Today’s verse is:
“God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, & of sound mind.” – 2 Timothy 1:7
As today marks the anniversary of the tragic date we all remember as 9/11, I thought it might be appropriate to remind everyone that fear is never an emotion that God wants us to dwell in. Terrorism is called terrorism because it just happens out of the blue – totally unexpected and unplanned for. Of course flying planes into buildings is clearly an extreme example, but if you take a good long look at life, we have “little bouts of terrorism” in our lives every day.
For example, we may get involved in a car accident on our way to work, or someone who is close to us gets a bad medical report, or our employer starts talking about laying people off. We are forced to deal with these types of stressors each and every day. But we must never lose sight that God does not want us to dwell in the negative. That is what satan wants us to do because it takes away all of our strength and power. Just the opposite of what God expects from us. These days fear runs rampant because satan is working overtime in our nation, and it is high time we Christians put an end to it and take a stand!
Remember the story in the Bible where the apostles were in their boat and Jesus was asleep? When the storms began to break, instead of keeping their peace and calmness and realizing that they had the Messiah in the boat with them, they gave in to the fear. They awoke Jesus and of course with a few words spoken directly to the storm, the storm quieted itself. This story is a perfect example to each and every one of us.
STAY CALM – KEEP YOUR PEACE – Jesus will speak to your problems as well and just like the storm, it too will pass.
No matter what you are facing today, I promise you and guarantee you that God is bigger than your problems. Sure you may be dying to ask the question, “Why me?” Let me assure you that in Heaven you will have all eternity to replay your life and figure things out, but for today, you are experiencing the grand test that is life, and you must know that God is watching how you handle yourself when your storms come through.
Do you truly believe that God cares for you and will help you through your storms? HE DOES and HE WILL! He created you after all, so what sense would it make for Him to just let you go without watching over everything you do? No sense at all!
When those planes hit our buildings, our minds had no clue how to process it all. The simply question was “Why?” Of course non-believers immediately asked, “Why did God make this happen?” We believers know that God, in all His grace and wisdom, gave us free will, meaning God doesn’t make us do anything – we choose what we will do. Therefore people on this Earth CHOOSE to fly planes into buildings, God doesn’t MAKE anyone fly planes into buildings. That day grieved God as much as it did us.
As a nation it seemed the purpose of 9/11 was to get us back on track as far as it concerns our following the Godly principles that this very nation was founded on. And for quite awhile we banded together and did just that. Now I fear, we have once again gotten “fat and happy” with ourselves in these times of relative quiet and are once again choosing to put aside the ways and will of God.
The moral of my message here is that fear is a good thing. What do I mean? What I don’t mean is that we should live fearful of our world and our circumstances. For that, we must always trust God, put on a smile and bear the bad things that come knowing God is on the throne and in control. Then what should we fear you ask? We should fear getting so full our ourselves and our wants that we put everything else in first place in our lives ahead of God, who gives us everything to begin with.
If my message makes you uncomfortable, then I have written it well because it was meant to. The Bible tells us, time and time again, of nations that felt they were too strong and too powerful to ever fall. Remember how powerful and even technologically advanced that Rome was? Wonder what happened to them? The same will happen to our beloved United States of America if we continue to backslide on the values that got us here in the first place.
I challenge all Christians who read this message today to make a vow and take a stand to stand up for God in every way that you can going forward. We have been silent for far too long and no one wants another 9/11, or worse, to happen. In order to ensure that it doesn’t, we must prove to God that we love Him, trust Him to be our King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and to protect us from harms way. But if He finds us not worth protecting, then we are in for much worse that 9/11. We will find our country in ashes just as mighty Rome did.
My friends, on this anniversary day, let’s make a stand for God in a powerful way! God is watching and waiting. What do you think He is seeing? Foundational things like marriage are under fire in our society. Christ has been removed from schools and I’m said to say it, but also from many churches as well. Do you know that satan loves to attend our church services?!! It is there that he does his best work in causing division, strife, back stabbing, lies, and general hatred. Of course our government today would have trouble picking Christ out of a line up at this point. They are far too busy being high on power trips and counting their money. When will it all end? Only when we raise our voices and turn the temple tables over like the example Jesus set for us when He had seen enough.
When we become the authoritative voice of our Lord and begin forcing change in our society, then and only then can our fears can be calmed.
Father, my prayer to you today, on this anniversary of an incredibly sad and tragic event that happened to our beloved United States of America, I pray that every single person who reads this message will take it to heart and will take a stand for You. You are the very foundation of our lives and our world, and it is high time we stop letting people push You to the back of every room. I vow to never be ashamed of my love for you God and I don’t care who tries to tell me that I can’t have a Christmas party to celebrate You! Father I pray that you will strengthen all of Your children as we prepare to face the onslaught of naysayers who only want to remove You from society. May we, like the Apostles before us, be willing to do and say whatever is necessary to shout Your holy name from the highest highs as well as the lowest lows, and anywhere You call us to be. May we be able to prove to You once again Lord that without You, there is no foundation to stand on. In Jesus holy and all powerful name I sing your praises and pray to You now, Amen!