2021 The Year of Recovery

Last year was the year of 2020 vision, but this year is the year of recovery. Recovery from this pandemic, recovery from lies and deception that has shadowed our lives, recovery from darkness of blinded eyes. The year 2020 gave us many opportunities to focus on what really matters and remove things and attitudes that were not productive to our eternal survival. I think it was a wake-up call to the world to stop focusing on things and start focusing on quality of life here and now and planning for an eternal future.

I don’t think anyone would argue with the fact that our world needs to recover from this pandemic. The vaccines that are coming out offer a great relief and hope for the end of the pandemic, but we are not there yet. We still have to be diligent in taking steps to stay safe. We all know the steps of handwashing, face masks, social distancing and avoiding close contact with others.

But what about recovery from believing lies and deceptions, how do we do that? What steps should we take to keep our eyes open and our minds clear? I believe the first step to open eyes and a clear mind is prayer. Praying for discernment is essential. With all the lies and fabricated stories in our media and social networks without someone who is above it all, we can never hope to understand the truth. Truth is not what you make it, it is actual facts.

There exists in our world today the ability to take a video of a person speaking and change all the words they say to make them say something that is not true, but to the unsuspecting person it appears to be true and most times shocking. That shock factor brings up emotions and gets people riled up to follow a cause, that is sometimes just made up to fulfill and agenda. How can we tell the truth? Only through discerning eyes which come from a steady relationship with the Creator of the universe.

Can we always discern what is going on? No not always but we can follow the lead of our Lord and Savior and we will end up going down the right path. We may not even know why we are doing what we do but eventually we will end up in the right place at the right time to be safe and free from deception and darkness ruling our lives.

Psalm 91 is the best scripture to describe the protection that comes from a good relationship with God. My prayer for those who wish to have God’s discernment is from the book of Philippians.

⁹ And this I pray, that your love may overflow still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰ so that you may discover the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ; ¹¹ having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, for the glory and praise of God.

Philippians 1:9-11 NASB

You can change the wording around to make it personal for yourself, or pray it over other people. Either way this is a great prayer and essential for the recovery in our world in 2021. The darkness and deception will all come to the Light in the end, but we must endure and thrive in our Lord. Enjoy your week and I will be back next week with more.

2020 The Year of Clear Vision

As I began the look back over this year I remembered the first blog I wrote in 2020, it was a play off of 2020 vision. As I look back this play on words has proved to be very true. This year has been one for the record books where evil has reared its ugly head and been seen by those with open eyes for what it is. I am amazed at the amount of people with blinded eyes to the evil in our world.

The deception over our world has continued at a frenzied pace and crowds of people have fallen into it’s trap. We are still in a pandemic, which has added pressure to pot of evil deceptive deeds occurring daily. It has become difficult to trust what people say is true, because truth has become an individual thing instead of a standard for all. Many believe that they can have their own truth that may not be true for anyone else. Thereby making the worldly deception even deeper and more acceptable. Only a discernment from the Spirit God can break through the lies. Too many leaders have given themselves over to saying what people want to hear to get what they want. This can only lead them down a path of destruction. God’s word is true and it warns us of these evil times.

People of faith have been marginalized because they believe in God and have a moral system in their lives. This is a horror to those who want to have their way in life. I am astonished that people are distraught when someone who has faith stands by their faith when holding a public office. Faith is part of who we are and cannot be put down to do a job, but rather gives the moral backbone to do what is right, not what will make you popular. This year has really opened my eyes to many things and I hope that it has opened yours too. 2020 vision doesn’t seem so good when you are looking at a mess that you would rather ignore. One thing is true and that is God loves us and gave His only Son to save us. It doesn’t mean it will be all roses and fun stuff, but God will get us through it all.

¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Matthew 7:13-14 NIV

Here is to hoping and praying for a brighter future and the end of the pandemic in 2021. Enjoy your week and I will be back next week with more.

Thankful for God

¹⁴ “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. ¹⁵ But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua 24:14-15 NIV

²⁰ If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.”

Joshua 24:20 NIV

But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord… I love that statement and I believe it. No matter what happens in this world if I can keep my eyes on and trust in God everything will work out. Through all trials and tribulations God will be there. Through fire, flood, war, plague and whatever else happens, serving God is what matters.

2020 has been a year to remember, though I believe most of us want to forget it. It has also been a year where many people have gotten a heightened awareness of God and His love. And for that I am very thankful. The Israelite nation had been through 40 years in the desert and before that had experienced the deliverance from Egypt. But they had to make a decision if they were going to follow God while they entered the promised land.

It seems that when things settle down a bit people forget who got them through the storm. Let’s always remember that it is God’s grace and mercy that gets us through. We may be in for more rough times but with God we will be able to make it through if we faithfully follow Him.

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart

    and lean not on your own understanding;

⁶ in all your ways submit to him,

    and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV

I pray that you will enjoy this month remembering and being thankful for what God has given us and what He has gotten us through so far. Remember that He is in control, for that I am grateful.

Praise Through Stress

Have you ever noticed how stress can cause a person to be incredibly difficult to be around? Each person reacts to stressful situations in different manners. Some people withdraw from everything and become very quiet. Others jump headlong into it and let that stress drive them forward—this can be good and bad. Some people just get angry and hard to be around.

I will be honest I think I have done all of these. I am no professional to diagnose symptoms and give a professional opinion on stress, but I do think that there are people who have found ways to deal. Where I live right now, in the year 2020 which has had its extreme circumstances, it is difficult to find someone who has not been affected by stress.

Where can I find solace from the stressful life that we all live right now? My answer is in the Word of God. Because a true belief in God means that we can give our stress to God. It takes a new perspective on life. If we are totally focused on earthly things the stress will continue to build and possibly even break us. I don’t know about you but I am trying to avoid that situation in my life.

So, to find peace, I have to find a good example of someone who lived through stress. David is a great example of someone under a lot of stress in his life. Psalm 57 is a song written by David when he was hiding in a cave from Saul. He starts out with his woe’s and ends with his praise. We all have our own woe’s but here is the end of the psalm.

Psalm 57:7-11 (NIV)

⁷ My heart, O God, is steadfast,
    my heart is steadfast;
    I will sing and make music.
⁸ Awake, my soul!
    Awake, harp and lyre!
    I will awaken the dawn.

⁹ I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
    I will sing of you among the peoples.
¹⁰ For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;
    your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

¹¹ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
    let your glory be over all the earth.

I think we can use his example to show us one way through the stresses of life.

• First, it is OK to express what is troubling us to God– whether that is through singing, talking or writing it down.
• Second once all of the woe’s of life are lined out then we need to speak life to our souls reminding ourselves of who we are in God’s kingdom and renew our commitment to God.
• Lastly we need to speak what we know to be true about God and His love and care for us. Praising God’s works reminds us of His love and power.

In this way we have reminded ourselves that this world is not our eternal home and we have a future and a hope in God. That makes walking through this world a much easier thing to do. Enjoy your week and please join me in taking time out to read Psalm 57 and apply the principles to your life. I will be back next week with more.

2020 VISION

When you go to an eye doctor and they tell you that you have 2020 vision it is a good thing. It means you see at an optimum level and your eyes are working as they should. Things are clear far away and close up. It is a great thing to hear. With a bit of a play off of the fact that this year is 2020, I believe it is going to be a year of clearer vision.

Have you ever spent any time feeling like you are in a fog and just going through the motions not really sure where you are at the moment? You might know where you want to go but the vision is not clear on how to get there. I recently watched a reality show where the person who had a unfortunate mishap suddenly found themselves in the dark woods with only a flash light trying to make their way back to a safe cabin. It can be frightening to not be able to see how to get where you are trying to go. I think this happens to us in life many times.

I believe that this year is going to be a year where our vision of what is truly happening will become clear and we will be able to see things for the truth and not be tainted with the fog of lies and deception. Luke 20:19-26 shows how Jesus had clear vision to see what the teachers of the law and the chief priests were up to in trying to trap Him.

Luke 20:19-26 (NIV)

¹⁹ The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.

²⁰ Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. ²¹ So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. ²² Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

²³ He saw through their duplicity and said to them, ²⁴ “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

²⁵ He said to them, “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

²⁶ They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.

The teachers and chief priests put their vision on Jesus for trickery. In pride they thought themselves to be true visionaries but they in fact became deceivers to get their way. Jesus answered with true 2020 vision because He could see what they were up to. I believe that in our society today there are many who are trying to deceive and trick us into stopping in the fog and being trapped. I believe that we must be on our guard and trust that God will guide us with His vision just as He guided Jesus.

Jesus was not the only one ever guided with the clear vision of God. In the book of Numbers, Balaam was asked to curse Israel several times and he tried but God would not let him. He finally understood that it pleased God to bless Israel and his eyes were opened and he blessed them. His vision of what God wanted changed and he made this statement:

Numbers 24:1-4 (NIV)

Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not resort to divination as at other times, but turned his face toward the wilderness. ² When Balaam looked out and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came on him ³ and he spoke his message:

“The prophecy of Balaam son of Beor,
    the prophecy of one whose eye sees clearly,
⁴ the prophecy of one who hears the words of God,
    who sees a vision from the Almighty,
    who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:

 

Sometimes our vision gets clouded when we feel pressured into doing what others want rather than what God wants. Balaam was like that but when God opened His eyes, instead of trying to please Balak–who hired him, he looked at Israel the way God did. With his new understanding he spoke God’s blessings with all his heart.

I pray that in the year 2020 that God will clear the fog, help us recognize the pressure to please others and bring us good vision with His wisdom and understanding so that we are not trapped by deception. Enjoy your week and I will be back next week with more.