– 2 Tim 1:7.
I’m afraid. But not so much for myself or my loved ones. I’m afraid that the Church in America is ill prepared for the challenges and crises that lie before us. We have lived in fear for so long that we have allowed that which we fear to come upon us. Allow me to explain.
We were afraid of the evil that was all around us, so we withdrew our real spiritual selves from society and hid away inside our churches. Instead of possessing the land, we hide in the trenches and complain about how bad the world is getting and whine and cry out to God for a rescue.
We are afraid of the realm of the spirit, so we let that be the domain of occultists, spiritual guides, New Agers and the like, and wonder why we have spiritual strongholds ruling the spiritual atmosphere and lawlessness runs rampant in our cities.
We are afraid of a one-world religion, so we separate ourselves from our Christian brothers and sisters because they are different from us, or because we cannot totally agree on our interpretation of scripture. Meanwhile, the enemy is bringing his army together and preparing for war against our scattered forces. The stakes are high, and he has no intention of losing this battle.
We are afraid of a one-world government, so we have removed ourselves from the political process and allowed unrighteous leaders to possess the seats of power in our nation. We buy into the lie of the two party system and throw our votes away by choosing the lesser of two evils instead of uniting around those who represent our values and are willing to be unpopular with the status quo of DC.
We are afraid of technology, so we stubbornly cling to our old ways while the enemy makes use of all the newest and best communication and information delivery systems ever conceived by the mind of man.
Our fear has crippled us in our mission. Rather than possessing the land, we have forsaken the clear command of God to “have dominion” in the earth. Over the past few decades, we have lost precious ground that our forefathers shed their blood to possess for the glory of God. Now that which we have feared is fast coming upon us, because we have not personally risen up to fight the battles that God has called us to fight. We leave the fighting up to our pastors and spiritual leaders. Our cowardice will inevitably result in the loss of religious freedom and liberty to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom.
It is time for revolution. There is a cry in the land for justice, but man’s justice will always be flawed. It is God’s justice that we need, and that only comes when the genuinely righteous possess the gates of the land and show the way with God’s love and truth.
We must cast off our fear, and begin to embrace the facts. Either we rise up and take this call to societal transformation seriously, or we can resign ourselves to a future that has more misery, more rebellion, and less love than we can even imagine. The battle lines are being drawn. It’s time to climb up out of the trenches and let our voices be heard. This is our country. Either we fight the forces of wickedness and take it back, or pack our bags and become refugees somewhere else.
God is with us, but there is no rescue coming from Heaven for those who refuse to fight. God left the stewardship with us, and He expects us to BE the answer. We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.