Visit the website to learn about local and national prayer events.

Here is the official national prayer for today from the NDOP website:

2012 NATIONAL PRAYER
Dr. David Jeremiah – NDP Honorary Chairman

Heavenly Father,

Every good gift and perfect gift comes from You. You are a faithful God and Your mercy endures forever.

You have promised to bless the nation that trusts in You. Our currency proclaims “In God We Trust,” but in our culture we are far from You.

In the words of the prophet Daniel, “We have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.”

We come before You once more, seeking Your forgiveness and mercy. You, O God, are our only hope… Hear our prayer and, for Your honor’s sake, shine Your face upon this nation.

Give our leaders the desire to seek Your wisdom and the courage to follow Your guidance… and watch over the men and women of our armed forces as they sacrifice for the cause of freedom.

We give You thanks for all You have done for us, and we earnestly pray that You will help us become, once again, a nation whose God is the Lord.

In the name of Your Son, and our Savior, we pray this prayer.

Amen.

According to the website:

Digital media have transformed the world in the last 15 years. We have entered a new ‘digital communication culture’ where all the rules for effective communication have changed. Even offline!

There are 2+ billion web users, and over 4 billion people use mobile phones (increasingly these are web-equipped). The Web is not just another means of communication, but a hyper-medium that subsumes, links together, and enhances all previous media.

Read more at Internet Evangelism Day.

Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

As I mentioned in My Reading Plan Was Random; God’s Wasn’t, I read a number of Christian nonfiction books during  Lent that I thought were randomly chosen. Yet they all emphasized that every Christian has a call and an absolute obligation evangelize. My husband and I have some health issues and don’t get out much, so the Internet is my primary connection to the world.

Although my original focus for this blog was writing, editing, and publishing, through the years, I have discovered it offers a wonderful opportunity for me to share my faith. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, the Life—our only salvation and the only way to Heaven, and I want  you to see you in Heaven!

• The Disciplined Life (Ebook Short) by Calvin Miller
• The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask: (With Answers) by Mark Mittelberg and Lee Strobel
• Not God’s Type: A Rational Academic Finds a Radical Faith by Holly Ordway
• The Rule of St. Benedict by St. Benedict
• Philippians: The Fellowship of the Gospel (Preaching the Word) by R. Kent Hughes
• Suffering and the Sovereignty of God by John Piper and Justin Taylor
• What Is the Gospel? (9Marks) by Greg Gilbert and D.A. Carson
• Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? by Philip Yancey
• Craving God: A 21-Day Devotional Challenge, based on Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, Not Food by Lysa TerLeul
• Raising the Dead: A Doctor Encounters the Miraculous by Chauncey W. Crandall
• Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream by David Platt
• Hell Is Real (But I Hate to Admit It) by Brian Jones
• God’s Story, Your Story: When His Becomes Yours by Max Lucado
• Why, O God?: Suffering and Disability in the Bible and the Church by Multiple Authors
• Listening to God (Life Principles Study Series) by Charles F. Stanley
• Friendship with Jesus by David L. Miller

Considering that I chose the books simply because they were free, it would seem that the readings would be random and disconnected. But even when my choices are random, God’s plan isn’t. There were a few overriding themes among everything I read:

• God blesses us so we can bless others, not so we can live the American dream.
• We can communicate with God through prayer, reading His Word, listening to the Holy Spirit, and learning from other Christians.
• God is sovereign—He is in control of everything. He can heal physically if He chooses, but if He allows us to suffer, He doesn’t explain Himself to us. Even if physical healing doesn’t come in this earthly life, spiritual healing is always available.
• The heart of the Gospel is the substitutionary atonement of Jesus on the cross. It is all about Him, not about us.
• God’s Word is true—He means what He says, and His Word tells us that Heaven and Hell are real and that accepting Jesus Christ as Savior is the only way to end up in Heaven and not in Hell.
• Each of us as Christians has an obligation to witness to others so they have the same opportunity we do to spend eternity with the Lord. If we loved unsaved family and friends, we will be more concerned about their eternal life in Heaven or hell than being embarrassed about taking about faith.
• Christians should expect to suffer and experience trials and tribulations as Jesus Himself told us we would, but sufferings are part of His perfect plan working together for our good, even when we can’t understand.
• We need to show compassion and God’s love to others who are suffering, both individually and corporately.

Of course, there is much more to learn from these books, but I was struck by the unity of themes among so many disparate and seemingly random titles.

You can read my reviews of all of these books on Goodreads.

He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

O GOD, who for our redemption didst give thine only-begotten Son to the death of the Cross, and by his glorious resurrection hast delivered us from the power of our enemy; Grant us so to die daily from sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection; through the same thy Son Christ our Lord. Amen.

photo credit: bsabarnowl

Heavenly Father, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus believed Jesus but were afraid to let it be known they were His disciples until His death. Give me boldness to declare He is Lord at all times and in all places. In His name. Amen.