by Sue Forde | Dec 30, 2023 | General, Lord Hear Our Prayer, Patriotism, prayer
Do you believe that our nation is in deep trouble? Deep in debt, run by bureaucrats, a government not following our Constitution, immorality, possibility of war, and so many other problems face us today! As I’ve spoken to people, I keep hearing a sense of hopelessness – the inability to do anything to make a difference and change the direction toward the Godly nation we once were. Well, I bring you great news!! There IS hope – and there IS something each of us can do to bring about the needed change!
It goes back to what our Founding Fathers – and before that, to the pilgrims – and what they did. They appealed to Heaven! To God, upon Whose principles our nation was originally founded. It worked then – and it will work now! God’s plan for our nation was to be a light to the world; and this has proven to be true through the years with the number of missionaries we have sent out worldwide to bring His good news to the entire earth.
Our enemies have infiltrated every aspect of our beloved land. It’s time to take it back from them. And, as George Washington and other founding fathers understood, we need to Appeal to Heaven for God’s intervention, as we ourselves cannot do the job.
An “Appeal to Heaven” is a phrase our founding fathers brought about from the writings of John Locke, the English philosopher who wrote a series of papers on “Natural Laws”, stating that human rights originate with God, not government. He made the case that when people have done everything humanly possible to experience those God-given rights and have failed to do so, there remains but one option:
“And where the boy of the people or any single man, is deprived of their right, or is under the exercise of a power without right, and have no appeal on earth, then they have a liberty to appeal to heaven…” (1)
Our founding fathers took this phrase and ran with it, understanding that in the quest for America’s freedom from Britain’s tyranny, they would have to go to war, while knowing that Britain’s great military, weapons and wealth would be overpowering to the colony’s lack of resources. They needed God’s all-powerful intervention and help. So they took the stance that, the right to freedom came from God; He would help them. “We will appeal to heaven,” they declared.
Our nation was originally dedicated to God by the Pilgrims. One of the early leaders, John Winthrop of the puritan’s Massachusetts Bay Colony, used the verse “a city [nation] set on a hill that can’t be hidden…a light to the world” from Matthew 5:14, in a statement about what he believed God wanted to build in America. They believed that America had a God-given destiny, as did our founding fathers, and subsequent leaders of our nation.
President John F. Kennedy referenced Matthew 5:14 in a famous speech, as did President Ronald Reagan and other U.S. presidents. (2) George Washington commissioned several ships highlighting their dependence on providential help. Each vessel flew an “Appeal to Heaven” banner (also known as the Pine Tree Flag).
That same flag became very popular, flying throughout the colonies, and was adopted as the Massachusetts state navy’s official flag. It was (and still is) the symbol of an unwavering spirit of liberty and a statement as to where their faith was placed – not in themselves, but in God.
The Pine Tree flag came about as the official symbol as a result of what happened with the Iroquois tribes. One of their great leaders united five native tribes (later adding a sixth), and established a confederacy among them, with a Constitution. According to their Constitution,(3) their covenant began with the planting of the “Tree of Peace”, where they buried their weapons in a symbolic act beneath a great evergreen tree. The Iroquois nation was influential to our founding fathers – with Benjamin Franklin an advocate in promoting what they did as an example for the colonies. He said in a letter:
“It would be a strange thing if [these] six nations….should be capable of forming a scheme for such an union and be able to execute it in such a manner as that it has subsisted ages and appears indissoluble; and yet that a like union should be impracticable for ten or a dozen English colonies, to whom it is more necessary and must be more advantageous, and who cannot be supposed to want an equal understanding of their interests.” (4)
The symbolism surrounding the evergreen is that of eternal fidelity. In Genesis 21:33, Abraham planted one as a symbolic everlasting covenant.
Over the years, the symbolism and use of the Pine Tree Flag has been lost in the public eye. Our nation has lost its way, and at this point in history, I believe only God can bring us back. How will that happen?
As in the beginning days of our nation, we are in dire straits. It seems we are a ship without a rudder: our leaders, for the most part, don’t use common sense in the laws they pass; the court system seems to be broken and doesn’t follow the Constitution; our society has been immoral on so many fronts. Having been actively involved in the political realm for almost 30 years and trying to make a difference, I have watched as the situation has grown steadily worse. In my opinion, we have no recourse but to Appeal to Heaven.
Here is what we must do:
“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”-??II Chronicles? ?7?:?14? ?NKJV??
I know that thousands of believers are praying for spiritual revival. Continue on. If you aren’t already praying for this, start now. God listens to – and answers – prayer. Join in with our forebearers, and pray, declaring God’s favor and blessing over America. By faith, call our nation back to the path of our founders, to fulfill its destiny. People in every generation – from the time of the pilgrims – has stood and acknowledged God, and in His mercy, love and forgiveness, He has responded. It is our turn.
The Appeal to Heaven banner is a symbol – wear it, fly it, consider it as our battle cry to the heavenlies for spiritual revival across our land. As Pastor Dutch Sheets so eloquently puts it: “Appeal to heaven daily for a spiritual revolution that will knock out the Goliaths of our day.” (5)
God will answer.
_____
- John Locke, “The Second Treatise of Civil Government. Chapter XIV, of Prerogative, Section 168.” 1690.
- John F. Kennedy, “The City Upon A Hill” speech given at Mass. General Court, 1/9/1961; Ronald Reagan, “We will Be a City Upon a Hill” speech, First Conservative Political Action Conference, 1/25/1974; also quoted by Presidents John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, James Madison, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Bill Clinton.
- Www.iroquiosdemocracy.pdx.edu/hteml/greatlaw.html – Sections 1 and 65.
- Benjamin Franklin’s letter to James Parker on the Iroquois League. 1751.
- Dutch Sheets, An Appeal to Heaven, page 66.
by Sue Forde | Dec 1, 2023 | faith
A number of years ago, I heard the term “filling the God hole”, referring to that which we all as human beings seek to fulfill in our lives. How often have you felt an empty spot in your heart and soul? Loneliness, fear, anger, frustration…did I mention “fear”? That emotion runs high, and despite the denial of it, is often the foundation of many other emotions.
An emptiness that we feel and try to “fix” by nonstop activities, family, friends, lovers, spouses, shopping, food, sleep, drugs, alcohol, a myriad of other ways to try and fill it. Other attempts to fill that “hole” can include self-centeredness, negativity, pessimism, hopelessness, apathy, restlessness, emptiness, longing, rawness, sadness, frustration, depression, neediness.
A Psychology Today article says that, “We are all searching for something. What that something might be is never really a certainty, but it typically displays itself as a nagging sense of something unfinished or a thing undone that plagues our days and troubles our sleep. It is a restlessness within the human heart described by St. Augustine as “…humanity’s innate desire for the infinite…”,” He’s right to a point; his answer is that “we,” can fulfill that longing. The truth is: we can’t. (1)
Blaise Pascal was the first to identify the “God hole”. He was a 17th Century mathematician, scientist, philosopher, and theologian who, while still a teenager, even invented rudimentary calculators.
“Pascal postulated in his Pensees that for each of us, there is a proverbial hole within our hearts. It leaves us craving and seeking happiness. Regardless of our possessions, wealth, or satiation with food and drink, we still seek more.
“Pascal said this desire to seek more is evidence that, at one point, there was a man who was completely satisfied and happy. As Christians, we recognize that this is Adam, the first of our kind, who walked with God in the Garden of Eden and knew nothing of want.
“Therein lies the key — the satisfaction we seek is in God rather than any temporal fulfillment. As Pascal said, “this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.”” (2)
“We come into the world craving love, spend our lives chasing after love, and die wanting more love.” (3)
Nothing can fulfill that longing except for one thing: God’s unconditional love.
“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (4) (). God fashioned us in His image to love and to be loved. He loved us so much that He sacrificed His only-begotten Son so that we could have a personal relationship with Him, for eternity. (John 3:16)
Consider King Solomon, who had all the riches, success, esteem, and power in the world—in short, all that men seek after in this life—we see that none of it fulfilled the longing for eternity. He declared it all “vanity,” meaning that he sought after these things in vain because they did not satisfy. In the end he said, “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole [duty] of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
Each of us has a hole in our mind, our heart, and our body that only God can fill, As Christians, God calls us to help each other find that God hole and fill it with the best unconditional love we can muster. It begins with our presence with each other and listening. (5) If you don’t yet have a personal relationship with Christ, I invite you to consider getting one. Here’s a simple explanation about how to do that. See The Four Spiritual Laws.
Will all our longings and fears suddenly be removed? Absolutely not! We are human, after all, and will revert to our old ways, probably more frequently than we wish we would. But there is a change that takes place within the heart and spirit and mind when we accept the Lord and our heavenly Father as first and foremost in our lives. We start thinking more about others than ourselves, and “getting out of ourselves” is a solution to these longings in and of itself. Into service to others, starting with being available, forming relationships based on unconditional, rather than “conditional” love, goes a very long way to fill that “God hole.”
Do you have a “God hole?” Turn your mind and heart to God and His Son Jesus Christ, the answer to the longing in our hearts. What have you got to lose? (And everything to gain!)
By Sue Forde
1 Michael Formica opines in a Psychology Today article.
2 https://www.geeksundergrace.com/christian-living/pascals-god-shaped-hole-and-the-geek/
3 Lori Freeland, a freelance author
(4) Genesis 1:27 NIV
(5) Joanna Seibert.
by Sue Forde | Oct 26, 2023 | Time Management, work
Have you ever found yourself thinking, where did the day go? Why didn’t I get the stuff done today that I had planned to do? In today’s world of internet, it is so easy to get distracted and off onto what I can “bunny trails”. Scattered thinking. It happens to me, too.
Life is a gift, Life is short, Life is a vapor. Live a good life – Be thankful for each day. Enjoy the blessing of each new day, living each day thankfully and gratefully, not living in the past or taking life for granted.
Here’s what I’m doing to help get my daily “to do” list done:
- Start the day with prayer, asking God for wisdom and guidance throughout the day to first and foremost do His will.
- “Write” a “TO DO” list for the day. I like to wake up, pray, get my morning shower and coffee, then sit at the kitchen table and write the list of things I want to get done “today”.
- If you must get on the internet (to get your mail, etc.), give it a time limit, say of 30 minutes, and set a timer. Then scan first to see if anything needs your “urgent” attention and address those first; if you run out of time, leave the rest until after your chores are done.
- Start working on “doing” what is on your list. If other things pop into your head that you need to do, start a separate list, to be broken out later as to when you will assign time to do those. Same with long-term projects. (We’ll address this later.)
- There will be distractions; there is no avoiding them. However, keep your list in a prominent place, and try to keep those distractions to things that are absolutely “necessary” – like a phone call from a friend who needs to talk, etc. – and then get right back on your list.
- Don’t make your list so long that it can’t easily be completed during the day, allowing for some distractions.
- Once this becomes a daily habit, it gets easier.
- In the evening, address what you couldn’t get done during the day, and carry them over to the next day. This is when you can look at the notes you’ve written about “other” things to do and/or projects, and sort those into categories as to importance.
- Also in the evening, you can review the balance of your emails and new ones that have come in. Unsubscribe to any that you don’t want or have the time to read or address. Plan your upcoming projects – bigger ones (like house or car maintenance), and smaller ones. Think about how important they really are, and plan to take care of the more important, pressing ones first. Write it down. It helps to have it written to refer to during the day – and weeks, if a major project – to keep us on track.
- End the day in prayer and with gratitude to God, and a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow is another day.
Prayer: Lord, may I make the best use of my short time here for your purpose and glory. Please grant me the wisdom and direction for each day of my life, so that I can best serve You and the individuals you put in my life. Give me a loving and understanding heart. Thank you for all You do in my life, each and every day. Amen.
by Sue Forde
by Sue Forde | Oct 25, 2023 | Homeschooling
In homeschooling my grandson, I taught him penmanship early on (writing in cursive – also called “script” or “longhand”). Penmanship, or cursive as it is known today, is a style of writing in which letters are joined together in a flowing manner, and the pen doesn’t leave the paper while writing each word. It makes for a much faster method of getting words on the page, but there are many other benefits to using this skill as well. There are excellent handwriting books on the market that teach this much-needed skill.
Teaching cursive to children will allow them to read it, as well – to be literate in their own language. Many of the old historical documents are written in this style of English; and unless one can read the handwriting, there is no way to verify that what is being currently taught or said in true. It’s always best to go to the “source” to verify the truth in any situation or issue. It links us to history, which is vital. “Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it” (Edmund Burke). (more…)
