Monday, January 5, 2015

Do You Know Where Your Armor Is?

"For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened" (Rom. 1:21).

Hey Gang:  A New Year and the opportunity to put all of our blunders behind us.  Is it not awesome that we have a God who loved us so much that He commissioned His only Son to come to earth, walk in our shoes, and provide a way - for all those who commit their lives to Him - to be freed from the bondage of sin and errors of our ways.   Lord, I praise you for that act of mercy and kindness for I, like Paul, have a tendency to do the very things that I hate.
This morning, as I was getting the fire stoked up, putting on the coffee and pealing the morning oranges, a thought kept ringing in my head, "Ok Lord, what does 2015 have in store for us?"  As I look down through my prayer journal, which has grown to many pages, I see such items as abortion, the rapid grown of gay rights in our nation, the withering of the church, the rapid increase in violence, the hatred that has been promoted by our government in race relations, the growth in the break- down in the family and increased number of young people that have turned their back on the church.

Then on page two I see the rapid growth of pornography among men and woman alike has gone out of sight and we wonder why we have seen a rapid increase in the number of child molesters, rapist and serial type crimes in our country. 

And on page three I see such subjects as a President who looks more like a dictator than a president of the people, by the people and for the people;    A nation that is eighteen trillion dollars in debt and continues to spend as if there is no bottom in the well; A congress that is so locked up in politics and political correctness that addressing the many problems that face our nation are pushed into the back cornet of the closet. 

Page four does not look any more inviting with such crisis subjects as the IRS scandals; what really happened at Benghazi; the rapid growth of the terrorist movement and threats on our country; the breakdown of the moral code in our educational systems.   The Fast and Furious gun ordeal in Mexico, and the most recent addition to the ever growing list of crisis, Cuba and Iran and the President's intention to reopen embassies in these bastions where the terms liberty and justice are not found in the nation’s Dictionaries.

On page five we find the most serious of all the crisis facing our nation:  In Genesis 12:3 we read about the covenant that God made with Abraham, an irrevocable Covenant, a Covenant of salt that promises, "I will bless those (Israel) who bless you and the one who curses you I will curse and in you all the nations of the world will be blessed."  I wonder if anyone in the Beltway has checked to see what happened to all of those nations who turned on Israel, the Apple of God 'eye". History tells us they have long since faded into the sunset.

We find many examples of the wrath that is promised against those nations that turn their backs on God, and on the nations that He calls His very own.  In Joel 3:2 we read this dire warning, "I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat.  Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations, and they have divided up My land".

We see the fulfillment of Zechariah 12:2-3 daily; God said, "Behold I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around, and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will be against Judah.  It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured.  And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it".  Today, we see increasing numbers of hostile nations surrounding Israel as others – EU - that are boycotting Israel from selling products in their counties.

Soooo, my friends and neighbors, is the sky falling? Are the alligators taking control?  Only if we allow them to do so!  The pages that follow in my prayer journal have God's hope for nations and people who have chosen to go their own way and are feeling the darkness.  But there are prerequisites! God's people, who are called by His name, need to become more empowered than those who would sink our ship.  It is way past time when the voice of the church must be heard ,and a mighty army of believers get serious about pushing the gates of hell into the pit from which it came. 

  We will look at the rest of the pages in my journal in the next blog.

Blessings,


Gramps

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