Oh, and we found out Monday that the company I work for is cutting our wages by 10% at the first of 2009.
Merry Christmas.
Oh, well...at least I have a job.
For the new administration to desire to know and do God�s will in all things
Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.
�Ephesians 5:17
Awesome God, You see all and You know all! You rule over history and time, yet You are neither bound nor governed by them. I praise You because You are sovereign and You know both the beginning and the end, for Your will shall be accomplished.
The discernment of Your will, Lord, is a challenging thing for the layman as well as the leader. As we seek You in prayer and through Your Word, You make Your will manifest for each and every situation. Do this, O God, for our nation�s new leaders, from President-Elect Barack Obama downward. Give this administration an unquenchable need to discern and carry out what You desire for our nation. We pray this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
I like that word, "unquenchable." I believe this is a very significant prayer. Proverbs 21:1 says, "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD: he turns it wherever he will." Just insert the word "president" or "leader" of any kind in that spot where it says "king." So when we pray for God to give the new administration the desire to do his will, I don't think that's so far-fetched.
In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me.
Deliver me, O LORD, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue.
In this Psalm, the first of a group called "Songs of Ascent," (these were songs that were sung by people as they made the journey up the mountain to Jerusalem) the author is probably praying from protection from other people's lying lips and deceitful tongues. But what if he was praying from deliverance from his own tendency to lie? I believe it's possible. We should all pray diligently for God to keep us honest.
Galatians 1:6-12
Paul is addressing a serious problem at the church in Galatia (and when we say "church" in this instance, we are referring to the entire body of believers in the province, all of which met in houses of believers...there was no "First [insert denomination] Church of Galatia") in this passage. Someone has brought a variant of the original message of Christ into their midst. And Paul has some very extreme words for these people. "If one of us--even if an angel from heaven!--were to preach something other than what we preached originally, let him be cursed. I said it once; I'll say it again: If anyone, regardless of reputation or credentials, preaches something other than what you received originally, let him be cursed." (Emphasis mine.)
This would cover quite a few popular preachers that we hear today. There are a lot of "preachers" out there today tickling ears by preaching a "warm-fuzzy" version of the "gospel," which really isn't "Gospel" at all! Paul says they should be cursed! And I agree with Paul.
There is only one Gospel. Jesus Christ died for our sins, and we must trust him for our salvation. We are sinners! Everyone. And there is no working that out without the blood of Christ to wash away those sins. There is no glossing over the fact that we are sinners. All of the "variant gospels" that we are hearing are lies. Flat out lies. With just enough truth in them to make them sound good.
We must be careful and do just as the famous Berean Christians were noted to do in one of Paul's other letters. Search the Scriptures. Study them for ourselves. We must use the brains God gave us and read the Bible, study the Bible and see if what any "preacher" is saying is actually true. Even if he quotes Scripture in his defense! That is important, because of our traditions of "proof-texting" (taking one verse totally out of context and building an argument on it).
Grace and peace, friends.