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7/30/17

Not many people would argue that home should be the focal point of everyone’s life, but sometimes life complicates this beautiful picture.  There is no safer place than inside our own house and this is the position that all of us should understand and recognize at all times.  However, if we do not protect our home or leave it will our own selfish intentions we can find this setting in a deteriorated condition and therefore not the desired anchor of reliance that we once knew.  We need to look at our lives and see what we consider home and see what kind of shape our home is in for if our anchor is not sturdy enough to provide such stability there is no way that we can be secure in the paths that we endure.  God is calling us to restore our homes and base our lives on His Foundation all the while turning away from this world.

My parents have been on numerous ministerial trips throughout this nation and around the world.  Some of these places have been exotic in nature but many of them have been in rough and dire conditions that many would not endure.  But each trip that they have taken has been with one goal in mind and that is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world that needs Him and to teach those who follow Christ in these lands enable their capability to do what Christ has commanded us after they (mom and dad) have returned home.  Some of these mission trips have varied from a few days to over a month long and while some of the physical conditions have been interesting, to say the least, their overall love for the ministry of God overwhelms these minor circumstances without measure.

As I have sat at their dinner table, their living room, or in the sanctuary of the church I have heard great things that occurred to the people of the lands that mom and dad have visited but at the end of every adventure they have taken together or individually, both of them have stated that it was good to be home back in the United States.  When you are protested, shot at, and a direct witness to a revolutionary takeover of the government try, it does seem quite real when your feet are planted squarely on home soil again.  It was not until I traveled with my father that I finally understood this phrase and how it is important to keep this phrase close in your heart and the meaning of it when it comes to your mind.  The one incident that sticks out in my mind is when I was in Africa and was the last one in our group to pass through their security station.  Right after the officer’s desk is a sharp turn to the left and once you have checked out with the officer you cannot stay around, hence I was the only one left.  After a few garbled exchanges, they realized I had no bribe money and sent me on my way, unharmed but frazzled a bit.  It was then that this phrase ran through my mind and stuck in my mind until my feet hit the ground in the USA some hours later.

Mom and dad want to take one more trip to Ghana before they believe they are too old to endure the circumstances of travel.  I have never discouraged them to abandoned their plans for if God tells a person to do something then we must do it or the conditions that might be allowed in our lives for disobedience may be far greater than the issues of the job He said to do.  Anyway, both want to dedicate a church that God’s nonprofit organization that He gave to dad sponsored and to see the people of that great land once again.  The people and their love for Jesus and their desire to spread the Word of God to those who do not know Him are incredible and it revives your spirit when witnessed, a state which all of us should understand before we leave this earth.  But knowing that this futuristic trip may be their last it would seem a bit difficult to carry out, but when it occurs I know that while their hearts will be happy and content with God’s presence in Africa it will once again provide an opportunity for that phrase about being home to echo in their minds, but the question will be, will it be great to return to a place where God is not welcome any longer and to a land where selfish gains and lusts rule the day instead of the God of Creation which established this great nation in the beginning?  This is a question that many cannot see for we have engrossed our lives into this muck and now see it as a place of residence instead of fulfillment of an eternal light to the world.

Through the eyes of many, there is nothing wrong with the example that this nation is setting and thus sending to other nations around the world.  However, we cannot ignore the fact that what we are portraying goes against the very foundations of why this nation was established and the eternal examples that were meant to be followed.  It is impossible for us to have and to provide anyone with stability if we do not adhere to the standards that we were created, established, and groomed for and to protract any other example can only result in utter failure and sure judgment from our Creator.  Sadly, many of the people who call themselves Christians fall into the category that has contributed to the mess that this nation now resides and along with everyone else who clings to the worldly institutions as truth has sunk into our own muck.  It is this picture that we are presenting that stinks and should awaken our hearts to offer a true change so that we can once again state that it is good to be home, but before any of this is possible, we must first recognize that our home shall never be the same as it was unless we return to God and His Ways.

Yes, the Bible does talk about home and how it should be kept and groomed.  God never wanted our lives to be brought up within broken homes and homes that are not filled with continual and eternal love.  But our concept of home was skewed when Adam and Eve decided (chose) to go about things their own way and change the course of natural living for a selfish immediate gain which turned out to be an eternal circus of inequality and servitude of one who is not our Creator.  Humanity’s original home was perfect and established in such a manner that as long as we obeyed the single order God He wanted to be completed, all would be fine.  God never intended for anyone to leave their homes in a harmful manner or as a punishment for one’s wrong doings.  Yes, man is to leave his home with his wife for an eternal marriage of unity that was all and still live within the confines of God's protection.  All of this changed when humans chose to overrule or believe we could overrule God’s Ways and be forced to move from our eternal and original settings.  Adam and Eve had become lax in their beliefs about their home and instead of placing God continually first allowed other detail to rule their choices and therefore, their dominion was breached and thus destroyed.

Adam and Eve eternally found out that it is not easy to put off issues that would have consequences surrounding their dominion.  Genesis Chapters 1-3 detail this truth about our origins and the home that God gave Adam and Eve to keep to His standards.  If we take a close look at the concentrations of our homes today it is clear that we do not have any control over them and that our enemy has totally infiltrated them and has stolen the very essence of our lives from us.  Yet, we revel in our ability to hurt others by finding new partners and living arrangements without understanding exactly what is going on through these acts.  These do not heal our wounds but inflicts further divisions and separations from others due to the ties that we have forged before our “new” life has begun.  This is not a fixed institution but a continued divided and broken dominion, a lie that so many people around the world live.  If our home is not in perfect standing with God we can no longer hope for peace or restoration of ANY kind on ANY level.  When God commanded humans to keep up their dominion He was talking as a single unit, a unit that functions as one and works together on all things through the inhabitance of God’s Ways.

There can be no question that the events that took place that day in the Garden of Eden must have seemed overwhelming to Adam and Eve.  But as Genesis 3:21 explains, God provided a way for them to have restoration in His eyes and showed them exactly what needed to be done to have this restoration.  One cannot look at the condition of our nations today and not see how the irresponsible governments and people have become.  We are more concerned with our petty differences and pork belly legislative sessions than providing for the needs of the citizens we represent.  YES, this pertains to the Church as well for we have fallen for the same lie that we should have recognized a long time ago as such.  It is more popular to argue our point instead of agreeing on the truth that confronts us and it is having a direct effect on every single heart that walks this earth.  It is that important because God established this nation to be a leader and a beacon to the world and not to just our front yard.  If anyone accepts divorce and dissolution as a norm and way of life you can do nothing but provide a death sentence for your family all the way up to your nation.  So, when God says “enough” do not jump around and cry out in disbelief at what your eyes shall see, for it was the only choice that an eternal Covenant God could respond.

Our hearts are so blackened with sin that we could not even differentiate the difference between a natural act of the world versus a direct sovereign realignment from God.  This explains why Satan wanted to split the unity of Adam and Eve while they were in the Garden of Eden and since Adam and Eve were humans, created in the same way as you and I, it means that it is STILL his #1 goal is to divide humanity on all levels of deception no matter how much it takes to complete this goal.  By eternal definition of God and how He Created us, God is our home and we cannot and shall not ever have a firm foundational home again unless we return to God.  God is our home both in the physical and spiritual aspects of our lives and until we allow God to realign our lives and place Him first in our lives we shall never live in harmony and peace again.  A political party and its ideologies shall not provide the peace and the answers that we need, only through God shall we see a return of the quality of life that we once knew.

We have turned away enough on our personal lives that we no longer recognize our home as being the foundation of our lives.  As long as we fail to understand this defining core about our lives there will be no way that we can ever sustain the daily functions that we have been tasked.  We will sit, cry, and scream out for peace and happiness but find nothing of the sort because we refuse to climb up into the arms of the One being that can restore our physical and spiritual homes.  It is built in our nature to work for what we wish to defend and we were created in such a manner that we shall not be happy until we work on our homes but if we ignore the foundation and allow the storms and conditions around us control our work we shall never understand what it means to live in harmony and eternity.  Church, proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a dying world or we all shall be held accountable when our homes and land are destroyed due to the lack of obedience that we know is true.  Being a slave in your own home is your own fault and the definition of how one is not designed to live.  God never intended for us to live in such muck and bondage, allow Him to free us and return us to our home.

DLB