This year in particular, we are in a curious holding pattern while we wait for President Trump's Inauguration. The Globalist Left is telling us daily about their plans to undo the legal election, trying to undermine our confidence, reacting like the abusers they are. It is ESSENTIAL that we stand firm and be unyielding in our FAITH that God's purpose is unfolding toward His ends, whatever we may think we see or hear. In other words, don't let doubt enter in. President Trump WON. And as this great meme from The Last Refuge reminds us, Donald Trump stood up when the Lord God called. Can we do less than to stand firm?
The entire force of all the media, Dems, & GOP that hated Trump before the election, now hate him and us even more, and are pulling out all stops to try to cause doubt and fear and to undermine our confidence in everyone on our side. They attempt to isolate each of us.
Remember: everything they say is a LIE. In their minds the election is not over - just like Gore's election was never over. Remember that and laugh at them every time they pedal their duplicitous mantra of fear and loathing.
President Trump WON. YOU won. God told us "Fear Not! The Lord Himself will fight for you. All you have to do is stand!" God did not raise up a new Cyrus to free his people to rebuild our land, in order to abandon us now. Now, our work begins to accomplish the tasks God gives us.
Those tasks involve physical work, political work, social work, and spiritual work. During the "waiting time" that is Advent, we've spiritual work to do to continue restoring our faith and the Christian faith in America.
Many of us fasted before and up to the election. Fasting, usually understood as going without food for a period of time or of forgoing particular foods for a period of time, is an old discipline that has been neglected in the modern Christian world. Not everyone is called to it, and a wise Christian woman once told me that we need God's help to fast, so not to worry if I weren't able to. Here's a good article with the basics of fasting to get started (not endorsing the website, just this article). And here is an outline of guidelines for an Orthodox Advent fast. From the latter, the Antiochan Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, comes also this advice:
- *Fasting in itself is not a means of pleasing God. Fasting is not a punishment for our sins. Nor is fasting a means of suffering and pain to be undertaken as some kind of atonement. Christ already redeemed us on His Cross. Salvation is a gift from God that is not bought by our hunger or thirst.
- *We fast to be delivered from carnal passions so that God’s gift of Salvation may bear fruit in us.
- *We fast and turn our eyes toward God in His Holy Church. Fasting and prayer go together.
- *Fasting is not irrelevant. Fasting is not obsolete, and it is not something for someone else. Fasting is from God, for us, right here and right now.
For me, at 21 days it was the longest fast I have ever undertaken, and I was able to do it without telling anyone but Paul. I allowed myself to drink anything I wanted, including milk and broth, and I had one small meal every second or third day (that is what enabled me to avoid telling others about my fast. I scheduled meals within gatherings) . While not as rigid as some may have done. it helped me remain focused on the value of my quiet relationship with God in effecting His work. For the three days leading up to the election, I did not eat, finally enjoying a meal only after the polls had closed on the West Coast. I have not yet come to see whether or how I should fast for Advent - and for the preservation of President Donald Trump's election and full inauguration.
The themes of King Cyrus continue to crop up. Today, a passage on the particular kind of fasting that our Father God approves of, starts by reminding us we as individuals must look after our own, and ends with a strong statement about rebuilding the ruins and restoring the walls. It also adds a pointed reminded about keeping the Sabbath - the day of rest every week:
6 “The kind of fasting I want is this: Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free. 7 Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives.
8 “Then my favor will shine on you like the morning sun, and your wounds will be quickly healed. I will always be with you to save you; my presence will protect you on every side. 9 When you pray, I will answer you. When you call to me, I will respond.
“If you put an end to oppression, to every gesture of contempt, and to every evil word; 10 if you give food to the hungry and satisfy those who are in need, then the darkness around you will turn to the brightness of noon. 11 And I will always guide you and satisfy you with good things. I will keep you strong and well. You will be like a garden that has plenty of water, like a spring of water that never goes dry.
12 Your people will rebuild what has long been in ruins, building again on the old foundations. You will be known as the people who rebuilt the walls, who restored the ruined houses.”
The Reward for Keeping the Sabbath:
13 The Lord says, “If you treat the Sabbath as sacred and do not pursue your own interests on that day; if you value my holy day and honor it by not traveling, working, or talking idly on that day, 14 then you will find the joy that comes from serving me. I will make you honored all over the world, and you will enjoy the land I gave to your ancestor, Jacob. I, the Lord, have spoken.”Isaiah 58: 6-14 (Good News Version)
This does NOT mean we are supposed to "be nice". Nice does not equal Good. We remove oppression when we speak the truth, even when it is not politically correct. We free the oppressed when we stand up against persecuting people for speaking out against Progressive and Globalist distortion. The forced "migration" is unjust to all concerned, criminal governments pushing people out of their homes and sending them into indentured servitude. We help the homeless, needy, and poor in our own communities, not by allowing Open Borders to push people from other lands out of their original homes to fulfill evil Elitist agendas of increasing "migrants" and "remittances" and "majority minority voters". We remove oppression when we build and maintain good boundaries and strong borders. When we allow people to earn a living in their own land, trading with their own neighbors.
Our pastor suggested before the election: What if the prayer and supplication of our little cowboy church really could affect the outcome of the election and could make a difference for all eternity? What if my private actions and worship really do make a singular difference?
Whether or not we fast for Advent, or perhaps give something up, it can only help our cause to refocus our minds on taking a good look at ourselves and listen for the words God is speaking to us as direction for the coming months. A new course of study, a simple daily meditation, some new discipline to focus our minds and our will toward whatever unknown we will be called to very soon.
As expectant families do, we pray for the safety and easy birth of our new government led by President Trump. We pray for the washing of that government, scrubbing it clean of corruption and guile, restoring to all positions mighty men and women of honor who will conduct their affairs in Godly ways.
We also pray for guidance and focus for our own roles in rebuilding our ruined cities, in reconstructing our walls, in looking after our own families and the *individuals* we see right in front of us, in our own towns in our own states, instead of continuing to follow the globalists orders to ignore our American family's pleas and look over their familiar heads toward more exotic or interesting strangers over the far horizon. There are many who are called to serve those in foreign lands, and we pray for bold new proclamation of the Living Gospel to be the central purpose of their work, not some watered down globalist project that forbids the mention of Jesus' Name in the doing.
The work of Christians in this time is to be done, as it was of old, with Jesus Christ paramount. For as CS Lewis noted, " Jesus Christ did not say, ‘Go into all the world and tell the world that it is quite right.’ The Gospel is something completely different. In fact, it is directly opposed to the world."
Instead, the only true Commandment and single imperative that Jesus Christ gave us after his resurrection is to preach the Gospel to every creature :
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:19
No comments:
Post a Comment