What
Can We Do?
Pastor
Steve Nash
Waking up in the morning and hearing the latest headlines isn’t exactly
a positive way to begin the day. We must
be informed, but wow, I don’t know if that’s the way I would want to begin the
day and retain any positive perspective.
The only way one could turn that exposure around and make it an
encouraging experience, is to use the daily headlines as a prayer list. Every time we read a story or listen to one
over the television/radio, stop for a moment and pray for the ones affected by
that current event.
Last night I was surveying the long list of headlines on the Drudge
Report. Here is a sample:
“Stocks Plunge!”
“Top General Worries that Army is too Small”
“Ebola Coming to Our Southern Boarder”
“The U.S. Slips to 12th in Economic Freedom”
“Vatican Paper Urges Churches to Change their View on Gays”
“Four Northern California Faults Primed for BIG Quakes”
“ISIS Gaining Ground in Spite of Bombing”
What hope is there for our children when we are approaching an 18
Trillion dollar debt? What kind of world
will they live in when we see America in decline on so many fronts? Our civil and religious freedoms are
evaporating faster than the California lakes!
America is in a downward spiral morally, spiritually, economically,
militarily and socially. If we don’t see
that as a reality, we either have our head in the sand or we haven’t lived very
long.
With all the doom and gloom we are bombarded with every day, we long
for the news of any hope; a different direction and a safe world for our
children. Where do you turn for a
brighter tomorrow? How do you begin and
close out a day with a smile on your face and a peaceful night’s sleep? Can we actually be an optimist in a
pessimistic world? I believe we can!
The Apostle Paul reminds us in Rom. 8:31-32, “What can we say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He who did not spare His own
Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely
give us all things?” That’s good logic,
isn’t it? That is a perspective we must
lay hold on! The condition attached to
this promise is that we belong to Him, and He to us. If we have not a relationship with Christ, we
are of all people most to be pitied.
Verse 35, 37 of that chapter gives us further hope. “Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Yet in all things we are more than conquerors
through Him who loves us!” That sounds
good to me. I need to pass that faith
onward to my children and grandchildren!
The radical Islamist has no such hope.
Their goal is to conquer this world through the sword; through terror
and all sorts of evil. We Christians
will conquer the world through truth and love and the certainty of heaven. Light is diametrically opposed to
darkness. The Bible calls us “people of
light” who happen to reside in a world of darkness. Light is greater than darkness, truth is more
powerful than lies and love is more enduring than evil! If we are indeed people of light, we have
nothing to fear. Satan flees when he
sees the weakest saint upon their knees.
The secret to victory is getting on the offense. We need not run and hide; we must be willing
to become arrows that pierce the darkness.
How can this happen? Begin on
your knees, surrender all the hate, bitterness and hopelessness to God and let
Him empower you with His life. Turn
those headlines into a prayer list; speak with your opponent with truth and
love. This battle is too great for us to
face the Goliath’s of this world without the Lord with us. If God be for us, who can stand against us?
No comments:
Post a Comment