The following article, containing dozens of spiritual quotes by our United States Presidents, is taken from Ed Moore's book, Prayer Force One: Across America. It is presented here in order to preserve the foundations of our nation's spiritual heritage. You may order Ed Moore's book by clicking on the book at the right.
A clarion call has been made to gather the saints for a grassroots effort across the state of Tennessee. We will serve those in authority from the Courthouse to the White House. We will serve through intercession for and interaction with governmental leaders in order to impact our cities, our state and nation. We will not only minister to those in the high place, but also those in the forgotten place. We will discern the heartbeat of cities and communities from mayors and city and county officials to determine how we can best serve those in authority. May we rise up rather than fall back in this hour and walk through the gates of government to serve with the heart and mind of Christ.
Each year, students gather around their school's flag pole for SYATP - the Global Day of Student Prayer. This year, SYATP is on September 25 and we want to show the power of prayer in the Nashville community.
The power of prayer is an incredible thing. At Philanthropy, we know that prayer is something important – but let us attempt to explain how much the Lord blesses us every day. About a year ago, Philanthropy started The Prayer Wall based on a story of a personal battle with cancer, and a mission set on our hearts from one of our customers. A random interaction turned into a very important day for all of us.
Welcome to The Belonging! We are a Church that loves God and loves people. We are passionate about seeing people encounter God through worship, and experience the freedom that comes through knowing Jesus. Whoever you are, and wherever you come from, you are welcome!Morality
This blog has nothing to do with, what we do or what we don’t do, or what we believe or what we don’t believe, to be loved by God. God is love. God loves people, all people. And that’s the truth!
. . .God is love. 1 John 4:8
This blog is about morality. About what is good and what is evil, and how we come to our conclusions about those two things.. Our conclusions are our beliefs.
Our beliefs come from our influences. Our parents influence us, our friends influence us, our schools influence us, our church influences us, society influences us. I know it, you know it. Someone can say one thing to us and it can stick with us our entire lives.
Some people let the Bible influence them as well. I am one of those people. Some people don’t believe the Bible. I would say the majority of the people who claim that, have never even read the Bible. They have rather been influenced by someone who doesn’t believe it.
I say, read the Bible for yourselves.
The Bible is considered to be God’s Word, even by people who say they don’t believe it.
The Bible is considered, truth. Now the majority would like to refute this and they want to influence us in that argument. They say truth is different for everybody. I think this is a twisting of words. Maybe they should say, this one may want to do life this way, while that one may want to do life that way. Now, that sounds right. They want to. Truth is not desire, truth comes from God. It is moral standards He has laid out for us, and truth doesn’t change based on desire. If God says something is good in the beginning, it is good until the end. If God says something is evil in the beginning, it is evil until the end. That simple!
If we don’t base our moral standards on something concrete, we can do anything we desire. And that’s the point. People are encouraged to speak what they believe to be true for themselves, or speak their own truth, and no one should judge them. Now, ‘judge’ is getting a bad rap these days. Judging is not bad if it helps us make good decisions in life. I may judge someone’s behavior as destructive. I don’t judge them, I judge whether or not I will allow myself to be influenced by them. The Bible helps us see what is constructive or destructive behavior, for unlike us, God sees the big picture. He sent His Word to heal us. It weighs things out for us. It balances things out for us. Kind of like the scales of justice!
Some say, it’s foolish to believe archaic Bible, but it has been around a lot longer than any of us have, or our parents, or our grandparents, and on and on and on. How long has the Bible been around? From around 6th century BC. That’s a long time! And it’s still the best selling Book of all time! Now that’s saying something!
God wants us to know the difference between good and evil, but the devil doesn’t. He wants to keep us in the dark about all that, so he ‘demonizes’ the Bible. What a snake! Don’t fall for it! Because, most of us don’t want to do evil things! Most of us want to do good things! If the devil can make something evil look good, or something good look evil, he’s got us where he wants us.
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Isaiah 5:20-21
Sorry for the woe language.
Anyway, don’t get caught up in the madness of it all, the immoral madness of it all! It’s all a vicious, ugly trap!
It’s dangerous for mere mortals to decide what is good and what is evil. The Bible draws the line between the two from cover to cover. Here’s just a couple of examples.
What does God, or the Bible, teach about drinking, gluttony?
The drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty and drowsiness shall clothe them with rags. Proverbs 23:21
What does God, or the Bible, teach about marriage or promiscuity?
Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Hebrews 13:4
What does God, or the Bible, teach about gossip?
With their mouths the godless destroy their neighbors. . .Proverbs 11:9
Whoa! Strong language. . .GOOD, strong language! Language of the God!
And we all know our nation was founded on the principles of God’s Good Book. Some of us like that idea, some of us don’t. The majority of people are trying to change all that now. Slowly, but surely, they want to change all that. Don’t be fooled! The majority isn’t always right!
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14
Be one of the few that find it. Let God influence your thinking about things. He’s never, ever wrong! Promise!
Prayer
Lord, May we be open to the truth that is in Jesus and allow God’s Word to be our main influence, our main resource in life, for it is truth. Help us believe it, walk it. By it, may we truly see what is right and what is wrong. Help us stop living a lie just to be accepted or popular. May we never again give the devil a foothold in our lives with his deceptions about what is good and what is evil. Heal us from past influences that have been deceptive, and may all our present and future influences be good ones so we can make better choices in life. Help us keep the faith and may every word we say be helpful and encouraging to others, as well as to ourselves. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen.