Our nation is diving headlong into the murky waters of uncertainty.\u00a0 There is no doubt that we are a nation divided.\u00a0 In all honesty, Washington looks more like a giant sandbox with both political parties playing the part of a two year old throwing a temper tantrum because the other won’t share the shovel or has knocked down their sand castle.\u00a0 The truth of the matter is if they don’t soon get on the same page our country will find itself in a place it has never been.<\/p>\n
The church in this country is also in desperate times.\u00a0 Thom Rainer, President of Lifeway, notes that the largest generation in our country, the millennials (those born from 1978-200), are the most lost in our country when it comes to a relationship with Christ.\u00a0 In fact Rainer states that only 1 out of 10 millennials claim to be Christian.\u00a0 Countless numbers of articles come into my inbox almost every day speaking to this issue of how do we reclaim America for Christ and reach this generation.\u00a0 Both the political and ecclesiastical challenges have many worried, many pointing fingers and assigning blame, and people acting like “Chicken Little” screaming\u00a0 “the sky is falling, the sky is falling.”\u00a0 It has us in desperation mode, which I will submit to you is actually a good thing.<\/p>\n
Israel had a similar experience in their history.\u00a0 They had a king by the name of Jehoshaphat.\u00a0 He was in charge of the southern kingdom, Judah.\u00a0 There were three groups of people who were coming against Judah.\u00a0 2 Chronicles 20 records that “Jehoshaphat was afraid.”\u00a0 Now it is one thing for the people to be afraid, but it is another for the king to be afraid as well as admit that he is afraid.\u00a0 That would tell me the situation was pretty bad.\u00a0 In his desperation Jehoshaphat prayed and during that prayer he said something that I believe many in Washington and in the church would say today (or at least should).\u00a0 It is recorded in the end of 2 Chronicles 20:12, “neither know we what to do.”\u00a0 Here is a king that has the whole nation looking to him for answers, expecting him to have a great plan to save the nation, and all he can do is say “I don’t know what to do.”\u00a0 I imagine if Gallup polling on job approval rating was around in Jehoshaphat’s day his rating would be lower than our current President’s and Congress’.\u00a0 But in reality that was the best thing he could have admitted.\u00a0 Proverbs 14:12 tells us “there is a way that seems right to man, but the end is destruction.”\u00a0 Our greatest problem as a country and even the church is that we have looked to people to solve our problems.\u00a0 The problem is, it is the people that created these problems in the first place.\u00a0 Ronnie Floyd writes in his book, “The Power of Praying and Fasting,” “He wants to do something mighty in our lives, and that’s why He provides us with moments of desperation–to push us toward Him” (p. 17).<\/p>\n
I believe with all my heart that God has let the United States as well as the church in the United States get to these points, not as an act of judgment (though it is a form of judgment), but rather to get our attention and to draw us back to Him.\u00a0 Many people have this picture of a mean, vindictive God sitting up in heaven just waiting to punish us.\u00a0 Is God a God of judgment?\u00a0 Yes He is!\u00a0 But He is also a God of mercy, grace, and forgiveness.\u00a0 He allows things in our lives to show us that He is all we need.\u00a0 I love the quote by A.W. Tozer, “we will not realize that God is all we need, until He is all that we have.”\u00a0 What if the country goes through worse political and economical times, but it sparks a true national revival.\u00a0 Would it be worth it?\u00a0 What if the church got back to biblical principles and as a result suffered persecution, but in the end many people came to a saving relationship with Christ, would that be worth it?\u00a0 I believe in God’s mind it absolutely would be worth it, because He cares more about eternal things than temporary things.\u00a0 So yes our country and our churches are in a desperate situation, but I think this is exactly where God wants us and exactly where we need to be in order to gain a proper perspective on life, His perspective.<\/p>\n
By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Our nation is diving headlong into the murky waters of uncertainty.\u00a0 There is no doubt that we are a nation divided.\u00a0 In all honesty, Washington looks more like a giant sandbox with both political parties playing the part of a … Read More