I believe in a woman’s right to choose, but her right isn’t on the abortionist’s table; her right is to NOT spread her legs. What about rape? Two wrongs don’t make it right! Condemn the rapist, not the child. Forgive the rapist with the forgiveness you have received from Jesus Christ; for who is without sin and in desperate need of the Lord’s forgiveness? Forgive the offender and love the child into your life, or give it up to adoption. This is how you overcome such a thing!
Needed: An Awakening – Is America at War with God’s Laws?
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; he brought in the right opinion and led us into the great awakening and the American experiment.
Same 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: reformation, revival and transformation. Reformation is the ministry of John the Baptist preparing the way for the Lord; revival as Martin Lloyd Jones put it is God passing by, and transformation is the result.
This past July 4th we celebrated our 239th year of when we (USA) declared our independence. God has been reminding me that before we had our independence that 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 to 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 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 for reformation, revival and transformation. In the 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 to our responsibilities. Thomas Jefferson to Richard Price, in 1789 said: “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 with the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE – the law of the land – is what 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 with the 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 came 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, and this will bring in the 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
Relationships – Chapter 40
Love – Part 5
Ephesians 4:1-2 “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
Another aspect or characteristic of love is the idea of forbearance, or bearing with one another; making allowances for faults and weaknesses of others without passing judgment.
Of course throughout this series we have seen that the Lord is our example. We read in Romans 2:4, “Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?”
In the English NIV Bible version this word forbearance is translated “tolerance.” However, the idea is to endure and bear with, and this is why in the KJV Bible version it is translated as forbearance.
Today in our Western society we have a different understanding of what the Scriptures mean by tolerance, different than what we are looking at here. The tolerance that our society is trying to get across is having tolerance towards things and lifestyles that are in direct conflict with the Word of God. That is another kind of tolerance that has nothing to do with ‘right’ relationships.
God is tolerant towards us, but that which is not in accord with His Word He will judge and so must we. We cannot be taken in by our society that tells us that we should be tolerant (in their definition) and not make any judgments of our own as to right or wrong.
The way this word tolerance or forbearance is used in regards to relationships is that we decide in advance to bear that person up in their time of weakness. We all have faults and so we should be ready to hold each other up and encourage one another on in what is right and good.
Just like patience and forgiveness go hand in hand so does tolerance (forbearance) and acceptance. As an act of our will we decide that we are going to accept that person as he/she is with their weakness and faults. This is what love is all about: acceptance of one another. We can accept the person without agreeing with their lifestyle.
So often we have communicated to our spouse, children and others that if they change we will accept them. Christ accepted us just like we are and because of His acceptance of us, and who He is, we want to change and not because we want to be accepted but because we have been accepted.
This does not mean that God is tolerant of our sinful behavior. NO! But He is tolerant towards us as individuals. He hates the sin, but loves the sinner. When this grace is operating in us the result is unity in our homes, schools, jobs, churches or wherever. Isn’t this what we need today in our churches and society?
The Lord said: “Blessed are the peace-makers for they shall be called the sons of God.” Sons, not children. There is a difference between sons and children and it is a difference of maturity. Sons speak of maturity whereas children speak of immaturity. Sons are the ones who can build and maintain right relationships.
The problem that we have in many of our churches is that we have too many children and not enough sons. When it comes to our relationships might we become mature, and more like God’s own Son. Amen?
Daily Devotional
The Lord is my strength, even if we have no more rain and the flowers do not bloom, and all of our lakes dry up. The Lord is my provider, even if the farmer’s land sits barren and his live stock dies in the fields, and there is no grain in the bins. The Lord is my shelter, even though we have a corrupt government concerned only to be in power. The Lord is my guide who has secured my future, even with the progressive thinkers of today. I will rejoice in my Lord, even when evil is called good and good is called evil.
Thank You LORD.
Relationships – Chapter 39
Love – Part 4
Ephesians 4:2 “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
How often we have heard our parents or our colleagues say: “Patience is a great virtue.” Yet, if we look at our lives we see that no matter how great a virtue patience might be it isn’t something that we have in great abundance. We know that in the love that God manufactures, patience is a powerful ingredient. We read in 1 Corinthians 13:4 that “love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” When we think of love in terms of personal relationships then we must give time to patience.
Patience in the sense of dealing with inter-personal relationships brings out the idea of ‘longsuffering’ or to be ‘long tempered.’ How true it is that when it comes to relationships we really need to be longsuffering and long tempered. How often people have made us mad and we have wanted to strike back either by word or deed or both. When long-suffering and long tempered come in this maintains the relationship. It doesn’t mean that we do not deal with the issues at stake, but because of the practice of long-suffering and long-tempered (or simply being patient) we can deal with the issues without breaking the relationship.
Patience in relationships is seeing people from God’s point of view and recognizing the fact that God is not done with us yet. We are all in constant change and God is working in us. Romans 8:29 “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”
Patience then is giving God time to finish what He has started in each one of us.
Psalms 138:8 “The LORD will fulfill [his purpose] for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever – do not abandon the works of your hands.”
It would seem that closely tied in with patience is another virtue called forgiveness.
Matthew 18:26 “The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.'” We all know the Lord’s parable here of where this man owed the king an astronomical amount of money and asked for patience in paying it back. It was granted, but then this man went out and found someone who owed him a pittance and patience was not what he granted him when asked for. Matthew 18:29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'” Whenever we have a tendency to lose patience with people it would do us well to stop and think about the patience that the Lord has had, and still does have with us. Another thought that comes out with patience is connected with the Lord’s blessings. Hebrews 6:15 “And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.”
The problem that we have in our Western society is the clash between traditional values and evolving values. Traditional values like loyalty, morality, accountability and sacrifice are clashing with evolving values like independence, personal happiness, tolerance, comfort, instant gratification, the right to make one’s own choices, all of which center around the individual. It is because of these evolving values that center around the individual that we find relationships (marriage, business partnerships, colleagues, etc.) in jeopardy and failing. Probably one of the great tragedies today is the desire for instant gratification even in our relationships. This is where patience comes in.
How do we get patience? Patience grows only in trials. When the trials come our way let us see what the Lord is doing and allow the Lord to work in us the patience of Christ Himself. Amen!
Daily Devotional
I was talking with a man about a 9/11 video I just watched. In one scene it showed people looking out the windows above the flames knowing that death was coming. I asked him this question how would you meet death? Will you try and run from it or will you meet it head on? He asked me what I would have done? I told him, “I hoped I would get as many people together, calm them down and tell them that this is not the end but only the beginning, because of what Jesus did for them.” He did not like my answer so he finished the conversation with, “I believe in re-carnation.”
Lord, today Your children are mocked; an object of scorn and ridicule by those around them. Therefore, help us to stand up for the glory of Your name, and forgive us for not bringing honor to You. People treat what You have done for them as a joke, and when they are on the brink of death, they will reject what You have done for them.
Revive Your children once more, so that people will know that we are a people that You have blessed. Help us to pray day and night continually, taking no rest, so that the message of Your truth will go out throughout our land. Help us to shout out, “Look, the Savior of the world is coming, and He brings his reward with him.” Then we will be called “Holy people, people redeemed by the Lord.” For You have anointed Your children to bring the good news of salvation, to comfort the brokenhearted, and to proclaim that people can be released and freed from the bondage of sin. Today is the day to know the Lord’s favor, and it will help you to not be afraid to meet death face to face.
Remember, that there are three things that will last forever: faith, hope, and love; the greatest of these is love. So let love be your highest goal! For love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Daily Devotional
Lord, I rise early before the sun is up, and cry out to You for help. I put all of my hope in You and Your Word. When I see what is taking place in America it makes me sick at heart because they care nothing for your Word. For Your word is the very essence of truth. Those who love and live by Your word will have great peace.
Lord, listen to my cry; give me a discerning mind, and help me to let Your Word be my constant guide. For it is Your Word that gives me understanding; it is my source of hope. I know that when pressure and stress bear down on me, it is in Your Word that I find joy!
Son, bring all of your troubles to Me and I will answer you. Have faith in Me, that everything I promised you will happen. You must really believe that what I told you will happen and have no doubt in your heart; believe that you already received it, it will be yours. But, first make sure that you are not holding a grudge against anyone, then I will give you everything I promised.
LORD, is it time for You to act? People everywhere are violating Your good instructions, and no one rules with truth.
Son, Your leaders have made a big mistake when they keep trying to remove My Word from America; for they are supposed to know right from wrong. They are the very ones who hate that which is good and love that which is evil. They have no idea the power I have. Soon, when all of the judgments start coming because of their choices and leadership, they will beg for My help. Do they really expect Me to help after all the evil they have done. They hate justice and twist all that is right, and are rebuilding with a foundation of murder and corruption. Soon they will scream in terror like a woman in childbirth.
My Quiet Time with Daddy
Thank You for the faith to believe in You Father. But, where does this faith come from to believe what is written in the book called the Bible? Where did I get this faith to believe in that which I can not see? Why is my faith in You unwilling to be compromised by threats or temptations of any kind?
I read about You and the way You created all that we see, and how Your Son came into this world the way in which He came and for the amazing purpose that I will stand on to the end, and nobody has ever believed it except those “with the faith” to believe.
Some have heard Your audible voice so that they would believe, such as Paul your humbled servant. Others have seen Your Son again after His death on the cross, and never doubted You again, such as those who wrote about it. But, for most of those that believe in You it has been Your written Word they have believed in by faith. For those who have never seen and yet believed – where did they get such GREAT faith?
And, that’s another thing, another “amazing” thing; this book about You Father, and Your Son, and Your Spirit, has remained the most read book for 2000 years; the only book in the world so viciously hated by the majority of our world’s population and in every generation since it was written; a best seller that outlives us all. It just can’t be destroyed no matter what its accusers say and do.
The only answer I can come up with for my faith in You is that I had to be made in Your image, just like it says. You have put in me something that, from conception on, I just know You are my heavenly Father, and that “knowing” compels me to seek after You – to know You better, to get close to You.
At one time I was afraid of You, and I didn’t know why. Then I learned of why Your Son came and died, and why I need Your Spirit to live in me. When I applied “faith” to this knowledge I was no longer afraid of You! I became ambitious for You; desiring You and seeking to please You Father! I’ve never seen You and yet I love You and know without a doubt that I will be joined to You!
What makes a person that has been adopted eventually have a deep desire to know their biological father and mother? Even without knowing they are adopted, something gnaws at them inside about their beginning. Although they are driven to find the truth – they have a fear of coming to the truth. They are not sure of what they will find out, yet they keep after it until they come to the truth of their own beginning and why they are the way they are. Some regret ever finding out who their biological parent is, or parents are. Some start up a lasting relationship with the very one/ones that abandoned them, or gave them up to adoption for whatever reason. But the point is that there is something in us all that makes us seek after how and why we are here, and where we end up.
Heavenly Father, You are not like us, a parent that would abandon His own child, any one born into this world. You are mankind’s one true Father, faithful and long-suffering our rejection of You as You continue to fervently work in and all around us that we come to know You as You truly are: Everlasting Father of grace and mercy, of compassion and personal sacrifice – as seen in Your Son – called “Savior of the world.” How could anyone not want to find this out about You? And after finding this truth about You, how could they reject and then live denying it? How could they take the chance of what You say about rejecting Your Son and continue on to never cry out in their spirit to You, the spirit that connects each of us to “knowing” that You are our Father God, to cry out for You in need of You?! Father, isn’t that why You put so much weakness in us?
Thank You Father for our weaknesses that compel us to cry out to You Holy Father and find You ready to forgive and willing to meet every need we have of You. Thank You Father for all the trouble we have and even for the persecution we face from those that are perishing in their own sins completely deceived and doing all they can to feel good about themselves and the evils they do. Help me Father to show Your love to these. Thank You Father for Your peace and joy in me; for Your love poured into me by Your Holy Spirit. Thank You Father that the only thing I fear now is not finishing what You gave me to do in the remaining days I have in this dying body.
Father, my faith comes from You and it’s to be applied to Your purpose in me. I am Your child and You are my eternal Father. Nothing and no one, can separate me from Your thoughts and plans; the future that You have for Your eternal family. Help me to represent You in the way You deserve to be represented and worshiped.
Daily Devotional
This morning I read about two great men who lived on this earth. One is called the wisest person who ever lived, and the other was born into poverty. Both had a great impact on others and both are still remembered today. They gave us a perspective about life and it is our choice in which one we choose to follow.
The wisest person said:
“What do people get for all their hard work? No matter how much they see, people are never satisfied. No matter how much they hear, they are not content. People don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what they are doing now. Everything that people do is meaningless-like chasing the wind.
Some people say life is about having the good things in life. They seek pleasures, and cheer themselves with wine. Some say I will seek great knowledge and become wise in this world. Others will seek to find the meaning of their life by building huge homes, and planting beautiful vineyards. Some will collect great sums of silver and gold, and having everything a man could desire!”
But listen to what he says, for the wisest man had everything listed above. “Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, But as I looked at everything that I had worked so hard to accomplish, l realized that everyone will die. The wise will not be remembered any longer than the fool. For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from the One who gives it to us, and allows us to enjoy it? God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please him.”
The poor man says:
“Be truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, think of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others too.”
Who was this poor man? Jesus! He gave up His divine privilege, and took the humble position of a slave, by being born as a human being. He appeared in human form, He humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross – so that we could have His Holy Spirit dwell in us and produce good fruit with our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Those who belong to Him have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there.
Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Then you will find the meaning of your life on earth!
Daily Devotional
Son, how can My children sleep at a time like this? They need to get up and pray! Oh, My children why are you so sleepy? Stop looking at this world from a human point of view? Instead, look from My point of view. If you are My true followers, then you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow Me. If you think you can hang on to your life as you now live it, you will lose everything. But if you give up everything for My sake and for the sake of My words to you, then you will know what true life is all about. What do you gain if you have the things of this world but lose your rewards in heaven? Remember My children, if you are ashamed to stand up for Me and My Word then I will be ashamed of you.
In the coming days My children will be the joyful ones, those that have followed My instructions as they walk with Me. For they will not compromise with evil, but only walk on My path. Their actions will consistently reflect My Word! For they have hidden My Word in their hearts, so that they will not sin against Me and resist My Spirit. They are the ones who study My Word, meditate day and night on the truth therein, and consider how it applies to them today; for My Word applies in all generations and at all times. Their eyes will be opened to see My wonders of the truth. When they meditate on My Word they will have the understanding they need, and always be encouraged.
Today there are a lot of people who seem religious, and with their lips they seem to honor Me, but I see that their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is fake, because it is based on man-made ideas on how they think they are to worship Me. They cancel My Word by substituting it for things that go with their worldly lifestyles. These people will become hard towards Me and have no understanding in the time of tribulation. They have eyes to see everything I have done and yet they refuse to accept that I AM the only way; their only hope! They have ears, but refuse to listen to anyone who tells them the lifestyle they have chosen will not allow them into My kingdom.
Lord, thank You for the privilege of knowing You, and for Your living word. Give me an eagerness to live in Your word, more desire than for money! Turn my eyes from worthless things, and let me see my life through Your eyes and love. I know that You are merciful, compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. It is not Your desire to destroy people, so help me to pray for the people around Me that they accept Your free gift before it is too late.