Sunday, March 22, 2015

When the headlines make you sick...

Good morning all-

As I'm getting ready for the day, I decided to peak at the news.  Why?  I'm asking myself the same question.  In twenty minutes, I read about a depressed Playboy bunny, a cheating man, an African-American found hanging in a tree and a young mentally ill women burned and beaten in Afghanistan.  WOW!

I can't seem to get away from the headlines.  In just twenty minutes I have summarized the world.  These are the headlines we are reading today.  In the past, some read about war, famine and mass destruction.  Some feared nuclear crisis with Cuba and others watched as the military came home from Vietnam.  Every generation sees death and destruction.  Ours is just a time of massive social media and the reports are dark, deep and completely depressing.  The news shows a world in chaos, struggling to find love, grace and forgiveness.

That's the world we live in today, one where the bad news is displayed twenty to one.  And if I let it, I could become very depressed.  Instead I choose to look at Christ and ask how I can pray for His people.  At the end of the day, we are all descendents of Abraham and Sarah and if they were faithful, it's my job to be too.  In every bad situation, God can arise and give us a rainbow.  I believe it with all my heart.  How you might say?  I can't answer that but I can tell you in my darkest hour I have always seen something majestic.  About a month ago, life was super hard and when I looked up I saw a white dove with seven black birds.  I could have walked by that and thought nothing of it but instead I saw the hand of God. When my brother died, I was walking outside my house and a bush that only blooms in the spring had one red flower on it.  It would have been easy to walk by that too because my sadness was overwhelming.  Instead, I chose to see it as a sign from God that He was with me.  And today, as I read how the world is so chaotic, a little bird is chirping outside my window. Life goes on, even when destruction is occurring.

A rainbow was God's covenant to His people and I believe He gives us signs along our journey that are as beautiful as that picture.  We must look for Him, believe in Him and never stop praying for our countries, our cities and people.  If we want change then we must be prayer warriors.  We must believe that all things are possible through Jesus Christ and that He came to show love, grace and forgiveness.  It surely doesn't look like that today.  However, I can guarantee someone finds Him today in the midst of their despair.  Someone walks into a church, up to a person, or sits in their house and prays, "Lord Jesus I believe in you.  I believe You died on a cross for me and that my sins are washed away."  Someone today proclaims in the midst of their storm that He is who He said He was and they are washed clean.  I believe it.  And I know that in places all over the world, God is calling His warriors, without the help of the Bible but through dreams.  My heart believes in a God that can't be put in a box.  Our God is mighty and He is here in every situation.  The world my beautiful sisters is evil but He is good.  Pray for people to hear His call and to know Him!

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. (‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭28-30‬ NIV)

My Prayer:

O, Lord my God, come upon Your people.  We ask that You will send signs to Your people and give them hope in their despair. You are with us even in the midst of this chaos.  We believe in You and only You.  You are the God of Jacob and we know that You sent Your only Son to be our sacrifice.  May the Lamb of God reign down on this broken and turbulent world.  We come before You broken, desperate and in wonder.  Deliver Your people all over the world and lead them not into temptation but deliver them from evil!  We believe! In Jesus Name, AMEN

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