Category: Faith

Making the Impossible Possible

Posted on by Dorci

“…with God all things are possible.” Matthew 9:26b

With.

There are so many things we pay attention to in that sentence.  It’s a statement of hope, of open doors, of the assurance of God’s sovereignty.

Most of us have held onto those hopeful words at one time or another.  But I wonder how often its true meaning is overlooked and it’s reduced to an inspirational quote thinking all we have to do is know there’s a God, know He can do anything, and then do our best to get what we want or need and it will all work out.

Let’s see what that word with has to say.

With is para in Greek. It means near, beside, in the vicinity of.

We must be with God, and Jesus is the One Who connects us to Him.

It’s not enough for us to know who God is, or even to have invited Jesus into our lives at one point.  We must be with God through a constant relationship with His Son. Connected to Him, yoked to Him, side by side, arm in arm, doing life together.

Besides with, para also translates to the word friend.

Jesus called His followers friends. Not fair-weather friends when everything is working out.  Not long-distance friends. And certainly not just acquaintances.

He wants to be a friend closer than any other, communing with us as we bring to Him every need, every worry, every concern, even if it seems impossible. Especially if it’s impossible.

If you’ve had a close friend long enough, you know at some point you both start sounding alike, laughing at the same things, thinking the same thoughts.

Something like that happens when we walk side by side with Jesus, only more so.  With Him we are spiritually transformed from the inside out.  The closer we walk with Jesus the more we will be filled with His character, thinking like Him, and desiring what He desires. We begin to pray, not our own will, but His will.

And when we pray for something that is God’s will, there is nothing He won’t do, no mountain He won’t move to make it happen.

“Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”

We can do nothing spiritually on our own, or even with another person no matter how great their intelligence, how broad their education, or how full their bank account. In fact, Jesus was saying riches can make doing the impossible, well, impossible. Why?  Because then we can feel like we don’t need God.  

But when we join with God through Jesus, the impossible becomes possible.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a lot of impossible circumstances in my life. Seems most of my life has been impossible.

I think God loves to do the impossible in our lives.  I think He’s waiting for us to get to the end of ourselves so we will call out to Him “Abba!” And then He can, in His time, move the mountain, stop the rain, still the sun, soften the hard heart, bring home the prodigal child, save the marriage, provide a way where there was no way.

What a privilege to do life with God.

I’d love to hear your stories about how God’s made the impossible possible in your life.

Heavenly Father, we desire to do this life with you. We know that we can do nothing without you, but everything with you. Help us to intentionally draw nearer and nearer to you every day.We want your mind to be our mind, your heart to be our heart, your will to be our will. Please give us faith to expand our prayers to the things that are impossible for us, but oh so possible for you. And may we be careful to give you the glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

The 7-Year Itch

Posted on by Dorci

“The kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king who made a marriage for his son.”
Matthew 22:2

“Let us be glad and rejoice and we will give glory to Him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has prepared herself.”
Rev 19:7

“And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her Husband.”
Rev 21:2

God gave marriage as a model of our relationship with Christ, and countless comparisons can be made.

One of those comparisons is the 7-Year itch.  Or 4-Year, or 10-Year, or 20-Year. 

The 7-Year Itch is a term coined to describe one or both spouses’ decline in love for the other after 7 years, or any period of time in marriage. Otherwise known by the phrase “familiarity breeds contempt.”  

The husband or wife begins to tire of the relationship, believing that fireworks should spark every day for the rest of their lives, and if they don’t something must be drastically wrong. Kindnesses are left behind, thoughtlessness ensues, forgiveness seems hard to come by, and resentment settles in.

Sometimes, though, it’s not that drastic.  Sometimes things are just…blah.

Sometimes there’s just indifference.  Life seems mundane. Passion has waned.

Suddenly the grass seems to look a whole lot greener anywhere else. Eyes begin to look outward into the world for something else. And there is always something, or someone, more than willing to be the object of our affection.

Not only does that happen at an alarming rate in earthly marriages, it happens within the Bride of Christ.

I had been searching for something, for God in some way, since I was very young. As a kid I looked everywhere from philosophical books to church to the quiet dignity and wisdom of a shaolin monk on the television show Kung Fu. My life had been painful and I desperately looked for answers, for wisdom, for love in some form.

So at the age of 26 when I walked into a building on a Sunday morning with a gathering of Christ-believing people, where the presence of the Holy Spirit had gathered with them, I felt His love and grace and mercy wash over me, and I knew I had found the One I had looked for all my life. I found the Answer, the Wisdom, the Love, and so much more.

I was dead and now I was alive!

I was filled with an excitement and a passion I could barely contain. That first week I found a Christian bookstore and ran right out to buy myself a Bible and a cross necklace. I was at church whenever the doors were open, soaking up His Word, watching, listening, learning, serving.  The honeymoon lasted for years.

Then slowly but surely, the reality of life, of relationships, even within the church, began to slap me in the face and wake me from my dream. Even in Christ, life wasn’t perfect. In fact it got very hard.  Confusing.  Unsettling. Discouraging.  

The reality settled in that even in the church people were still, well, people. Even in Christ sickness can take hold. Prayers can go unanswered. I thought I had left the pain behind in the world, but it was obvious I hadn’t. Not that I thought everything was going to be perfect, but my expectations were dashed. Fourteen years into my faith I became disillusioned. And I felt alone. 

The way it had been was the way I thought it would always be. Serve God, be good, and everything would be fine. Fireworks.

But God was not healing me, relationships were broken, and I felt as unwanted and rejected as I had in the world.

I prayed and I prayed hard. Where was Jesus? Who was He? Did He still love me? After years of thinking I knew Him, I suddenly wondered if I did.

“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the first works…”  Rev 2:4-5a

It didn’t happen overnight. It never does. It happens slowly, methodically. I never walked completely away, but I felt unloved so I let other things come and steal away my attention.  

The world does that effortlessly now. We give it away in smartphones and endless social media and television and video games and news and current events and we fill our lives with noise, noise, noise….

Within it all, we cannot hear the still, small voice of the Lord. And when communication breaks down, the relationship with Him, just like it would with our spouse, suffers.

The love I had at first – the excitement and passion – had waned.  I had let other things come in and crowd out the voice of my Jesus, the One who had loved me so much He died for me, called me, and changed me. The One who had come after me, plucked me out of the world and made me new.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want a relationship with Him.  I still loved Him.  I just got distracted. 

But Jesus tells us it doesn’t happen to us. We leave our first love. We walk away. We make choices, day by day, choices that are not just between good and bad, but choices that either take us closer to Christ or further away, and suddenly we look back and what once was, just isn’t.

They say the opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference. It’s that middle of the road…blah.

We may think that’s not all that bad, but in Revelation Jesus gave this warning to His church, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot.  I could wish you were cold or hot.  So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”  Rev. 3:15-16

An on-fire faith is best, and even a cold heart is preferable to lukewarm because we would recognize it and know we needed to turn back to the Lord.

But a lukewarm faith deceives us into thinking we’re okay.

It’s so-so, yeah. *Yawn* My faith doesn’t really inspire me to do anything, but it’s there, right? 

But that indifference lets in the world. It lets in sin, other beliefs, other avenues of decision-making, and lots of self. Self-works, self-righteousness, self, self, self.  

A lukewarm faith hurts our relationship with God, that affects the relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and then we begin to lose the witness we might have had to the people God has given us.

The good news is at any moment we can repent – change our minds – and do the things we did at first.  We can leave behind the things of the world, turn down the noise, re-establish communication with the Lord, receive His grace and mercy, (maybe run out and buy a Bible and a cross necklace) and love Him with the passion and excitement and fervor we once had.

I’ve taken steps toward that and eliminated a lot of the incoming noise of the world, and it’s made a huge difference in my ability to hear the Lord speaking to my heart.  

He wants to speak to all of us who are called by His name, and He has much to say. More than ever, we need to hear His voice for wisdom and discernment. We need His passion, and the world needs His love.

I am now almost 28 years into my journey with Christ. I’ve learned that God doesn’t answer every prayer, and He has good reason. He is pruning, disciplining, growing, and preparing the Bride for her Husband.  

I’ve learned I was never was alone; He was always with me and always will be. I’ve learned that if we let Him, He can use those crises of faith periods to cause us to dig deeper into His Word, into prayer, and bring us out the other side with a deeper, more substantial faith and closer relationship than ever before.

 

Heavenly Father, we want to be close to you, closer than ever before. Please take away our desire for those things that would come between us, things that would lead us away from you. Please give us hearts that are passionate for you, for our faith, for our desire to serve you, and make us useful to you. Thank you for what you’re going to do in our hearts and lives. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray, amen.

 

 

 

Keep Believing

Posted on by Dorci

“And immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, ‘Lord, I
believe. Help my unbelief.’”
Mark 9:24

Twenty-seven and a half years ago I believed in Jesus Christ as my Lord and my Savior.

Since then I have had countless opportunities to believe in His love for me despite my circumstances, to believe He had a plan in the middle of confusing trials, to believe He heard every prayer, to believe He understood me in my pain, to believe He was not finished with me even when it felt like He was.

For some funny reason, it’s always been easier for me to believe in God for the “big” things rather than the smaller ones.

I knew God would provide us a place to live; I knew God would provide a job for my husband; I knew God would bless my little son at Christmas when we couldn’t.

But, oh, those countless “little” things…  When I’ve trusted in my eyes more than I’ve believed; when I’ve trusted in my understanding more than I’ve believed; when I’ve trusted in my own effort more than I’ve believed.

And I wonder how much I’ve missed out on, how many more blessings I would have had if I’d taken that same belief I had at salvation and applied it every, single time.

“Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness. “
Genesis 15:6

God puts a lot of stock in belief.

It’s not about what we do, it’s not about who we are, it’s about Whom we believe.

And there is only One worthy of our belief.

If we are going to be followers of Christ, we will daily, consciously, make the decision to take the belief we had at the moment of our salvation, and believe Him for everything else.

Why would I ever believe that Christ died for the sins of a singular, unimportant, obscure little girl who lives 2000 years after His death and resurrection, called her by name, and then somehow think He forgot about her afterward?

He hasn’t, and He never will.

My belief in Him need not ever waiver.

He sees each and every one of us, and He is intimately acquainted with our comings and goings, with our every trial – big and small, with every tear, with every, single, solitary detail.

Nothing gets by Him.

The truth is, it’s a choice.  Every day we have the choice to believe in Him – to believe He’s there right by our side, to believe He’s with our loved ones, to believe He wants the best for us, to believe He’s in our futures, to believe He’s bigger, much, much bigger, than our past mistakes.

While we can’t lose our salvations, unbelief is as much a sin after we’re saved than it is before. 

The absence of belief in Christ for a particular situation will create a vacuum that’s usually filled with fear, and that can create a whole slew of messes in our wake.

Choosing belief in Christ or to be moved out of fear will determine the decisions we make and the roads we take.

I know it’s hard to keep believing sometimes when the trials seem out of control, when the world around us is a big, complicated mess.  

But keep believing anyway.

I know when I’ve stood in belief in my prayers for a situation, God has answered.  It’s when I waiver in my belief in prayer that He waits until I stand on faith in who God is – my Loving Savior – to answer me.  He desires belief because it is the pathway to our righteousness.

God knows we’re all a work in progress, though, that the sanctification of our souls is not yet fully realized, that it is what we and the Lord are moving toward.  

As with every sin, when we repent – when we turn around and do the righteous thing – in this case, choose to believe in Him, and ask God to help us with our unbelief, He will forgive us and set us back on the right path.

We then consciously walk on that path of belief, in full faith and trust in Him – in who He is, in His plans for us, in His love for us, in His grace and mercy that are continually poured out because of His goodness and faithfulness.

 

“Father, please help us when we are tempted to not believe in you.  To not believe in all you say you are.  To not believe in your love for us.  To not believe in your plans for us.  To give way to fear instead of believing in your holy perfection and your promises to us.  Please help us choose belief over fear, self, the world, or anything else outside of you.  May our constant belief in you be witnesses of your glory and power. In the Name of Yeshua Hamashiach, amen.”

Victory

Posted on by Dorci

“When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

‘Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?’

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
1 Corinthians 15:54-58

The apostle Paul wrote these passionate words in a letter to a church he founded in Corinth, Greece.  I can imagine the pleading of his heart as he wrote to encourage them to not be lured back into the materialistic and immoral world that churned around them.

He reminded them, and us, that this life is not all there is.  There is a resurrection, Christ being the first, and because of Him, we will follow.

We no longer belong to this world, and our victory is not here.  Our victory has already been won through Christ – the gift of our immortal souls and our resurrection to the next life with Jesus Christ, our Great Reward.

There is no shortage of attention-grabbers whether it’s social media, or the news, or just the busyness of our own lives.  They can suck us in, altering our perspectives from spiritual matters to earthly ones, and rob us of doing the work for which we’ve now been called.

Not much has changed in the 2000 years since Paul wrote to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

All of us who have put our faith in Christ know how difficult it can be to keep our hearts and minds focused on the Lord, especially when the world revels in sin all around us.

After all, sin looks fun, and we can feel like we’re missing out on something.  Well, we are, but nothing good.  We miss out on the consequences of those sins; we miss out on feeding our flesh but not our spirits; we miss out on a life of fruitlessness.  We miss out on leaving our faith behind.

But Paul reminds us there is so much more given to us in its place.

We have a real Christ-given hope that when our bodies die, our immortal souls will live on for eternity in the joy and peace of the presence of God.

While, tragically, those who lived for the temporary thrills of this short life will abandon all joy and peace when their mortal bodies die, and their souls will be given over to judgment and eternal death.

While we who have put our faith in Christ may have to give up a few things here, we already have the ultimate victory through the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, what do we do?  We get back to work.  We let go of the distractions of this world and stand firm in the faith, being about our Father’s business and fulfilling the calling given to each of us just as our brothers and sisters in Corinth did almost 2000 years ago.

“Let nothing move you.”

Nothing.  Don’t look to the left or to the right at what others are doing.  Don’t worry what others may say about your faith in God.  Don’t worry about what can be done to you, even if it means your earthly life, because we already have the victory.

Look to Christ and “give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord.”

The text in the Greek puts it like this: “always abounding in the work of the Lord.”  

Abounding is the Greek word perisseuō which means “to superabound, be in excess, be superfluous; to excel, abundance, be the better, enough and to spare, exceed, excel, increase, be left, redound, remain (over and above).”

If there’s anything we should strive to do with excellence, it’s our work in the Lord.

He’s not only given us life, but He’s give us an abundant afterlife.  He sees our labor in His name, and He will reward us with eternal treasures worth far more than the trinkets of this life.

 

Heavenly Father, please help us keep our minds focused on you and not get sidetracked by the world or even by fear. Help us serve you with all our hearts, with the excellence that you deserve, that through our lives the world may see your love and grace and you may be glorified in the salvation of many. Thank you for the victory you’ve given us by clothing us with immortality and preparing a home for us in heaven with you. We praise your glorious Name, Jesus, and pray it all in your Name, amen.

More Rope!

Posted on by Dorci

“Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord Himself, is the Rock eternal.”
Isaiah 26:4 NIV

Every time I’m sure I’m at the end of my rope, God gives me more.

And I rediscover all over again that He’s the keeper of the rope.  He’s the giver of the rope. He’s the maker of the rope.

He is the rope.

He is my hope, my peace, my breath, my life.

He never lets me fall.

Oh, I’ve come close.  You know that scene in the first Mission Impossible where Tom Cruise hangs from a cable and absolutely cannot touch the floor or his cover will be blown, but his partner gets spooked and lets him go?  And suddenly Cruise is free-falling, his partner stopping him only at the last second.

via GIPHY

That’s me.  Only I’m the one who gets spooked, lets go and careens toward the bottom.  But with God there is no bottom.  Not really.  There’s always more rope, and what I thought was the bottom, wasn’t.

And however close I come to it, God is always there to break my fall.  At least He is as long as He’s the one at the end of the rope I’m holding.  As long as He’s the one I’m ultimately trusting.

Are you trusting God today?

If not, He’s only a prayer away.  Tell Him you’re putting your trust in Him.  And if you struggle with trusting Him, tell Him that, too. He already knows, and He loves you.  Open a line of communication with Him right now.  And grab the rope.

One

Posted on by Dorci

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”  John 17:20-23

Jesus prayed this prayer for you and for me.  The abundant life Jesus had talked about stems from this one thing: that we yield ourselves to God with such fullness that we become one with Him.  That it is His life that flows through us – His mind we think and make decisions with, His heart we love unconditionally with, His eyes of grace and mercy we see others through, His strength we serve with.

I pray that Jesus’ prayer for us is answered more and more in the coming year, and that we come to live the abundant life He promises to us.  Everything we search for, everything we use in this world to try to fulfill our desires stem from our inherent need to be reconciled fully to Christ.

He is our abundant life.

And not only is that abundant life for ourselves, but the world needs to see us living it.  It needs to see a compass that points to true life.  The world desperately searches for hope and it needs to see that hope is found in Christ and in Him alone.  We are the chosen lights to point them to Him, if only we will.

May the Lord fill your lives in the coming year with faith and hope, strength and courage, love and peace.  May He be yours and you His.

In the mighty Name of Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus, the Anointed One),

Called Into Fellowship

Posted on by Dorci

sunrise-beach-2-1-cor-1-9
 

 

Could there be anything more wonderful, more gracious, more astounding and life-changing than being called – by God Himself – into fellowship – not just a knowledge of, not just an acquaintance with, but into a partnership, a daily, ongoing, communicating fellowship – with His Son, that we might live in oneness with Him, allowing His Spirit to flow through us, bringing our hearts and minds and lives into alignment with God’s will, allowing us to live an abundant life far above all we can imagine?

Lord help us to not waste a day…

The Calling of the Nobodys

Posted on by Dorci

“The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years He gave them into the hands of the Midianites.  Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.

The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” Judges 6:1,6

Mighty Warrior.

If that were the name of a superhero in an epic comic book story brought to life on the big screen you’d expect he’d be a 6 foot 6, muscle-bound behemoth of a man who shook the earth when he walked.  He’d carry himself with confidence, a stern face and eyes set while everyone was sure to stay out of his way.

But this was Gideon.

winepress
Ancient winepress discovered in Israel

When Gideon heard someone say mighty warrior he may very well have flinched and looked around to see who the person was talking to as he hid from the Midianites in a winepress threshing wheat.

But the Lord was speaking to Gideon, calling him to deliver the Israelites from the hand of the Midianites.

But Gideon didn’t jump up from the winepress, grab a sword, don his armor and shout “Yes, this is my chance!  I am ready!”

Instead he questioned, “But, Lord, how can I save Israel?  My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” Judges 6:15

Gideon was a young man who came from a small, poor, weakened, and seemingly insignificant family.  He was a nobody. At least that’s how he saw it.

gold nugget 2Nugget: Gideon’s clan – the Abiezrites – together with five other clans all form the tribe of Manasseh.  And Manasseh, together with the tribe of Ephraim form the tribe of Joseph, one of the twelve tribes of Israel.  The tribe of Manasseh descends from Manasseh who was one of the sons of Joseph, the boy who was sold into slavery by his brothers (to guess who?  The Midianites), and through the continual hand of God, rose to eventually become 2nd in command over Egypt, exceeded only by Pharaoh himself.

Do you know that God loves to call the insignificant, the weak, the poor, the underdog, the nobody, fill that person with His Spirit, and lead him or her to do great and mighty things?

Gideon might have seen himself as young, weak and ill-equipped, but God saw him differently.  God saw him not just as he was, but as He would make him to be – a mighty warrior.  

And just as God had a great plan for his ancestor Joseph even while he sat in a pit, served Pharaoh’s official, and languished in prison, He had a great plan for Gideon and all the people of Israel.

Throughout the process of overcoming the Midianites, Gideon is unsure and shaky in his next steps, and continually asks God for signs that He is with him, and God continually reassures Gideon that He is.

As the plan begins to succeed, Gideon begins to fulfill the name given to him by the angel of the Lord.  He transforms from the young man hiding in the winepress, full of questions and requests for fleeces, into a mighty warrior who is confident in God’s presence, provision, and desire to do a mighty work through him.

Gideon chose to believe in and obey God, and God gave victory to the Israelites through Gideon and his whittled-down army of 300 men to 135,000 Midianite and neighboring peoples, 120,000 of whom were killed.

Gideon’s confidence and boldness had grown, and he himself killed two kings of Midian, while the men of Ephraim killed two leaders of the Midianites, one of them, ironically, at a winepress.

 

I can relate to Gideon.  Can you?

When God told me twelve years ago to be strong and courageous just before my own battle began with my health, I felt anything but strong and courageous.  At the time I tried to understand it as best I could. But just like Gideon, I’ve grown in my understanding of God along the way.  I know God sees us not only as we are, but as He is making us to be. God was calling me to be something He was going to fulfill in the journey.  I have been becoming strong and courageous in Him, for He is with me wherever I go.

What does God call you?  What has He called you to do?  Do you feel too weak and insignificant?  Like a nobody?  Well, you’re in good company. David was only a boy; Jonah was filled with fear; Joseph was thrown into a pit; and Mary was just a simple, unassuming young girl who would give birth to the Savior of the world.

In a world where everyone wants to be famous, “…the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him” (2 Chron. 16:9) regardless of our fame, standing, finances, intelligence, or anything else the world says is important.  

God loves to do His work through a humble spirit, the ones in whom the world takes no notice. They have no agenda, and know they have nothing sufficient in themselves.  They must rely wholly on God – where true and lasting success always lies, and He always gets the glory.

No matter what you’re going through, God sees you through the eyes of His Risen Son.  He may very well be using that struggle in your life to prepare you for something great. Whatever He’s doing, He knows the plans He has for you, and what He is making you to be.

In Him we already have the victory.
Signature

Overcoming

Posted on by Dorci

“For everything that has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.
Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1 John 5:4-5

Belief here is not just knowledge, but of entrusting oneself to Jesus Christ as Lord. We must continue to do that very thing every minute of every day, and even more intentionally as the days grow more evil.

2016 National Day of Prayer

Posted on by Dorci

2016 National Day of Prayer
 

 

Friends,
Tomorrow, Thursday, May 5, is our National Day of Prayer.

If our beloved country were ever at a crucial crossroads, it is now.  And if we ever needed an opportunity to come together on one day to lift up fervent prayers to Almighty God on behalf of our cracked and crumbling nation it is tomorrow.

I am personally brokenhearted at the direction I see our country moving, at the lives being destroyed and the hatred being shouted.  We cannot continue to live as though there is no God, as if we can govern it or riot it or picket it or troll it all away.  We cannot continue to just hope it will somehow get better.  Hearts must be changed and only God, through faith in Jesus Christ, can do that.  

It is time to humble ourselves and repent of our own sins first, and then pray for God’s mercy on this land.

I believe there is still hope for God’s peace to return IF we will each – in faith – seek Him for grace and forgiveness.

I believe He is waiting for us to do just that.  

May His love and wisdom and discernment in prayer go with each of you.  

 

“…if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:14