Saturday, May 3, 2014

The Power of the Christian Soldier


Our power as Christians is the power of the truth in a world full of lies.  

A single prayer of yours, a few words whispered on your knees, in humble submission to the God of our fathers, and a firm belief that what you ask will in fact be done... and the entire world changes.  

Believe my brothers.  Jesus Christ is indeed risen.  He is alive and well my friends.  He rose from the grave.  He is fully and completely resurrected.  Just as the scriptures say.  Just as so many testified.  And just as all the evidence points to.  

He is risen, he is risen indeed.  

The things the Bible says, they're all true.  The teachings the Bible tells, they all firmly stand under every manner of scrutiny.  

Find new ways to fall in love with Christ.  Conform your mind to adore the hard truth, rather than the comfortable lies.  

I've always said, Christianity is the perfection of American principles.  Christianity is the perfection of democratic party principles of civil rights, protection of the environment, equality, women's rights, and peace.  Christianity is the perfection of republican party principles of economic freedom, conservative spending, freedom to pursue happiness, and generosity to the poor.  

Our faith gathers and slings together all the best and most altruistic principles into one set, utterly perfect in measure, and utterly potent in it's defiance to the wickedness of this world.  

You can tell the Bible is true because at first it's so offensive.  What it claims sometimes at first appears to be untrue, yet later is revealed to be empirically true.  Or it ends up revealing itself as paradoxically true, where all would point to the opposite conclusion yet suddenly it comes together as a paradoxical fact.  

So very offensive the gospel is, and of course, it's pointing out where I was so sure of being right but in fact was so very wrong!  At first I turned so hard against it, but now I find myself so in love with it's blunt honest truth.  We need more of that in this world where everyone plays pretend and puts out an image of how they want to seem, rather than who they truly are.

What was more offensive than the Gospel was the way the depravity of society cried out all around, day and night, claiming innocence, but so very diabolical in it's painful impact.  In a world where everyone wants to claim permanent victimhood to a plethora of disorders and maladies, Jesus Christ and the scriptures stand out in stark contrast, in a firm duet of perfect justice and perfect mercy.  And so we live in grace given by our wonderful Lord. 

There is much to love in our God.  Find new ways to fall in love with God.  No our minds don't slip into the righteousness of the Christian life like a smooth bubble bath.  Not at all, in fact it's very difficult because we're going against ourselves, against our own false belief systems.  But the Holy Spirit helps us.  And we are powerful.  Because God is with us.  Amen.

2 Timothy 1:7 (NIV) For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.