We have it made.

I mean, sure economic times are not that great but we have a Sovereign God that not only has everything under control, He is using all this to increase and add to His own Glory.  Nothing happens outside of His will, so rejoice and praise Him that He caused all of this to happen.

There is a lot of evil being perpetuated in this world also.  That should really give us reason to praise Him.  It might seem weird to us that He would use something as vile as a mother murdering her own child to increase our awareness of His control, but who are we to question His mysterious ways.  Since He fore-saw and fore-ordained all that is or is to come, we just have to trust that He knows something we don’t.

Our president is already making great strides towards taking us down a path as a nation that we will not even recognize but it is for the best.  God placed Obama in that position so again, why question it.  Or Him.  He knows what He is doing.  Hallelujah.

We have it made.

Sure, our kids may not be doing what we perceive to be right or good for them or society, but remember, none of this can happen outside of His great will.  God is in control.  He is on the throne.  And for all of those that don’t believe it, then tough.  They don’t believe it because He does not want them to believe it.

We may not be seeing much growth in the churches we attend but really, does that matter.  At least we are there.  The seats are comfortable, we all like a few people and maybe even love one or two, the temperatures are comfortable, the messages are generic and not convicting or challenging like they used to be, and the worship is just the way we like it or we can fire somebody and get it that way.  Even if the growth is stalled, we can at least be sure that we are right with God because we are there.

Again, we have it made and we don’t have much left to do.

We have it made because God has it all the way He wants it.  Our seeming self-centeredness is actually God-centeredness.  What else could it be because we can be assured that His purposes, His plans, His will can never be thwarted.  And since everyone, either in or out of church, is just doing as He foreordained, how much can we really have left to do.

RIGHT?

Love you all

Tags: Believe, Church, economic times, Evil, hallelujah, Murder, Obama, Self, self centeredness, Sin, sovereign god, Trust, War

In case you haven’t heard, another useless church slaying occurred Sunday.  A pastor was shot and killed during service and a couple of others were wounded.  The story can be found here and other places.

This was just another senseless attack in a ever increasing string that has occurred lately.  No one so far even knows what the motive for this one was.  This murderous interruption to a worship service has many in the church discussing the issues of church safety and the carrying of weapons in church services.  There are also larger issues to discuss.  So if you would, I would like to read your feedback and answers to these questions.

Do you think Jesus is okay with any of his followers shooting someone in self defense?

Do you think it would be wise for just anyone to carry a gun in church?  Would you?

If you would carry a gun, under what circumstances would you use it?

If you are against all of this, carrying weapons and using them, then what do you think is our role in protection of ourselves and others?

Finally, what caliber would Jesus recommend?

That last one is just a light hearted one meant to keep us from getting too angry in case we disagree.  But this is a very serious topic and I have read a lot of opinions already.

Care to share yours?

Love you all

Tags: caliber, Church, jesus, Murder, pastor, protection, Self, self defense, Service, town hall, Tuesday, Weapons

The people of this nation have spoken.  But what have they said?  They have said, in my opinion, “There is no God, and if there is I really do not have to pay any attention to Him.”

Before I go any further I want to say that I have held off this long before saying this because I have been consulting with my Father about what to say, or if I need to say anything at all.  I am convinced that I do need to.  And if you disagree, see me as judgmental, or as filled with hate, or as bitter, or any of a number of ways you could see me, I am not. 

I love you, I love Obama, I love all but, I love Jesus more.  So for Him I speak. 

It is no surprise that the lost have said there is no God.  That is why they are lost.  I used to believe the same thing.  And when I believed this, I hated you, I hated Obama, and I hated everybody else.  Unborn babies were nothing.  Starving children did not move me.  The poor and needy did not receive a thought.  I was my own god. 

It is a surprise to me that a whole lot of the self proclaimed body of Christ does not believe they have to pay attention to Him.  If eighty five to ninety percent of this nation is calling themselves Christians, (not my statistics), how in the world can a man who believes in the slaughter of the unborn be elected?  And he could not have been without a lot of those same people voting for him. 

I hesitate in the name of love and unity to write this.  But in the name of true love and real unity I must.  The Jesus who snatched me from the jaws of death and hell could not possibly be happy with the choices made yesterday.  If you believe differently, then you do not know the same Jesus.  And I really want you to. 

Understand this.  I am not saying McCain was the right choice either.  In fact, I voted for neither.  And if he had of won I would be writing about him.  The things that would make me believe in his need for salvation would just be based on other issues.

There is a whole lot of angry, bitter Christians out there today.  Then there are a lot of people actually calling for prayer for the new POTUS.  In that I am in agreement.   But not with their focus. 

The focus of the prayers that have been called for are not proper.   J. Lee Grady has tried to give us a list of specific prayers to be prayed here.  My problem with this and many other of the suggestions out there today is that no one is saying to pray that Obama be saved.  On one forum I suggested it and a believer was shocked. 

Why in the world can we not recognize that just because someone declares something, it does not make it true? The Jesus I met and now serve, instilled a compassion and love in me that causes me to feel physically sick over the rampant murder of the unborn.  And I truly, truly, used to not care.  If that is what Jesus makes me feel, then why wouldn’t I believe that Obama does not know Him?

Look at Grady’s 3^rd suggestion and tell me how in the world a man that does not know God can use His wisdom?

We are losing this war because we are not focused on the right things.  Those things are the things of God, and exposing what and who is not of God.  We are called to battle.  Whether we answer the call or not is totally up to us.

If you don’t like any of this or think I am something I am not, then so be it.  I will be in good company.

Because I love our president-elect I will pray for him.  I will pray that he meets Jesus Christ.

Love you all

Tags: Body of Christ, Christians, Death, God, Jesus Christ, Judgment, Love, McCain, Murder, Obama, POTUS, Prayer, Salvation, Self, Sin, starving children, unborn babies, Vote, War

I am driving down the road in the middle of an older subdivision.  I see the stop sign coming up but can see that there is nothing at all coming or even a sign of life in sight.  I drive on through the intersection without stopping.  I break the law, intentionally. 

Have you ever done this?  Do you drive 75 mph on the interstate highway instead of the posted 70 mph?  Do you speed up at yellow lights or slow down?

There are laws in our society.  They serve dual purposes.  They serve to keep us or someone else from harm or they serve to stave off the chaos that could result from a lack of laws.  I am sure most of the readers here have never murdered someone.  I am also sure that most of the same readers have broken a law of society. 

Sometimes there are consequences such as fines or incarceration.  Sometimes we get away with breaking the law.  In fact, we actually get away with breaking the law most of the time. 

How does all of this compare with the laws of God?  Do you believe there are any laws of God? 

We know that God gave us the Ten Commandments.  Some of us know that God gave an exhausting list of laws to the Israelites while they were in the desert.  There are 613 recognized laws to be observed in the Torah.  This is known as the Mosaic Law.  From the study and implementation of these laws, the priesthood, by the time Jesus came on the scene, had developed the practice of following these laws into what I am calling pharisaical legalism. 

Pharisaical legalism.  This is an old tactic that the enemy still uses in our day and time.  I define this as; the forming of a set of rules and laws that man decides are necessary for righteousness.  These laws come from interpreting the bible with the help of the wrong spirits. This tactic is losing its effectiveness, I believe, in most religious settings today but, it is far from gone.  It was not that many years ago, in my own denomination, where a bunch of manmade interpretative laws were followed to assess the state of one’s soul.  Laws such as the length of hair and what jewelry, if any, could be worn by a servant of Christ would signify whether you were right with God or not.

Some will argue that some of the Mosaic Law is for Christians to follow, some for all, and some for none.  How are we to know?

Jesus said the following in the gospel of Matthew:

Mat 5:17  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

What does that mean?  Are we to follow the laws or not? 

The word interpreted as fulfill is pleroo in the original language and according to Thayer means the following, in part; to make full, to fill up, i.e. to fill to the full, to render full, i.e. to complete, to fill to the top: so that nothing shall be wanting to full measure, fill to the brim, to make complete in every particular, to render perfect,  to carry through to the end, to accomplish, carry out, (some undertaking), to carry into effect, bring to realization, realize, of sayings, promises, prophecies, to bring to pass, ratify, to fulfill, i.e. to cause God’s will (as made known in the law) to be obeyed as it should be, and God’s promises (given through the prophets) to receive fulfillment. 

Our modern dictionary has the additions of these two meanings; to satisfy and to bring to an end.   

Paul had the following to say;

Gal 5:18  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

So we do not have to follow the laws of God, right?

Wrong. 

God’s purpose for the law was twofold.  First it allowed all to realize certain things are required of us to experience a real relationship with Him.  But it was also given in an era, before the Holy Spirit, when man was incapable of following the law because we were slaves of sin.  This is the second reason He gave it.  It was to show us we could not keep the whole of the law.  If we could, there would have been no need for Calvary.  The intent of the law was over and done with when Jesus came

We have to follow the law of God but, it is not through the system of legalism that the enemy pushes so diligently, it is through holiness.  There is simply no place for legalism of any kind.  Grace is the order of the day.  When Paul says that if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law, he is saying that a true believer, one that has sold out to Jesus, listens to the Spirit inside himself, cannot break the law of God. 

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

We are slaves to sin and death no longer.  Paul says a whole lot more about the Law and Grace.  Read the book of Romans, especially through chapter eight.   I used the statement from Galatians because there is absolutely no way I can see that it can be misconstrued.  And Romans 8:1 affirms we cannot be condemned. 

Are there any rules or law for us to follow?  Yes, there certainly are.  But they are not to be understood in the enemy inspired legalistic form of keeping or memorizing a sin list.  They are not to be realized by coming up with acceptable dress or hairstyle.  There are many more ways that the enemy has corrupted these laws.  I won’t keep on here. 

The Holy Spirit is the spirit of grace and He is the only one that can tell us what God wants from us.  Listen to Him.  He is the only one that can change us.  Let Him.  He is the only one that can lead us down that narrow path.  Follow Him.    

We must stop trying to do His work, before and after, we let people in the door.  Jesus told us that the whole law was simply to love God and everybody else.  If we do this, we won’t keep breaking the law.

Love you all

Tags: Combat Readiness, Enemy, God, Grace, Holiness, Holy Spirit, Law, Legalism, Murder, Sin, Strategy and TacticsSpiritual WarfareSpirit, Ten Commandments