Psalms 74:2 “Remember the people (NATION) you purchased of old, the tribe of your inheritance, whom you redeemed —Mount Zion, where you dwelt.”

In every society or culture we have what we call “opinion makers.” These are people who use words to make a living. We see how God used George Whitfield who came in with a message from the Lord and brought in the right opinion which led into the great awakening and the American experiment.

A similar thing took place in Europe over 500 years ago when Martin Luther stood up with a message from God and we have the Western civilization we have today.

However, in the Western world we are in the process of losing this connection with the Lord. Consequently, we are in need of more George Whitfield’s and Martin Luther’s.

Isaiah 60:1 “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.”

There are three words that we are hearing quite often and they are: reformation, revival and transformation. Reformation is the ministry of John the Baptist preparing the way for the Lord; revival as Martin Lloyd Jones says is God passing by; and transformation is the result.

This past July 4th we celebrated our 241st year of when we (USA) declared our independence. God has been reminding me that before we had our independence the Lord sent a powerful preacher to our shores called George Whitfield. He had a powerful influence upon our country and there was a spiritual awakening. One could say that before our independence we had a reformation – a calling back to God and the things of God.

A war of independence was fought and through the revolution we gained our independence. We were set free and through that freedom a new experiment was undertaken that never had been done before in the history of mankind; that man could govern himself.

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE says “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The references to God in the Declaration of Independence provide a foundation for a moral argument within civil society that has brought the transformation.

One can Google and read the rest of the declaration, but what the Lord was showing me was the pattern that was laid down that I mentioned above about reformation, revival and transformation. In this case with the birth of the United States we had George Whitfield (reformation) calling us back to the truths of the Word of God and our responsibilities.

Thomas Jefferson said to Richard Price, 1789: “Reformation in government follows reformation in opinion.” George Whitfield in his powerful preaching was bringing in the opinion of God. This was the forerunner of what was to come. It was said about Whitfield in his biography: “More than any other preacher of his day, he made the Great Awakening a vital, far-reaching force, religiously, socially, and politically, in America.” In America he preached a series of revivals that came to be known as the Great Awakening of 1740.

Revival, but in this case revolution where we were set free and with the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE a document for the law of the land – brought in transformation or reconstruction. Yes, there are many things wrong that need fixing in our country, but there is no doubt about the transformation or reconstruction that has taken place in our country over these past 239 years to be a free society – freedom of religion, freedom of the press, habeas corpus (this is a legal action through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. It is an important legal instrument safeguarding individual freedom against arbitrary state action), trial by jury, and a representative legislature.

Thomas Jefferson said: “Every generation needs a new revolution.”  In reading the first paragraph of the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE the thought that comes is that God wants to raise up tens of thousands of pastors who from the pulpit will be calling the people to exercise their responsibility and come back to the fundamentals that our country was founded on. Gary Bauer said: “Pastors were instrumental in America’s founding. The Church has long been a pillar of strength in our society. We need their leadership in turning the tide and once again making America a shining city upon a hill.”

Through this ‘reformation’ we will see a ‘revolution of love’ (God is love) in the hearts of millions that will spark them into a labor of love in every aspect of society; which in turn ushers in ‘transformation.’ 1 Thessalonians 1:3

Chuck Colson said: “We need to confess our moral failures and our national sins. We need to repent of the lies that justify killing innocent babies and the elderly. The road to renewal begins on our knees. And it’s there that we hear soul-searching questions from God himself, asking: ‘How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.'” Psalms 82:2-4

Proverbs 8:12-16 “I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion. To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have understanding and power. By me kings reign and rulers make laws that are just; by me princes govern, and all nobles who rule on earth.”

My article’s title, God or Man, could be stated Christian vs. Humanistic Worldview. When we think of the battle that we are in it is really a war of worldviews. This is what we are faced with in the United States and the West, and in the rest of the world – although it takes a different form in each country depending on its dominant religion. But here in the West it is either Christianity or humanism that make decisions for the nation. It is a battle between man and God as to who will make decisions for us all.

In the U.S.A. as well as Western Europe we see the great divide between these two worldviews. Here in the U.S.A. we saw this in our last election and see how it has become even more distinct today. This divide centers around issues of life, family, morality, property rights, the role of government in business and as well as our Constitutional laws and liberties.

What are some of the differences between these two worldviews? A biblical or Christian worldview has truth rooted in God and His Word; it will embrace limited government, support and defend its borders and the freedom of religion and property. This biblical worldview recognizes that laws cannot change man’s heart or behavior, but can only restrict his unlawful actions by the fear of punishment. (Romans 13) Law from a Christian or biblical worldview, the way our Founding Fathers viewed, originates with God and not man. This laws rooted in truth are reveal to us through nature, through our conscience and through the clear revelation of the Holy Scripture. For the biblical worldview, man’s ‘law(s)’ can NOT change the heart nor the attitude of man. No law or set of laws can make man moral. A Christian worldview recognizes the moral basis for all laws to be made. We see this with the Ten Commandments. In other words, all law must have a moral concern for the good of its society, but for the Christian worldview the question is: Whose morality does ‘the law’ legislate?

Law from a humanistic view point originates with man and not God; it’s executed through the state and based on what the majority says, or of a powerful minority-judicial system.  For those who operate from a humanistic worldview they see the evils in society but arrive at different solutions because there is no higher authority than man. There is no savior, there is no hope of internal regeneration or transformation in man. So if changes come – it must come from man himself. To carry this out to its logical conclusion: man relies on government with its laws to eliminate evil and bring about utopia; man becomes god and government is his instrument to bring about salvation. This is one of the reasons why there is such a divide right now in the U.S.A. The ones who advocate the humanistic worldview fight to have the power of the government. The Christian worldview sees the role of government not trampling on the unalienable rights of man. Government is not the main source for what we need, for we have a higher source that we can go to; we have the Savior. Our Founding Fathers believed this.

By contrast the biblical worldview sees that ‘laws’ can only restrain man from doing evil deeds, but cannot change the heart of man, and because of that there will be no advancement towards a better society. Thomas Jefferson’s pastor, Charles Clay, said: “The sacred cause of liberty is the cause of God.” John Adams said: “The world, the flesh, and the devil, have always maintained a confederacy against liberty, from the fall of Adam to this hour, and will, probably continue so until the fall of antichrist.” Stephen McDowell was right when he said: “Every nation is built upon some set of presuppositions, some basic ideas of right or wrong, which are ultimately rooted in the religion of the people. With the humanistic worldview there are no absolutes. Right and wrong are based upon what the majority says or what a minority power says, therefore, law is always evolving.”

We see that ideas have consequences and this is being played out in the world today. Although I have concentrated mainly on the Western countries those of you in other countries are faced with the same situation of a biblical worldview versus whatever your dominant religion is. Eventually these other worldviews will fall, because they are not rooted in God’s truth.

Proverbs 29:14 “If a king judges the poor with fairness, his throne will always be secure. When the wicked thrive, so does sin, the righteous will see their downfall.”

A question that has been coming to me is: Am I working for God or is God working for me? I would ask you who read this the same question. Are you working for God or is God working for you? I know that some of you will say it is both, but what comes first; working for God or God working for us?

When we think of someone working for us we think in terms of employee and employer and it is difficult for us to think that God is our employee if God is working for us.

It says in Isaiah 64:4 “For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen a God besides thee, who worketh for him that waiteth for him.” (ASV)

What we have here is what we call a “Patron Client” and patron is where we get the word for father. For example, we do hire people who, in one sense, will ‘boss’ us. Think of lawyers.  We hire them to give us advice and tell us what to do. Right? The same is true with accountants, etc. We do not hire God in the secular sense, but the key word is the word ‘wait.’ We are waiting for advice, instruction on what to do, where to go, etc. I have found that one of the hardest things in the world for most of us is to wait. We want it and we want it now, seems to be the culture that we have and grew up with. One of the great lacks in our character is patience and it is the one thing that is necessary in order to be used of God.

However, when we wait it does not mean that we are not actively engaged. When we wait we are showing to the Father that we love Him; we are showing to Him that we honor and worship Him; we are showing to the Father that we are relying on Him. It is also bringing out that we have faith in Him. We know “without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing (unto him); for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and (that) he is a rewarder of them that seek after him.” Hebrews 11:6

How often when we are in a waiting situation that we seem to think that it is a futile time, or wasted time and we sense that nothing is being accomplished. However, what we forget is that during this waiting time – God is working for you. He is doing things that we do not see, nor apprehend with the physical senses, but He is working out His plan and purpose.

God in the meantime is working on our behalf in showing His love and mercy. He is supporting us in ways that perhaps we do not fully see or understand. How many times He has protected us without us even noticing it; how His grace has been poured out on us. Perhaps we need to spend more time in studying about the ‘grace of God.’

So, God works for those who wait on Him. When we wait on Him, He is the One that will give wisdom, insight and understanding in what to do. When Joshua and the Children of Israel entered the Promise Land the first battle was the battle of Jericho. God gave them the plan and they had victory, but what came next was Ai. Joshua sent spies to spy out Ai and they came back and said: “Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; make not all the people to toil thither; for they are but few.” Joshua 7:3

We see that Joshua did not wait for God, but after the great victory of Jericho, he and the people assumed what the spies said. They did not know about the “sin of Achan,” but if Joshua had waited on God he would have known, but he found out the hard way.

King David is another example that we can learn from. When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David as king they assembled in the valley of Rephaim for battle. We read that David inquired of the Lord (he waited for instructions) and God told him what to do: “Jehovah said unto David, ‘Go up; for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into thy hand.’” 2 Samuel 5:19

We see that later the Philistines gathered again together for battle, but David did not assume that the same tactic would work for this time, but again inquired of the Lord and God gave Him instructions. “And when David inquired of Jehovah, he said, ‘Thou shalt not go up: make a circuit behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry-trees. And it shall be, when thou hearest the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry-trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself; for then is Jehovah gone out before thee to smite the host of the Philistines.’ And David did so, as Jehovah commanded him, and he smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gezer.” (Samuel 5:23-25) What a victory!

Remember that God works for those who wait on Him!

Ephesians 6:18 “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.”

We must remember that when Jesus was here in the flesh He was engaged in the same conflict that we are in. The devil assailed Him and the weapons that Christ used are the same weapons that we Christians have as well to defeat the enemy.

Ephesians 6:18 starts out with the words, “praying always.” Prayer is not necessarily another piece of armor that we put on, but when we are putting on the armor it means that we are covered with each piece as we pray with all prayer and supplication. I believe it is like some Bible scholars bring out that the armor which is provided for us by God is not effective unless we are in fellowship and communion with God.

We can be orthodox in our theology, but that is not enough. There is such a thing as a dead orthodoxy. There can be people who understand the truth with their mind, point out the errors in other people’s teaching and yet their life is no value to anyone, because they are still being defeated by the devil.

The same can be applied to the church as a whole. Often this might be the case of why so many churches, traditional in their theology, are making very little impact in their society or in their surrounding area. Why is this the case? Perhaps it is because they have forgotten the further admonition of the apostle Paul when he said, “praying always.” It is possible that the people or churches who are the most orthodox are those who realize least – the value of prayer.

In one sense, to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, is not to forget this last admonition of the apostle Paul of praying always. We cannot rely upon our own intellect, philosophy, traditions, rituals, etc., but on the power of God and our continual close communion with Him

When we look at the New Testament, and especially the four gospels, we see the example of the Lord Jesus Christ – through prayer walking the earth in human form depending solely on His Father. We see Jesus constantly arising early in the morning to seek out a place to pray; we see Him praying all night; we see Him constantly going off seeking a place where He might meet with His Heavenly Father. This is why in the gospel of Luke the disciples came and said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Luke 11:1

Our ultimate position as Christians is tested by the character of our prayer life. Prayer to the Father is more important than knowledge and understanding. If all my knowledge and understanding does not lead me to prayer then there is something wrong with me.

What does Paul mean when he talks about praying with all prayer? I would tend to think that he is referring to private prayer, communal prayer, oral prayer, silent prayer and possibly even different positions of prayer. It does not mean that we have to be in a church building for prayer, we can pray as we walk, as we drive, take a shower, as we go about our daily business; we can be talking with our Heavenly Father just as we talk with our spouse or close friend.

Some of our prayers can be orderly as we see with the Lord’s Prayer. Our prayers need to be intelligent knowing what God says in His Word. Also, prayers can be a groan or a cry from the heart that words cannot express. Paul said in Romans that the Spirit makes intercession for us.

Look at the prayers of the prophets, like Isaiah, who prayed with adoration, worship, thanksgiving and praise to our Heavenly Father. We are to pray bringing our petitions before God because we are told to “let your requests be made known unto God.”

However, Paul says “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” “In the Spirit,” I believe, is the real essence of true prayer. Just as Jesus had access to the Father so we too find in Ephesians 2:18 that “through Him, we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” Paul refers to the same thing in other epistles – like in Romans 8:6.

When Paul uses the phrase “in the Spirit” in relation to prayer – prayer is to have its proper place before the Father. It will not be because of our repetitions like the Pharisees who loved to hear themselves pray, or by the length of our prayers, etc., but it is to be “in the Spirit” that we pray.

Prayer “in the Spirit” is the opposite of prayer that relies upon forms of rituals, as we again see with the Pharisees. Praying in the Spirit is the opposite of cold, heartless, proud and formal prayers. We do not come before the Father and just ‘say a prayer.’ Praying in the Spirit becomes the most important part of a person, and as natural as having a conversation with a friend or your spouse. Praying in the Spirit is not necessarily an emotional prayer although it can be, but what it means is that it is the Holy Spirit that is directing us in prayer. He creates the prayer within us and empowers us to offer it with confidence. This also results in worship, praise and adoration to our Heavenly Father.

Prayer is not a duty, but rather it should be a delight to talk to our heavenly Father – just as it is a delight to have a two-way conversation with your spouse or close friend.

Ephesians 6:17 “…and take the Sword of the Spirit, which is Word of God.”

All the other parts of armor protect particular parts of the body. However, it seems that the Sword of the Spirit not only holds back the enemy in a defensive matter, but also offensively in protecting the entire body.

James 4:7 says “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” The question that comes is how do we resist?

Christ is an example for us when He was being tempted by the devil in the wilderness by using the Word of God. Satan has a strategy with tactics. One tactic is to try to terrorize us, produce a fear that will paralyze and stop us; hinder us from doing what God wants us to do. Because of this we must be confident in resisting him and this brings us back to the Word of God. We can resist the devil and cause him to flee. However, to do this we must stand and withstand using the Sword of the Spirit that causes him to flee.

What does it mean to take the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God? Some translations bring out instead of the “Word of God” the “words that come from God.” However, I do not believe that this is what is meant. Yes, I believe, we are to take the Word of God, the Scriptures from the Holy Bible. We read in chapter 4 about Jesus defeating the devil as He was being tempted in the wilderness. He took hold of the Scripture and the devil left Him.

The Holy Scriptures found in our Bibles is the Sword of the Spirit. I take this to mean that ‘truth’ in the Scriptures is the Sword that the Holy Spirit gives us to use against our enemy. The Spirit of God trains us to properly use the Word of God.

We know from Scripture (1 Timothy 3:16) that all Scripture is God breathed. This means that what we have in our hand the Bible which has been given to us by God – to use. It was God’s Spirit who moved upon men chosen by God that wrote down the revelation from Him. Like one Bible scholar said: “It was breathed into these men and they wrote it.” We must also realize that it’s only by the Holy Spirit that we can understand the Word of God.

1 Corinthians 2:12 “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

We will not understand Scripture by intellect alone. It does not make any difference on whether we are a genius or like some say a great scholar; it will only be by the Holy Spirit who gives us understanding of God’s Word. Not only will He, Holy Spirit, give us understanding, but wisdom that helps us to use the Word properly.

It is very important for us to understand the relationship between the Spirit and the Word. Some today say that since we have the illumination of the Spirit we do not need the written Word. What a tragedy! But, we have the other side that tends to say that since we have the written Word we need nothing further. Again, what a tragedy. The Spirit and the Word always go together.

When we read through the Gospels we see how Jesus (our example) perfectly used the Word of God. When the Pharisees, or lawyers who were trained men and supposedly experts in the Jewish Law, tempted Him – He always defeated them by using the Word of God.

We live in a world today that believes that there is no such thing as ultimate truth, and the only way that we can defeat “fake news,” or untruths that are being promulgated today, is to use the Word of God.

It was 500 years ago that a man by the name of Martin Luther discovered the truth that “just shall live by faith.” Luther brought about what we now call a “Reformation” that basically transformed Western civilization. One of the things that took place was that the Bible was getting into the hands of the common man.

Tyndale, wanting us to have a good translation in the English language, said that “his resolve was that every plow man, every boy at the plow should be able to read and understand God’s Word in order that they might be safeguarded against the false teaching of the Roman Catholic Church.” It was at that time the Catholic Church was keeping the Holy Scriptures out of the hands of laypeople.

This brings us to the point that we all are to know the Word of God. It is available to us and with it we can give an answer to anything that might come to us and against us. Keeping to the Word of God for truth with Christ’s teachings – we too can cause the enemy to flee. We need to be students of the Word of God and depend on the Holy Spirit in how to use it properly.

Just as God told Joshua – so God is telling us: Joshua 1:8 “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

Just as Joshua was strong in the Lord and the power of His might, we can be as well.

Ephesians 6:17 ‘Take the helmet of salvation.’

It is important to remember that Paul is using the analogy of a Roman soldier when describing the pieces of armor that we need to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, and that it remains fixed in place at all times, but also what he is to pick up and put on when the danger or an enemy is coming.

“Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one,” now Paul reminds us to also “take the helmet of salvation.” By putting on the helmet we know that this is bringing attention to the head, the brain where we have understanding, imagination and the thinking process. In other pieces of the armor he has dealt with feelings, emotions and desires, but now he is dealing, I believe, with the intellectual part of our position as Christians.

In this spiritual warfare – the enemy will bring forth his strategy as well as his tactics to achieve the outcome he desires. It is possible that we can have an overall view of the strategy of Satan, but miss out on his tactics in achieving his goal of defeating us.

In this battle or conflict, we can begin to become weary and think that the fight is in vain. We have been in this battle for a long time, perhaps we have been wounded, you find yourself struggling and you begin to wonder if it is worth it all. It seems at times that nothing changes, or there is one delay after another, and what seemed to be a promise from God – does not come about when we thought is should or hoped it would.

It is like what David said when he was constantly being pursued by King Saul and his life was in jeopardy. 1 Samuel 27:1 “But David thought to himself, ‘One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.’” In this ‘giving up’ David went to a place called Ziglag which was on the border of Israel and the area of the Philistines. It was a place of compromise for David to survive; a pretense of survival. One would wonder what this affect had on his men.

We could look at the condition of the church today that has been around for 2000 years and think that it has little impact on the world to date. We see the church in the West full of confusion and uncertainty when it comes to some of the main issues that we face in our culture. The enemy can whisper in our ears that the church is useless today, and on the surface it would seem that the enemy is stronger than the Christian today who seems weak and powerless. We see that many have given up on the church, feeling it is worthless.

In the book of Hebrews talking to Christians it would seem that this book would be a good commentary on what we are faced with today as it was then. These Christians had left their Jewish traditions and turned to Christ and for a time they had great joy, but then their Jewish countrymen began to persecute them, rob them of their goods. They were told that Christ would return, but there was no sign of His return. The result was that they became discouraged.

It is in this context that we must understand what the helmet of salvation is. Some Bible scholars say that this is being always aware of being saved by Christ, no matter what happens. This is true, but it seems to be more than that. Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:8 “But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.”

What is this “hope of salvation?”

When we look at Scripture and what Paul wrote in other letters to the churches – the hope of salvation is what can be called the ‘hope of glory.’ For example, he says in 1 Corinthians 15:32 that if he fought with wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons – he has gained nothing if the dead are not raised. He goes on to say that as we eat, drink, and expect to die – we KNOW Who is coming – and so we continue on with the good fight of faith, because of the “hope of His glory.”

We must keep in mind that there are ‘tenses of salvation,’ in other words, we have in our salvation the past, present and future. The past is justification, the present is sanctification and the future is glorification. So, with this in mind: put on the helmet of salvation so that we might be strong in the Lord and the power of His might.