YOU CAN’T HAVE ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER

I believe in the power of prayer. I believe it enough to spend a significant amount of time each day praying for various people I have never met, various people I have met, family members, political situations, etc. I believe that our futures depend on our willingness to seek God with all our hearts and to come before Him daily with our petitions.

To make my life more efficient I have organized my prayers into categories and set aside a special time for each category. For instance, while I drive to work each morning I pray for my family members. It is about a twenty-five minute commute, and I make it alone with no radio or music to distract me. I pray aloud—I am sure that the people in the other cars think that I am talking to myself, but I pay them no attention. I am completely focused on praying for each child by name and each in-law by name. I then pray for each grandchild by name. With a family as large as mine, that takes some time.

Each day I also pray for our nation. I pray for men and women of God to be elected to office, and I pray that they will be strong and do exactly what God put them there to do. I pray for Jim DeMint, the Senator from South Carolina who recently resigned his office in order to take over the presidency of the Heritage Foundation in April of this year. I pray that God will show him exactly what to do and how to do it. I pray that he will be bold and uncompromising.

In addition to praying for our nation’s political situation, I also pray for revival. At first I believed that it would be better to separate these two prayer categories so that I could pray for the political situation at one time of day and pray for revival at another. However, when attempting this I discovered that it is not possible to separate the two. As I have spent more and more time in prayer, I have become more and more convinced that without revival we can never improve our political situation.

As the result of hours of prayer for our nation, I have come to believe that none of the problems we face will ever be solved unless we become a nation of prayer warriors. A better economy, more jobs, lower gas prices, and safer schools are not going to exist unless we as a nation turn to Jesus Christ. And, the truth is, even if it were possible to bring about these changes without revival, we would simply be exchanging one godless system for another.

People frequently tell me that things are worse now than they have ever been in this country. They allege that we are more promiscuous, more drugged, more liberal and less patriotic than at any other time in history. I know that this is not true because I lived through the sixties. In fact, in August of 1969 when the three days of debauchery known as Woodstock occurred, I had just turned twenty-four. I was exactly the right age to buy into the notion that Woodstock was “three days of peace and music” but I didn’t. In spite of the endorsements of the most respected educators and medical professionals, I also didn’t buy into the propaganda that marijuana and LSD were “good” for you and would help you discover your inner self and find God. Likewise, I rejected the slogan of the day that proclaimed “God is Dead!” and I never thought for one minute that Jesus was actually a homosexual hippie who hung out with his posse and just wanted everyone to be free to live however they chose.

But something else happened in 1969 that changed this nation and the world. Revival broke out and burned across this country like a raging fire. Pictures of long-haired boys and girls wearing the unmistakable hippie fashions of the day, holding their hands above their heads and praising God began to pop up everywhere. These godless, misguided young people who had spent months—and sometimes years—taking drugs and having sex with whoever happened along suddenly began to find Jesus. Of course, not all of them stayed with their new-found faith, but many did. Those former hippies now make up a very large segment of Christians in America. They are now sixty something, but they still serve Jesus, and they know that the Gospel is true because they have experienced Grace and have known the presence of Jesus Christ in their lives.

If we had not had revival in the late sixties and early seventies, I do not believe that we would have survived as a nation. We were poised to fall when God sent His Holy Spirit to burn across this land and bring that generation of young people to His saving Grace. I have seen this with my own eyes, and I know that it is true.

If we are to survive the current attack on our liberty, we must turn from our sins and come to Him who alone can save us. We must have revival because you just can’t separate the two.

When you pray for your nation, remember to pray for revival. We cannot have just government unless we have godly men and women making the policies. Likewise, we will not elect godly men and women to public office unless we have a godly electorate. If you want to see this nation become that shining city on the hill, pray for it every day, and when you pray, remember to pray for revival.

Joyce Swann is a nationally-known author and speaker. Her own story of teaching her ten children from the first grade through master’s degrees before their seventeenth birthdays is retold in her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother. Her novel, The Warrior, about how one woman's prayers change the lives of those around her, is available on Kindle and in paperback. For more information visit her website at Frontier 2000 or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup.

Paid in Advance

Although she has received many invitations from both of us, my ninety-one-year-old mother refuses to live near either my sister or me.  She is devoted to the tiny Kansas town where she was born and stubbornly refuses to leave.  Just before Thanksgiving this year it became necessary for her and my step-father to go into an assisted living facility; I foolishly thought that faced with that prospect she would agree for them to join me in El Paso, but, once again, she refused.

Fortunately, I have two very thoughtful and kind female cousins who visit her regularly and take her places. Recently, Mother told me that she did not know how she would ever be able to repay them for their kindness to her. She said that she had “thought and thought” but she could think of no way to repay them.

Finally, I said, “Mother, you can never repay them because life doesn’t work that way. When people are kind to us, we can never return that kindness in equal measure.” I then reminded her that when her mother was in her nineties, she visited her every day and made certain that all her needs were met.

“When Bonnie and Rene are your age,” I continued, “perhaps someone will visit them and do for them what they have done for you. That’s the only way they can ever be reimbursed for their kindness to you.”

In life we cannot pay it back, and we cannot pay it forward. We pay in advance, or we do not pay at all. This is my New Year’s message for 2013: When you are thinking about your New Year’s resolutions, why not forget about the promise to go on a diet or go to the gym? Those are good goals, but we all know that those kinds of resolutions are normally short-lived.  Why not resolve to treat those God puts in your path with genuine Christian love? They will never be able to pay you back, and most of them will never be able to pay it forward, but in meeting some of their needs you will be storing up a little treasure in heaven.

Perhaps one day when you need it most, God will send someone your way who will show you true Christian love, but even if that day never comes, you will be richer for having invested your time in someone who needs to be reminded that they are precious to God and precious to you.

Read Joyce's incredible new novel about the power of prayer and God's desire to redeem every life FREE on Kindle January 4th through January 9th.  Download here.

Joyce Swann is a nationally-known author and speaker. Her own story of teaching her ten children from the first grade through master’s degrees before their seventeenth birthdays is retold in her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother. Her novel, The Warrior, about how one woman's prayers change the lives of those around her, is available on Kindle and in paperback. For more information visit her website at Frontier 2000 or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup.

This is the Story of Christmas

When I was a child, all television programs were in black and white and there were only three networks—ABC, NBC, and CBS. While this arrangement did not make for particularly exciting television viewing, it made for simple television viewing.  Saturday nights gave viewers a choice of watching either Lawrence Welk or Gunsmoke, and Saturday and Sunday afternoons were devoted to televised sports on all three networks.

Holidays were devoted to the airing of the same shows every year that had been made to celebrate the particular holiday at hand. When I was very young—five or six years old—Christmas programming consisted of a number of re-enactments of the birth of Christ played back to back. Every year it was the same thirty-minute programs so that even as a child I was able to recognize the various productions from year to year.

Each of these programs consisted of a badly scripted and equally badly acted retelling of Mary and Joseph finding shelter in the stable and the wise men and shepherds paying tribute to the newborn king. However, none of them attempted to tell the viewer why this message is important to modern day humans or how it impacts on our lives.

Apparently, not much has changed. This year churches everywhere will hold Christmas pageants in which children will play the parts, and the retelling of the events chronicled in the Bible will be faithfully retold. All Christians love the story, and we will be glad to be reminded of how God sent Jesus to be born in the most humble of circumstances to live among us.

I wonder, however, what impact these pageants would have on those who have never heard the Gospel. Would they leave knowing why this message is important and how it impacts on their lives? My guess is that as beautiful as the story of the birth of Christ is, those who do not know Jesus would not understand that to appreciate what happened at the birth of Jesus we must understand why He came in the first place.

Therefore, I submit to anyone reading this who may not understand the why and how of the birth of Christ, this is the story of Christmas: God sent His son to earth to live among us so that we could know Him and love Him and accept Him as our Savior. If anyone comes to Jesus, He forgives him of his sins and gives him an abundant life here on earth and eternal life with God in Heaven. The Christmas spirit is the Holy Spirit who dwells in all who belong to Jesus, and He is with us every day.

This year as we share the story of Christ’s birth with our children, I hope that we will remember to tell them why He came and how His coming is relevant to our lives.

Joyce Swann is a nationally-known author and speaker. Her own story of teaching her ten children from the first grade through master’s degrees before their seventeenth birthdays is retold in her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother. Her novel, The Warrior, about how one woman's prayers change the lives of those around her, is available on Kindle and in paperback. For more information visit her website at Frontier 2000 or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup.

Next

In Next, the 2007 movie starring Nicolas Cage and Jessica Biel, Cage plays a small-time Las Vegas magician whose ability to see two minutes into the future with absolute clarity, has enabled him to have a somewhat successful magic act and to supplement his income by using his psychic ability to win at the gambling tables.

When an FBI agent, played by Julianne Moore, becomes convinced that Cage actually can see into the future and that his act is not an “act” at all, the agency kidnaps him in order to force him to work with them to stop a group of terrorists from detonating a nuclear weapon on American soil.

Fortunately for Cage, while lying in bed one morning, he foresees these events and begins to mentally work out the various outcomes of a number of different actions that he might take. To his dismay he realizes that whatever option he selects, the outcome is the same—he is unable to prevent the bomb from being detonated, and his one true love, played by Jessica Biel, is killed in the explosion.

Cage finally realizes that the only way to save Biel is to leave her before the FBI takes him and tell her that he will meet her in a few weeks at a location known only to the two of them. Thus, he is able to save both his country and his true love from being blown to smithereens.

I saw Next in the movie theatre when it was released, and a couple of weeks ago, when I was channel surfing, it was again brought to my attention. As absurd as the premise is, I could not help thinking that we Americans now find ourselves in a very similar situation. As a nation we have made a series of bad choices that will result in disaster unless we can find a way to change our direction entirely. On the other hand, if we continue on our present path, no matter how hard we try to tweak the outcome, disaster is imminent.

Sadly, this country has embraced a godless, sinful world view that can end only in disaster. Whether we are governed by liberals or conservatives, unless those governing are men and women of God, they will make poor choices that will continue to break down the very fabric of our society. I am, therefore, petitioning each of you to join me in praying for revival for our nation and for the world.

I have been praying for revival since 1995, and during this time I have become focused on some specifics that I believe are key to a successful revival. Here are some of those points:

1.  Pray for what you want God to do. Do not limit your prayers because you think your requests are too big.
2. Pray for world-wide revival. It is not enough to have revival in our own city or our own state or even our own country. The world needs Jesus, and we need to pray for world-wide revival. As I pray, I ask Jesus to bring revival “to the United States, to all of North America, to all of Central and South America, to Europe, to Asia, to Africa, to Australia, to Antarctica, to the Arctic Circle, and to every island nation.” I pray that “there will not be even one square centimeter of land on earth where the Holy Spirit does not fall.
3. I pray that this will be the greatest revival that the world has seen, thus far, and that billions of people will be saved.
4.  I pray that those who sit in darkness will see a great light.
5. I pray that Islam will be pushed back for one-thousand years. When I first found myself praying this particular part, I felt intimidated, but then I realized that through Charles Martel prior to 800 A.D. and the Crusades a couple of hundred years later, that is exactly what happened. Why should we not expect it to be pushed back again?
6. I pray that we will see great revival in the Middle East where Christians are persecuted and killed for their faith. I pray that those people will be set free to preach the gospel and witness and worship openly.
7. I pray for revival in Israel. I pray that the Jewish nation will find Jesus and that millions of Jews will be saved.
8. Finally, I pray that God will allow me and my family to have our full part in bringing about this revival. I pray that we will be obedient to all that He has for us to do, and that we will bring many people to Jesus Christ.

Like the Nicolas Cage character, I have looked at the direction this nation is headed from every angle, and I am convinced that if we do not change paths, nothing is going to save us. A return to genuine Christian principles based on a relationship with Jesus Christ is our only hope. That return to Christ will happen only through genuine revival.

 

Joyce Swann is a nationally-known author and speaker. Her own story of teaching her ten children from the first grade through master’s degrees before their seventeenth birthdays is retold in her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother. Her novel, The Warrior, about how one woman's prayers change the lives of those around her, is available on Kindle and in paperback. For more information visit her website at Frontier 2000 or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup.

 

He Counts the Stars

He counts the stars and calls them all by name. How great He is! His power is absolute! His understanding is unlimited. (Psalms 147:4-5, LB)

What a beautiful, inspiring scripture. As we read these verses we can picture God standing in the blackness of the nighttime sky surrounded by white twinkling stars crowding around Him like sheep drawing close to their shepherd. As He calls each one by its pet name, each in turn gives Him its full attention. We see in these two verses a God who is not only loving and gentle but also powerful and all-knowing.

Yet, I believe that few of us ever take the time to really consider the full implication of these words. We know that there are a lot of stars, but just how many stars are there? No one knows, and because of the way that God designed the universe, no one will ever know, but that has not kept some of the best qualified scientists from guesstimating. I have, therefore, done some research so that I may share with you some of the best estimates from some of the most respected estimators on this subject.

Astronomer William Keel based his estimate of the number of stars in the universe on a formula by which he estimates the number of stars in the Milky Way and multiplies that number by the estimated number of galaxies in the universe.  Keel estimates the number of stars in the Milky Way at 400 billion but says that estimating the number of galaxies in the universe is a whole separate problem.

Other star estimators set the total of stars in the universe at 3 thousand million billion (3 followed by 16 zeroes).

I personally like what NASA has to say about the number of stars in the universe, “There are zillions of uncountable stars.”

Whatever the number of stars in the universe may be, we can be sure that it is so vast that we cannot comprehend it because it reaches so far beyond our human understanding. And that, I believe, is precisely the point. With one glance at His universe, God counts the stars. Whether that number is in the billions or the zillions makes no difference. He sees them all, and He has numbered each one.

Then, God calls each by its own pet name. We humans have trouble keeping our own children’s names straight. What parent has never stood staring at his child and called him by his sibling’s name? But not God. He knows each star by name, and He calls them to Him.

Yes, He is great, His power is absolute, and His understanding is unlimited! We can no more comprehend His power than we can calculate the number of stars in His heaven. Yet, we become afraid; we fear that He will not provide for us; we feel that we should not “bother” Him with our petty problems. We try everything else before we resort to prayer, as if petitioning our Heavenly Father is to be reserved for only the most hopeless situations. Our attitudes are often, “I’ve tried everything else. I may as well try praying.” Unfortunately, by the time we decide to pray we have often already conceded defeat.

We are coming to the close of a very difficult year for many Americans. Most of us believe that the new year will not bring a successful resolution to the problems that we face as a nation, as families, and as individuals. As a result, we are fearful of the future.

I encourage all of us as we go forward into this holiday season to remember that this mighty God who counts the stars and calls them all by name loved us so much that he stepped down from His throne to become flesh so that He could experience life the way we do. He was tempted in every way that we are tempted, and He suffered in every way that we suffer so that He could fully understand what it means to be human. When Jesus experienced temptation and suffering, He always responded the same way—He prayed. He never said, “I’m not going to bother God.” He prayed. And when He prayed, He knew that God would answer.

When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. (You always hear me, of course, but I said it because of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.)” Then He shouted,” Lazarus, come out!” (John 11:41-43, LB)

Jesus set an example for us for all time. Part of that example was the way in which He entered into prayer. He always prayed about everything. And He always prayed knowing that God heard His prayers. He prayed aloud to teach us that the same God who counts the stars and calls them all by name, sees every detail of our lives and calls us by name so that we can enter into His presence and experience the peace and safety that only He can provide.

Joyce Swann is a nationally-known author and speaker. Her own story of teaching her ten children from the first grade through master’s degrees before their seventeenth birthdays is retold in her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother. Her novel, The Warrior, about how one woman's prayers change the lives of those around her, is available on Kindle and in paperback. For more information visit her website at Frontier 2000 or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup.

Why I am Thankful this Year

This nation has just experienced what I consider to be the most disappointing presidential election of my lifetime. Millions of Christians probably agree with me because millions of us prayed and fasted and talked to everyone we knew about the importance of this election. We did everything we knew to do to make certain that our candidate was elected—and we lost. Yet, as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, I am aware that I have much for which to be thankful.

First, I am thankful that Christians are beginning to appreciate what a wonderful gift God has given us in allowing us to live in these United States. I remember a time when politics was considered a “dirty business” in which Christians should not involve themselves; as a result, Christians did not discuss politics or political issues. I am grateful that Christians now realize that it is both our privilege and our duty to involve ourselves in the political process and to make certain that men and women of integrity are elected.

 

Second, I am thankful that God’s ways are higher than our ways. Many of us, including me, prayed the verses from  II Chronicles 7:14, If my people, which are called by my name, shall 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 will heal their land. Most of us, including me, thought that God would allow us to win the election and that things would begin to get better. In light of the events of November 6, however, I now believe that God is doing something far greater than we had envisioned. I am seeing post-election Christians stand up and say, “Enough! We want our country back, and we won’t stop working until we get it!” God does not want to slap a Band-Aid on our land—He wants to heal it.

 

Third, I am thankful that God is always faithful. He admonished us to humble ourselves, to pray, to seek His face, and to turn from our wicked ways—and we did. We spent hours on our knees praying for ourselves, our neighbors, and our nation, and we can be absolutely certain that He has heard those prayers and that He will keep His promise.

Fourth, I am thankful that other Christians continue to join me in praying for our nation. I pray several times a day that God will heal our land and help this nation become the nation that He created it to be and that He will bless Israel so that they can live in quietness and peace. Twitter and Facebook attest to the many others who are holding this nation up before God in their daily prayers. We are praying for healing and revival that will cover the earth.

Fifth, I am thankful that God has a plan for this nation and His people that is far greater than anything we could ever envision for ourselves.

As we approach Thanksgiving I hope that all of us will remember to thank God not only for what He has already done for us but also for what He is now doing for us and what He will do for us in the days to come.

Joyce Swann is a nationally-known author and speaker. Her own story of teaching her ten children from the first grade through master’s degrees before their seventeenth birthdays is retold in her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother. Her novel, The Warrior, about how one woman's prayers change the lives of those around her, is available on Kindle and in paperback. For more information visit her website at Frontier 2000 or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup.

What the World Needs Now

I was eighteen years old on February 7, 1964, when the Beatles first landed on American soil. Although I had seen a small photo of them in my husband’s copy of Newsweek and had been stunned by their “long” hair, I knew almost nothing about them. I do clearly remember the horror and embarrassment I felt when I saw the photo, however. Although their hair would not be considered long by any fashion standards from that day forward, in 1964 they appeared to me to look like cave men.

However, the “British Invasion” into this country brought much more than long hair. It brought with it a drug culture from which we as a nation have never recovered. I am not really blaming the Beatles; if they had not introduced America’s youth to drugs someone else would have, but when recreational drugs became part of our culture, everything changed.

Unfortunately, both medical doctors and psychiatrists extolled the virtues of marijuana, LSD, and various other mind-altering drugs. Fortunately for me, I always believed that drugs were horribly dangerous and that they would destroy anyone who sampled them even once. Thus, I was spared the consequences of taking drugs that millions of other people my age experienced.

It is interesting to note, however, that in the 1960s drugs were promoted as the way to “find God.” Many respected individuals, including Timothy Leary, constantly told young people that if they would take LSD, they would experience God. Psychiatrists regularly gave it to their patients—it is public knowledge that Cary Grant was regularly given LSD by his psychiatrist. And it is said that two of the Beatles, John Lennon and George Harrison, were introduced to LSD when their dentist gave it to them while they were having dinner with him. In fact, there were no warnings that drug use could be anything other than a mind-expanding experience that would help the user understand himself and his world while experiencing God on a level that a sober person could never know; anyone who refused to even try LSD was considered “square.”

After a few years America’s youth realized that they would not find God in drugs, and they stopped looking for Him there. Many began dabbling in the occult, and quite a number found Satan, but it became common knowledge that God would not reveal Himself to someone who was smoking a joint or tripping on LSD. Unfortunately, that knowledge did not diminish drug usage; it simply altered the users’ goals.

But, something happened to those young people who had been sincerely looking for God; that something was the “Jesus Movement”. Those who had been honestly seeking Him continued to search. They did not want the formality and dry services offered by the denominational churches. They wanted to cry out to God from their innermost beings, and they wanted Him to answer. Their hair was long (really long) and the girls dressed in sandals and long flowing dresses; the boys dressed in sandals  and loose fitting shirts with long flowing sleeves.  Their appearances made their parents cringe, but under all that hair and flowing fabric were hearts that cried out to know God. And God answered that cry.

In the late sixties and early seventies the Jesus Movement exploded. Services were held in which hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of young people gathered to pray and sing and worship. There were some abuses, of course, but the Holy Spirit began to fall, and people who had never known God began to find Him.

Today those people are known as the Baby Boomers. We are the Evangelical Christians who pray for our children and our neighbors and our country, but we are getting old. We must soon pass the torch, but this generation is not prepared to take it. There are, of course, many young people who are genuine Christians, but the fire that came with the Jesus Movement has been all but extinguished. If we are to survive as a Christian nation, we must experience a resurgence of faith that only comes when the Holy Spirit falls.

For the past seventeen years—since 1995—I have been praying for a revival in this nation that will spread across the world. I now pray daily for a revival that will spread like “a raging fire” across North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica, and to every island nation. I pray that there will not be one centimeter of earth where the Holy Spirit will not fall and call people to turn to Jesus and be saved. I pray for the Christians who live in countries where they are persecuted for their faith that they will be free to worship Jesus and preach the gospel. I pray that those who are not even seeking Him will find Him. I pray that those who sit in darkness will see a great light and that the name of Jesus will be praised and honored across the globe. I pray that God will send the greatest revival that the world has known to this date. I pray all of these things because I know that no matter what happens politically or economically, unless we turn to Jesus Christ as The Answer to our problems, we are doomed.

Today I ask you to join me in praying for a world-wide revival. Please set aside a time each day when you pray with all your heart. There is no greater purpose that you can have, there is no greater gift that you can give, there is no higher calling that you can receive than to pray that the world will turn to Jesus Christ and be healed of the sin that is destroying billions of lives. For it is only through finding a relationship with Jesus that this generation of young people will be prepared to carry the work forward to the next generation.

Joyce Swann is a nationally-known author and speaker. Her own story of teaching her ten children from the first grade through master’s degrees before their seventeenth birthdays is retold in her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother. Her novel, The Warrior, about how one woman's prayers change the lives of those around her, is available on Kindle and  in paperback. For more information visit her website at Frontier 2000 or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup.