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How do I know there is a God? How do I know “my” religion is right?

Hard questions to answer, but there is an answer. The Lord providentially brought several thoughts/sermons into my hearing between yesterday and this morning. And whether you are a Christian or not, it would do us all well to ponder these universal questions that nag at the heart of every human.

I know that someone created my computer. I’ve never met him, don’t know his name and have no “proof” for his existence, EXCEPT this well-functioning (well, sometimes 😉 , intricate, complicated, orderly design on which I now type. I know it’s creator by the creation.

I know that there is a universal need in the heart of every human to feel secure, to be at peace, and to feel his own worth.

I know that the world at large is scrabbling around in neurotic fervor to try to fill the void that is in his heart if he has not humbled himself before His Creator.

I know that anger, fear, hatred and an unrelenting, nagging restlessness drives us to drown ourselves in entertainment, addictions and distractions.

And I know that when a person finally admits that he is not God, and he is not capable of finding peace and happiness within himself, and receives the indescribable, glorious gift of forgiveness of his human depravity that will ultimately destroy him, if not in this life, in the one to come, that person is born anew.

He becomes a new creation. His fear, his anxieties, his restlessness dissolves into a placid calmness that cannot be described with human words.

He is not “better” or higher than his fellow man. But he has the mercy given to him by an Advocate–the only One who can pay for the price he owes. And that mercy, open to anyone, washes over his life with such abundance that nothing in this life can move him.

How do I know God is real? Because I am not moved. Because I once was lost–so very lost, and now am found.

Because His mercy took my brokenness, my failures, my fears and torment, and in their place gave me joy and peace that passes all understanding.

Because He did for me what I could not do for myself, and I cannot but praise Him forever!

I know My Redeemer Lives…

The following excerpt is from one of the most concise, simply articulated articles I’ve read about the election. This is IT in a nutshell. (Thanks Gina!)

The article is not all depressing; there is hope if people understand the times and are willing to rally up their ancestors’ tenacity. Be sure to read the rest from the link.

“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship….

I will tell you how and why we have come to the brink of socialism in this country: education. Our public schools, with the blessings of government officials, have been droning on about the evils of capitalism and the superiority of socialism for decades. The media echo this chant, so children have grown into adults knowing no other philosophy. Capitalism is bad. Socialism is good. Woof woof.

The fact of human nature is people are lazy. If you take away the incentive to achieve anything because you’re providing it for “free,” watch how they fall into an indifferent, drone-like status quo. People will come to expect everything to be handed to them on a government platter. Woof wo … er, you know the rest.”

Sit. Stay. Roll over. Beg.

Avi

Mallie

Mallie started it. I promise this was not a staged picture…Mallie is a kind of “I’ll dress myself, thank you very much” girl. (She got it from her Dad 😉

I love the innocent, unassuming look–don’t you? It’s like, “Fashion? A sensible girl cares only for warmth and comfort. Oh, the shoes were all I could find.”

Avi at least stayed in the pink family. What’s funny is when we’re in a hurry to go somewhere, and they may dart out to the van before I can inspect…(can I get a witness?) And we arrive at our destination and my children have some get up like this.

I just smile sheepishly, shrug my shoulders and admit that having a large family does have its pitfalls.

By the way, they were dressing to go play out in the–brace yourself–60 degree afternoon air. “BRRRR….Mom, can we roast marshmellows?”

(I know, if I hadn’t been there the whole time, I would be certain my babies got swapped with someone else’s at birth.)

Speaking of enjoying the simple things in life…

I get to enjoy this sweet little lisp every day. I am just going to presume you would enjoy it too 🙂

Avalee singing our made-up rendition of Psalm 100.

Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation:

And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord:

And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People?

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!

It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th. day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer. And I do hereby request all the People to abstain, on that day, from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.

All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the Nation will be heard on high, and answered with blessings, no less than the pardon of our national sins, and the restoration of our now divided and suffering Country, to its former happy condition of unity and peace.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and, of the Independence of the United States the eighty seventh.

Abraham Lincoln

Until Thursday…

Rivers of renewal…

Spirit, whisper a revival…

and send us rushing…

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

The late Dr. Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, called fasting a

“spiritual atomic bomb that our Lord has given us to destroy the strongholds of evil and usher in a great revival and spiritual harvest around the world.”

“But,” he added, “before God comes in revival power, the Holy Spirit will call millions of God’s people to repent, fast and pray in the spirit of II Chronicles 7:14.”

“O Lord,

May I never fail to come to the knowledge of the truth,

never rest in a system of doctrine, however scriptural,

that does not bring or further salvation,

or teach me to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts,

or help me to live soberly, righteously, godly;

never rely on my own convictions and resolutions,

but be strong in thee and in thy might;

never cease to find thy grace sufficient in all my duties, trials, and conflicts;

never forget to repair to thee in all my spiritual distresses and outward troubles,

in all the dissatisfactions experienced in creature comforts;

never fail to retreat to him who is full of grace and truth,

the Friend that loveth at all times,

who is touched with feelings of my infirmities,

and can do exceeding abundantly for me.”

“You set me high upon a rock…”

When we got a notice from our church about a voluntary day of fasting and prayer, I had just finished reading Nehemiah where the first thing he did, upon hearing the calamity of his people, fell down and wept, and fasted and prayed.

The fast our church announced is Wednesday, specifically to pray for our country. I think it would be incredible if there were a mass fasting and prayer among the blog community.

If you want to participate, I’m inviting you. Any day, of course, is a great day to determinedly cry out to the Lord on our nation’s behalf.

DON’T skip this…this is so huge! And I think you will be greatly encouraged.

This post is burning its way onto my keyboard. My discouragement this morning fanned into flames of triumph as I felt prompted to read Nehemiah, and the story of the stone wall.

In light of the uncertainty and fear we face as a nation, it’s easy to throw our hands up. But, there is an answer! The same one Nehemiah called the children of Israel to…I want to quote a few parts from this incredible story…I hope it excites you as it did me!

Preface: The Jews were living in utter despair in Jerusalem as the wall had been broken down, the gates burned with fire, and the people left merciless at the hands of the enemies on every side. They felt hopeless and utterly vulnerable.

(I woke up this morning saying, “What can one person, one family do?” The answer lies just ahead–keep reading!)

Nehemiah, when informed of the state of his father’s homeland

“sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven”. And I said:

“Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, please let Your ear be attentive…I confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying,

“If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them…I will gather them and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.”

Nehemiah recognized why his nation was in such straits, humbled himself and got serious about seeking the Lord’s face. (Stay tuned for an invitation post to join us in a day of fasting and praying for our country.)

So he begged the king to let him go to his country to rebuild the wall. And at the inspiration of Nehemiah, because “God had put it in his heart“, he rallied the people to begin rebuilding the wall.

Here’s the good part…they rebuilt it, one section at a time, family by family. The whole third chapter names each family that built its part, little by little. No one had the stamina, when they looked at all the ruins, to start building on his own. But when everyone got busy doing what they could do–what was in front of them, the wall went up, little by little!!! Let me say it again, “ONE FAMILY AT A TIME!”

It’s not over…

“But it so happened, when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious, and mocked the Jews….and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish–stones that are burned?”

“Hear, O our God, for we are despised;…

So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.”

They were determined, resolved and focused. They were going to build the wall.

So the enemies got together and conspired to attack the Jews, so that they wouldn’t be able to finish the wall. And then they became discouraged. Judah said,

“The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall…and our adversaries are going to come in and kill us!”

“So I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings; and I set the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows….and said,

‘Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.’ “

…”Those who built on the wall…loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon.”

Is that not great!

And the best part of all…

Nehemiah said,

“The work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another on the wall. Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there.

Our God will fight for us.”

More to come on HOW we can “rebuild the wall” one family at a time. Offer your suggestions too!