I encourage you to go to the website at the bottom and watch the trailer for the movie, Choosing Life. The Roe v Wade decision was in 1973. I was 8 years old. I don't know when I became aware of abortion, but I do know that at the age of 13 years I picketted a hospital that was performing abortions. This cause has always been on my heart. When we lived in West LA, I became aware of an abortion clinic right around the corner from our apartment. This wasn't any run of the mill clinic, it was a partial birth abortion clinic. After I picked the kids up from school each day, I would sit in my car outside this clinic and just pray. Pray for the women, pray for the Holy Spirit to convict the doctor, pray for those babies. I would sit there with the boys ages 2 and 5 and pray and cry.
I told a friend recently that a couple of verses kept springing into my mind. The verse is 1 Cor. 15:58, "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." Also, Eph. 6:13, "Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." The words "stand(ing) firm" and "stand your ground" appear together 16 times in the New Testament: Luke 21:19, 1 Cor. 10:12 & 16:13, 2 Cor. 1:21 & 24, Gal. 5:1, Eph. 6:13 & 14, Phil. 1:27 & 4:1, Col. 4:12, I Thes. 3:8, 2 Thes. 2:15, I Peter 5:9, and James 5:8. Twice it is mentioned in the Old Testament as a command: Exodus 14:13 and 2 Chron. 20:17.
these words "stand firm" kept flying in and out of my head for days. I was processing all the political propaganda taking place and "stand firm" kept skirting the edge of my consciousness, never present, yet always there. Eventually, all the political mumbo jumbo popped into place and "stand firm" was front and center. I have this vision of the Holy Spirit forming the words "stand firm" into a baseball bat and beating me over the head with it. What came together for me is this; We (who are called to be set apart, I Thes. 4:1-12 and in the world but not of it, John 17:11 & 14) are not to wage war as the world does (2 Cor. 10:1-5, especially vs. 3. I use NIV usually, but in this instance I particularly like the whole chapter in The Message translation.), but to stand firm, not to advance, just to stand, not to give in, but to stand, and not just stand but to stand firm. Stand on the word of God, stand on the principles laid out in the Bible. We as the body of Christ have failed in the arena of abortion. We gave it up while we slept, and when we woke, we wondered what happened and have been scrambling ever since to take back the ground we lost.
Friends, we are at war, not with Iraq or Iran or any country in the Middle East or Russia or the Republicans or Democrats or even each other. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Eph. 6:12. My question to myself is am I doing enough. I ask the same of you. I ask the Body of Christ, "Are we standing firm as One or are we slipping?" If so, why? Has Satan so infiltrated where we live and filled everyone with fear, that we forgot Who we belong to, and that We have ALREADY won? Have we forgotten Whose we are? Are we succumbing to "political correctness?" What about the idea that we aren't supposed to "talk about politics or religion" with one another. Who made up these cultural expectations? I can guarentee it wasn't God, or it would have been stated in the 12 commandments, instead of the 10. I don't know about you, but I'm going to follow Apostle Paul's example, "For my part, I am going to boast about nothing but the Cross of our Master, Jesus Christ. Because of that Cross, I have been crucified in relation to the world, set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into the little patterns that they dictate." Gal. 6:14 The Message
Get involved in organizations that are taking a stand on issues that clearly are close to God's heart. The one that put out the movie "Choosing Life," (the link is below) is called the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). They are standing firm.
I'll leave you with two verses that caught me a little off guard when I was reasearching the words "stand firm."
"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world." I John 2:15 & 16
http://choosinglifemovie.com/
I told a friend recently that a couple of verses kept springing into my mind. The verse is 1 Cor. 15:58, "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." Also, Eph. 6:13, "Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." The words "stand(ing) firm" and "stand your ground" appear together 16 times in the New Testament: Luke 21:19, 1 Cor. 10:12 & 16:13, 2 Cor. 1:21 & 24, Gal. 5:1, Eph. 6:13 & 14, Phil. 1:27 & 4:1, Col. 4:12, I Thes. 3:8, 2 Thes. 2:15, I Peter 5:9, and James 5:8. Twice it is mentioned in the Old Testament as a command: Exodus 14:13 and 2 Chron. 20:17.
these words "stand firm" kept flying in and out of my head for days. I was processing all the political propaganda taking place and "stand firm" kept skirting the edge of my consciousness, never present, yet always there. Eventually, all the political mumbo jumbo popped into place and "stand firm" was front and center. I have this vision of the Holy Spirit forming the words "stand firm" into a baseball bat and beating me over the head with it. What came together for me is this; We (who are called to be set apart, I Thes. 4:1-12 and in the world but not of it, John 17:11 & 14) are not to wage war as the world does (2 Cor. 10:1-5, especially vs. 3. I use NIV usually, but in this instance I particularly like the whole chapter in The Message translation.), but to stand firm, not to advance, just to stand, not to give in, but to stand, and not just stand but to stand firm. Stand on the word of God, stand on the principles laid out in the Bible. We as the body of Christ have failed in the arena of abortion. We gave it up while we slept, and when we woke, we wondered what happened and have been scrambling ever since to take back the ground we lost.
Friends, we are at war, not with Iraq or Iran or any country in the Middle East or Russia or the Republicans or Democrats or even each other. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Eph. 6:12. My question to myself is am I doing enough. I ask the same of you. I ask the Body of Christ, "Are we standing firm as One or are we slipping?" If so, why? Has Satan so infiltrated where we live and filled everyone with fear, that we forgot Who we belong to, and that We have ALREADY won? Have we forgotten Whose we are? Are we succumbing to "political correctness?" What about the idea that we aren't supposed to "talk about politics or religion" with one another. Who made up these cultural expectations? I can guarentee it wasn't God, or it would have been stated in the 12 commandments, instead of the 10. I don't know about you, but I'm going to follow Apostle Paul's example, "For my part, I am going to boast about nothing but the Cross of our Master, Jesus Christ. Because of that Cross, I have been crucified in relation to the world, set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into the little patterns that they dictate." Gal. 6:14 The Message
Get involved in organizations that are taking a stand on issues that clearly are close to God's heart. The one that put out the movie "Choosing Life," (the link is below) is called the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). They are standing firm.
I'll leave you with two verses that caught me a little off guard when I was reasearching the words "stand firm."
"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world." I John 2:15 & 16
http://choosinglifemovie.com/
