Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Matters of the Heart





“What’s happening in this country today is beyond anything we’ve ever seen in American politics. Political debate, at the very heart of the founding of this country, has developed into outright political abuse.” ~ Judge Jeanine Pirro

One’s mind reels to hear of Congressional leaders calling for riots and relentless attacks and harassment against people who work for our president. Actors and actresses call for the president’s son, Baron Trump, to be kidnapped and locked in a cage with pedophiles. Outright lies and distortion of the facts are served up by the main stream news media as the truth just to further a political agenda. One sees, plain as day, the outrageous scheme by a group of FBI and DOJ top players who conspired to create a scenario to keep Donald Trump from winning the White House, and then lied to cover it up. One sees, plain as day, the conspiracy to ensure the election of Hillary Clinton as president in 2016, and all the finagling that went on, and the subsequent specially-designed witch hunt by “special counsel” Robert Mueller against the president, to focus deflection on what these dishonest players have done.

Common sense, decency, and morality seem eclipsed by scathing vitriol against Conservative leadership of any kind in our country. Where is the respect and good will that can result in good decisions for our country when both sides of the political aisle come together? The leadership on the Liberal side of the aisle will have none of it, but rather, delights in obstructionism just to be mean and ornery. A play from the devil’s handbook. Hell’s agenda against our country.

A great challenge confronts me as a Christian with reasoned conservative political beliefs with an innate, deep-seated sense of justice, to obey the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:44-45 (NKJ): “But I say to you, love your enemies; bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be the sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.”

My heart wrestles with the challenge: how can I bless those who do such evil? How should I bless them? God’s Kingdom works in an upside-down fashion from the kingdoms of this world, to bring things right-side-up. I realize I need to guard my own heart, so I am not sucked down into the sewer of destructive thinking that wars against the Holy Spirit’s thoughts and will for me.

One can see from the scripture mentioned above that God is a Blesser. He desires for all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. When we were still sinners, Christ died for us, because He loved us and saw value in us. In a recent book I’ve read about blessing others, I read numerous testimonies of how God turned people’s hearts around when the offended ones chose to bless those opposing them. I took courage from that, and the Holy Spirit showed me that as I imitate God by blessing the ungodly, He has a direct inroad into their hearts because I humble myself to bless instead of holding resentment and bitterness against them. As I bless instead of holding up a placard of resentment that obscures God, He will move in and change obstinate hearts.

I do not bless the actions of a person; rather, I pray something like this: “Father, in Jesus’ name, I bless _______________ with an abundance of Your love; I bless their eyes to be opened, so they can come to the Truth. I bless them with health, strength, righteousness, long life and good days. I bless their hearts to be impacted by Your grace. Amen.”

What would happen if the entire body of Christ made blessing a priority in our lives? If we truly obeyed 2 Chronicles 7:14? “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

I want to do what I can to cultivate a culture of blessing within the body of Christ. With it, we can change the world, one heart at a time! Think of the peace that would come to our nation and the nations of the world. Blessing our enemies is powerful. Anyone can bless those who agree with them, but it takes a humbling of the heart to do it for our enemies. We must let go of offense and view others as God sees them: souls for whom Jesus died, and think of the eternal consequences if they don’t repent and turn to God. We plead for their salvation. We must have the heart of God for our world, and not be sucked in by the world. And when I choose the pathway of blessing, peace comes into my own heart in great measure, because I know God will now work on changing them.

No wonder God gives us this instruction: “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (I Timothy 2:1-4 NKJ) I need peace and quiet, don’t you?  

Will you be part of a culture of blessing? Maybe you want to start with those difficult people in your own family. God, give us grace to be a people of blessing. He will heal our land, but we have a part to play.

I press on, daily.


Copyright © 2018 Elaine Beachy
 









Friday, June 22, 2018

God is Good; the Devil is Bad


“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17).  God is so very good; He can’t be any other way. Some have erroneously attributed sickness, disease, tragedy, storms, trouble, death, to God, saying that He must have some purpose for “allowing” these things in the life of a Christian.

No, my friend; people somehow forget there is a thief, the devil, who comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. But Jesus, God’s Son, came to earth that we may have life, and have it more abundantly! (See John 10:10) Scripture also tells us that the last enemy to be destroyed is death. (I Corinthians 15:26) Sickness, tragedy, trouble, and death is not from God!

In his book, God is Good, Bill Johnson makes the point that Jesus, during His time on earth, did nothing as the Son of God, but chose to live with the restrictions of a man (See Philippians 2:7). Bill writes, “One of the most common phrases used is ‘God is in control.’ It is true that He is the Sovereign God. He reigns over all, and everything belongs to Him. He is all-knowing and all-powerful. . . but does that make Him responsible for Hitler? Is brain cancer His idea? If He is in control, then we have to credit Him with disease, earthquakes, hurricanes, and all the other calamities in life. . . While we are in charge of our own homes, not everything that happens under our roof is necessarily our idea or approved by us.” So often Christians say God has a reason for “allowing” tragedies. Bill continues, “That is lazy theology that somehow releases us from responsibility by shifting the blame to a God who put us in charge.”


We have been given authority by Jesus in Luke 10:19: Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” We are to rule in the earth and subdue it. Keep the snake out. Jesus said Satan comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, but He came that we might have life, and have it in abundance (John 10:10)! We have been made “kings and priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and dominion forever and ever” (Revelation 1:6). We are co-laborers with God our Father (I Corinthians 3:9).


Just as God spoke the creation into existence in Genesis 1, we are to speak things into existence. Even regarding receiving our own salvation, Romans 10:8-10 declares, “But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Jesus says, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, “Be removed and be cast into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.” (Mark 11:23) The words of our mouth are powerful when they come from the heart. Proverbs 18:21 declares this spiritual principle: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” We must speak things that agree with God’s Word; we find God’s promises in the scriptures and apply them to the mountains (obstacles) that confront us in life. Through faith and patience, we inherit the promises. (Hebrews 6:12) God’s promises are words of life—never death.

“I will not sacrifice my knowledge of the goodness of God on the altar of human reasoning so that I can have an explanation for why a tragedy happened. But one thing is for sure: He is good—and He is always better than we think.” ~ Bill Johnson

Copyright 2018 Elaine Beachy