Debate

It had been talked up for weeks and finally the Presidential debate was upon us. There were continued apprehensions, spin factors, opinions and measured predictions leading up to the event but until the reality of the debate was in view, and the up close, personal and face to face banner was ignited, no one really knew what to expect. In order to be able to make an educated assessment on my own, I had to be personally involved as part of a listening and learning audience. The debate was an attempt to clarify the two directions that are being offered for our country to take; one presenting a direction that has dominated our country over the past 4 years, and one other presenting a formula to go about managing the country from a differing perspective. I know that all of the folks who are reading this devotional and not on the same page or pulling for the same team, but I do believe that we do have one common interest and that is wanting the best for American, and leaving the best for the generations to follow.   

Too often we are so attached or consumed by the influences of people and word that we have allowed to penetrate our minds, that we allow a web of deceit and distraction to camouflage the very truth.  In order for truth to take its rightful position of fact, we need to look beneath repeated myths and distorted lies, and search diligently for what is right and what is good. There was one line spoken last night that will probably not be one of the political soundbites that will be played over and over, but the idea resonated in my head and still remains this morning. Though I cannot repeat it word for word, the idea was that:  "just because something is repeated over and over, it does not mean that it is true." And it reminded me of tapes that I have allowed to be played over and over in my mind. Things like I am not worthy, or  I am not good enough, or God is so disappointed in me, or I am so guilty that God could never forgive me, or I will never get out of this pit, or what do I really have to offer compared to so and so. You suspect that you too have a tape or two that you would like to dismiss or actually just burn to ashes.  But the deal is TRUTH.  Somehow, someway, through experiences and self talk we have allowed the truth to be covered by a pack of lies.  Instead of clarity, we have accepted a camouflaged version of myth. 

2 Timothy 4:3-5 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

If we are to be true to ourselves then we first have to be true to God.  This is where debate comes into play.  We can rationalize about what is right and what is wrong and find the grayed area either pronouncing truth or denouncing it, or we can submit to the one truth, that is God and go forward.  We can debate all the day, but at the end of the day truth remains constant.  The truth that God loves you with all His heart.  The truth that the enemy is manipulative and lies for His own gain. The truth that nothing is so reprehensible that God cannot forgive it.  The truth that God is present in the midst of every circumstance.  The truth that prayer is real, and it is in the asking for help that God gives his help. God is not to be debated, and neither is His truth. It doesn't matter if it is a Presidential debate

or a personal debate, God is an active listener and responder.  Truth will ultimately prevail on His watch, in His timing. But we have to be willing to submit to the truth that we know, and not only allow but expect God  to break through any web of distortion and lies and expose the light of truth, so that we can persevere and live under the shelter of his grace and mercy.

Psalm 15:25 Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

Psalm 145:18 The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

Proverbs 12:17 An honest witness tells the truth, but a false witness tells lies.

Proverbs 22:21 teaching you to be honest and to speak the truth, so that you bring back truthful reports to those you serve?

Our country is in the hands of God, it is not based on a performance of two candidates at debate podiums, though debates do have the potential to clarify truth and influence a listening audience. And as our country is in the hands of God, so are our lives.  The enemy wants to play within us a false tape that we play over and over, hoping to weave a web over an existing truth, but we have to ask God to debate Him. We are not savvy enough or smart enough or prepared enough to debate him on our own, and we also do not have the tools to unwind something that is so intricately wound in misguided perception. Only God, in His manifested glory can overrule, overcome, and overturn judgements that do not merit His standard or coincide with His will. This is true in every aspect of life, that is not debatable.   When we seek truth, God's truth, he will give us the courage to confront it, the wisdom to recognize it and the tools to fight for it.

Dear Lord, Help us to break through the barriers of lies that that we have allowed to be woven over the reality of your truth.  May we seek truth, have courage to confront it, wisdom to recognize it and tools to fight it.  Amen   

Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!