not uncover.” [The late Duncan Campbell]
“May God give you grace to see sin as it really is in His sight, for then you will realize your need for a Savior.” [Charles Spurgeon]
Just as I was about to post this – the following popped up in my inbox – – Thanks Verne.
Grace Moments
Lord, give me patience with you
by Pastor Mark Jeske
Of all the many things I do that irritate my wife, known and unknown, near the top of the list must be her persistent complaint that I don’t listen to her. Not to squirm out of that responsibility, but I fear that many wives would have the same lament. It may be that she wants my help with something. But of greatest urgency for her is that I pay attention to what is happening in her life and showing that I care about her situation. She needs me to resonate emotionally with what she is going through.
How frustrating to imagine that God is ignoring us. The prophet Habakkuk concluded that he was getting a divine brush-off, and he had the nerve to hurl a testy accusation against his Creator: “How long, LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen?” (Habakkuk 1:2). From our vantage point millennia later, we know that everything turned out well for the believers. But at the time, stuck in the middle of their fears and dilemmas, the people didn’t know that.
As Habakkuk reflected on the Lord’s mighty deeds of the past and pondered his words and promises, he grew in his ability to trust his Father. His little prophecy ends on a happier note: “I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer” (Habakkuk 3:18,19).
So-do you have deer feet today?
These columns are archived since 12/10/09
See www.ACHStudyGroups.com
“Ben’s Blog”
