This Week's Focal Passage:
"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God may bless you in land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land…" Deuteronomy 30:15-18 (NJKV)
Strong's:
Life #2416 chay = alive, merry, running, springing
Good #2896 towb =favor, graciously, joyful, loving, most pleasant, prosperity, wealth
Death #4194 maveth - pestilence, ruin, violent
Evil #7451 ra = calamity, distress, exceedingly, great grief, harm, misery, sorrow, trouble, worst wretchedness
Commandments #4687 mitsvah = percept
Statutes #2708 chuqqah = appointed custom
Judgments #4941 mishpat = divine law
Live #2421 chayah = revive, give life, repair, restore, save, be whole
Multiply #7235 rabah = to increase in whatever respect,
Tuesday, November 4th, Americans will raise their voices and bring a new president into the White House. The true heart of America will be revealed and the desires of her people will be shown. Before we head to the voting booths, may each of us bow before the Lord God and allow Him to examine our hearts and reveal to us any sins that we may be harboring in our hearts. May we repent of those sins and ask for His unconditional forgiveness to fall fresh upon us. May we allow Him to do whatever work necessary to change our hearts and make them new. May we seek Him above all else and experience Him in the way that HE has always intended for us to experience Him…As our Life, our Joy, our Hope, our Protection, our King, our Shelter, our Reward, our Comforter, our Sustainer, our Purpose, our Direction, our Freedom, our Best Friend.
May the Lord God look upon His people and see one heart, one mind and one desire. Please Lord, bring about a spiritual revival across this nation in a way that has never been seen before. May Your glory be so evident and so magnificent that it draws the lost to You and Your children into a deeper relationship with You. May our cries be heard and our prayers be answered. My Friend, we deserve nothing, but death and destruction. Nothing in us or about us is good, worthy, or valuable. We are sinners saved by grace and nothing more. The Lord has chosen to extend His love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, and life to each of His children. It is because of His greatness that we exist. His power sustains this universe and everything in it was made by Him and through Him and for Him (John 1:3). Every decision we make as individuals and as a nation must be made with the Lord God and His glory as our first priority. When we live a life that brings honor and glory to God, God pours out His blessings upon us. His heart is to shower His children with blessings beyond our wildest dreams. Not because we deserve it or have earned it, but because HE is love (1 John 4:8) and all His actions are birthed and executed in and through that love.
Over and over in Scripture, we find the Lord God calling His people back to Him. His heart is for each person to repent and to allow the blood of Christ to cleanse them, heal them, renew them, restore them and recreate them into His own image (2 Peter 3:9). Look at our focal passage. "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God may bless you in land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land…" (Deuteronomy 30:15-18)
As a nation and as individuals we have failed to honor and glorify the Lord. We have allowed our world to be filled with vile and sinful concepts, ideas, entertainment, values, morals, and teachings. We call it "freedom of expression" but what the Lord God calls it is SIN. We live in ways that bring shame to the Lord God and to the name of Christ, but we ask Him to protect us, sustain us, prolong our freedoms and comforts. Why do we think that we deserve such things?! God's Word clearly states that God wants to bless us, but we have to make a choice. We have to either choose to live according to His Word or we choose to live in rebellion against Him. There is no middle ground, My Friend. His Word is also clear about the outcome of our choices. If we choose to live according to His Word, HE will bless us with His presence and provisions, but if we choose to live in rebellion against Him, HE will allow us to perish through the destruction we bring upon ourselves.
This election is not about protecting our comforts so we can continue to live unchanged and uninterrupted for the next four years. This election is about electing a man that will uphold the values and morals of Scripture and continue to protect our great nation against those who desire to destroy it, so that God's children will be able to use the next four years to proclaim Christ Jesus to a lost and dying world. Christ Jesus is going to return and call His children home. We know this for certain because God's Word tells us HE is coming again. Jesus promises in Matthew 14:2-3 "In My Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also." Three times in Revelations, Jesus promises, "Behold, I AM coming quickly…" (Revelations 3:11; 22:7; 22:20) For God's children, Christ return is the best possible gift; however, to the lost, Christ return seals their death and destruction, their complete separation from the Lord God for all eternity.
Oh, My Friend, we are not ready for Christ to return!!! We have so much work that needs to be done. So much that we have allowed to be put on the "back burner" so that we could pursue other things…Wealth, personal success, accomplishments, dreams, hopes, ideas, employment, life in general, and comforts this world offers. My heart is heavy as I think of the time I have wasted and the opportunities that I had to share Christ Jesus and chose not too for whatever reason. May God forgive me and allow me the opportunity to share Christ once more with the lost in my family and in my sphere of influence. Satan is the father of lies and no truth is within him (1 John 2:4). His goal is to deceive us into thinking that Christ is either not returning at all or that His return is so far off that our delay in sharing the Gospel will not have a negative effect on those around us. That could not be farther from the truth. Christ is returning! HE is coming quickly! And every second counts! Our sole purpose for being on this earth at this particular time is to glorify the Lord by living for Him so that others may come to know Him as their personal Lord and Savior.
God is Sovereign and HE alone is worthy of all honor, glory and praise. HE is our life and the length of our days (Deuteronomy 30:20). HE is worth whatever cost. HE is more valuable than gold, more priceless than the most precious jewel. Nothing in heaven or earth satisfies to the very marrow of our souls like Christ Jesus. Nothing is worth living for if HE is not the Center. We have no idea how much we miss and how much those around us miss when we do not live for Him and Him alone. When we allow our eyes to be removed from Him and our hearts begin to stray toward the things of this world. Father God, PLEASE open our eyes and our ears so that we can hear Your Truth and understand it. May we have a heart so broken before You that we pour out our repentance and allow You to restore us and create in us a heart that truly longs for You every moment of the day. May You give us such a passion for the lost that our first priority in every decision that we make will be to live in such a way that draws others to the cross of Jesus. Forgive our sins and the sins of this nation. Bring revival to our nation and throughout the world. Sustain us, protect us, root us and establish us in Your unchanging, unshakable, uncompromising Word. May our lives be exact representations of You, Lord Jesus.
"For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that HE would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:14-19) To God be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Your Sister in Christ,
Michelle Jones
November 3, 2008
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