| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: Steadfast and immovable” Our Bible verse for today: “If you don’t stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” Isaiah 7:9 (NIV) Our thought for today: “There’s a strong spiritual current working against you” Last year a couple of friends and I were kayaking in whitewater. At one point, I hit a particularly rough patch of rapids and I capsized. Suddenly I was underwater being dragged along the rocks by a very strong current, while my kayak and paddle were swept away downriver. Fortunately, although I’m a strong swimmer, I always wear a lifejacket, and therefore I was only underwater for a moment before the buoyancy of the lifejacket brought me to the surface. But still, I couldn’t get my footing. The current was so strong and the rocks were so slippery that every time I tried to stand up, I got knocked right back down. The only thing I could do was let the current carry me downriver until it finally let up enough for me to stand, move to the bank, and go retrieve my kayak and paddle. What I experienced physically in that river on that day is true for all of us spiritually all the time. There’s a strong spiritual current rushing through this world that is swift and potentially dangerous. It’s a cultural current propelled by Satan and if we aren’t careful, it will sweep us up and carry us away. The only way to protect ourselves from that happening is to heed Isaiah’s words of caution in Isaiah 7:9 (above). If we do not stand firm in our faith – if we don’t have a strong and secure footing, we will not stand at all.” Oh, I know we think we can get away with being only marginally faithful, sorta-kinda active in the practice of our faith, and that will be enough. But no, that’s not true. If you aren’t standing on solid ground, firmly rooted and secure, you will be carried along by the cultural current. It could be in some dramatic fashion, like my experience in the whitewater; or, even more likely, it could be subtle and therefore much less noticeable. But you will be carried along nonetheless. My experience in the whitewater happened on a Monday, a workday for most people, and aside from myself and my two friends, there was nobody else on the river who could have helped us if we had needed it. Fortunately, I was prepared (lifejacket), and my friends were experienced kayakers, and I recovered from my momentary loss of stability just fine. Likewise, God has provided similar help for us in life. It’s called Christian community. Sometimes we all hit the rapids of life and get caught up in the whitewater, sometimes we even capsize. Dependable Christian friends and a good healthy church are provided for us by God to help us through the turbulent times in life. There’s a strong spiritual current working against you in this world, and you cannot be steadfast and immovable, standing securely with firm footing, on your own. If you try to, you will be swept up and carried away. Therefore, I urge you to maintain firm footing on solid ground in a good church and with dependable Christian friends. God bless, Pastor Jim |
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