Help Us, O Lord!

Hear my voice when I call, LORD; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, LORD, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Savior. I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Psalm 27:7-9, 13

Every time something happens in the world–especially in America–we have this inclination to say, “God bless America” without thinking of the implications–we’re always seeking God, to do for us. We should be offering ourselves to Him and saying, “America Bless God,” but we’ve taken Him out of just about everything.

We’ve taken Him out of our schools–and then we wonder why not many are learning anything worthwhile and certainly students are not learning to think for themselves, but rather they learn how to take tests and disrespect all in authority. Violence increases while learning decreases.

We’ve taken Him out of our local government entities–can’t pray out loud for fear of offending others who don’t believe in Him. And Lord, knows–we don’t want to offend anyone by acknowledging Him who is beholden to no one.

We’ve taken Him out of our homes when we allow government to determine how we raise our children. Not many are willing to risk going to jail in order to discipline an unruly child. And we see the results of that lack of discipline–every day.

We’ve taken Him out of our churches–even though there are some who have maintained the obligatory picture, statue, or posted creed–God is not welcomed into the building because we have decided that what “man” wants is more important and ignore the basic premises of knowing God–loving all and obeying God. And this is why we still have the greatest racial and ethnic segregation–in the churches.

If we don’t want to acknowledge God in the schools, homes, government or churches–what’s left? A flag or a song are not important to God, yet we get offended when people don’t play the game of honoring them. If we can’t say a prayer aloud at a sporting event, why are we honoring a flag–made by the hands of men and machines–or a song written by a man that did not include all mankind? I don’t understand!

And for this reason, I know we’re in trouble and the only person who can turn things around is God. We’re in trouble and until we recognize that no man or woman is going to change things, we’re going to stay on the path the enemy has established, not the path of success that God desires for us. I’m waiting on God, not the debate–to see what He will do for all of mankind.

Help us, O Lord! We need You–involved in every area of our lives on a minute-by-minute basis–and I welcome You in my life–guiding all that I do that honors You. My confidence, is in You, O Lord and I know whatever You desire for us, is what the end will be.

 

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Love Won’t Stop Trouble!

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?” (Romans 8:35 NLT)

Considering the fact that Jesus warns that “in this world” we will have trials and tribulations, we should not ever think that when they happen, that His love has been removed. It hasn’t. If anything, we can count on going through all that He promised and coming through–refined, better than ever because of His love. He tells us not to worry about the trials and tribulations because He has overcome them. Since He has overcome them, we will, too–if we don’t faint in the midst of the storm.

Actually, we should think about how the enemy hates us because of His love. The attacks–on our bodies, our finances, our mental stability (for those who belong to Him) are a result of His loving us and the enemy can’t stand it. He will throw at us anything he can to make us stagger or turn in unbelief.

When parents (especially old-school parents) discipline their children when the children do wrong, they are not disciplined because the parents no longer love them. They are disciplined because they are loved. Godly parents–never stop loving their children–no matter what. They won’t always like what the children do, but they never stop loving them.

God never stops loving us–no matter what and He certainly doesn’t like all things we do.  Once we have submitted to Him, the storms may rage and we may have to volley the darts thrown our way, but He never stops loving us. He knows we’ll never reach perfection until we are no longer able to choose any options for our lives. As long as we can choose, there’s a likelihood that we’ll choose wrong, but even then–His love continues to overflow in our hearts and we will survive–whatever it is that attempts to move us or turn us away from Him.

Throughout our time here in the earth realm, we must never forget that we are His chosen people; He has plans for us and His plans shall be accomplished. Trouble may come, but His love will help us to withstand and triumph over every assault by the enemy!