Living in a War Zone

We are living in a war zone—a spiritual war that is.  When Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons to kill his own people and paid terrorists to attack Israel and the United States, as well as trying to assassinate George H.W. Bush in the 1980’s, we put up with it for a while, but finally after September 11, 2001, we had had enough!    The United States attacked the terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq in the hopes that the terrorists would learn that they couldn’t attack us and get away with it.

But now, when Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria, started killing his own people with chemical weapons we drew a red line and allowed him to cross it.  Then we trusted Putin, the fox, to watch the hen house.  The Nigerian school girls have been kidnapped so we tweet “#Bring back our girls.”  And meanwhile, the European Union, instead of helping Ukraine, they voted on a “talent” show.  A bearded man wearing a dress, wins.  That is supposed to tell us that they are tolerant.  Well they are tolerant to the detriment of society.  See this blog by Robert Tracinski--http://thefederalist.com/2014/05/13/eurovision-raises-the-question-how-many-divisions-has-rupaul/. 

The United States under its present leadership has also become tolerant of everything except Christianity.

So what is a Christian to do?  I would say do this:

1st –Pray,

I Timothy 2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— ² for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ³ This is good, and pleases God our Savior, ⁴ who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

2nd, study the Bible,

II Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 

Ephesians 6:17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

3^rd, Confess your sins,
Psalm 51:3 For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. 4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

4th, forgive as God has forgiven you,

Ephesians 4:32  Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

5th, Have faith and do works:

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Matthew 5: ¹³ “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.


Ephesians 5:11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them.

Jude 1: 22 And have mercy on some, who are doubting ; 23 save others, snatching them out of the fire ; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.

6th, Live Life

Jeremiah 29:5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.⁶ Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. ⁷ Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

We know that God wins in the end.  We can “Cast all our cares on Him because He cares for us.”  Don’t worry –be happy!  God is in control!

What would be your advice as how to live in the midst of all this craziness?

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Today was another wonderful Mother's Day for me.  My kids, grandkids and hubby took me on a picnic.  The weather was perfect and the park wasn't crowded.  (Later I found out that I chose a park in a bad neighborhood.  I guess that is why it wasn't crowded. We thought maybe there were homeless people who were sheltering under the trees when we saw what looked like an abandoned sleeping bag.)

Thinking back about my life I was very blessed to have a mom, dad, siblings, and 4 grandparents.  Above is a picture of me with my Grandpa Edson, cousin Dorothy, Aunt Ruth, brother Jay, my mom, Aunt Evelyn, and Grandma Edson at my grandparent's farm in Eastern Washington.  What a great life to have a God fearing family.  Grandma Edson and Aunt Evelyn always enjoyed singing the doxology before meals. Now my granddaughters enjoy singing it.

 "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;

Praise him, all creatures here below;

Praise him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen."

Possessions Can Be A Burden

Chris and I are downsizing little by little.  This year we are going to participate in our churches’ annual parking lot sale.  We open it to the neighbors to bring their stuff to sell.  They keep all of the money that they make and we serve them free hot dogs and hamburgers.  It is a good way to meet the neighbors so we know how to pray for them, and also we invite them to church.

I enjoy getting rid of things because that means there is less to take care of.  I like spending my time with family, friends, reading, and writing rather than taking care of possessions. Oh, sure it is nice to have food, clothing, shelter and electricity as well as indoor plumbing.  (I just watched a documentary about an English businessman who helped over 600 Jewish children escape from Czechoslovakia in 1939.  Some stayed with people in the English countryside who had no electricity, running water, or indoor plumbing.  They had a great time and were thankful for the generous sharing of these people. So one can get along without sometimes!)

Today I read Randy Alcorn’s blog on how he is teaching his kids about materialism. Here is the link http://www.epm.org/blog/2014/May/2/trip-junkyard.

Another interesting blog I read was about terrible international aid ideas.  Here is the link http://matadornetwork.com/change/7-worst-international-aid-ideas/. 

My physical therapist told me that her church sponsors an orphanage in Haiti.  They wanted to send them money but the directors said, “No, don’t send money.  Come and help.  We need more hands.”  So they traveled there and helped. 

Why, you may ask, am I mentioning how material goods, and money, can be a detriment?  It is because I believe that our government is throwing money at the problem of poverty and it is making things worse in the lives of the poor in this country.  Instead of spending more money on food stamps, health care, buildings, etc., first, we should vote people in to office who would encourage freedom of religion so that Christian missionaries can be sent in to tell the poor in spirit about Jesus,  how they can call out to God at any time, and God will help. ( In Chronicles 17: 7-9 we read that King  Jehoshaphat sent out officials to teach the people the scriptures.   "Then in the third year of his reign he sent his officials, Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethaneland Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah ; 8 and with them the Levites, Shemaiah, Nethaniah,Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah and Tobadonijah, the Levites ; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the priests. 9 They taught in Judah, having the book of the law of the LORD with them; and they went throughout all the cities of Judah and taught among the people. As a result this happened:  Chronicles 17:10"Now the dread of the LORD was on all the kingdoms of the lands which were around Judah, so that they did not make war against Jehoshaphat.")  So I would say that spiritual health is necessary for a nation in order to protect the people from enemy attacks both spiritual and physical. Spiritual health is more important than physical health. 

Of course if the people are starving it would be good to give them bread and soup first. (Hey, this sounds like what the Salvation Army and Union Gospel Mission do!) Then, as they are taught to read the Bible and study it, learn about Who God is, many would find out how much God loves them and they may seek wisdom from above.  (Instead of churches helping with homework first, maybe a devotional or Bible study before the homework would be helpful to kids. To improve their reading skills they could read the Bible.)

If the schools taught the Golden Rule and encouraged families to do the same at home, good could overcome evil.  But of course I know that this will not happen until Jesus comes back to set up His Kingdom. As long as sin is in the world a utopia is impossible.  Christians can and do hold back some of the evil in this world by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Many who reject 
Christ will be lost for eternity if they don’t turn to God.   I hope and pray that everyone will seek Him before it is too late.