I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the LORD Most High. -Psalm 7:17
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. -Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776
Yesterday our nation celebrated our 235th year of FREEDOM. Now we look at our freedom and think, oh we have the freedom of speech, the freedom of press, the freedom to do whatever we want to do...except breaking the Law. Yes that is very much true. But lets look at the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights and see what it says:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Read that first line again:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.
In other words, Congress can't tell us (the church) how to worship God! Isn't that awesome?! But what about the other countries that don't have that kind of freedom that we have?
There's not a whole lot we can do but pray. Pray for the leaders of those governments that won't accept or allow Christianity in their country. Pray for the leaders who DO allow Christianity in their country but their people don't want it. Also pray for the police officers who are trying to protect the Christians from harms way.
We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately. -Benjamin Franklin, right before he signed the Declaration of Independence with Fifty-Five other men on July 4, 1776
In other words, We must stand together because if we don't, surely, we will fall.
Little at a time I see this country slipping into forgetting what our Founding Fathers have done for us in order to be free from England. Yes they argued, as do we all, but in the end we remember how glorious it is to free. Much like being a Christian, we remember the struggles we had in our lives before we accepted him as our Lord and Saviour; and then it turned into this glorious thing that we want to cherish forever and ever.
Like the United States has a Constitution; us Christians have a Constitution as well, it's called the Bible. We do our best to follow it, but when we start following it we find it harder and harder to follow it because of our own priorities and selfish-ambitions that leads us astray from God. Then a war starts in our heart and we battle it day in and day out and we try to fight it on our own, thinking that we don't need our God's help. But then we realize that the only way of winning this battle is by asking for the help of our God, and we are embarrassed when we do. With the help of others and God, we start Winning our battles; Winning our victories. And people start seeing what is going on and they wonder why are they being like this? What is wrong with them? So we start telling them about Christ and what he has done for us and they too accept him and more start accepting him and together we fight this battle, and together we win for God is on our side like Joshua in the Bible, when we ask for his help. Christians all around the world are fighting this battle and we are over here in our big comfy couch not doing anything about it. They are crying out for help! So lets help them for crying out loud!!!
Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. -Psalm 5:2
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. -Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. -Ephesians 6:10-18
This war isn't over, not yet anyways. Just like John Hancock was the first to put his name on the Declaration, he knew that THIS was the beginning of something bigger. How is God going to use you for Something Bigger?
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