Have We Overlooked the Obvious Cure for Our Social Ills?

I had a conversation the other day with a lady who was not happy about how difficult it is for some people to get government assistance to help them with their day-to-day existence. She was also upset that millionaires and billionaires have so much while she has so little. In one candid moment, she revealed the heart of the matter when she said, "They have the lifestyle that I want." She went on to say that if you are a millionaire or billionaire, you should "do something with it. Don't show me your yacht, because I get motion sickness, and I would not enjoy it anyway."

During this same conversation, she let it slip that she has not held a job since she was laid off more than ten years ago. "But I'm not worried about it," she said. "I'm still waiting. I know that the right job will pop up in front of me one of these days." I think we just found the problem.

I find it interesting that those who begrudge others enjoying the fruit of their labor (a nice car, big house, boat or other nicety - and feel somehow they are entitled to approve of such niceties), when they themselves come into sudden or new-found monies do not go help others with it but rather make a beeline for the nearest mall and load up on as much "stuff" as they can find. It's why so many lottery winners end up broke in a very short period of time. They don't know how to manage what they have, and they resent those who do. Please hear my heart on this. I am not being critical or judgmental. This is simply an observation I have made again and again while doing outreach ministry and volunteer work with this sector of our society.

This mindset starts in childhood. Give two siblings a dollar. Little Johnny will spend a little and save the rest. Little Timmy blows the entire wad immediately on candy, gum or some little trinket. The candy and gum are eaten and chewed and the trinket breaks. This happens week after week until finally Little Johnny has saved up enough to buy himself the latest video game. Suddenly Timmy resents Johnny and feels entitled to have equal access to Johnny's game. Johnny may decide out of the goodness of his heart to share his game with Timmy, but he doesn't have to. It's his game. He saved for it and bought it so he could enjoy it.  

As our nation writhes under the most lawless administration in our history, we have become a nation plagued by class warfare, abortion, human trafficking, pornography, homosexuality, homelessness and a host of other social ills that run rampant in a fatherless society. We run around putting Barbie band-aids on gaping, bleeding, infected wounds, pop a little pill and try to forget about the pain. All the while the cancers of socialism and communism are taking over. In the same way that we ignore the symptoms and delay going to the doctor because we are afraid of what the diagnosis might be, we have ignored the societal symptoms that have been screaming at us that there is infection in the body, and we pretend not to notice. We are busy and don't have time to deal with that right now.

The cure to the social sicknesses that have snuffed the life out of other cultures in the past does not lie in government policies or regulations, more taxes, fewer taxes or any other man-made systems. The cure is in the Word of God. It always has been. 

Some who are wealthy are miserable because they thought money would fill the void in their heart. 

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”  (Matthew 4:4)

Some who are poor resent the wealthy and want what they have.

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”  (Exodus 20:17)

Abortion has kept tens of millions of children from seeing the light of day.

“You shall not murder."  (Exodus 20:13)

Human trafficking uses and abuses countless numbers of young women and children every single day.

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?"  (Isaiah 58:6)

Homosexuality, pornography and other sexual sins hold people in bondage.

"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  (John 8:32)

Drugs, alcohol, sex, food, spending and other addictions keep Christians and non-Christians alike in secret prisons.

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you."  (Acts 1:8) 

"And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who lives in you."  (Romans 8:11)

It's easy to point fingers and call people out for the things they do that are wrong, because it feeds our own carnal desire to be placed above someone else. 

"Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you."  (Romans 12:3)

Our God-shaped desire for justice and liberty cries out against the individuals who seek to promote injustice and to take away our liberty. But remember:

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."  (Ephesians 6:12) 

So, you see, we have at our fingertips the very cure for every social sickness that plagues our nation. The Word of God is power that heals and truth that sets us free. The question is whether or not we dare to use it - because in order for it to be truly effective, we must apply in internally first. Don't pick out scriptures that prove your point and throw them at others like grenades in an effort to make them act right. The only thing you accomplish with that is to leave a trail of bodies and broken relationships.

"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation."  (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)

Start with your own heart. Line up your own thoughts, words, actions and habits with the Word. Then take a few select passages, place them in your slingshot, swing that thing over your head and nail the enemy between the eyes. A single, well-placed blow to the enemy will do more to further the purposes of God than an entire arsenal of verses strewn about like scattershot at each other. 

And after all, isn't that we are all about? Isn't that what we are destined to do - to serve the purposes of God in our own generation?

"Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  

(Matthew 6:10)

Treating Spiritual Dehydration

I recently saw a show on public television about a climber who was stuck on a mountain after an accident left him with a broken leg. Severely dehydrated, freezing, weak and exhausted, he slowly made his way down the mountain, mostly by sitting and dragging himself down - a process that took days.

During the warmest part of the day, as the sun was melting the snow and ice beneath him, he could often hear water running somewhere below in ice crevices. At some points, it was nearly maddening for him to be able to hear the water he so desperately needed to quench his relentless thirst but be unable to see it or reach it.

Finally, he came across a tiny crack in the rock where water was trickling out. He laid down and put his face to the ground, licking the water directly off the rock. He found a way to dig around the rock and create a small pool where the water could gather, and he lapped up the life-restoring flow until he could hold no more.

"As I drank, I could feel my strength returning to me," he said, "and I knew I would be able to finish this journey and make it the rest of the way down."

When a body is dehydrated, organs do not function properly. Strength is sapped, and it is difficult to concentrate or think clearly.

So it is with the spirit. Our spirit can become severely dehydrated, causing various aspects of our lives to not function properly. Our strength is depleted and we find ourselves struggling for clarity and direction, seemingly unable to do anything more than keep breathing and getting through each day, much less living in any kind of victory.

"This is my comfort and consolation in my affliction: 

that Your word has revived me and given me life."

~ Psalm 119:50 (Amplified)

I could not help but remember what this climber said about his strength returning to him as he drank when I (a few days later) was spending a little time in the Psalms before bed. As I read, the words that I needed to hear poured into my spirit bringing comfort, direction and hope. I felt my spirit being renewed and refreshed - I felt my strength returning.

The Word of God is filled with what we need not only to sustain, but to thrive. Our spirits are designed to be fueled by His word and His presence. Nothing else can replace these two things in our lives. There is no shortage of counterfeit things that will try to take the place of God's word and His presence, but they can never satisfy our thirst for Him - it is not possible. This is by design.

And so, dear reader, be encouraged with this - make time to spend with God as often as possible. Soak in His presence and let His word wash over you. Here in the flow of these ancient words of life, we find healing, strength, hope, peace, joy, clarity and so much more. Here is where we are renewed, refreshed and recharged, not only for our own benefit, but also for the benefit of those around us.

"Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, 

'Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! 

For the Scriptures declare, "Rivers of living water will flow from his heart."'"

~ John 7:38 (The Message) 

 

And The River Flows

From my journal dated March 25, 2012

The waters returning to Lake Travis (Jonestown, Texas)

From my vantage point under my new friend, the Old Oak Tree, the water at the bottom of the lake bed is now easily visible, and it is flowing. 

As the sun's rays dance on the surface of the southerly flow, it is as though the waters are singing a joyous song of redemption, proclaiming praise to the Giver of life. No one needs to instruct this river where to go. Its waters flow naturally and with purpose in constant movement to the music of their life song. The birds sing along as bees and butterflies prance among the flowers in a full-on presentation to the rest of creation.

My own life seems sometimes to lack this kind of divine flow - the effortless sense of simply being in the flow of what I was designed to be and to do. There are days I long for my existence to be simple - uncomplicated, when I yearn to escape from the pressure cooker that seems to define my waking moments. 

Taken standing in the bottom of the lake bed.

But then I remember that I am fearfully and wonderfully made, crafted by the same fingers that smeared mud on the eyes of a blind man to restore his sight. 

I remember that my moments, every last one of them, are nestled safely in the in the palm of the same hands that blessed five loaves of bread and two fish, multiplying them to feed thousands. 

I remember that the same voice that spoke the whole of creation into existence now gently whispers my name, calling me to come away with Him to a secret place where we can dwell together. 

When I remember these things and take them to heart, the refrain of my own life song begins to reawaken within me. The flow is being restored, and it is well with my soul.

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From Dry Bones to Living, Breathing Destinies

From my journal dated 3.11.12

Sitting at a picnic table facing what used to be part of Lake Travis. What my eyes behold now is a dry riverbed with barren boat docks, the kind that used to be floating on top of several feet of water. Now they are merely forlorn shells, reminiscent of what once was.

Last year's record drought wreaked havoc on the lakes of Central Texas, particularly Lake Travis. Even with the steady rains we have had in recent weeks, the lakes are still many, many feet below normal, and the driest parts still hold no water at all. Only Go knows if it will ever be normal again, ,and if so, when and what it will take to get there.

As I sit and stare at a dry riverbed and thousands of dry rocks and boulders, I am reminded of Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37). When the Lord asked Ezekiel if the bones could live, he replied, "O Sovereign Lord, You alone know."

As Ezekiel followed the Lord's instructions to prophecy life into those bones what speaks to me is the creative miracle that transpired in front of his eyes.

"I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them.." (v. 8). What had not existed mere seconds before (tendons and flesh) suddenly appeared on the bones (the framework). The tendons and flesh gave substance to each lifeless body.

What happened next is phenomenal in and of itself. The Lord instructed Ezekiel to speak to the breath - calling it from the from the four winds - calling it to breathe on "these slain that they may live."

Like the bones and like the dry lake beds, sometimes we find our dreams, and maybe our hearts, dry and lifeless. But we are not without hope. The dry bones are the framework of our dreams. They give testimony to the fact that something is there - something has potential. The tendons and flesh are what God pulls together to give our destiny substance. They make it real and tangible, giving it a shape and a face.

But until we learn to call forth the breath of life from the four winds and prophesy life into our own destiny, it will remain lifeless and unused. It will resemble an active destiny, but it will remain an empty shell. Only when we fully believe the purpose of our destiny will we speak it into existence - speaking the word of the Lord and calling life into our dreams and our destinies.

A young father and his daughter just passed by on their bicycles. As they rode by, the dad looked down at the lake bed. He pointed out to his daughter, "Hey, there's water down there again."

I take a closer look. It is true. There is water down there again.

A smile emerges across my face.

It's All Coming Back To Me Now

God is restoring what the enemy has stolen. Many years ago, a piece of recording equipment I had was stolen and pawned for drug money. By the time I tracked it down, it had already been sold by the pawn shop. The man on the phone said there was nothing he could do.

Inside the sequencer was a disk with over seventy songs and soundtracks I had recorded. Many of them were original, among them the first fully instrumental piece I had ever composed.Since I play by ear, there was no written music. The recording was the only record of the song.

In the months that followed, as I was going through my divorce, the melodies of this instrumental piece and other things that had been developing were lost deep inside me. Some of them have never been recovered.

For years I have asked the Lord to bring that particular song back to me. I made several futile attempts to remember the melody, sitting with my hands poised over silent keys, just waiting for something to happen. Nothing did. Until this week.

Tuesday evening, as I was shutting things down and getting ready to go to bed, I closed my computer, and suddenly the melody erupted in my spirit as though it had been there all along. Actually, it was there all along - it was simply hidden deep inside me. Now, after fourteen years, it was suddenly returned to me unexpectedly.

I went immediately to the keyboard and began to play, and the entire thing came back right away. Now I am working on a new arrangement, and I believe something powerful has been released in the spirit.

This was Tuesday night, August 30, 2011. The next morning, a message was posted on Facebook regarding the month of September, 2011 ushering in a season of "suddenly" - including sudden breakthroughs and restoration.

Psalm 30:5 tells us that weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning. This verse has been rumbling around in my spirit all week. I have continuously heard, "Joy comes in the morning," and "The night is over."

One of the first statements made in this posting about September is that September is a new morning. This evening this very verse was posted by another friend on Facebook.

The Lord is speaking to His people, sometimes in very subtle ways. We must remain steadfast in listening to His voice and sensitive to the leading of His Spirit. The time is now. Restoration is in the air.

Suddenly September Part 1
Suddenly September Part 2

“This is what the LORD says: ‘You say about this place, 

“It is a desolate waste, without people or animals.” 

Yet in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted, 

inhabited by neither people nor animals, 

there will be heard once more the sounds of joy and gladness, 

the voices of bride and bridegroom, 

and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD, saying,

   “Give thanks to the LORD Almighty,
   for the LORD is good;
   his love endures forever.”

   For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before,’ 

says the LORD. 

 Jeremiah 33:10-11