Desire God's Will

Philippians 2:13

“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” 

King James Version (KJV)

Somethings have become quite clear to me over the past several months.  The main lesson is this. Personal desires are worthless and should be shunned. The only desire a person should have is to do God's will. Following your heart is possibly the worst thing anyone can do. It leads to pain and general malaise. Don't follow your dreams. Don't follow the wishes of any mortal person. Don't try to please any mortal person just for the sake of gaining favor with them. These are all false premises and lead to a person wasting their life. I've been there. All of these things have become crystal clear to me over the past few months.

Mankind's purpose is to do God's will. Mankind's purpose is to please God. Even if something seems good and isn't specifically against anything in the Bible, if God isn't leading you, purge the desire from your life. The desire will bring nothing but pain. Your prayer should always be to have God lead you to do what pleases Him. If that isn't your prayer, stop wanting what you think is good for you and just continue to serve Him.

I've come to these conclusions after years of learning and seeking. The desires of my own heart have led to nothing but emptiness and waywardness. Only when I am doing God's will and serving other people in His name, have I been able to find freedom from the oppression of my own worthless desires. It is quite clear that I am not worthy of His love, yet the fact that Jesus came to save me shows that His love knows no bounds. Putting aside my desires has allowed me to focus on serving people for His glory. Rather than desiring any earthly outcome, just desire to do God's will. You will be tested, but shrug off the desires that creep in if they conflict with your service of others. To serve yourself, even if not specifically against any rule or commandment set forth in the Bible, will end in emptiness. No good comes from serving yourself. The only good that can come from our mortal lives is to serve as His ambassadors while we live.

Don't be afraid to invite someone to church, but make sure that you are inviting that person for their sake and not your own. Don't be afraid to pass out a Gospel tract for the sake of the other person's soul, not your own glory. Don't be afraid to be of service to someone in need, but only for their sake. Don't do anything that may result in your self being elevated at the expense of anyone else. I'm done caring for what happens to me in the future. As long as I focus on staying in His will, my future will be just fine. I desire God's will, not my own.

James 1:5King James Version (KJV)

5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

James 4:8King James Version (KJV)

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

Comment below if you want to join in a conversation about this topic.

From Skeptic to Advocate

I've been debating with myself on what to write over the past week or so. I have multiple angles on how to approach the cultural battle we are in the midst of right now, but this idea has been coming to the forefront of my mind since I took the plunge into leading a homeschool class every Thursday.

Just over a year ago, I would have considered myself a homeschool skeptic. My eyes have been opened. The biggest eye opener has been my friends(not just one family, either) and their dedication to homeschooling. My pastor and his siblings were homeschooled. My friends, the Bontrager Family, have all been homeschooled and several other close friends I've met over the past year were also homeschooled. They are the reason for the break through on this subject for me.

Over the past 14 months, I've been heavily involved with politics(who, me?) and I've had a chance to interact with people from all walks and ways of life. The singular element that I've seen that makes the difference in a young person's life is the way they have been cared for and educated by their parents. Looking back on my education, public school did a decent job of teaching me to do math and to write and read. What it didn't do was prepare me for life after school. What it didn't do was instill in me values I now hold dear. What it didn't do was give me a grounding in the Bible. I've had to do all of these things on my own, and sometimes, I failed miserably. I don't blame my parents because homeschooling really wasn't even a thing people did when I was a child in Nebraska. In some states, it was illegal. In many states, it is still frowned upon. Luckily, here in Iowa, many people celebrate homeschoolers. 

Here's where I'm going with this. The Bible says this in Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.  The more a parent can instill the ways a child should go from an early age, the less likely our society is to be filled with people like we have now, so uninformed/misinformed/ignorant(sometimes willfully so), they can't make decent decisions in areas of great importance. Nobody knows a child better than that child's own parents. Each child can be brought along at a pace suited for that specific child. Most public schools teach to the mushy middle. The kids who could excel are held back and the kids who need a lot of personal help are left behind. This is hurting so many children.

Not to discount everything else I've said above, but the main reason I see to take your kids out of public school is this; public schools teach things that are harmful to children. Secular humanism is now the default religion of the government school. Students are taught that the only absolute is that there is no absolute truth. Everything is gray. Nothing really matters except for how something makes them feel. This is killing our nation.   

Most public school kids, even with highly involved parents, will be fed a steady diet of secular thought and no respect will be given to a child's spiritual well being or to that same child's parents' wishes to have them brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Public school is incompatible with raising godly children. Do some godly Christian people make it out of public schools, yes. Is this the norm, most definitely not. In a study, released last year, the Pew Research Center found that 25% of people born after 1980 have no belief in God. This number is more than double the amount for any previous generation. It is no coincidence that public schools have been consistently moving toward outright hostility to those who believe in Biblical truth. 

The biggest over reach from the progressives running our government run indoctrination education systems has to be the new catch all for all things progressive and anti God: Common Core. The phrase is nebulous but it really just means a whole curriculum centered on making little progressive automatons, suitable for work in factories and service jobs. After much research, I found a piece that sums it up succinctly. 

  It’s easy to see Common Core appeals to those anal-retentive types who cannot function unless U.S. education has some sort of all-encompassing organizing principle.

But there’s more. Common Core supporters will admit that several states had better curriculum requirements than Common Core. Then they typically say it’s still better for those states to have lowered their expectations to Common Core’s level, because that way we have more curricular unity. That’s what the Fordham Institute’s Mike Petrilli told Indiana legislators when he came to our state to explain why, even though Fordham graded Indiana’s former curriculum requirements higher than Common Core, Indiana should remain a step below its previous level. One main reason was that we’d be able to use all the curriculum and lesson plans other teachers in other states were tailoring (to lower academic expectations, natch). Yay, we get to be worse than we were, but it’s okay, because now we’re the same as everyone else!

Tech companies are uber excited about Common Core because it facilitates a nationwide market for their products. Basically every other education vendor feels the same way, except those who already had nationwide markets because they accessed pockets of the population not subject to mind-numbing state regulations such as home and private schools. But the diversity of the unregulated private market far, far outstrips that of the Common Core market. There are, you know, actual niches, and education styles, and varying philosophies, rather than a flood of companies all trying to package the same product differently. The variety is one of substance, not just branding. In other words, it’s true diversity, not fake diversity.

What would you rather have: Fake freedom, where others choose your end goal and end product, but lets you decide some things about how to achieve someone else’s vision for education, which by the way has to be the same for everyone everywhere; or genuine freedom, where you both pick your goals and how to achieve them, and you’re the one responsible for the results? Whoops, that’s a trick question, moms and dads. In education, no one can pick the latter, because our overlords have already picked for us. Common Core or the door, baby.

The even greater impact for future generations is this; homeschoolers grow up with a healthy skepticism of government and a greater reliance on family and the Church. We must start to push back at big government. I see homeschooling as the primary way to remove government influence from the life of the American family. We must remove government from as many aspects of daily life as possible. When government doesn't matter, they stop being able to control us. When government doesn't matter, people will actually take care of their neighbor. When government doesn't matter, businesses will flourish.When government doesn't matter, the United States of America will be made great again(to borrow a misused phrase). Government must never be the solution. People must provide that solution or be prepared to fight a tyrannical government at a later date.

Find me on Twitter.

Email me. 

Comment below. 

Separate Yourself

Today, as I sat in church, the gravity of our place in history hit me right between the eyes.

Never before has the United States of America faced such a dim and horrible choice as what sits before us in this election season. That is why I'm here to offer a word of hope. Before you deride me, know this; I believe Christians should be involved in government and should actively seek office at all levels of government.

This is where my message of hope comes in. As it currently stands, there are no candidates for president worthy of a Bible believing Christian's vote. I believe a vote is an endorsement of what a candidate brings to the table. We are left with wicked and vile candidates. Christians should choose None of the Above. Instead, Christians must start living everyday for Jesus, just like it might be our last day on earth and what we did that day would have a lasting effect on who made it to heaven, because it just might.

Be understanding to the person waiting on you in the store or at a restaurant. They might just need someone to offer a word of encouragement. Be patient with those around you. Offer a helping hand. Pray unceasingly.

In the way of activism, I believe we must never stop speaking publicly to the truths put forward in the Bible. When worldly and godless people deride you, step up your speaking, don't back down. When civil government threatens to push back the teachings of the word of God, be prepared to offer up a message of love(not squishy, emotional love, but love of truth in Jesus). Don't be afraid of what may be said about you. Be consistent in your message. Don't be worried that you may offend someone. That person who takes offense to your words is likely the person who needs to hear the message the most.

Too many times, as Christians, we've decided that being kind is being what ever the world wants us to be so as to not offend anyone. We must stop this way of thinking. Being kind involves being firm in our reliance on God's plan even when it runs contrary to what the prevailing culture says is the way to go.

What I'm trying to get across is our need to take the message of Jesus to the world while living in a way that isn't of the world. We must be separated from the culture of vileness and wickedness. We must be willing to walk the narrow path even when we are told we aren't cool or hip. Just because some people have decided to replace God with anger, pride or envy, we must resist the temptation to do so. Be firm in your reliance on God.

Finally, pray for our nation.

Hold Fast to What is Good

On Wednesday, March 30th, I was sitting in church listening to Joseph Brown give a message based upon a passage in Romans. These two verses hit me like a ton of bricks. 

 Romans 12:9   Let love be without dissimulation(ie: pretense, concealment). Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 

  Romans 12:10   Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; 

We must prefer those that are on the same path. Once we accept Jesus, we need to stop lowering ourselves to the level of the world and those that would see us separated from our walk with God. I fell victim to thinking that I was OK being friends with people that didn't share my beliefs for many years and it cost me so much that I am still trying to recover. 

This isn't to say that we must stop trying to reach out to those that aren't walking with Jesus. The exact opposite is true. We must be continually working to bring people into the flock of believers but the job doesn't stop there. Once they take the first step, we must encourage their walk. We can't drop the ball on newly saved believers. 

I think this is where I have made a change. I was too comfortable with evil in the past. I had fallen into the libertarian trap of personally excusing my own sins and the sins of others. If the sin doesn't harm someone else, then it really didn't matter. That was my rationalization. I was wrong. The sin harmed God and that is immeasurably worse. I had stopped holding fast to what was good.

I never thought this much change could come from signing a commitment card to be a part of a political campaign, but it did. God works in mysterious and wonderful ways. Little did I know that half of the people on stage at the Rally for Religious Liberty that I attended in Des Moines last August would now be my friends. I look back on what happened that day and I can't comprehend it. I do know that I don't want to return to my days of just living for me. When I look back, I was wandering aimlessly and we were all created for so much more than that. Serving others in the name of God, and therefore, leading them to salvation is our ultimate commandment from Jesus.

I want to love my Christian family without pretense. I've seen what happens when people I know love unconditionally and I want to follow that example. God rejoices when we follow him. I also need to continue to abhor that which is evil. There can be no more moral equivalency. Virtue and righteousness are diametrically opposed to sin. If it is biblical, it is worthy. If it isn't, it isn't. That's not to say that we won't fail, because we will. We must always ask for forgiveness and repent. We must realize we will never be perfect while still working towards drawing near to God. 

What has been my biggest help has been realizing that I'm never going to be able to pay back my debt to God, but in His infinite and patient mercy, that debt was paid by Jesus. Jesus was the final Passover Lamb. For this reason, I must tell people about Him and I must help lead others to Him.

To sum this up, we must surround ourselves with other good Christians and use each other to hold one anther accountable. I've found that support system with my church and the best group of people I've ever been around. We must encourage others to do the same. If people think you are a little nutty, so be it. I'd rather be laughed at by those who think this world is all there is while I still strive to live for God. Hold fast to what is good.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk, Go Ted Cruz!

I'm writing this piece from the 14th state I've been in over the last 30 days. What a wild ride! I feel the tide starting to shift. 

Just yesterday, I spent 5 hours at a caucus site in Emporia, KS. I was blown away at the support Ted Cruz has here in the middle of the country. Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas have provided an anchor. Add Maine and Alaska and you have the start of a wide ranging base of support. The late votes broke heavily toward Ted Cruz in Kentucky and Louisiana too. 

I feel a change coming over the electorate and I think the last debate had a lot to do with it. Ted Cruz was the only adult in the room. With the one who shall remain nameless and Marco Rubio just trading insults, Ted Cruz prosecuted the aforementioned unnamed one while staying out of the mud.

While having a conversation with 5 friends last night by text message, the mood was decidedly lighter. We've all worked so hard for the same causes that Ted Cruz champions. I remember having a conversation with one specific friend on Tuesday before the election results started coming in(Thank you, Texas!) and I told this person that I was no longer nervous about the results. Her response was one of the most beautiful things I've ever read, "It is one of the many blessings of our position as children of God - sweet peace in the midst of storms." After I read that, I knew I had worked as hard as I could and God was in control. She's totally correct. There's peace knowing God will never give us more than we can handle while also knowing that our trials will only serve to make those of us who know Jesus stronger in the long run. 

This has been such a whirlwind experience that I've only slept in my own bed 4 nights in the last month. I'll write a more in depth review of the last month in the coming week. So, for now, good bye from Kansas. Perhaps a Rock Chalk Jayhawk, Go Ted Cruz chant is in order.

Let This Week Be A Reminder

This week is Holy Week. This is the most important week in the calendar of the Christian Church. While Easter is the goal and the triumph, I think we can all learn something from the events that lead up to it. We all are like Judas from time to time. We deny Jesus. I am guilty of this as much or more than the average Christian. No matter how much each one of us tries, we will never live up to Him. I need His grace and the events of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday serve to remind us all that we all need Him. He has Risen. Thanks be to God.

From one sinner to another, in Jesus' name,
Amen and God Bless

Life and Why Leftists Think So Little of It.

This week has brought up many negative feelings in me, but perhaps most troubling is the crime committed in Longmont, CO on March 16th, 2015. If you aren't familiar with what I'm talking about, it involves the heinous act of one Dynel Lane. She lured Michelle Wilkins to her home by advertising baby clothes for sale. Michelle Wilkins was 34 weeks pregnant when Lane forceably cut her unborn daughter from her womb and left the expectant mother to die, thereby killing the baby girl, who would have very likely be viable outside the womb with proper medical treatment. Luckily, Michelle Wilkins had enough life left in her to call 911 and direct emergency personnel to her location. She is recovering in the hospital. While it looks like she will recover physically from this disgusting and disturbing act, we don't know how long, if ever, it will take for her to recover mentally. I pray that this woman knows God and knows that Jesus loves her.

If this act was not sickening enough, Colorado has no fetal homicide law on the books. Leftist politicians in Denver have fought every attempt to rectify this issue fearing that it will endanger their holy sacrament of abortion. In this case, if the medical examiner in leftist Boulder County found no reason to believe that this little baby did not live outside the womb, the most serious charge would be attempted murder of the prospective mother. Lane would not face the first degree murder charge that she deserves. Boulder County also has a left wing District Attorney, one Stan Garnett, that saw to it that the outcome of this investigation would only yield the attempted murder charge. This case has made me sick to my stomach. A certain sect of people in this state feel the need to protect abortion over the rights of the unborn to the point where no law that sees to it that life, especially a life that was so dearly anticipated and wanted by this expectant mother, be protected. This same group of people make a huge deal when a land developer wants to kill a few prairie dogs.

Leftists think that humans are the root of all that is bad in this world because they, for the most part, think this is the end. Nothing better is to come. It is a mental disease, if you ask me. Without humans, there is no good or bad, there just is. God knows the human race is fallible(I'm first in line to confess to this) and yes, the human race has done bad things, but it is also responsible for art, music, speech, writing, philosophy, architecture, engineering, science, charity, and perhaps the greatest thing, love. Why some people don't see this, I will never truly know. I am highly suspicious of anyone that puts animals before humans. While I don't condone undue suffering and violence done to animals, they will never be human and don't deserve the same deference as a human. I believe that God intended us to be masters over the animals and in doing so, we should be just with them.

Having said all of this, Colorado has its priorities screwed up. Leftists would be up in arms if they heard of someone killing unborn or just born bear cubs or any other non-human animal, and rightfully so. They would want the full weight of the law to come down on who ever did that but they will allow no effort to protect the life of an unborn baby for fear that it might endanger the right to kill one's own unborn child. Our state and our country are severely morally bankrupt. These same people object to the death penalty for a criminal on the grounds that it would violate the violent criminal's human right to life. They have it backwards. All humans deserve a chance at life. Once a person commits a crime that is deemed horrific enough, they should be removed from the population. They gave up their right to life when they took the life of another with malice and forethought. This woman took the life of this little baby and she should never see the light of day. Perhaps, the cheaper and easier solution would be to put her in general population and let the other women in the prison know what she did and look the other way for a little while. That, in the end may be the most just thing that could happen to this animal. Dynel Lane turned in her membership in the human race when she killed Michelle Wilkins' daughter.

In order to rectify this error in Colorado's law, I urge anyone who reads this to call a Colorado Democrat lawmaker, especially those in the state House and our worthless governor, John Hickenlooper. 303-866-2346 is the phone number to the Colorado Speaker's office. Rep. Dickey Lee Hullinghorst is the Speaker of the House and represents part of Boulder County. I urge you to melt her phone line. Also, call Stan Garnett at the Boulder County DA's office and let him know of your disapproval. His number is 303-441-3730.

You can find me on Twitter: twitter.com/@bigredmatt1011