Understanding the References of Peace and the Seven Spirits

You would hardly believe that peace could be found in the final book of the Bible as it deals with the culmination of Jesus and the wrath of God poured out on the earth as sin comes to an end, but that is just what you will find. Because peace can be offered and found by those who trust and believe in Jesus Christ before we get to this point.

Picking back up on our study in Revelation 1:4 with "John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne.

Peace here is referred to as Shalom. We have the peace of God to those who have accepted Jesus as their Savior. God never gives us grief, but we can cause Him grief or that we get from others. Let us be cautious not to blame God for that grief either. He will return one day to right all the wrongs and woe to them who continue to shake their fist at God. He will not be mocked. The things that happen in this life are natural to a fallen world, but one day God, our Redeemer will return to fix all that is broken. God is eternal as is referred to in verse 4, "from him who is, and who was, and who is to come." This verse speaks of an eternal God.

Isaiah 57:15, ~"For this is what the high and lofty One says - he who lives forever, whose name is holy; "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite." (NIV). He inhabits eternity!

He is the Alpha and Omega, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty, from verse 8, it tells us about his eternity. He will never have a birthday or a death because He doesn't live in a time line. He is beyond all that. He isn't subject to time. So when you find yourself dealing with a fiery trial you would love nothing more to have removed, remember these things, God dwells in eternity and we live in a time line. Time passes for us, as days progress, but not for God, time doesn't relate to God. It's a 7 day week, 24 hours in a day. God doesn't see things this way but we do. What is happening to us, is new to us, but it isn't new to God. He dwells in eternity. God has always known about this problem that is impacting us, He has always presided over it. It didn't catch Him unaware. He knew it was coming. As the trial arrives to us, He has already known about it. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He never changes.

The situation you are dealing with today, as well as the answer has always been in front of God, you just stumbled on this problem today, so give me the problem. Sometimes it's too simple for us to wrap our heads around that because we want to spend too much time arguing with God about it. So what is your problem today? Remember, we just happened upon it today, because we travel along a timeline, but God has known about it since the beginning of the creation of the world, and trust me, He isn't panicking. He's not wringing His hands in heaven, crying out, "Oh no! what are we going to do?"

It's always been before Him, the situation you are going through, but then again so has the remedy.

1 Peter 5:7 ~ "Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you." Cast means to push, heave, He has big shoulders. People will fear that God isn't there for them during their situations, that he must not care, and they'll tell you that God is no where. Yet often times within 24 hours, God will rearrange that word "no where" and move the space to between the "w" and "h" to now read "now here" instead and He will reveal Himself to them. The truth was that God never left that person in their fiery trial. He was simply waiting for them to call out to Him and turn that problem over to Him. The problem was that the person was swallowed up in self defeat and doubt instead of realizing that God has always been here with them.

But when God intervenes, it make that person shut their mouth when God intervenes because they can't argue and they realize what they were saying about God. Thankfully He is so gracious and doesn't hold that against us.

Matthew 6:8 ~ "Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him." (NIV). This is referencing those who worry and panic about things that are going on in our lives. God doesn't want us to worry because He already knows about it. It's not new knowledge to Him. He knows about this situation in advance so ask God in boldness. We approach Him like we don't believe like He will answer you. Ask boldly. Tell God what you need.

Revelation 4:8 " Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." (NIV). 

Unlike Revelation 1:8, where it reads "who is, and who was, and who is to come." the terms are interchangeable. Just like in Revelation 11:17, ~"We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, and who is to come, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign." (NIV).

It is based on the application how the order of God's eternal persona is described. Revelation 16:5, ~ "Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say; You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, the one who is to be, the Holy One, because you have so judged: (NIV). 

God's position, is addressed in verse, 4 continuing from Revelation 1, "from the seven spirits before his throne." (NIV). 

So what are the seven spirits referred to here? We have some options, it could be, in reference to Isaiah 11:1-2 ~ "A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear the fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him ` the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD." (NIV). 

We remember from earlier in our studies that the number 7, is a reference to completion. Some will say this is a reference to the Holy Spirit from Isaiah 11:1-2, and counting all the references to the Spirit, from the Spirit of the Lord (1), the Spirit of wisdom (2), of understanding (3), the Spirit of counsel, (4), of power (5), the Spirit of knowledge (6) and of the fear of the LORD (7). Could this reference from Revelation 1:4 referencing Isaiah 11:1-2 is the seven Spirits in the totality of the ministry of the Holy Spirit? It could mean that but, the problem is in the original Hebrew, what is put forward is only six of them. in the way it is put together is the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him. And it then reads, "the Spirit of the wisdom, (1), of understanding (2), the Spirit of counsel (3), of power (4), the Spirit of knowledge, (5) and of the fear of the LORD (6).

So which one is it? Is it a reference to the Holy Spirit? It could be the Holy Spirit.

In Zechariah 4:1-7 ~ Then the angel who talked with me returned and wakened me, as a man is wakened from his sleep. He asked me, "What do you see?" I answered, "I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lights on it, with seven channels to the lights. Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left." I asked the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?" He answered, "Do you not know what these are?" "No, my lord," I replied. So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit," says the LORD Almighty. "What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of "God bless it! God bless it!" (NIV). 

It could be a reference to the Holy Spirit.

The other view is this, because according to scripture that the Holy Spirit is singular, that would go against what we see in verse 4, the Holy Spirit, by the way does not dwell in front of the throne room of God. He's not localized. What we know from the Bible is that the Holy Spirit dwells everywhere, all at once. So one of the arguments is that this is not the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit can not be localized.

So then what is or what can be the seven spirits?

Revelation 5:6 ~ " Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns (speaks of His absolute kingship)  and seven eyes (speaks of His complete knowledge), which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth." (NIV). 

Revelation 3:1 ~ "To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God"

Revelation 4:5 ~ "From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God." (NIV). 

Let's look again at Revelation 5:6 ~ " Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns (speaks of His absolute kingship)  and seven eyes (speaks of His complete knowledge), which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth." (NIV). 

Notice that the spirits are sent out into all the earth. These could be special assigned or ordained angels found in Revelation 8:6 ~"Then the seven angels who have seven trumpets prepared to sound them." (NIV). 

Remember that the seven spirits are sent out into all the earth, so the seven angels, with the first being found Revelation 8:7 "The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood and it was hurled down upon the earth..." and it goes on and on until Revelation 10:7 ~ "But in the days when the seventh angel is to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets."(NIV). 

Revelation 8:2 ~ "And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets." (NIV). 

The seven spirits before the throne of God. We find the references to the seven angels because they are before the throne of God. Where are they sent, to the ends of the earth. The Holy Spirit presides over all. Everywhere. Isn't that consistent with scripture?

Hebrews 1:14 ~ "Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who inherit salvation?" (NIV).

This is the same scripture reference to those looking for biblical scripture for guardian angels. Remember that God has foreknowledge of those He knows will come to salvation at some point in their lives and when we do, he has angels dispensed to help us get there and to guide and protect us as He calls them to do in our lives as heirs of salvation found in Jesus.

The Bible reminds us that we will be greater than angels in eternity, so while it's nice to dream that when we die, we become angels, that is not biblical. Angels are God's creation designed to serve His purpose only. In the Book of Corinthians we will be judging angels for all eternity. We will be given so much knowledge when we get to heaven, that God is going to give us that job.

I know that today's study didn't accomplish much in the way of getting through the first chapter of Revelation, and God willing He will give me more time to go through this study with you before He returns for His church or this will remain for someone else to pick up after we are gone. I only hope it has blessed you in some way to grow in your spiritual walk that much more.

Sunbathing on the Sea of Dread

Ever planned a vacation for you, your family or just you and your hubby? I know I have and the reason for planning one usually comes because I am way too stressed out, we haven’t had a vacation in who knows how long, or we just need to get away from life. Sound like your reasons?

When you think about it those reasons, it sounds pretty valid. The real thing is for me, based on those reasons alone, would cause me to take daily vacations if you knew my life and the things that go on in it daily. However let’s really break it down and see just how “relaxing” it is.

We have to decide first of all where we are headed, that could take weeks for some. Once you decide on a location, you have to check the weather, locate a family friendly hotel, book the hotel, book any activities that you may need to, pack for the vacation, get airline tickets, or car rentals or even pack the family truckster up. Then you have to get to the airport, get through security, locate food since airlines stopped serving food except the prepackaged peanuts of approximately 7 inside, and wait in line for your flight. Then you have to deal with any potential delays of your flight, connecting flights, lost luggage, bathroom breaks, and locating a rental car or airport shuttle after picking up your luggage from a never ending pile from baggage claim. Then it’s off to navigate some foreign roads you never have driven; deal with toll roads, and since you never have correct change since most people ATM it lately; check into your hotel, deal with not enough pillows, bad smelling room, uncomfortable beds, and the noisy neighbors just on the other side of your paper thin room. Sounding relaxing yet? Yeah right….

If you’re like me, you need a vacation from your vacation when you get back. Isn’t that what your original design for a vacation was supposed to be? If you are like me, what you were expecting was lots of sleep in a luxury room, with a feather bed, tons of super soft pillows, no noise whatsoever, being waited on hand and foot, all your meals are prepared with just the touch of a few buttons on the phone, no worries right?

We worry about everything and anything! We live in a worry-filled society in a worry-filled world with lots of other worriers like ourselves. The truth is however that worrying changes nothing. “Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?” Matthew 6:25

There are a wealth of opportunities to be anxious about everyday and it’s never ending. Take for example, the stimulus bill, our states budget crisis, layoffs from every company you know, foreclosures at an all time high, late notices of every utility bill and credit card, deaths of loved ones, family members, friends and even perfect strangers, abortions, problems with our cars, divorce, marriage, gay issues, stem cell research, wars and never ending natural disasters. Got a lot on your plate at night??? How about popping a pill for that? Valium, Xanax, sleep aids, you name it, you can be assured you can locate a doctor willing to listen to just a sample of the issues I mentioned above, and you’ve got yourself a personalized autograph prescription. Yet, it doesn’t take the worry away. It only puts it off, it’s right there where you left it once you wake up or the drugs where off.

“Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it’s own.” Matthew 6:34

The things I have listed that we worry about are the same things our parents and grandparents worried about, but worrying about them did nothing to prevent them from happening. Worry ruins our health, robs us of any joy and changes nothing. Worrying about something does nothing to change the thing we are worrying about. Sometimes worrying about those things makes things worse than they were before.

One simple sentence unveils God’s provision plan: “Live One Day At A Time”. God disclosed this same strategy to Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness. He provided manna daily, one day at a time, not monthly or weekly. Even on the day prior to the Sabbath, God knew what He was doing. He told them not to gather it on the Sabbath, but the day before. He provided twice as much for them because He wanted them to keep the Sabbath holy and do no work, including the gathering of food. Did the Israelites worry? Yup, even after witnessing all God’s miracles, they worried constantly up to the point of wishing they were back in Egypt where they had plenty of food, water and a place to sleep at night. They grumbled about it daily and constantly.

But weren’t they complaining during their time in Egypt for God to free them from their bondage as slaves to the Egyptians? God answered their prayers, but He never promised them that everything would be a perfect “stress free vacation” of sorts. But He did answer their prayers, just not the way they had hoped.

What they saw as problems, God saw as provisions. Imagine quail in the desert, so numerous that each family had so much that they complained that they were sick of eating it. More grumbling, more worrying!

Worry splits up our thoughts into today and tomorrow. So why don’t we worry about yesterday? Because we know that nothing we can do today will change what happened yesterday. Worrying about tomorrow’s problems today, takes away the strength God gives us to get through today’s worries. This leaves us with not enough resources to deal with today because we borrowed on it to fix tomorrow’s worries. Now we are in debt with worry. No wonder we feel like we can’t deal with just today. We are too busy tackling tomorrows, next weeks, next months and sometimes even next year’s worries. No wonder we are stressed out, sick physically, tired, run down, and at the end of our rope or even all of the above. God never planned on us dealing with things that way. “One day at a time.” Hear the voice of God?

If you are like me, we worry so much about something that has yet to happen, but most of the time, what we worry about never really happens. Worry gives small problems, big shadows. Corrie Ten Bloom said, “Worry does not empty tomorrow of it’s sorrows, it empties today of it’s strength.” “God will take care of everything you need.” (Phillippians 4:19)

So what can you do to eliminate this worry and stress from your life?

1. Pray More!!! You can’t worry while your praying and you can’t pray when you are worrying. In my case, this means I need to pray most of my day. I worry a lot. The average person prays about 8 minutes a day when the average pastor only prays about 10 minutes. Shouldn’t that tell us something? Imagine how different our lives might be if we just prayed a little bit more? Couldn’t hurt right? No where in the Bible does it say to pray a little or to put limits on our prayer time right?


2. Want Less! I tell my daughters this daily when it comes to buying things, especially in this economy where the average family is barely making ends meet while paying more for groceries, gas, bills, and everything else while our income goes down or stay the same as it was before. So I have to ask them, “Is this a want or a need?” Sometimes I have to remind them of the definitions of each. Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Enough for today is all we can enjoy. We cannot eat or drink or wear more than today’s supply of food and clothing. The surplus gives us the care of storing it and the anxiety that someone may steal it. Enough is all we should expect, but a craving for more is ungratefulness. When our Father does not give you more, be content with your daily allowance.” (The NIV Worship Bible, New International Version, Dana Point, CA: Maranatha 2000, 1302)


3. Live for Today. “Who of you by worrying, can add a single hour to his life?” Matthew 6:27. God will take care of things in His time, not in our time. He sends help at the hour we need it. You don’t have the wisdom for tomorrow’s problems, but we will tomorrow. You don’t have the resources for tomorrows needs, but you will tomorrow. You don’t have the courage for tomorrow’s challenges, but you will when tomorrow comes.

God will meet our needs daily. He did then, he still does, and he will continue to do for you always. Trust in Him, and wait! Don’t worry.

Spell Peaceful

While waking up before everyone else today, I had time to reflect on the goodness of God. Since we are focusing on the fruits of the Spirit I thought I would ask what spells peace in your life. Here are some things that spell peaceful to me:

1. Sitting in the mountains and listening to the way the wind makes the trees speak so we can finally hear them.

2. Sitting in the middle of a pouring rain just sitting outside and feeling every beat of rain upon your head til they join together for a race down your hair.

3. Watching snow flakes swirl in a magical dance til they land just as softly as if a whisper.

4. Being near the ocean and hearing the pounding of the water as it breaks upon the rocks and then hushes once more as it backs away into the sea once more.

I look forward to immersing myself in peace today and listening for God's voice in all of it and seeing how peace affects your life today. ~ Kat

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Sunbathing on the Sea of Dread

Ever planned a vacation for you, your family or just you and your hubby? I know I have and the reason for planning one usually comes because I am way too stressed out, we haven’t had a vacation in who knows how long, or we just need to get away from life. Sound like your reasons?

When you think about it those reasons, it sounds pretty valid. The real thing is for me, based on those reasons alone, would cause me to take daily vacations if you knew my life and the things that go on in it daily. However let’s really break it down and see just how “relaxing” it is.

We have to decide first of all where we are headed, that could take weeks for some. Once you decide on a location, you have to check the weather, locate a family friendly hotel, book the hotel, book any activities that you may need to, pack for the vacation, get airline tickets, or car rentals or even pack the family truckster up. Then you have to get to the airport, get through security, locate food since airlines stopped serving food except the prepackaged peanuts of approximately 7 inside, and wait in line for your flight. Then you have to deal with any potential delays of your flight, connecting flights, lost luggage, bathroom breaks, and locating a rental car or airport shuttle after picking up your luggage from a never ending pile from baggage claim. Then it’s off to navigate some foreign roads you never have driven; deal with toll roads, and since you never have correct change since most people ATM it lately; check into your hotel, deal with not enough pillows, bad smelling room, uncomfortable beds, and the noisy neighbors just on the other side of your paper thin room. Sounding relaxing yet? Yeah right….

If you’re like me, you need a vacation from your vacation when you get back. Isn’t that what your original design for a vacation was supposed to be? If you are like me, what you were expecting was lots of sleep in a luxury room, with a feather bed, tons of super soft pillows, no noise whatsoever, being waited on hand and foot, all your meals are prepared with just the touch of a few buttons on the phone, no worries right?

We worry about everything and anything! We live in a worry-filled society in a worry-filled world with lots of other worriers like ourselves. The truth is however that worrying changes nothing. “Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?” Matthew 6:25

There are a wealth of opportunities to be anxious about everyday and it’s never ending. Take for example, the stimulus bill, our states budget crisis, layoffs from every company you know, foreclosures at an all time high, late notices of every utility bill and credit card, deaths of loved ones, family members, friends and even perfect strangers, abortions, problems with our cars, divorce, marriage, gay issues, stem cell research, wars and never ending natural disasters. Got a lot on your plate at night??? How about popping a pill for that? Valium, Xanax, sleep aids, you name it, you can be assured you can locate a doctor willing to listen to just a sample of the issues I mentioned above, and you’ve got yourself a personalized autograph prescription. Yet, it doesn’t take the worry away. It only puts it off, it’s right there where you left it once you wake up or the drugs where off.

“Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it’s own.” Matthew 6:34

The things I have listed that we worry about are the same things our parents and grandparents worried about, but worrying about them did nothing to prevent them from happening. Worry ruins our health, robs us of any joy and changes nothing. Worrying about something does nothing to change the thing we are worrying about. Sometimes worrying about those things makes things worse than they were before.

One simple sentence unveils God’s provision plan: “Live One Day At A Time”. God disclosed this same strategy to Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness. He provided manna daily, one day at a time, not monthly or weekly. Even on the day prior to the Sabbath, God knew what He was doing. He told them not to gather it on the Sabbath, but the day before. He provided twice as much for them because He wanted them to keep the Sabbath holy and do no work, including the gathering of food. Did the Israelites worry? Yup, even after witnessing all God’s miracles, they worried constantly up to the point of wishing they were back in Egypt where they had plenty of food, water and a place to sleep at night. They grumbled about it daily and constantly.

But weren’t they complaining during their time in Egypt for God to free them from their bondage as slaves to the Egyptians? God answered their prayers, but He never promised them that everything would be a perfect “stress free vacation” of sorts. But He did answer their prayers, just not the way they had hoped.

What they saw as problems, God saw as provisions. Imagine quail in the desert, so numerous that each family had so much that they complained that they were sick of eating it. More grumbling, more worrying!

Worry splits up our thoughts into today and tomorrow. So why don’t we worry about yesterday? Because we know that nothing we can do today will change what happened yesterday. Worrying about tomorrow’s problems today, takes away the strength God gives us to get through today’s worries. This leaves us with not enough resources to deal with today because we borrowed on it to fix tomorrow’s worries. Now we are in debt with worry. No wonder we feel like we can’t deal with just today. We are too busy tackling tomorrows, next weeks, next months and sometimes even next year’s worries. No wonder we are stressed out, sick physically, tired, run down, and at the end of our rope or even all of the above. God never planned on us dealing with things that way. “One day at a time.” Hear the voice of God?

If you are like me, we worry so much about something that has yet to happen, but most of the time, what we worry about never really happens. Worry gives small problems, big shadows. Corrie Ten Bloom said, “Worry does not empty tomorrow of it’s sorrows, it empties today of it’s strength.” “God will take care of everything you need.” (Phillippians 4:19)

So what can you do to eliminate this worry and stress from your life?

1. Pray More!!! You can’t worry while your praying and you can’t pray when you are worrying. In my case, this means I need to pray most of my day. I worry a lot. The average person prays about 8 minutes a day when the average pastor only prays about 10 minutes. Shouldn’t that tell us something? Imagine how different our lives might be if we just prayed a little bit more? Couldn’t hurt right? No where in the Bible does it say to pray a little or to put limits on our prayer time right?


2. Want Less! I tell my daughters this daily when it comes to buying things, especially in this economy where the average family is barely making ends meet while paying more for groceries, gas, bills, and everything else while our income goes down or stay the same as it was before. So I have to ask them, “Is this a want or a need?” Sometimes I have to remind them of the definitions of each. Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Enough for today is all we can enjoy. We cannot eat or drink or wear more than today’s supply of food and clothing. The surplus gives us the care of storing it and the anxiety that someone may steal it. Enough is all we should expect, but a craving for more is ungratefulness. When our Father does not give you more, be content with your daily allowance.” (The NIV Worship Bible, New International Version, Dana Point, CA: Maranatha 2000, 1302)


3. Live for Today. “Who of you by worrying, can add a single hour to his life?” Matthew 6:27. God will take care of things in His time, not in our time. He sends help at the hour we need it. You don’t have the wisdom for tomorrow’s problems, but we will tomorrow. You don’t have the resources for tomorrows needs, but you will tomorrow. You don’t have the courage for tomorrow’s challenges, but you will when tomorrow comes.

God will meet our needs daily. He did then, he still does, and he will continue to do for you always. Trust in Him, and wait! Don’t worry.

Sitting on the Fence!

Have you ever found yourself stuck in the middle of a difficult decision, not knowing quite what to do? How do you figure out what to do? How do you know that your decision will be the right path to take? Whom do you ask for help?

Hopefully your answer would be to pray first before tackling anything that you have doubts about. You never know the path that God would like for you to take. Even though you may think that the choice would be easy however, God may have something even better in store for you.

Too often we find ourselves sitting on the fence between the world of black and white. We call sitting on the fence, those areas of shades of grey. Nothing could be that simple, shouldn't we compromise? The question we should ask ourselves is do we know what is right from wrong?

In today's world, people are accepting things that they know are wrong, and calling it acceptable, and the things that should be good such as things based on Biblical teachings are now be tossed out as wrong. In Micah 3: 1-2 it states, "Should you know justice, you who hate good and love evil."It is wrong to eliminate God in government buildings, schools and churches. Sorry but it is what our country was founded on but has seemed to slide lately in favor of what the majority wants. Since when has the majority ever been right? Aren't we compromising things that we seriously shouldn't? We were once a nation that feared God, now this country wants God removed from everything except the church. Even that now is being called into question because people don't want to hear what is wrong in their lives. Are those that make the laws above the laws? But be careful, when you look in the mirror, look out for the double standard in your own life as well.

I will never apologize for my beliefs and if asked I will be prepared to share those with anyone who asks. Do you find yourself feeling less shocked when you see things on the news or in the movies because it is the new norm for you? Do you find yourself becoming more and more tolerant of that which is evil and less interested in that which is spiritual? Do you find that your words seem to have no effect on the nonbelievers you share them with?

If we don't pick a side and in this case it should be the white side of our fence, then when we try to correct someone in the error of his ways, we won't have any affect. There won't be any power in our witness because we lived a compromised life.

Our current government has done what is right in their own eyes. They need to do what is right in God's eyes instead of their own, otherwise we will continue to have problems in our country. It's like when 9/11 happened, we had people everywhere asking this country to pray, people were praying everywhere. In schools, government buildings, office buildings you name it, people that day and days that followed begged God for his help. Did you ever notice that God didn't really do anything to help this country following that tragic event? He could have exposed the terrorists responsible and had them eliminated but amazing enough, we still can't find them. It's because we never repented in our evil, greedy ways and yet still asked God for help. We were still sitting on the fence, not wanting to pick a side one way or another. We wanted our cake and eat it too! Micah 4:4, states "Then they will cry out to the Lord, but he will not answer them. At that time he will hide his face from them because of the evil they have done."

Even today in the ministry, there are people that are in the ministry using it primarily to make money. They tell people what they want to hear, so that people will send in their money. But it doesn't last. Leaders and authority figures love money and they love themselves. They believe everything that they are doing is justified, but God will allow judgement to occur because of their continuing to sin. Nothing this president and his cabinet attempt to do on their own will work to restore our country. We need to change our ways.They need to change their ways and turn their hearts back to God. We can't accept things we know are wrong and accept them as right. We need to help people out and stop turning our backs when people are hurting. We need to genuinely care about people again.

You can't experience peace until you make peace with God. So as a person who claims to be a Christian shouldn't be afraid of anything. Our lives should be a reflection of what lies beneath. We shouldn't worry about offending anyone, otherwise we shouldn't be a Christian. We are the light and salt of this world and the world that is currently dwelling within the darkness it has brought upon itself, hates the light. It hates to be shown the error of it's ways because it would be forced to change, and it feels too good right now to change. Even in church there are people who will say, "I don't want to hear that!" I just want a pep talk. I want someone to to tell me what I want to hear.

Peace in our lives fails when we put our eyes on our circumstances instead of on God. Stop sitting on the fence. Stop trying to justify your actions! Stop living the lies you keep feeding yourself. Time to pick a side, there are no areas of grey in God's eyes! Time is running out for you to make that choice, do you really want to be left behind, thinking that you can always do it tomorrow?