Wednesday, June 27, 2012

If My People...

As Christians we often pray, we ask other believers to join us, many times the prayers concern our nation and the world and we stand on verses found in the Bible. One we see frequently is: 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. A couple of verses from I Peter really speak to me regarding our nation: Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. It seems as we head toward November, many Christians are bashing Democrats, others are bashing Republicans, some are murmuring and complaining about POTUS. It does not matter what we think of President Obama, what matters (in my opinion) is showing respect for the office and honoring him by praying for him. The Word of God does not say if you like him pray, it says honor the emperor. Do we need Old Testament 101 and review what God thought of the Israelites' murmuring and complaining? Pray for all the candidates running for office from the smallest township to the presidential election, pray all the candidates are men and women of honor and integrity and make decisions which are righteous in God's sight, pray for the people of our nation to walk in love, forgiveness, holiness, and dying to self. And please stop murmuring and complaining!

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Plans

Sometimes I feel as if I live my life by the motto - Planliness is next to Godliness, I try not to but some days I wake up with a list of plans and a schedule to maintain. Today's plans were: Prayer (done) Time in the Word (done), Walk/Run for 45 minutes (done), Do Laundry, Mow the Lawn, Weed the Flower Beds, Finish reading John Adams, Nap, Begin reading Washington a Life, Contemplate Dinner at Home vs. Dinner at a Restaurant. Then at 6:15 a.m. today, I learned one of our dearest friends died last night. My heart aches for his wife, children, and grandchildren. My heart aches for myself as well, he was a good friend to our family and always reminded me of my father. Ennis served our country in the U S Navy, served the Lord in various ministries, and lived his life in such a way he was an example of a Christian man. I can only imagine how many children were in his Sunday School classes over the years. He was a man of deep faith and was filled with wisdom and love. So instead of sticking to my list and schedule today; I will gladly spend time in prayer for my friend Gwen who said goodbye to her husband for now and their children and take some time to enjoy the simple things like the birds singing, the butterflies flitting around the yard, and spend time with loved ones. If Ennis could say one thing to you this day he would say: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.