Perhaps its even more than the news. Its becoming more difficult by the day to watch any tv show, movie, sports event or even advertisement on tv without feeling like it needs to be turned off. As a Christian white straight male this servant is persona non grata in today's 'new world.' Todays world is full of hatred, greed, selfishness and lust masquerading as 'love' and 'tolerance.' None of this of course should be a surprise to us as our Lord told us all this was coming:
2 Tim 3
1But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
One way of looking at all this is this world and the enemy are doing us a favor. This servant is being more or less forced to turn off this world's garbage and focus 1. on the Word and 2. personal mission. What does the Word say about our situation?
Instead of the hatred, division and dissolution offered by this world, we should choose this ^^.
We have the power to choose what to focus on and what not to focus on. While this world and those who belong to it continue to spiral around the drain of history, following each others lead to lower lows. We who do not belong to this world or its kingdoms should be looking to the laws and Words that guide and direct our kingdom. How much better to spend our waking hours dwelling on noble, right, true, pure, lovely and admirable things? In order to dwell on true lovely admirable things we must turn off this world and all of its media, including and especially social media that has revealed itself to be an enemy of our God and His kingdom but also an enemy of humanity itself.
And while we are dwelling on true, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy things let us consider Psalm 37 which should be reviewed daily until it is memorized because it holds so much truth for our present situation. Here is an excerpt:
Ps 37:
39The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD;
he is their stronghold in the time of trouble.
40The LORD helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.
He is our stronghold in times of trouble? Indeed. Are we in trouble today? You bet we are. It also sas the Lord will help us and deliver us from the wicked because we take refuge in Him. If ever we needed to cash in a promise of the Lord at the Bank of the Most High it would be that promise today. The wicked surround us on every side. They are in the media, the government and just about every corporation. The whole world it seems has given itself over to the dark side to serve themselves and their master the devil. But guess what? The whole world united together plus the devil and his angels will not be enough. They will get absolutely crushed, obliterated, devastated, destroyed, annihilated.
This is where we must part ways with those who claim to be Christian but throw their hands up in the air claiming we the Church will be sold down the river without a second thought and with no recourse or help from heaven. Really? Which Bible are these people reading? This servant presented to you just two verses out of the 40 in Psalm 37 that clearly state we have a stronghold in times of trouble. There is a big difference between being sold down the river and having a stronghold. Not only that it says we will be both 1. helped and 2. delivered from the wicked. This servant does not need ThD or PhD after his name to know what that means. The Word could not be any more clear. This is perfectly understandable from even a 4th grader. We will be helped, saved and delivered from the wicked because we take refuge in the Most High God. Thats what it says and we can take it to the bank.
So...turn of the news. Cancel and walk away from social media and everything else that is selling hatred, wickedness and despair. It is time to focus:
whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
The other part of the focus is on your personal 'talents' (Matt 25). You and I have been given gifts within us from heaven to serve our Father's kingdom. Whatever those talents or abilities are, now is the time to engage and develop them. Our services are now being called upon, its time to go to work.
We dont have to figure everything out we just have to deal with what is right in front of our face today. The Lord will take care of the big picture stuff. He is the General, we are His grunts/foot soldiers who do what we are told to do. Our Commander in Chief knows exactly what He is doing and He knows every minute detail of the enemy battle plan against us. To say that this is not a fair fight is an understatement. While the enemy appears to hold all the cards at the moment, like every time before he will be annihilated. Here is an example from the past:
Isaiah 37
Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Help
1As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the LORD. 2And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. 3They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’”
5When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”
8The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush,a “He has set out to fight against you.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10“Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? 12Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”
Hezekiah’s Prayer for Deliverance
14Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. 15And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: 16“O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 17Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 18Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 20So now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the LORD.”
Sennacherib’s Fall
21Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22this is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him:
“‘She despises you, she scorns you—
the virgin daughter of Zion;
she wags her head behind you—
the daughter of Jerusalem.
23“‘Whom have you mocked and reviled?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes to the heights?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
24By your servants you have mocked the Lord,
and you have said, With my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon,
to cut down its tallest cedars,
its choicest cypresses,
to come to its remotest height,
its most fruitful forest.
25I dug wells
and drank waters,
to dry up with the sole of my foot
all the streams of Egypt.
26“‘Have you not heard
that I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
what now I bring to pass,
that you should make fortified cities
crash into heaps of ruins,
27while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,
are dismayed and confounded,
and have become like plants of the field
and like tender grass,
like grass on the housetops,
blightedb before it is grown.
28“‘I know your sitting down
and your going out and coming in,
and your raging against me.
29Because you have raged against me
and your complacency has come to my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and I will turn you back on the way
by which you came.’
30“And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
33“Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. 34By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the LORD. 35For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
36And the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 37Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. 38And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of Ararat, Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
Yep, things looked pretty dark for awhile there right up until the Lord extended His fly swatter and whacked 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. Like it was stated earlier, this fight is not and will not be even close to fair. The odds are not stacked against us, they are overwhelmingly against the enemy and his servants, they just dont know it yet. They will be getting educated in the days, weeks, months and years to come.
Keep the faith. Remember what to focus your thoughts on. Remember to engage your talents/skills/abilities.
grace and peace
