The heavenly Father is very neglected because many have no interest in praying unless they want something (Luke 18:1). Studying the Bible is out of the question because a lot of people don't believe it at all (John 5:39). Attending church is everything from a burden, joke, or an unknown act to some people (Hebrews 10:25). Now one may ask, "why do we have problems in this country?" The answer is that we have problems because we don't know God and have no interest in getting to know Him. We are an heathen nation on the road to hell, and the sad thing is it doesn't have to be this way because we can start today to search for the Lord by looking into His word which is the Bible.
Many people will throw this paper away with no regard to the message written and that is very sad because such people assist in keeping apathy toward God alive. We truly hope that you won't be such a person. Hope to hear from you or to see you at the services. "A fool uttereth all his mind; but a wise man keepeth it till afterwards," Proverbs 29:11. The point being, a person is foolish who, in the moment of passion, speaks his mind. The danger is that much of what will be said would not be the best of words. In Proverbs 25:11, "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver." Also in Colossians 4:6, "Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how to answer each one." We must not only choose our words carefully, but we must also know what would be an appropriate time to impart them to the hearer. The words we choose must not be coarse or corruptible but gracious, pure, and palatable.
But the only feasible way in which our speech can be tamed, is not to speak our mind without consideration. Man must demonstrate wisdom by holding our peace until the time is more appropriate. Ecclesiastes 3:7 says, "There is a time to keep silent and a time to speak." By not being so quick to speak, we allow our passions to calm and our tongues to be cooled. Only then will the time be right to say what is needed. So don't speak your mind, but rather speak with wisdom. Hope to hear from you or to see you at the services. "God bless America!" echoed from the mouths of many people on the TV. It was wonderful to see people recognize God and understand that God can bless our land. "God bless America" is a phrase that could not exist if people of earlier times had been atheists. I don't want people to stop speaking that phrase. I want people to say the name of God as often as possible and to promote His name, so His likeness won't be erased from the minds of future generations (Exodus 5:2, Jeremiah 3:20-21, Deuteronomy 4:9).
But there are some points I would like to show you from the Bible that will help us to better understand how God blesses. In the book of Deuteronomy 28 we learn what the Israelites had to do in order to receive God's blessings. Blessings don't come without a price. Israel had to obey the Lord, and so must we. God is not stupid to allow men to get blessings and then in return violate His commands. We can say "God bless America" all we want, but if we shun God's laws, God will not bless America. We as a nation cannot be haters of the things of God—hating to go to church, hating Bible study, hating prayer, getting offended at people who are teaching the Bible, etc., and then expect God to do good for us while we do evil to His cause. The Bible teaches that a nation is brought to greatness not by its sure-fire economic plans of its government officials, but by righteousness (Proverbs 14:34, Psalms 33:12, Prov. 11:11). Let us as a nation seek God's will and obey, so the blessings will continue to flow from God's mighty hand. Hope to hear from you or to see you at the services. |