Dear Friend,
This season is like waking up with things to do and somewhere to go but finding several inches of snow on the ground. Everything is more problematic, and it’s not as easy to do routine tasks. The world we’re living in is changing in such magnitude, and with such rapidity, it’s almost impossible to process. We’re experiencing shortages and delayed delivery of almost every imaginable product. Ideas and free speech are routinely censored because someone (we’re not exactly sure who) deems them untrue or unreliable. Far too often, propaganda has replaced the reporting of news.
Character traits that have defined our way of life, like hard work and self-reliance, have become a bit antiquated to some, with many succumbing to the invitation to “live for the moment” and “get all you’re entitled to.” Truth has crumbled, trust has been trampled, and truthfulness is seldom found anymore. The education of our children has been engulfed in relativism. Ideals like the uniqueness of the Christian faith, American exceptionalism, and civic responsibility seem to have become absent in the preparation of the next generation of leaders. These elements are essential, if our nation is going to flourish.
I’d like to offer a suggestion: Let’s decide to do difficult things. We can be the determining factor of what the “new normal” looks like—it can be more godly, more holy, more righteous, more pure, with more integrity, and with more truthfulness. I know we’d like somebody else to do that, but we’re the motley crew that God has called. In our brokenness, in our frailty, in our weakness, His power will be demonstrated.
We are here to give expression to the will of God on the earth. Not in words, not just in our public life, but with who we are, fundamentally. It seems that our typical pattern, when we’re faced with a new challenge, is to act as if we’ve never known God to intervene. We forget what He’s done for us in the past. Instead, we should boldly invite God into our present circumstances with the confidence of what we’ve seen Him do before.
Peter tells us, “So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body…For we did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” (2 Peter 1:12-13, 16)
We are all eyewitnesses of His majesty, and we need the lessons learned from our God-stories to inform the courage we need today. May I suggest keeping a “good news” list where you regularly record the things you see God doing? Spend some time thinking about what God has done in your life, then expand your reflections into what you see God doing in the world around you. Let those markers and milestones begin to help you imagine what God will do now, and how He’ll lead us through.
Here is some good news to get you started: God is moving in the most remarkable and dramatic of ways. Over the last several months, our church has baptized more people than any similar period in the history of our congregation, with many people in our radio, television, and online audience traveling across the nation to take a step forward in faith. Our ministry is reaching more people with the gospel on a daily basis than any other time since our congregation came into existence—millions a week—and we’re just one church!
We can also see His movement on the national level. Two years ago, they told us two million of us would most likely die from COVID within a matter of a few months, and that statistic didn’t come to pass. They told us we were going to have massive food shortages at that time, and it didn’t happen—we’re still eating too much! Then, we lived for months with a Russian collusion narrative that was recently demonstrated to have been a hoax. U.S. Attorney John Durham worked diligently until the truth was revealed. That revelation wasn’t discussed with the same enthusiasm that the accusations were, but no matter which side of the aisle you’re on, the truth was brought forward, and we should celebrate that.
On a different front, the Supreme Court of the United States has agreed to take up a case that will bring Roe v. Wade back into their consideration. We don’t know the outcome yet, but if they were to judge in favor of the children, it would push the decision back to the states. It could spare the lives of untold numbers of children! That’s a breakthrough! God is moving!
The call of Scripture is to be overcomers. Seeing God’s will be done in the earth will be difficult, and if we’re not willing to engage the challenge, it’s highly improbable it’s going to happen. Let’s determine to complete the course and see the gospel proclaimed fully, Jesus’ name exalted, His Kingdom extended, and His will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. This is our assignment. God is with us, and He will help us!
Onward in Him,
Pastor Allen Jackson