Living Words of Encouragement

There is something stirring in me that needs to be said before I bring to conclusion my topic- A Nation of POW’s. Matthew 24:37 (ESV), “But as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” What was it like in the days of Noah? What did God see? Genesis 6:5 (ESV), “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil [my emphasis] continually.” Can that be an accurate description of what we are witnessing in our nation today? Almost daily, an act of evil makes headline news locally, nationally, or internationally. Atrocities have always been a part of the history of mankind; however, in our day, we are seeing and witnessing repeatedly atrocious incidents of murder, terrorism, and brutalities throughout the world. Let us stop dodging the source of the problem. The issue is the heart of man. Jesus said that prior to his return conditions will be like the days of Noah when God saw “…that every intention of the thoughts [of man] of his heart was only evil continually. What can we expect? This will continue until the return of the Lord. I guess that means we must just bury our heads in the sand, suck it up, and whine, right? WRONG! What is the elephant in the room that no one [most people] do not want to admit is there? The elephant in the room is SIN. As an evangelist would say, that is the bad news, but the good news is the preaching of the GOSPEL. God’s intent of the gospel is summarized in John 3:16,17. John 3:16,17 (ESV) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” The glorious gospel of grace is true, and it needs to be preached; but the church needs to be awakened to a need in the hour in which we live, NOW. I encourage you to read Ephesians 5:1-21. The admonition is clear. Ephesians 5;8 (ESV), “…for at one time you were darkness, but now, you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light”…(vs.11,12) “take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things they do in secret. “ (vs 14) “,Therefore it says, “Awake O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.[give you light, NKJV]” Get up church and live as the church; you are on resurrection ground in Christ; you are on the other side of the cross, Continuing with Ephesians 5:15 (ESV), “ Look carefully[intentionally, purposively, accurately], not as unwise but as wise…” Look for what? Why? Ephesians 5:16 (ESV), “…making the best use of the time[redeeming the time, NKJV], because the days are evil.”

Let me regroup. The days are evil. The thoughts and intents of man’s heart are only evil. Jesus said that this is what it was going to be like prior to His personal return. We are witnessing the manifestation of the intents of the evil intentions in man’s heart. These are evil the acts we are witnessing being committed in our nation and throughout the world. Added to this is the daily bombardment of words that are being spewed forth from evil hearts. Jesus said in Matthew 15:18,19 (ESV), “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart and this defiles the person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” We have identified the source of our evil. It is an evil heart. It is a sinful heart. This is our elephant in the room [in each one of us]. An evil heart, that is the condition of all mankind. That is why God sent His Son into the world. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV), “For our sake he[God] made him[Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him[Jesus] we might become the righteous of God.” This is the GRACE of God-God’s Redemptive Activity Changed Everything.

As we get closer to the return of Christ, believers find themselves grappling with a serious spiritual battle that is being perpetrated by the evil spiritual forces of darkness. Until Christ returns, the two kingdoms: the kingdom of darkness, and the kingdom of light[Kingdom of God] will each be maturing and at war against one another. This war will continue to escalate. Do you understand that? Do you believe that? This is what needs to awaken in the Body of Christ. We are at WAR. This is the mindset that Paul sets forth in Ephesians 6. This is the conflict that Jesus presented to His disciples and taught during His earthly ministry. We need to grasp this and understand its implications in our lives and the life of the church. Please do think that I personally understand all the implications of what this means for individual believers and the universal church. I do not. Like you, I need to go before the Lord, seek His face, and ask Him to prepare me for the battle that we are facing, and will continue to face until He returns; in the conjunction with this, I believe that the Lord is asking us to come before Him and pray for this nation. Our prayers can be a restraining force against the onslaught of destructive words that are incarcerating God’s people making them POWs-Prisoners of Words. This said, now I can return to concluding my posts.

I Timothy 2:1-4 (ESV) reads, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and for all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God, our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

What can be more appropriate than to do what God’s Word instructs us to do?

At this time, I would like for you think back to my previous two blogs and reflect upon my premise stating that this nation is a ‘prisoner of words’. I also shared about my own experience about bad-mouthing the President and those in high positions. I, too, found myself incarcerated as a ‘prisoner of words’.

Many of you are probably thinking that I am discussing a personal experience that centers in our current presidency and administration. Actually, what I am sharing happened to me during the Clinton presidency.

As I was living through the Clinton presidency, I was confronted with the reality that I was not a righteous man praying for this nation and its leadership. I was an unrighteous man praying like a Pharisee.

How so? How can one come before the Lord requesting prayer for his country and its leadership when his heart and mind are constantly criticizing the President and other leaders in our nation?

I was bad-mouthing the President and the Administration; and it was wrong. In fact, it was sin. The words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart was NOT right in the sight of the Lord.

I was behaving like the Pharisee that Jesus talked about in a parable in Luke 18:11 (ESV), “The Pharisee, standing by himself prayed thus. God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers or even this tax collector.”

The Pharisee was BRASH. (self-assertive, cocksure, full of oneself, self-confident, arrogant, thrusting, bold, audacious, brazen, impudent, insolent, impertinent, rude, pushy–all these words appeared when I googled, brash.

Here I was, seeking to pray, and the Lord confronted me about ‘the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart’. It is always easier to see the speck in the other person’s eye and not see the log in your own eye. Jesus taught that in Matthew 7:1-4. So, the Lord dealt with me about the log in my eye. or should I say the log in my mouth.

Now what? Continuing the parable found in Luke 18, the other person standing apart from the Pharisee said, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Jesus said, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

I needed to recognize the truth; repent of my sin; receive the Lord’s forgiveness; reform my choices; renew my mind; and return to the Lord.

For me, this meant that I needed to refocus my attention on the Lord; turn off the other voices; concentrate on His words; and not give ascent to the other words that were producing anxiety, confusion and unrest. The issue was not about the President and the nation; the issue was me.

I needed to sit down; shut up, and ‘be still and know’ that He was God.

The Lord used His word to unlock the door of the cell imprisoning me, delivering me from my mental incarceration. Jesus said, John 8:31-32 (ESV), “…if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

It was only when I shut out the other ‘words’ that were captivating my heart and attention and refocusing on the scriptures that I could begin to pray as the word instructs us to pray. It was then that my body, soul, and spirit began to return to rest. God’s Word unshackled me from my incarceration, and I found that my attitude changed I was. not anxious, nor was I uptight, nor, not at rest. This does not mean that all is perfect. I need to discipline myself concerning what I listen too, how much I listen to it, and extremely careful in how I process it.

However, it does mean that I am freer to pray and not be encumbered by ‘words’ that have previously incarcerated my thinking.

Let me share with you an acronym for the word focus:

Focus On Christ Using Scripture

I would also like to share two short portions of scripture that have become real to me in my walk with the Lord and the Holy Spirit’s help.

Philippians 4:5b-6a, (ESV) “The Lord is at hand; be anxious for nothing…”

Isaiah 26:3, (ESV), “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”

I am so thankful that Lord dealt with me regarding this issue in my life during the Clinton presidency. It has allowed me to live through subsequent presidencies with a quieter mind, a peaceful spirit, and a relaxed body; thereby allowing me the ability to pray for our leaders and our nation in a more meaningful way.

Praying for our nation has nothing to do with being Republican or Democrat. It has everything to do with being a responsible citizen of the Kingdom of God. The Lord is on the throne.

To Be Continued

This is a continuation of my previous thoughts about our nation being POW’s-Prisoners of Words.

Because of the tumultuous atmosphere that has been created in our nation by words that are divisive, we live in an environment of unrest.

A short while ago, I posted on Facebook the thought that I believe that the Body of Christ does not fully realize that it MUST intercede at this time for this nation. If you are a true believer in Jesus Christ, then you should understand the necessity of prayerfully interceding for this nation and its leadership.

However, I fear, that many believers are POW’s in this nation. They are prisoners of words. They have been incarcerated mentally making it difficult, if not impossible, for them, and/or the Body of Christ to focus on meaningful intercessory prayer because they are mentally distracted by the words that they are repeatedly exposed too, especially the excessive political rhetoric.

How is an individual freed from this mental incarceration? The simple answer is to focus on Christ; but the rehabilitation can be difficult. I know from personal experience. I have been deeply involved in listening to the daily diatribe against our administration and our government avidly participating in voicing verbal criticisms. To be blunt, I have ‘bad-mouthed’ the President and our elected officials criticizing their conduct and behavior. Over a period of time, I discovered that what I was doing was affecting me negatively, and I was becoming a POW (Prisoner of Words). I listened to the talk show hosts, watched the news, and sporadically read the print media.

I really believed that I had a rational grip on what I was absorbing and understood the truth and error of the issues. Little did I realize the imprisoning effect that it was having on me.

Graciously, the Lord confronted me with my sin of speaking against those in authority over me. Having been forgiven, He freed me from my mental state of incarceration. The first thing that I had to do was to ‘turn off’ the numerous voices that I was listening too, and listen to one voice, His.

Listening to multiple voices brought me into confusion. Confusion was what the Lord allowed to awaken me to the fact that something was wrong. God is not the author of confusion. I despaired over knowing who was telling the truth. I was constantly agitated mentally and on edge listening to the daily rhetoric, rationalizing the spin I was hearing and putting my own spin on things. I found myself in pursuit of only listening to ‘words’ that conformed to my personal biases and listening solely to oppositional words to gain verbal ammunition to fortify my mental resolve.

This all came to a head while trying to prepare a teaching sermon for the home church that was being held in our home. The thrust of the teaching was to confess the error of my way. In doing do so, I was free to pray for this nation’s leadership in the right spirit.

To Be Continued

I am adding to my blog several articles that I typed directly into Facebook when the website was incapacitated. These articles can be found on Facebook in my timeline. These articles were originally posted in the summer of 2019.

As a teacher, there were times when I wanted to tell a student to sit down, shut up and be a student. Recently there have been several occasions when I have wanted to say the exact same thing to a person who was piously pontificating their personal rhetoric on television or the radio assuming that their audience was hanging breathlessly onto their every word with great expectation. ( I am sure that there have been many who have probably wished to say the same thing to my face when I have been waxing eloquently.)

So what is really on my mind?

We are a nation of POW’s. What do I mean?

We are ‘Prisoners of Words’.

Today (summer of 2019), I heard an advertisement to attend a conference entitled, ‘The War For the Soul of America’. I must admit that I believe that this accurately states what were are facing as a nation.

This nation is bombarded daily with words that coerce and challenge our thinking, seeking to persuade us by constant repetition to adopt a certain position deemed to be the truth. It is interesting how the wording is communicated massaging our mentality claiming clarity, rationality, and completely in the best interest of the nation, while at the same time verbalizing vehemently against their opposition.

The intent of these words are to conform us to a thought process that provides a progressive way of thinking that frees us from the shackles of the past, enlightens our future with their ideology, and completely refutes any opposing thought that stands in stark contrast to their beliefs.

My concern is that many in our nation have embraced this dialogue of words and thought to heighten their political persuasion to a place where they have incarcerated themselves in a political prison resulting in becoming POW’s-‘Prisoners of Words’.

How many voters will cast their ballots having been mesmerized by the words that they have been exposed too for the past several years? Are we as a nation losing our ability to think on our own two feet relying completely on someone else to dictate our thinking?

For me it becomes an easy transition to understand why some people see a battle for the ‘Soul of America’ is at risk. It is, as if, we are being so programmed that we are losing our ability to think for ourselves. Is it possible that there are forces at work that do not want us to be able to think for our self?

Do words matter? Absolutely. They have the power of life and death; they can build up or tare down; they communicate good or evil; they influence positively or negatively. They are like leaven. They have an energizing influence.

Student’s of the Word of God know that much is taught in scripture about how we use our tongue; our choice of the words; and how we control our speech.

Are you free from the tyranny of the words that dominate our society? Or are you incarcerated by the overwhelming influence of the negativity that assails this nation?

I have a major concern for the Body of Christ. How immersed are you in listening to the volatile rhetoric that is spewed out daily? Are you free in your spirit? Or are you anxious, distressed, disturbed, discouraged, and/or angry by listening to what fill the air ways, is shared over social media, or reported in the print media?

In short, what is your outlook on life, at this time, for yourself, your family, this nation, this world? The fact is that we must recognize that what we are watching and listening too is no surprise. It is all part of what it means to live in the ‘end times’.

Maybe, a more penetrating question might be, what is the mental health of the Body of Christ? I am not a psychologist; and I certainly do not have any knowledgeable insight into psychology; but I am concerned for the Lord’s people.

Let me encourage you to read and meditate on the following:

Philippians 2:1-11; 4:4-9; James 3:13-4:12; Romans 12:1-2.

I would like to close with Hebrews 1:1-3b, 2:1

“Long ago, at many time and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son, whom he appointed heir of all things through whom also he create the world…and he upholds the universe by the word of his power…Therefore, we must pay closer attention to shat we have heard, lest we drift away from it.”

To Be Continued.