Imagine~

     Suppose you awoke one morning to a world that you did not recognize from the day before.
     Say that there were no rules in place, no laws that protected you and  your loved ones and no police to enforce the laws even if there were any.....say that the only thing keeping you safe was a "bubble" that surrounded you. Outside of that bubble was every kind of evil you could imagine. People were openly violent against each other, nobody was protected. Elderly, children, women....all were prey to the stronger, more violent in the world...The streets were covered in trash, filth and decay as you walked through them, odors arising from every side...
     ....and now say that the bubble was provided by a supernatural power that nobody could see....and that the protection was only there because you had a belief and trust in that Supernatural Power that nobody could see...not even you. But you knew the Power was there and you did believe, so as you went through your day you walked protected, but you had to be careful to stay in tune with the Power because if you stepped out of your belief and trust in the Supernatural Power then the bubble would weaken and then disappear.
     When you were together with others that trusted the Power, you talked to each other about the Supernatural Power, and were amazed that a Supernatural Power that you could not even see was concerned with you, and even provided loving care for your protection and needs! You watched your neighbors and co-workers struggle through their days, dealing with violence, filth, lack and tried to share this understanding of the Power with others and encourage them to come into the "Bubble" of protection. The bubble of the Power was strong enough for any who would choose to walk in it, the only limitation was the belief and trust in the Power.
     Would you try harder to get people to know and trust the Supernatural Power than you do now?

Questions

"I have been crucified with Christ".....Galatians 2:20......have you? What does it mean to you to have been crucified with Christ? Have you died to anything of yourself? I have often shared the things that I have been shown and the teachings that the Spirit has gently guided me into, but today this is a tough one....for me it will be much easier to ask you some questions and have you consider....

Have you been crucified with Christ?
What does it mean to be crucified?   It means to be killed, right?
So...you have been killed, "crucified" with Christ...

but you're still alive or  you couldn't be reading this, correct?

"it is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me"....so we know it doesn't mean we've actually died a physical death, but....
...is there anything in you that has died?
     I want to be transparent here and say that the reason this is a difficult blog post for me is because I know all too well that there is too much in me that has not died! I still hold onto my comfort, my preferences, my entertainment, too often my "opinions". But we're supposed to be at this new level.....

"and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me"

     I am asking myself and I'll ask you, are you living for yourself, or for Christ? Are you still living to please yourself, or do you live to please Christ?
     Daily do you start the day with the thought, "What would my Lord and Master have me do today?", or do you think..what do I want to do today or what do I "have" to get done today?
     The Holy Spirit has been opening to me that my Master and Saviour wants it all! Jesus gave His all and we say that we are His followers so it makes sense that He would ask for "all" from us too, doesn't it?!
     If there is an area that you hesitate to give to Him, in it's entirety, then I dare say that you have not completed the dying to self part of becoming His follower or disciple. If you are a new believer then it's normal to go through a process of letting go of the world, but there are many people that are not "new" believers that are still holding out! They want to hold onto areas in their lives that they think are not really bad, so our Master shouldn't mind if we keep them, but did you ask Him?
     Remember it is now Him that lives in you....are the things you are holding onto things that He would hold onto? Are you holding onto unforgiveness, offenses, bitterness, anger, judgements, criticism...those are some of the biggies! But how about the things we consider little...gossip, covetness, off-color entertainment, "white lies"? There are many more things....you know yours as well as I know my own....
     When are you going to die to them? When are you going to take seriously the fact that you were supposed to have died to the things that are not from God? That is it supposed to be Jesus living in you now...is He comfortable with your habits, your choices, your hobbies, your expenses, your music, your clothing, your friends, your words, your thoughts?
     Time to look at your life and start putting some things on the cross!

Preparation

Do not wait until calamity strikes to prepare your soul. The inner fortification which you shall need must be built up in advance. Men do not walk onto a battlefield and win a victory, nor even survive, without preparation. From Progress of Another Pilgrim by Frances J Roberts ~ 

Who Is To Blame?

     This is a new idea for us to consider....we all want our nation to be a Godly nation and to prosper, so we may want to consider that God's word says "If you will fear the Lord and serve Him, and listen to His voice and not rebel against the command of the Lord, then both you and also the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God." 1 Samuel 12:14
     This is written to God's people, not to the king and not even to unbelievers, if I remember correctly, that would be US! we are now God's people also (along with Israel), so this promise must include us.
     This promise doesn't read like we think! We think that our king/president should follow God by his own choosing, and then everything in our nation would be going well, right!? But this word says that if "YOU will fear the Lord and serve Him, and listen to His voice and not rebel".......isn't that a surprise?
     With logical consideration, we can understand that by our own actions and rebellion we are causing our government to fail. We blame it on the politicians....but this verse puts it right on us!
     This is not a random verse I picked out, it's from my study this morning and if you go and read it in context you'll see that it says just what I'm telling you! and I even want to point to the closing verse, 1 Samuel 12:25, that says "But if you still do wickedly, both you and your king shall be swept away.".
     Does it feel like we are being swept away?  Maybe we better stop pointing fingers and start looking at the log in our own eye?
Maybe we need to start:
1. Fearing the Lord (Respect)
2. Serving the Lord
3. Listening to His voice
4. Stop rebelling
     Then our nation and the king/president will follow the Lord, our God!