"Wherever you are, be all there.
Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God."
~Jim Elliot

10.5.10

No. 6

There are a great many things in our republic today that demand our attention. It seems that crises are multiplying, and we become numb, and ask ourselves: “Why should I care?”

After a while of being alarmed and stunned by recent events, it seems the adrenaline lets off, and we turn our minds to everyday things again. After all, it’s not really affecting everyday things right now. And those people who seem to stay stirred up over it, they annoy us. Inevitably, we justify our apathy by secretly telling ourselves we’d rather not sound crazy like them.

Citizen, if the republic falls, who will answer for it? Will you blame God, saying it was his will? Will it be fate if the republic crumbles? Or perhaps you are so uncertain, you would say there is no way to tell, and if we fall it was pure chance?

I say not by fate, nor by chance! I am not willing to trust my sacred liberty to either of these. If we have prayed, if we have sought the face of Almighty God, if we have turned from our wicked ways then GOD WILL KEEP HIS PROMISE! Have you lost heart and have your eyes been darkened so that you forget the character of your God? Citizen-Christian!-have faith! Have faith.

Have you, in the back of your mind, thought that God weighs the good and the bad, and if the bad is heavier, then no amount of righteous praying will influence him? Maybe in your judgment you think that this country deserves what it gets. Yes, this nation is full of wicked people, perverted justice, and rampant disregard for God. But you are here. You are a righteous person, made so by the blood of Christ on the cross. You are praying. You have faith. And if you know God firsthand from the accounts in Scripture, then be assured God will keep his promises to you. “For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king, he will save us.” Isaiah 33:22

Am I arguing that we all ask God to take us back to the way it was before 9/11? I am not. Are you? When we pray and ask Him to heal our land, we are asking for what He wants, not what we want. What would a healed America look like? When we pray, are we trying to control the outcome, or do we trust Him that the product of our prayers will be His greater glory? Give your patriotism to God. Do not pray like a patriot, pray like a Christian. What is God’s heart for our republic? Let us ask Him to give us His heart for this nation, so that we pray according to His will.

These hard times will make or break the republic. And perhaps us, as well. We Christians are being tested, here…now. What are we called to do? Be engaged in prayer, stay stirred up, let ourselves really care about what is going on in America…or, pray out of obligation and do our best to get lost in everyday life, avoiding those extreme people who annoy us?

Have you ever met a person who likes being awakened in the middle of the night and made to stay awake for the rest of it? No. But we as a people have been stirred awake. Will you go back to sleep, or is a burning republic important enough to keep you out of bed? The watchmen have sounded the alarm. Again, ask yourself: “Why should I care?”

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Windsome Belle

Windsome Belle
Filly, born April 30, 2008