Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Forty Bags in Forty Days

Just before Lent began, I saw this challenge going around Facebook.  Several of my friends said they were going to take it on.  At first I just ignored it, but finally I actually opened the blog and read it and thought, "I can do this."  So I have been.

Though it corresponds with the season of Lent, I wouldn't necessarily consider it a spiritual thing, though in some sense it is: letting go of "stuff" I don't need.

The idea is to take on one project per day, one area of your house, for the 40 days of Lent (taking Sundays off), clean it and get rid of one bag (any size) of clutter.  This can mean throwing it in the trash, giving it away (Goodwill or otherwise), or setting it aside for a garage sale.

I haven't been overwhelmed by it, though it has kept me busy.  Actually, it (along with the warmer weather) has energized me, and I'm accomplishing much more than I thought I would.  My husband loves it (he actually (lovingly, of course) called me a "hoarder" when I told him I was going to do it, which further fueled my fire).

I have cleaned closets, desktops, my garage (which had to be broken down into several separate "projects"), cabinets, my freezers, my car and more.  I have gone through some boxes of old papers and gotten rid of a lot of them.  I have organized Cooper's clothes and toys, getting rid of some that he has outgrown, and traded out his changing table for a chest of drawers someone gave us, that has been sitting in our garage.  I have yet to run out of ideas and don't think I will before the project is over.

My house is cleaner and more spacious, and I feel lighter knowing it's all gone.  Plus, I have gotten to take several trips down "memory lane" as I come across old things, and have even shared some toys and books from my childhood with Cooper.

I hope to do this every year, though I doubt future years will be as dramatic as this one, since I have already gotten rid of a lot.  I guess it doesn't necessarily have to be done during the season of Lent, but that's what works for me.

This is a project that I would recommend to everyone, especially to other "hoarders" like me. 

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Praying for America During Lent

If you would like to join me in praying for our country during this season of Lent, this is a list of things I have come up with to pray for day by day.  I believe these are things God wants for us and have included a scripture for each.  These are just suggestions and are by no means exclusive; feel free to pray in any way the Holy Spirit may lead you.

Wed, 3/5 – Praise God for His sovereignty (Acts 4:24)
Thu, 3/6 - Praise God that He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love (Psalm 103:8)
Fri, 3/7 - Ask God what areas in your own life you need to be cleansed of and confess those to Him (Psalm 51:10)
Sat, 3/8 - Pray for the theory of evolution to fall to the ground and die (Genesis 1:1)
Sun, 3/9 - For marriages and families to be strengthened and the divorce rate to fall dramatically (Matthew 19:6)
Mon, 3/10 - For children to be taught to respect their parents (Ephesians 6:1)
Tue, 3/11 - For any sexual activity outside of the marriage between a man and a woman to be regarded as sin (Hebrews 13:4)
Wed, 3/12 - For our leaders to fear God and seek His will in leading our country (Psalm 2:10-11)
Thu, 3/13 - For the people of our country to honor God and His word (Romans 1:21)
Fri, 3/14 - For same-sex marriage not to be acknowledged in any state (I Corinthians 6:9-10)
Sat, 3/15 - For God’s protection from our enemies (II Samuel 22:4)
Sun, 3/16 - For us to honor the Sabbath as a country (Isaiah 56:2)
Mon, 3/17 - For our welfare system to not support those who are capable of working (II Thessalonians 3:10)
Tue, 3/18 - For the word of God to go out in our country and not return void (Isaiah 55:11)
Wed, 3/19 - For Christians to band together and stand up against the evil (Romans 1:32)
Thu, 3/20 - For the Ten Commandments and other scripture to not be banned in any public buildings (Isaiah 59:14)
Fri, 3/21 - For the worship of idols to be replaced with a fear of God (I Thessalonians 1:9)
Sat, 3/22 - For the truth about God’s role in our nation’s heritage to be taught in our history books (Psalm 77:11)
Sun, 3/23 - For our children to be taught God’s truth so they can share it with the next generation (Psalm 78:5-7)
Mon, 3/24 - For our judges to use God’s commandments as their standard (Leviticus 22:31)
Tue, 3/25 - For God to have mercy on our nation (Psalm 143:1)
Wed, 3/26 - For courage for Christians for stand up against evil (Ephesians 6:13)
Thu, 3/27 - For unity among believers (Psalm 133:1)
Fri, 3/28 - For spiritual revival in this country (Psalm 85:6)
Sat, 3/29 - For many to repent and be saved (Romans 2:4)
Sun, 3/30 - For our president and other leaders to acknowledge God and allow Him to direct their paths (Proverbs 3:6)
Mon, 3/31 - For churches to grow and be strengthened (Acts 16:5)
Tue, 4/1 - That the fear of offending God would be greater than the fear of offending man (Ecclesiastes 5:7)
Wed, 4/2 - For our news media to focus on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8)
Thu, 4/3 - For our country to seek God’s solutions to our problems rather than man’s (Isaiah 55:9)
Fri, 4/4 - For children to be cherished as gifts from God (Psalm 127:3)
Sat, 4/5 - For God’s definition of marriage, between a man and a woman, to be the only definition (Genesis 2:24)
Sun, 4/6 - For truth to be taught in public schools (Matthew 18:6)
Mon, 4/7 - For our leaders to have wisdom that comes from God (James 3:13)
Tue, 4/8 - For abortion to become illegal (Psalm 106:37-40)
Wed, 4/9 - That Christians can band together across denominational lines and work together for God’s glory (Romans 15:5-6)
Thu, 4/10 - For parents to be diligent to teach their children God’s ways (Deuteronomy 6:7)
Fri, 4/11 - For believers to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to spread God’s word (Acts 1:8)
Sat, 4/12 - For believers to hold on to God’s truth and not believe the lies of the world (II Timothy 4:3)
Sun, 4/13 - For believers to demonstrate kindness and gentleness in correcting others (II Timothy 2:24-26)
Mon, 4/14 - For our country to view all forms of sexual immorality as wrong (I Corinthians 6:18)
Tue, 4/15 - That we will not seek to do what is right in our own eyes, but in God’s eyes (Proverbs 14:12)
Wed, 4/16 - That those who walk in darkness will know the light of Christ (Isaiah 9:2)
Thu, 4/17 - That God will turn the hearts of our leaders to Himself (Proverbs 21:1)
Fri, 4/18 – Thank God that by the blood of Jesus, we are saved eternally from our sin (I John 1:7)
Sat, 4/19 - That our rulers will acknowledge that their power comes from God (Romans 13:1)
Sun, 4/20 – Praise God for offering eternal salvation through Jesus’ death and resurrection for those who believe (Romans 10:9)

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.” Colossians 3:15

Monday, March 3, 2014

A Prayer for Mercy

I recently read the book, The Harbinger, by Jonathan Cahn.  It is written as a captivating novel, but at the same time making a strong point: AMERICA IS IN TROUBLE.  While I’m not sure I agree with everything in the book, I strongly agree that basic premise.

Our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, dedicated to God at the outset. 

[O]n the morning of the day on which our illustrious President [George Washington] will be invested with his office, the bells will ring at nine o’clock, when the people may go up to the house of God and in a solemn manner commit the new government, with its important train of consequences, to the holy protection and blessing of the Most high. An early hour is prudently fixed for this peculiar act of devotion and . . . is designed wholly for prayer.  (The Daily Advertiser, New York, Thursday, April 23, 1789, p. 2) 

Following this time of prayer by the people, Washington was inaugurated, and then he and other founding fathers gathered together to pray and worship in a little church in New York City, which was then the capitol of this fledgling country.  

In the years that followed, as a nation, we sought to honor God and follow His principles.  And He has blessed and protected us.  We have become one of the most affluent nations in history.  We have been a political superpower, seemingly immune to the problems that other countries suffered.  We have enjoyed freedoms unheard of in other parts of the world.  We are a land of promise that others long to come to.  God has blessed us abundantly because we sought to honor Him as a country.  

Until around 1960. 

It seems we suddenly felt we didn’t need God or His commandments anymore.  We took prayer and Bible reading out of public schools.  This led to an inability to teach children right from wrong.  How can you say something is wrong if there is no standard?  So instead they more or less began to be taught that it was perfectly acceptable to do anything your carnal urges led you to do.  And why not?  If there is no God, then there will be no judgment.  This not only led to the acceptance of nearly every kind of sexual sin, but to disrespect of elders, and eventually even to the killing of people who may rub you the wrong way, whether that be a fellow student, a teacher, a parent, or an unborn child that is a by-product of your sin.

In order to pretend there is no God, we must teach our children that the world just “evolved,” that there was never a Creator.  We all just happened by chance and are really no different than animals.  And we must re-write not only our science books, but also our history books, taking out the references to the God that our founding fathers served.  Check the literature books too – there might be a passage or two from the Bible still left in them.  That must be removed as well.  After all, we can’t “offend” anyone who doesn’t believe in Him.

Over time, we have sought to remove the Ten Commandments or any other mention of God from public places. Our courts no longer use God’s commandments as a standard.  Judges now try to force those who do still have a fear of God to forsake it and give approval to those who choose a sinful lifestyle.   Nearly every type of sin is actively promoted by the media.  We worship idols in the form of the Internet, cell phones, beauty, materialism, food and many others.

Somewhere along the way, "political correctness" came in.  We apparently decided we feared offending man more than we feared offending God.  It didn’t matter what HE thought anymore.  We either thought we could protect ourselves, and handle our own money, without any help from Him, or we were so arrogant as to think He would continue to bless us anyway, that we somehow deserved it, regardless of our attitude toward Him. 

We seem to think we can fix our problems with a band-aid, with man’s solutions instead of God’s.  Are people killing each other?  No need to teach them that God says not to kill, let’s just take away their guns.  Is homosexuality becoming rampant?  Rather than teaching people what God says about it, let’s just defend their right to live however they want to, even trying to change God’s definition of marriage to accommodate them.  Are venereal diseases resulting from sexual promiscuity an issue?  Don’t worry that God says sex is only for marriage; let’s just teach our children how to protect themselves when they do have sex . . . with anyone they want to.  That will fix it.  And what about those pesky pregnancies that may result from it all?  We’ll just take care of those with a “simple” procedure.  It doesn’t matter if God calls that murder.

Where was that church where our founding fathers gathered to dedicate this country to God?  It was St. Paul’s Chapel, in New York City.  It’s still there.  Just barely noticeable.  At Ground Zero.

Yes, the place where our country’s Godly roots began is the same place that the first crack occurred in our protection after we turned our backs on Him.  And thus began a chain reaction of events that may well lead to the economic collapse of our country. 

Did we see it is a warning from God and turn to Him in repentance, acknowledging our sin and our need for His protection?  It seemed for a few days after 9/11 that we might, but we quickly went back to our old ways.  Rather than being humbled by our helplessness, we arrogantly sought to restore our country in our own strength.

We sent our military out to defend us.  We tightened up security in airports, essentially taking freedoms away from our own citizens.  And as the money ran out, we took drastic measures to keep the economy going, all the while going deeper and deeper into a hole that we can probably never bring ourselves out of. 

And Christians, for the most part, are standing back and letting it all happen.

God is a God of wrath.  He will not let our sin go on forever.  But He is also a God of mercy.  I believe He sent us a warning on 9/11.  He desires for us to repent of our sinful ways and turn back to Him, so He can continue to bless us.  But if we refuse to repent, His next warning will likely be much worse.

Lent begins this Wednesday, and I am planning to fast from sugar (probably my biggest vice) and pray for our country.  Tomorrow I will be posting a list of things I will be praying for.  I invite you to join me in praying urgently for our country during this season of Lent.  I believe that binding together and praying and standing up against all of this is what we are called to do during this critical time.

“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”  II Chronicles 7:14