Why The Good News is Better Than T.V. News

If you watch any news station for more than 5 minutes, I’m sure you’ll notice that the bad news far outweighs the good. America is addicted to bad news. Every time you go to the grocery store or to the gas station on the corner you see the tabloid magazines advertising who is cheating on who and which celebrity packed on a few too many pounds.

Why is this? Is it because so many people’s lives are boring and so lackluster they try to escape the monotonous groove of their lives? Well, maybe that is part of it, but I think it goes deeper than this.

God said in His word “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV)

Many, many, many believers know these verses, or at least the first of those. They hold it true because it is God’s promise to prosper us and help, and that He would never do anything bad to us and that anything wrong that does come into our lives is not Him. It is His promise to take care of us, that our lives aren’t just some random cosmic mistake, that everything that has come to pass and will come to pass is not just some entropic phenomenon. Our lives are guided, and He has promised to to be that light in the dark we only have to acknowledge.

But as we may know, something wants to keep us from that knowledge. The enemy is so intent on filling our heads with bad news and lies that nothing is safe from the filth he puts forth. He figures the more dirt and gunk he piles into us, the less room there will be for the goodness God has PROMISED us. But his theory has a fatal flaw: it is completely unfounded.

Bad news generates fear and worry. It is darkness that tries to swallow up every bit of happiness and hope it can. But there are two more very good things God promised us. The first is that “…perfect love casts out fear…” (1st John 4:18 annotated) This good in part because we know that God has perfect love for us. He gave His only begotten son Jesus to die and purify us so we could live with Him (John 3:16) and Him in us (Galatians 2:20) but also that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). God Himself casts out fear personally.  GREAT NEWS!

The second thing God promised us is that we will never be alone. He will never leave us or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:8, Hebrews 13:5). This is great news because no matter how alone you feel, how lonely you get, or how miserable you think life has gotten, God is always there, sometimes people just forgot to look. Sometimes people forget that God’s word is also His promise, and that the Bible is a book full of promises. But I digress.

The enemy loves all this bad news so much because it makes us feel like God isn’t here anymore. I believe this is an intentional attack on people yes, but specifically on believers. It is an attack to try and make us forget God’s promise to be there and to forget that He even said it. His flawed theory is that is we believe that God isn’t with us anymore then we won’t remember or call on His promises and leave Him behind. But even though people sometimes leave God behind, He will never do the same to us. He promised, remember?

So the next time you see a news channel spewing forth a bunch of filth, turn it off. Talk to your family or friends about your day, read a book, or just meditate. Try even reading your bible(if you feel led to). Just remember that joy comes in the morning, but sometimes it takes a while for the morning to get here. Push for the breakthrough and remember God’s promises.

Be blessed

Don’t Pick the Harvest Before It’s Ripe

Many times when I want to learn more about how God operates and how He works, I look to nature. There are many examples of how nature reflects the nature of God, one of those being a crop harvest.

Have you ever tasted certain fruit or vegetables before they are ripe and ready? Normally they have a bitter, if not extremely unpleasant taste. Don’t get me wrong, I know people who like certain foods before they are ripe, such as many people in the southern United States and “fried green tomatoes”. However even the flavor these have cannot be compared to that which they have when they are fully ripe, not to mention the full extant of the nutritional value they possess after they have been properly nourished.

You see if you take the fruit from its source too quickly, it is not properly nourished because the source is the place where everything it needs comes from. The same can be said about almost every aspect of life, but I think it is particularly applicable to Christians.

If you remember Moses, he was 80 years old before He came back to Egypt to lead the Hebrews away to Canaan. “But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel… When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.” (Acts 7 23,30).

Many of us want God to initiate us NOW and use us NOW, but sometimes the now is best used for nourishment and preparation. Moses was 40 when he killed the Egyptian taskmaster and fled to Midian. He was in Midian for 40 years before he encountered the burning bush. That means he was at LEAST 80 years old when he returned to pharaoh with Aaron. I am convinced that God, being as strategic and Intentional as He is, didn’t just let Moses wander around the desert in Midian for 40 years and not teach him anything. Moses may not have realized it was God teaching him, but it was God indeed. What was Moses’ job while in Midian? A shepherd. What did he do for the children of Israel? He shepherded them.

If you attempt to step into the destiny and purpose you are called for before the time it and you are ready, it will be bitter and you will not see the fullness of what God has planned. Even though it seems like your walk is becoming stagnant or plateauing, you never know what kind of breakthrough God has in store for you. Stay with the source, stay in God’s presence and rest in Him until He releases you to that task, for there is another example of how nature reflects God’s nature.

On my grandparents land, there was a pear tree. We loved eating them because the fruit was sweet nourishing. But we always knew the best fruit were the ones who had just very recently detached from the stems and fallen from the tree or were very easy to pick. These pears had the proper amount of time and feeding to be able to become pear trees themselves one day. Remember that God is always intentional and though it may seem like you are going nowhere, He is actually implanting you with a knowledge you desperately need for the rest of your journey.

Be blessed.