From the desk of Steve Shultz:
It is a day to "honor our mothers." This is an excellent word from the Chavdas, whom I highly esteem and honor. I appreciate their wisdom for the Body and for our nation.
I honor all you mothers today. May you be blessed and treasured.
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Mahesh and Bonnie Chavda:
That it May Go Well With You
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother" – which is the first commandment with a promise – "so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth." Ephesians 6:1-3
One of the founding principles of walking in God's favor and blessing is honor. It starts in the home as we honor God by honoring our parents. It extends out as we honor those in authority, our elders, our spiritual fathers and mothers, and God's eternal Bride, the Church.
This week marks the day that our nation sets apart to celebrate and honor our mothers. Let us take time to thank God for our mothers. If your mother is still with you, find a way to honor her. If you have "mother-issues," then make a point of letting go and blessing the one who gave you life. There is nothing that the Cross is not able to cover.
It is the door for you to find your perfect family. It makes the way for you to know your Heavenly Father. It makes you a new creation and joins you to your true identity – a child of the King. If your mother did not give birth to you, you would never have had the opportunity to know your full identity and eternal destiny. Honor brings God's blessing. Step into it today as you honor and bless your natural and spiritual mothers.
Motherland – The Place of One's Birth
In another sense, we honor our nation this week as well. Acts 17:26 tells us that God had in mind the family, the time and the nation in which you would be born when He first thought of you. That means that no matter what your personal history, He has a redemptive plan for your life that includes the very circumstances of your birth. It also reveals that you are part of His redemptive plan for your nation.
The nation you were born in is the womb in which God formed your identity. It is part of your history, your culture, your family and ultimately, part of God's plan for your life. In America, we are blessed to live in a Christian nation formed on Biblical Christian principles by our forefathers. Nowhere is this clearer than in the historical record of national prayer and fasting in honor of the only One who is mighty to save, deliver, heal and prosper us.
In 1607 the first settlers landed on the shores of Virginia. Their first act was to humble themselves in prayer, fasting and thanksgiving for three days before disembarking from their ship. Their second act – to plant a cross on the shore where they landed to dedicate the land to the Lord Jesus Christ.
In 1620 the Pilgrims did not set foot on land until making a covenant with God and each other with prayer and fasting. Now known as the Mayflower Compact, their act set a precedent for the unique government that we have inherited as Americans. When faced by a drought that threatened the very survival of their community through the next year, Governor Bradford called for a "solemn day of humiliation to seek the Lord by humble and fervent prayer in this great distress." They were answered that very day as the sky that had been clear and dry for weeks brought forth rain.
1775 National Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer
Shortly after the shot heard round the world launched the American Revolution, our Founding Fathers in the Continental Congress proclaimed a day of public humiliation, fasting and prayer:
As the great Governor of the World, by his supreme and universal Providence, not only conducts the course of nature with unerring wisdom and rectitude, but frequently influences the minds of men to serve the wise and gracious purposes of his providential government; and it being, at all times, our indispensible duty devoutly to acknowledge his superintending providence, especially in times of impending danger and public calamity, to reverence and adore his immutable justice as well as to implore his merciful interposition for our deliverance:
This Congress, therefore, considering the present critical, alarming and calamitous state of these colonies, do earnestly recommend that Thursday, the 20th day of July next, be observed, by the inhabitants of all the English colonies on this continent, as a day of public humiliation, fasting and prayer. ... And it is recommended to Christians, of all denominations, to assemble for public worship, and to abstain from servile labour and recreations on said day. June 12, 1775
Benjamin Franklin's Request for Prayers at the Constitutional Convention
When the new nation, forged in the Revolution, seemed to be on the verge of breaking apart while framing the Constitution that would defend the liberties for which they had fought, Benjamin Franklin, witness of the First Great Awakening and friend of George Whitefield, stopped the proceedings and said:
In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings? In the beginning of the Contest with G. Britain, when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, & they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending providence in our favor.
To that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that "except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.
I therefore beg leave to move – that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of this City be requested to officiate in that Service.
Benjamin Franklin, Continental Congress, 1787
Let's Honor Our Mothers and Our National Heritage
Time and again, in times of great crisis and times of great victory and thanksgiving, our nation has honored God as the Source of all our blessings with prayer. This is the spiritual heritage of America.
As we honor our natural and spiritual mothers, let us also honor our national heritage as we humble ourselves and pray for America to fulfill her God-given destiny. As you do so, may the Lord release His blessing over our families, our churches and our nation – that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.
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 I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14
Mahesh and Bonnie Chavda
Chavda Ministries International
Email: info@chavdaministries.org
