2008 marks the 100th Anniversary of our National Anthem. Exactly a century ago, Judge Robert Stanley Weir, then serving as Recorder of the City of Montréal, composed the lyrics of Canada’s most famous song. Weir’s anthem is an inspiring composition, yet few Canadians have ever heard the final verse. It goes like this:

Ruler supreme, who hearest humble prayer,
Hold our dominion within thy loving care;
Help us to find, O God, in thee
A lasting, rich reward,
As waiting for the Better Day,
We ever stand on guard.
O Canada, glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee!

     What an important message for our nation today! And the good news is that our “Ruler supreme” still hears the humble prayers of his servants, and He still desires to answer with His transforming power.

     When we read the deeply spiritual words in our own national anthem it presents a stunning contrast to the moral degeneration and erosion of values we have witnessed in recent years. These things can discourage us; but we must take heart because God is still at work. As I travel from city to city across Canada and relate to people from all walks of life, I see signs of hope: more and more Christians are realizing in a powerfully new way that the Gospel of Christ gives the only solution to the human dilemma.

     Imagine what could happen if believers from coast to coast committed themselves to planting a Gospel message in every home in Canada. Imagine the spiritual crop that would result!

     Imagine what could happen if those who faithfully follow Jesus Christ began to pray earnestly and systematically for a great spiritual harvest in Canada. What could result from that kind of commitment?

     I have observed an increasing number of Christian leaders coming together to pray on a regular basis. With united hearts, they are pleading for God to help them work together, pray together, and mobilize the church as one body. And more and more people are being captured by the vision of Mission 33, our historic campaign to deliver the Gospel to every home in Canada.

     There are many elements to this vital mission, but I call your attention to one fact: National transformation begins with personal transformation. As individuals within the community of faith are transformed by God, the change they experience has a ripple effect within the greater community, touching believers and non-believers alike. The driving reality of this phenomenon is the Spirit of God bearing witness through the children of God.

     When these things occur, it influences the way people think, act and react; and it causes a profound reordering of priorities. It challenges the conventional thinking about what truly matters in life. This can be seen in the teaching of Luke 12:16-21, a powerful passage that tells the story of a man driven by two goals. First, he wanted to accumulate wealth. Second, he wanted to use his wealth to secure his own future. Any retirement investment consultant will tell you that saving for the future is a good and necessary pursuit. But in this case, the rich fool, as he is called in this parable, started with the wrong motives and failed to achieve either of his objectives. He died before he could expand his business or enjoy his retirement. Jesus uses the example of his life to show the emptiness of a heart filled with itself instead of filled with God.

     My prayer for you today is that your heart will be captured anew by the passion of communicating Christ’s love and His truth. And I pray that you will enjoy rich, deep fellowship with the Lord as you shine the light of His truth wherever you are.

     “Prayer is one of the truest marks of the Christian.”

     I heard this statement recently and found it both beckoning and enlightening. First, it beckons us to make room in our lives for the sacred occupation of prayer, reminding us that prayer is indispensable to the Christian pilgrim. But it is also enlightening in alluding to the fact that great things can be accomplished through prayer.

     From the beginning of time, prayer has been a distinguishing mark of God’s people. And throughout the New Testament era until today prayer has been one of the truest marks of Christian faith.

     The Scriptures reveal at least two essential reasons why prayer is central to the life of God’s people.

Walking With God
     The first reason becomes evident even from the Garden of Eden as we observe Adam and Eve walking and communing with God. We are created as spiritual beings needing spiritual nurture. Let no one be deceived by the misconception that only people who are more disposed towards “spiritual” matters are to be given to prayer (I suspect that this misconception keeps the prayer rooms of our churches severely underpopulated!). Prayer is not the duty of a few so-called “spiritual people” but something out of which spiritual people grow!

     Through the avenue of prayer the Lord comes to renew our strength, establish our faith and replenish our hope. As we meet with Him in prayer, He gives us guidance in the midst of a fast-changing world and helps us understand the implications of our partnership with Him in today’s society.

     Prayer nurtures the life of the Spirit within us!

Working with God
     The second lesson on prayer I want you to consider has to do with our involvement in this world as ambassadors of the Gospel.

     Throughout history God’s people have kept prayer central to their lives because of their unshakable conviction that there is a parallel spiritual dimension to our physical world.

     Scripture states clearly that the spiritual dimension is the arena of an ongoing spiritual struggle. Of course, there are struggles in the physical dimension in which we live; but they cannot compare to the spiritual conflict that no human brilliance or skill can overcome. The Bible speaks of a war, a fight and weapons that are not of this world (2 Corinthians 10:4-5; Ephesians 6:12). As we read through God’s Word we discover that the target of this warfare is the mind, the soul, the heart and the will of people everywhere.

     The teachings of Jesus and of Paul clearly indicate that as it was in former times, so it must be today: the battle will not be won by power or by might, but by the Spirit of the Lord (Zechariah 4:6).

     Jesus, the apostle Paul, and other disciples of the Lord, never show any sign of a doubt as to the existence of evil spirits in the world, or of their power and devastating effect on people’s lives. They also recognize that their influence is extended to the direction and condition of institutions and societies governed by people.

     In recent years it has seemed as if Canada is being reshaped and fitted into a mold that rejects many of the foundational Christian values upon which most societies in the West were built. As disturbing as all this is, we who have faith in God must not be discouraged or give up. As devotional writer Oswald Chambers once wrote, “God expects His children to be so confident in Him that in any crisis they are the ones who are reliable.” I suspect that in this hour of destiny for Canada, God is looking to His people for partnership towards a solution.

     It is profoundly encouraging for today’s Christian to realize that the world into which Jesus came was as twisted and distorted in its spirituality and worldview as our world and nation are today. Yet it is in this context that we see the power and influence of the Gospel and of the Holy Spirit flow from believing, praying people into the streets of a nation with transformational force, bringing about deep conversional changes.

     It is precisely because of the spiritual nature of the world that Jesus insisted that His followers be people of prayer. Instructing His disciples in prayer, Jesus told them in Matthew 6:5-6 to go to a secret place to pray to the Father who sees in secret and that He would reward them. In a great measure, the reward of prayer is the demonstration of the Spirit’s power that Paul describes so clearly in 1 Corinthians 2:4.

     Throughout the Gospels, Jesus affirms that a profound spiritual event must take place in the lives of people and consequently in society. Such spiritual events fill the history of revivals and can be part of our history as well. But we must pray and plead with God to pour out His Holy Spirit upon the church today and to speak to those who are rejecting His Son and the values of His kingdom.

     This hour of dilemma must become God’s hour of opportunity!

     I invite you to use the column “O Canada, We Stand On Guard For Thee” as a guide to prayer for Canada this month. With faith and prayer, let us stand on guard for Canada!

     Scripture repeatedly draws our attention to the importance of praying for and influencing the ways of a nation with the standards of God’s kingdom. In 2 Chronicles 7:14, the Lord invites us to prepare the way for the healing of our land. He says, “If my people, who are called by name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

     We cannot overstate the importance of this verse. Somehow, the way we live our lives and pray as Christians is directly tied to our destiny as a nation. Throughout the month of July, we invite you to ponder the words of 2 Chronicles 7:14 frequently in prayer.

     As you pray, remember these simple, practical suggestions...

• Pray for the Lord to search your life and reveal any offensive way in you and to cleanse you from any unrighteousness. (Psalm 139:24; 1 John 1:9)
• Pray for the Lord to lead you into a deeper knowledge of Him as you search the Scriptures to seek His face from day to day. (Psalm 119; Jeremiah 29:13; John 17:26)
• Pray for the Lord to reveal Himself to the conscience of people and to draw them to Himself. (Isaiah 45:22; 1 Timothy 2:4)
• Pray for the Lord to give you a greater measure of understanding on how to pray for those who govern. (1 Timothy 2:1-4)
• Pray for the Lord to convict our nation: 1) of guilt with regard to sin; 2) of God’s righteous standards for living; and, 3) of the certainty of judgment and retribution for choices that are made. (John 16:8-11)
• Pray that the Lord will convict our society of the false idea that all moral choices are equivalent and without consequences. Pray for people to see their error in denying the supremacy of God. (John 14:6; Romans 3:19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 10:5)
• Pray that the Lord will raise up the church to stand in the gap for our nation and be willing to share the Gospel with the unchurched. (Ezekiel 22:30; 2 Timothy 4:2; 1 Peter 3:15)

     May the Lord hear our prayers and be quick to answer!