And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God."
1 Corinthians 2:1-3
America will not be great again, until America makes God great again in our personal lives. Individuals make up America. To be a true American, you have to understand the founding of this great nation. America became great, because America was good. Our goodness came from God and His laws. To know the true history you must read the original documents and not allow yourself to be taught by revised history books seeking to eliminate God from our history. You cannot do that and know the true American Spirit we were founded on. Our founding fathers believed what Paul did. Their lives were fed from the same Spirit. They knew their Bibles. They based our country’s laws on what laid within the pages of their Bibles. That is how men become good and great. Therefore nations become great and good. There is no other way.
Jesus Himself tells us in John 14:6:
"I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."
The people who founded America knew this.They based their lives on this truth. They found their wisdom in their Bible and through their prayer lives. The Bible was the main source of education for their children. All other subjects were secondary to the Bible. All of these universities we are hearing about in the news such as Yale, Havard, and Princeton, to name a few, were founded as Chrisitan colleges teaching the Word of God and His ways. You would never know that as you are aware of the evil indoctrination that fills their classrooms at this present time.
In our arrogance and pride and selfishness, that resides in every human being apart from the Holy Spirit, we like so many nations before us decided we would be our own god. So we put education on the throne as the savior for our children. Education meant wealth. We gave them a goal of getting rich with no emphasis on character or moral values. We have deluded them to believe happiness and success derives from how much you can accumulate in life for yourself and your family. Lies and deception began to fill our places of learning because we felt we had outgrown the ancient ways of life taught for generations; actually from the beginning of creation. We can read the greatest history book in existence which is our Bible, and learn from the same mistakes man has made throughout the history of creation. They rebel against the God who is their Father and created them. He is God and we are not. We are only His creation. The creation is always inferior to its Creator. That truth should be a no brainer! If man creates his own god, it is limited to his understanding. Man is very limited in love, wisdom, and understanding apart from His Creator. Therefore our faith should never rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power and knowledge of God. Our God is all powerful and perfect in all His ways. Who are we to stand in judgement in any way of the God of the entire creation?
Paul tells us he only wanted them to know one thing, and that was Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He had come to realize all wisdom is found in that truth. Paul was a very learned man in his time. He was brought up in Jerusalem at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers. ( Acts 22:3)
Whose feet did you sit at to be taught from while growing up? We all had mentors in life that taught us what to think and feel whether intentional or not. We all must decide if we want to know the truth, or believe what we want to be true. Because you choose to believe a lie won’t make it true anymore than me believing in Santa Claus with reindeer pulling a sleigh in the sky all over the world Christmas night makes that true!
As a child I was taught there was a Santa Claus as most children were. I eventually came to the knowledge of the truth; he did not exist. I wasn’t nearly as disturbed by that as I was my mother and father had lied to me. As an adult I know they had good intentions. but I would rather have not been lied to. Seriously, I could have given up the gifts on Christmas morning for truth as a child. The truth about the true meaning of Christmas is the only thing Paul wanted his disciples to know. Lying with good intentions doesn’t make it right. In fact I remember vividly wondering if my parents had lied about Jesus too! One of the greatest tragedies today in our world is we live immersed in lies and little truth is known or taught. We don’t know the truth of God’s Word to be able to counter the lies we are being told.
This is certainly true in our personal relationships which is what makes up a nation. Our conscience seems to be seared when it comes to lying. Look at our political arena. It is simply a given that most politicians lie more than they tell the truth. When people lie you cannot trust them. God help us to realize the repercussions of lying in our personal lives and publicly. It destroys relationships. There are so few good, honest relationships available with anyone these days. That is why we are so lonely in society. The most tragic of all is there is no difference in those who claim the name of Christ, and those who deny Him.
The thing I love most about my God is knowing He cannot lie to me. He is the truth. Satan is the father of lies. The truth is not in Him. You either have satan as your father, or you have God. There is no neutral ground. Let that truth sink in.
You choosing not to believe the truth doesn’t change the truth. That is one of satan’s greatest devices he uses. Whatever you believe is your truth. We do not ever have that option. God holds the truth always in His Word, and it will always have the final authority. He alone is righteous and true. He made a way for us to become His righteousness through Jesus His Son. Paul lived at the time Jesus was here on earth. He had come to the full knowledge of truth and bitterly repented of His sin, and was forgiven, and cleansed of all his unrighteousness. The result of true repentance is an opposite reaction to your past. If you continue in your sin you have not truly repented.
Learn from your Bible the truth. Paul is a beautiful, encouraging example for all of us. He tells us in 2:12:
"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ."
We can have the mind of Christ if we fill our minds with God’s teaching from His Word. Then we will walk in truth. We will not be habitual liars as His Spirit will be faithful to convict us. Let us pray for a good conscience, and guard our hearts, so we will not allow our hearts to become hardened, allowing the enemy to fill our mind with lies. The Holy Spirit is who we rely on to teach us and lead us into all truth. He does promise to convict us of our sin, so we can close the door of our heart to the father of lies. God deliver us from coming to one another with the wisdom of this world rather than the Word of God. Sharing God’s Word with one another should be a normal way of life for His disciples. It certainly was during the founding of America. Read for yourself the founding documents and letters written by our forefathers, and make teaching the true history of our nation to your children a priority. I call upon all who want to stand as Americans, we must stand with God first, before we can stand with each other. Let’s get behind the men of God who are trying to rescue the true American spirit, and are striving to give back our value as God fearing American people, and the laws our nation was founded on, which came straight from the Word of God. Let the minority become the majority. And in all of this remember we are preparing for an eternal home that pales with anything this world has to offer.
I close with a favorite verse from Jeremiah 9:23 which confirms once again our faith is to be placed in the power of God. He alone is worthy of glory, honor, and power. Our greatest boast and accomplishment in life is to understand and know Him. May our goal be to delight Him as individuals and as a nation once again.
Thus says the Lord,
"Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on the earth; for I delight in these things," declares the Lord.
In His love.
Teresa Roberts
Masterpiece Fitness
276-237-6680
Went back to Castle Rock Gorge this week to complete the loop. Starting from a different trailhead added mileage totaling 15 miles of physically challenging beauty well worth the effort.