Are YOU Ready?

"If we are true intercessors, we must be ready to take part in God's work on behalf of the people for whom we pray." 

-Corrie Ten Boom

One thing that excites me about being a Christian is a lot of my fellow brothers and sisters get involved in the issues of the day and  are very passionate about SPEAKING what they believe-issues that they feel the government might be interfering with, preachers who talk up issues and get everyone riled up, and even businesses that take a stand for something they believe strongly about and get everyone rallied around it. 

I got to wondering the other day, though,after I read this quote, do we REALLY mean it when we are praying for something, ie: an issue that needs changing, etc.? Why? Well, just like what she said...when we start praying about something, we usually get thrown in the midst of the solution and we have a decision to make to be there to see change happen in a person's life. And a lot of times, we don't want to be God's vessel of help for those who are hurting or issues that are confronting us every day. 

For EXAMPLE....a lot of folks,  including myself, are pro-life. My question is this: if Roe V. Wade were ever overturned...would you and I be ready to be a part of the solution in helping young women/men through a unwanted/unplanned pregnancy? Would you step up and adopt kids that they weren't able to take care of or fostering them while moms/dads got themselves together?  

There are 800,000 children are in foster care NOW in the United States. Many are waiting on permanent families. Many need a consistent place to live and be nurtured while their birth parents are hopefully getting their lives together so they can be reunified. 

Are  you be willing to be a part of the solution? 

And that is not just for foster care/adoption.  

*It is for helping outgoing prisoners re-acclimate to the outside world by having a church home and support as they recover from their mistakes. 

*It is for those who struggle with generational poverty who need people to help them learn new life skills so that they can be successful in caring for themselves and their families. 

*It is for those racial issues that still exist where churches need to reach out to neighborhoods that are changing and begin to understand each others cultures and

*It is for those teenagers who need mentors to help them make better decisions or the kids who can't read who need someone to show them how.

*It is for those who struggle with deep mental health issues who need a friend to walk with them on this sometimes very dark journey. 

*What if we all realized that "guns" are not the issue here when it comes to all the school violence that is going on these days. What if it were something deeper? Would you be involved in, as a believer in Christ, the solution? 

Just some things I am pondering lately. How ready are we to be involved in God answering our prayers?   

 Maybe, as we pray for an issue or problem that we feel led to bring to the Lord....we should add this..."Lord, if I am to be a part of the solution to this problem, make me willing and give me the courage to DO something. 

 

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I John 3:16-18 
 "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?  Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth".

Every Person is Important to God........

Since this month is deemed Sanctity of Human Life Month among Christian churches, I would hope that we would remember that ALL life is important to GOD from the womb to the grave!  If He formed us in the womb, then He values us through death! Although it is certainly important to speak for those who can't speak on their behalf, ALL life is sacred to God. Let's treat each other that way! 

That includes: babies before they are born, the elderly, the orphan, the traveler, the prisoner, the homeless, the mentally ill, all cultures, the poor, the rich, the teenager, the homosexual, the addict............you get the idea! 

EVERYONE...despite their actions......are important to God. 

This is my favorite chapter of the Bible about human life! Reread it today....see what God thinks about you!

Psalm 139

The Message (MSG)

A David Psalm

139 ^1-6 God, investigate my life;
    get all the facts firsthand.
I’m an open book to you;
    even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back;
    I’m never out of your sight.
You know everything I’m going to say
    before I start the first sentence.
I look behind me and you’re there,
    then up ahead and you’re there, too—
    your reassuring presence, coming and going.
This is too much, too wonderful—
    I can’t take it all in!

^7-12 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?
    to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you’re there!
    If I go underground, you’re there!
If I flew on morning’s wings
    to the far western horizon,
You’d find me in a minute—
    you’re already there waiting!
Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
    At night I’m immersed in the light!”
It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;
    night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.

^13-16 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
    you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
    Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
    I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
    you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
    how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
    all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
    before I’d even lived one day.

^17-22 Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!
    God, I’ll never comprehend them!
I couldn’t even begin to count them—
    any more than I could count the sand of the sea.
Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!
    And please, God, do away with wickedness for good!
And you murderers—out of here!—
    all the men and women who belittle you, God,
    infatuated with cheap god-imitations.
See how I hate those who hate you, God,
    see how I loathe all this godless arrogance;
I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred.
    Your enemies are my enemies!

^23-24 Investigate my life, O God,
    find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me,
    get a clear picture of what I’m about;
See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—
    then guide me on the road to eternal life.