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Optimism?       The Lord of Hosts has sworn saying, “Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, and as I have purposed, so it shall stand.”   (Isaiah 14:24)Finally! The great-divide.  I’m excited by that.  Well, at least let me admit that while I’m excited, I still see the future with some concern, simply because I’m made up of this spirit man, mixed with a soulish man.  So yes, I have emotions that sometimes get in front of my confidence and my nervous system.  But, all in all, my heart stays excited.  Finally, the world seems to have come to the place of choosing Him or rejecting Him.  Can you see the choices we are facing today?  Christians are now fighting feverishly for so many things we took for granted 20 years ago when we started the ministry of WBVN.  That battle will intensify for sure.  I don’t think we could have even imagined the things that need to be protected for our grandchildren’s future.  I’ll not list them but you get the gist.  
 
12-08-divide.jpgSeems to me we have come to that kingdom against Kingdom moment.  In this country it’s darkness versus Light with an intensity that might not have been matched before.  Jesus said that if you’re not for me you’re against me.  That seems to imply a neutrality is possible about His things that really is not a neutrality at all.  Not choosing Him is the same as choosing something else.  We have three groups of people on the earth, those that believe in Him, those that oppose Him and those that just haven’t got a clue, they simply don’t care.  We now live in a time when it will not work just to be right for the wrong reasons, a time when it will not work to be ‘playing with’ an evil heart attitude just for entertainment.  In this day we are beginning to see the consequences of choosing against God coming quicker and harder than ever before.  Given the choices and the types of rebellions we are messing with today, if you make a mistake just trying out some things, it might do life-long damage to you or your family and friends.  Today, in just a few simple steps it’s easy to be caught up into something that threatens your financial security, your relationships and possibly your very life.

 

God, from His very first words to us, obligated us to ‘choose Life’, to choose Him. He did not mean biological life, but a Spiritual one.  It is Zoe in the Greek and it’s Life as the Father would have for us.  It’s not living a good life alone, because being good can separate us from the necessity of God’s Life just like an evil life can do.  It’s Life dependent and attached to the very heart of God.  So, it’s come to this choice: a life that the world can provide or Life that the Father provides!  His wisdom is for us to be dependent upon Him and no independence from Him would work for us.  Now that contrast is huge.  This world has been able to find band-aids for its troubles, but has not found the balm that heals the disease.  It can cover up a lot of heartache but does not provide the remedy for heart damage that can restore the condition outright. 

 

While I’m excited by the thought of needing God more severely, I also know that we will face some very stressful times.  Let me say that I understand the temptation for people to think that I’m just being optimistic for the sake of optimism, just talking myself into a false security.  I hope that’s not the case.  I think I’m optimistic because Faith, practiced and believed, eventually convinces us that no matter what, we are in a relationship with God and that relationship has a provision in it.  As a ministry, as a family, as part of the community and just as an individual trying to make my way along this timeline looking for the return of Christ some day, I’m not suggesting to go around ‘whistling in the dark’ and acting like there are no troubles to deal with.  However, looking further down the road it becomes clear that we have an opportunity to, not just talk of our faith in God, not just believe in God, but to have a real, practical, tangible seeing Him in our lives.  Times that breakdown the things of our worldly system always offer the opportunity to restore a relationship with the Father and Creator of all the universes.  The God we trust, our partner in all this mess, is a God who has no beginning and no end.  Sees the beginning and the end of time and everything in between and had a plan all the way through on how to deliver the Body of Christ through this mess.  That’s not just ‘happy-talk’, I trust it’s real talk.

 

No matter what the future holds for all of us, no matter what man does or does not do, God (Emmanuel) is with us.  Faith is not just Faith that gives us our way; it’s a Faith that has confidence in a life that depends on His way.  If it goes for us, we trust Him.  If it goes against us, we trust Him.  Can we trust enough to take a deep breath and relax in the middle of any storm? 

 

As believers, we are going through this together.  WBVN is set to provide a daily encouragement toward the future, no matter the future.  We fully expect that the more pressure we find ourselves in, the more opportunity for this ministry to comfort one another.  We’re currently working on some things that will take place months from now but they are things designed to celebrate all our faith and confidence in God regardless of the future.  I think believers can experience more of God even as we experience the next attempt of the world system to ‘kill Him off again’.  We can find and know those things that are described as Kingdom of God: Love, Joy and Peace in the Holy Spirit of God. Things that are not exactly the things found at Wal-mart.  Not things that can be purchased but things that are free gifts from God.

 

The masquerade is over.  Everything is being exposed.  The edges of Truth and The Lie are becoming more apparent.  It’s harder to play in the gray.  Not so easy for us to piddle with evil and act like we don’t understand the significance of our choices.  We will not be left alone in this; we will not be fending for ourselves by ourselves.  As we are pressed by the pressure against us, at the same time we will ‘see’ Him more clearly, more practically. With pressure will come a way through. 

 

Emotionally, I’m aware of the vulnerability that we find ourselves in.  Emotionally, it’s not pretty.  However, my confidence is not in how my emotions feel.  I have to learn to control my emotions and rule over them with my heart.  I welcome the clarity.  I’d rather have an obvious definition of the things we choose, the things we do.  Whatever we do, let’s do it in the light of day rather than sneaking around in the dark.  Being children of God, we have been given the possibility to easily distinguish the enemy of our hearts now more than ever before.  Finally, we are getting a clearer definition between a conflict that has been going on continuously from the beginning of time.  Finally, the Great-Divide.  We will sing Hallelujah. 
 
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