Fulfilling the Destiny of Our Nation 2

Fulfilling Our Nation’s Destiny–Part 2–by Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

            Last week our focus was on the truth that the fulfillment of our nation’s destiny lies within the hearts of our nation’s believers. God’s justice is dispensed based on what is happening in the hearts of His people and not on what is happening in the hearts of others.  Believers are the representatives within each nation who carry the destiny that God sees for our nation. 

Proverbs 14:34 declares, “Righteousness exalts a nation.” Righteousness that exalts a nation is not righteousness as determined by man.  Through the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary, righteousness has been imputed to those who have accepted Him as Lord and Savior. (Romans 4: 22-25): Speaking of Abraham, Paul writes, “And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.”  To impute is to assign, to empower, to allot.  When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, God assigns righteous to us and empowers us to live righteously in Him. 

Righteous living is seen in those who honor God by following His ways.  (John 14:15) Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”  Through our imputed righteousness in Jesus Christ, we are to live lives that honor Him. Not only does righteous living honor God, but righteous living also brings blessing into our lives. Many blessings come to us because, through the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we are able to make better choices.  God’s Holy Word has given us a road map to attaining the heart attitude for righteous living.  Joshua, Chapter Five, is only one of many passages of scripture that outline the heart attitude for righteous living—righteous living that exalts a nation.

In Joshua 5, the Israelites had followed the Ark of the Covenant across the Jordan River near Jericho.  The conquering of the Promised Land was both historical and spiritual.  The battles represent spiritual battles we must all overcome in order to walk fully in the promises of God in this life.  Israel came out of Egypt with a slave mentality, wandered in the wilderness for forty years, and developed into a nation empowered to fulfill God’s destiny for them.  God prepared them spiritually for the battles ahead.  The first step was consecration. 

All those who had left Egypt had entered into a covenant with Jehovah through circumcision.  However, all those who had left Egypt, except Joshua and Caleb, had died in the wilderness.  Although they were God’s chosen, the new generation had not yet entered into the covenant and had to be circumcised as a sign of their consecration unto the Lord.  Consecration comes as we embrace what God has prepared for us and choose to walk with Him in covenant.  Consecration goes hand in hand with biblical regeneration. 

“Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17). Regenerated people can testify that things are different now. We have received a new power and pattern for living. Regeneration and consecration bring with them new life, and new desires and new goals. 

In the New Covenant, the sign of consecration is baptism. In believer’s baptism, those who have accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior, enter into the baptismal waters to declare their decision to leave the old life behind and enter into a new life consecrated to our heavenly Father.  (Romans 6:4)

It is in that new life consecrated to God that we will become more than conquerors in the chaotic world around us. It is there that believers will, through righteous living and intercession, fulfill the destiny that God sees for our nation. When we believers humble ourselves, pray, seek His face and turn from our wicked ways, God will forgive our sin and heal our land. (2 Chronicles 7:14.)

Father, we pray for Your guidance to walk in the righteousness that You have imputed to us.  We covenant with You to leave our old lives of defeat and discouragement behind and to walk victoriously in Jesus Christ. Father, through Your grace, the righteousness of Your people will exalt our nation.  Amen

Freedom 5

Standing in the Freedom of Christ

Part 5

Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Galatians 5:1 For freedom did Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage.

                        God is calling us to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds” and to face each day and each tomorrow with optimism because of the hope we have in Him.  "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23). The question is, “How do we keep our hearts set on hope rather than despair?”

          Paul’s epistle to the Philippians is often called the “Epistle of Joy.” Paul wrote that epistle while “in bonds in Rome.”  Far from home and under house arrest, he penned Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice.”  Paul rejoiced because he believed in the promises of God.  He rejoiced in the knowledge that his arrest had spurred others to preach the gospel.  He rejoiced because he focused on his relationship with the Lord rather than his situation.  He lived the words that he wrote in Romans 8:38-30, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

          How do we keep our hearts set on hope rather than despair?  We turn, as Paul did, to the promises in the Word of God:  “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Colossians 3:2) “Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” (Philippians 4:8) “As he thinks in his heart, so he is.” (Proverbs 23:7) To keep our hearts, we must carefully choose our thoughts.  We must set our minds on the things of God rather than the things of the world.  We must remember that no matter what is happening around us, because of Jesus Christ, we have hope. When we have hope, we can experience joy and rejoice in Him.

          In the King James Bible, “joy” is mentioned 187 times and “rejoice” 240.  Nehemiah 8:10 reminds us that the joy of the Lord is our strength.  When circumstances are difficult, and our current circumstances are difficult, an optimistic mindset and a joyful heart will strengthen us to overcome.

          In Jesus Christ, we have the freedom to be optimistic.  Because of who He is, and who we are in Him, we can forget the things that are behind, allow His grace to make us victorious in Him in spite of our current circumstances and reach forward in expectant hope to the things that are ahead. (Philippians 3:14).

          Remember Romans 8:28:  “All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.”  Love for God and obedience to Him are the keys to setting our minds on hope rather than despair.

Freedom 4

Standing in the Freedom of Christ

Part 4

Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Galatians 5:1 For freedom did Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage.

            Last week we discussed the importance of walking out of the bondage of the past so that we are free to live in the present and the future.  The only thing we can do about the past is to resolve its issues with forgiveness and move on and allow God to use both our past and our present to shape our future.

          Many times current situations may cause us to fear the future and to long for the past which we often romanticize through the process of selective memory.  Because of the promises of God, we need not fear the future.  In Jeremiah 29:11, God said, ”For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” At that time, God was speaking to the captives in Babylon.  He was speaking to a people whose sin had blinded them to their destiny.  Though they had forgotten the destiny that God had designed for them, God had not forgotten.  God does not change, and He is no respecter of persons.  What He had in mind for the Babylonian captives, He has in mind for you.  God has designed a peaceful future and a hope for you as well.  In Christ, we have the freedom and the authority to live in the destiny that God has designed for us.

          The Message Bible translates Ephesians 1:4-6, 11-12, “⁴Long before He laid down earth’s foundations, He had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of His love, to be made whole and holy by His love. ⁵Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) ⁶He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.. . ¹¹It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, He had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, ¹²part of the overall purpose He is working out in everything and everyone.”

          Because God desires to bestow His lavish love upon us, we do not have to allow either our past or our present to prevent us from looking forward with hope and expectancy. In Living Your Destiny, Graham Cooke states, “All of the tests you presently face are there to develop you into the person you need to be to live your destiny. Everything you are going through has been aligned by God to forge you into the person He has called you to be. Your destiny is unfolding before your very eyes.

          “When we embrace the idea that God has a plan for us, no issue should be able to stop us. The statement, “This situation will be the death of me,” is completely incorrect. The truth is that this situation will make you into who you are destined to be. God partners with our present situation to prepare us for the future He has designed. He uses every test, every challenge, every hurdle, every issue to sharpen us for what is to come.”

          God’s lavish love transcends the chaotic world around us.  He desires to bless us in our circumstances, through our circumstances and in spite of our circumstances. We can rejoice in the Lord because He has good thoughts toward us to give us peace and a future and a hope.