Man, oh man, life can be tough sometimes. We all face issues that plague us day in and day out.  A lot of times this is our own doing, but some things are not. Satan and society are always nipping at our heals, trying to slow us down or trip us up in our relationships with God. We don’t welcome Satan in, well I hope you don’t— but we are always battling our sinful natures and the ills of society that surround us on each side.

It like being stuck in a crossfire in a battle field. No matter which we try to run, we are engaged by the enemy. We can sit and cower hoping help comes, or we can call out to God to destroy our enemies to give a path of escape and to help us fight our way through.

We can get so overwhelmed with the evil around us. We get so tired and exhausted from fighting that we are tempted to just throw our arms up in surrender, to be taken prisoner by the enemy and give up on our relationship with God. But God is with us, though.

The Bible is filled of stories and events where God intervened when the enemy was about to overtake God’s people.  I’ll let you delve into those stories in the Old Testament. What is important to take away from those stories is that God was with them. and He is still with us today.  We are in a type of captivity today much like the Israelites were many times, as recorded  in the Bible. It is like we are in Egypt, ruled over by a godless society looking down on us like we are ants to be stomped on.

Yes, we in the Western world still have it pretty good. We are not facing a slaughter like Arab Christians are facing in the Middle East; but we are being repressed and subverted through policy and societal influence in the legal and political systems.

We are being pushed to the fringes of society because we believe in the truths we know through God the Father and our Savior, His Son, Jesus. We are slowly being compressed in the trash compacter of the political system to which we are subjected. The liberal aspect of our society is repressing us to the point where we are not allowed to display or profess our faith in Jesus and His saving grace. We have to be quiet and sneaky about it sometimes. We can’t profess our faith without getting rotten tomatoes thrown at us through vile words and actions of unbelievers.

I’m not talking about unbelievers who are polite, but the aggressive ones who go out of their way to curse us and curse the God of the universe. They believe in the god of the individual, that humans are their own gods.  They profess a post-modern belief system where the only thing wrong are Christian beliefs.  In their view, except for followers of Jesus, individual beliefs are what matters and what they believe is right—it is their truth.

We know what the truth is. It is God who is found in the Word of God, the Bible.  Because of this, we are treated like war fodder. We are not important and we are targets for the societal systems that are contrary to the truth.

Should we care what they think? No… but yes, as well. No in that their “opinion” of what truth is should not affect our belief in God. Yes, in that their words turn to actions to repress us and we must fight to hold on to our right to express our beliefs and our beliefs to positively affect the world around us.

Living in this environment is trying, to say the least. There seems to be no rest in the day for those against us.  Only in the quiet of our homes or the solitude found in church, or circles of fellow believers, do we find respite from the ills of society.

I know when I’m with and surrounded by like-minded people, I find strength and feel joy. It’s when I leave that circle that things get tough.  We are strangers in the world. We are aliens in the land controlled by unbelievers.  And you know what? Things are getting worse for in a seemingly exponential manner.

I’m 42 and can look back on my life and see the demise of our society as it turned from God.  Because of this, now and more quickly, evil is moving throughout the world like a wildfire being egged on by a strong wind.  We  who are followers of Jesus are on a small island as the fire surrounds us. We are protected by God, but it doesn’t mean we don’t feel the heat of the enemy.

The rate that society is falling down around us is a bit scary and troubling, and yet exciting as well. It’s a mixture of emotions. I’m scared because of the repression we face. I’m troubled by the marginalization we face, and I’m excited because each day brings us closer and closer to when we get to go home with Jesus.

It’s scary because I fear for those I love who are not in the faith and how they may be drawn away from God in moments of weakness if they are in the faith.  This is especially true for our youth. Society spouts everything contrary to God. False idols abound everywhere. The idols of famous people and materialism is purported to be the means and ends to happiness, not God.  The teachings at the schools is contrary to true God of the Bible and other religions are pushed on our children to lessen the importance of Christianity.

I’m troubled in that the adversity we face is mounting at a growing rate.  I see this mostly through the new laws and policies that have been forced on us by the liberals who hate us and want to put the individual as more important than the foundations of God.  The liberal society has caused us to second guess how we act and interact with others; for if we disagree based on our beliefs we can get in trouble at work or school or lose our jobs.

I was at my Veterans Administration clinic (can’t remember the month) and there were flyers everywhere to celebrate and promote gay pride month.  I don’t ever see flyers showing the celebration of Christian values or special days. But they can push the other stuff down our throats. I also saw flyers and posters about support groups for those who are or maybe are, transgender. How sad and disgusting. Just an example of what kind of stuff we are faced within our world.

I’m excited because the end is near. I don’t like what is going around us, but I’m excited because I know Jesus is coming. ( I just wonder how much worse it will get for us until then.) I’m excited and happy because when He takes us home, we won’t have to deal with all that is happening around us. The unsaved will be left to their own demise without Christians having to live through it. My heart does break because many will be lost, but that is their choice, not mine.

Regardless of what is going on, we must remember that God is in control. He sees the beginning from the end and is guiding us toward Him. He is with us through all this turmoil. He has plans to prosper us, not to destroy or forsake us. Whatever we face or will face, God is with us. He will comfort us and give us the strength to endure and to battle evil.

We are facing scary and exciting times as the last trumpet  grows closer and are taken up.  Hold strong and don’t waiver in your faith. Trust God in everything and know He is the Alpha and Omega of all creation.

Johnflysaught@gmail.com

Do you really believe what you believe? Pause and think about this for a couple of seconds. A simple statement on the surface, but the depth of it is far more. Any and everything in the Bible is God breathed. The words were not made up. The stories are real, and yet, have you found yourself really believing the true words of God as put forth in His Word?

It’s one thing to say you believe in everything the Bible teaches, but do you really? The Bible teaches of grace, mercy, righteousness, and salvation, as a few main points, but do you actually believe these concepts?  I’m not sure we all do. It takes great faith to address these doubts to really believe the concepts.

In a Bible study once, we were discussing the forgiveness offered to all believers through Christ.  We talked of minor things that occur and then delved into deeper conversation about more abhorrent sins, like murder. One of the attendees stated He could never see how there would be forgiveness for a murder, child molester, or rapists. He didn’t believe God would forgive people like this.

Maybe you are one of those. Maybe you know someone or where a victim of a crime yourself. What do you think? Do you really believe that forgiveness, even for these type of people, is available through Christ? Even after explaining in depth with this fellow how even the Apostle Paul was a spear in the fight against Christians, he was forgiven and became a champion of the faith, our friend’s opinion wouldn’t change. Are you like our friend?

Let’s get a little deeper. What about the strength of God in your life?  When we pray “…your kingdom come, you will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-13).  Do we really believe this?  We hear of people stating they have stumbling blocks in their walk with Christ, or strongholds they can’t seem to shake, but really, the Bible says all things are possible with God (Matthew 19:26).  If you really believed that all things are possible with God, why do you still have strongholds in your life?

Whatever “it” is, we make excuses to explain away the continuing sin occurring in our lives.  Now, if we really believe that God created everything (Genesis 1:1) is our strength (Ephesians 6:10) and is the power in our lives (Ephesians 3:20), then what is our excuse? We don’t want to admit we are weak. We don’t want to face our sins fully. If we did, we would stop whatever sin we are committing because we really believe what we believe God can do for us.

You may disagree but I believe there is a part of each one of lacks the whole faith of God in our lives. Disagree? Let’s look at finances. Letting God help our marriages, and guidance of kids is easy to do. Shoot, we have no problem lifting our problems for God to handle. We want Him to lead us to where He wants us to use our gifts and to help people, but when it comes to money…hmmm… well, uh, hmmm, maybe not so much.

Finances is the “it” for a great majority of folks. God will not harm us (Jerimiah 29:11) and He will guide us (Galatians0. 5:16) but when it comes to the penny we have in our pocket, this is different. If the Holy Spirit, given to us through Jesus, impressed on you to give that tax return to the church youth group, would you? Or would you talk yourself out of it?

One year, I gave a challenge to everyone in the church. To give their tax return to a part of a church ministry that the church was active in. You know how many did? Other than my family, no one. It impressed upon me that people want their money for themselves.  Sure, we will use our tax return to buy that big screen TV or go on that vacation, but what do we do with the money God made us stewards of? I don’t know about everyone. I know what I saw in a congregation and it was troubling.

Ok, what if the Holy Spirit impressed upon you to quit that job for a significantly lower paying job? Sure, it’s easy to ask God for a better paying job with promises to give the extra to Him (though we don’t, we buy more stuff). Yet, if it was impressed to us to take a step down into a lower tax bracket, would you? Probably not.  It is hard, I’ve been there. There is a lack of trust in God to take care of us when money is involved.

It was mid-2007 when the Holy Spirit impressed upon me very clearly to leave my career behind in the Army. I fought and fought and the voice in my heart got louder and louder. I could have fought it and silenced the voice of the Holy Spirit, but I decided to step out in great faith and listen.

Long story short, there was a reason and it came to fruition years later. It was hard to trust my life, my family’s life, and my finances to God when I didn’t even have a job lined up. He took care of us and it all worked out for the better. Was it hard, oh yes. Was it trying, yes very much so, but I would just remind myself that God told me to do this and He wouldn’t abandon me or set me up for failure.

I’m facing a similar situation again and it is so much easier now to let Him guide me in this because I have experienced His care for me in the past. Do I have my doubts? Yes. At times when I let my mind wander to the “what if’s,” but then I just think back to 2007 to remind myself that yes, God knows what He is doing better than what I know I’m doing. God has a bird’s eye view of my life while I can barely see the end of my nose.

When it comes down to it, we have issues of trust. We trust our seatbelts and airbags to keep us safe in our cars, but all in all, we seem to lack complete trust in God.  We want to trust in Him because we believe in Him and His words, but there is still a small tiny piece of us that can’t hand it ALL over to Him because we don’t really believe what we believe.

When you find yourself in a situation or a mindset of disbelief, remember that God will not forsake us (Psalm 9:10). Trust that He will care for you and help you to really believe what you believe.

johnflysaught@gmail.com