Nations

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Psalm 79:1 The Enemy Is Infiltrating

O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance; Your holy temple they have defiled; they have laid Jerusalem in heaps. Psalm 79:1

In battles between two nations, there is often one that rises above the other. The enemy will sometimes be able to infiltrate the nation and cause destruction in order to break down the nation and win the battle. Once the enemy is inside the borders of another nation, it is very difficult to push them back out. It takes extraordinary strength and power to remove the enemy once inside the borders.

Asaph calls out to God to tell Him that the foreign nations have crossed into Jerusalem and defiled the temple and destroyed Jerusalem.

The goal of the enemy is to infiltrate and take over the opposition. In the process there is often a lot of damage done. The more the enemy can break down the target, the stronger they will become.

The world is an enemy to God and to His followers. Satan wants to infiltrate and destroy the lives of believers and their faith in any way that he can. Many churches and believers have let down their guard and allowed the enemy to get in and defile God’s holy temple.

Believers are to be the holy temple of God, where God dwells, yet, they have allowed sin to come in and reign in their lives. Rejection of God’s word as the solid foundation of truth has been accepted. Sin has become acceptable and even promoted inside the church defiling the temple of God, both as an institution and in the individual believer’s hearts.

Believers need to cry out to God in repentance and seek God’s mercy upon their lives as they turn from sin and allow God to push the enemy back out of His holy temple.

Any time you choose to sin, you allow the enemy to infiltrate God’s holy temple and defile it. You are to be the holy temple, the dwelling place of God that has been cleansed of all sin for God’s glory.

Put on the full armor of God and fight against the enemy that wars against your soul. Allow God to be the only One to dwell inside of your life and do not defile His temple with sin. Do not allow sin to reign in your life, but have God to be the one on the throne of your heart.

Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that you will be the holy temple in which God dwells; that God will give you strength to resist the enemy of your soul; and that God will reign in your life.

Picture by Peter Herrmann on Unsplash

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Psalm 2:1 Rage And Vain Plotting

Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? Psalm 2:1

Anger and rage can be seen all over the place. Extreme violent crimes occur out of fits of rage and anger. In times of anger, people plot vain things to get back at other people. Mass killings occur with a lot of plotting due to anger and frustration from some previous event or wrong that was done. These types of events occur from the smallest of towns to the large cities and even include whole nations against other nations.

The psalmist asks the question as to why the nations rage and people plot things that are vain or worthless.

Whenever a major violent crime occurs, people are always questioning as to why it had happened. They want to know why someone would do something so crazy and vain.

One set of things that nations and people get angry at is against God and believers. The world gets angry with believers who stand up for the truth revealed in God’s word and try to stop them. They plot in ways on how to stop God and how to get their own way. People want to be able to live in sinful ways and everyone accept it.

Plotting against God and His ways is completely useless and worthless. Failure will come in the end and all that plotting does is bring about death that will last for all eternity.

Believers do not need to fear or fret about the anger of the world nor their plots against God and His people. With God on one’s side, there is nothing that the world can do to stop God or that believer. God will bring that believer through any rage or vain plot into a life that will last for eternity with joy and peace in heaven.

You most likely seen some extreme anger around you or in the news, both locally and nationally. You may wonder why people can carry so much anger or do worthless things against God’s commands.

All of this is due to sin and a refusal to accept God and His commands in their lives. Keep your life free from the rage of the world and doing vain things by keeping your life focused upon God and His commands for your life. Live according to God’s ways that will extend into all eternity.

Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that God will open your eyes to vain plots around you; that you will have the joy of God in your life; and that you will live according to God’s plans.

Picture by Uriel Soberanes under Unsplash

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Esther 4:3 Fasting & Weeping Over Bad Rules

And in every province where the king’s command and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes. Esther 4:3

In every nation there are times when the leadership of the nation makes some rule that many of the people do not really like. Some people will begin to riot to get them to change the ruling. Others will protest and physically fight back. Many will just sit quietly and accept their fate in defeat and despair despite hating the ruling. A few will try to flee the nation.

At Haman’s request King Ahasuerus made a rule to destroy the Jews. All the Jews who heard about the ruling began to mourn in fasting, weeping and wailing with sackcloth and ashes.

Although there are nations that make rules very distinctly out to destroy Christians, there are many more nations that make rules that go against God’s commands, but not personally out to kill or destroy believers.

Over the years America has made various rules that go against God. Some of these are abortion, same sex marriage, legalizing drugs, gender change and more.

Many believers hate the rulings, but either get very angry and do violence against it or are angry and sit quietly about it, doing nothing. Overall, most do not do what would be the best thing to do and that is to mourn in fasting and prayer over the situation that has been brought upon them. This hands the problem over to God.

God is able to turn over bad rulings in any nation, but He only does that when His people turn from sin, weeping and mourning, to seek Him and His abilities. God is able to direct believers in how to overcome the sinful rulings, hearts can be changed.

Wherever you may live in this world, there are probably some rulings in your nation that go against the commands of God. You may not be in a position to physically do much about those rulings, but you can mourn, fast and pray to God for your nation.

Be His witness and point people to Jesus to bring about a revival in your nation, to turn around the bad rulings. Pray that God can touch the hearts of those in leadership to bring them to make rulings that honor Him and His word.

Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that you will seek God when bad rulings are made; that God will work miracles to change the corrupt rulings of nations; that you will weep and fast before God over the lost in your nation; and that you will be witness of God’s love and commands.

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2 Chronicles 36:14 Becoming More Unfaithful

Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful, following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the Lord, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles 36:14

Leaders and the people are free to choose how they will live their lives, although some nations put more pressure upon them to live in certain ways. Most often people will choose to live in the ways that others are living, giving in to the peer pressure and giving up their own personal convictions and beliefs to follow others.

Zedekiah, the last king of Israel, led the people in sin against God. The leaders of the priests and the people became more unfaithful to God and followed the sinful practices of the nations around them.

Some of the greatest nations on the earth were founded upon Godly principles and a belief in God. Over time every one of those nations have chosen to walk away from God and turn to sinful practices more and more.

America is one of those nations that has chosen to walk away from God. All across the nation churches, that are supposed to be followers of God, are accepting sinful practices and lifestyles of the world and rejecting God’s commands. Murder of innocent children, living together outside of marriage, drugs, homosexuality, abuse, transgenderism, drunkenness and much more are tolerated, accepted and promoted inside of “churches” that are supposed to be filled with believers. They are doing more and more evil.

True believers will take a stand against all sin. They will repent of sins and turn to the living God, rather than the worthless idols of this depraved world. They will choose to live a life of holiness and righteousness, following God, regardless of the cost, rather than becoming more and more unfaithful.

As the majority of those around you, inside and outside the church, are becoming more and more unfaithful to God, you have a choice to make if you consider yourself a believer in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. You must be willing to choose whether you will follow the ways of this world or follow the ways of God.

When you chose to believe in Jesus, you agreed to make God the supreme ruler of your life. God is looking for believers who will be faithful to Him no matter what the world around them is doing.

Will you be found faithful to God in the end?

Today I pray that you will know Jesus as Lord and Savior; that you will know what God’s commands to you are; that you will allow the Holy Spirit to guide you in how to live for God; that you will be found faithful to God in all that you say, think and do; and that you will be separated unto God from the sin of the world.