I want to challenge everyone and anyone reading this to pray for our generation. It makes me incredibly sad to see the youth of this generation wasting their lives with drugs, alcohol, sex, self-harm, and suicide. Life is meant to be celebrated, and kids of this generation are being led into the trap of death and destruction. Please pray that God will use this generation in a way no one expects! God Bless
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Posted by: Daniel Gow on April 19, 2007 3:57PM EST
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Amen! Hallujah! I find it so encouraging when I find out I am not the only one who is praying for this! You are right we are a generation that is so easily led into sin and the entanglements of this world. But I firmly believe that one of the reasons that we are led so easily into is because we are crying out for truth and answers.
Yet the onlly answers that "seem" avaliable are the ones the world has to offer. Why is that? We as christians have the answers in Gods word. We claim to be excited about God and His word yet why do so few people really see it as the answer? And why do so many not even consider it as a possiblity?
Because we as Christians are afriad! Were afriad to speak out. But even more then that we unfortunatly dont appear to be any different then they are. So why would they consider God and His word an answer for there problems when the people "who claim" to follow live with the same exact problems and are just as confused as they are?
Logicly they conclude based on observation that we are no better off then they are.
I am going post some articles and repost some of my other previouse post that will explain what I am getting at. I dont have to time to retype it all lol.
First is an article I wrote and is a post which is called a dying and explains how we got to where we are today as a nation and really a generation.
A dying nation, that’s what America is, we see it all around us. History tells us that the Roman Empire collapsed in a very similar way. They became a major power, one that was just and powerful, but then became self centered (self loving) and self serving. Their citizens became more concerned with their own lives and personal interests than with the interests of their neighbors and nation. As a result, with the people no longer understanding or caring, the nation was attacked. It was split in half, then broken into smaller districts and it eventually fell into the hands of smaller insignificant powers, because they were not internally ready.
I have just shown you how the Roman Empire fell. Now I want us to look at how the U.S. is on a very similar path, and how I believe we can avoid it and restore our nation and its people. I invite you to please read closely, consider with an open mind and logically look at all the aspects.
First we need to look at why we founded this nation. Why did we? It was more then just wanting to rule ourselves, though that was a large part of it. Why did the Boston pilgrims come? They came because of religious freedom, to get away from the religious persecution of the king in England. They wanted the right to say, think, and believe what they believed was right. Another example is the Amish, they were German immigrants. Once again they came because they wanted religious freedom. They wanted to think and believe what they believed was right. Now, before I move on you are thinking great, “here he goes on the Christian string”. I am a Christian, but the two examples I just used were not of the same idea. The English and Amish belief systems were very different. With that said, please keep an open mind and hear or read me out.
Now that was reason one, religious freedom. The Second reason, and the one that started to cause the first and earliest ideas of a free nation, was that we wanted a ruling government here in the colony. The king was across the ocean and rarely heard from. So we set up a provisional congress that created laws and was under the king of England.
Then the French and Indian War, huge massive amounts of money were purged into this from England. The king wanted to be paid back so he began taxing the colonies outrageously. This was the final straw; we refused to pay and won our national freedom.
Now Religious freedom, self government, and injustice, these were the reasons America was founded, but the very first reason was religious freedom. As U.S. citizens we have been given the right to choose how were are to live and what religion we wish to be (if you choose to have a religion), but we are given the right to choose. I want to ask you? Are we really given the right to choose? Think about it? I can be a Christian, but in school I have to read, learn, and recite evolution as a fact of life. I am for all intensive purposes saying that I accept evolution as truth…fact.
Yet we say, I (or you) are given the right to choose or not choose religion. Evolution teaches everything came from nothing, there was no intelligent design. This means I must “accept that as truth”. If there was no intelligent design then that means there is no God! But am I allowed to choose to believe that, or not? Unfortunately, no I am not. If I do not do the assignments and learn evolution I will flunk my class. The choices are acceptance or failure, but if I accept evolution rather than religion I fail my “chosen beliefs” no matter which way I choose, I must fail one or the other. This is a no win, scenario which causes students to be in turmoil, and in a constant internal personal conflict, between success in school and being allowed to exercise their chosen religion fully.
This kind of conflict can cause insecurity, fear, and emotional instability. Since they don’t know what to choose they usually end up doing the school work, yet inside they feel guilty for betraying what they believe. What if they gave up their chosen religion and dove ahead into evolution and accepted it as fact. What would be their purpose in life? “I am here by chance only, and I am going to have to fight against the very forces of this universe to live for 80 years, then return to dust and have never achieved anything.” This realization will cause a person to do one of two things, push it out of there mind and focus on the tasks at hand. Or they will become depressed, angry, worn out, and ultimately feel worthless becoming a very miserable person who never enjoys things around him or herself.
Who would want to ignore a fact of life that the science they learn and believe in teaches so clearly, or worse, face it, recognize it, and just give up and be bitter for all life? None of these are very convincing to me, and if you are being honest with yourself they aren’t to you either.
Ok, very interesting, what does this have to do with our “dying nation”? We will bring this all together in the end and I hope that it clicks with you.
The first step to decay was removing an honest and fair choice of religious freedom, and the second step was the removal of God from how we think.
This is all a result of an evolution thinking pattern, or another term atheism. George Washington said “you can’t have national morality apart from religious principles”. Where is our morality? Sex is so casual in our culture, it is so disgusting. God said sex was for marriage and marriage only. To do it outside of marriage or with someone other then your spouse is sin. God is holy and just and he will as a holy and just God punish for such an act, AIDS. God has inlayed a written punishment for breaking His law about sexual morality. You say “no, it just came about?” No, it has been around for decades, centuries. We didn’t know about it simply because very few people have ever broken this law. Even if they didn’t break it, they knew instinctively that it was a wrong and bad idea.
Our morality is gone! Our decency is lost to us, because we chose not to listen to the warning and guidelines of a loving God. His book (the Bible) has endured for thousands of years and people have followed it, and they never had the problems we are experiencing today.
After we compromised our sexual integrity what else mattered? When the thing that represents to us our ultimate purity is no longer there what is murder, lust, pride, hate, and drugs? Hey if it makes you feel good why not, right? Our culture says: “hey guys you see a girl and lust after her, perfectly normal. If you’re angry hit something or take it out on someone, we understand, we all do it. Hate? It’s there fault not mine, it’s ok to be angry. Pride? No mom I won’t take the garbage out, or no I didn’t do that, or I am right and you’re wrong. Well you’re right for you and I’m right for me. Drugs? Hey man, if you feel like it go right ahead everyone does it.” What? What is this?
In the 1930’s, 40’s and even the 50’s this kind of thinking and theology would have astonished everyone…even teenagers. What happened? Where did our internal moral consciences’ go? The 60’s-80’s this is the third and most immediate threat and last step and reason to our decay.
What do I mean? Abraham Lincoln said “the philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next”. That is exactly what happened, somebody decided that the world needed to have love, and that person was very right. However what the “hippies” and the rest of the people didn’t understand was the kind of love required. They showed physical acts of love, and were without a doubt very good at it, but what is love? It can be defined as “a purposeful act of self giving for the good of others”. The hippies decided that love meant you give and take whatever you want and because of so called “love” no one would care. Wrong! The love the hippies demonstrated was a physical love yes, but a truer name for it is “Love for Self”. Their actions proved this.
They started the idea of casual sex and drugs. Hey, “it feels good man, it must be good, right?” is what they would say. Sure it felt good. I look forward to the day when I am married and I can give myself to my wife whoever she is. If it wasn’t supposed to feel good I wouldn’t desire it or anticipate it, but the good for the immediate is never the good for the long run. As a result of their actions AIDS and HIV went from small problems to a problem of epidemic proportions. Drugs became a widely accepted and factor of the teen life. As they graduated their younger brothers and sisters continued what they saw the older ones do. When they had kids their kids said, “well my parents did it so why not.” and the parents didn’t stop them.
When these “actions of self love” left them empty and never able to be filled, but wanting x amount of times more then when they started they became angry, depressed, and desperate. They then turned to drugs and drinking to forget their problems.
Do you see the steps that led to the philosophy and life style that surrounds us today? “The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next”. That statement is so true, the damage is done.
A dying nation, what is a nation? It is people; it consists of citizens and people. We are losing the right to choose for ourselves what to believe, we have lost or sense of morality, and have become a self serving or “self loving people.” What happened to the Romans in their final days? They became a self serving and self centered or “self loving” people. No one cares any more what the consequences of their actions are, they simply act without thinking. You see when we lost our ability to choose how to think, we lost or morality and moral structure, and when that happened we no longer had a standard to draw conclusions from what is right and what is wrong. Our thinking is “you do whatever you want and I will do whatever I want.” That is because we no longer know how to draw good conclusions; we have devised a theology that has set us on the path of destruction, which is self centeredness and self loving or serving. The foundation is weakened and the weight is heavy, it is only a matter of time before it crashes in and down.
So when we eliminate the Word of God from the class room and politics, you eliminate the nation that Word protects.
Ok, you got me, you’re right our nation is dying, but what do we do now? We find God and become Christians? What if I don’t want to?
Salvation is a choice, but I can’t make you accept Christ. That is 100% between you and God. Would I like for all Americans to become Christians who want to live for God 100%? Yes, I would like that very much, but I didn’t write this paper for that reason. I want you to see what has happened and to get you to take action and help restore our nation.
Before the 60’s what shaped our thinking? Religion? God’s word! The Bible. Or more specifically the principles and standards God has set for us to follow. You’re saying “hey you’re making me believe the Bible. This is no better evolution!” No, I am not making you believe it; I am asking you to please look at what life was like before things changed. People helped one another; AIDS and HIV were not a problem. Murder and violence was not anywhere near as high as it is today. Rape was almost non existent. Love wasn’t about self pleasure, people showed love by helping others without expecting anything in return. Does this sound so bad? What is so bad about it? Why don’t we want to go back to it?
Because we are prideful and don’t want to admit that we are not the ultimate authority, we don’t want to admit we were and still are wrong and that God and His way was and still is right. We don’t want to do the work required to get back to it, I can’t tell you everything that would be involved, and it would be a huge undertaking, but it would be worth it.
Ok, it’s worth it and I know it will be hard, but how do I get there? I can’t change everything on my own. What do I do? What Abraham Lincoln said was true “the philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next”. It is time to put God and His word back into our lives. Into my generation and in the generations to come just like those that came before us.
It worked before! And we know that unless we do something, this current philosophy will destroy our nation. I don’t know what will happen if Gods’ word isn’t put back into America. Our generation is twisted and so perverted I don’t want to figure out what the effect is going to be, but I do know what will happen if we return to Gods’ way. God was our foundation for our nation, we removed Him and we are crumbling, put Him back in and we will become strong again.
My next one was a letter (email) to my leaders and fellow ministry team members from my church. It talks about how we need to be right before God before we can minister and expected to be used to change others.
Preparing Our Hearts for Ministry
Hi everyone its Dan Gow. I’ve been having a thought recently about preparing our hearts. You know how we always pray that God would prepare our hearts for ministry this week? Well I was thinking what do we do to prepare our hearts? I mean do we let the Holy Spirit convict us and get rid of sin or questionable materials and activities?
What I am thinking is how we can ask God to prepare our hearts when we haven’t even tried to prepare it ourselves. I understand God giving us desires for doing our best for Him and giving us desires for the lost. How can God prepare our hearts when we haven’t prepared them for His leading?
How can God use us to bring change in other people’s lives when we aren’t willing to change our own? How can we bear fruit in our lives if we have weeds (sin) all around us?
I know, I am asking a lot of questions here but I can’t help it. These are the things that I have been thinking about and this is why.
I have a desire for our ministry team to be used by God to bring revival to our nation. Wow Dan that’s pretty big. You might even laugh at that. Why? Why do we laugh when hear people talk about this? We think it is impossible? Nothing is impossible! I know this, believe this, and am convinced of it to the core of my existence.
I have been growing and learning and having a relationship with God that I never thought was possible. I feel so close to God it is amazing! And He wants so much for us to know and love Him and He wants to use us! I am convinced of it. The things that have been impossible to ignore. The growth I have been experiencing, the change in the lives of people around me like Sam, Doc talking about honoring and giving God our best, and watching facing the giants where we learned and saw that nothing is impossible with God!
I am not trying to set myself up on pedestal. Only God knows how many times I have failed in places where He has convicted me over the last 7 weeks. How many times I could have been reading and praying but I didn’t. I am exactly where you guys are. But that doesn’t change the fact of what I believe God has wanted me to say.
For weeks I have wanted to tell you all what has been going on in my life. How I believe and know that God will use us to bring revival. But I was afraid you would laugh at me. You still might but I don’t care now. I want what God wants no matter what the cost! And I want each and every one of you to want that too. I pray for all of you daily and ask that God will show you His love, grace, mercy, and strengthen you in the way that only He can. We have been learning about giving God our best right? And honoring Him and others? Well I challenge you and ask you today have you been giving God your best? Not only on ministry is team, but I’m talking about in everything. Guys your relationships with your girlfriend or girls with your boyfriend? Are you honoring to God? In our school work do we do our best and honor God in all of our assignments? At home with your brothers and sisters and parents? Do you honor them and give them your best for God’s sake?
This is what I believe Preparing Our Hearts for ministry is all about. Not only giving God our best when on the team but especially when we’re not. This is what the old man meant in “facing the giants” when he said “are you preparing for rain?”. Are we preparing for rain? Take a guess how many decisions I am praying for Saturday night? Just guess right now.
200! Yep that’s right and God can do it! I believe that if we give God our best and leave the results up to Him this week we will see Him work in ways we never thought possible. Now if there is only 1 decision or 5 or more then 200. No matter how many it is I will still rejoice. But I believe that things can start to happen if we start to let Him have His way in our lives right now and always!
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!” Philippians 4:13 I claim this verse as truth and I hope and pray that you all claim it along with me too.
It also says in Philippians 2:12-15 “Therefore my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe!
And in 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 “We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us We implore you on Christ behalf: Be reconciled to God, God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the Righteousness of God” We are the ambassadors of Christ! Are we prepared to represent Him? Are we preparing our hearts for ministry? Are we preparing for rain?
Thank you for reading this and I hope it was an encouragement.
In Christ Daniel Gow
I have more but I am afriad you might think I am trying to be a holier then thou sort of thing. That is not my intention please dont take what I have written that way. I am in full agreement with you and hope the articles I have posted will be of some help and an encouragment to you and anyone who reads them.
