As we pray for the restoration of our country, we pray that You would make America a light to the world and a blessing to all the nations.
You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16 (NIV)
And that’s about all I have to say tonight, except for one thing. The past few days when I’ve been at that window upstairs, I’ve thought a bit of the “shining city upon a hill.” The phrase comes from John Winthrop, who wrote it to describe the America he imagined. What he imagined was important because he was an early Pilgrim, an early freedom man. He journeyed here on what today we’d call a little wooden boat; and like the other Pilgrims, he was looking for a home that would be free.
I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don’t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That’s how I saw it, and see it still.
~ President Ronald Reagan January 11, 1989 Farewell Address to the Nation
Operation World Pray for Asia : Demographic shifts will have massive implications for Asia’s future. The rapidly rising life expectancies and reduced birth rates of the populations of China, Japan and South Korea will place great burdens on the next generation. The gender gap is caused by selective abortion and infanticide in East and South Asia; these have created a deficit of tens of millions of girls, giving rise to prostitution, sex trafficking, wife-buying and abduction. Then there are the burgeoning populations in most of the Arab world, particularly Yemen and Palestine (also the poorest Arab countries) as well as Afghanistan, Pakistan and many Southeast Asian countries. Over the next 50 years, all of these dynamics combined will generate incredible pressures on nation-states and fuel large-scale migration, unrest, economic upheaval, and ecological stress. Lord, have mercy on the vulnerable amidst Asia’s teeming billions!
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Philippians 4:6 (NLT)
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