Rock The Vote

“Rock The Vote” is a movement that was established 20 years ago to inform and involve young people in American politics. This non-partisan, non-profit group uses technology, popular culture and the entertainment industry to reach this growing demographic of voters. Until its inception in 1992 there had been a decline in voter registration and participation in 18-29 year olds, but RTV boasts involving millions of young voters in the political process since the 2004 election.

Truthfully, every voter has the potential to “rock the vote.” Each of us has a responsibility to be informed and know the issues. Some helpful websites are www.virginia.gov (or whatever your state is!) and www.usa.gov. These sites will direct you to their Board of Elections where you can find out where and how to register and where you go to vote. You can also enter your address and find a sample ballot with each office, each candidate and a link to their website, and also the list of referendums. Along with the political party websites, www.gop.com and www.democrats.org, partisan sites and local media sites (television and newspaper), there are also private sites such as www.govguru.com and www.politicsdaily.com that also have interesting information.


Not only should we know the issues but we should also know the candidates. Our choices now will affect our children and grandchildren and it's important to have strong leaders.Former President Ronald Reagan said it well: “Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation.” With the political posturing and negative campaigning that's so popular, it's hard to know what/who to believe, but we can learn a lot by asking some simple questions, such as:

• What is their record of service? 
• Do they vote strictly along party lines or do they vote according to what is in the best interest of their constituents? 
• Are they present for all (or most of) the voting sessions? 
• What are their core beliefs? 
• How have they behaved when their character has been tested? 

There will be MANY issues that arise during an elected official’s term so their character is important. As Will Rogers remarked, “We only get to vote on some man; we never get to vote on what he is to do.” 

The Christian voter has at least two other responsibilities. The first is to know if/how an issue is specifically addressed in scripture, and our stance should line up with His Word regardless of how unpopular it may be. The second is to pray for those who govern us and to remember that God is Who is ultimately in control and He can use anyone to accomplish His purposes, Christians and non-Christians alike.

A great example of how God used a pagan king is found in 2 Chronicles 36:22-23. God moved in the heart of King Cyrus of Persia to release His people from captivity and allow them to return to Jerusalem. An interesting fact that is often overlooked in this account is that God told the prophet Isaiah about His plan for Cyrus. Isaiah recorded that God would “stir up one from the east” and call him in His service (Is 41:2). God also referred to Cyrus by name and even called him His “anointed” (Is 45:1) and said “I will raise up Cyrus… He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free…” (Is 45:13). Even more interesting? God gave Isaiah this message before Cyrus was even born – over 100 years before his reign!

We can never underestimate the sovereignty of God and the plan He has for His children. He desires that we seek and follow Him, regardless of who governs us. Issues WILL arise, but we can claim the promise God made to King Solomon: “If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chron 7:14)

There is sin in our nation. In reference to the National Day of Prayer Franklin Graham said, “I want to see our nation humble herself, confess sin before God, and ask for His forgiveness. If we, as a nation, did that, we would see healing come to our country.” Christians have a responsibility to lead the way and agree with the Old Testament prophet Daniel who prayed, "We have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and rebelled; we have turned away from Your commands and laws (Dan 9)." Daniel was a godly man but he was willing to intercede and confess the sins of his people.

We also need to pray for our leaders... for them to be men and women of character and principle. For their hearts to be transformed. For wisdom, knowledge and discernment. For their safety and the well-being of their family. For the Lord to put godly people in their paths as advisors and support staff. For their courage to stand up for what is right, regardless of what is popular. To guard against greed and immorality. To remember that they serve the public and not special interest groups ...

This week I heard a great address by Dave Earley, a professor at Liberty University. His theme was prayer and he continually asked the audience the following questions:

• Do you believe God can do things bigger than you?
• Better than you?  
• Faster than you? 
• More long lasting than you?

These are rhetorical questions, to be sure, but do we believe these things on a scale as broad as our government and the political arena?

God most certainly CAN change our country, but He's looking for a few good men (and women) who will be faithful to storm heaven with prayers for our nation. Then GOD will rock the vote!

Some noteworthy sites:
www.nationaldayofprayer.com
www.christianvoterguide.com
www.prayandact.org

Happy Music Monday - Jesus Saves

Chart-topper from another of my favorite Christian artists, Jeremy Camp.

Living Stones

Builders are finishing a construction project near my neighborhood. For months we watched it develop: site prepped, footers dug, foundation poured, walls built and roof laid. It’s taken several months to complete but the new office building almost ready to be occupied.

I think it’s interesting that both Paul and Peter refer to the Church as a “building.” Of course there is a tie-in to the Temple and we know that we’re individual temples where the Holy Spirit dwells, but all of us together also make a spiritual building.

Paul taught that the foundation of the Church had been laid by the prophets and apostles with Jesus being the Cornerstone (Eph 2). Imagine a flat area of ground that’s been surveyed and marked off, picture the cornerstone being positioned in the right place, then the foundation stones laid around it.

Peter continued that word picture adding that we are living stones (1 Peter 2). Now imagine a mason with a pallet of stones, except instead of being static and constant, the stones are constantly moving and changing shape! How impossible would it be to build with THAT? Except…

We have a Master Builder Who has a plan for His Building and is breathing life into each of those stones. Each one should be growing and being shaped by the Builder as He moves and positions and fits them in to just the right place to serve just the right purpose.

I wonder what kind of stone I am. I hope I’m strong in the right places and malleable in the weak ones. It’s encouraging to look back at the changes in my life and see where I’ve grown and matured; it’s not-so-encouraging to look back and see some of the same old weaknesses and struggles. But each day brings me one step further in my journey with Christ Jesus and hopefully one step closer to being more like Him.

I think it’s curious that He’s morphed my spiritual gifts over the years. In our study of Ephesians, we see a list of spiritual gifts in chapter 4 and in preparation for my lesson last Sunday I emailed our class and encouraged them to take an online analysis. I remember doing this years ago when I was young and newly married, and I remember how relieved I was that I scored really low on teaching! Twenty-three years of marriage and many life lessons later, guess what my highest score was? Yep, TEACHING. (Never let it be said that God doesn’t have a sense of humor!)

The Master Builder has moved my stone around the building several times, and He may move it around several more times before I breathe my last breath. It’s never easy to be pulled up from a position we’ve been in for a while and it usually takes some smoothing and chipping to fit into the new spot, but if it makes the building stronger and pleases the Builder, I’ll gladly do it.

Do you know your spiritual gifts? Click HERE to find out!
This is a good survey and also gives an analysis you can have for future reference. God hasn't called us to warm the pew on Sunday, He's called us to a faith that actually does something! 
Check it out: James 2

Happy Music Monday - I Will Rise

My family won't be surprised by this week's pick. I get to see this guy LIVE on Thursday, and he is one of my FAVORITE Christian artists ever -- Chris Tomlin.

Happy Music Monday - Our God Reigns

I've decided to perk up my Mondays by posting a great Christian song! I'll try to mix it up, but it won't take long to figure out who my favorites are... and they're all available on iTunes. I know that 'cause they're on my iPod...

Today it's Our God Reigns by Brandon Heath.
Have a blessed week!!

Revival & the Jewish Fall Feasts

I love autumn in Virginia. I love the cool temps, the clear skies and the colorful leaves that blanket our gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains. As the days shorten and the leaves fall, it reminds me of the "old" passing away.

This time of year also marks the celebration of the three Jewish fall feasts:

• Rosh Hashanah (New Year) or Yom Teruah (Day of the Sounding of the Trumpet), 
• Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) and 
• Sukkot (Feast of Booths). 

The fall feasts usher in the Jewish new year and are a reminder of the need to have sins forgiven. This gives a fresh start to the year because there is a sense of renewal and celebration as they remember God's faithfulness to them as a nation. The Lord ordered those feasts to help position them to walk faithfully with Him to receive His blessing. 

Evangelical Christians sometimes observe a similar time of renewal and celebration. We call it revival, and like the Jewish fall feasts, it should be preceded by a very important event - repentance.

Repentance, the changing of our minds from our way to God's, prepares us to come before Him. David understood this as he penned Psalm 24. "Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart... He will receive blessing from the Lord." Before revival and renewal can take place in our lives, we need to be clean. God will reveal our sins and weaknesses so we can understand how we got to this place, and when our thinking is in line with His, He will begin His renewing work and show us how to proceed.  

Too many times I just want God to bless my mess. My calendar is full of good things and I want God to work within those to help me further His kingdom. And that's perfectly fine and right when He leads me in those good things, but if I want true revival and renewal, I need to be willing to lay all of those things at His feet and let Him sort through it.

I want to look at these four aspects of my life:

• Spiritual - the way I relate to God
• Physical - the way I care for my body
• Mental-Emotional - the things I think about
• Relational - the way I interact with others

I can put on a good "game face" and look like I have my act together and let me tell you, I am GOOD at it. But God sees behind the game face and knows what's strong and what's weak and what's duct-taped together with good intentions. What is amazing is that He loves for me to dump it all out before Him! Things like...

• I used to be diligent about memorizing scripture, but I'm slacking now.
• Cooler temps = warm food, and this time of year I have a weakness for anything that begins with "apple"!
• I used to read for pleasure. I can't remember the last "fun" book I read.
• Sometimes people get on my nerves. Sorry, but they do. There are times I'd rather do ANYTHING than go out, even clean my house!

Those are a few of the G-rated, superficial elements of my mess. Only He knows what lurks beneath the surface and I want Him to show me where my issues run deep. If I don't deal with those deep roots, they will surely send up more shoots and I'll have to keep dealing with the same kinds of things over and over!

So I will sit at His feet and pour out my heart. (This is a good time to brainstorm and keep a journal!) Then I will pray and ask Him to convict me of the sinful behavior I need to stop. And His Spirit will also reveal the need to cut out some good activity that's keeping me from something better. I'll prayerfully make those changes until I have the peace that I'm where He wants me to be. I won't get legalistic nor will I get lax, and I won't try to tackle every single issue I have and kill myself attempting to be perfect! But I WILL trust Him to give me the grace I need to work on the things that need to change right now.

Little by little He will transform my mess into something that is focused, Christ-like and God-centered. It won't look like what it did, but it's all good because the "old" needs to pass away so the "new" can come.

But it all starts with clean hands and pure hearts...

When Church Leaders Sin.

As long as we take breaths in this life, we will fall short of God’s standard for our lives. But when a popular pastor such as Bishop Eddie Long comes under fire, the whole Christian community is understandably shaken.

We look to our pastors and leaders to inspire us and set an example for us to follow, but often, because of their magnetic personalities or stately demeanors or stellar reputations, we put them on pedestals. And that is a dangerous thing, for them AND for us.

Christians understand the importance of placing our faith in God ALONE because He is the only One Who will never let us down. Each of us has issues and weaknesses in our lives and we all struggle against our flesh in one way or another. We constantly battle against desires, attitudes, and weaknesses so it’s important for us to guard against situations that could cause us to stumble or fall. All it takes is one slip up… just one weak moment in the wrong place at the wrong time… and the course of our life is forever altered.

King David is a great example of this, and the full account is in 2 Samuel 11-12. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and his weak moment not only led to his personal downfall, but set the stage for the entire nation of Israel to fall. His lust for the beautiful Bathsheba led to an adulterous affair, an unplanned pregnancy and then the death of one of his most dedicated warriors.

But David wasn’t alone in his deception. He sent someone to find out about her, then sent messengers to get her, then called on his commander Joab to help him in the cover-up. Because of David’s position as king, those men probably felt as though they had no choice but to obey his orders. God, however, knew how to get David’s attention. He sent the prophet Nathan.

Nathan courageously confronted David and his sin, and an interesting thing happened.

David confessed. David repented. David cried out to God and asked for forgiveness. He didn’t call a press conference and deny the allegations. He didn’t cover up the dirty details. He didn’t rally his advisors around him to defend his actions. David owned up to what he did and, even though there were far-reaching consequences of his sin, David was still blessed and honored by God. David was still a man after His Own heart (1 Sam 13:14).

WOW. After ALL OF THAT, God still blessed him (1 Chronicles 17) and allowed the second son born to him and Bathsheba to reign as king and build the temple that would house His presence. David’s house would be established forever, even though David committed grievous sins. But that’s how God is when we cry out to Him brokenness like David did in Psalm 51.

God will redeem everything we give to Him, but He won’t redeem anything we keep from Him. When we come to him in brokenness and humility, confessing and acknowledging our sin and repenting of it, God is faithful to forgive us and restore us to a right relationship with Him. Then we make it our goal to learn the hard lessons from the consequences of our sin, and to be restored and walk faithfully before Him.

Innocent or not, Bishop Long isn’t the first to be involved in a scandal and he certainly won’t be the last.  Any time a leader is accused of misconduct, it’s incumbent on the church leadership to investigate the allegations. After the investigation has taken place, whoever is in the wrong should be confronted and disciplined and the attitude they should have is one of contrition, humility and repentance. If they confess and allow the congregation to help with their restoration (and the goal of any church discipline must always be restoration), a great deal of healing can take place in both the life of the individual and in the body of believers.

It’s important to remind ourselves that evil is increasing in these last days. Satan knows his time is short so he is cranking up the pressure, especially on the Church. He isn’t omniscient but he is observant and he is crafty. He looks for our weaknesses and then tries to use them to exploit us. He can’t snatch us from God’s hand, but he can steal our joy and cause us to be ineffective IF we don’t guard against his schemes.

1 Peter 4:7 tells us “The end of all this is near. Therefore be clear-minded and self-controlled so you can pray.” He continues in chapter 5 telling us, ”Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of suffering…”

Bottom line: our church leaders and pastors need our prayer! They have daunting tasks to begin with and it’s even more serious when you add the element of spiritual warfare! Here are some great verses to personalize:

• 1 Corinthians 10:13 – Lord, thank You that no temptation will come upon [leader] except what is common to man, and we thank You for Your great faithfulness – that [leader] won’t be tempted beyond what he/she can bear and that You will provide a way out for him/her. Please help [leader] to recognize that way out and walk through it!
• Colossians 1:10 – Lord, we ask You to help [leader] live a life worthy of You and to please You in every work: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of You.
• 2 Peter 3:14 – Lord, help [leader] make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with You.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, so dig into the Word and begin praying it for you and those you love! It's active and alive and sharper than any two-edged sword!!