Hello Warfare Wednesday!

"And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”  Revelation 21:3-4

When I read passages like this in my Bible, it always gives me hope.  It can be so discouraging to open up the newspaper or turn on the news channel and see all the bad news being reported.  I know that often times, during a time of tragedy, those images and reports really turn my heart into a heart of prayer, as I pray for the people affected.  But at the same time, if I'm not careful, and if I dwell on that bad news, it can drag me down into a melancholy for the day, where I just feel hopeless and mundane. But thank God for His Word, and the many encouraging words inside of it!

It is along those lines this morning that I am focusing my prayers on President Obama. As President of the United States, you have to believe that each and every day he is confronting bad news after bad news.  When he first wakes up in the morning he is given reports of what has gone on around the world overnight.  Most days, that's probably not an encouraging way to wake up.  So very simply this morning, I want to pray that President Obama would find encouragement in the next few weeks.  As warm weather is finally moving into parts of the country, it's a time of great joy and happiness- as schools let out for the summer, children are naturally filled with joy at the time off from studies.  May the joy and exuberance that is capturing the children of this nation trickle all the way up to the top.

As the president's children also will be wrapping up their school year, I also pray that the whole family will find time together to enjoy the summer, and will reconnect with one another.  As another presidential race is looming in the near future, I pray that they are able to enjoy their time together this summer, and to not be plagued by pundits and pollsters.  May God give that whole family great joy, and may He make Himself known to them in a very real way.  May they know that God loves them so much, and that God has great plans for this country if they will only turn to Him for understanding.

We just celebrated Memorial Day here in the U.S., and as I watched the news reports of the various celebrations, and as I thought about all the service men and women who have given their lives for the freedoms we have today, I also thought about how much God truly does love this country.  He really does, and if the population of the United States will only grasp that God loves each and every person, then I think we can start to see a turnaround in every area of trouble.  It is God's love that is the answer to all our problems, but first we have to start looking so inward at ourselves and focus on each other, and on God above more than ourselves.  I'm praying that this summer will be a time of great love and selflessness for our country- may more and more people every day learn to stop being selfish, and learn to start caring for their neighbors.