Politics And Guarding The Heart

I became politically active in 1964, when Barry Goldwater ran against Lyndon Johnson. I was only 14 years old.

I've campaigned, planted signs, made phone-bank calls, done door-to-door flyers, attended rallies, written speeches.

In the late 60's, while half the country was going Left and anarchic, I went Right and Republican. I attended anti-communist John Birch Society meetings, led by Fred and Ethel [not their real names], a husband and wife who became my good friends.

But politics can't satisfy the heart, and I was lost as lost could be, until 1976, when God reached down and opened my heart to Jesus Christ.

As a new believer, I still took an active interest in political happenings, but the rabid hand-wringing and fighting ceased. I began to see the sovereignty of God in everything. I saw that the history that was unfolding was God's history, and that He was raising up and bringing down men and nations at will.

I began attending a wonderful church in 1976, and lo and behold, there were my friends Fred and Ethel, Christians who had told me about the Lord, but not with the enthusiasm they had for fighting the Communist Conspiracy.We became friends again, but Fred was always distraught about "the state of the Government and the World".

I was now engaged in ministry, and politics took a seat way in the back by comparison. Fred would have none of it. He seemed to truly love the Lord, but his crusade was a political one, seeking to save the world by politics, and it drove him over the edge. In the early 80's, Ethel went home one day and found Fred dead, hanging from a rope.

Devoid of understanding the sovereignty of God in nations, and not understanding that the Kingdom of God is not of this world, Fred thought things had gotten out of God's hand.

He couldn't have been more wrong.

"Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness..." That's what's of primary importance to us. And that means that we not only witness of our Lord Jesus Christ, it means we rest in Him and His sovereignty, even while we support our candidates according to our consciences.

And it means that our faith should work itself out in love (Gal. 5:6) . . . Love for Republicans, and Democrats, and political opponents, and other ethnic groups, and immigrants (legal and otherwise), and Muslims, and even terrorists (though the Government doesn't bear the sword for nothing -- Rom. 13:4).

Otherwise, we're just clanging cymbals (1 Cor. 13:1), and our politics has become our God in practice.

Government Intrusion Inevitable Without Morality

By Michele Rayburn

I cannot forget that our second President, John Adams, said, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other." This means that when the people cease to be a moral people, then government intrusion will be inevitable.

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness..." Isaiah 5:20

Without the people pursuing God and His righteousness, the inevitable result of having a godless, immoral society is to have the government regulate their behavior, instead of God doing it through their consciences. If the people have no moral restraints of their own, then someone must restrain them.

Ideally, and hopefully soon, God will once again become the Restrainer of our morality. But people have yet to believe that God is the only One Who can restrain us. He does it spiritually. He has to change our "heart of stone" first, as the Bible says, and give us a "heart of flesh".

The only way to end abortion is for people to have a change of heart. That change has to come from God. And those that already know Him must pray for America daily, that He will revive us again.

For many, there is some worry and even some anger as we see these things unfold---an apathetic, increasingly godless nation that seems to be unconcerned about virtually everything, including what is going on in our government.

As long as people go further and further away from the knowledge of the true God, and have no moral foundation or moral restraints, it will become inevitable that we will see the government take over more and more of our lives. They are doing it partly for our safety, but mostly to take advantage of us in their quest for power, ignoring the real solution to our "heart" problem, because they are ignoring God.

But we should look at all these things unfolding like a tapestry, from God's point of view, and trust Him as the Grand Designer. Know that He is in control of this whole situation, and that nothing happening in America escapes His notice or confounds His Master Plan. There is a Plan and Purpose for these events unfolding the way they are. And I just hope that many will find peace of mind in trusting God for the outcome of all these events.

I began studying politics because I wanted to see what God was doing in that arena of life. I find it fascinating and appalling at the same time. If it were not for my faith in the Sovereign God, Who is in control of all things, I would be robbed of my joy. But since I do know Him, I am able to hold onto Him, steadfast in my faith, unable to be moved (spiritually speaking) by the shocking things going on in our country.

It is good and important to know what is going on in our country, and to stand for what is right. But it is vital to not lose sight of the Sovereign God, Who is in total control of all these events---though it may not seem like it most of the time.

That's what faith is.

Mopping Up The Battlefield Of Your Mind (Audio)

Mopping Up The Battlefield Of Our Mind

Grace For Life audio archives are here.

Mopping Up The Battlefield Of The Mind

2 Cor. 10:4,5 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

We want to look particularly at that last part of the passage, “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”

But first let’s look a little closer at the first part of this passage.

We won’t go into a great deal about the first part of the passage today, but it’s important. The picture God is painting here is one of storming and conquering a fortress, or castle. There are a lot of aspects to this, like our spiritual armor, prayer, the Word of God itself, faith, and so forth. But the most important thing in this raiding of the Castle of Evil is the Gospel itself.

Where's The Power?

We are not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God for salvation to those who believe. (Rom 1:16). Did you get that? Don’t take this lightly. Do you know that you will never really change a person in the core of their being?

You may clean them up and make them look better and make them a better businessman or public speaker, or more successful, or more powerful personally or politically, but may I ask the question the Scripture asks? “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but foreits his soul?”

You see the fortress or castle that we want to pull down is the Kingdom of darkness that has enslaved every man and woman since Adam and Eve. It’s the Kingdom of lies, and the lies are against the One who is the Truth, and the Way and the Life.

And the primary thing that pulls down that fortress, that Kingdom of darkness, is the Gospel, because it not only shines truth in the darkness, it actually has the POWER to change the heart. To grant the free gift of a new spirit, to make a new creation.

But enough on the first part of our passage, let’s look at the real subject of our message today, 2 Cor 10:5 bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

Bring Every Thought Captive

Do you know what a "mopping-up" operation is in warfare?

After a battle is won, the battle is seldom ever totally over. There is always a stray enemy sniper here, an enemy soldier playing possum over there, waiting to jump up and knife you when you walk by, some enemy troops who were out on patrol, and arrive back, not even knowing there was a battle.

Sometimes just those enemies who escape into the hills and never give up. You may have heard of the Japanese soldiers we found on an island, I think it was in the 1960’s. They were cut off from communications, and they never knew that World War II was over.

Anyway, 2 Cor 10:5, bringing every thought into captivity is the mopping-up operation in the battles that the Gospel has already won. Are you a Christian? Then the battle for your soul has already been won.

The Gospel, which is the power of God, won you. The enemy's desire to keep you in his kingdom was foiled. You are a child of God. Your sins are forgiven, you have eternal life, and you are destined to forever be present with your King in heaven.

But there are still some snipers out there, there are still some enemies pretending to be dead, there are still some who don’t even know the battle is won. And they will seek to deceive you, and hinder your walk.

They will seek to deny the Word of God, while you don’t even know they’re denying it. They will seek to make you think things that will hinder you from having the fruit of the Spirit in your daily life, because lies have a way of quenching the Spirit and keeping us from being filled with the Spirit.

The Worst Lies Fall Into Three Categories:

1.Lies about God Himself.

Lies about God may include that He Himself is a liar, or that he may not really love us, or that He may not really judge those who reject Christ with the Lake of Fire, or that He is not just, or that He is not all-powerful, or that He doesn’t know the future, or that He didn’t really raise Jesus from the dead, or that Jesus is not God, and on and on.

These are often the foundations for false religions and cults, but they are not absent from the visible church.

2.Lies about man.

These may include lies like all men are born good, or man is really divine, or man can save himself by his good works. Other lies revolve around the condition of the born-again believer. Like saying that we are just the same as we were before being saved, except forgiven, instead of the truth that we are new creations who love God and hate sin.

Or lies that we are not really righteous, even though God’s Word clearly says that we have been justified, declared righteous, because of Christ’s death on the cross.

3.Lies about the Word of God, the Bible.

If the enemy can get you to doubt the Word of God, even as a believer, he has gained one of his biggest footholds in hindering your spiritual walk.

Especially regarding the New Covenant, and the wonderful love and acceptance that God has for you, because of His grace, His free gift of righteousness and salvation. If the enemy can get you to doubt that, then you will shy away from Jesus in your daily life, instead of fellowshiping closely with Him.

Listen, He is your Daily Bread. He is the Life you feed on, indeed He is your very Life, if you are a Christian.

Anything that leads you away from the sweet communion with Him needs to be speared to death with the TRUTH of the Word of God. Every thought that comes to your mind needs to be measured. It’s a habit.

Get in the habit of measuring every thought by this:

Is it true according to the Word of my Lord and Savior?

Take those thoughts captive. Examine them. Throw the false ones in the garbage. Treasure the true ones. They will fill your heart with love for Jesus.

How Is The Mind The Battleground For Spiritual Warfare?

Often it's said that the battleground of the Devil is the mind. And we’ve seen there is truth to that. But how is the mind the battleground for spiritual warfare?

Follow me here:

Q. What does the mind do?
A. It thinks.

Q. What does it think?
A. It thinks thoughts.

Thoughts may be divided into two classes, truth and lies.


And that is the real "material" of spiritual warfare: truth vs. lies.


That's why the Scriptures speak of "doctrines of demons" (1 Tim. 4:1), because doctrines (teachings) of demons are lies. It's truth that sets us free, and it's lies that put us in bondage of various kinds.

Where Is The Authoritative Truth?

Which leads us to the question, "Where is authoritative truth?"

Well, it's in the Scriptures. That's why we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds. (Rom. 12:1,2)

And the Devil and demons are not our only enemies. There are also the World and the Flesh. Any one of the unholy three (the World, the Flesh, and the Devil) is able to de-rail us, if we are not filled with the Truth of the Word of God.

How are we filled with the Word of God?

I would recommend five ways:

1. Reading the Word, especially the New Testament epistles.

2. Studying the Word, perhaps using good commentaries, word studies, Bible dictionaries, etc.

3. Meditating on the Word. Thinking over each passage, asking questions like Who, What, When, Where, Why?

4. Praying the Word. Asking God to teach us, and equip us with His grace, to understand and be able to live each passage, as it is applied to our lives.

5. Perhaps most important, always relating the Word to Jesus Christ, Who is the Living Word.

He who is our Life, Jesus Christ, Who is one in spirit with us believers, is the Object of the Scriptures. All Scriptures point to Him, and He is Truth personified. Seek Him in every passage. He is our Bread. Feed on Him. Don't view the Scriptures as just some kind of rule book or map. It breathes Christ! Our Savior, our Lord, our Counselor, our Friend!

When you recognize a lie, renounce it. Put it away.

But be sure to replace it with the truth.

Practice the truth. Seek it out. Don't let a lie rest. Root it out. Pray for the Lord to lead you in truth, which does indeed set us free. Stand on the truth. That's what the warfare is about. And taking captive your thoughts is the mopping-up operation.

"It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." -- Galatians 5:1

An Anniversary Story and the Sovereignty of God

In March of 1981, I was a new employee of the Dallas Times Herald newspaper. I sold advertising in the Classified Advertising Department.

As part of my training, they "tapped" the phones of experienced Classified Ad agents, so that I could listen in and hear the technique.

The first one I got to listen to had a voice that I fell in love with -- "love at first hear". Didn't know who it was, except they said her name was Michele.

A day or two later, on a break in the lunch room, I stood in line at the vending machine for a snack. In front of me was a beautiful girl with long black curled hair. After she got her snack out of the machine, she turned and smiled at me, and said, "Hi".

It was she. The voice.

That smile knocked me back with a rush of wind that blew me through the double doors and out into the street and up past the sky, surrounded by the stars in outer space, my head spinning, wondering where in the Galaxy I was.

Not really.

But something like that.

You'll have to believe me that I was not normally subject to such emotional mental breaks. I was a quite rational person, and had not been quick to make decisions regarding what the world calls love-life. I was, in fact, not looking for a wife, and who knows, might even have been content to remain a bachelor forever.

And that's why I am convinced that in the sovereignty of God, He moved me from Michigan...

...and moved Michele from Long Island, New York...

...to meet at a vending machine in a newspaper lunch room in Dallas, Texas.

The Lord put a love in my heart for Michele that I can only call "at first sight". But "at first sight" or not, I have since come to know her better and better, and that love has grown, as I've come to see more and more what an incredible person she is.

Smart, intuitive, caring, sensitive, soft, tough as nails, weak, powerful, and "completing" me in more ways than I can count.

We didn't stay in Dallas. Nice place, but it was just a rendevous point in Divine Destiny.

In 1984 we were married.

Twenty-eight years later, it's funny (and mysterious) how Michele to me is still that beautiful bride I watched come up the aisle.

And when she smiles, I'm back somewhere in the Milky Way, spinning around in the stars.

Some people think 28 years is a long time. Not me. It's a blink of an eye. I'm just grateful to God that I could spend this blink of an eye with Michele.

Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart.