Friends,
What an awesome Saturday morning in Houston. Fall is in the air. It’s cool outside and the humidity is all
but absent.
As I reflected on a majestic week of Kingdom work, I want to give God praise with renewed fervor because truly, He is the Shepherd of all that is good and precious in life. He values our lives and He has led us beside the tranquil waters where Holy Discontent picnics with Infinite Peace!
In this hour, bravery and boldness must become the Christ-follower. This world is no friend of Grace. A person who makes a commitment to Jesus Christ’s salvation will not find a crowd immediately forming to applaud the decision or old friends spontaneously gathering around to offer congratulations and counsel. With our nation becoming increasingly hostile toward anything Christ and/or Christianity, it is imperative that we understand the perilous times in which we live!
For most, the challenge is not direct and personal. However, the reality of growing disapproval and agnostic indifference constitutes formidable opposition. Because most Christians have embraced the disciplines of a disciple, they have learned to live a Christ-centered “life of faith” within the framework of the world, the flesh, and the devil. As the “redeemed” of God we are warned of the perils of the flesh and the wiles of the devil. Their temptations have definable shape and maintain a historical continuity. And yet, that doesn’t make them any easier to resist; it does make them easier to recognize.
However, the world is protean – each generation has the world to deal with in a new form. Amos T. Wilder writes, the “World is an atmosphere, a mood.” There is a sense, a feeling that things aren’t right, that the environment is not whole, but what it is often eludes our discernment. We know that the spiritual atmosphere in which we live erodes faith, dissipates hope and corrupts love, but it is hard to put our finger on what is wrong.
Paul wrote Timothy, “For this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.” We toil, yes. We strive, yes. And sometimes, we make decisions that seem not to make sense to logic and reason, because we are living “in faith and through our faith.”
Loving God does not ensure one a life without trial. Following Jesus does not exempt us from the pursuit and seeming prosecution of our enemy. There are many men and women who loved God in the spirit and attitude of “great faith” and yet, they found themselves in situations that didn’t always make sense to those watching:
• Moses spends his life with grumbling whiners and dies without getting to walk into the Promised Land.
• Samson suicide-bombs the Philistines and when the dust settles, he is dead and the Philistines still rule over Israel.
• David’s son rapes his sister and leads a rebellion against David, dethroning him for a season.
• Jeremiah ends up in exile with the rest of the country after repeatedly getting beaten for preaching what God commanded him to preach.
• John the Baptist is beheaded by a pervert who gives his head to a 15-year-old stripper.
• Peter is killed, being reportedly crucified upside down.
• Paul is killed in Rome, but only after he spends his life (with his thorn intact) being beaten, rejected, lost at sea, and consistently dealing with people coming in behind him and destroying what he built.
Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “The essential thing ‘in heaven and earth’ is… that there should be long 
obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living.”
In the end, only the obedient “disciple” will enjoy the fruit of their “faith walk” while logic and reason jeer from the grandstands of disapproval and indifference! When you have done all you can do - stand!
Grace and Peace be multiplied to you and may His favor coutenance your days until He returns in His majesty. Remember, "With God all things are possible."
