It's Time To Man Up. It's Also Time To Woman Up, Depending On Your Sex.

Man up. Also, woman up. But if you're a man, just man up, because womaning up would be weird.
      What has the Christian society come to? It has come to men and woman reading ridiculous, cliche "inspirational" quotes on their iPhones in order to make themselves feel better about themselves as they sip on their latte from inside their BMW. Alright, you may not drive a BMW, but you still most likely have it better off than the Israelites did back in the day. You shouldn't be consuming yourself with feel good quotes and caffeine laced coffee syrups too get yourself through the day. You should be concerned with living your life as the Almighty God intended you to. Whatever your schedule is, it is not as important as the one God has for you. I do not care if you are a mom taking your kids to practice, or a CEO of a successful company. God's schedule > your schedule.

Christian society used to be comprised of tough as nails, rub some dirt in it people who roamed the wild country during Biblical times. They weren't afraid to stand up for the Gospel of Christ. Alright, so maybe some of them might have been afraid, like Moses for example. But you know what? They stood up for God in a big way. Moses parted an ocean, and killed a King of Egypt through his willingness to stand up for God. I know that may seem like a wild comparison, and it kind of is. After all, God has blessed our generation with the ability to develop various technologies that make us more comfortable, so why not use them? I'm not saying we should all go move out into the desert and kill the first person who says "omg". That is not my point.

However, I am saying this- We have become a generation of believers, not doers. Is that bad? Not exactly. But there is something missing. We should not be a generation of just believers. We should be a generation of believing warriors for the High King of Heaven. I know there are people who call themselves "prayer warriors", and that is all fine and dandy. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful that there are people who sacrifice their time to bring our requests before God, but a warrior needs to have more than just prayer. A righteous warrior needs to not only have a conviction about what is right and what is wrong, but a desire to physically act on that knowledge. Consider this- A veteran of the US Marine Corps is say, at a bar. (Or we could say he is at a Chuck E Cheese's, but he's probably more likely to be at a bar.) So, this strong willed, strong armed veteran who selflessly served his country through Operation Desert Storm is chilling at his favorite bar when he overhears a conversation from a man a few barstools down. This man was born and raised in the opposite way the veteran was raised. This man does not like the way the US Government operates. This man thinks that soldiers are criminals. And unfortunately for this man, he starts to scream that fact out, due to his consumption of alcohol. Well, the Marine Corp vet doesn't take kindly to this man blatantly disrespecting the country that he served for. You can imagine where I'm going with this. The drunk anti-american gets a beat down from the Marine, because the Marine knows where he stands on the issue of patriotism. He will give his life to defend his beliefs in America. This is how we as Christians should act concerning God. We may not need to physically beat someone down if they disrespect God, but we do not need to shrug it off either. That is not our duty as warriors. Warriors do not shrug off insults, they stand up and represent who they fight for. And we fight for the God of the universe.

Consider Titus 2:15- "Say these things, and encourage and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you." It says rebuke with WITH ALL AUTHORITY. It doesn't say "Oh, well...just have that discussion another time. We don't want to make them mad and opposed to the Gospel." No. God tells us to rebuke them with all authority, and to let NO ONE disregard us.

It is time we put aside our personal agendas, and man up, woman up, Bible up, and warrior up. It's time to not take crap from anyone anymore. If someone says "Oh my god!", ask them if they are referring to the High King of Heaven. If they are, kindly inform them that you are His representative here on earth, and you would appreciate it if they didn't defile His holy name. Because that's what it is. If they use the letter "g", the letter "o", and the letter "d" then they are referring to the great I Am, because He is the only one worthy of the name God. It is our responsibility as warriors for Christ to protect the integrity of His name. So let's do it.

Don't Be Anxious

Don’t waste your energy on worry. Don’t get me wrong, I worry a lot. But the Bible says in Matthew 6:27 “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” The answer is no. Trust me, worrying about something is not going to help things. There are all sorts of cute quotes that I could share on why not to worry, but I won’t. I’m just going to keep going. So keep reading. There is an album by Christian singer Chris Tomlin that bases its name from scripture: “And If Our God Is For Us”. This scripture passage, Romans 8:31, says “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Uh, lots of people. I don’t know about you, but I can think of A LOT of things and people that are against me. Gravity, calories, and speed limits, to name a few.
But seriously, there are a crap load of things out there that are constantly at work to bring about our utter demise. People that seem to live and breathe just to make our lives miserable. Kinda sucks. So what exactly is meant by “Who can be against us?” when there are obviously tons of things/people against us? Well, I believe that what is meant by this is who can be against us and SUCCEED?
God has a plan for each and every one of our lives. No one can enter our life without God already appointing that to happen. No one can insult us, or make our lives miserable without God’s permission. Now, before you go and get mad at God for allowing idiots in our lives, consider this: Isaiah 55:8-9 “ ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways’,” declares the Lord. “ ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” God has a plan for your life. A plan that is good and pleasing and perfect. This plan includes idiots, jerks, and…well, you get the picture.
But the main thing is this: These people are not SUCCESSFUL in standing against us. Just as the verse in Romans says, if our God is for us, who can stand against us? No one can. They may think that they are, and we may begin to feel defeated, but the truth is those people are actually doing God’s will in causing us trials and tribulations. These problems are actually part of God’s perfect plan for us that is sanctifying us and bringing us further along in our walk with God. So, even though these people think they are winning, and we think they are winning, remember that God is in control. He is in control of the idiots, the jerks, and everything else that enters our lives. So have faith, hope, and trust in the God of the universe. The reigning king who is seated high and lifted up on his throne of glory, ruling supreme over all. That’s all for now.