Dare to Stand

Over the course of time, men and women from all walks of life have been asked to stand up for one thing or another. Some of these stands were for religious reasons, some for political, and even some were for basic human rights. Many of these stands have had lasting impact on the way we live even still today.

Esther stood up for a whole nation. She stood in the gap and protected her people from the evil influences that were affecting the king that she served. She not only stood up but she did so at great risk to her own life. You see she knew that without her stand there would be no future for her people.

Patrick Henry in the days of the revolutionary war stood up and was counted by saying "Give me liberty or give me death." This became a battle cry for not only our nation but also for many others over the past couple of hundred years.

Rosa Parks in the years of the Civil Rights movement refused to sit at the back of the bus wanting only to be treated as a human and not as a person of color. Although she took that stand it still took some time for those rights to start being seen and allowed even in our country.

All of these stands just seem to pale in the light of the stand that Christ took for us on the cross. He stood in our place taking the very sins that would con dim us to death and made them His own. In spite of the fact that He prayed "Father let this cup pass from me." He was willing to take our place and give up His deity, all of the power that went with it and then even as a man He gave up his life. He then took a stand in Hell and took the keys to both Hell and the grave and ascended into Heaven. We now know that He sits at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us. Through His stand we now have the hope of eternal life and freedom from sin.

We have now been asked to take a stand for our community. We are being asked what we are willing to do to make a difference in this community? Also are we willing to give what it takes to see it through? We have some awesome opportunities on the horizon here at our church that could make a world of difference in this community. We could possibly become one of the greatest influences this area has ever seen for the positive. We all know that not all of the stands being taken in our area are positive so we need to stand up and show our community we are for real and we are here for the long haul.

Right after Paul tells us in Ephesians to put on the whole armor of God he then tells us that having done all, to stand. Stand.

Now we are faced with the choise, where will we stand?

What's Next

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of change for me. Things have been happening so fast that I sometimes can't even keep up with then in my own head. You see there is so much that God is doing in my life, I'm not even sure where to begin. I have written of some of the changes but still there seems to be more. About the time I think God has stopped for the moment something or someone else comes across my path and I am reminded once again to "stir up the gift of God that is in you by the laying on my hands." Timothy 1:6. Paul was reminding Timothy that the gift of the Holy Spirit that was within him was there as an anointing to press on and not be afraid to follow through with what God had given him to do. We all to often forget that we are not doing this on our own. We can't, we are not even capable of doing what God has in store for us. We can only move in the anointing and power provided by the Holy Spirit.

This truth has become increasingly obvious to me over the past few days and weeks. I have been asked to do some things both in the church and in my own life that six months ago I had written off as long lost dreams and visions of a crazy old fool. I believed that because of the circumstances of my life God could no longer use me to minister to the needs and hurts of others. I am now being shown that God can not only use me but he wants to use the very hurts and pains that he has brought me out of to help others. I know that sounds like a "no brainer!" but when you are in the middle of the trouble you can't see how it could ever help anyone.

But now is the time to "Stir it up!" Wake up! We need to step out there. People are in pain all around us and there is no better time to minister to an individual than when they are in the middle of the circumstance. Let God use the things he has brought you through to minister to someone else because no one can understand or give direction like the one that has been there before. We need to begin to mentor younger Christians. We don't need to hoard over them with rules but show them that Jesus loves them and even more importantly we do as well. We have to remind those that have been in the faith to stand up and be counted once again for the cause of Christ. We are on the verge of a great move of God here in our church and I truly believe that. We are already seeing the signs, but it is only the beginning. God has been pouring out the fire of his Spirit on us and is changing lives in a radical way all around us.

The fire comes and it burns out all the underbrush and the garbage. It cleans up the landscape. It may seem that the area has all been burnt up and left in ashes. Then the rain comes and new life springs up. Fresh flowers begin to grow, the grass is green again and the trees come back even stronger than before. You see they have been through the fire and the fire has cleaned all the moss and other parasites away. They are now free to grow and to flourish. So here we stand waiting to be consumed by the fire of the Spirit and set free to flourish and multiply in the land once again.

May God bless
Paul

Why Vote

Hey there, I found myself in a rather interesting situation a couple days ago. My son came to me and said "Dad why should I vote anyway, it's not going to make any difference?" I then found myself pondering that very question for quite a while and then God began to deal with me on the issue.
First there was the question of do you believe that it is right to protect unborn children? Yes I do. Then the question do you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman? Yes I do. well do you believe that every thing possible should be done in order to protect our religious rights and freedoms and to uphold our moral standards in this country? And again it was yes I do.
I then began my regular daily devotional reading. This is usually reading that helps me get started through the day and not so much my true study reading time. Well this day was to be totally different for me because you see the reading of the day was in James 4:7-17. As you have probably already guest verse 17 states, "Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." If there were no other reason to vote in this whole world the fact that I know right from wrong and can see who stands for those things is all the reason I need to vote. The voice I have in that voting booth creates a sound in the spiritual world that causes things to happen.
Let your voice be heard. Don't sit back and say my voice doesn't make a difference. You see every anointed voice that speaks makes a sound that can make a difference.