If Only They Knew They Did Have a Father. We Must Show Them They Do.

They need us desperately this year.  They need to see us chasing and slaying our giants, then they will have the courage to do the same. Who are they? The children of our communities.  If they do not see us conquering the evil in our own lives, who will teach them?  Left alone, the children of our communities will be taught by the world.  We have more fatherless children in our country than I can ever remember.

How does God feel about the fatherless? God is a helper of the fatherless. (Psalm 10:14) David calls Him a father of the fatherless. (Psalm 68:5) In James 1:27, pure religion before God, is to care for the needs of orphans and widows in their trouble… (The Everlasting Gospel Translation)

Have you visited an elementary school lately?  It will break your heart as you learn some of the conditions, physical and emotional, these young children deal with.  I was a mentor a few years ago of 4^th and 5^th -grade boys. Most had one parent in prison or the county jail.  Some did not know where their fathers were even living.

When these children see the parents of some of their classmates coming to school and participating in their children’s activities, their little hearts are wounded.  This wound can be carried for the rest of their lives, and possibly have outward manifestations.  What about at Christmas? A time of the year when families get to gather sharing love and making memories, what childhood memories are they making?

Baby Jesus in a manger does not mean much to them.  Singing joy to the world in their present environment is not real to them.  They are just trying to make it through the day and especially night.  After school, some do not have anything to eat until the next day at school.  I know this because my daughter used to be a teacher.

What is it in this high tech world giving them hope? As these children move into adolescence and young adulthood, the only hope many have is to get the next fix or high.  They succumb to a few minutes of lustful pleasures, hoping to erase their deep feelings of failure and desperation.  You know and I know, when one of these do try to climb that mountain of hopelessness, their peers will make fun of them and try to defeat their efforts. Why would they do this?  Because they are afraid to attempt the same thing, fearing defeat would only make it worse.  So, any hope is extinguished by fear and ignorance.  Ignorance of having a life plan that gives hope and ignorance of finding the right people willing to help them.

I am not a psychologist, but I believe the saggy pants, body piercing, tattoos, weird hair, profanity- laced language, etc. are outside the cup dressings mimicking some popular singer, athlete, movie star or someone else they view as popular and successful.  What does this do for them? They identify with the success of others, hoping they can identify with their peers.  Bottom line. They, like you and I, want to be accepted.  Do we not wear designer clothes, drive nice cars and live in large houses wanting the same?

They like we, have been lured into identifying with some form of societal identification.  Have you ever heard the phrase, “Dress for success”?  We have let the world describe for them and us what success and failure look like.  We have forgotten and some have never heard these words that give hope to everyone, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him.  For the Lord does not see as man sees, for the man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart”. (1 Samuel 16:7, NKJV) Christ warned the Pharisees about looking acceptable on the outside with these words, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence”.  “Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.” (Matthew 23:25-26. NKJV)

 

All of us need to know and remember our hearts were created in the image of God.  I want to emphasize “all of us” because no matter what I think of your appearance, God knows the thinking of your heart and this is how you and I will be judged. (Matthew 15:8, 19)

The first step in getting our country back is carrying the gospel to the young people of our communities.  They need to know God’s awesome love for them and the place Christ has prepared for those who love and obey Him.  I have always heard we are one generation from apostasy.  Looking at the way God, His Son, and His word are viewed in this country today, I would say we are experiencing that generation today. Should that concern you if you want your grandchildren and great-grandchildren to be Christians?

We must not take the apathetic attitude of Hezekiah, the king of Judah.  We read in 2 King’s 20:16-19 that Isaiah, the prophet, went to Hezekiah and told him the days were coming when all that was in his house would be carried to Babylon.  He said nothing would be left and they would take some of his sons, who would descend from him, and make eunuchs of them in the palace of the king of Babylon.  Here is Hezekiah’s response.  “Will there not be peace and truth at least in my days?”  Did he say what I think he said? “At least, it won’t happen in my day.” He didn’t seem to be concerned about the welfare of his grandsons.

We must not only be concerned for the lives of our grandchildren’s souls, but also for the souls of others their age. Why? I want my grandchildren to have an unwavering faith and I also want their peers to have the same.  I want to live a life pleasing to God, so those around me will also want to prepare their hearts to seek God and His ways.  Our hearts must be prepared to seek God. When our hearts are not prepared to seek God, we will do evil.  In 2 Chronicles 12:14, God’s word says of Rehoboam the king, ”And he did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek God.”

If we do not show the children of our land how to seek God in their hearts, they will seek evil.  Those who do seek God can only do so privately or in a church building.  It is forbidden in public places and belittled in our higher institutions of learning.  From the world, without God, we can only receive the works of the flesh and from God, we can receive the fruit of the Spirit.  Please go and read Galatians 5:16-25.  The children of our communities are being influenced by the works of the flesh.  As Christians, we must introduce them to the fruit of the Spirit.  First, they must see this fruit in us and secondly, we must teach them how to obtain it.  Are the works of the flesh evident in our land today?

One of the giants I mention in my book, “The Heart Behind the Stone: Develop a Giant Slaying Heart”, has challenged us for too long.  Christians have done as David’s three brothers and the armies of Israel when Goliath challenged them. They ran trembling, hiding behind rocks. With their fear, they were destined to be defeated and serve the Philistines as Goliath suggested.  When Madelyn Ohara challenged God’s people, they ran and hid in their living rooms and church buildings. They turned the fight amongst each other over their differences and did not realize how powerful they could all be by, together, obeying the simple truth God had presented them in His word.  The theory of evolution was gradually introduced to the classroom and the Bible was gradually removed.  Teaching evolutionary thought to our children over the years, in our public school systems, has grown to become a giant. If that giant was given strength by one woman, could not one person, as David, take that giant down? Or do we care enough to get involved? (To be continued)

Please send me your comments on this to rhepler52@gmail.com . Please share on Facebook with your friends.

You can preview and purchase my books: The Heart Behind the Stone: Develop a Giant Slaying Heart, and 123 Tips: For My Grandchildren and Yours, by going to www.amazon.com .

 

What goal did Christ have for His disciples, that is the same goal for Christians today? (Matthew 28:18-20)  What prayer did He pray for us, when He was on this earth? (John 17:20-23)  What would our country look like in 50 years, if these were our goals for 2016?

Thanks for reading.

 

Rick

 

His Birth Set the Stage for Our Going Home. How Awesome!

I can still remember my first nights away from home as a child.  I was fine until bedtime.  It didn't matter if I was with family, grandparents or cousins, come bedtime I wanted to go home to mother and dad.  The toys and candy would keep my mind occupied until bedtime, but at bedtime all the loving words of comfort and promises of doing fun things the next day could not compare to being home at night with mom and dad.

I remember the awesome feeling I had when I heard the closing of the door on their old car.  They had come to take me home.  The sudden sense of love and security quickly erased my homesick feeling.  I was not then nor am I now embarrassed of this story.  I had already developed, in my heart, where my home was and I wanted to be there. The end of the day's attractions and promises of fun tomorrow could not give me the love and security to sleep in peace. Sleeping in my own bed at home with mom and dad was the good life.

Man had to leave his original home in the beginning.  It was a wonderful garden paradise.  He had abundant life in this place, provided by the Tree of Life.  However, this man and his wife chose knowledge instead of life.  They were deceived into partaking fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Ironic isn't it.  Choosing more knowledge, thinking it would give them abundant life. They disobeyed God to obtain that knowledge.  Life can never come to man by disobeying God, no matter how much knowledge he obtains.

Satan knows we were created in God's image.  He knows what is truly in our hearts.  He has deceivingly buried our desire to go home to our Father in heaven.  He has used the things of this world, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life, to provide layer upon layer of distractions to hide the image we were created in.  We are homesick and have been deceived into not realizing it.

We have just witnessed the celebration of Christmas. The manifestation of the plan for God's Son, Jesus, to be born of a virgin, with His Spirit clothed in the flesh of man. This was in God's plan to bring us back home to Him.  Jesus was born to die in our place for our sins.  What Satan had stolen away from us, He came to lovingly give it back.  Only we had to choose Him over the world. 

We have to know and feel secure with Him to want to go home to Him.  We have to be as a child when bedtime comes.  We can only rest if we are at home with our mother and father.  No toys or candy can give us this secured, loving, and peaceful rest.  Satan with all of his worldly luring and promises can never give this kind of peace.  The only life he can give is one of lies and deception. Look at the nightly news!

Jesus plainly tells us in John 10:10, The thief (Satan) only comes to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life more abundantly. (The Everlasting Gospel Version, Hugo McCord)  Following the life of Christ on this earth and living the way He has shown us to live, can bring us abundant life here and for all eternity.

Jesus' birth, life, death and resurrection, shows to man how awesome God is.  This is a good place to get the awe of God back in your heart.  Be honest. You know if you have it or not.  Here is a quick check to see. Do you look forward to praying daily?  Do you worship God, with his people, weekly? Do you enjoy reading and meditating on His word daily? Do you love Him by following His commandments?  Do the things of this world give you a restful sleep and peace at night or does the peace from God, which surpasses all understanding give you that sleep of confidence?

We have begun 2016.  This is a very important year for our country. This is an important year for each of us.  If the awe of God is not in your heart, Satan has buried it.  Search for it each day. He came and suffered for all of us, so we could go home to be with Him someday.  Is this not awesome? To be at home someday with the God who created the whole universe and everything that is in it. Also, do not be deceived.  He created you in His image and He loves you very much.  He sent His only Son to die for you and me while we were sinners.

Getting back our awe for God will change us.  The change this can make in our lives, will also change the people around us. What kind of influence would this have on our children and grandchildren? Could this be your goal for 2016?  I hope so!

Young married couples, the movie War Room is out on dvd.  If you have not seen it, you can rent it from Red Box. This is a good movie to start your new year with.

Please share on Facebook and send any comments to:rhepler52@gmail.com .

Thank for reading and hope you have a Happy New Year.

Rick