Pray; Seek; Focus

   Okay, picture this: I'm downstairs at the coffee table, working on research notes for my next book. Two feet from me, Sawyer and Carter are on the Xbox. I enjoy the game they're playing, LEGO Marvel, and don't focus on my notes. I'm distracted.
   My notes were more important than their video game. I'd need them soon, but I'd never need the game. In the same way, Christians can become distracted from what we need, God, and become more interested in things we'll never need. It's a very common, God has a very simple solution. Pray.
   Pray and ask God for help, then seek to focus on Him. Seek Him. If you do, the things of this world will quickly fade away. 
   Focusing on Him is a battle to be fought daily. Prayer is our weapon, and God is our shield These two will never fail. With them, we can on Him.
   Pray; seek; focus.

Believe and Call

   I believe; help my unbelief! 

~Mark 9: 24 b

   We all believe something. It's what we believe that matters. Some believe that life's an accident; others that it's the result of an all-powerful god no one can know. Still others there are many gods or that we ourselves are gods. It may not be true, but what a person believes matters.

   We also all have unbelief. Unbelief in something means that you believe a thing is not real and never could be. My unbelief in macro-evolution means I believe it isn't real and never could be. Our unbelief is important, not only for us but also to God.

   Sometimes we have false unbelief. Something that could happen is thought to to be impossible. God desires to help us with such unbelief. He is completely able to; He could just take it away. But He doesn't. He wants us to call on Him for help because doing so reminds us of our dependence on Him.

   So call. Nothing stops you except yourself. Believe He can do it and call. Don't wait 'til you find an area of unbelief. Call now. He knows your unbelief, even if you don't. Simply call.

I believe; help my unbelief!

~ Mark 9: 24 b   

Forsaken

   Who likes that word? Who likes its meaning? Who would volunteer to be forsaken? 
   Jesus did.
   

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a that before its

shears is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.

~ Isaiah 53:7

   Jesus is powerful. He commands angels, an army of them (see Matt. 26:53 for details). If He wanted to, He could have stopped everything in a heartbeat. But He didn't; He had volunteered and would finish it.

   On that cross, Jesus experienced something new.

   And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice,"Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means,"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" ~Mark 15:34

   Jesus was forsaken by His own Father. Yes, He knew it was coming, but that couldn't change the pain it brought.

   What does Jesus being forsaken mean for us? It means we will never be. How does it help us? By bringing us to eternal Love.

   Simply put, Jesus volunteered to be forsaken so that we'd never truly experience it.

A Call to our Nation's People

 

"How has it happened, sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understanding? In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor... And have we now forgotten this powerful Friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance? 
   I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?
   We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel; we shall be divided by our little, partial, local interests; our projects will be confounded; and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a byword down to future ages. and what is worse, mankind may hereafter, from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing government by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war, or conquest.
   I therefore beg leave to move that, henceforth, prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven and its blessing on our deliberations be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business.

-Benjamin Franklin to Gen. Washington and the delegates at the convention of 1787

   America needs to hear this! Our nation must return to and plea with the LORD GOD for help. Our overall abandonment of God has led to evils that our founding fathers never would imagine in their wildest dreams. Sins that a Christian nation should never commit have become acceptable and considered lawful. 
   O God, please save us! Bring us back to Your arms. Purge our many sins and save us.