#251 - Democrat or Republican?

Deuteronomy 15:10 - You shall give to him freely without begrudging it; because of this the Lord will bless you in all your work and in all you undertake.

Proverbs 19:17 - He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and that which he has given He will repay to him. 

Proverbs 22:9 - He who has a bountiful eye shall be blessed, for he gives of his bread to the poor. 

Proverbs 31:20 - She opens her hand to the poor, yes, she reaches out her filled hands to the needy [whether in body, mind, or spirit].

We are on the eve of a very important day. The day we vote for who will be President #45 of the United States of America.

This morning, I'll just be honest with you, in my quiet time I was heavily rebuked! Put your stones down for a minute and I will be transparent with you. In my heart and in my mind, I have extremely strong convictions where politics is concerned. Granted, I don't take the time to study all of the in's and out's like I would like to. I think it would be so fun and interesting to really get into the details, but at this stage in my life, time does not allow. Nonetheless, I still have strong beliefs as a Christian. In the past, as I would be driving and get behind a certain bumper sticker shouting the opponent of how I vote, inside me it was like this different person would come out, almost like I wouldn't recognize myself. I would feel like I would get road rage, and immediately decide I did not like the person behind the wheel of this other car. I know, I know.... put your stones down, I know that that is not the right attitude to have. On the contrary, I would see someone with the other bumper sticker, the one whom I'm voting, and I would immediately think, or even say out loud to Tyler, "Oh look, there is one of my friends." I would classify them as one of my friends without even knowing them.

This morning, I was heavily rebuked. As I spent time listening to the Holy Spirit, in a rather unexpected rebuke, he said the bitterness and almost hatred I was carrying around was dark and hurting me. He said BOTH candidates needed prayer! And He is right. As it stands and according to my Christian beliefs, I'm pretty sure that neither candidate has accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. There is something to pray about!

As I received my rebuke and asked for forgiveness for the bitterness that I had, He gave me direction, He told me when I saw either bumper sticker that I am to PRAY. But what He said next was what got me really excited!!! Check this out!!!

"Amy, pray for the godly to rise up in politics. Your prayers DO MOVE things. The prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective. Pray for a nation after Me. Pray for the RIGHT people into office that this nation would come back towards Me. Amy, I forgive you, but I need you to turn the rage into compassion. Prayer. A nation after My heart! A leader, spirit filled who can hear my voice, receive a plan and implement it! I CAN get this nation out of debt. I can bring the country out! Imagine the President pulling together a Pastor's Conference and asking the Pastor's, based off the Word of God to put into place programs that would financially help the poor. That a plee would go out to Christians to budget in their finances to give to the poor. To help the widows and orphans and poor. What if the President would speak in churches across this nation pleeing, preaching for the BELIEVER to take the responsibility to help the poor. The widow. The orphan. Start with YOU!"

Whoa. Honestly, I would consider myself a "good Christian." I have a regular Quiet Time. I spend time daily trying to listen to where the Lord would have me and doing what. I do my best to help people. We give our tithes and offerings gladly. I love Jesus! I have a passion for Him and growing and learning. But honestly, even as what I feel I was, a "good Christian," we have been dropping the ball in this area. We do give to our church, and I know they support ministries that give to the poor, but we have never fully taken that responsibility on as our own. As THE BELIEVER, we have never owned that responsibility. BUT, it is rightfully ours! As the BELIEVER, it IS our responsibility to help the poor, the widow and the orphan.

Imagine.... if believers across the nation were to take 5% of their income and give to the poor. Allot that money to the needy... or even $10 per month! Imagine the hundreds of thousands of Christians giving. Do you think that we would need a welfare system long? If believers were giving like that, and millions of dollars were going to programs that would help the poor, just IMAGINE what would happen! The trillions of dollars that this country is in debt with, would dwindle. Imagine a country FREE of debt! Wow! Imagine the burden that would be released if just YOU were out of debt. What a grand scale for our nation to be out of debt.

Whatever your political affiliation, as a believer I'm going to ask you to do three things.

1. Make sure to VOTE tomorrow!
2. Pray for both candidates. Pray for both parties. Pray for the godly to rise up into position. Pray that right as we speak, the godly would be moving into position, they would be raising up wherever they are, that we could see the hand of God move on this country. Pray for the people running our nation to KNOW JESUS. To come to know Him as their Savior if they do not now. That ultimately the great commission, Matthew 28:19-20 would be in effect and people everywhere would be getting saved! "GO! And make disciples of ALL nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit." 
3. Choose to GIVE! We are FINALLY making this a priority in our lives! Today, we are beginning our monthly giving to Oliver Gospel Missions. Feel free to give to this ministry, and/or pray for how and where you are called to give. Though, the responsibility is now known, need I point out the blessings that are coming back to you for abiding by the Word?!? :) Proverbs 19:17 - The LORD will repay you for giving to the poor! That's good stuff! Proverbs 22:9, you will be BLESSED for giving to the poor. Deuteronomy 15:10 - When you give freely not begrudgingly, the Lord will bless you in ALL your work. EVERYTHING you undertake, (ie: the new business, losing weight, your marriage, your relationships, your finances, writing that book) in ALL you undertake YOU WILL BE BLESSED! 

Wow! That is good stuff!! So... friend, believer.... let's get in the flow! Will you join me? 

#95 - One Nation Under God

Buenos dias! Did ya vote yet?? Gotta stay on ya'll about this voting thing! It's important!


OK.... let's get going...

Proverbs 2:2,6,7,21 - Yes, if you cry out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, or the Lord gives skillful and godly Wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He hides away sound and godly Wisdom and stores it for the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with Him); He is a shield to those who walk uprightly and in integrity...For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the men of integrity, blameless and complete [in God's sight], shall remain in it...

Psalm 2:10-11 - Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. 

Proverbs 31:23 - Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

How appropriate that this subject would be the devotion for today. Raise YOUR Voice! 

Aside from some of the Voter Resources that are available, Psalm 2:10-11 gets pretty direct when talking about those in authority, specifically "rulers". It even throws out a "WARNING" to them. Psalm 2 talks about "kings" we could also include in there Governors, House Representatives, Secretary, Treasurer, Vice President, President, Judges, etc, etc. Those running for a PUBLIC office. Back in the day of the Bible was written, public office was the KING. The Bible is specifically breaking down and WARNING the RULERS of the earth, those who make decisions for the people to SERVE THE LORD.

SO..... what is an EASY PREREQUISITE for you to know when you are voting?? Does this person SERVE THE LORD? Are they a BORN-AGAIN believer?? For us to stay "One Nation Under God", we need to VOTE people into office who are God-Fearing Believers. Who honor the Lord. We need to dig in and find out if they are a CHRISTIAN. And from there, how do their beliefs line up with the WORD OF GOD? Opinion does not matter, does their position on a subject line up with the Word or does it go against the Word? Brother and sister, the color of their skin is NOT the most important thing. Black, white or green, this does not matter. Are they a God-fearing Born-Again Believer. Is GOD, the ONE TRUE GOD, who they answer to? And as Christians, we know that the ONLY way to the ONE TRUE GOD is through his son Jesus. If they don't believe that, mark them OFF your ballot.

Truth. Truth. Truth. Vote with the WORD of God. Study those who you are voting for. Where do they stand? And, where do YOU stand? Do your beliefs line up with the WORD or do they line up with "Popular Opinion"?

To keep this Nation, "ONE NATION UNDER GOD", we need to vote for God-Fearing Men & Women of GOD!

November 2nd, 2010. Vote.

Resources:

• http://www.votesmart.org/
• http://www.christianvoterguide.com/

PS - Happy Birthday to my beautiful Sister ANGIE!! :) xoxo! Love you sis!

VOTER RESOURCES

VOTE TODAY! - I just finished voting! Yippee!
Here are some helpful resources: 

• www.Christianvoterguide.com
• www.Votesmart.com

GO VOTE! Our nation needs your voice!

#94 - With FAITH, NOTHING is Impossible!

Good morning! It is a bit chilly here in Cola today! Definitely fall. Long sleeves and jeans. Wow! It's November! TOMORROW is a VERY important day... yes, it's important because it's my sister Angie's birthday.... BUT it's the day to VOTE!!! MAKE sure to exercise your right and OBLIGATION as an American to VOTE! Take some time today to read up on some of the candidates running in your area. See what the topics or bills are that you may be voting on. YOU matter! Especially you!!! I would anticipate most people who read this blog are Christians, therefore your vote is even more important. You can help to vote the men and women of God into office in your respective areas! We NEED your vote!!! In order to take this country back for GOD & Freedom we need men & women of God VOTING!!! Take it seriously! Encourage your friends and family to vote, take a car-load to the voter's booth. If you DO NOT exercise your right to vote, by default, you eliminate yourself from having an opinion or complaining about what takes place in our Nation. PLEASE take the time to vote tomorrow. Wear your "I VOTED" sticker with pride afterwards. Encourage all of the conservative Christians out there to VOTE their VOICE. One by one, we can win this country for God and keep it "In God We Trust." That is the only way the United States of America will continue to be such a blessed nation. Pray for the elections. 


So... let's get started. 

Psalm 1:2 - But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night.

Psalm 30:7a - By Your favor, O Lord, You have established me as a strong mountain... 

Proverbs 31:11 - The heart of her husband trusts in her confidently and relies on and believes in her securely, so that he has no lack of [honest] gain or need of [dishonest] spoil. 

Matthew 17:20 - He said to them, Because of the littleness of your faith [that is, your lack of firmly relying trust]. For truly I say to you, if you have faith [that is living] like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to yonder place, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

Faith. Habitually meditating on the instructions from the Lord. Faith. Trusting, having confidence, proceeding forward with no questions and no doubt. The questions are irrelevant because the wholeness of your entire being says you know "this" thing to be true. It is by complete FAITH. With faith, there is NO toil. With faith, there is NO frustration. With faith, NOTHING will be impossible to you. The mountains in your life will be removed like tossing a coin in a pool of water. The mountains will be removed with such ease that the simplicity of it's removal seems astounding. As the mountain is removed, you watch it disappear in awe as you stand in the midst of it disappearing. As you stand on the mountain and it vanishes to nothing. The mountain is gone. The goal achieved. The victory had. 


I specifically remember this very vividly happening ONE time in my life. I'm very excited to see it happen more. To watch every mountain disappear with NO TOIL from me or Tyler. It was November.... but it all began with a conversation that Tyler had with our business mentor at the end of October. He challenged Tyler on one of our business goals. Something that had been a goal for probably 2 years, but a goal that we hadn't really made any visible signs of progressing towards. He challenged Tyler, "Are you really going to do it? Are you going to go Ruby? Are you going to accomplish this goal that you've been talking about for so long?" At that moment, after Tyler said yes..... Bob questioned him again. "You've said yes before. Are you REALLY going to do it?" But this time, it was different. A second and third time, Tyler said yes. But this time he really meant yes. Yes! Yes! This time, YES, it was going to happen. 


Tyler walked into Qdoba, the mexican restaurant where we were having dinner and he said. "We are doing it. This month, November, we are going Ruby. We ARE doing it!" For some reason, this time, I fully believed him. It was like a transfer of faith occurred. I totally believed him! I believed him. I didn't have to try, I just did. I didn't need to know how, I just knew it would happen. What that meant is, it would be DOUBLING our business in ONE MONTH! DOUBLING! We needed to get to 15,000 points from 8800 points. A month came and went. No toil. No extraordinary work, just different work. We went from just "going through the motions" to having a purpose. Waking up with a DIRECT purpose every day. Like what it talked about in Psalm 1:2, habitually meditating on the instructions of God day and night. Every day when we got up my thoughts were "what am I going to do to move forward to our goal today?" Every day. Unlike what my thoughts were in the past, they were thoughts of toil. But this was different. There was NO TOIL at all. We did things and activities to move our business forward, but the difference was we were in COMPLETE faith. We went from 8800 to 18000 in ONE MONTH! What our business team did was pretty much unheard of. BUT, it was because we grasped faith. That mountain was removed! We did it. And it was sooooo easy. 


When things are done in faith, they are not hard. There is no toil. The only thing I could explain was when I saw the faith that Tyler had, that he fully believed we were going to do it, it was like a transfer of faith occurred. I immediately believed him. I had faith. Unwavering faith. Unquestioning faith. Then our business team had faith. We all progress forward in complete faith. Unquestioning. Unwavering. Complete faith.


Mountains can EASILY be moved. The mountain in our life that was moved and it was easy. What took the longest was for us to grab hold of the PURE faith that it would be done. Once that took place, time was not even an issue. God took what we thought should take months to progress to and did it in ONE month. The impossible was possible because GOD was in the picture. 


I'm excited for the other mountains in our life to be moved. FAITH says they can be done and they can be done easily. With faith, there is no toil.