Blessed!
Foreclosure! Bankruptcy!
Unemployment! Insincerity! Broken promises! Higher taxes!
Everyone seems concerned with the state of affairs
in our nation and around the world. Unfortunately, most folks are looking
in the wrong place to solve those problems. Satan wants to get us focused
on certain people or groups to blame our woes upon, “they are the cause
of our problems,”whereas the Lord wants us to
focus on HIM as the solution. Are you ready to get busy doing just
that, focusing on God’s solution? Great!
Psalm 33:12 expresses a simple biblical truth, “Blessed
is the nation whose God is the LORD: and the people whom he hath
chosen for his own inheritance.” A nation is made up of people.
God says that when the people in a nation honor, revere and respect the Lord
above all else, that nation will absolutely be blessed. The opposite of
that is when the people of a nation get more consumed in their own selfish
desires and put them before a true and intimate relationship with the Lord, that
nation will not be blessed.
In our Pledge of Allegiance we say, “One nation
under God,” think about that, one nation UNDER
God. Can you imagine how awesome it would be to live in a nation where
the majority of the people humbly placed themselves UNDER God’s divine
guidance and authority? I mean, didn’t play at it, but really did
it? I can tell you what would happen - that nation would be
blessed, prosperous, and fruitful just like Psalm 33 promises.
Our Founding Fathers NEVER thought that government
was the solution to man’s freedoms. That is why our Constitution was set
up for limited government; they wanted just enough government to keep its
citizens free to pursue their God given blessings of life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness. The Founders set up checks and balances to ensure
that the bulk of the power would remain in the hands of the people, people who
were being led by God. Where did they get that idea? The Bible.
Has it ever occurred to you that we could have the
most perfect leadership in the country and still be in bondage if the people
don’t have a true and vital relationship with the Lord; if they don’t love HIM
with ALL their heart, soul, mind and strength, and love their neighbor as
themselves (sound familiar)?
I’m not saying you should ignore politics, or your
duty as a citizen; you and I were entrusted with the stewardship of this great
It’s a whole lot easier to criticize others than to
clean up your own life. My daddy used to say, “Don’t clean up my front
porch until you clean up your own back yard.” Jesus put it another way,
“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy
brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is
in thine own eye?” Matt. 7:3.
What I am asking is, do YOU love the Lord above all
else? Do YOU humbly submit yourself to His will and endeavor to live
according to His voice? Do YOU obey His way even when His desires come
into conflict with your own? If your answer is “no”
then don’t gripe about circumstances in
If each of us would look into the mirror instead of
the tv, and ask ourselves,
“Lord, what can I do to serve you today?” and then do it, we would be one soul
closer to “blessed is the nation.” Then we would have something to share
with another soul on how to really get this country back on track,
no matter who’s in charge here on earth.
Spirit is spirit. Flesh is
flesh.
Spirit is spirit. Flesh is flesh.
Whenever a person, a family, or a nation is in bondage the problem is always
spiritual! And the answer to the problem is always
spiritual. So let’s not get tricked into focusing on the pundits to find
the solution to our nation’s problems; lets look into
the covenant of God’s word, and ask ourselves if we are an active part of God’s
solutions. God’s blessings can only come via His Spirit being unleashed
through the obedience of His children here on earth.
This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might,
nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD
of hosts. Zech. 4:6
God doesn't bless a nation because of the physical
circumstances, but often in spite of them. His blessings freely flow into
the lives of those who know and follow THE LORD GOD, AND HIS SON JESUS
CHRIST.
How do we unleash that power?
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. II Chron 7:14
Please notice that this verse is addressed to “My people,”
this is addressed to the believer, not the unbeliever. And the Lord tells
the believer exactly what is expected of them: to humble themselves,
to pray unselfishly, to seek a genuine relationship with Him, and to turn from their
own wicked ways, THEN He will hear from heaven, forgive their
transgressions, and HEAL their land.
Basically the Lord is saying, "Stop playing
church, and get with the program!" Move out of religion and into a
genuine relationship with Me. If we do our
part, it is guaranteed that God will do His.
II Chronicles is God’s promise to His people, and
it’s as real today as it was when it was first given. Every time the
blessings of liberty have prevailed in our nation, this is the promise that has
been followed. Is that a coincidence? I think not. Any time
the Lord God has prevailed in the majority of the hearts and minds of
Americans,
I hear people all the time who are fearful of those
who want to “take God out of
Satan loves to “bait and switch.” To get us
focused on things that sort of matter but are really only symptoms, and not the
root cause. If our nation is not as blessed as it once was, the problem
is spiritual, and the buck stops here with you and me. It’s because God’s
people need to have an awakening to a godly life. It’s because we need to
recommit and reawaken our heartfelt love and devotion to the true God
first, and everything else comes second.
As in the days of the great circuit rider evangelist,
George Whitefield, we need another Great Awakening in this wonderful
country of ours. For its citizens to once again be on fire for God, to
burn with love for Him and His Son, Jesus Christ.
And so, the most important thing we can do is to
once again live with godly integrity, honesty, modesty, humility, and
truthfulness. Otherwise, we are playing for the wrong team. We need
to spend more time with God than we think we need to; to put off ungodly habits
and live according to the words of God. We need to be training the next
generation what it means to be a person of character; and that
truthfulness and honesty are more important than entertainment and money.
We need to be setting the examples for the youth of today. If it’s not
you and I doing this, then we are sunk.
We are the ones who must decide to take up the
mantle and boldly proclaim, “I can live a life of goodness and honesty like
Jesus Christ, a life of moral character and love for God... and you can too!”
I asked a young person the other day, “Do you know
what it means to be a man of good moral character?”and they gave me the deer in the headlights
look. I don’t even want to try to recount how many acts of violence,
rape, murder and selfishness our children hear about, or see, in a given
day. What are we doing to counter that
message with the truth of how a child of God should behave? Are we
teaching the benefits of doing it God’s way instead of our own?
Are we showing the rewards of simply doing the next right thing?
The sweet psalmist, David, asked the question,
“Shall I lift up my eyes unto the hills for help?" The hill was
where the pagan temples were located, so mighty and proud. The answer was
a resounding “No!” David knew His God, he
knew that his help came only from the Lord God who made heaven and
earth. Psalm 121:1,2. He trusted in God
first, and set the example for all of
Nothing has changed. Blessed is the nation whose people know and follow the
Lord. Our true hope is only in the Lord, not in the political flavor of
the month.
Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his
help, whose HOPE is in the LORD his God:
Psa. 146:5
I am passionate about turning around the state of
affairs in our nation, and it can only be accomplished GOD’S WAY. As
being part of the solution, my number one priority is to get, and keep, myself
right with God, whatever that takes. And then to use my
experience, strength and hope, to help another. We can take this
country back, one heart at a time, starting with our own. And then, each
one can reach one. As the poem says, "One man up with dawn in his
eyes- multiplies."
One Man Awake
One man awake
awakens another,
The second man
wakens his next door neighbor,
And three awake
can rouse the town,
and
turn the whole place upside down.
And many awake can
raise such a fuss,
That it finally
awakens the rest of us.
One man up with
dawn in his eyes - multiplies.
Let’s S.I.B.K.I.S. - See It Big, Keep It
Simple. Jesus showed us the way.
And Jesus answered him, The
first of all the commandments is, Hear, O
And thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first
commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
There is none other commandment greater than these.
Mark 12:29-31
When we get our heart right, the blessings flow.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD: and
the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. Psalm
33:12
Is this an extravagant promise? I think
not. It has happened before and it can happen again. All it takes
are men and women willing to sell out to the one true God in order to be
blessed and to pass along those blessings to others.
If you love this country and you are concerned
about its future I have just outlined a course of action that cannot
fail. In living this way you will be fulfilling God’s purpose for your
own life; and what could give anyone a greater sense of satisfaction than
to know you are doing the Lord’s will? The bonus is that we leave a
brighter future to our children, and for our nation.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord because
blessed are the people who have truly made God THEIR Lord. We
can do this. I can hear our destiny calling. We can live BLESSED!
In Christ’s Love,
Peg Rhone