If you are breathing right now then you probably have some knowledge of the Casey Anthony trial that recently finished up in Florida. A young woman accused of murdering her little girl has spent the last few years in jail awaiting trial. Her trial recently finished up and she was found not guilty of the murder. She was found guilty of lying to the police and was sentenced for that crime but time already served was credited to that and she was released from jail this past Sunday.
Oh the outrage that this verdict caused! This woman will probably not have an easy life outside of jail since most think she is guilty of this murder and the threats toward her and the media that are trying to follow her every move must make life very difficult for her.
Did this woman murder her child? I do not know. I did not follow the trial and I am not God. Only God knows for sure whether this woman is guilty or innocent.....and rest assured nothing escapes His watchful eye.
So I do not write this entry about Casey Anthony. I want to talk about our amazing Savior. Yesterday as I was among someone who was talking about this woman, she turned and said to me "Of course, you subscribe to the theory that all she has to do is call on Jesus and ask Him for forgiveness and everything will be ok for her and she will go to heaven" I was caught a little off guard as I had not said anything about this trial or this woman. But this was my reply: "I do not subscribe to a theory. I stand on the Word of God...." She then said "And where is that in the Bible?" I replied "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13). "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16)
Those of us who have been Christians for a while and are familiar with these verses can quote them quickly without thinking about them....but God caused me at the moment I quoted them to really THINK about what I was saying.
The world may never leave Casey Anthony alone, hunting her down, harassing her.. She will remain "Guilty" in the eyes of the world and hated by many folks who believe with all their heart that she is a murderer of a beautiful little girl. But God...(you've got to love that phrase..."But God") is not like us. Even if she is guilty, the Hound of Heaven is on the hunt of her! Not so He can follow her with a camera and televise her every move, not so He can harm her and harass her and make her life a living nightmare. The Hound of Heaven hunts her down that He might wash her in His blood cleansing her soul and pronouncing her blameless before His Father. (Colossians 1:22)
Oh what a Savior! Oh what a friend of sinners! He can make the vilest sinner clean! Who is the vilest sinner? Oh we don't like to admit it but Casey Anthony is not the only "vilest of sinners". You and I are right there with her. Our only hope is not our life or our actions but our only hope is Jesus Christ.
It is not mine to judge the Casey Anthony trial. The verdict has been read the the verdict stands. I don't know if she is guilty or innocent. There is probably a lot of arguments that support both sides of the story. My job, your job is to shout from the rooftops that Jesus saves!
Are you on the run? Are you entangled in sin, running from your accusers? Let me encourage you to run in one direction, toward the cross! Run into the arms that are open wide, waiting to embrace you and cleanse you!
This is a clip from the movie "Bruce Almighty" . Let me say that I have never saw the movie and I am not endorsing the movie. However, this clip I saw caught my attention. It's about surrender.....but look at the desperation of this character played by Jim Carey. He is exhausted from doing things his way....playing God. (The opportunity given to him in the movie.) He is now in the midst of this rainstorm, totally drenched from the rain and drained from the price he paid...... all to realize that he couldn't be God.
If you are a Christian, you will find yourself going through many storms. John 16:33 promises that .( "In this life you will have many problems, but take heart, I have overcome the world.") But some storms are self inflicted. When we fail to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ then we set ourselves up for the storm that will come sooner or later. We may think because the storm didn't come sooner then somehow we have escaped God's watchful eye.....but no we have not. We have a long suffering Heavenly Father. But, we also have a loving Heavenly Father who loves us too much to not go to great lengths to bring us back. Even if
it means allowing us to encounter a storm.
I don't know about you but I have encountered enough storms that are not self inflicted to just live my life in such a way that will self inflict yet another storm for me to encounter.
A wise person will willingly submit.
Listen to this story:
The captain of a ship looked into the dark night and saw a faint light out in the distance. He ordered the message to be sent, "Alter your course 10 degrees south" In a few moments they received a message "Alter your course 10 degrees north."
The captain was annoyed. He sent another message, "Alter your course 10 degrees south, I am a captain!" The response? "Alter your course 10 degrees north, I am a seaman third class."
Now that made the captain angry. He sent the threatening message, "Alter your course 10 degrees south. This is a battleship!" The final response, "Alter your course 10 degrees north. This is a lighthouse!"
Jesus is our Lighthouse. He does not alter His course. We must alter ours. If we choose to not surrender and alter our course then we will end up like the battleship. He almost crashed.
Is Jesus telling you to alter your course? If so, what is your response.
On March 10, 1974, almost 30 years after the end of World War II, Lt Hiroo Onoda finally handed over his rusty sword and became the last Japanese soldier to surrender. Onoda had been sent to the tropical island of Lubang in the Philippines in 1944, with orders to conduct guerrilla warfare and prevent enemy attack on the island. When the war ended, Onoda refused to believe the messages announcing Japan's surrender.
For 29 long years, long after all his fellow soldiers had either surrendered or been killed off, Onoda continued defending the island territory for the defeated Japanese army. He hid in the jungle,m living off the land, stealing food and supplies from local citizens, evading one search party after another, and killing at least 30 nationals in the process. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent trying to locate the lone hold-out and convince him that the war was over.
Leaflets, newspapers, photographs and letters from friends were dropped in the jungle. Announcements were made over loud speakers begging Onoda to surrender. Still he refused to give up his fight. Some 13,000 men had been deployed in the effort before Onoda finally received a personal command from his former commander and was persuaded to give up the futile, solitary war he had waged for so many years.
In his autobiography entitled, No Surrender; My Thirty Year War, Onoda describes the moments the reality of what had transpired began to sink in:
"I felt like a fool....What had I been doing all these years?...For the first time I really understood...This was the end, I pulled back the bolt on my rifle and unloaded the bullets....I eased off the pack that I had always carried with me and laid the gun on top of it.
The war was finally over.
Story from "Old Soldiers Never Die" Newsweek 25 March 1974
I read this story in amazement! The brutality of war is something that I can't begin to comprehend. But, I do know that even the most committed soldier is ready to run home after the war is over. A soldier longs to see his family again, to sleep in his or her own bed, eat some home cooked meals, catch up with friends and just watch a good movie or a favorite TV show.
Mr Onoda not only faced the brutality of war while it was in progress but then spent many wasted years fighting a war that had ended.....the outcome of the war already determined.
Sound familiar? We are born sinners and we spend our years resisting the call of salvation from the King of Kings....Once we accept Christ as our Savior, we might find ourselves resisting the call of total surrender that is coming from the lips of the King of Kings. We resist and fight, refusing to surrender in a war where the outcome has already been determined.
Resisting, running and hiding can become a way of life if we continue in it for a period of time. That is what happened to Mr Onoda. In spite of the numerous attempts to notify him that the war had ended, he refused to believe and continued to fight.
God uses military terms throughout the Bible when talking about our Christian walk. I want to talk about the wars we encounter while we are on this earth. None of them easy, but winnable when we choose to obey the Captain of the Army.
1.) The first war is the battle for salvation- Salvation is a free gift and don't misunderstand me, this is not a battle we fight to be saved. We are born lost sinners, bound for hell. When we are introduced to the saving grace of Jesus Christ, the armies of hell stand ready for Satan never gives up a soul that easy. He, in his hopes to keep us from accepting Christ as our Savior will begin to use whatever tactics he can to keep us from doing so. "You're too deep into the mess of your life to be saved", "God doesn't really care about you", "You do this and your friends and family will abandon you" ......lie after lie, tactic after tactic....the war is on.
But, my friend, don't be deceived. This was a war that was won by Jesus Christ that Resurrection Morning! For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved!!!
2.) The second war we find ourselves fighting is the war of surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.(I see it as a war with our will) The initial surrender to the Lord, which happens at the point of salvation, is not the end of the story. In fact, it is a starting point. Now we must engage in a daily surrender, a hourly surrender, a moment by moment surrender to the authority of the Keeper of our souls, Jesus Christ. We must engage in discipleship and be eager students of the Word, learning how to live a surrendered life.
This is not always easy but it is attainable and we are foolish to live our lives any other way. To engage in this battle is like America declaring war on her greatest ally. God is on our side. Jesus has already declared victory. He is fighting for us, let's not find ourselves fighting Him
This is why God gave us the weapons of our warfare as laid out in Ephesians 6. They are not carnal weapons but mighty weapons given to us by the Captain of our Army!! Our defeat comes when we try to use our own tactics in fighting the devil.
Think of it this way: I enlist in the army and sent to Afghanistan to fight. I am supplied military weapons, but I refuse them and tell the Army I didn't need their weapons because I brought my own. I begin to pull out of my bag a sling shot, a BB gun, and a water pistol. These are the weapons I plan to use going up against our foe. Crazy! Right?
Yet as a Christian, we live defeated lives because essentially we choose to fight the devil with a sling shot, a BB gun and a water pistol instead of using the most powerful weapons offered to us by our Commander, Jesus Christ.
Where are you at right now? Perhaps you have yet to make that initial surrender to Jesus Christ, inviting Him to be your Lord and Savior. If this is so, please click on my tab on how you can have a personal relationship with Jesus.
Perhaps you are saved but you have yet to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, allowing Him full authority over your life. Instead you are running and resisting. Stop! You are wearing yourself out! Find the peace you long for by allowing Jesus to take the wheel.
If you are a Christian then you are definitely engaged in the 3rd war I spoke of. What are you using as your weapon against the devil? If it is anything else other than the Word of God, you will live a defeated and exhausted Christian walk.
II Corinthians 10:4-5- For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal; but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; casting down imaginations and every high things that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
Are you surrendered to the Lord? Lay down your weapons, stop running and surrender! Don't come to the end of your life saying essentially what Mr Onoda said; "I felt like a fool.....what had I been doing for all these years?"
Irving Berlin was the composer of a song that makes me teary eyed every time I sing it. God Bless America! Land that I love...Stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above. From the mountains to the prairies to the oceans white with foam. God bless America, my home sweet home.
God bless America.....my home.....sweet......home.
Almighty God please return to our land
And forgive us for telling You to leave
We have gone astray and tossed as trash
What we once wholeheartedly believed.
We thought we knew a better way
And opted to leave You behind
We thought You didn't matter
How could we be so blind?
We've taken prayer out of our schools
And changed our history books
The foundation America was built upon
We've totally forsook
It's no longer "Merry Christmas"
Rather, "Happy Holidays"
In our attempts to lose you
It's us who've lost our way
We no longer cling to absolutes
Rather it's "whatever is right to you"
There is no longer a moral compass
Guiding what we say or do
Oh Father, I love America
I know that You feel the same
I beg for Your mercy on my country
Who has forgot Your Holy Name
The law of sowing and reaping
Is a truth we can't deny
And I fear our time of reaping
Is quickly drawing nigh
If You withhold Your mercy
We will not stand another day
Would You wake us up and help us see
The error of our ways
Would You withhold Your hand of judgment
And give us one more try
My heart breaks for my dear country
So it's unto You I cry
Rekindle Your holy fire within me
I am ready to answer Your call
For I love my country too much
To not give her my all
I believe that You stand ready
To extend Your gracious hand
And I stand ready to do Your will
Please bring revival to my land.
A lot of people would say that Christmas or Thanksgiving are their favorite holidays....and those are great holidays.....However, for some reason, I have always gotten emotional around Memorial Day, and the 4th of July.
I shouldn't say "for some reason" as if I don't know why. I know why! I love America and I love those who have given their all, and some their lives, to preserve the freedom America has always enjoyed.
I have had the privilege to travel to every state in this country, with exception of Hawaii. It is amazing to drive across this wonderful country and begin to see the changes. If you head south, you will begin to appreciate warmer climates and at times a more friendly folk, and some really awesome food such as homemade biscuits, okra, turnip greens, cornbread and beans.
As you continue to travel a little farther south you will begin to see tropical sites! Palm trees and orange groves, sandy beaches and, if your hair is anything like mine, you will look in the mirror and see you have a brand new look, thanks to the humidity!
As you drive through the Midwest you will see rows and rows of corn and flat land that made me cry out as a child "how much longer" and "are we there yet?" I just wanted a new scene.
As you enter Texas you sense the truth of "everything is bigger in Texas" The spread out plains, the beauty and history of Austin, or the fun and beauty of San Antonio.
In New York you sense the hustle and bustle of the city the never sleeps! If you are not careful you will find yourself adopting that lifestyle, as it is a contagious one! One moment you are walking in step with the wealthy ones shopping and eating in style. The next moment you are humbled by seeing the poor and homeless, some in bondage to drugs or alcohol. It makes you stop for a moment and think about what went wrong.....what was going on in that soul's life that brought them to the point of living on the street, feeding off the leftovers we throw in a garbage can.
I love the beauty of New England. I've been there as fall settled in and the leaves began to change. For 5 months I lived in those mountains and watched the bears from my living room window as they came to my garbage cans each evening looking for food. I attended a church that would remind you of the church on the show "Little House on the Prairie" - a small church with a huge bell that they would ring each Sunday. People showing up for service in the overalls and their musical instruments consisted of a fiddle, a saw and an organ!
I said good by to that side of America 4 years ago and headed to the west coast. Who knew I would find my love and soon make my home in this part of the United States! California allows me to enjoy a taste of all the parts of America. The desert,the valley, the mountains, the beach, the snow capped mountains. The busyness of New York City of the quietness of the Midwest.
If asked what I love most about America? It would be the freedom. The freedom I have had to attend church and openly worship the One True God. The freedom I have to talk about Jesus with someone who needs Him desperately. The freedom I have to carry my Bible and share from it with those who need a little encouragement. I love the freedom I have to pray with someone who is going through a tough time and needs to call upon the Almighty for help in their time of need.
Freedom can be misused and I think America is experiencing the misuse of her freedoms. We see this through the sex and violence that plague our youth through TV, the Hollywood industry, music and video games.
While America has always fought for freedom of individuals, there is a side of her that will take away life of the innocent and call it "Pro-choice" or a "woman's right".
America has always prided herself in the traditional family, but in the last many years has embraced the idea of a different "family"- one that goes against nature, even more, goes against God. This "family" is made up of same sex parents and they are gaining approval....after all "they love each other, so what's wrong with that?"
America founded herself on the principles of the One True God and the Holy Bible. The Godly principles are what guided America through the tough times. Today, America has chosen a different path and is rejecting God and embracing ideas that would cause our founding fathers to turn over in their graves!
I love America. I pray for America and I ask my Heavenly Father to have mercy on her. Oh that America will see the error of her way and return to God. I pray America will return to the principles that made her the greatest nation!
Thank you every soldier who is willing to fight and give their life for this great nation. Thank you God for allowing me to be born in America, the greatest nation on the face of the earth. I love you
Nehemiah 1:2-4 (NLT)
Hanani, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some men who had just arrived from Judah. I asked them about the Jews who had returned there from captivity and how things were going in Jerusalem. They said to me, "Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down and the gates have been destroyed by fire." When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.
Back in the days of Nehemiah, walls meant security and safety. Nehemiah was broken hearted that his homeland was in such disrepair and while he had a very nice job of being a cupbearer to the King, he could not just let his homeland be in this trouble. He wanted to do something, so he made the appropriate first step of taking his concerns to the Lord through prayer and fasting. Nehemiah was not just asking a casual question of "how are things going" and hoping he wouldn't have to stand around and hear the answer. His concern was genuine and this concern took him to prayer and then God led him in an action plan that led to the walls being rebuilt in record time.
America is in trouble. I am not so sure she realizes it....or if WE realize it, but she is in serious trouble. My husband and I live in the Los Angeles, California area. Just yesterday we were driving through Hollywood on our way home. As we drove down Sunset Blvd we saw billboards of lesbians kissing (it actually was a advertisement for a brand of clothes...go figure), we saw billboards for new movies or TV programs. Every billboard was either sex oriented or occult vampire shows or gross murder films. We saw many folks sleeping on the streets, we saw a man digging though a garbage can looking for something to drink, shaking beverage cans to see if there was anything left in them. We saw a city in bondage. It was heart breaking.
There was one particular store we wanted to stop at. We began to look for parking when my husband said that he didn't know if we were going to be able to go to this store. I looked around and I understood why. It was dark out and there were a lot of young people around in small groups that looked like they were up to no good. We couldn't quite figure out what was going on, but we knew something was not right. Finally my husband decided we would park in the "Jack in the Box" fast food parking lot, go in get a coke and then run in this store real quick since the store was right across the street and we would only be in there a few minutes. We got up to the counter only to find this young man who had appeared to have some mind altering substance flowing through him making inappropriate comments to the lady behind the counter. My husband kind of stepped right up to order in hopes of shutting this guy up.....he succeeded. We got our cokes and headed out the door. Approximately 25 feet in front of us was a man on a motorcycle who was fighting with this woman telling her to get on the motor cycle with him. He yanked her pretty hard and was using some harsh language. She jerked away from the hold he had on her and started walking pretty fast away from this man.........more bondage
We passed the large CNN building where the news was scrolling across the building in big lights. What was the story? The celebration in New York. Gay marriage signed into law......more bondage
It seems like this bondage to sin is more of a joke than it is heart breaking to most Americans. I ask myself if I am like Nehemiah.....am I laughing about some of it, am I just shaking it off, or am I truly burdened. Burdened enough to fast and pray over the trouble that my country,which I love dearly, has found herself in.
America's bondage in sin is the joke of every late night comedian. Many of those folk who don't find it funny find that in many ways they are in a state of apathy...."it's just how this world is today....what can you do?" At times I am embarrassed to admit that I have had that thought cross my mind.
Nehemiah took his problem to the Lord. He and the Lord worked together and things changed. It took effort and sacrifice on the part of Nehemiah, but he was willing to sacrifice his comfort of living in the King's palace to go and work and pray and love people and confront people. He looked evil square in the eye, unafraid, for he knew that the Lord was on his side.
Oh Lord, thank you for America, Father, you see the trouble she is in, the bondage to sin. Wake us up Father. May we not find it humorous but rather see it as you see it......heartbreaking. Give us a love for this country and her people. May we be like your Son who had such great compassion, seeing the crowds through eyes of compassion, for they were like sheep without a Shepherd.
Take us out of our comfort zones and give us a burden for the lost living around us. In Jesus name.
The most troubling thought is that most of those folks my husband and I saw last night will die and spend eternity separated from Christ in hell. Hell is not a "state of mind". It is a real place where real people who have rejected Christ, will reside forever and ever and ever. Hope is abandoned at the entrance gates of hell. There is no exit gates in hell.
"Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus." Mother Teresa
I read this a while back and it can change your outlook on your job if you take time to meditate upon the Truth in it. God has placed His children in many different arenas performing various jobs each and every day. No matter where He has placed us and what He has us doing, our #1 priority in our job description is the love of Jesus.
We can show the love of Jesus as we take orders in a busy restaurant or bagging groceries at the local grocery store. We can show the love of Jesus as we change the oil in a customer's car or as we give medication to a patient as he lay in his hospital bed.
Every job is of equal importance when we realize that we all have the same job description....show the love of Jesus.
When we focus on showing the love of Jesus we will find that we can more easily tolerate our co-workers. We see past what we see as their faults and we instead see their hurting heart or their need for Jesus.and find ourselves asking "What would Jesus do?."
I wish I could say I was an expert in this area.....I can't. It is not easy. But I am often reminded by my Heavenly Father that my vocation first and foremost is to show the love of Jesus. I am working on it and I hope you are working on this too.
We can find satisfaction in our jobs when we take on the outlook of Jesus. When Jesus looked out on the crowds the Bible says that He had compassion...for He saw them as sheep without a shepherd.
Matthew 9:35-38 (NLT)
Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And He healed every kind of disease and illness. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. he said to His disciples, "The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields.
Oh Father, you do not call the qualified.....rather you qualify the called. We are Your children, called by You to work in Your fields. Cleanse us and fill us up with Your Holy Spirit. Send us out into Your fields to impact Your Kingdom.
