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Why Watching Church Online is NOT a Substitute for Attending in Person

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“15 Days to Slow the Spread” seemed doable when the Coronavirus Task Force first asked everyone to shelter-at-home. Churches complied by shutting their doors to protect their parishioners. Those who already had online services expanded access and those like ours who didn’t already video messages started videoing.

Then 15 days morphed into 30 days, which segued into 45 days and churches are still told today that they’re not essential and mandated to stay closed or open with tyrannical restrictions.

A number of pastors across the United States are rightfully questioning this discrimination against the church when liquor stores and casinos are considered essential. So they’ve begun finding creative ways for their churches to meet, even under penalty of fines and threats of imprisonment. Hard to imagine that would happen in America!

Other churches remain closed today. One mega church announced they plan on staying closed until 2021?!

The purpose of this blog is not to discuss why churches need to open NOW because I’ve covered that extensively in previous blogs. I’ll list a couple at the end of this article.

But I do want to talk about why it’s important for believers to not become accustomed to sitting at home in their recliners in pj’s with a cup of coffee watching a sermon online and calling it church.

Why We Go To Church

One winter Sunday morning, hubby was sick! If our steep driveway wasn’t covered in ice, that wouldn’t be a big deal. I’d hop in the car and head off to church by myself. But I hadn’t driven our new car in snow and ice and didn’t want my first off-roading attempt to be without him.

I could stay home and watch church online or on television. I’d done that for more Sundays than I’d care to remember when a concussion, kidney surgery, three eye surgeries, and a broken wrist had kept me home. I was desperate to go to church.

Whew, friends with a jeep rescued me that Sunday.

Why was it so important to go to church? While homebound, I’d watched a number of excellent church services online and on TV . . . but it’s not the same as worshipping together with my church family.

When our Governor in Idaho announced that churches could open in COVID Phase One of reopening Idaho, our church literally opened the doors May 1 with all the recommended precautions.

As I walked through the church doors that first Sunday, I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit. I immediately realized what had been missing watching services at home.

People were missing. My brothers and sisters in Christ were missing.

Singing, worshipping, and praying together were missing.

Seeing each other’s smiles and yes, sometimes, tears were missing.

Church is not just the sermon. Church is the gathering together of God’s people!

Yes, believers have our personal relationship with Jesus which we experience wherever we are, but we don’t experience the Christian life alone. That’s why God said it’s not good to be alone and there are so many Scriptures reminding us to encourage and support each other.

Online church absolutely is a tremendous benefit for people who can’t attend church because of physical or transportation issues, out of town, working, or need to stay home with a sick child or family member. It’s a wonderful tool in an emergency like Covid was in the beginning or for anyone who is high-risk.

Online church also is an outreach opportunity for those who are hesitant to walk into a church.

But for those with no restrictive issues, here are five reasons I feel God wants us to worship together in His house and follow the example of the first church.

“On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place” (Acts 2:1).

5 Reasons to Meet in Church Together

1. Fellowship and Relationships

“All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals . . . with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:42, 46-47)

The early church, a template for today’s church, understood that the meeting together of believers creates community. We need each other to uplift our spirit when we’re sad and rejoice together when we’re glad.

You can find good teaching and truth online, but you need to be in church to experience the fellowship of fellow believers and develop relationships within the church body.

“So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.” (1 Thess. 5:11)

2. Celebrating Communion, Worshipping, and Praying Together

“All the believers devoted themselves to . . . sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. They worshiped together at the Temple each day . . . all the while praising God . . . . (Acts 2:42, 46-47)

You share communion, the Lord’s Supper, together in church. Our church also has a time of Prayer, Praise, and Share every Sunday where the congregation can ask for prayer and share praises.

Many churches list in the bulletin or announce those in need of prayer so the church can pray for each other and celebrate praises together. “But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him” (Acts 12:15).

God instructed the congregation to sing in church because it is a unifying expression of worship. What a joy to worship and sing praise songs to the Lord in unison.

“Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts” (Col. 3:16).

“Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.” (Psalm 100:1-4)

3. We Are the Family of God

And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. (Acts 2:44-45)

Watching church is like being an observer instead of a participant.

We need each other. We are one body, the Bride of Christ.

The church needs us to serve. Church isn’t taking in selfishly; it’s giving out selflessly. We don’t attend church solely for our own benefit. We’re also there to serve the body of Christ, our spiritual family. Christ wants us to care more about others than our own convenience or inconvenience.

We are to use the spiritual gifts and talents the Lord has given us to benefit the church. (1 Cor. 12:12-22).

“Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body” (Col. 1:18).

“All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it” (1 Cor. 12:27).

4. Accountability and Mentoring

“Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives.” Colossians 3:16

There’s always going to be a time when we can’t make it to church, but it should be the exception, not the rule. The tendency today is to isolate ourselves in front of electronics where we interact with a screen instead of each other. A clicker or mouse replaces friendly face-to-face interaction.

I’ve heard testimonies of people saved by watching a preacher on television or online, which is wonderful. But one of the surest ways to stay true to your faith as a believer is joining a church to spiritually grow and mature with other believers who encourage us and keep us accountable.

Church is more than listening to a sermon; it’s an experience and an exchange with other believers. It’s where you help others grow, partake in ministries, serve, give of your talents and spiritual gifts, mentor, and receive mentoring.

“2 Teach the older men to exercise self-control, to be worthy of respect, and to live wisely. They must have sound faith and be filled with love and patience.

3 Similarly, teach the older women to live in a way that honors God. They must not slander others or be heavy drinkers.[a] Instead, they should teach others what is good. 4 These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, 5 to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes,[b] to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God.” (Titus 2:2-5)

5. Setting the Example for Children

Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts; let them proclaim your power. Psalm 145:4

It takes more effort to get dressed and drive to church than to flip on the computer or television screen. Your children and grandchildren are learning by your actions what takes priority in your life: God’s house or your house?

Teach by example that church is a privilege we should never take for granted and we should never let it be taken away from us. If we can go to Costco, shopping, Walmart, Home Depot, and even “peacefully protest” in the streets, we can go to church!

So yes, you can watch a service online anonymously and probably get something out of it, but what are you putting first in your life that seeks out convenience instead of commitment?

If your church hasn’t opened back up for services after COVID closure, I encourage you to remind your pastor that church is an essential part of every believer’s life and worth fighting for your 1st Amendment right to meet.

It wasn’t easy for the early church either and often the disciples and apostles were thrown into jail for gathering people together to share the Gospel, but we’re reminded of what Peter said when he met opposition from the authorities.

24 When the captain of the Temple guard and the leading priests heard this, they were perplexed, wondering where it would all end. 25 Then someone arrived with startling news: “The men you put in jail are standing in the Temple, teaching the people!”

26 The captain went with his Temple guards and arrested the apostles, but without violence, for they were afraid the people would stone them. 27 Then they brought the apostles before the high council, where the high priest confronted them. 28 “We gave you strict orders never again to teach in this man’s name!” he said. “Instead, you have filled all Jerusalem with your teaching about him, and you want to make us responsible for his death!”

29 But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. Acts 5:24-29 (I would encourage you to read the entire passage Acts 5:12-41)

Sadly, many governing officials act from an ungodly worldview. If the government contradicts God, we answer to God alone.

As a child, I remember in Sunday school intertwining our fingers on the outside of our hands, putting our forefingers together, and opening our hands, saying the jingle: Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open the door, and where’s all the people? But intertwining fingers inside our hand and opening: Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open the door and there’s all the people!

 “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” Hebrews 10:24-25

*All Scriptures are from the New Living Translation, with emphasis added.

Note: A true story of what can happen when the church stays silent! From the Facebook of Worship Leader Sean Feucht

Pastor Joseph Bondarenko (the KGB’s most wanted) was jailed for 10 years, tortured & told every day his entire family would die because of their faith. He refused to deny Jesus. Many of his friends were martyred but God spared his life. His story of boldness has now circled the globe.

For the American Church he warns:

“Don’t they realize what is happening now in America is exactly what happened to us in communist Russia?? It started with ‘Don’t gather. Don’t sing. Spread apart. Listen to the government.’ Then it quickly turned into full on persecution and the church did not wake up in time.

I am here to beg you to call the church to WAKE UP, STAND FIRM, CONQUER!”

The Rant, a Rave, and a Primal Scream

How is Home Depot More “Essential” than God’s Home?!

If God is Pulling Back the Veil on Evil, How Should the Church Respond?

August 24, 2020
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America’s Problem is Systemic Secularism NOT Systemic Racism!

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Recently, a “woke” phrase has emerged and is repeated so often that many people accept it as true: systemic racism.

Let’s look at the definition of systemic: something that affects the whole instead of just parts. Embedded within and spread throughout and affecting a whole system, group, body, economy, market, or society.

Those who have now applied systemic to racism infer that the systems in place create and maintain racial inequality in every facet of life for people of color.

Liberals, the radical Left, mainstream media, and anyone trying to stir up strife and unrest tout “systemic racism” is factual. It’s become a mainstream mantra and few question its validity.

But could it possibly be true? If racism is systemic, how do they explain a black president for eight years (whom many white citizens voted for) and the popularity of his wife? Numerous black mayors and police chiefs, including women. Black athletes. Black politicians. Black lawyers. Black business men and women. Black business owners. Black physicians and scientists. Black media personalities and celebrities. The list goes on.

Let me be clear, I am not discounting that racism does still exist in many facets of our society, and maybe those who became successful experienced it at some time, but I am saying that it is not “systemic” today. Many blacks agree with me. Even as I was writing this blog, two prominent well-respected black men spoke on this very topic:

“‘Systemic racism’ is used as a ruse to avoid talking about the real problems. To deflect from real issues in areas run by their own people of black officials and systems.” Bob Woodson, founder of the Woodson Center and the 1776 Project

“You hear this phrase, ‘systemic racism’ [or] ‘systemic oppression’,” host Mark Levin told [Thomas] Sowell. “You hear it on our college campuses. You hear it from very wealthy and fabulously famous sports stars. What does that mean? And whatever it means, is it true?”

Thomas Sowell replied:

“It really has no meaning that can be specified and tested in the way that one tests hypotheses. It reminds me of the propaganda tactics of Joseph Goebbels during the age of the Nazis in which he is supposed to have said ‘People will believe any lie if it’s repeated long enough and loud enough!’ Even people who use it don’t have any clear idea of what they’re saying. Their purpose is served by having other people cave in.” –Black economist and author Thomas Sowell interviewed on Life Liberty & Levin.

America repented of the sins of slavery long ago. In his essay Understand What Is Happening: A Christian Response [which I encourage you to read in full] Larry Alex Taunton reveals the motive behind this attempt to rekindle racial divides:

“Now, the self-righteous types filling the ranks of Democrats, BLM, Antifa, and the radical Left in general, themselves wronged by no one and possessed by a hateful, secular, utopian ideology absent any notion of grace, see themselves as the embodiment of retribution and national reckoning. They are determined to keep America’s sins—both real and imagined—ever before her, reminding her, flogging her, as a means of reducing us all to a pathetic national guilt that will be leveraged for evil purposes.”

One of those evil purposes is to silence anyone who disagrees with them by calling a dissenter a “racist.” This overused term has lost any real meaning but people still quake at the thought of being called one for fear they will lose their job or reputation.

Most Americans are NOT racist, but they are being accused of racism just because of their skin color and because it’s part of a political power-grab agenda.

It astounds me that people are accepting this falsehood touted by white people on television scolding us while apparently not looking in the mirror. Or high-paid, well-coiffed black commentators trying to convince us that we are back in the sixties.

Sadly, the public is allowing the promotion of this racial divide. People in leadership, including many in the church, are afraid of offending the secular culture. They stay silent or go along with it when the real answer to racism is spiritual.

We don’t have a skin problem, we have a sin problem.

Systemic Secularism Will Be America’s Downfall

“I hope we don’t just go back to ‘normal,’ if normal means a nation that continues to defy and rebel against God and His ways, a nation that is openly hostile to Christians, a nation that rejoices and revels in godless behavior.”—Franklin Graham, Decision Magazine June 2020

Systemic secularism, immorality, and evil runs rampant in our world today. Secularism is another word for what the Bible calls “worldly” or “the world.”

Applying secularism to the earlier definition of “systemic,” secularism is truly embedded within and spread throughout and affecting a whole system, group, body, economy, market, or society, including the church.

When is the last time your pastor preached against abortion, homosexuality, living together, pornography . . . sin? I hope it was recently.

On the 4th of July, many of us sang “God bless America” and the Battle Hymn of the Republic. But we also saw systemic evil prevail throughout the streets with flag burning, murders of innocent black children, and hateful words spoken about the greatest nation in the world.

Good versus evil. Jesus versus Satan. Truth versus lies. Patriotism versus socialism. Freedom versus bondage.

How did we move so far away from the ideals of our nation’s founding fathers? How did America go from biblical to secular? How did Christians let Americans forget that God is the original Founder of America and the world?

The authors of the Constitution and Bill of Rights believed in God as the Creator who guides our lives and our country. Even those who weren’t Christians understood that we needed to live by the guiding principles in the Bible. Thomas Jefferson, whose statues are being toppled, said, “The Bible is the cornerstone of liberty.”

Is it any wonder that as we watch the Bible degraded and discounted today that we’re also watching the attack on American ideals and patriotism. We’re losing “inalienable rights” such as free speech. People are too afraid and intimidated to speak out against the mob and “woke” censorship.

The Declaration of Independence declares, “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.”

Everyone no matter race, color, or background is important to God and therefore should be important to the governing powers.

Abraham Lincoln, whose statues and legacy are also being torn down, declared of the Bible in 1864: “All the good the Saviour gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man’s welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it.”

But aside from putting their hand on the Bible when sworn into office, and some recently the Quran, you seldom hear the Bible mentioned today in the same breath with laws and rights that govern our country.

We can’t go back and change history whether it’s racism or secularism, but we can make a difference as much as it is up to us.

Returning to Systemic Biblical Values in America

1. God Wants Christians to Heal Our Land

I always appreciate when VP Pence ends his speeches with “God heal our land.” I assume he’s referring to 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

But God puts conditions on healing our land and you and I are the ones responsible for fulfilling those conditions.

God doesn’t say if the secular culture will change. He specifically says “If his people,” Christians, will humble ourselves to prayerfully repent from our sins, then He will listen and forgive us and start healing our land.

Wow that means the healing of America is up to you, me, and the church. We can’t change the world but we can change ourselves and cleanse our lives from the sins that God hates.

We need to purge secularism out of our own lives. Don’t wait for a convicting sermon because you might not hear one.

Read God’s Word, the Bible, and prayerfully live by its guidance not the guidance of the world!

Then when we take the plank out of our own eye, watch the world change. Not because of what we’ve done but because of what God says He will do in and through us.

The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. 2 Chr. 15:2

For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. 2 Chr. 16:9

2. Make the Bible Systemically Relevant in Every Aspect of Life!

I heard a troubling quote: “Satan is discipling America because the church isn’t!” Ouch!

We need to learn how to speak the Truth in terms the world can understand.

Scripture doesn’t usually have meaning to the unbeliever because they don’t believe in following Jesus so they won’t relate to it or might just argue.

Slip into your everyday conversations the way the Bible would handle specific situations without saying, “the Bible says.”

Don’t alter your conversation when around unbelievers; talk just like you would with a group of believers.

Satan is a false teacher, but many are succumbing to his lies. Satan’s will is done more in America than God’s will! That should break every Christian’s heart.

Don’t let the Bible lose relevance in our culture. It’s up to us to be living examples.

It’s up to us to become systemically biblical in our every action, thought, and word.

And then watch God heal our land. Heal our racial issues. Return patriotism and love of America. Take down secularism and replace it with a love for God, our country, and each other.

#3. Pray and Ask God Where He Wants Us to Get Involved.

In an interview with the mother of a black sixteen year-old boy shot while walking home from the store, her black attorney pointed out that often the senseless brutal black-on-black killings are not coming from gangs. They also stem from anger. They haven’t been taught how to deal with anger, so they pick up a gun and start shooting. He said they need someone to invest in their life.

Ben Carson tells the story of being an angry young man who threw bricks through windows to express his aggression. Like so many black families, he didn’t have a father in the household, but he did have a praying mom. He found a Bible in the bathroom, opened it to the Book of Proverbs, and started reading. He recounts that he realized he wasn’t living like the Scriptures said to live and his anger left him. Proverbs changed his life.

He went on to become a pediatric neurosurgeon, ran for President, and is now the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Carson realized the Bible is relevant to every area of life. It’s systemic!

In my June AHW Ministries Newsletter, I shared another story of an angry black young man in a fatherless home who had flunked out of school when a “white” mentor stepped into his life and helped him find purpose to succeed. That young man is Senator Tim Scott.

Jesus spoke in stories to share the truth. We all have a story. Not everyone will read the Bible but each of us can be a living Bible.

God is looking for those who are willing to make America Systemically Biblical Again!

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
    the people he chose for his inheritance. Ps. 33:12

“Freedom is not doing what we want. It’s doing what we should.” Mike Huckabee

You might find it helpful to read Forsaken God? Remembering the Goodness of God Our Culture Has Forgotten, or Everyday Brave: Living Courageously as A Woman of Faith. Both were written for such a time as this.

July 13, 2020
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It Always Was About Jesus! He is the Real Target . . .

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“Look at China, Russia, Venezuela. First they topple statues, then they start killing people, and then they take away your rights.” David Marcus, The Federalist

I’ve never been convinced that the George Floyd murder was about racism. It was the heinous act of a demented depraved policeman. But because he was white and the victim was black, the race card was played and suddenly people were forced to take sides even though everyone agreed it was an egregious act.

It should have unified all Americans that justice needed to prevail.

But that’s not what happened. People with an agenda saw it as an opportunity to unearth racial tension as if we had never made any progress in 400 years. What started out as “peaceful protests,” even in the midst of a pandemic, turned into destructive rioting and violent mobs that didn’t care if they were hurting blacks or whites or even those on their side, they just wanted to create havoc and panic.

And so they did as Democrat governors and mayors ignored protecting their defenseless constituents. In many cases, the police, who could have stopped the chaos, were told to stand down, as the protesters then turned on them.

There seems to be no limits to what the rioters can do or demands they can make because after all it’s all about “racism.”

I’m not minimizing the need for improvement in race relations but the lawlessness we’re watching in the streets of liberal “blue” states is political not relational.

God Is Not One Dimensional!

Caucasians, who God created with white skin, are shamed and manipulated into renouncing their presumed “white privilege” as if admitting that God liked them better than his darker skinned creations. Heresy!

God made us all different colors by His design. Since we’re all made in His image, Jesus appears to each of us in our own skin color.

Just like at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon those gathered there from every nation, they each heard Peter and the believers sharing the gospel in their own language:

At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. 6 When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers . . . “And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!” 12 They stood there amazed and perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other. Acts 2:5-6, 11-12

In his article America’s Jews and Christians Are Failing the Test of Their Lives, Dennis Prager wrote:

“Isn’t it fundamental to all Bible-based religions that we are all created in God’s image, that God has no race and that Adam and Eve, from whom we all descend, had no race? If you are a Christian, do you see Christians of other races first as fellow Christians or first as members of their race? If you are a Jew, do you see Jews of other races as anything other than fellow Jews? Does God?”

Only Satan Can Pit God’s Creation Against Itself!

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8

Satan’s Strategy to Devour and Destroy America

  1. Use a pandemic plague to close businesses and churches and force people to stay home.
  2. Use a horrific murder by a police officer to create racial chaos.
  3. Perpetuate a falsehood that all whites are racist.
  4. Introduce sham terms like “systemic racism” and “white privilege.”
  5. Generate hate against the police and remove their capability to protect communities.
  6. Call for defunding and disbanding the police and give the preposterous idea momentum.
  7. Make government officials apathetic toward looting, burning, defacing, mob violence.
  8. Guilt Caucasians into apologizing that God made them white.
  9. Encourage whites to bow down to Black Lives Matter militia.
  10. Create a fake repentance theology of whites washing the feet of blacks or shining their shoes.
  11. Continue to keep churches closed or require prohibitive restrictions while thousands of protestors and rioters have no restrictions and passengers pack into planes.
  12. Keep pastors and “the church” silent or denounced, even arrested, if they claim religious freedom and the right to meet.
  13. Tear down all replicas of American heritage and history, good or bad, while horrified Americans helplessly watch or misguided and deceived Americans applaud.
  14. Create disunity and fear among all Americans politically, racially, spiritually, physically, and emotionally.
  15. Reveal Satan’s real motive: Go after Jesus and the church, which often still isn’t meeting and pastors are still staying silent.

Jesus Has Always Been the Target

Destroying Jesus is Satan’s ultimate goal and everything in between was just carnage to distract.

Satan knows that the only answer to division and strife is Jesus and His church!

Government can’t legislate or force racial tolerance. It has to be a heart change and only Jesus can change a heart!

I’ll give you a new heart, put a new spirit in you. I’ll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that’s God-willed, not self-willed. I’ll put my Spirit in you and make it possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands. Ezekiel 36:26-27 The Message

A person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people. Rom 2:29 NLT

That’s why Satan’s ultimate target is Jesus!

If we’re too busy fighting each other over racism, defunding and disarming the police, taking down the President, rebuilding everything torn down by rioters . . . maybe we won’t notice that Satan is trying to wipe out Christ’s heritage . . . the church.

Christian and conservative content, videos, and Scriptures are already being censored on social media and YouTube.

Now Satan will Start taking down statues, pictures, replicas, or stained glass windows with “white Jesus” and defacing churches.

Next Satan will go after the cross and anything resembling the cross. He’s tried this before but hasn’t completely succeeded.

Then he’ll get the Bible censored as hate speech. There will be burning of Bibles and a law against preaching the Bible or carrying your Bible outside of your home. Maybe it will be illegal even to have a Bible.

Christians will ultimately receive the final blow because if we’re silenced, no one will hear the truth about eternal life with Jesus versus eternal hell with Satan.

Do you think these things could never happen in America? Well look at what’s already happened in the first six months of 2020 that you never could have imagined.

  • A President impeachment attempt over a diplomatic phone call.
  • Citizens mandated to not leave home. Wear a mask. Not allowed to go to a park, play tennis, or go to the beach. Schools closed. “Social distance.”
  • Small businesses closed and owners harassed, lost business licenses, fined, or jailed if they opened.
  • Hoarding of TP.
  • Not allowed to go to church and fined or jailed if you tried.
  • National monuments defaced and torn down with no one stopping the vandalism.
  • Liberal radicals take over the center of a major Capitol city with the mayor’s and governor’s help.

How will Satan achieve all of this?

By the deception of people who do not know Jesus and maybe some who do but are deceived by lies instead of trusting the truth they once knew and believed.

Satan uses people to do his work on earth.

I’ve said many times what the Bible teaches: there are only two forces at work in this world, Satan and God. If you’re not following God, by default you’re following Satan. There is no in between.

Rise Up Church!

“The most patriotic thing you can do is give your life to Jesus!” Said by Billy Graham years ago and it never changes.

The next most patriotic thing you can do is to help others know the difference between Jesus or Satan guiding a life. Share with them that . . .

  • Jesus saves. Satan destroys.
  • Jesus loves. Satan hates.
  • Jesus unifies. Satan divides.
  • Jesus heals. Satan defiles.
  • Jesus is peace. Satan is discord.
  • Jesus is courage. Satan is cowardice.
  • Jesus is truth. Satan is a liar.
  • Jesus reveals. Satan deceives.
  • Jesus is hope. Satan is despair.
  • Jesus is light. Satan is darkness.

Can you think of more?

When you see what’s happening in the world today or listen to the news, consider it through the grid of Jesus or Satan.

I’ve learned not to let what I see happening today shock me because it’s so clearly Satan’s tactics and schemes. But we have the antidote: Time is short. Death is sure. Sin is the cause. Jesus is the cure!

I love the song, The Same Power by Jeremy Camp because it reminds us that we have the same power in us that rose Jesus from the grave! “We will not be overtaken, we will not be overcome!”

Scripture tells us we have the power to pray against demons so let’s pray against demonic behavior that wants to rob and steal our country of the peace and harmony of Jesus.

We’re on the winning side but we still need to fight the spiritual battles to achieve victory.

Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. 17 These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. Mark 16:16-17

I want to close with a word of encouragement.

I’m blessed to see that finally the threat to the church is bringing out bold and brave pastors and churches. I hope you’ll take the time to read this post, listen to the pastor, and then pray God multiplies this ministry with pastors of all races and all denominations across the United States: Pastors Vow to Defend Houses of Worship, Not Allow Christian Heritage to be Erased.

So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.” Deut. 31:6 NLT

We cannot be afraid. Pick up your sword of the Spirit and pray like you’ve never prayed before. Your life and the life of the ones you love could very well depend on it.

Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. Eph. 6:17-18 NLT

Note: In my AHW Ministries June Newsletter, I share about the positive difference a mentor made in the life of Senator Tim Scott, the only black Republican Senator at this time.

June 29, 2020
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Our Country Desperately Needs Kingdom Culture Not Cancel Culture

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Yesterday was Father’s Day and that’s always a hard day for me. Especially now as police officers are being devalued and renounced. The incident in Atlanta where the suspect wrestled with the officers and grabbed their Taser has been especially painful. You see my father was murdered by a suspect he had pulled over who wrestled with him. Once subdued, the suspect complained of a painful ankle so my father and his partner took him to the General Hospital.

When they got the suspect into the exam room, he wrestled with them again and managed to get my father’s gun out of its holster and shot my dad pointblank. My father only lived long enough to throw the gun to his partner and with his last breath say, “He got me in the heart . . .”

When a suspect obtains possession of an officer’s weapon, the officers are in danger!

The man who shot my dad one week before his thirty-seventh birthday was a thirty-six year old high school music teacher. I was ten, my little sister was four. My mom was a thirty-two year-old widow.

Cancel Culture Instead of Kingdom Culture is Feudal!

Nothing I can do today will ever change the horror of what happened to our family. My father was protecting his community. He didn’t deserve to die doing it. His family didn’t deserve being deprived of a husband and father. My daughter didn’t deserve never knowing her heroic grandfather.

I don’t know if the murderer had a family or if he has grandchildren or even great grandchildren now. What good would it do for me to find them and demand their shame and reparations for the years their ancestor took from us?

Are they responsible for what this criminal in their heritage did to my family sixty-three years ago? Would I feel better if I rioted on their streets or defaced their homes with graffiti?

Should I hate all high school music teachers? Are music teachers systemically evil because one teacher did something despicable?

I think you would agree that the answer to all those questions is no. He and he alone murdered my father. He is the one responsible for our pain magnified by him getting off on an insanity plea and only two years in jail! But justice is mine says the Lord and the murderer died of a heart attack shortly after his release from prison.

Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.” Rom. 12:19 The Message

It is true that this man’s actions forever changed our family. But he was the only one who could have tried to make restitution. If he had, which he didn’t, it would have been our choice whether to forgive him.

Hanging on to anger and bitterness causes torment and turmoil but never solves the root problem.

I can’t rewrite the large-letter headlines in the LA Times telling the world of my father’s tragic unjustified death. In 1957, it was big news when a police officer was killed on duty.

I can try to go back to find all the newspaper archives and demand all records of his murder be removed from history. I can rip up the yellowed newspaper articles in my family albums. I can research the murder’s family and demand they give our family restitution and destroy all his pictures in their family albums.

But nothing will bring my father back, change history, or heal any wounds in our family or theirs.

I hope you can see the parallel with what is happening in our cancel culture today.

Trying to blot out our country’s history or take blame for our ancestors’ actions will never solve the problems we’re facing today. It’s not a good use of our time, emotions, or energy.

The Truth About Forgiveness

In last week’s blog Every Life Matters to God, I wrote the following:

We can’t change the past or a past that we weren’t responsible for, but we can show the love of Christ to everyone God puts in our path. You can only apologize and repent for what you’ve done personally. If there’s racism in your heart, ask God to remove it. If you’ve shown racism to someone, go to him or her and ask for forgiveness, but you can’t ask for forgiveness for someone else’s sin. Likewise, someone can’t forgive you for something someone else did.

When it comes to the past sins of our forefathers, Ezekiel 18:20 speaks to it.

“The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.”

Our Christian faith is built on forgiveness. We were forgiven of all our past transgressions and sins when we asked Jesus into our heart. The slate was wiped clean for us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

We have to ask God personally to forgive our own sins. No one can ask God for us or on our behalf. Likewise, we can’t accept blame or responsibility for our ancestors or anyone else’s sins and we can’t ask God to forgive them. That’s between each person and God and whoever they wronged.

My grandfather was prejudice. I’m not accountable for his beliefs that I don’t share. I chose to NOT follow his example and raised my daughter to not be racist or prejudice as she is also raising her children. It only takes one generation to make a difference, positively or negatively.

Just like I don’t expect the generations of my father’s murderer to be responsible for his sin, we aren’t responsible for our ancestors past sins and it shouldn’t make us feel righteous trying to do the impossible to make amends for something we didn’t do. We shouldn’t feel we’re doing something virtuous because we aren’t.

What we can do, as I said in last week’s article, is ask God’s forgiveness if you’ve participated in racism, or any sin, either in your heart or actions. If you need to go to someone and ask for their forgiveness for your unrighteous behavior, do it.

Then ask God to guide you to where He wants you to be a source of peace and reconciliation between all people!

If we’re not part of the solution, we’re part of the problem. We certainly see many problems in our world today that we could help solve by intercession, prayer, and personal action.

Every morning I pray “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt. 6:10) Ask the Holy Spirit to help you envision what a Kingdom culture looks like from God’s perspective and then pray it infiltrates our world.

We need to realize that Satan’s goal is to divide us both as Americans and as Christians in any way he can. Race. Religion. Relatives. Relationships. Regions. And the Devil is using politics, media, and anarchists to achieve his goals.

Differences don’t need to divide us unless we let them. We have a choice.

How I Found Kingdom Peace Amidst Earthly Injustice

Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. 18 Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Rom. 12:17-18 NLT

It’s easy to say we need to forgive but it’s so hard to do when the offense is egregious. The year after my father’s murder, I was invited to a church camp where a camp counselor sat on my cot and said, “I know you’ve lost your earthly father, but would you like a heavenly Father who will never leave or forsake you?” I accepted Jesus into my heart that day when I asked Him to forgive my sins.

I don’t think I ever intentionally “forgave” the man who murdered my father, but I was able to not let that tragedy define my life. I had peace in my pain. I grew up fatherless and my mother never worked. Somehow, someway, checks came in the mail I guess from his life insurance and maybe the Highway Patrol. I know the CHP did set up a fund for my sister and me to go to college.

Life wasn’t easy for us and we lived frugally, but God used those hardships to develop me into a woman He could use someday to be About His Work. It didn’t happen early in my life, but once I completely surrendered my will and my ways to Him, it’s been a joy serving my Lord and Savior. My ministry tagline is “Sharing Life Experiences and God’s Faithfulness!” God has certainly given me many experiences to share of His faithfulness to all generations.

My mother sadly turned away from God after my father’s murder. She said no just God would ever do this to a man who was just trying to protect his community and her heart hardened toward God. I watched her physically, emotionally, and mentally deteriorate over the years. As I look back, she probably had a mental breakdown.

Only Jesus can heal a hurting grieving heart.

It was a tumultuous relationship with my mother, but I did eventually forgive her for the hurtful abusive years even though she never asked for my forgiveness. That’s what kingdom Christians do.

“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. 15 But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Matt. 6:14-15 NLT

Will our country ever come to a place where we settle the past and move forward to the full potential of actually living again as the United States?

Only God knows and only God could bring that miracle to fruition. We can pray and hope!

 Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. 2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. 3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. Eph. 4:1-3 NLT

Last week, I asked you to send examples of Christians ministering during the riots and protests. I did receive the same video from several of you. It’s a beautiful example of what Kingdom culture looks like and what God can do when we answer the call He gives us to share the Gospel and help others find eternal life, the only life that really matters.

June 22, 2020
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I Only Bend My Knee to Jesus Christ and No Other!

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In the middle of a pandemic and possible recession, we find ourselves also thrust into a racial war. I’m not going to discuss the merits or faults of a peaceful protest, but violent malicious rioting is wrong. Detestable! Evil!

I mentioned in last week’s blog something I’ve been posting all week, “The rioting has nothing to do with the original frustration over an injustice. Doing wrong to justify another wrong still makes your wrong, wrong!”

There are so many things that alarm me, and I’m sure you too, about what is portrayed about the racial division being stoked in our country.

Bad cops made a bad decision and they will pay the price. But why are the rest of us paying the price?

If this is a racial protest, why are black communities and black businesses being destroyed, looted, robbed, and burned? Why are blacks being killed by blacks?

There’s only one answer to these questions and so many more like them: Satan!

God created one race—the human race!

God gave us the color of our skin. We had no control over that and yet today many Caucasians are bowing down before those who are promoting chaos and mayhem and apologizing for the way God made them. Only Satan could create such an atrocity.

Satan wants to destroy God’s creation of all skin colors because we’re all made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).

When I watch a Black Lives Matter man create a video of him demanding several times that a young white woman bow down before him and repeat after him that she needs to apologize for being “white privilege,” and she does it, I am revolted.*

Or the video of hundreds of people with their hands in the air in a position of worship repeating a renouncement of white privilege mantra led by someone on a stage. Like followers of a false religion. A cult. *

I wonder how many Christians are in that group thinking they are doing something righteous by kneeling to the culture and the world?!

I have another image in mind when I see these videos and it’s not righteous, it’s evil: Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong, Mussolini, or even King Nebuchadnezzar from the Bible.

 King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue ninety feet tall and nine feet wide[a] and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. 2 Then he sent messages to the high officers, officials, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the provincial officials to come to the dedication of the statue he had set up. 3 So all these officials[b] came and stood before the statue King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

4 Then a herald shouted out, “People of all races and nations and languages, listen to the king’s command! 5 When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and other musical instruments,[c] bow to the ground to worship King Nebuchadnezzar’s gold statue. 6 Anyone who refuses to obey will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.”

7 So at the sound of the musical instruments,[d] all the people, whatever their race or nation or language, bowed to the ground and worshiped the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

8 But some of the astrologers[e] went to the king and informed on the Jews. 9 They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “Long live the king! 10 You issued a decree requiring all the people to bow down and worship the gold statue when they hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and other musical instruments. 11 That decree also states that those who refuse to obey must be thrown into a blazing furnace. 12 But there are some Jews—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—whom you have put in charge of the province of Babylon. They pay no attention to you, Your Majesty. They refuse to serve your gods and do not worship the gold statue you have set up.”

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego trusted God to protect them when they refused to bow down to the gold statue and if you remember, they walked out of the fiery furnace untouched.

Like these three brave men, we should never take a knee or bow to anything or anyone except our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Otherwise, we’re not only renouncing our heritage, the color of our skin, our country—or whatever else they come up with to try and get us on our knees—we are renouncing our God.

Don’t do it; it’s not worth it. Only Jesus Christ deserves our prostration before Him. Everything else is an idol of power, control, manipulation, intimidation, and evil, yes evil.

Because . . .

And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father. Phil. 2:8-12

Christians of Every Color, Nation, Tribe, People and Language Are United in Christ!

Many of you know that my family has different “skin colors.” When I look at our family pictures, I see a big happy, handsome, smiling, loving family. I see different hair colors. I do not see different skin colors.

When I see my Christian brothers and sisters, I don’t see skin color, I see the family of God!

It is sadly true that racial injustice is a part of our country’s history, which we should as Christians admit and repudiate the sins of the past. Admission demonstrates humility and acknowledgement that wrongs happened, but it does not have to characterize who we are today. Our job is to make a difference in our generation.

No matter what our skin color or heritage, we aren’t defined by what our ancestors did or experienced. We are defined by what we do and who we are now.

Since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, we’re all born into this world as sinners. “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5).

Until we learn a new better way to live, we will keep on sinning. That’s why everyone needs a Savior and to be born again out of our unrighteousness into the righteousness of following Jesus. Not followers of any fringe or woke group that wants you to change for their benefit. Your identity is in Christ alone!

22 This righteousness is given through faith in[a] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, [black or white]23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:22-24

As Christians, we live counter-culture! We get ourselves right with God and then we can love on others.

Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matt. 22:36-40

Today, politicians, anarchists, and agitators want to keep the old wounds open and look for every opportunity to fester them. It is to their advantage to maintain division and unrest. They have no desire to unite us because then they lose their power and control.

Race isn’t a political issue, it’s a sin issue. It’s not a skin problem, it’s a sin problem.

We’re not dealing with systemic racism, we’re dealing with systemic secularism!

Change won’t happen with a policy change, it happens with a heart change. Hearts transformed by Jesus Christ.

We can’t legislate or demand unity. Only God is the Unifier. It’s our responsibility to continue to love our neighbor as ourself, no matter what their skin color. God’s Golden Rule (Matt. 22:36-40); (Mark 12:30-31).

We defy Satan’s schemes for disunity when we live under God’s plan for unity!

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:2-3

I remember the song we sang in Sunday school as a child, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and Yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.

When you don’t embrace your own skin color, you deny who you are in Christ.

When you bow to anyone or anything other than Jesus Christ, you deny God who said I will have no other gods before me.

We must be on our knees in prayer for the civil and spiritual unrest in our world.

Let’s look for ways this week to keep the focus on God and not the works of Satan. That means we need to outshine the divisive voices in the news and many on social media. We need to bring the light of Jesus into the worldly darkness.

Then we will counter evil with good like these pastors who led a praise march singing Waymaker in the streets of Milwaukee.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj4IrB3I20s

*You’ll find the woman kneeling and the people reciting the mantra in this news clip.

June 8, 2020
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Bridging The Great Divide in Politics and Faith

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When I was a young girl, my mom counseled me to never discuss politics or faith, even with family. Especially, not with family!

That was hard for me to understand as a new believer at eleven-years old. Jesus was the most important person in my life and resided in my heart, which meant I wanted to talk about Him ALL the time. How could I, or why would I, monitor what I said about my faith around other people?

My faith was at the center of my life! And anyway, why couldn’t others just ignore what I said if they didn’t want to hear it? But I wanted them to hear it so they could be saved too and ask Jesus into their heart. Why wouldn’t they want to go to heaven and have eternal life? Who could turn that down?

Politics was not that important to me, so that wouldn’t be hard not to talk about; although I watched many uncomfortable political conversations take place around me. It seemed like people had definite opinions and it made them mad if you didn’t agree with them.

Maturity Changes Everything

Then I grew up.

I learned that people often held on tighter to their political beliefs than to their spiritual beliefs. They defend their political party more than they defend Jesus.

The cultural lines, once definitive, began to merge between the two beliefs. Politics started determining what was moral and laws developed that promoted sin, even though the Bible clearly said such actions are immoral. If you defended the Bible’s definition of sin, you were immoral, even hateful.

The civil law no longer cared about God’s laws. It was now acceptable for everyone to do what was right in his or her own eyes and woe to you if you objected. In fact, you were a legalistic religious fanatic and bigot.

Fast forward to today, where politicians try to make laws to forbid and even prosecute those who follow the teachings of the Bible, Christians. The difference between today’s two political parties in many cases is differences over freedom of speech and freedom of religious rights given to us by our political faith-filled founding fathers.

But we need to remember that human rulers often feel threatened by the higher loyalty of those who are committed to God. That’s why they try to silence us, but they can’t silence Jesus in us unless we let them!

Many people profess to be Christians, yet still side with a political party that hates Israel, supports and condones murdering of babies at all stages of birth, legalizes gay marriage, imposes homosexual values on society, tries to deny scientific genders, promotes sexual promiscuity and deviancy, bans God from the public square, tears down crosses and the 10 Commandments, and bases its agenda on liberalism, socialism, and suppressing freedom of religion.

How can a Christian defend this liberal platform?

How did this happen?

I propose because people continued to avoid talking about politics and faith. Christians stayed silent as they watched the world try to silence Jesus, the same Jesus who resides in every believer’s heart. And I ask the same question, I asked as a little girl, “If Jesus is the most important person in your life, how can you stay silent?”

I know it’s not always comfortable, in fact it can be downright unpleasant, to engage someone who has a differing point of view than you do. Somehow, we’ve lost our backbone, our courage, our grit and have taken the easy way out—avoidance and compliance.

We Must Find Our Platform and Use It

Because the lines have blurred between politics and faith, we cannot be silent. We let it happen, now let’s do something about it.

It’s such a blessing to see so many Christian conservatives run for political office to make sure our voice is heard in government decision making and overturning inappropriate laws.

You may be one of those people God has called to take your faith into the political arena. Do not be silenced. Represent us with dignity and honor to God and His glory.

Running for office may not be your calling, but you can support those who do run. Maybe it will be financially or serving on committees or campaigns and voting.

Give believers a voice wherever you have a voice.

You don’t have to run for office or be a minister to make a difference in politics and in faith. Every believer is in full-time service to the Lord. Every believer is a minister. In God’s eyes, there is no great divide between secular and sacred work.

Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Col. 4:5 NLT

Social media has become a popular platform to take a public and a faith stand. It can be difficult. I don’t recommend getting into arguments or trying to convince people who are belligerent and unkind. But you can post about God-honoring people and policies you believe are good for our country.

I find the best way to deal with people who want to antagonize or harass you is to either ignore them or ask them questions. That’s what Jesus did. Here are just a few of His questions?

  • “Who do people say I am?” Mark 8:27
  • “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Mark 8:29
  • “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” Matt 12:10
  • And if you greet your brethren only, what is unusual about that? Do not the unbelievers do the same? Matt 5:47
  • Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your lifespan? Matt 6:27
  • Why are you anxious about clothes? Matt 6:28
  • Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye yet fail to perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? Matt 7:2
  • Why did you doubt? Matt 14:31
  • And why do you break the commandments of God for the sake of your tradition? Matt 15:3

Some questions that help me in a faith or political discussion:

  • That’s interesting; tell me why you feel/think that way?
  • What do you believe about _________? (Lets you know where they’re coming from spiritually and/or politically)
  • What do you agree with in your party’s platform? (Instead of trying to convince them that yours is better).
  • Why do you like your candidate? (I find they usually just want to tear down yours, but can’t really tell you why the one they like is better)
  • You’re entitled to your opinions, but I choose to follow the Bible’s teaching. Will you agree to that?

The goal isn’t to try to prove that you’re right, but to get them thinking about why they think the way they do.

Try not to argue and always let Jesus shine through your conversation. You never know when they’ll consider your comment or position. Maybe not now but later.

I’ve become Facebook friends with another author who often has different views than I do and many of her friends are in-your-face liberal. I want to avoid her posts, and yet, I’m drawn to them and to her. She and I have come to a good understanding, and I feel that gradually she’s listening to me and considering what I say.

What has been fun to watch is some of her conservative friends seem to feel like they can comment or agree with me or “like” my comment. Almost, like they have permission to talk and not just be quiet because so many are harshly vocal.

I don’t know if I’m making a difference or not, but every time I overcome the desire to just ignore her posts, I pray about it and feel led to engage.

And that’s the key factor. Pray before you engage in conversation or on social media. It’s so easy for our want-to-be-right ego to take over instead of letting Jesus shine through us.

Who knows, maybe this coronavirus that we’re all experiencing together will help us bridge the great divide in politics and faith that has become a chasm in our society.

In Forsaken God? Remembering the Goodness of God Our Culture Has Forgotten, I wrote:

“Often we see the most growth in our spiritual lives during hard times, when God is growing us spiritually and emotionally. We may think he has forgotten us, but God is good and God is great. He never forgets his promises to his people even though his people often forget their promises to him.”

Chris Tiegreen writes in The One Year Salt & Light Devotional: “Many modern cultures have grown soft with comforts and conveniences so common to us, and most people think something has gone terribly wrong when life gets difficult. But we know better. In the Kingdom of God, at least for now, we can be certain of difficulties. We will need to persevere. The rewards are immensely worthwhile, but the costs are real. Wherever you are facing them in your life today, let your higher calling and the name of Jesus make you ‘heartily’ willing to go on.”

“Every activity offers a platform to love, serve, trust, encourage, comfort, pray, and do the works of God.”

The benefits of serving and speaking up for God are well worth the costs and inconvenience!

This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it’s out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing in God’s glory. It’s that simple. That is the substance of our Message. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less. That’s what I’m working so hard at day after day, year after year, doing my best with the energy God so generously gives me. Col. 1:27-28 The Message

April 27, 2020
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Pray: Don’t Panic!

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Local COSTCO with lines wrapping around the store!

The coronavirus continues to dominate the news and people continue to panic. As I wrote in last week’s blog, Headlines Are Designed to Generate Fear: God Says “Fear Not!”

But did you notice that last week the media took a break from incessant coverage of the coronavirus to focus on the Democrat primaries! Even though preventative advice tells us not to participate in large groups or crowds, all that fear seemed to dissipate as supporters crowded together in ballrooms to watch the primary results or listen to their candidate!

Were these participants all tested for the virus before they entered the room? I think not!

Then there’s the masses of people shopping at COSTCO frantically trying to snag the last roll of toilet paper as it disappears from the shelves along with bottled water vanishing like we were preparing for a drought.

I’m not insinuating that you shouldn’t be cautious and prepared, but at our local COSTCO in a state that hasn’t had one case of coronavirus as of this writing, checkout lines wrapped around the store and limits are now imposed on how much hand sanitizer and toilet paper customers can purchase. Again, what about warnings to avoid crowds?!

As the panic ensues, people aren’t always making sensible choices to protect themselves and their families. If you don’t drink much bottled water at home, why buy cases of bottled water? There’s no threat to our water supply. And why a run on toilet paper?  

When healthy people hoard items, they become unavailable for those who are sick and might really need them!

The advice from the CDC is basic health practices:

  •  Washing your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds 
  •  Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with dirty hands 
  • Avoid close contact with sick people 

If you are sick, you can protect others by:

  • Staying home until you are well
  •  Avoiding close contact with others 
  • Cover your nose and mouth when sneezing or coughing
  • Keep objects and surfaces in your home or workspace clean and disinfected

I’ve also read about taking extra Vitamin C, elderberry, and zinc, eat healthy, get plenty of rest, and exercise.

Do you notice anything missing on these lists?

What would God add to the top of the list?

Prayer!

Panic Never Helps, But Prayer Does!

Every expert I’ve heard interviewed stresses, “Don’t panic!” A panic response will only make you, and the people around you, miserable and fearful. It’s the exact opposite of what God would have you do.

Panic does NOT originate with God. Have you ever seen a verse where God encourages panic? Jesus is the “Prince of Peace!”

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Pray: Don't Panic

God tells us that the answer to our world problems is to pray!

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

I am a contributing writer for Crosswalk.com and last week I took an assignment to write an article titled “5 Powerful Prayers for Peace Amidst Pandemic Fear.”

Notice this doesn’t say amidst a coronavirus pandemic; fear has become the pandemic!

I felt the Lord guiding me as I wrote those 5 prayers and Crosswalk put the article into a slideshow with perfect photos. Amazingly, the picture on the last slide looks just like where I live in Idaho.

Because of copyright agreements, I can’t post the article here for you, but I’ll post the introduction and then the link to continue reading. I want each of you to feel the comfort of the prayers and accompanying Scriptures. It’s the best I have to offer you this week.

If you follow me on Facebook, you may have read this article already, but I would encourage you to read it again because these prayers are evergreen—they can apply to any world or personal crisis.

5 Powerful Prayers for Peace Amidst Pandemic Fear

In unsettling times, we find our peace in the presence of the Lord. He is the only one who can effectively prevent the contagious epidemic of fear.

Yet, we live in a fallen world that keeps us fearfully treading from one crisis to the next. It seems like every morning we wake up to a new peril: virus pandemics, new flu strains, Ebola, recessions, earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis, floods, fires…even the threat of other countries attacking us. 

Then there are our own financial, physical, relational, health, and personal crises that often catch us by surprise and strike terror into our hearts. We feel helpless as events spin out of our control. KEEP READING

March 10, 2020
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Why Aren’t All Christians Extending Grace and Forgiveness to Trump?

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praying-for-trump

A post that I wrote during the 2016 election is trending on my website and I know why! It’s just as applicable before this coming election as it was four years ago. Sadly, not much has changed with some Christians opposing President Trump, even in light of all he’s done to fulfill his promises that he would:

  • Be Pro-life and put action behind his words, even speaking at the recent March for Life and repeatedly confirming that “Every child is a sacred gift from Almighty God.”
  • Support and restore religious freedoms
  • Move the Capitol of Israel to Jerusalem and insure that America remains a strong ally of Israel
  • Choose three pro-life conservative Supreme Court justices and replace hundreds of liberal federal judges with conservatives.

At this year’s State of the Union address, President Trump publically affirmed:

“My administration is also defending religious liberty, and that includes the constitutional right to pray in public schools,” Trump continued. “In America, we don’t punish prayer. We don’t tear down crosses. We don’t ban symbols of faith. We don’t muzzle preachers and pastors. “In America, we celebrate faith. We cherish religion. We lift our voices in prayer, and we raise our sights to the glory of God.”

At the National Prayer Breakfast on February 6, 2020, the day after he was acquitted from a partisan hoax impeachment, he said, “Faith keeps us free. Prayer makes us strong. God gives us grace.”

At that same prayer breakfast Arthur Brooks, author of Love Your Enemies, was the speaker along with President Trump who responded to Brooks “I’m trying to learn. It’s not easy. When they impeach you for nothing it’s hard to like them. I’m doing my best.”

Yet many Christians are still refusing to grant President Trump grace and forgiveness.

So I’m reposting below my blog from October 17, 2016, “Why Aren’t All Christians Extending Grace and Forgiveness to Trump?” I think you’ll agree, except for Hillary being the opponent, I could’ve written it today!

What Does It Mean to be A Forgiven Christian?

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about what it means to be a saved, forgiven Christian, granted grace and mercy when I was so undeserving. Our Couples’ Group is studying Pastor Tony Evan’s Victory in Spiritual Warfare and he used a term I’d never heard before: “unsaved, saved person.” I realized that was another term for backsliding, which I did for seventeen years—saved at a youth camp at the age of eleven when I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, and then living an ungodly life from my late twenties until early forties, a backslidden believer. Saved but living like an unsaved person, until I rededicated my life. I write about this time in most of my books—it’s my testimony—of how God redeemed me and has used me About His Work since the day I gave my life fully back to Him.

God forgave me for my sins as a “born again” young girl on fire for the Lord, and He never withheld His love or protection, even as He watched me do things that broke His heart and were so unworthy of someone who knew better. It was as if for seventeen years, I had blinders on, until Pastor Greg Laurie asked at a Harvest Crusade if I was ready to die that night. I wasn’t. God had been gently bringing His prodigal back to Him, as I had recently turned my dating life over to God and was dating the man He had picked to become my husband.

I’m so grateful I was attending Saddleback Church, which welcomes sinners and seekers and offers restoration, hope, and forgiveness for those who are willing to repent, ask for forgiveness, turn from their wayward ways, and follow Jesus’s biblical ways. I married my godly husband Dave, blended our two families, graduated from Fuller Theological Seminary, quit my secular job, and started the Woman to Woman Mentoring Ministry as a rededicated, divorced, remarried woman. I always was shown love, grace, mercy, support, and encouragement at seminary and Saddleback Church.

I felt so unqualified and ill equipped, but my church gave me the tools I needed, as I took a huge prayerful step of faith. I was the least likely woman to start such a ministry . . . many churches might not have let me serve. But I said, “OK” when God called me to “Feed my sheep,” and He did the rest. As a result, twenty years later, Woman to Woman Mentoring is an international ministry blessing thousands of women in Titus 2 mentoring relationships.

Dr. Charles Stanley’s wrote in “Faith Barriers,” In Touch Magazine October 13, 2016:

When we are called to serve, our strength, skill, and wisdom do not matter. Rather, it is the Lord who does the work through us. He doesn’t seek out the most qualified person for a particular job, but instead calls men and women who are willing to surrender themselves to Him. When His strength works through their weakness, it is obvious that only God could have achieved the result.

A Disturbing Lack of Forgiveness Among Evangelicals

Trump has always said that as a child he was a saved Presbyterian, but I think, like me, he probably became an “unsaved, saved” backsliding Christian. Michael Anthony on Godfactor.com shares part of an interview with Dr. James Dobson about Trump’s recent salvation this past summer. Dr. Dobson has seen a change in Trump and only God knows the condition of his heart, which is true for all of us. Anthony also explains how we all mature in our faith at different degrees: some are like microwaves—the change is instantaneous–others are like crockpots.

Anthony and Dobson both called for prayer for the new  “baby Christian” Trump, but I’ve not seen or heard much prayer for Trump, who represents the conservative political agenda in this election. Instead, I’ve seen more stone throwing and rock slinging at him from evangelicals for his past transgressions, right along with the progressive liberals. Many Christians, who are so distressed when called “deplorables” and “haters” by the liberals, have themselves called Trump terrible, unkind, slanderous names.

I can only wonder how many new believers would last if we treated them all that way? And why are Christians doing that, when evangelism is all about sharing the forgiveness of sin and grace of Jesus Christ?

In a political move, tapes of vial things Trump said over eleven years ago became public and many Christians and prominent ministry leaders reacted as if he said them yesterday. I’ve seen video clips of him surrounded by the many Christians he has on staff as he prayed for forgiveness and he asked publicly for forgiveness during the debate. Yet many Christians are unwilling to grant him forgiveness. Why?

If he is saved, God forgave him and wiped the slate clean from all the things he did before, just like He did for you and me when we became Christians. God forgives when we mess up and ask for forgiveness, but many evangelicals pulled their support and backlashed Trump, refusing to show any grace or mercy.

[Tweet “Letting Trump’s past transgressions divide us, another score for Satan. “]

How would any of us feel if our past sins haunted us as new believers? Badmouthing Trump and not looking at the real issues in this election, is just what Satan wants us to do. Letting Trump’s past transgressions divide us, another score for Satan.

Trump is a flawed man, as has been, and will be, every president, but he’s the first one I’ve seen who actually chose a born-again Vice President who told his testimony in the VP debate. He has Christians like Ben Carson on his team mentoring him, who see the bigger picture of the Supreme Court picks who will make decisions that will affect our religious freedoms for the next thirty years! Which will determine whether we as evangelicals can voice our faith publicly in the future in a blog post like this!

With men like that surrounding him, if not saved, he’s certainly a seeker, and aren’t we as evangelicals supposed to help draw seekers to Christ?

We Need a Refresher in Forgiveness

Christians are forgiven by the grace of God, and we need to extend that same grace and forgiveness to others, including Donald Trump: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” Ephesians 1:7

Yes, that would apply to Hillary too, but so far, she has only made excuses for her bad behavior, justifies supporting the things God detests, and puts political spins on her lies. Her agenda is anti-Christian and anti-God. I haven’t seen her sincerely ask forgiveness for anything, but she does need prayer to repent. Wouldn’t that be a wondrous miracle of this election!

4 FORGIVENESS MYTHS

MYTH #1:  Forgiveness must be quick like God’s forgiveness

TRUTH:  Forgiveness is a process

MYTH #2: If I forgive, that means that the offense was “ok.”

TRUTH: Forgiveness doesn’t turn sin into good. Sin is always wrong.

MYTH #3:  If I forgive the person gets off the hook.

TRUTH: Sin always has consequences.

Trump and every Christian can relate to and apply 1 Timothy 1:12-16, Paul’s own words about himself:

“I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.”

[Tweet “Let’s start showing grace, mercy, forgiveness, and pouring out prayer for Trump.”]

Let’s start showing grace, mercy, forgiveness, and pouring out prayer for Trump. He is the candidate for the conservative platform. This election is not about a person, it is about the platform, but God cares about every person’s eternal life. Instead of helping to feed the media beast, let’s pray for a flawed man who is being:

  •  made publicly accountable for past sins
  • humiliated and humbled
  • attacked and assailed
  • refined, renewed, and reformed

He could just be the unlikely person who becomes the future leader of America and allows us to put God back in the public square for generations to come. God could do that!

My last paragraph in that 2016 blog was almost prophetic. President Trump did become the leader of America and he is putting God back in the public square and just recently signed an executive order to allow prayer back in schools! 

I hope I didn’t confuse you, but I wasn’t being disrespectful in the 2016 blog by using “Trump” instead of President Trump, but as of that writing, he had not won the election. 

To read a passage where Jesus saw the good in someone who wanted to serve, but the religious Pharisees only saw her as a sinner read Luke 7:36-50.

I would encourage you to also read this excellent article (2020) How Can You Follow Jesus and Support Donald Trump?

February 10, 2020
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Is Our President More Excited Than We Are About Religious Freedoms?

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Is President Trump More Excited About Religious Freedom Than we Are?

Is January 16, National Religious Freedom Day, marked on your calendar as an incredibly important day in our nation?

It’s not on mine either. In fact, until I read on Facebook about President Trump announcing on National Religious Freedom Day, January 16, new rules designed to roll back “discriminatory” federal regulations to promote teachers’ and students’ right to pray in public schools, I wasn’t aware of this national day.

How was I not aware of such a significant day?! As a Christian writing and speaking about preserving and expressing religious freedom, how did I miss this day? Obviously, President Trump knew about January 16 and he took notable strides to not only commemorate it, but to regain many of our religious freedoms denied us over the years!

Prior to January 16, I didn’t see any publicity about a day so vital to all religions. No mention in church or social media, and except for the landmark announcements from the Oval Office, this day could have slipped by with no recognition.

Why wasn’t there more publicity, blogs, articles?

Why wasn’t social media a buzz about the significance of regaining so many of our lost religious freedoms?

Why was President Trump the only person making a big deal of such a momentous day? Especially, considering he is restoring in schools religious freedoms that I remember when teachers and students could talk freely about God, Jesus, the Bible, and their faith without fear of repercussions or discrimination.

According to Religiousfreedomday.com “Each year, [since 1993] the President declares January 16th to be Religious Freedom Day, and calls upon Americans to “observe this day through appropriate events and activities in homes, schools, and places of worship.” The day is the anniversary of the passage, in 1786, of the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom. We encourage schools to recognize Religious Freedom Day during the school week leading up to January 16.

The goal of ReligiousFreedomDay.com is to promote and protect students’ religious expression rights by informing educators, parents, and students about these liberties.”

There is information on their website for students, educators, parents, and churches.

Our Family’s Personal School Discrimination Story

When my granddaughter was in third grade, she was a little evangelist. She didn’t know that telling the Good News of Jesus stopped at the front door of the school. She and two other little girls of a different faith were discussing their beliefs and she told them the only way to get to heaven was a relationship with Jesus Christ. One of the little girl’s mothers complained to the school and my granddaughter was shattered when she was the one called into a parent teacher conference and scolded. How could this be she cried when she had learned at Sunday school and VBS to share Jesus with everyone?

Not only did this teacher wrongfully crush her emotionally, she crushed her spiritually. Whenever we talk about sharing Jesus with others, my granddaughter, now 14, recalls this life-changing incident because you’re supposed to obey the school rules even when they’re wrong.

Thank You POTUS!

[Tweet “On January 16, 2020, President Trump announced that the U.S. Education Department will send out memos to secretaries and administrators in all 50 states stressing that they can’t prevent teachers or students from praying in public schools.”]

On January 16, 2020, President Trump announced that the U.S. Education Department will send out memos to secretaries and administrators in all 50 states stressing that they can’t prevent teachers or students from praying in public schools. The goal is to “further safeguard students’ constitutionally protected right to pray in school” and to let public school administrators know that they can lose federal funding if they violate students’ religious freedom.

Additionally, the administration will publish rules issued by nine federal agencies that ensure less regulation on religious organizations and social service providers.

President Trump said during a news conference that he doesn’t think there is anything more important than “the right to pray.”

“In public schools around the country, authorities are stopping students and teachers from praying, sharing their faith or following their religious beliefs. It is totally unacceptable. You see it on the football field, you see it so many times where they are stopped from praying. We are doing something to stop that.”

“You have a side that believes so strongly in prayer and it is being restricted and it’s getting worse and worse,” he said. “And I think we have made a big impact. We have loosened it up a lot and I want to loosen it up totally.”

As President Trump sat in the Oval Office surrounded by religious leaders, Christian, Jewish and Muslim students who have suffered discrimination, and Joe Kennedy, a high school coach who lost his job for silently praying on the field, POTUS said: It is a “sacred principle in our republic that government must never stand between the people and God, . . . Yet in public schools around the country authorities are stopping students and teachers from praying, sharing their faith, or following their religious beliefs.”

Trump stressed “there is a cultural war” that not that many years ago it would have been unthinkable that something like this could happen.

[Tweet ““Tragically, there is a growing totalitarian impulse on the far left that seeks to punish, restrict, and even prohibit religious expression.” President Donald J. Trump”]

“Tragically, there is a growing totalitarian impulse on the far left that seeks to punish, restrict, and even prohibit religious expression.”

Where was the excitement from all of us for these historic comments and executive orders?

The hurrahs?

The “Thank you Mr. President for caring about us and our religious rights!”

I maintain that we lost these rights through complacency. And yet, isn’t it that same complacency that doesn’t find us jumping up and down with joy when our President is reinstating them?!

[Tweet “Do you see the irony and spiritual battle of the news cycle obsessed with covering the impeachment of a President who is fighting for our spiritual freedoms?”]

Do you see the irony and spiritual battle of the news cycle obsessed with covering the impeachment of a President who is fighting for our spiritual freedoms?

[Tweet “Restoring religious freedoms is not political; it’s constitutional and moral regardless of which side of the political aisle you sit on.”]

Restoring our religious freedoms is not political; it’s constitutional and moral regardless of which side of the political aisle you sit on.

It has nothing to do with whether you like or agree with President Trump. It’s all about being on God’s side and helping to put Him back on His throne in the public square.

Dr. James Dobson didn’t let this historic day slip by his notice. Benjamin Gill wrote in a CBN News article on January 17, Dobson said,

“I’ve lived long enough to remember well a time when public prayer was expected and appreciated, even in schools.”

“I’ve also lived long enough to see the consequences of our societal disregard of the Ten Commandments and the eternal truth they represent.”

“For this reason, I’m greatly encouraged by the steps this administration is taking to correctly understand, restore, and preserve our constitutionally-guaranteed freedoms.

“It [the First Amendment] was designed to protect our first liberty. Unfortunately, government officials have increasingly bought the lie from groups such as Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and have worked to purge religion from the public square, demeaning the beliefs of millions of Americans in the process.”

Then he adds the important message I’m trying to drive home with this blog,

“We should celebrate the administration’s vital efforts to protect our religious freedom. But such work is in vain if we don’t seize the opportunity to live out our faith and thereby transform the heart of this nation.”

We May Have Missed January 16, But Let’s Celebrate Our Religious Freedoms!

We need to make sure our schools and colleges enforce these new rules the President is establishing. Unless we take it upon ourselves to exercise our religious freedoms that are quickly being denigrated by those who want to take God and His ways out of America, we could find ourselves censored in our churches, our speech,  our writing, and in our homes.

How did abortion become legal?

How was God’s definition of marriage legally changed?

How did prayer, the Bible, and Jesus become taboo in schools?

How are crosses, even on a necklace, the 10 Commandments, Christian caps and clothes prohibited in schools and public places?

I submit to you, it’s because we let it happen.

Let’s be sure the significance of President Trump’s Proclamation and Executive Orders on January 16 are remembered and enforced.

[Tweet “Let’s bravely and courageously take a stand for our religious freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment written to protect the church from the State not the State from the church.”]

Let’s bravely and courageously take a stand for our religious freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment written to protect the church from the State not the State from the church. Don’t be fooled and don’t let anyone use it to silence you.

Let’s make it clear that our faith is in our heart that goes with us everywhere, including school.

Let’s not let the State rip the heart out of America.

 “A society without religion cannot prosper, a nation without faith cannot endure because justice goodness and peace cannot prevail without the glory of almighty God.” President Donald J. Trump

[Tweet ““A society without religion cannot prosper, a nation without faith cannot endure because justice goodness and peace cannot prevail without the glory of almighty God.” President Donald J. Trump”]

For more on these historic strides allowing the expression of faith in schools:

“Trump Announces School Prayer Guidance; 9 Agencies Draft Religious Freedom Rules”.

Trump Criticizes liberals’ ‘growing totalitarian impulse’ as he vows to protect school prayer includes President Trumps Proclamation on Religious Freedom Day, 2020 that he signed in the Oval Office.

Who Told Students They Can’t Pray in Public School?

Read an Op-ed by Pastor Greg Laurie on President Trump’s historic executive action regarding religious freedoms.

Trump Fights to Protect Prayer In School with New Federal Guidelines.

The Hill: Trump Administration’s Religious Freedom Announcement Square with Constitution, Supreme Court Precedent.

If you haven’t read my book Forsaken God? Remembering the Goodness of God Our Culture Has Forgotten, it is written for such a time as this.

Remember the goodness of God so you don't forsake Him in your life.

January 20, 2020
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How Do Your Plans for 2020 Align with God’s Plans for You?

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How Do Your Plans for 2020 Align with God's Plans for You?

I’m going to be honest with you right up front! I seriously considered taking a mini-vacation from writing this week’s Monday Morning Blog. After all, it’s that confusing time between Christmas and New Year’s when it’s hard to remember what day it is after taking a day off in the middle of the week and many of us might be suffering from the after-Christmas blahs. I know I am.

We had a wonderful Christmas with our family, which I had looked forward to for weeks . . . and then it’s over. We don’t often have a day to relax and spend time with those close to us that we don’t see every day. Of course, as Christians, we have Jesus in our heart year-round!

But I digress. I felt justified in not writing a blog on the last Monday of the year. I rationalized that you would probably be too busy to read it anyway. Then I received the email that changed everything. God nudged me off the couch and back to my office because there might be just one person who needs encouragement in determining what God wants him or her to do in 2020.

Here’s part of the email that motivated me to write this blog. It’s from the Faith Editor at Crosswalk.com where I’m a contributing writer:

“Hi wonderful writers! I just wanted to thank and congratulate you ‘select 6’ writers for pouring your hearts into content that made our top 10 in page view-volume for content that was created in 2019 for our Spiritual Life channel!”

You might remember that last week’s Monday Morning Blog was “When God Surprises You!” My editor’s congratulatory email was a huge surprise to me! To God be the Glory!

The Crosswalk article that placed #3 in the Top 10 viewed for 2019 was How to Know If Your Leap of Faith Is In God’s Will. This article only posted on Crosswalk on October 11, 2019, and yet, it was the third most read article for the entire year in the Faith and Spiritual Life category!

[Tweet “Christians want to know how to determine if we’re in God’s will when we make decisions, decide to follow a dream, make changes in our life . . . take a leap of faith.”]

Christians want to know how to determine if we’re in God’s will when we make decisions, decide to follow a dream, consider changes in our life . . . .

We ask: What am I doing here? What does God want me to do?

In the Crosswalk article, I share the 10 Steps that I went through 25 years ago to determine if it truly was God’s will for me to take a leap of faith and start a Woman to Woman Mentoring Ministry. Little did I know then that not only was it God’s will, but He had plans to take the mentoring ministry beyond what I could’ve ever imagined or dreamed.

How Do Your Plans for 2020 Align with God's Plans for You?

As 2019 ends, you’re probably thinking about setting goals or resolutions for the coming year. The 10 Steps in my Crosswalk article could help guide you, like they did me, in determining if your plans align with God’s plans for you. God’s will for you. 

[Tweet “The 10 Steps in my Crosswalk article could help guide you, like they did me, in determining if your plans align with God’s plans for you. God’s will for you.”]

Maybe you really want to follow God’s calling for your life, but you’re afraid of stepping out of your comfort zone. Or you might be fearful of failing or the cost seems too high to take a leap of faith into the unknown.

Let me assure you, if God is in it, He’ll be right beside you giving you the strength and courage to persevere.

[Tweet “Let me assure you, if God is in it, He’ll be right beside you giving you the strength and courage to persevere.”]

I can’t reproduce How to Know If You’re Leap of Faith Is In God’s Will here for copyright reasons, but here’s the link again. Crosswalk put the article into a beautiful slide show with pictures you’ll identify with for both men and women. The 10 faith steps in this article come from Scripture. God speaks to each of us through His Word.

[Tweet “God speaks to each of us through His Word.”]

I’m looking forward to hearing in the New Year the leaps of faith God confirms He wants you to take. I pray my Monday Morning Blogs will encourage you in your journey. We’re all sojourners together following the Lord’s leading to do His work on earth as it is in heaven.

Lord, please give me the strength to take a leap of faith and go where you call me to go and do what you ask me to do. My trust is in You alone. Empower me to align my plans with Your plans for me and to give You the glory for what You will do in and through me.

“True success in your life comes not in knowing the will of God, but in doing it.” –O.S. Hawkins The Believer’s Code

 “For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.” John 6:38 NLT

I wish you a blessed joyful New Year, not just on January 1, 2020, but everyday with every breath.

December 30, 2019
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