Political Wars
My mom worked for several Governors and a US Senator; my dad worked in a congressional campaign; both were deeply interested in politics. Much of my career included government relations responsibilities. And yet I was mainly interested in policy questions rather than politics.
The past few years, however, I’ve been drawn more and more into who is in office, and campaign activities.
I’ve been increasingly agitated, even to the point of losing sleep.
I’ve hidden posts from some Facebook friends who I felt were maligning people (and who didn’t agree with me!).
Much of this is not good.
Very recently I’ve been praying about talking to one friend about highly negative posts, and how I didn’t think they reflected well on other posts about the Lord.
I’ve been praying about “speaking the truth in love.” (Ephesians 4:15)
But then… Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.(Matthew 7:3–5)
Oh my.
What has my Lord have to say to His servant? (Joshua 5:14)
I failed to believe that the “Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.” (Daniel 4:25)
Lack of trust in Almighty God resulted in sleeplessness.
I inconsistently prayed for elected officials (1 Timothy 2:1-4)
I failed to be compassionate to—or pray for—those who probably weren’t believers. (Titus 3:1-3)
I failed to bless those who cursed me. (Luke 6:28)
James’ comments about the tongue (that from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing) too often applied to me. (James 3:8-12)
I failed to focus on the Great Commission. (Matthew 28:19-20)
Oh my.
~~~
Lord, forgive me. Please show me how to honor You in these troubled times. Please show me how to be light in the world. Please show me if I should speak up, and, if so, when and how. Please help me walk in a manner worthy of you.
~~~
See also Whose Side Are You On?
Do the ends justify the means?
Does a worthwhile goal (to you, anyway) mean you can do anything to attain it? Is sinning okay to reach a particular goal?
Of course not.
But in our current climate, many seem to have adopted that stance.
And, of course, unbelievers don’t have the same concern about sin.
What does the Bible say?
Old Testament Example: Good goal, bad means
King David had the laudable goal to move the ark to Jerusalem. But he didn’t seek the Lord (1 Chronicles 15:13) and follow the Lord’s commands about howto carry the ark. Instead, David placed the ark on a new cart pulled by oxen. When the ark was nearly upset, a man took hold of it, and “God struck him down there for his irreverence.” (2 Samuel 6:7)
New Testament Example: Bad goal, bad means
Ananias and Sapphira apparently wanted to be honored, and gave to the apostles part of the money they received from selling a piece of property. But they lied, saying they were giving the entire amount. Peter said they lied to God, that they put the Spirit of the Lord to the test. God killed both of them. (Acts 5:1-11)
What are our “Ends?” Our “Goals?” Our “Means?”
Christians are to walk in a manner worthy of Him who saved us. That is both a life goal and a commitment to be righteous in our thoughts, words, and deeds.
There are some, but not many, avenues of life that are off limits. We can’t be professional hit-men or prostitutes, but we can be politicians, or police officers, or …
However, whatever our God directed path, we must behave as children of God, increasingly walking in His will.
We are Responsible
What we do is our responsibility, and actions do have results. While we can control what we do, we cannot also control the result.
And we should remember that every action has a cascade of results, sometimes called “the ever-widening circle of consequences.” It may be that your action, down the road, impacts someone’s decision to trust Christ or to reject Him.
We must be alert, aware, and careful.
~~~
Almighty God, help us trust You, our sovereign, loving God. Help us know, really know, that You are in control of everybody and everything all the time. Help us know the paths You have for us individually, and help us walk those paths in a manner worthy of You. Forgive us those times we have tried to get our own way using means not pleasing to You.
USGS Volcano: Fissure 8, Hawaii
Praise our Faithful God, our faithfully faithful God
God never changes. Everything He is and everything He does is characterized by faithfulness.
He is always faithful
It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us; If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. (2 Timothy 2:11–13)
Everything He does is characterized by faithfulness
For the word of the Lordis upright, and all His work is done in faithfulness. (Psalm 33:4)
The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He. (Deuteronomy 32:4)
He faithfully fulfills His promises
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:23)
Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass. (1 Thessalonians 5:24)
His love is faithful
The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22–23)
He is also faithful in wrath
He will recompense the evil to my foes; Destroy them in Your faithfulness. (Psalm 54:5)
Christ’s Name is Faithful and True
And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. (Revelation 19:11)
Praise our Faithful God
I highly recommend A.W. Tozer: The Attributes of God. Here are some excerpts from Volume 2 about God’s faithfulness:
“Faithfulness is that in God which guarantees that He will never be or act inconsistent with Himself… God will never cease to be what He is and who He is… Nothing can force God is act otherwise than faithfully to Himself and to us… God must be true to Himself, and when God makes a promise, He must keep that promise… God will remain faithful because He cannot change… He is perfectly faithful, because God is never partly anything… God is perfectly all that He is and never partly what He is… God means exactly what He said in the Bible. God wrote this and God is faithful; God cannot lie.”
I am so grateful our God is always faithful. We can rely on Him to be who He says He is. We never have to worry that He is having a bad day, or has changed His mind. We are assured that all His attributes are always faithfully in operation.
Praise our Faithful God
Harry Durgin/FaceBook
What is Your Level of Trust?
Do you trust God all the time? Some of the time? Practically never?
On a scale of 1 to 10, where is your level of trust?
This is a fundamental question relating to your Christian walk.
The fact is that God is totally sovereign. He is sovereign over everything and everybody ALL the time.
Do you believe that?
The US—and the world—is in chaos. Do you believe—really, now—do you believe that God is in control of this mess?
If you don’t, the implications are enormous:
If God isn’t sovereign, who is?
If God isn’t sovereign, are you really going to heaven?
If God isn’t sovereign, what is going to happen to the world?
Please take a look at When Storms Come: Are You Ready? Chapters 2 – 5 go through God’s sovereignty over nature, people, and evil. Chapter 14 talks about responding to God with trust.
Personally, I am rocked by the problems in the US, let alone the rest of the world. But then I am forced to my knees. God, our loving, sovereign God, is totally righteous, judging sin, providing mercy, and bringing people to saving faith. He is working all things according to the counsel of His glorious will.
Trusting God is not blind trust, because blind trust is, well, blind! Proof of God’s trustworthiness is rooted in His character, His actions, and His promises. As hard as things appear, we can trust that God is in control.
~~~
Lord God, please help us totally trust You in these troubled times. Help us look to You for wisdom. Help us not lean on our own understanding. Help us honor Your holy name through our lives.
There is a quip: “Believe in the dark what you learn in the light.”
We are followers of Jesus Christ and are learning to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4). We haven’t arrived yet (Philippians 3:12), but God is working on us (Philippians 2:13), and will keep working on us until the day of Christ (Philippians 1:6).
What incredible, awesome promises.
But, when it is dark, it is easy to forget God loves us. It’s easy to forget His loving sovereignty. It’s easy to forget that He is working all things after the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11), and that all things will work to our good (Romans 8:28).
But He is and He does and He will.
Does it look dark out? Does the future look troubling?
The law is ignored and justice is never upheld. The wicked surround the righteous; Therefore justice comes out perverted.(Habakkuk 1:4)
God tells us He is doing something! (Habakkuk 1:5)
Our challenge is to believe Him.
Our challenge is to praise Him.
Our model is Habakkuk who saw the evil of his day, and whom God told He was using an evil nation to correct Israel. Habakkuk imagined the trouble that was coming, and determined—determined–to praise God.
I have resolved to praise God in the midst of these dark times. How about you?
Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exult in the Lord,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, and makes me walk on my high places. (Habakkuk 3:17–19)
~~~
Father, forgive me for not trusting You in these dark times. Forgive me for forgetting what You’ve taught me, for ignoring the promises in Your Word. Help me focus on who You are, Your righteousness, Your justice, Your mercy. Help me praise You, help me give You thanks in everything. And Father, in wrath, remember mercy (Habakkuk 3:1)
Agranddad was talking with his very upset granddaughter. She told him she’d been talking to herself, and, well, “Things were said.”
I laughed when I read that, but I often say harsh and negative things to myself. I’m sure you do too.
We, too often, believe the negative, harsh things we say to ourselves, along with Satan’s lies. We, too seldom, praise God.
No wonder we aren’t more joyful.
Remind Yourself
Remind yourself that you are God’s workmanship, His poem.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)
Remind yourself that you are God’s beloved.
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. (Ephesians 5:1)
You [believer in Christ] who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ. (Jude 1)
But not Perfect
We are not to “beat ourselves up” for current or past sins. All that does is debilitate us, and make it harder to walk in newness of life.
We are to confess and repent, of course.
We should also remind ourselves that God is working in us and will keep working until the Day of Christ Jesus.
For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)
He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)
Resolve To:
Become aware of what you say to yourself.
STOP beating yourself up.
Confess and repent, of course, as the Holy Spirit brings sins to mind.
STOP confessing the same thing over and over.
Remind yourself that God is faithful to forgive when you confess.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
Praise God
The cure for much of what ails us is to praise our awesome, almighty God.
Where have you come from and where are you going? (Genesis 16:8)
You remember the story. (See Genesis 16:1-16)
Hagar, Sarai’s maid, ran away from Sarai and the Lord found her by a spring of water. He asked her those questions, and told her to return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority. (Genesis 16:9) The Lord also gave her promises.
Hagar called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, El Roi, the God who sees. (Genesis 16:13)
El Roi, the God who saw Hagar, also sees us.
If you wonder: “Where is God in all this?” The answer is that He is there; He sees what is happening.
You are not alone. You are not ignored. You are not neglected.
He sees our situation so He can guide us; So He can correct us, as needed. He went to Hagar on purpose. And He comes to us intentionally as well.
He sees our issues so He can rescue us.
He sees our despair so He can comfort us.
He sees our future so He can prepare us.
Praise El Roi, the God who Sees.
Before you read this post, please read Daniel 9:1-19.
My challenge—to myself and to you—is to write a corresponding prayer to Almighty God for the USA.
Daniel had been exiled in Babylon about 70 years when this prayer was written. He sought the Lord by “prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.” (verse 3)
Do I—do you—care enough about the United States to seek the Lord with such fervency?
Daniel centered himself on the awesome Lord’s faithfulness (verse 4), and then confessed.
We have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. (verse 5)
Most likely, you and I are distressed by many of the same US attitudes and actions, even though we probably don’t agree on everything. Confess USA’s sins.
Ask for the Lord’s forgiveness on our nation and ourselves.
O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! (verse 19)
Alas!
Please bring us to confession. Please make us determined to walk in Your ways. Please send revival. Please make us a country You can bless.
Recently I heard a person condemned for citing incorrect statistics. Was it a mistake or a lie? Did the person believe the statistics were correct, or was there intent to deceive? There is an important difference, both for the one making a mistake/telling a lie and for the one being told.
Mistakes are part of being human.
Lies stem from the father of lies, that is, Satan.
What’s the difference?
Mistakes
We, human beings, do not know everything about anything! We can study endlessly and still get something wrong. We can assess and plan and still get it wrong. We can accurately relate a result only to find out the instrument was faulty. We can trust the judgment of someone else, only to find error.
When we make a mistake, our motive is to have gotten it right.
And, even if our motive was honorable, all actions have results, some negative.
Lies
Lies, on the other hand, involve deliberate deception. The motive is to deceive, aiming for a specific impression or result.
Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices.(Colossians 3:9)
Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.(1 John 2:22)
A truthful witness saves lives, but he who utters lies is treacherous.(Proverbs 14:25)
Our Response
Mistakes:
Iif a person consistently makes mistakes, especially of the same type, it is an opportunity for a loved one, or a friend or employer, to speak the truth in love. Perhaps the person needs to be better informed. Perhaps the person needs coaching on how to better act in the situation.
If we are the one making repeated mistakes, we need to seek more information, and/or education in how to assess a particular issue and respond appropriately.
Lies:
We are to hate lies.
A righteous man hates falsehood.(Proverbs 13:5)
If we find ourselves lying, we need to recognize we have sinned, confess, and repent.
We need to be watchful of others, assessing accuracy, and distinguishing truth, mistakes, and lies.
If we see others lying, we need to be aware and wise.
Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.(Matthew 10:16)
Prayer
Father, please help us speak the truth in love as we seek to walk in Your way, and glorify You in our lives. Please help us be wise in this troubled and evil world, discerning truth from lie.
We are Witnesses
You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord.(Isaiah 43:10)
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.(Acts 1:8)
Me, too?
Yes, I am to tell people about Christ.
I am qualified and equipped: I believe in Christ, trust Him as my Savior, and have declared He is my Lord. The Holy Spirit dwells in me.
My failure to witness is sin.
It’s Personal
We are called to testify to what we’ve heard, seen, and felt.
Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen …(John 3:11)
Many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.(John 4:39)
So the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify about Him.(John 12:17)
Focus on Christ
I’ve heard and read testimonies that focused on the person and not on Jesus Christ. At least three-quarters of one book focused on the person’s sin-filled past and didn’t talk about the Lord until the end.
Contrast that with Paul In Jerusalem when the Jews sought to kill Paul and the Roman commander gave Paul permission to speak to the crowd. In three verses, Paul covered his life prior to Christ’s revealing Himself to Paul on the road to Damascus. Three verses! (Acts 22:3-5)
A lame man was healed, and when the crowd was filled with wonder and amazement, Peter redirected their attention to Christ.
Peter: “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?” (Acts 3:12)
Be Ready
When an opportunity arises to talk about Jesus, are you ready?
We are to “sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.” (1 Peter 3:15)
Are you ready to testify about what you have heard, seen, and felt? Can you provide a clear answer in a short period (an elevator ride)? Do you know what you’d say when someone asks you why you believe?
Go Therefore
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.(Matthew 28:19–20)
Prayer
Father, I want to faithfully obey Your commands. I want to be ready to give an account for my belief, to honor my Lord Jesus Christ. Help me be alert to when You would have me speak.
See Who’s the Star?
And Show and Tell.
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When Storms Come: Will You Be Ready?
When Storms Come: Will You Be Ready? helps Christians not fear bad news, shows them how to handle current trouble, and helps them emerge stronger on the other side.
About me
I'm a Christian, wife, retiree, and author.
I love studying and putting knowledge into action. I'll share what I'm learning, encourage you, and urge all of us to press on to become more like Christ.
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