Discouragement

I have to admit that today I am discouraged. I see the way Satan is successfully attacking Christian families. I see the way he is attacking my church. I see my own sin nature. I see the worldliness of the Christian church in America, and it is no great shock to see the downward spiral of our country. If the professing Christians will not maintain high moral character, how can we expect the rest of the world to? I wonder what kind of world my children will have to live in in the coming years. Persecution makes the true believers stand strong and weeds out those who only profess with their mouths, but is persecution what I want for our country and my children?

These are the thoughts that plague me today.

As if God knew ahead of time what my thoughts would be, which He did BTW, my meditations this week have been in Romans chapter 15. Today this caught my eye. "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God."

Endurance and encouragement come from the Scripture and from God. And unity with other believers comes as we accept one another. And it is all to bring praise to God. As I have prayed over the last months, increasingly I have come back to unity among believers and unity in our church. Being accepted was what drew me to my church. Endurance and encouragement is what will hold me there. And a commitment to the Word and to prayer. We must be united in these beliefs, we must stand together and we must pray together. Does no one else hear this call? The call to unite, the call to pray, the call to stand firm and not give ground to Satan?

Oh yeah, God promises there will always be a remnant, doesn't He. Where will you stand? Will you stand with the small remnant, or will you stand with the crowd in the worldly American Church?