Good morning,
Our land of the free!
It was 400 years ago this month that a group of religious people known as “the Pilgrims” got off their boat to begin a life that would be the beginning of their place of freedom. They came here to live and believe and die without being controlled by religious and governmental demands. They knew their God and their Savior and their Bible and did their best to live like God’s children. The first year they were here they found themselves living in very difficult times, lost many of their people to sickness, and also saw their God keep them going on by God’s grace in this new and strange world. They celebrated for three days what we know as Thanksgiving. Since that time the people of what we now know as Americans have celebrated the crops of fall for what God has done for another year. This year is different. This year our government has decided that the celebration of Thanksgiving and Christmas it a dangerous time for people to get together. God’s goodness and God’s Son, Jesus, are not necessary parts of our new value system. What is now important is that we do what we are told. What’s even more interesting is this same value system has fallen into place all over the world.
For those of us who believe the God of the Bible and who are finding ourselves surrounded by terror and control, where will we go to find the freedom that guided those “Pilgrims” 400 years ago? When Paul wrote to the Corinthians in difficult times then he told them, We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you.(2Cor.4:14) As God’s children we must always remember that our God is always in control of his earth and the people who are living with us. God never loses a war with our hate filled enemy, Satan. Paul continued, All of this is for your benefit. And as God's grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.(v.15) Our Father God is allowing us in his family to be living examples of the God of the Bible. As was true for the Pilgrims, That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.(v.16) In fact, the real good news in all of this is, For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! (v.17) It’s important that all of us who are God’s genuine family members to remember, So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.(v.18) The attacks that we are facing are always controlled by our Savior and this battle will only go on until God’s plans have been accomplished.
It just keeps getting better as we are told, For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.(v.5:1) We must remember that our Father has chosen us to be his representatives for this time in history. Our Father knows everything that is going on in every part of his world. What God wants for us is to give us what David said, The LORD is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart.He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.(Psa.28:7) Remember what the Apostle John saw and heard the angels singing in Heaven, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength belong to our God forever and ever! Amen.”(Rev.7:12)
2 Corinthians 4:16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.
Roy Wisner
