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This Is How I Was Conquered

I a recent sermon out of Habakkuk, our home church pastor reminded me of something Conquering nations did to their enemies.  They destroyed their religious symbols and institutions.  There was a story a few years ago that on of the warring nations in the Middle East bombes the tomb of Jonah.  After having survived all these years the memories of this great man will now begin to fade.  You see culture is downstream of religion and politics is downstream of culture.  Tare down the faith, and you degrade culture.  Then the politics begin to follow the culture.

This is a classic enemy tactic and works even at the family level.  He begins to weaken your faith.  You get busy and lack devotion and prayer time.  Sundays are the only day you can sleep in so Church begins to slip.  You fall back into old habits and lower you own expectations for movies, diet, screen time and subject matter, and then you compromise your homes values and standards.

We defiantly live in a world where are vocations have a major impact on just about everything we do.  God doesn’t have a problem with us having nice things or occupying prestigious positions as long as they don’t that His place.

I love the 4^th of July and often spend time reading over books that I have collected over the years that tell the stories of our founding and the great men that led the way.  This past fourth I thought of the final sentence in the Declaration.  “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”  To follow the vision God gave them, even without perfect clarity, they were willing to give it all away.  This is what’s required of us when it comes to our families and vision God has for us.  When the enemy comes, and he will, to separate you from your faith, fold you into culture, and dilute your personal politics you have to be willing to forfeit your life, fortunes and sacred honor with absolute reliance on divine providence.

Setting Up A Great Defense

Ecclesiastes 4:12 Though one may be overpowered,

two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Accountability is key.  It’s not easy but you have to be willing to be held to an account and to cultivate those close relationships that you can share difficult details of your life with.

Without having those around you that can lift you up in prayer, encourage you and even give you some correction you will be left at arm’s length from all those that saw it coming.

I have always hatted these two scenarios.

The person that has no idea how they got to this point, and everyone around then saying, “I could have told you that was going to happen.”  Why?  Why?  We have all been guilty of this and sometimes I find myself straddling the fence of, do I say something, or is it not of my business.

The difference is the relationship.  But, when you do, you are all but obligated to act.