the basic message #E631
10/1/08
If you're like most Americans, you're wondering about many things. Will President-Elect Obama be able to lead our country out of the financial turmoil we find ourselves in? Folks in my age range wonder if we'll ever be able to retire. Some people just wonder if they'll have a job this time next year. We face many challenges, but there is one that I'm more concerned about than any: fear. Read what the President said:
In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.
Sounds pretty gloomy doesn't it? The President, in his inaugural speech, also shared this thought:
Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.
But wait a minute- George W. Bush didn't face such challenges at either of his inaugurations, right? I'll give you one more excerpt that might clear up this mystery:
So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.
The older folks will quickly recognize these words to come from a United States President from many years ago: Franklin Delano Roosevelt. And yes, President Roosevelt faced some tough odds in 1933, since the country was in the middle of the Great Depression. Some folks seem to think we're about to go into another Great Depression, and if all you do is listen to the doom and gloom coming out of Washington, you might reasonably believe that. The basic message isn't a forum for political debate, but please allow me to offer a few thoughts on the $700 billion bailout. First of all, America didn't get into this mess in a week, and if things are so bad that we have to rush to do something in a week to overcome the problem, someone is lying to us. Secondly, I'm a bit confused as to why I should trust our elected officials, who allowed us to get in this mess, to lead us out of it. Political opinions finished.
Fear, it seems, is one of the very favorite tools in the arsenal of Satan. Some of you "progressive" Christians out there will smugly dismiss old John as a kook, but make no mistake, the Devil is alive and well, and he's looking at one of his finest opportunities to derail Christianity in America. He can only succeed if one important thing occurs: You and I let him. I'm certainly no prophet, but may I think out loud for a moment as to what we may see in the next year?
As Americans continue to watch our retirement savings dwindle, many will be tempted to pull their money out. Yes, it's your money, but if everyone thinks like that, you can be assured of financial collapse in America. What good will it do for you to have a Mason jar buried in the back yard with ten grand in it if you don't have a job and your house is worth nothing? Think long and hard about doing anything rash during this time. Maybe the most important guide to what we should do comes from the Lord, but instead of God telling us what we should do, perhaps he's saying, "do the opposite of what Satan tells you." Satan says, "hoard all you can", "take care of yourself and your family at all costs", "don't worry about the other guy, this is war". You get the idea. Do the words "dismayed" and "terrified" seem appropriate these days? Read on....
1 Samuel 17:11
On hearing the Philistine's words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.
Who was this Philistine who struck fear in the hearts of his opposition? None other than Goliath, a true monster of a man who called out for one of them to come fight him. Goliath came out every day, shouting at Saul and his soldiers, taunting them with his unceasing talk of what he would do to the man who would fight him. And after 40 days of this mental torture, a young shepherd came along to deliver food to Saul and his men, and upon hearing what was going on, said, in so many words, "I'll go fight him". Imagine the unbelief the seasoned soldiers felt when David said he would go up against the giant of a man. But guess what? They weren't going to stand in his way, because they certainly didn't want to face the monster man. The rest of the story is well known, though sometimes exaggerated. David fought Goliath and won. But it wasn't all about skill and bravery. Listen to what the young man told Goliath before he killed him:
1 Samuel 17:45
David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied."
Ahhh, the name of the LORD Almighty. David called on it, and so can we. Is there anything that would prevent it from working in 2008? There certainly is, but it has nothing to do with the LORD, and everything to do with us. May I replay some of President Roosevelt's words?
"Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men."
If we call on the name of the LORD, yet continue to cling to material things, we're doomed to fail. If we minister to others, rather than expecting to be ministered to, we shall prevail. God has been trying to get our attention for many years with little success. September 11th, Katrina, floods, tornadoes, California wild fires, and the list goes on and on. After 9/11, churches were packed, but within a few months, church attendance not only faded back to its previous numbers, it actually receded. It's high time each of us probed our Bibles and our hearts to determine what God's will is for our lives. Unless you're a follower of Ken Copeland or Creflo Dollar, you know God's plan isn't to make us all millionaires. Quite frankly, God can only manage some folks by keeping them poor. But one thing I know in my heart to be true: God provides for his true followers. We might be eating bologna instead of steak next year, but we won't go hungry. We might not have 200 channels on TV to watch, but we'll still have our local stations. We might not be driving a Hummer that gets 8 miles per gallon, but we'll still get from point A to point B.
So what do we have to fear? Fear itself.