Spending More DOES NOT Equal Spending Less

From the Office of Budget and Management Blog:

A Short History of Deficit Reduction
"It’s been a day since the 2011 Budget was released, and analysts and journalists have written about what it means for individual agencies, specific issues, and states. But let’s not lose sight of the big picture. The President’s Budget represents an important step towards fiscal sustainability: it put forward $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction over the next ten years, even excluding savings from the assumed ramp-down in war funding over time. Including these war savings, the deficit reduction proposed in the President’s Budget rises to $2.1 trillion."

What? The big picture is reducing the budget by increasing our debt?

"The Administration strongly supports passage of an increase in the public debt limit. Such an increase is critically important to make sure that financing of Federal Government operations can continue without interruption and that the creditworthiness of the United States is not called into question." - White House

What? We are more creditworthy because spend more money than we have?

Question: Can you RT on Facebook? Sort of...

Question:
"I'm trying to figure out how you basically do a "retweet" in facebook where you can get someone else's comments to repeat on your facebook page...can you explain how you did this?"

Example:

Ruth Carlson RT: @LouieGiglio Refuse to be average. Let your heart soar as high as it will. -- AW Tozer



Short anwser:

1. copy [control + C] what you want to forward to your FB friends: "RT: @LouieGiglio Refuse to be average. Let your heart soar as high as it will. -- AW Tozer"

2. type "thanks" and then "@" and then the name of your FB friend

3. paste [control + V] the content you want to share

Done--

thanks [@]RuthCarlson for sharing: RT: @LouieGiglio Refuse to be average. Let your heart soar as high as it will. -- AW Tozer

Long anwser:

First, it's a bit confusing because some people like me have my twitter account set to automatically set my "tweets" as my FB status. So in for me, I'm not friends with @LouieGiglio on Facebook but I still post items that might seem like I'm trying to link to him.

You can use the "@" sign when you are friends with someone on Facebook to "link" your comment to their page. If use the "@," a autofill box will pop up when you start typing a friends name, and then your comment will show up on his or her page.

To your question, it's not possible to Retweet on FB. You can "share" [post on your page or email to a specific FB friend] items that are posted, but you can not "share" status updates like the one I did below.

Therefore, you must just copy & paste what you want to put in your post and manually link it using the "@" feature in FB.

Setting Your Sight Higher and How to Win the Battle Against Sin

If you need some encouragement, here are two amazing sermons by John Piper.

"Don't be like the person who goes to the Grand Canyon with a little garden shovel in his hand, and on the precipice of that majesty turns his back to the Canyon, kneels down, and digs a little trough with his shovel and shouts, "Hey, look at this! Look at my trough! Isn't that cool!" I know that the pressing and desirable things of your life seem big. But just a little clearheaded thought will show you they are not. Get up and turn around and look at the Canyon."

Do Not Let Sin Reign in Your Mortal Body, Part 1


The Battleground and Its Participants

1. Verse 12: There is a throne or a reign. "Do not let sin reign in your mortal body."

2. Verse 12: There is a challenger to the throne: sin. "Do not let sin reign in your mortal body."

3. Verse 12: There is a castle where sin threatens to reign: the human body. "Do not let sin reign in your mortal body."

4. Verse 12: There are loyal servants in the castle who may go over to the other side and join the conspiracy as enemy agents inside the walls of the castle: desires. "Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its (that is, the body's) desires."

5. Verse 12: There is incremental surrender possible in this conflict: obedience to disloyal desires. "Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires."

6. Verse 13: There is a true king on the throne who has the reign in the castle: God. "Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments [weapons] of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments [weapons] of righteousness to God."

7. Verse 13: There are weapons in the castle that can be used to advance the cause of the true king, God, or the cause of the pretender to the throne, sin: members [parts] of the human body. "Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments [o[pla, weapons] of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments [o[pla, weapons] of righteousness to God."

8. Verse 14: There is a constitutional authority in the kingdom: grace, not law. "For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace."

Do Not Let Sin Reign in Your Mortal Body, Part 2

Monday Morning Email: 'Investigating Christian Privilege and Religious Oppression in the United States'

Ok, so my inbox is always full on Monday mornings. I always find spam and...

I got an email from a professor in the "Multicultural and International Curriculum Studies Department of Curriculum and Instruction" at Iowa State University trying to publicize a book he helped edit called Investigating Christian Privilege and Religious Oppression in the United States.

According to Dr. Warren J. Blumenfeld, "Christian denominations and their cultural manifestations, however, often function to marginalize, exclude, and deny members and institutions of other religions and non-believers the privileges and access that accompany a Christian affiliation. Christianity is the privileged religious perspective in the United States since Christian groups, people, and organizations often have the power to define normalcy....Investigating Christian Privilege and Religious Oppression in the United States addresses Christian privilege as well as religious oppression since the two are in symbiotic relationship: oppression toward non-Christians gives rise to Christian privilege in the United States, and Christian privilege maintains oppression toward non-Christian individuals and faith communities. This anthology also provides historical and contemporary cases exposing Christian privilege and religious oppression on the societal, institutional, and personal/interpersonal levels. A number of chapters include sections suggesting change strategies, and in particular, ways to achieve the national goal of religious pluralism in the United States" (emphasis mine).

Does the religion with the most adherents have the ability to define every area culture within a country?

Reasons Why the "Healthcare Reform" in Congress is Unconstitutional

Missouri State Representative Tim Jones gave 3 reason why the "Healthcare Reform" bill in Congress is unconstitutional at a recent meeting.

1. The federal constitution does not give the Congress the power to require citizens to buy a product, in this case medical insurance.

A. This is not a tax and spend provision, not an enumerated power listed in our Constitution.

B. 2 Clauses
-commerce clause - not designed to protect anything the federal government wants to do like forcing citizens to purchase a product
-general welfare clause - this is forcing the citizens to purchase a product not the government providing

2. Equal Protection: All of the promises and deal cutting that gave certain states (Florida, S. Dakota, Wisconsin, Nebraska) means that all Americans are not receiving the same protections

3. Sovereignty - 10th Amendment
Federal / State model - the current health care reform plan violates our basic form of government by using the federal government to tell the States what to do

You can also google this topic to learn more.

2 quotes that sum up 2009 for me

I've learned to love my family more and how to take deep breaths on the journey of life.

"Only love has eyes. To understand the world of things, you need science and suspicion and the method of doubt; accept nothing until proved. Every idea is guilty until proved innocent. But to know people, you need the opposite method: trust, love, openness. Persons are innocent until proved guilty. You cannot bear them unless that is your attitude. Suspicion never reaches the other's heart."
~Dr. Peter Kreeft, Three Philosophies of Human Life

"There are many people who reach their conclusions about life like schoolboys: they cheat their master by copying the answer out of a book without having worked the sum out for themselves."
~ SØREN KIERKEGAARD, The Journals

Using Sex or Reason: Where do you stand on health care reform?

Rock the Vote suggests young voters use flirting and sex to persuade opponents of the Obama/Reid/Pelosi health-care-reform bill to change their position.

As a young person, I find such a video degrading to suggest my political philosophy is as whimsical as sexual attraction or that sex should be used as method of political persuasion.

How Americans obtain and pay for health care is an important topic that deserves open and honest debate about the real costs of adding hundreds of pages to the law books.

It's too bad that Rock the Vote is probably encouraging young people to disengage from this important debate because it's over-the-top desperate attempt to garner support for an unpopular bill.

Dick Morris points to a study by Oliver Wyman that suggests that the proposed health care reforms will increase premiums for young people by as much as 35 percent.

He writes:

"These increases will stem from the bill's provisions that bar insurance companies from raising rates on sick people and from excluding people based on pre-existing conditions. Both of these mandates will mean higher costs for the younger and healthier population. This bill is, in effect, a tax on the young."

Instead of engaging young voters on the topic, Rock the Vote reveals how weak the Obama/Reid/Pelosi health-care-reform bill really is in terms of helping reduce the inflated costs of health and medical care in America.

I think more young people would engage in politics if they weren't treated like sheep. People respond to expectations...

We need more intelligent discussions about what can be done to help improve our current system, which happens to be better than any system in the world.

For example, why aren't we looking at how the Federal Reserve Banks' "lending" affect health care costs?

Using YouTube To Share Your Message

Ok, this is kinda like a, "duh," post, but I can't help but point out some creative examples of using YouTube to send a loud message:

Example 1:

A musician named Dave Carroll recently had difficulty with United Airlines.

United apparently damaged his treasured Taylor guitar ($3500) during a flight. Dave spent over nine months trying to get United to pay for damages caused by baggage handlers to his custom Taylor guitar. During his final exchange with the United Customer Relations Manager, he stated that he was left with no choice other than to create a music video for You Tube, exposing their lack of cooperation. The manager responded, "Good luck with that one, pal." He posted the following retaliatory video on You Tube. The video has since received over 5.5 million hits. United Airlines contacted Carroll and attempted settlement in exchange for pulling the video. Naturally, his response was, "Good luck with that one, pal."

Taylor Guitars sent Carroll two new custom guitars in appreciation for product recognition resulting from the video that has led to a sharp increase in orders.

It is now up to 6.5 million.

Example 2:

In a landmark speech, the late Governor Robert Casey, Senior said "Nothing could be more foreign to the American experience than legalized abortion. It is inconsistent with our national character, with our national purpose, with all that we've done, and with everything we hope to be."

But right now, Robert Casey, Junior is poised to vote in the Senate for a health care bill with federal funding for abortion. The bill will result in more abortions—abortions that Americans will be required to finance. Senator Casey, trading the lives of unborn children for a health care bill is inconsistent with our American character.

"The abortion debate is not about how we shall live, but who shall live. And more than that, its about who we are."

Contact Bob Casey, Junior today and tell him to vote NO on any health care bill that funds abortion.

Paid for by Susan B. Anthony List, Inc.

'When did $98,560 household income qualify for welfare in Missouri? '

PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release - Time Sensitive issue

For interviews contact:
Paul Hamby 816 632 0602
Robyn Hamlin 314-438-0222

Missouri Campaign for Liberty www.campaignforliberty.com/usa/MO/ strongly opposes the giveaway of 15 million dollars through the MHDC, Missouri Housing Development Commission.

Last month, Gov. Jay Nixon and State Treasurer Clint Zweifel proposed that MHDC would pay the property tax for anyone who buys a house in Missouri in 2010. The only limitation is income. You would need to make less than $98,560. Nixon and Zweifel announced they would bring the plan before the Missouri Housing Development Commission on Dec. 18th at the MHDC meeting in Jefferson City.

Quoting from Zweifel’s press release “The funding would come from a [$15 million] reserve fund held by Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC) earned through successful management of mortgage loans made to low- and medium-income individuals and families. These reserve funds are not from general revenue, nor subject to the legislature's appropriation process.” MHDC is a commission operated by the State of Missouri. It is funded by federal and state tax payer dollars. It is just plain wrong to tax low and middle income Missourians and then pay someone else’s 2010 property tax with their money. When did $98,560 household income qualify for welfare in Missouri?

The economic crisis of 2008 was created in part by a housing bubble that pushed folks into home ownership who should have never had loans, and then defaulted on their loans. Why are Governor Nixon and Treasurer Zweifel trying to re-create the housing bubble in 2010?

Missouri has a 1 billion dollar Budget Deficit. Did our Governor suddenly have a bout of amnesia regarding the 1 billion dollar income shortfall in the Missouri State Budget?

If the goal is to get more Missourians into housing, there is a simple proven formula for that: Good paying jobs for Missourians. A business climate to create more jobs is where the Governor should be focusing. That means Less Government Regulation, Less Taxes on Small Businesses and Families, and Less Federal Mandates. When government starts meddling, fairness goes out the window. Please call the MHDC board and tell them to Vote No on redistributing the 15 million slush fund. Their numbers are 816-759-6600 and 314-877-1350.

###

Obama says it will keep America from going Bankrupt; Howard Dean says kill it

FEE sent out a great link to an VPR interview with Howard Dean on the lack of support for the monstrous health-care-reform Senate bill means its death. Dean suggests that "the best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill and go back to the House and start the reconciliation process, where you only need 51 votes and it would be a much simpler bill."

Ok, so Howard Dean isn't suggesting that the recent polls showing opposition to health care reform (almost 56% oppose it; only 19% strongly favor it) makes it a dead duck, but that certain characteristics of current 'reform' plans aren't really 'reform' to make it real 'reform' to get public support. Congress should just start over in the House, he suggests, and make it more simply--a.k.a. more centrists and get rid of the bribes.

Meanwhile, Obama said during an ABC interview that if we don't spend trillions of dollars on this 'reform,' the government will go bankrupt. He's built a straw-man case for passing costly reform. Is it possible that there are other ways that new government programs to "rein in" health and medical costs? Maybe the free market?

Both are half way right. Dean is picking up on the fact that Americans--right or left--don't really trust +2000 page monstrosity of health care 'reform' and Obama's picking up on the fact that our unfunded liabilities--medicare, medicate, and social security--are on the brink of bankruptcy.

Baby steps.

Missouri State Medical Association & St. Louis Metropolitan Medical Society Oppose Obamacare

I went to a press conference today in the Chesterfield Valley to find out more about an effort by at least 22 states to pass constitutional amendments to protect the medical care choices of individual Americans.

It was great to find out that the St. Louis Metropolitan medical Society and the Missouri State Medical Association oppose the bill in the US Senate, called the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" (HR 3590) because it "does not adequately address some of the most important problems in the current system." These organizations "fear that the proposal would increase the cost of health care and allow unaccountable government bureaucrats to stand between patients and their physicians."

Wow.



See more on Eagle Forum's blog.

'Mmm that you only meant well?' - Why My Good Intentions Aren't Good Enough

Jason Derulo's new song "Whatcha Say" is catchy and clearly illustrates how our good intentions don't trump reality, especially in the long run.

Often times, it's not that we can't make rational decisions; it's that we often don't have all the facts or don't want to take into account all the facts, especially the long term ramifications.

We're shortsighted.

We have a self-focused, limited vision that hinders our rational abilities above and beyond the limits on our access to information. We act for ourselves first without clearly considering how it affects God or others. And of course, this is not our intention.

Jason Derulo cheats on his girlfriend, and of course his intentions were not to hurt to his girlfriend:

I was so wrong for so long
Only tryin' to please myself (myself)
Girl, I was caught up in her lust
When I don't really want no one else

In the moment, he did not fully consider that he didn't want the long-term affects of choosing the fleeting pleasures of sin.

The chorus brings reality to the forefront: it's not enough to say that "you only meant well" because that doesn't make cheating okay.

Mmmm whatcha say,
Mmm that you only meant well?
Well of course you did
Mmmm whatcha say,
Mmmm that it's all for the best?
Of course it is

This theme reminds me of Madonna's song "4 Minutes to Save the World" with the line:

The road to hell
Is paved with good intentions

Of course, we mean well.

If you feel it
It must be real

Right?

There many reasons why "good intentions" are not good enough to maintain our relationships with God or with one another. Henry Hatlitz's One Lesson in Economics applies here, as we must learn not to look at reality as we want it to be, but how it is, which includes how the consequences of our actions affect not only on ourselves, but others. Good intentions do not change outcomes.

The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups. (One Lesson in Economics)

One a larger scale, intellectual honest requires following our chosen belief system--what guides our decisions--to its logical conclusions and avoid limiting our perspective to our good intentions for desired outcomes. Bojidar Marinov from American Vision wrote an article titled "But that Doesn't Mean What It Means" with the same theme:

To say it simply, if the thing looks, swims, waddles, quacks like a duck, the disclaimer “but it doesn’t mean” doesn’t make it a hawk. It only reveals the unwillingness of those who use it to face reality and become intellectually consistent with their own beliefs.

It doesn't matter if you want ducks to be hawks.

"Mmm that you only meant well?"

It doesn't matter what your intention is. "Direction, not Intention, determines your destination," counsels Andy Stanley.

"We can't travel North towards Canada and arrive in Mexico."

That's not the reality we live in.

My first iPhone Video

Ok, so I shot this two times, and then just decided, "hey, the point isn't perfection, but learning how to get information out."

I plan to take my iPhone with me to the TEA Party on Saturday at Kiener Plaza at Noon and 3:00 p.m.

It takes a little time for YouTube to post the video after I upolad it, and I haven't quite figured out how to get the link from YouTube and then post using only my iPhone. But I'm sure I'll figure out an easy way soon. (Suggestions welcome!)

I also plan to check out video sites that might let me upload feed directly, and only have about 5 second delay, instead of 5 hour delay. But it all depends on the purpose of shooting the video, and how important it is post right away verse posting to inform the public.

NY-23 race not over; inspectors found a problem in four districts

From my inbox:

Dear Fellow Conservative,

As evidence surfaces, we find out that reported results from election night were far from accurate. ACORN and the unions did their best to try and sway the results to Obamacare supporter Bill Owens.

I was forced to concede after receiving two pieces of grim news - - down 5,335 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted on election night - and barely won my stronghold in Oswego County.

Get every vote counted in NY-23 Election Night, the information we received was far different from what we received this week!

Rest assured, they will not succeed, and I am therefore revoking my statement of concession.

That is why I am writing you today. Recent developments leave me to wonder who is scheming behind closed doors, twisting arms and stealing elections from the voters of NY-23.

I'm sure you are as dismayed as I am to learn of the mischief that took place in Oswego and neighboring counties. We know this would not be the first time for the ACORN faithful to tamper with democracy.

Now it's time to actually count every legal ballot and I need your help to ensure the people of NY-23 get the Congressman THEY ELECTED. Please donate now to help me ensure every vote is counted!

A recanvassing in the 11-county district shows Owens' lead has narrowed to 3,026. In Oswego County, I was reported to lead by only 500 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted election night, but inspectors found I actually won by 1,748 votes

Let’s force them keep this recanvassing active! Let’s give this election a chance to end differently!

Oswego County elections officials blame the mistakes on "chaos" in their call-in center that included a phone system foul-up, and on inspectors who read numbers incorrectly when phoning in results. This sounds like a tactic right from the ACORN playbook.

The district's second biggest voter turnout was in Jefferson County, where I had also benefited from a turnaround since election night, gaining another 700 votes. Owens led by 300 votes on the final election night tally, but after recanvassing, I'm now leading by 424 votes.

Jerry Eaton, the Republican elections commissioner for Jefferson County, said inspectors found a problem in four districts where my vote total was mistakenly entered as zero.

The new vote totals mean the race will be decided by absentee ballots, of which the state Board of Elections distributed about 10,200.

The people of NY-23 deserve to have their ballots counted properly, but we can't let ACORN or the unions keep that from happening. They have more lawyers and more experience tampering with democracy.

State Board of Elections Communications Director John Conklin said the state sent a letter to the House Clerk last week explaining that no winner had been determined in the 23rd District.

Now it's time to actually count every legal ballot and I need your help to ensure the people of NY-23 get the Congressman THEY ELECTED. Please donate now to help me ensure every vote is counted!

We need to make sure that fair elections are a reality in NY-23, just like our Founding Fathers envisioned. So long as we remain the "land of the free," we MUST ensure every vote is counted.

Help us today so we may be the first of many conservative victories during the Obama Regime.

Yours in Freedom,

Doug Hoffman


P.S. I ran a different kind of campaign, one where Conservatives, Republicans, Libertarians, Tea Party and 9/12 activists rallied around. ACORN, the unions and the Democratic Party were scared, and that's why they tampered with the ballots of voters in NY-23. Will you please contribute today so we can show them that fair elections are the Will of the People? Thank you.

Comments on the Stupak Amendment

So, what's all the chatter in the "pro-life" arena about the Stupak amendment to Obama's health care transformation plan?

Basically, the Stupak amendment means that taxpayer money can't be used to pay for abortions for women who are insured through the health insurance "exchange." So, what's the problem? (besides the obvious conflict in moral values between various groups...)

Some say that the Stupak amendment gave cover to the pro-life Dems to vote for nationalized health care since the amendment made it "pro-life."

But, as a friend of mine said, the "Stupak Amendment didn’t go far enough," as it didn’t address end-of-life issues, rationing, protection of conscience and all the other life-aspects involved in the long 2,000 page transformation.

Moreover, some argue, why try to improve a bad bill? Why not just let it die?

So, I suppose the question is why was the amendment offered? Maybe in reaction to the fake "pro-life" amendment offered previously. If that amendment had passed, it probably would have given same glitzy appearance virtue of the Stupak amendment, but not as good.

As it stands, it's a question of whether pro-choice Dems will be able to strip the Stupak amendment, or vote for the health care transformation despite the amendment. Sen. Claire McCaskill doesn't seem to think the amendment is a deal breaker...or maybe she does.

As Phyllis Schlafly wrote in 1964: "The strategy of politics, like an iceberg, is eight-ninths under the surface."

And she wasn't saying how it should be...but merely how it is.

How to Contact Sen. Claire McCaskill

Missouri Office Locations

Cape Girardeau
555 Independence Room 1600
Cape Girardeau, Missouri 63703
Phone 573-651-0964
Fax 573-334-4278

Columbia
915 E. Ash St
Columbia, Mo 65201
Phone:573-442-7130
Fax:573-442-7140

Kansas City
4141 Pennsylvania, Ste. 101
Kansas City, MO 64111
Phone 816-421-1639
Fax 816-421-2562

Springfield
324 Park Central West
Suite 101
Springfield, MO 65806
Phone 417-868-8745
Fax 417-831-1349

St. Louis
5850 A Delmar Blvd
St. Louis, MO 63112
Phone:314-367-1364
Fax: 314-361-8649

Washington D.C.

For those visiting D.C., please stop by our office at:

Office of Senator Claire McCaskill
United States Senate
Hart Senate Office Building, SH-717
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-6154
FAX (202) 228-6326

Stupak-Pitts Amendment Seems to be a good thing.

There is a little bit of debate as to whether the Stupak-Pitts Amendment will be strong enough to prevent the government from forcing taxpayers to pay for ending human lives.

Here's is a opinion piece by a feminist who wants taxpayers to pay for abortion. She writes about how the Stupak-Pitts amendment will ban "abortion coverage across the entire exchange, for women with both subsidized and unsubsidized coverage."

I couldn't help but click on some of the other links on the "reality check" site.

Wow.

Apparently, being a champion for life means that one is taking part in a "molester-enabling, coathanger-selling, health-shattering, woman-hating, forced-pregnancy campaign."

Wow.

The good news is that when activists who don't support human rights for pre-born believe legislation is bad, that's a good thing!

Moreover, it seems that prohibiting Obama's health care plan from covering abortions helped it pass in the House, and might keep it from passing in the Senate.

How ironic.

Preparation Is Key

From A.W. Tozer's Daily Devotional For Today:

To be entirely safe from the devil's snares the man of God must be
completely obedient to the Word of the Lord. The driver on the
highway is safe, not when he reads the signs but when he obeys them.

That Incredible Christian, 51.

November 10

Spiritual Warfare and Sin: Preparation Is Vital

Moreover David said, "The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the
lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand
of this Philistine."
--1 Samuel 17:37

The whole Bible and all past history unite to teach that battles are
always won before the armies take the field. The critical moment for
any army is not the day it engages the foe in actual combat; it is
the day before or the month before or the year before....

Preparation is vital. The rule is, prepare or fail. Luck and bluster
will do for a while, but the law will catch up with us sooner or
later, usually sooner....

It did not take Moses long to lead the children of Israel out
through the Red Sea to deliverance and freedom; but his fittedness
to lead them out was the result of years of hard discipline. It
took David only a few minutes to dispose of Goliath; but he had
beaten the giant long before in the person of the lion and the
bear....

Preparation is vital. Let this be noted by everyone. We can seek
God today and get prepared to meet temptation tomorrow; but if we
meet the enemy without first having met God, the outcome is not
conjectural; the issue is already decided. We can only lose. The
Next Chapter After the Last, 77-79.

"Lord, quiet my heart this morning and feed me from Your Word. I
can't enter the battle of today without this vital preparation.
Help me even in the busiest of days to maintain this discipline of
preparation. Amen."

Playground or Battlefield?

A.W. Tozer:

Spiritual Warfare and Sin: Irreconcilable Hostility

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the
heavenly places.
--Ephesians 6:12

In the early days, when Christianity exercised a dominant
influence over American thinking, men and women conceived the
world to be a battleground. Our fathers believed in sin and the
devil and hell as constituting one force, and they believed in
God and righteousness and heaven as the other. By their very
nature, these forces were opposed to each other forever in deep,
grave, irreconcilable hostility. Humans, our fathers held, had to
choose sides-they could not be neutral. For them it must be life
or death, heaven or hell, and if they chose to come out on God's
side they could expect open war with God's enemies. The fight
would be real and deadly and would last as long as life continued
here below. People looked forward to heaven as a return from the
wars, a laying down of the sword to enjoy in peace the home
prepared for them....

How different today. The fact remains the same, but the
interpretation has changed completely. People think of the world,
not as a battleground, but as a playground. We are not here to
fight; we are here to frolic. We are not in a foreign land; we
are at home. We are not getting ready to live, but we are already
living, and the best we can do is rid ourselves of our
inhibitions and our frustrations and live this life to the full.
This World: Playground or Battleground?, 4-5.

"Lord, we've lost too much by becoming friendly with the enemy.
Help me to be willing to take a stand for righteousness, to
choose clearly to be on Your side against the enemy, to pay any
price--and then to look forward to laying down my sword later in
heaven. Amen."

Perseverance

Sometimes I wonder how it is that I can still struggle with the same sins but feel as though I have a sincere faith in Christ. Why is it that we struggle so much?

I found a great passage in Sam Storms book Signs of the Spirit that points to a great theme of Christianity: perseverance.

"There is hardly anything more explicit in the teachings of Jesus himself than the rules by which we are to judge the sincerity of someone's profession o faith. we must judge the nature of the tree by the quality of its fruit. But if the fruit of saving virtue is subject to being counterfeited, what good is this as a rule for discerning true from false? The answer is found not in the mere presence of what appears to be fruit, but in its perseverance. If the fruit shows itself not merely once, no matter how fervently and sweetly, but endures and matures over time and through trial, we can more solidly judge whether they are be truly of God (although even then our judgement is still fallible).

I quote Same Storms not because I'm particular interested in judging (or meditating) on whether others are sincere in their faith, but whether I am.

Paul writing in his 1st letter to the Corinthians:

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, [2] lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified (ch. 9).

Father, give me the strength to run the race with perseverance. Give me endurance, Father. In Jesus name, Amen.