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Archive for the ‘Peace’ Category

Heal Our Land

Posted in Healing, Jesus, Knowing God, Peace, Prayer, Salvation, Sin, The Father, The Righteous, The Word, Unity on November 9, 2018|

Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; Acts 3:19 NASB

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In my last blog, I discussed that when we see pestilence in the land, we are told what we are to do by God.  In 2 Chronicles 7:14 God asks us to do the following:

HUMBLE OURSELVES

As Christians we should not think so highly of ourselves.  We should not look down on others and think we are better than they are. We must remember the only thing that saved us is Jesus Christ.  Our salvation has nothing to do with any work we did.  We have been adopted as God’s children because we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  We are able to walk in holiness because of the Holy Spirit.  Salvation is a gift.

We should not put all the blame on the wicked.  We must be willing to have our own hearts examined by God to see if there is any wicked way in us, confess our sins, and received God’s forgiveness.  We must be willing to own up to our own sin and stop pointing the finger at others.

PRAY

We don’t pray the way we should.  We don’t pray corporately and we don’t pray for our nation.  We may throw a prayer up every now and then but we are not strategic in our prayers.  I remember years ago there was an event where men went to Washington DC, repented of their sins, prayed and asked God to help them be better fathers, husbands, sons and men of God.  Today when we see tragedy in our land we look to blame someone or something else.  Now we are beginning to accept these events as a way of life.  We are supposed to pray effective prayers and effective prayers involve us opening our hearts and minds to God’s will and purpose and being ready to obey His word. Often time we use “thoughts and prayers” as an excuse not to really seek the face of God in prayer.

SEEK GOD’S FACE

It takes time to seek God’s face.  In order to come before God we have to deal with our own hearts.  This is not an easy thing to do.  It takes humility and prayer.  We can’t seek God’s face with a spirit of pride or entitlement.  If our land is suffering we are seeking Him to help us and we have to be in a posture of humility and trust.  We don’t seek God’s face to just see if we like His plan, but we seek Him so that we will obey Him.  God knows our heart so if we are to truly seek Him then our heart must be right with God.

REPENT (Turn from Our Wicked Ways)

We are told to turn from our wicked ways.  This is the most profound request in 2 Chronicles 7:14.  We are God’s people and He is asking us to turn from our wicked ways.  Notice God did not say to confess our sins.  He is telling us to turn away from wickedness.  This is what repentance entails.  Repentance is not a feeling of that we are sorry for what we did.  Repentance is a willingness to turn away from the thing that separates us from God.  In this case God is asking us to turn away from wickedness and to turn to Him.  We surrender our will and agree to follow His will for our lives.  All Christians have given their life to Christ and called upon His name for salvation.  Not all Christians have surrendered their will for God’s will.  Many of us still want to live in both the world and be accepted into God’s kingdom.  We cannot serve two masters and to serve God may cause us to lose favor with men.  God promised in Isaiah 1:19 that if we are willing and obedient we will have the best of the land.  So we must turn our will toward Holiness and obey God’s word pertaining to our nation.  The ultimate commission we have been given is to love and to share the good news of the gospel.  If we do this we will see things change in our nation.  First we must repent of our own hatred, fear, the lies we tell and believe.

By meeting these conditions God has promised to heal our land.  We do not fight against people but we fight against the principalities of this world.  People are not our enemy, Satan is the enemy.  We must surrender ourselves to God’s hands to see our land healed.  We have to be the ones to cry out to God and repent of our wicked ways.  Then God will be attentive to our prayers made to Him.

and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. 2 Chronicles 7:14-15 NASB

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

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FALLACY OF CHRISTIAN POLITICAL IDEOLOGY

Posted in Faith, government, Jesus, Law, Love, Peace, Salvation, Sin, The Body, The Father, The Righteous on April 7, 2018|

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“If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” 1 John 4: 20 NASB

For over two years the Media has defined what it means to be Christian by people’s political and religious beliefs.  Rarely, are we depicted as Disciples of Christ.  Instead many articles and debates question who are the real Christians?  Some have defined Christianity based on political and religious; if you are a true Christian you must ascribe to certain political and religious traditions.

I was struck this week by a question posed on a radio station on whether or not Christians who support President Trump are really Christians.  Can Christians be characterized by their support or criticism of a leader or political party in lieu of their faith?  There are many that argue they can because certain political and religious ideals are rooted in the teachings of Jesus Christ.  I found this interesting because our salvation and adoption as God’s children cannot be secured through the law or our adaption to world systems.

Those of us who identify ourselves as Christian believe in Jesus Christ, that He died for our sins, was raised from the dead, and is alive today at the right hand of God our Father.   We know “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”  Romans 10: 9-10 (NASB)

Unfortunately, in the height of political debates and a politically charge environment we have succumb to defining Christianity through a political lens.  We have this delusion that the party we belong to or the leaders we show allegiance to has some impact on our entrance into the Kingdom of God; or defines us as a disciple of Christ.  This is just absurd, because you are trying to judge something that is spiritually rooted in God with something rooted in mankind.

Our salvation is not obtained by any work we do or what others have done.  We cannot stand before God and claim that because we ascribe to a set of political and religious ideologies we are proven to be the Children of God.  The only reason we can stand before God blameless, is because Jesus Christ died for our sins.  He took our sin and punishment.  We were graciously given Jesus’ righteousness in exchange and have been reconciled to the Father.  There is no work we have done to earn our salvation, so we have no right to boast in our political and religious beliefs.  The law cannot save us, so it is ridiculous to think adhering to certain religious and political beliefs and laws (defined by men) can save us.

The bible is clear that we can identify Christians (the Children of God) by the love that we have for one another.  Jesus even said we would know people by their fruit.  So if a person claims to love God but hates his brother he is a liar and Christ is not in him.  If one claims to follow Jesus but is full of hatred they are not Jesus’ disciple.  Whatever comes out of the mouth reveals what is in the heart.  Whether we are ruled by love or hate speaks more to our faith in Jesus Christ than anything else, including our political party affiliation or religious sect.

Politics and religion will always reveal hypocrisy in man.  Often time these belief systems run contrary to the person’s own behavior.  Also, it is mostly used to sit in judgment of others and think too highly of ourselves.  Boasting about our political and religious ideologies is rooted in pride and God hates pride.  We are taught in scripture to hold our brother in higher esteem than ourselves.

Christianity is defined by humility.  Jesus Christ, who is God, became man and walked amongst us.  He took our sin and became the perfect sacrifice and died so that we might live.  It is through Jesus’ resurrection that we have eternal life and power.  There is no other name in heaven or on the earth that is greater than Jesus.  Jesus is the only one who is deemed the Savior of mankind.

Our faith is not evident through our political and religious symbols and allegiance.  Jesus said the world would know we are His disciples by the love we have for one another.  We may disagree on the political and religious battlefield but even in our disagreement we are called to love.

 

For those that want to know how to spot a Christian, check their fruit (character).  Jesus said you will know us by our fruit.  If these things (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, see Galatians 5:22-23) are not evident in a person’s character,  then the Spirit of God is not in them and they are not known by Jesus.

21“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.’ Matthew 7:21-23 NASB

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“It Is What It Is”

Posted in Peace, The Father, The Righteous, The Word, Uncategorized, Wisdom on August 2, 2014|

How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, Whose hope is in the Lord his God,

Psalms 146:5 (NASB)

People love to say “It is what it is.” Usually I hear people say it when they are referring to a situation they cannot change. It is their way of declaring their acceptance. For me I hate the statement. It has become too commonplace in our speech. It is a statement shrouded in helplessness. We are not helpless.

The bible teaches us that our words have power. We can speak life or death into any situation. What we speak comes from our hearts. We must be careful what we say. The tongue can be dangerous. The tongue can heal. We can change our situation by what we say.

“It is what it is,” speaks something. The phrase has power. I saw a picture of the phrase on Facebook, and the person who posted it said it was wisdom. It is not a wise statement. It can have various meaning such as “who cares” or “things won’t change so deal with it.” It leaves a person feeling helpless. Whenever I hear people say it I hear the defeat in their voice.

We must guard our mouths. When we feel helpless or we find ourselves in a situation we cannot change, we can cry out to The Lord. No situation is impossible for God. He makes all things work for our good. God cares about every detail in our lives. No problem is too small or too big. God can and will work it out.

No matter what life throws our way, God is still God. It is what it is.

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Happy New Day!

Posted in Peace, The Father on January 1, 2013|

The Lord’s lovingkindnessesindeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.  Lamentations 3:22-23

Happy New Year!  I was reflecting how excited we get on the last day of the year.  We are ready to put the year behind us and have such hope for the New Year.  We celebrate when the New Year comes.  It’s like a new beginning for us.

We should treat each day like that.  God does.  The bible says that every morning His compassions are new.  They never cease.  God does not dwell on the day before or the day ahead.  Each day is a new day with so many possibilities.  How different would our lives be if we approached every new day the way we approach the New Year.  Each day can be a new beginning, putting behind us yesterday and not worrying about tomorrow.  Let’s make the most out of each day.  Imagine what we could do with 365 days.  Each day would be an opportunity to improve on the day before, to learn from our mistakes, to make right what has been wrong in our lives.  Each day is precious let’s not waste one day.

Remember that we are precious to God and He is faithful every day of our lives.  His love, mercy and patience never run out.  For God each day is a brand new day to begin again and start anew.  So let’s stop looking at our lives through the lens of years but one day at a time for we do not know what tomorrow may bring.

Happy New Year and Happy New Day!

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A Cry for Justice

Posted in God's Glory, Peace, Prayer, Satan, Sin on December 21, 2012|

When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers. Proverbs 21:15

When tragedy strikes we spend time trying to understand the events and then at some point we try to accept what has happened and hopefully move on sometime in the future. Many question where God is and why do such horrible things happen to good people especially innocent ones like children.  Somehow we have to come to accept the tragic events that take place and live with the reality of what has happened and just hope it doesn’t happen again.  We pray for the comfort of those that have lost their loved ones and pray it doesn’t happen again.  But how can we cope?  How can we move on when a senseless tragic act has taken place?

Last Friday was such an event.  In Newtown, CT an armed gunman went in killing 26 people at the school including 20 children.  He killed his mother and at the end killed himself.  Those that are involved are gone.  So who do we hold accountable?  How can justice be served?  Do we just accept what has happened and try to move on?  This community, this town, the families, even our nation will never be the same.

What aches in the hearts of these families and each of us is a cry for justice.  We want justice for every life that was lost and every one that was terrorized by these events.  It gives us no comfort in knowing the gunman is dead.  He will never have to face the grief of the families or feel the shame of what he has done.  The families need justice, we cry for justice.

God is a lover of justice.  He is just.  He does not look the other way, or ignore our plights.  We must cry out to God for justice.  We must ask God to restore and repay to these families, community, and others everything that they lost.  We cannot be satisfied with simply accepting what has happened and move on.  Deep down we want justice; we will never be satisfied until justice is served.

That has been my cry to God this past week for justice.  I know God will comfort those families and I will hold them in prayer.  But I want to see justice given to them.  I want the enemy of this earth to pay back everything that was stolen from Newtown including the innocence that was lost last Friday.

I trust God knows what justice is and what justice looks like.  I really don’t know but God does so I ask for justice.  God please give us justice.

Even though this act was committed by one man, we know that the enemy prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour.  Jesus described the devil as one that kills, steals and destroys.  Satan is the father of evil and he has shown that nothing is sacred including our children.  Evil visited Newtown last Friday disguised in the form of a lone gunman, but evil none the less murdered those children and adults last Friday.  So we ask God for justice to put an end to the tactics and role of the enemy.  That evil not have the final say in these peoples’ lives but that in the end justice and love will prevail.  We will not bow down to fear and evil but we celebrate the love, unity and peace that are within us and from God.

So God please give us justice – vengeance belongs to you.

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The Price of War

Posted in government, Love, Peace, Prayer, The Body, Unity on November 11, 2011| Leave a Comment »

“Leave your orphans behind, I will keep them alive; and let your widows trust in Me.” Jeremiah 49:11

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.  James 1:27

Today we celebrate Veteran’s Day in the USA.  It is a time that we honor our soldiers who have served this country and the many wars we have faced.  We know the high price of war is the lost of our soldiers lives; prisoners of wars; wounded soldiers; and broken families.  Unfortunately, the current wars that we have been fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan may have lingering effects for generations to come.

We have been fighting these two wars for 10 years now.  Even though the death toll has not been as high as previous wars; these two wars have taken a great toil on our soldiers, their families and our society.  Our soldiers have faced multiple deployments and we have seen a record number of women soldiers serving in these two wars.  Many children have been left behind and these children may be the greatest price we pay for these wars.  Children need their parents, if they are raised apart from their parents it has a lasting effect even into their adulthood.

I can’t even imagine a child that loses a parent to war.  Everyone knows the risk but we all hope that our soldiers return home safe and sound.  But the other tragedy facing children are the multiple deployments.  Imagine seeing your dad or mom going off to war; they return home to only be sent back again – leaving a child to face the separation again and again.  This can cause fear, anxiety, anger, and hatred to build in a child’s heart.  Where is their safety and who will care for them?

We may not know the impact of this until years from now even after the wars are completed.  Truthfully we are seeing more and more homes losing the fathers as they go off to fight in these wars.  There are also mothers being sent but the majority of those serving are men and many of them are fathers. 

We cannot ignore the impact that these wars have on our children.  They need our love and support.  As the bible tells us we are to care for the widows and orphans and we do not have to wait for our soldiers to die to take notice of the needs of the families that are left behind.

God has a special place in his heart for orphans and widows.  He has a heart for the fatherless and so should we.  I honor the men and women that have serve our country, but I pray that by God’s grace and wisdom that He can pave a way that these men and women are separated from their families as little as possible.

We may not have the resources or knowledge to prevent multiple deployments of soldiers but we can stand in the gap for those that are away and serving our country.  We can pray and we can care for their families.  We as a society can do this.  It is not only our government’s responsibility but it is also ours. 

Whether or not we agree with the wars, the truth is our soldiers are fighting and we need to support them in any capacity we can.  The holidays are approaching and there are many families that will be without their dads and moms as they serve overseas to fight for our freedom.  Let’s see what we can do  to help these families cope and enjoy this holiday season.

As Christians let us continue to pray for peace and victory in these wars so we can bring our soldiers home and these children do not have to be orphaned any longer.  Let’s believe God for a supernatural act on behalf of our soldiers.

I pray God’s blessing, protection and grace to every soldier that serves this country.  I pray for unity in our nation as our military fights for our freedom and safety.  Theirs is a great sacrifice; but their children do not have to be the casualty of war.  The African parable says “it takes a village to raise a child’; so let’s help raise this generation of military children.  We all have a part, so let’s each do our part in raising up the next generation.

Happy Veteran’s Day to all our soldiers and their families, THANK YOU for all you do. God Bless our Veterans and God Bless the United States of America.

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Peace As Our Guide

Posted in Peace, The Holy Spirit on April 15, 2011| Leave a Comment »

6For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.  Romans 8:6

 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7

Peace is one of the tools the Holy Spirit uses to give us direction, either with the presence or absence of peace.  It is very important that we are in tune with the Holy Spirit and recognize when peace is present or not present.

The Holy Spirit will warn us if danger is ahead or if we are making the wrong decision.  He will confirm if a decision is right and the will of God.  But we must be sensitive to His promptings.  Many people want God to shout in a booming voice what they should or should not do.  Many times it is simply the presence or absences of peace that will let us know if we are on the right track.

Too many of us ignore this and we make decisions that we have no peace about but somehow reason it out to be right.  Other times we gave peace about a decision but it does not make sense in the natural, so we question ourselves and go against that decision.  It is very important that we heed to the Holy Spirit’s promptings and warnings.

When we make a decision based on God’s will, and obey Him, there will be peace, the kind of peace that is not controlled by circumstances or emotions.  It is the peace of God; peace that the world does not have.

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