New Pledge Of Allegiance

Since the Pledge of Allegiance and the Lord's Prayer are not allowed in most public schools anymore because the word 'God' is mentioned.... a 15 year old kid in Arizona wrote this:


New School Prayer:

Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.

If Scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.

Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise.
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice...

For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all.
In silence alone we must meditate,
God's name is prohibited by the state.

We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks...
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.

We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.
It's 'inappropriate' to teach right from wrong,
We're taught that such 'judgments' do not belong.

We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.

It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school's a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!
Amen.

“Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my fFather in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.”

–Matthew 10:32-33 (NIV)

Waiting On The Lord

Waiting on the Lord.

I squirm when I think about waiting for Him to reveal His will.

Firstly... I'm impatient. And I don't like waiting! It makes me uncomfortable. And there are many reasons God makes us wait, and a list of those reasons is cause for another blog post, somewhere down the road. In any case, I just do not like to wait. And yet, the Bible calls us to wait upon the Lord many, many times!!

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." -Psalm 27:14

Just one of the many verses commanding us to wait for Him. And when the Bible repeats things, we know it's an important subject. Think of the things we read over and over in the Bible... Love. Faith. Perseverence. Waiting on the Lord.

Secondly, I also squirm at the mere thought of waiting for the Lord to reveal His will, because I get excited! What is His will? I know it must be great... What direction is it this time? Where will He take me? It's exciting for me!

All too often, Christian work has little reward or success, because we begin this work due to man's will. We think, "Well, it's good work done in the name of the Lord... surely He wills me to do it!" But no, not always. We should never make a move without His approval. We must wait for Him to guide us. What is done in the will of God, the strength and the blessing and the grace of God will not be withheld from it.

In "Absolute Surrender", Andrew Murray says that God can only reveal His will (according to Romans 12:2, 'His good, pleasing and perfect will') to a heart that is "humble, tender and empty".

Earlier on in the book, when Andrew was speaking of absolute surrender, he compared us to a teacup. If a teacup was partially full with something nasty like oil or grease, the tea would not be poured into it, for the tea would be undrinkable once the two were mixed. In the same way, God cannot use us if we have not completely surrendered to Him and emptied ourselves. He can only use us if we are completely empty and have surrendered absolutely. And He can only reveal his will to a heart that is empty, that is selfless, and that is tender to His touch.

Andrew also says that God can only reveal his will amongst trials and difficulties to a heart that has learned to obey Him and honor Him in the little things in daily life. So we cannot expect the Lord to guide us through trials if we have not obeyed Him in the little daily things in life. They are practices for the big things! Following Him daily, every moment of every day, is building the foundation for the more difficult things, so we can stand on that foundation when the time comes and it is needed.

But we must wait. Lamentations 3:24-28 puts it perfectly:

"I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.' The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him."

There isn't much I can add to that. It is good for us to wait! It is good for us to bear the weight of waiting. It is good for us to have to wait for His timing. The Lord often wants us to sit and wait for Him. And while we are waiting... We might as well pray!! He will reveal His will in His timing, and while we are waiting for Him to do so, we should pray. And this should be our prayer:

"But I pray to you, O Lord, in the time of Your favor; in your great love, O God, answer me with Your sure salvation." -Psalm 69:13


-caitlin =]

Obeying His Call....

"The Lord had said to Abram, 'Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.

'I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.'

So Abram left, as the Lord had told him." -Genesis 12:1-4


No questions. No hesitation. No "why?" Or "I'm scared" or "but-!" Immediate obedience.

Obedience isn't obedience if you don't follow His will until you decide you want to, or until you decide you're comfortable with it, or until you decide it's right. Who are we to decide for ourselves what is right, when time and time again we screw up. I believe it was Benjamin Franklin who's definition of insanity was: "Trying the same thing over and over and respecting different results each time." Last time we tried to do things for ourselves... Things went awry, crashed and burned, God picked up the pieces. And here we are, doing it all over again, and Satan has us completely convinced that it's gonna work this time.

That frustrates me. I can see it from where I stand now... But just wait, I'll get into those situations and be completely deceived and take things out of His hands and into my own. Here comes that "absolute surrender" again.

But just think about it. And pray about it. So that you are completely and totally aware of the fact that Satan is gonna try his best to deceive you into making your own decisions without consulting God.

And if God calls you to something, if you feel Him calling... Obey. Don't hem-haw around and make excuses or try and change the subject (I've noticed that in my conversations with God, I often change the subject when I get uncomfortable with what He is saying to me). Obey. Immediately. God called Abram to leave absolutely everything, and He did without question. God calls us daily away from things that are harmful to us- be listening for those calls. I know I need to be. He calls us away from people we talk to who discourage (even unintentionally) our walk with Christ. I know I've been hearing that call.

But as the above passage says, do His will and He will bless you abundantly. Again, speaking on the subject of surrender... You give Him something worldly (meaning you sacrifice your home, family, job, whatever to follow Him) and He will give back ten times over (with His abundant blessings).

And I shall leave you now with a verse in Psalms that warmed my heart. (God always uses Psalms to comfort me and bring me joy!)


"Because Your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify You.
I will praise You as long as I live,
and in Your name I will lift up my hands."
-Psalm 63:3-4



-caitlin =]

Surrender

I am currently reading "Absolute Surrender" by Andrew Murray. Excellent book. The Holy Spirit is really speaking to me though Andrew's words. I read the first chapter today which is about, you guessed it, absolute surrender to Christ. Man... I learned so much today just reading that.

When we go before God to surrender, often we are unsure and waver in our commitment. "Well, is it absolute? Is it real? I don't feel the assurance, I don't feel the power of this surrender..." But if we submit to God with a believing heart, and trust that He will take possession of us as we surrender to Him, that's okay. It's okay to not understand it all, and it's okay if we don't "feel" like He is there to catch us, or if we don't "feel" like it's real. Faith, not feelings! Feelings fade and are not steady, but faith is solid and everlasting. We just must have faith that He has our surrender and will take possession of us, as long as we have a believing heart, and are sure of Him and that He will fill us with all we need... We give up our flesh and we surrender out self to God to take from us; meaning we are left with less than we had. But the Lord will replace our self, and the flesh/worldy things we surrendered, with much more than we ever had previous to the surrender! And what He gives us is so much more wholesome than what we had to begin with. It is not as if we are giving, and recieving nothing in return. We give to Him what is rightfully His, and He gives back much more than we could ever imagine or possibly deserve. He fills us with His love, and all other good virtues (peace, joy, humility, kindness, etc.) manifest within love.

God maintains our surrender! He claims it. He works it. He accepts it. He maintains it. We can of course snatch it back at the drop of the hat, because we are used to being in control and possession of ourselves. It's comfortable. But it's not right. It's a bad habit that we have grown comfortable in. That's scary that we are comfortable with wrong-doing. If we spend time in the Lord, dwelling in His holy presence and depending on His guidance in our lives, it will become such a comforting thing. In order to be comfortable with the Lord, we must persevere through the trials we will endure. But God will never command from us what He will not bestow upon us. We must only trust in our surrender to Him.

"Some trust in chariots and some trust in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God." -Psalm 19:7

"For the king trusts in the Lord, through the unfailing love of the Most High, he will not be shaken." -Psalm 21:7

"Only Me."

"...and everything that does not come from faith is sin." -Romans 14:23

Powerful? I'd say so. This verse slaps me in the face over and over and over. I've always known this, but until I stumbled across (ha, stumbled, how about "I was led to"?) this verse, I didn't think I really had to believe it. But that there, my friends, is God's word. His written law. It says right there that if it is not done in faith, it is sin.

That kinda scares me, to be honest.

How many TV shows do we watch that don't glorify God? They may not be BAD shows, neccessarily... But they don't praise His name or bring glory to His name.

Music. I love my Country. Keith Whitley, Wayon Jennings... But... If it is not in faith, it is sin.

Man. That's convicting. I love to read. Will James' cowboy stories are riveting, for me. I'm currently reading a non-fiction, a collaberation of the life of the first veterinarian in Ft. Stockton back in the 40's. It's truly interesting! But it does nothing for my heart. Does God not wish for me to read it, then?

I reckon I'll just pray about it.

Would like ya'll's thoughts on this, as well.

"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's spirit lives within you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred and you are that temple." -1 Corinthians 3:16-17

Are you soiling God's temple with the music you listen to, the movies/TV shows you watch, the books you read, the people you interact with? We are sacred! God makes us sacred. Any place in which God dwells in sacred... Does God dwell in you? Are you soiling your heart? Your mind?

"Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things." -Philippians 4:8

Garbage in, garbage out. What we put into our minds, comes out. If we put things into our minds that are not praising God, that's what's gonna come out. They may not be entirely horrible things, but if they are not praising Him... Then what comes out, won't be praising Christ. And what kind of witness to others does that make you?

I want people to look at me and see Christ. Like a light shining through a window... You're plenty aware of the window, but it's the light that catches your eye. You and I should be that window.

"Only Me." This is what God has been putting on my heart. Him only.

"My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from Him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
He is my fortress, I will never be shaken."
-Psalm 62:1-2

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from Him."
-Psalm 62:5

Alone. God alone. These following definitons are a couple of what I found when I looked up "alone" in my dictionary:

1. apart from other people; single; solitary.
2. excluding anything or anyone else; with nothing further; solely; only.

Need I say more? Surround yourself and let only things of the Father into your mind and hearts.

He is our salvation. Our rock. Our fortress. Our rest. Our hope. He is everything our hearts have ever dreamed of having and more. He alone. "Only Me."

My prayer to God: Father, I want You and only You. I long for You to dwell in my heart, in my mind, life, and only You. You alone, Daddy. Please act as a filter and cleanse my mind of the unpure things I have allowed to enter it, and help me continue to keep it pure, allowing only things that glorify your name into it.