The first Thursday in February every year marks the date of the annual National Prayer Breakfast. Please do not confuse this with The National Day of Prayer, which is held the first Thursday in May. They are VERY different!!
The National Prayer Breakfast was started under the Eisenhower administration. You may not realize this but there were and still are representatives in DC who meet for prayer and the study of Jesus weekly. Once a year they host the breakfast and invite leaders from all over the world to come together. Those leaders come knowing they will hear about Jesus. This year about 160 nations were represented. President and Mrs. Obama, countless representatives from our nation and over 3,000 people from around the globe were in attendance.
This year the keynote speaker at the breakfast was Dr. Benjamin Carson, a world-renowned pediatric neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Carson made it clear that his model in life is Jesus Christ.
Dr. Carson put forth many challenges to our representatives and those in attendance. It seemed clear that those challenges flowed from a concern for the spirituality and well-being of our nation. I would like to share just one of those challenges with you today.
Dr. Carson warned that one of the attacks on the spirituality of our nation is politically correct (PC) speech. “Today people are afraid to say anything because of the PC police. We need to speak up what we believe and concentrate on being respectful to each other.” He continued, “PC speech is dangerous. It muffles our freedom of expression while the fabric of our society is changing.”
So many of us have bought the lie that we must never say anything that would offend. In our fear of offending we fall into a place of disrespecting or, even worse, denying our God. In our fear of being ridiculed or labeled “intolerant,” we stay silent. We might try to justify such behavior by thinking of Titus 3:2 “…to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men” (NAS). However least we forget:
Ps. 34:13 – “Keep your tongue from evil And your lips from speaking deceit” (NAS).
By our silence we give others the sense that we agree with a statement therefore allowing others to believe a lie. On the other hand Ps. 37:30 – “The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, And his tongue speaks justice” (NAS). If we open our mouths after asking Holy Spirit to fill it with wisdom, we will speak for justice and create an opportunity for truth and justice to have its way. We must remember Ecc. 3: 7 b – There is “A time to be silent, and a time to speak” (NAS).
Dear one, let us not stand silent while the world continues to embrace the lies that lead to a spiritually dead nation. Let’s go off the fence and arise, shine, and let the light of TRUTH to be spoken in love. Yes, speak the truth in love, not in arrogance, surely not in ugly pride or self-righteousness. It seems clear that the Word promises in Eph. 4:15 that if we speak the truth in love we will actually grow up to be more of a reflection of the God we serve…”but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ…” (NKJ). Now that is going to bear good God-glorifying results!!
Victory Call 