day no. 15,759: the divorce of breath and body

Malachi 2:16
"For I hate divorce," says the LORD

In the beginning, soul and flesh were wed together when God officiated the marriage of dust and breath. Man was a marriage.

When Adam choose sin by eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, fruit which God forbid and forewarned by saying, "in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Gen 2:17), he experienced a divorce. His soul and his flesh, the dust and the breath would no longer liver happily ever after in marital bliss. Sin is separation.

As a result of the Fall, every man and woman is now born in the midst of a divorce hearing. From the moment of our conception until the day we sign the final papers, we are living as children of divorce. Our bodies and our breath are at odds and their separation is already in process, the paperwork has been filed, the proceedings are under way, and all that's left is the negotiation of terms, times, conditions, and custody. 

The struggle for the salvation of our souls is a custody battle characterized as being between flesh and spirit. Yet, God's design is ultimately for reconciliation. God's plan is for covenant to be kept and body and breath to be reunited and fixed in marital fidelity. 

God hates divorce so much that He murdered it on the cross and excommunicated it to the grave when His Son was resurrected from the womb of His tomb - body and breath reunited, back together again, and better than ever.

day no. 15,758: without a bullet being fired

"You can vote your way into socialism, but you will have to shoot your way out." 
-- Douglas Wilson

A vote for socialism is a vote for doing away with voting. It is a move to use freedom to put freedom into checkmate. It is an exercise of will that puts an end to free will. As such, it is satanic. Just as Satan's maneuver was to trick Adam and Eve into using their freedom to enslave them, so socialism employs the same tactic. It is as old as sin. It is the root of the original deception. 

“There is a thought that stops thought. That is the only thought that ought to be stopped.” ― G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Jesus has set us free from the effects of our misguided affections. We lusted after what we already had and lost what we loved in the process. May God grant us wisdom and faith to embrace a foundation of freedom fueled by a refusal to be reeled in by the wiles of the devil.

God's grace provides us with a world where we can wander into bondage without a bullet being fired. But once we're enslaved, the only way out is by blood. Jesus shed His blood to set us free. He died to give us life.

Galatians 5:1
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Let us not trample His blood underfoot by submitting our free necks to the yoke of socialized slavery.

day no. 15,757: walk in faith, rise to His warhorn

1 Chronicles 5:22
There fell down many slain, because the war was of God.

"Warrior, fighting under the banner of the Lord Jesus, observe this verse with holy joy, for as it was in the days of old so is it now, if the war be of God the victory is sure... The Lord saveth not by many nor by few; it is ours to go forth in Jehovah's name if we be but a handful of men, for the Lord of Hosts is with us for our Captain. They did not neglect buckler, and sword, and bow, neither did they place their trust in these weapons; we must use all fitting means, but our confidence must rest in the Lord alone, for he is the sword and the shield of his people. The great reason of their extraordinary success lay in the fact that 'the war was of God.'"  -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

We must neither misplace our weapons nor place our faith in them.

We must neither neglect them nor obsess in our cares for them.

We must fight the good fight which must mean fighting His battles. We must not devote any of our armory to other altercations. We must fight entrusting the victory to Him since it is His to win, but we must pick up our weapons in faith.

We do not entrust the battle to the Lord by refusing to fight or merely musing on fighting.

We entrust the battle to the Lord by actually brandishing our weapons and marching boots on the ground in faith to the front lines where and when His trumpet blasts. 

May we walk in faith as we rise to His warhorn.

day no. 15,756: duty, neglect, and grace; justice, mercy and injustice

Proverbs 3:27
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.

Romans 13:8
Owe no one anything

Three elements to consider: 
(1) Value: Good or Bad
(2) Responsibility: Owed or Not Owed
(3) Application: Given or Not Given

These three factors produce eight unique circumstances:

Good owed and given, which is DUTY.

Good owed and not given, which is NEGLECT.
Good not owed and given, which is GRACE.
Good not owed and not given, which is PRIORITY.

Bad owed and given, which is JUSTICE.
Bad owed and not given, which is MERCY.
Bad not owed and given, which is INJUSTICE.
Bad not owed and not given, which is PREROGATIVE.

We must fulfill our duties. There is good that we owe others which we must dedicate ourselves to give.

We must repent of our neglect. If there is good that we owe, it is our responsibility to obtain the power and position to give it.

We should look for opportunities to give grace. There are always more good things we could look to be doing just because.

We should not feel guilty about not taking advantage of every opportunity for good. We must prioritize who is owed what and give what we have until we run out. This will mean having some opportunities which we cannot get to.

We must be interested in justice. Sin must be repented of if any are to be forgiven and saved instead of forsaken and damned. The one committing evil must be confronted in order to come to a change of mind where he agrees with the charges against him.

We must look for opportunities to show mercy as we have received mercy. We must not be so exacting as to leave no misdeed unpunished inasmuch as God has not left us without mercy. Our inability to pay everything owed has not kept Him from providing everything we need. We show mercy when we absorb some of the comeuppance we were entitled to dish out.

We must not be agents of injustice by inflicting bad on those who do not deserve it or giving bad in disproportion to what is owed.

We should exercise our prerogative and patience not looking for opportunities to give bad or to create or imagine debts where there are not any.

No matter what, God will be glorified. Either in His justice or in His mercy, He will be glorified and He will share that glory with no other. May the glory of God be our good. May it serve Him best that we serve Him most. May it manifest the most glory for Him to manifest Himself in mercy to us. God save us and sanctify us, set us aside by Your divine design, consecrate us for Your kingdom. May Your glory be our good. Amen.

day no. 15,755: to be at peace with sin is to be in league with it

Genesis 3:15

I will put enmity

between thee

and the woman, 

and between thy seed

and her Seed;

It shall bruise

thy head,

and thou shalt bruise

His heel.

The doctrine of the antithesis is alive and well, just as God intended it. He placed it between the seed of the serpent and the seed of Eve till Kingdom come. Enmity in inescapable. You are at war with something. To be at peace with sin is to be in league with it.

Join the fight from the other side. Surrender to the Seed of Eve, the Son of God, the Serpent Slayer and fight sin within and without by the power of His Spirit, in His Name, and for the glory of His Father.

day no. 15,754: a prayer for the peacemakers to prevail

On June 6, 1944, D-Day, Franklin D. Roosevelt offered up this prayer,

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity. 

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith. 

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph. 

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest-until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war. 

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home. 

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home -- fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas -- whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them--help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice. 

Many people have urged that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts. 

Give us strength, too -- strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces. 

And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be. 

And, O Lord, give us Faith. Give us Faith in Thee; Faith in our sons; Faith in each other; Faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose. 

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister Nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil. 

Thy will be done, Almighty God.

Amen."

day no. 15,753: taking responsibility for the privileges given

“O let us prove our gratitude by our devotion, and live as those who, having claimed a privilege, are willing to take the responsibility connected with it.” — Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

Christians are a privileged people.

No shame in our game.

Blessings are a gift of God. They are nothing to be ashamed or repented of. We should want to be blessed by God. He wants to bless. He doesn't begrudgingly give. God is the original cheerful Giver. He leads out in that by example. Our response should be gratitude. We should be grateful for all He has given us and all He gives to others.

Romans 12:15

Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

God commands us to rejoice when others are blessed and weep with those who have lost blessings. Envy turns this on its head and rejoices when others lose their blessings and weeps when others receive more blessing.

The envious should be ashamed of themselves, not the blessed. The blessed have nothing to apologize for or feel bad about. If they followed the advice of the envious, they would disobey God who commands us to say, "Thank You!" for all the good He gives. If the blessed repent of being blessed, they do not honor their God, nor do they appease the demands of the envious. 

Privilege is grace in operation. Who has anything which they did not receive? Life, breath, and everything else? So if we have all received it, how could we boast in it? Or imagine we have it as a reward?

Do not balk at blessings because the world has taught you to flinch at the sound of "privilege." Privilege is good. The reason some use it as a slander is because they want the privileges of others. By their envy, they confess that privilege is good. They think it's bad that they don't have it. But enough about what others say about blessings, back to what God says.

Some imagine that they have received eyes as a reward for being so good at seeing. Others imagine that they are being rewarded with feet for having walked so far. Don't take credit for hitting a triple for having been born on third.

To be blessed is not merely to have received, but to have given thanks. 

Privilege is a responsibility. It is something which requires a response. And God has commanded that response to be given in the form of gratitude. The heart which gladly thanks God for all it has and dedicates itself to the grit and grind of giving Him glory demonstrates that it has fully embraced and employed its privilege. It hasn't pretended it wasn't by shamefacedly refuting the privilege or pretended as though there was no proper response.

Gratitude is the proper response to grace.