Pretty Simple, Very Needed

                        

A Fearless Church

A scared world needs a fearless church.  A.W. Tozer

                        

Spoken Years Ago - Listen Today

I am of the opinion that the chief dangers which confront the coming century will be religion(Christiany) without the Holy Spirit, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, and heaven without hell. William Booth

Some Of Psalm 46

So Needed. So Needed.

This post may seem long and yet it is only the beginning. Followers of Jesus Christ need to turn to God, worship Him - surrender to Him, seek Him, and live in His ways.

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:8

Please see Psalm 46

9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 

11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 

12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 

13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. 

14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 

16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. 

17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 

18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 

20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” 

21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:10-21

I am not just praying for Dallas, TX, MN, or LA. I, as a follower of Christ, am communicating with God about His desire to see mankind redeemed. Recent events only highlight our need to turn from self to God, ask His forgiveness, by faith rely upon His redemption in Jesus Christ, and then walk in His way by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This is from my FB post.

Lord…our nation is lost and is ripping itself apart.  Save us from ourselves.  Our sin and lack of attention to you breeds anger and bloodshed in our streets and neighborhoods.  Lord, I seek you as our only hope and solution.  I ask that your convicting Spirit invade the heart of every believer in America.  Do not let go of us.  Break us and drive us to you.  May our brokenness be laid before you and our repentance true and clear in your eyes.  May the broken hearts of your people be found as acceptable sacrifice.  Please, Lord…save us.

This is from Dr. Mark Foley.

This morning on the way to work, I grieved over the fact that there are people dead who did nothing wrong, either due to the color of their skin or because of the profession they chose. I am a Jesus-follower, first and foremost, and so many things come to mind. 

"Thou shalt not kill." Exodus 20:13

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31

"A new command I give you; love one another, as I have loved you." John 13:34

"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

   My black friends, I don't know what to say. Your lives are precious, valuable, and the fact that we need to say this; that it's not implicit, is heartbreaking. I can't pretend to know what went through your minds this past week, and I confess the privilege I'm born with simply because of the color of my skin is unfair and wrong. I'm sorry; I hurt for you, and I humbly pray.

   I have friends who are police officers who are family to me. I love them dearly and also, cannot imagine what went through their heads after Dallas. What horror - I'm sorry; you are loved and prayed for and I am thankful that you courageously put on the badge everyday to protect and serve. 

   I want to be a Jesus-follower who speaks out against racism, vengeance, and retaliation, and who points to Christ as the ultimate healer of our hearts and this world. So this morning, with a heavy heart, I pray. As followers of Christ, we are the Church, and we are commanded to love.

This from Ellen Hembree's FB post. I do not know Ellen. My daughter knows her.

My heart is heavy in light of events that have taken place across our country over the course of the past week. There are no answers to offer at this time. The loss of people, that we didn't know even existed earlier this week, has impacted our nation.

   As we look around during this political season, we see few answers. Maybe even more questions. We who are followers of Christ, those of us who have our citizenship in heaven, we who are the light of the world, can not shrink back in fear at the darkness of this week. We must hold out the hope of Christ to those who are lost, in pain and grief.

   I don't know what the answers are. But there are several things that I plan to do. I am going to do my best to love my neighbor. I am going to do my best to grieve with those who grieve. I am going to do my best to listen. I am going to offer the hope that only Jesus provides.

   But for today, I am going to grieve. Grieve for those who lost a loved one in Baton Rouge. Grieve with those who lost a loved one in St. Paul. Grieve with those whose lost loved ones in Dallas. And I am going to pray for our police officers whose jobs became exponentially more difficult.

   On days like this, my heart drifts back to the Psalms. May God give you encouragement through His word.

Psalm 27:13-14 (NIV) 

13  I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. 

14  Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

This is from David Donahue's FB post. 

Trying to protest violence and unnecessary killings with more violence and unnecessary killings is not going to help anyone heal. No one. Let me repeat, NO ONE, deserves to be murdered. I beg everyone to take a minute. Pray, think, meditate, cry, scream and then get back to realizing we are all Humans. We all have feelings, families and beating hearts. No one's heart should stop beating because someone played God. Let me be clear, the videos of the men shot by police made me want to vomit and cry at work yesterday. But, waking up to police shot in a different city, leaves me hurt and upset as well. We are killing each other America. Stop for a moment and think about that and, if you want change, please think of a more constructive way rather than continuing hate and violence. With that being said, I may have to take a break from Facebook and just pray. My heart breaks for everyone, every family affected this week and not long ago in Orlando. Please hug your loved ones, say I love you more and pray for healing.

This from my daughter's FB.

Lessons From The Haystack Prayer Meeting

Click on the link for a good article about prayer.

Lessons From The Haystack Prayer Meeting

Live In Freedom!

¹³ You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. ¹⁴ For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁵ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. Galatians 5:13-15