Honor the King

The last few years in America have been rough. Let's face it. We have a President who totally disregards the wishes of the people. A man who fails to respect the laws of our nation. A man who supports socialism and homosexuality. Under the current administration, the value of the Constitution has been diminished. My tax money has been utterly wasted so that people who work less than I do, can live better than I live. Our allies have become our enemies. Our military personnel have been degraded. We have sat by and watched. While giving up our freedoms, our world has become more and more dangerous. Not to mention, the epic monstrosity known as the "Affordable Care Act." 

It is a sad day in America. My heart grieves for my beloved country. I regret that anyone believed the lie that a man would change our country for the better. 

It's hard to have a good attitude right now. My healthcare plan will be cancelled next summer. Any similar plan I choose will been over $100 more than I pay right now. And I have to choose to pay that extra $100 now, or I won't have insurance for several months. Don't even get me started on the nonsense of this world - I cannot go anywhere without being exposed to blatant wickedness. I can't even sit in the privacy of my home without hearing words or seeing things that I never intended to see... or even sought out… blurted out in commercials masked in humor and innuendos. It is just disgusting. And to top it all off, the people that we have "chosen" to lead our country in truth with honor and integrity are doing a terrible job! 

Somehow even though my faith has absolutely nothing to do with all of these changes. Somehow even though it is my faith that founded and established this nation. Somehow I am mocked because I believe in the one true God. Somehow I am the "bad guy" for expecting that all able-bodied, of-age persons earn their keep or for demanding morality and honesty. Somehow it is my fault when things go wrong. 

(Or is it just me who feels this? All Bible-believing Christians should understand what I am saying.)

I think Peter understood what we are going through today. He said this in 2 Peter 2:11-17 - 

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

Here Peter reminds us that we really don't belong to this country. We are pilgrims just passing through awaiting a glorious, eternal country. Peter reminds us to keep our lives honorable in the eyes of the world. Yes, they might be speaking against us right now. Yes, they might accuse us of being the "bad guy" right now. But they know by our actions (if we are living out the principles of the Bible) that when it comes down to it, our God is real and true. 

So what do we do in the meantime? 

Obey those laws that we dislike. We are doing it to bring glory to God's name anyway, not our own personal pleasure or comfort. God put the king and governors (President and Senators) in our lives to punish the real bad guys anyway. 

And on top of it all... This is God's will. We are quickly approaching the day of His return. He has had this in the books since the beginning. He knows. He is aware, and He allows. In the end, He will receive the glory. 

So be obedient. Be submissive. Be silent. To quote Peter in verse 17, Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

Dear Christians and fellow Americans, please don't use your knowledge of the truth as an opportunity to speak hate against these men that God. We don't need "educated" on the woes of our great nation, who has so obviously strayed from God. We get it. We are living it. Does it really honor God when we point out every obvious or minor flaw that our leaders make? No. Does it proclaim the name of Christ when we mock or offend the unsaved? No. So do we need to air our grievances on facebook for Christian and non-Christian friends to see? No. That is definitely "not honoring all men."

Yes, my heart breaks for the direction that our President has turned our nation. But I couldn't respect him more. The truth is, I don't envy his job. I do not desire the responsibility that he has. God will hold him accountable for the decisions that he has made. All of that sin that has multiplied as a result of his poor decisions, our President will have to give an account to God for. That means I really, really need to pray for this man. 

As I mourn the tragic decisions that our government has made, I have found myself praying more - and praying harder - for this man who does not know the power of my God. I find myself respecting the severe responsibility that leadership truly is. I find myself encouraging others to honor this man. He is our leader for two more years, whether we like it or not. We have to pray that he will make wise decisions. And most importantly we have to pray that he would choose companions and advisors who know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Pray that they would develop a healthy relationship with our President and show him our Savior. If our President doesn't know Christ, how could he possibly lead our country according the principles that it was founded upon and are laid out in our constitution?

As I mourn the direction we head, I find myself praying for the salvation of the lost. A Christian nation is determined by her people, not by the principles of her founding fathers. If we dwindle in numbers... if I fail to lead others to my Jesus... if I do not teach those younger than me how to live an honest and honorable life... how can I expect to live in a Christian nation?

Please join me in making a concentrated effort starting today. Let us pray for our President every day. Let us continue to praise God for our freedoms while we still have them. Let us honor the men that God has appointed over us. And let us look forward to the day when we leave this kingdom and move to our eternal city with our Heavenly King. 

What's Missing?

Let me ask you a really simple question: what is missing in your life? 

Is it:

·       The love of a family member?

·       Wealth?

·       Possessions?

·       Popularity amongst your peers?

·       Fame in the world?

·       Accomplishments, recognition, or a pat on the back?

Just think about that for a minute.

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. 

And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left. 

For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.

Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God.

And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it forward; and other of the Levites, all that could skill of instruments of musick. 

Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and were overseers of all that wrought the work in any manner of service: and of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters. And

when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the Lord given by Moses. And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.

~2 Chronicles 34:1-3, 8, 12-15~

At one time, there was something missing from Josiah’s life. We know from verse one of this chapter that Josiah began to reign over Israel when he was eight years old and verse two tells us that Josiah was a good king doing right in the sight of the Lord, following David’s godly example, and not faltering away from God. But despite what we learn from verse one and two about Josiah, there was still something very important that was missing from Josiah’s life.

Before Josiah could find out what was missing from his life. He had to (in a sense) clean out his life of the things that didn’t belong there. He had to clean out the temple of God.

For some reason the temple had become sort of like a bank for money, so Josiah had his men go in and take all of the money out of the temple, so they could repair it. What’s cluttering up your life? Think back to those things that we talked about being missing from your life. Are they really necessary or just cluttering up your life? Looking back, those things aren’t missing from my life. They are just clutter.

To find this really important thing that’s missing, we have to remove the clutter – all the things that are standing in the way of God.

When all the money was removed from the temple, Hilkiah the high priest found what had been missing. It was the Word of God. It had been buried beneath the clutter of the temple and no one even knew it was missing, not even the high priest – the man of God. How is it possible that the Bible was missing in Josiah’s life – he was such a man of God.

What is missing from your life? What aspect of your relationship with God whether prayer or devotions or something else needs to grow but can’t because of the other things that have crept into your life?

How Far Would You Go?

Where He leads me I will follow, I'll go with Him all the way. 

When God calls you to serve Him in any particular capacity, how far are you willing to go to serve Him?

That question seems to come up in my life quite often. When I was a teenager I committed to follow Jesus wherever He chose to go. Put me on the mission field in Russia or China? Bring it! Serve as a layman? Let's do it! Whatever He wants me to do - that's what I want to do! 

And God has put me to the test... multiple times. When I was looking at colleges, I knew that the Lord wanted me to go into ministry. I wasn't totally sure what capacity He wanted me in ministry, but I knew full-time ministry was in my future. That's what God wanted for me. The problem was I wanted to go to one college that focused on ministry, and my parents wanted me to go to a different college that focused on education. Both were great schools. Both would give me the opportunity to serve in full-time ministry. But my parents wanted me to go to this other school. 

As a person who was living in my parents' home and planned on continuing to do that until I graduated from college, and as a person whose parents were helping to pay for college, I knew that I had to obey them - to go to the school of parents choosing. That was following God. Even though deep down in my heart, I personally felt that I should go to the ministry school. God had given my parents responsibility over me, and He had given me the responsibility to obey my parents. How many times had I been told that if I obeyed my parents, I was obeying God? It was the right thing to do, so I applied and proceeded to prepare to attend that college. As I did this, God changed my parents hearts so that they actually wanted me to go the ministry college. We all knew that going to the ministry school was where God wanted me to be. God had simply tested me to see how far I would go to follow Him. It was not a comfortable life lesson to learn, but it was necessary. 

The important life lesson I learned that summer of my senior year came back into play a year ago. My husband and I were facing two choices. We had prayed extensively about both ministry options. They were incredibly different, requiring different skills with dramatically different people in dramatically different areas of the country. There was no specific reason that we would have chosen either option. But every time we knocked on the door that led us here, it swung wide open. We followed God.  He led us here. We wouldn't have chosen it for ourselves. He chose it. He asked us to follow Him, so we did. 

I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back. 

How far would you go to follow Jesus?

Refresh

It's already planned. Tomorrow morning I am going to wake up pull out my pretty new outfit, my beautiful new heels. The makeup is going to be applied perfectly and every hair will be in place. It's Easter morning. I will pose for a family picture, head to church after munching on a poor chocolate bunny's ears, observe the annual parade of the seasons latest fashions and finery, listen to the familiar message, then return home for a traditional meal.

Inside my heart hurts. Far too long have I gone without the spiritual refreshment that I crave. I need it, but I don't know where to begin. Life's hard knocks seem to have knocked me out of the game, and every time I try to jump back in, someone else pushes me back. I desperately need refreshed. Somewhere along the line, my relationship with The Lord came to a grinding halt. Why? I don't know. Nothing had changed.

Time has passed and things have now changed but I don't feel any closer to The Lord. The flames of revival seem to burn out no matter how gently I fan and coax them. It's frustrating. Easter arrives tomorrow and to my shame, I forgot about it being anything more than a holiday. I want to blame my Pastor for his laxidasical approach to important spiritual events or opportunities - like Christmas, Easter, missions conferences and revival. But I know that I have to take responsibility for my own spiritual life. He will give an account some day for how he shepherded his church, but I will give an account for me.

Recently I was reading about King Ahaz and his son Hezekiah. It was recreational reading. I have been struggling with devotional reading, but I never seem to struggle with educational or recreational reading. The temple was in ruins. Ahaz destroyed it and ignored its purpose. No one stood up. No one sought for change. God became a god to the people of Judah. A god to be feared and to appease, but not a god to be served and loved. How my life has become like that. My precious Savior, my God, my King, has become but a god amidst life. He who once stood in such sharp focus in front if my entire life has blurred into the background while I wander aimlessly.

What a reminder I have needed! This life isn't about knowing all there is to know about the Bible. It isn't about obeying every command and living the perfect life. It isn't about guiding people into obedience. It's about sacrificing my life to Christ. It's about living with my eyes only on Him. It's about remembering DAILY the sacrifice He made so that I could live. Maybe I lost track when instead of focusing in what I was doing for Him, instead of focusing in what He did for me.

It's a grotesque and painful picture. He literally stood in my place and offered himself to bear the cruelest punishment for my crimes. He did it willingly. He did it without complaint. He did it because He loves me. He endured the shame and the mocking, so that I could live freely. Then He died. He who was perfect and sinless, was separated from His Father, suffered death, to pay for me. What love is this?

It hurts to think about. I feel the guilt. But my soul is refreshed. Death is not the end. Against all possibility, Christ arose! He defeated death! It couldn't keep Him. To give me life, He arose. I can live because He lives! For this I find reason and purpose. That flame kindles and burns a little brighter. I can face tomorrow with the hope that through faithfulness one day soon, that sweet relationship I had with The Lord will be renewed. One day, very soon.

Be renewed.

Refresh.

- Kay

Healthy Eating, Hard Choices

Let's play a game. Plate of steamed broccoli vs. Plate of Delicious, warm chocolate chip cookies

Which would you choose? 

In the midst of my current weight loss life, this has suddenly become a really hard choice. If I wasn't concerned about tomorrow's weigh in, this wouldn't even be a blog post. I would be happily wolfing down a plate of warm, delicious chocolate chip cookies without a care in the world. And what a happy day it would be! 

Now here's the hard part, I am on that diet. I do happen to love broccoli.... Probably not as much as I love cookies, but I like broccoli. I know that it is good for me and it is the smart logical choice. The right choice... The hard choice.... I think in the end I would succumb to the cookies. Maybe not the whole plate, just a few. (Let's be honest, anyone who knows me, knows I am going for those cookies.)

Now lets play the same game with your two year old....

Which plate is your child going to choose?

It's ok to smile. We both know that kid wants the cookies. You probably knew that before your child chose.

Regardless of consequences, the overwhelming majority of us would probably choose the cookies and the person who offered us the choice probably knew too. Just like you knew what your kid would do.

Hmmm....

I've been offered a choice. The person who offered me the choice knew my answer before he even asked. I can consider the consequences for a lifetime or a moment. Chances are I am doing a head dive into those cookies. So why bother even offering? 

Because that someone loves me.

(It all boils down to love.)

God loves me.

He offered me a choice.

The pleasure of the world now or an eternity with Him.

He knew what I would choose before He offered it.

He knew what you would choose before He offered it.

He wants me to make the right choice because I want to. Not because I have to, not because I have no other choice, but because He loves me enough to let me make the choice on my own.

He knows what I am going to chose.

What have you chosen? Have you chosen a taste of the world, but now must bear the consequences for an eternity? Have you chosen to think long term and selected the healthy choice with eternal joy?

It may simple, but its the reality. You choose.

It is my prayer that you have chosen to spend eternity with Christ, now you are faced with a daily choice. Feed on a diet of Christ or feed on a diet of junk. The choice is still yours. God loves you, but I caution you to choose wisely.

~Deuteronomy 30:19-20~

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.