PEELING AWAY THE FLESH

Today is a new day. I will let go of yesterday. I must admit, it is difficult, but I will make the choice to do so. I must also admit, it is difficult to pray for this president...but I have, and I will continue to do so, and I do it because that is what is required of a person who wears the title, Christian, and sooner or later (hopefully sooner), I will sink into the peace that the Lord has waiting for me. You see, I am a very stubborn human...like a dog with a bone...hard to let go of things, sometimes. Amazing how much power we allow our flesh to have, even when we don't want it to! Paul said it perfectly in Romans 7:15-24 Romans 7:15-24 (AMP)

15 For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled, bewildered]. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe [which my moral instinct condemns].
16 Now if I do [habitually] what is contrary to my desire, [that means that] I acknowledge and agree that the Law is good (morally excellent) and that I take sides with it.
17 However, it is no longer I who do the deed, but the sin [principle] which is at home in me and has possession of me.
18 For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.]
19 For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing.
20 Now if I do what I do not desire to do, it is no longer I doing it [it is not myself that acts], but the sin [principle] which dwells within me [fixed and operating in my soul].
21 So I find it to be a law (rule of action of my being) that when I want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me and I am subject to its insistent demands.
22 For I endorse and delight in the Law of God in my inmost self [with my new nature].
23 But I discern in my bodily members [in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh] a different law (rule of action) at war against the law of my mind (my reason) and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs [in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh].
24 O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from [the shackles of] this body of death?

REMEMBERING 9/11

Where were you while we were being attacked by terrorists? I was in the kitchen. I could hear the news in the background. I heard them say something about a plane crashing into one of the twin towers. I went into the living room to see what was happening, and sat down just in time to see the other plane hit the second tower. I knew then that we were under attack. I remember sobbing for all those people...watching them hang out of windows, some jumping to their death, then to watch as the towers collapsed, crushing those trapped inside, along with the brave men and women who were in and near the towers, trying to rescue them. 

I remember how this nation literally became, once again, One Nation Under God. We rallied together in prayer. We found a renewed sense of community. We were determined to fight back, together. A lot has happened since then. Why are we so divided? A nation divided can not stand. A nation that boos God can not survive. We are in another civil war...brother against brother...neighbor against neighbor. 

We need a president that truly desires to bring us together and lead, putting God at the helm. We need an administration that is not divisive and that honestly loves this great nation that we are honored to live in. We do not have that kind of leadership. What we have is an empty chair.