Isaiah 7:9

"If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all." Okay, what does that mean? First of all, what is faith? What is my faith? What do I believe? What do I not only know in my head, and not only feel with my heart, but trust with my whole life? To me, this question must be answered without regard to political affiliation, religion, denominational background, or church influence. Yes, I said that right. I'm taking this to a much more personal level. Outside of our nation's political influences and the arguments I've heard about how "divided" we are, and outside of the world's offerings to be a part of any and every kind of religion you can think of, and outside of the way I was raised whether it was in a church or not, what do I believe? Forget the world and all it has to offer; even forget the church and all I've learned from men in the pulpit. When all of these factors are taken away and all that is left is just me on my own, what do I believe? Forget Republican, forget Democrat, forget Baptists, forget Disciples of Christ. If I listen to the world, then what I believe is influenced by what I've heard uttered by the world's voice and therefore what I believe is just someone else's idea. If I listen to countless sermons and base my beliefs off of that, then what I believe is again just influenced by what I've heard from the church's voice and a larger culmination of someone else's beliefs and ideas. So, here is what I am going to do. I'm going to stop listening. I'm going to stop listening to the voice of the world and I'm going to stop listening to the voice of the church. There is a Voice that speaks louder than them all. It is the Voice of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is the Voice of Truth. He has spoken His Truth through His Word. When I die, I will not be a considered a Republican or Democrat. I will not be considered a Baptist or a Disciple of Christ. Denominations were formed by mere men who were just sinners like myself. There is no perfect church. There is no perfect religion. However, there IS one perfect Person. His name is Jesus Christ. Forget the media, forget the stories, forget the debates, forget the confusion. Allow yourself to block it all out and focus on one Thing. "This is the One Thing that I know..." (JOC) Praise God someone's got the idea! Refuse to follow the world. Refuse to blend in to someone else's idea. Dare to be different. Dare to be separate. Dare to let yourself believe! God cannot lie. God cannot change His mind. Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever!" God does not make exceptions to the rule, His Word is final. Now here's the kicker, these ideas aren't even mine! They are God's! I didn't say this stuff, He did! Who has the guts to stare God in His face, and say, "You are wrong! You are a liar!"? May he who says so be stricken dead where he stands! It is the devil who said "Did God really say....?" and placed the first doubts in our minds in the Garden. From that moment until now we have gone from believing that one lie, to literally killing ourselves every day through the ideas we accept and the things we say. God is the standard. He is the Truth. He is the Model. He is the Light and in Him there is no darkness and all of our righteousness is like filthy rags, hallelujah! The purpose of this life is to live up to the Standard. The purpose of this life is to live up to the Truth. The purpose of this life is to "follow the Model". Do you want to "be in the Light"? If you do, please realize that it has absolutely NOTHING to do with YOU! Can we be perfect? No. Will we always tell the truth? No. Will we always follow the right path? No. Will we always be able to prevent the darkness from creeping into our lives? No. Then how are we supposed to do it? THROUGH JESUS CHRIST ALONE RELYING ONLY ON THE POWER WE HAVE RECEIVED THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT!!! There is no other way! So, with all that said the question still stands. What do I believe? Well, I'll tell you. God spoke to me when I was approximately 6 or 7 years old through a magnet on our refrigerator door. Though I didn't understand it at the time, after all these years, I have been reminded of it yet again through these challenging, pruning times: "God said it, I believe it, that settles it."