My Anchor Holds

Our friend Jacquie Tyre posted the following on Sunday morning:

“The sadness and grief many of us are feeling over our nation is due to several reasons:

• Gross division in our nation on many fronts;
• Hatred in the halls of government and in the streets;
• Hypocrisy demonstrated from governmental leaders, who excused and protected violence in the streets for months, then proceeded to condemn President Trump and conservatives over the violence at the Capitol (PLEASE understand that I utterly condemn all violence and am only speaking of the hypocrisy that has been demonstrated);
• Vilification and demonization of anyone who doesn’t agree with the leftist, liberal agenda;
• Grief over the division and delusion among some believers who think supporting and voting for officials promoting anti-God policies is somehow ok.

“My support of the President has nothing to do with President Trump being a perfect man or president, and certainly not that he is a savior or deliverer. We all know he is not perfect and that God is our only true hope for salvation and deliverance. We have only one Savior and Deliverer, and that is Jesus Christ. There is no other!

“The burdens, grief, and passion of intercession we feel for our nation is an expression of:

• Our love for the Lord and what He desires for our nation; for America to live in fulfillment of His original intent for us.
• Our love for our nation and the passion to see the freedoms we have enjoyed secured for our children, our children’s children, and all those who come after us. It is about securing our nation from the tyrannies of anti-American sentiments, agendas, and actions that would strip us of our fundamental freedoms.
• Our commitment to live fully for the Lord during our short time on the earth, pursuing greater and greater measures of the culture of the Kingdom of God ‘on earth as it is in heaven.’ 

“Our passion and pursuit of God’s purposes for this nation will never change. Our intercession and the work God has called us to, will continue.”

I couldn’t agree more. As we launch into this week, a great hymn I often sang as a child comes to mind. “On Christ the solid Rock, I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.” This is the chorus from the popular hymn written by Rev. Edward Mote in 1834. The basis of it is the parable Jesus told in Matthew 7:24-27, where He compares our ability or inability to receive His Words by faith and find our life’s stability in them. The song says:

My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

Refrain:

On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
all other ground is sinking sand,
all other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
in every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil.

His oath, His covenant, His blood
support me in the whelming flood;
when all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

As we move into a week of potential turmoil, we must hold fast to Jesus, just as this hymn reminds us. We must fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. We must stir ourselves up in our most holy faith and believe that evil will not ultimately prevail. 

In 1 Kings 18, we see the famous challenge between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. In the story, God uses Elijah to show Israel He is their true God. Yahweh’s tremendous love for Israel and a firm commitment to the covenant He made with them, moves Him to act in a way that draws them back to Him. Immediately following, Elijah is found in a deep depression, hiding from Jezebel’s threats. 

The Lord sends an angel to feed him and lovingly calls Elijah to Himself. When Elijah gets to the place of meeting with God, the Lord says this to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah whines back his answer to God, telling Him about the challenges he is facing because of carrying out His will. 

The Lord answers Elijah in a profound display of His power and glory, then asks again, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 

I believe God was really asking Elijah, “Have you, yourself, already forgotten Who I Am?” Elijah is helped by the visitation, but his faith was still not fully revived. The battle against Jezebel is fierce. It caused even a prophet of Elijah’s standing to waver. But we are an army. And we have the power of the Holy Spirit in us to fill our hearts with faith, and He fills our mouths with His anointed and empowered decrees.

Do not let your faith waver now. Stand firm on the Rock that is Jesus Himself. See yourself covered in His precious blood, carrying righteousness and justice. No matter the storminess of the gale this week, our hope and anchor will hold. It is firm in the Rock of our relationship and covenant in Him. We must not stop making the decrees He has given us to decree over this great nation. We must not lose our hope in Him. 

“All who listen to my instructions and follow them are wise, like a man who builds his house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents, and the floods rise and the storm winds beat against his house, it won’t collapse, for it is built on rock. But those who hear my instructions and ignore them are foolish, like a man who builds his house on sand. For when the rains and floods come, and storm winds beat against his house, it will fall with a mighty crash.” (Matthew 7:24-27; TLB)

Last night Rick Ridings, a friend who resides and ministers in Israel, sent me a text message. He told me the story below and included the prayer they were instructed to pray in the situation. I believe we should learn from their experience and pray this prayer. 

“Here in Jerusalem in 2004, after four years of suicide bombings, killing hundreds of innocent victims, we were crying out to God, that he would bring injustice to an end. He revealed that we should pray for the occult shield of protection to be taken away from the main Islamic leader who was calling for the suicide bombings.

“After a dramatic answer to prayer, the voice of that Islamic terrorist leader was silenced. There were no more successful suicide bus bombings after that day. Here is the prayer, adapted to our current situation:

“So Lord God Almighty, the Lord of the Armies of Heaven, I thank you for the power of the blood of Yeshua, Jesus, over all witchcraft and occult. We come before You now covered by the blood of Jesus and proclaim over the worldwide systems of evil seeking to take control in America and in the nations.

“Let the occult shields of protection be taken away from everyone involved in theft, fraud, and corruption. May their occult shields of protection no longer be able to hide them from being exposed by the light.

“Let witchcraft manipulation be brought to an end in and over the Congress, Senate, the White House, the Supreme Court, the FBI, the CIA, the Department of Justice, and over the state executives, courts and legislatures, and over election integrity.

“As Joshua and Caleb proclaimed to the Hebrews intimidated by the giants, we say to all who are intimidated by today’s giants,

‘…do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them…their protection is gone…their protection is gone…their protection is gone…but the Lord is with us…Do not be afraid of them.’ (Numbers 14:9)

“We proclaim this in the mighty Name of Jesus, Amen.”

You can find out more about Jacquie Tyre here.

You can find out more about Rick Ridings here.