Freedom, oh Freedom

Hey guys!
Second devo of the summer, whaddup! I've definitely been watching too much How I Met Your Mother. Here's a quick tangent about my Bible challenge from last week: if you really want to get in shape and lose weight, just ask God to help, cause He will. Wanna know how I know? You totally do.

Last Friday, I decided to go jogging for the first time in weeks, which was progress. Another quick tangent: if you want to learn verses from the bible, repeat them as you're running or jogging, it helps you to concentrate on something else besides that awful burning in your muscles. Okay, back to story: so, as you know, it's been very stormy here lately, and I knew it was going to rain,  but I knew it would be a while before it got here, so I decided, what the heck, let's go run. I had almost made it around my neighborhood, which is about 2.5 miles, I think, and I had that last half mile to go, when all of a sudden, TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR AND THUNDERRRRRRR. No kidding, if you want to get in shape, let God send you a storm when you're out running. You will never run faster in your life, unless you have Freddy Kruger behind you. When you're in that torrential downpour and you have an iPod in your hands, and especially since your last iPod died by drowning, you will reach Mach 2 speed. Okay, that's really exaggerating, but you get my point. Yet when I got home, I realized that I had been seriously contemplating walking that last half-mile when the rain came, so I thanked God for watching out for me and for being the coach I needed at the time, and also for not letting my iPod drown again. I would've cried.

Anyway, that's a tangent. This week's devotional I decided would talk about history and such, since it's Memorial Day! We had a evangelist, Dave Kistler, come and speak at our church last week. He works with H.O.P.E. Ministries, which is a ministry based in Washington D.C. to reach out to the congressmen and politicians of our country. What's neat is that they have printed a Bible called the American Patriot's Bible, which is an amazing combination of the Bible and the USA's founding and history of Christianity in our American history, from presidents' State of the Union addresses to the astronauts in Apollo 8 reading Genesis in their radio broadcast to the world. Every few pages you flip, there's something about our history and the prevalence of God in it. What's also neat is that this ministry has been able to give mostly every congressman one of these Bibles personally. I've been reading it since I bought one, and I swear, I've learned more about U.S. History than I did in high school! At least, about what our past president's and past leaders have said about God and this country.  For encouragement for our soldiers and for even the people who are not fighting, Deuteronomy is a good place to look.
Deuteronomy 20:1-4 says, "When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. So it shall be, when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people. And he shall say to them, Hear O Israel: Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them; for the Lord your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you."
In the American Patriot's Bible, on the next page of these verses is an excerpt from President Franklin D Roosevelt's State of the Union to Congress in 1939. I'm going to put the excerpt here, because it's the root of what I want this devotional to challenge you with.

"Storms from abroad directly challenge three institutions indispensable to Americans, now as always. The first is religion. It is the source of the other two - democracy and international good faith.

Religion, by teaching man his relationship to God, gives the individual a sense of his own dignity and teaches him to respect himself by respecting his neighbors.

Democracy, the practice of self-government, is a covenant among free men to respect the rights and liberties of their fellows.

International good faith, a sister of democracy, springs from the will of civilized nations of men to respect the rights and liberties of other men.

In a modern civilization, all three - religion, democracy, and international good faith - complement and support each other.

Where freedom of religion has been attacked, the attack has come from sources opposed to democracy. Where democracy has been over-thrown, the spirit of free worship has disappeared. And where religion and democracy have vanished, good faith and reason in international affairs have given way to strident ambition and brute force.

An ordering of society which relegates religion, democracy, and good faith among nations to the background can find no place within it for the ideals of the Prince of Peace. The United States rejects such an ordering and retains its ancient faith.

There comes a time in the affairs of men when they must prepare to defend, not their homes alone, but the tenets of faith and humanity on which their churches, their governments, and their civilization are founded. The defense of religion, of democracy, and of good faith among nations is all the same fight. To save one, we must now make up our minds to save all."

The challenge this week is this: it's for you to decide how important your faith is and the freedom you have to worship, because America is in quite a mess right now. Our economy is still struggling, we are on bad terms with several nations, and God is being pushed out of our government. President Roosevelt was a wise man; he also said "We cannot read the history of our rise and development as a nation without reckoning with the place the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of the Republic. Where we have been the truest and most consistent in obeying its precepts, we have attained the greatest measure of contentment and prosperity."

I believe that he was right, and the reason we're struggling today is that America is not looking to God and the Bible, but instead is trying to retain the pride this country has in any other way but looking to God. We need missionaries, not just abroad, but within our own country, in our local towns, on our college campuses, to reach out to our fellow citizens and show them the truth; that our country has been blessed from God on our founding in Him, and we're losing His blessing as our country pushes Him away. Ps. 107:11-16 depicts when people rebel against God, and they are in trouble, and have been brought down to the very bottom, that the people cry out to God and He delivers them again, and breaks their chains and brings them out of darkness. Our country is falling into this darkness, we need to pray to God to deliver us. This is a crucial time to make your decision to step up and minister to our country, because the next presidential election is coming up next year, and we need to pray for a leader who realizes this connection between religion and democracy and international good faith, like President Roosevelt did, to step up for our country. And we as citizens need to step up too, myself included. God told us in Deuteronomy 20 that He is with us and fighting for us. Give our troops those words of encouragement, and let them encourage you in fighting for the USA to retain its faith.

I hope all that made sense, I was motivated from reading this Bible and our past president's challenges to share what I read. Have a fabulous week!
-Kelsey

p.s. - If you'd like one of these Bibles, you can go to hopeministriesonline.org to order one, or you can also order from Barnes&Noble.