”Therefore David blessed the Lord before all the assembly; and David said: “Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, And You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, And You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; In Your hand it is to make great And to give strength to all. “Now therefore, our God, We thank You And praise Your glorious name.“
I Chronicles 29:10-13 NKJV
I have been inspired by my YouVersion daily verse and devotional this week, which was just verse 11, but I couldn’t just share that one verse. The person talking about the verse reminded me that everything we think, do and say should bring glory to our God. Not to us . . . To God. As a famous pastor wrote in the first sentence of his book, “It’s not about you.” (Purpose Driven Life, by Pastor Rick Warren, 2002)
So, my other thought today, and probably the last few days, is that as followers of Jesus, we should be seeing all the illegal immigrants coming across the border as a mission field instead of throwing them back out of the country and treating them all (though some are and should be deported) as criminals. The Church, not just “churches”, but the “Body of Christ” Church, should be getting organized to bring these people into a big tent, nation wide revival sort of meeting. Encouraging them to come by showing our generosity with clothing, food, even jobs or shelter. Is that just a pipe dream? I know I don’t have the influence or means to start something like that. I wonder if anyone else is getting that thought? We can pray to that end . . . 🙏🎚️. We can pray anyway! That these people coming in will see the special nature of this country and want to know more about the God who inspired our founding documents. Yes, we can pray that!.
I know, easy for me to sit here in my retirement and comfort. The current administration thinks they are bringing people here to upset the balance politically, but God has His reasons for allowing it, and I don’t think it is politics.
On the other hand, the thought has been that the influx of millions of unvetted foreigners is a punishment on the USA for removing God from almost every aspect of Our nation, and killing millions of innocent babies through abortion, as was expressed in Harvey Oxenhorn’s piece. We deserve punishment for that! That article was what has put that thought in my permanent thought process, You can find the Harvey Oxenhorn article here,.
But if our attention did turn to God’s plan that no one should perish, we can turn a punishment into something that is glorifying to God. The apostle Paul wrote to his young helper, ”For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.“ Titus 2:11-14 NKJV Notice it says “has appeared to all men.” Everyone has the same opportunity to be part of God’s family, His church.
Is this the mission field for the American church?
What a way to build the Kingdom. I admit it is a grandiose, far-fetched idea, especially with the culture as confusing as it is, even for Americans. Can you imagine if this country were more united . . . Well, there I go dreaming again. I believe, though, that with God’s help all things are possible, ”Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”“Mark 9:23 NKJV. Prayers . . . Again. . . And always . . . And believe!
A dream like this seems to satisfy every “thing”. ”Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.“ Philippians 4:8 NKJV.
i mean cant we both see them as a mission field in so far as we might encounter one in our day to day. but see them politically as criminals and the whole project as an attempt to undermine american sovereignty and wish it to come to an immediate halt. i don´t see why it has to be one or the other.