IS THE NEWS OVERWHELMING YOU?

I've been reading a plethora of news articles today that I only wish I hadn't read.  Do you ever get that way?  It's tempting to just turn off the news and pretend it all isn't so.  But that's how the ostrich handles stressful situations.  Unfortunately, its also how so many these days in America handle stressful situations.

The problem I'm having is processing all the news.  It's not trying to figure out what right and wrong is. It's trying to figure out how to handle the news in a Christian manner without sacrificing any of my Christian beliefs.  

So I pray.  I pray for wisdom to respond.  I pray for strength to do so in a loving way.  I pray for the truth to be light in a growing darkness.  I pray others would be effectively articulate in defense of our Constitutional rights - where God is acknowledged as the source of Civil Liberties and unalienable rights, not government.  I pray voters would stand up for our Constitution and hold our leadership accountable for squandering their trust and our freedoms.  I pray for peace between God and our nation (I believe we have effectively told Him to take a hike, but for the many grassroots Christians that remain).  I pray our country would step back and consider the gospel.  I pray that the gospel would be preached with power from pulpits across the country, and many would receive Jesus as their Savior.  I pray for a deeper holiness within my own life.  Sometimes, I don't know WHAT to pray, so the Lord prays for me!

Then, after I've prayed, I must face a world that continues to march against my faith.  I face a world that thinks we have a greater right to sin than we do to preach.  I face a world where my rights are less important than the rights of others because I'm a Christian.  I face a world where I am supposed to sacrifice MY beliefs and way of life to celebrate the beliefs and way of life of others.  If I stand for my beliefs, I am faced with the likelihood of a prison sentence or worse.  My fellow countrymen who stand for beliefs they share with me lose their businesses, homes, and more.  This affects their progeny as well.  I face a world that is increasingly Anti-Christ.  My brothers in the faith around the globe are losing their very lives for their faith.  In some parts of the world, there is an active effort to butcher or expel all vestiges of the Christian faith.  I face an evil world.

Then I am reminded that Jesus lives in me.  He is greater than the world I face, and He has overcome the world.  Whatever the world brings to me for my faith, it brought worse to Him, and He won.  The story is told.  The victory of Jesus Christ means I am more than a Conqueror in Christ Jesus!  I win!  This life is not all there is.  There is much more.  Those who have been martyred have been eternally and gloriously rewarded for their faith.  Blessed are they who trust in the name of the Lord!  My enemies are Jesus' footstool!  This world will pass away, but in Christ, I shall live forever!  I shall not fear what man can do to me, rather I fear what God can do to me.  If God be for us [Christians], then who can be against us?  Glory to God in the Highest!

And that how it is As I See It today!