Wading through life

Eric Dares to Be Great

Highlights of birthday week 2009 (in chronological order):

1. June 20: Par-tay at Cascades with the local gang of friends–which ended with a great game of ultimate frisbee!
2. June 21: Tigers game at Comerica with my beautiful wife–which ended with 4-3 win for the Tigers!
3. June 23: A night out with Heather, including dinner at Daryl’s and dessert at Cold Stone–and ended with a great massage!
4. June 28: Fun day with the family (parents, brother and his kids) at Nixon water park and then Loomis Park for a BBQ. And it ended with my brother Daring to be Great at the Parlour! (To see how my brother finished the dare… you’ll have to visit the Flickr photo gallery).
5. June 29: Good bike ride with my parents to Concord and back on the Falling Waters Trail. Heather and I finished our time with them with a mighty-fine meal at Cracker Barrel.

Thanks to all who helped make my 30th birthday so special!

Ez. 22:30 — “I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn’t have to destroy the land, but I found no one.”

Did you realize that righteousness actually protects a nation? God is actively scanning America’s horizon, looking for those who will stand up for the Word; who have allowed zeal for the Father’s house to consume them; who will respond in passionate opposition to evil in the spirit of Nehemiah. He’s looking for those who will rebuild our wall of righteousness.

It’s not okay that millions of babies are being killed each year. It isn’t a political issue; it’s a moral—no, a spiritual—issue. And it’s a fight we can’t tire of fighting. It’s not okay that the God-ordained institution of marriage is being trivialized, novelized and made anything-but sacred. It’s not ok that America is shedding its Christian heritage, forgetting the God who led us to establish a new nation under the banner of freedom. And there are dozens of other dire situations we simply CANNOT be okay with.

While each of these are dire in-and-of themselves, we must realize that they are simply firstfruits of darker realities that lie ahead if the walls of righteousness are not raised. You think the spirits of convenience, selfishness, death and genocide that drive the abortion agenda will stop with killing unborn children only? No, it’s after the elderly and disabled, too. And then it will widen its reach further to the sick, the powerless, the unskilled, the poor… those who are perceived to offer little to society. And then it will simply go after the un-perfect—and that encompasses all of us.

Chinks in the armor of Godless, human “morality” will be fully exploited until that armor is replaced by the uncompromising and infallible righteousness of the Lord and his Eternal Word. We have to be passionate for the ways of God. We have to desire his law and precepts and Word like David did in Psalm 119:

⁵ Oh, that my actions would consistently
reflect your decrees!
¹⁴ I have rejoiced in your laws
as much as in riches.
²⁰ I am always overwhelmed
with a desire for your regulations.
³⁰ I have chosen to be faithful;
I have determined to live by your regulations.
³¹ I cling to your laws.
Lord, don’t let me be put to shame!
³² I will pursue your commands,
for you expand my understanding.
³⁶ Give me an eagerness for your laws
rather than a love for money!

May we pray and cry out that God would change our hearts to desire his righteousness to be exhibited through our lives and throughout our land. May we be OVERWHELMED with desire for his regulations. May we CHOOSE and be DETERMINED to live by the Word. May we CLING to God’s ways and PERSUE greater understanding. And may we respond to the Word with more excitement and delight than we would winning the lottery.

God WANTS America to pull out of its spiritual malaise. He desires to show mercy and doesn’t delight in judgment. But we need to awaken. We need to begin rebuilding our wall of righteousness.

Rom. 13:11-12 — “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.”

Jaeson Ma offers this interesting note concerning the name “Emma” and it’s current standing as the most popular name for female newborns. He says:

Two years ago I wrote a series of blog posts about baby “Emma.” The name comes from the Latin name “Emmanuela” which comes from “Emmanuel” or “God with us.” The Spirit of the Lord showed me this generation would have prophetic connection with this name. Mainly, that God’s presence, the revelation of God as Loving Father and Passionate Bridegroom, would be revealed to this chosen generation.

Curious what the most popular male name currently is? Jacob. It has been for the past 10 years. 

A verse containing the name “Jacob” has always caused me to pause with curiosity about its exact meaning. Psalm 24:3-6:

Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive blessing from the LORD,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him,
Who seek Your face.  Selah

I still don’t pretend to know exactly what David is getting at in this passage, but there’s a parallel he’s drawing between the patriarch Jacob (whose name means “Supplanter” and might be most famous for wrestling with God) and those who seek God’s face. Maybe its Jacob’s rawness and willingness to get dirty with the Lord that actually made him a great God-chaser.

Regardless, what the passage states is that those who seek God’s face in the spirit of Jacob are among those who “may ascend the hill of the LORD, stand in His holy place, have clean hands and pure hearts, and don’t practice idolatry.”

What’s exiting is the thought of bringing together the Emma and Jacob generations; we now have “God With Us” and “Those Who Seek Him”.

Our world desperately needs the Emma and Jacob generations to arise and take their rightful places. And these two generations desperately need our generation to take our rightful places as spiritual fathers and mothers, offering them a sky-scraping floor—our ceiling—as their starting point in pursuing God.

Say you were charged with leading a battalion of troops into battle. Now tell me if these are the kind of soldiers you’d want to be leading: they are convinced enemy forces don’t actually exist, they believe the weapons they are equipped with don’t work and they think the training they’ve received is useless.

It would be a pretty bleak situation. Soldiers like that would be a harm to not only themselves, but to all the others in the battalion. Enemy victory would be almost guaranteed.

Unfortunately, it just so happens God’s battalion of American forces is made up of many such soldiers. It’s sad. Barna reported recently that “Most American Christians Do Not Believe that Satan or the Holy Spirit Exist.”

What!!!!?? Is it any wonder the American church — and as a result, Americans professing to be Christians — struggle to live in the victory made available by Jesus? It is, in fact, a pretty bleak situation. And many Christians are, in fact, a harm to themselves and a harm to those around them.

But it doesn’t have to stay this way. Joel 2:12-14

“Now, therefore,” says the LORD,
“Turn to Me with all your heart,
With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”
So rend your heart, and not your garments;
Return to the LORD your God,
For He is gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger, and of great kindness;
And He relents from doing harm.
Who knows if He will turn and relent,
And leave a blessing behind Him—
A grain offering and a drink offering
For the LORD your God?

God is always, ALWAYS, poised to respond to a sincere, repentant cry for mercy and forgiveness.

And please, please, please read the Bible. All of it; not just your favorite parts. Genesis to Revelation. (And if you find Revelation intimidating or confusing or scary or irrelevant, ask God to teach you and then read it in faith. It’s The Revelation OF JESUS CHRIST —not A Revelation About the End Times For Those Who Might Be Interested. Anyone who wants to know Jesus in ALL of his glory needs to read and begin understanding Revelation.)

There are now 10 reported cases of death as a result of H1N1 (Swine Flu). Ten. 1-0.

In other news, about 115,000 babies will be aborted today.

Google News results from the past week for “Swine Flu“: 165,347,121

Google News results from the past week for “Abortion“: 21,073