When troubles surround us, when evils come
The body grows weak the spirit grows numb
When these things beset us, God doesn’t forget us
He sends down His love On the wings of a dove.
         –Bob Ferguson

“Faith is not wishful thinking.  Neither is it a stubborn refusal to face the facts.  Faith is following God’s clear leading and acting upon God’s clear promise.”
 –Gary Inrig

Are you a prepper or a survivalist?  Lots of talk about that stuff going around these days, but very little in the spiritual sense.  Let me say that if you are prepared in the fullness of the Holy Spirit then for sure you are going to survive!  I have been watching, over the past several years, that the church is lacks the Holy Spirit.  By hype and emotion people say that the Spirit is in their midst, but that isn’t necessarily so.
Let me give you a few tidbits I picked up from A.W. Tozer.
The kinds of people who will not be at home in a Spirit-filled church:
               1)  Those who put on their religion as a Sunday garment.
               2)  Those who refuse to let religion endanger their own plans.
               3)  Those who expect religion to be fun.
               4)  Those who embrace a church only for cultural values.
The kinds of people who will be happy in the Spirit-filled group.
               1)  Those who have a leading ambition to be rid of their sins.
               2)  Those who want to know God and to walk with Him.
               3)  Those who have learned to recognize the voice of the Shepherd.
               4)  Those who are sensitive to the Invisible Presence.
In the past couple of weeks I have had students ask me if I believed in ghosts.  I said I believe in the Holy Ghosts but no phantoms that were once human.  They were shocked and then, instead of asking about the Spirit of God, they want to discuss the validity of ghosts.
Then we have those who seek to be bless.  Bless me, bless me, oh, bless me; when God actually is waiting to bless them with the Holy Spirit.  If the true, unadulterated Word of God is not being preached, then the Holy Spirit is being quenched and will eventually leave that church.  There is confusion in a person’s mind when they say, “I want God and all of this too.”  Sorry, it doesn’t work that way.  There is a price to be paid for the blessings and filling of the Holy Spirit.  We want the thrill of being full, but we don’t want to meet the conditions. (Tozer)  To be blessed, the Holy Spirit will expect obedience to the Word of God.
God is willing to fill us and bless us.  In our times of difficulties and despair, He longs to meet our need.  Our problem is that we neglect to seek the Spirit and follow His guidance.

“And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”
–Acts 5:32 (NASB)

Part of our citizenship is doing our best to understand the tribulations our predecessors confronted in building this nation.”
–John Vermillion

“I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient. One stormy night I tossed on my bed, unable to sleep as I thought of the terrible sufferings of our soldiers and sailors. I spent an hour in agonizing prayer.”
–Abraham Lincoln

I don’t want to spend too much time writing negatively, but I do want to mention a few things that have happened in the past few years concerning our military policies and God.

–March 2015, A decorated Navy SEAL chaplain was relieved of duty for providing counseling that contained religious views on things such as faith, marriage, and sexuality.
–March 2014, Maxwell Air Force Base bans Gideons from handing out Bibles to willing recruits, a practice that had bee occurring for years.
–July 2013, An Air Force chaplain who posted an article on the importance of faith and the origin of the phrase “There are no atheists in foxholes” was officially ordered to remove his post because some were offended by the use of that famous World War II phrase.
–June 2013, The Obama administration “strong objects” to a Defense Authorization to protect the constitutionally-guaranteed religious rights of soldiers and chaplains, claiming that it would have an “adverse effect on good order, discipline, morale, and mission accomplishment.”

There are several other directives that have happened in the recent years. Goodness, the people who protect our country cannot invoke the name of the One who they seek for protection.
Soldiers throughout our history have been eager for spiritual support from chaplains, services, and Bibles. It was recorded that soldiers during the Civil War wore out their Bibles and needed new ones. There was hunger for the promises of the Lord. It is recorded that around 300,000 soldiers accepted Christ during the Civil War. Those are the ones recorded – how many more on the battlefield with shot and shells around them made a confession of faith?
I found the following from a book by Terry Tuley (Stories of Faith and Courage from the Civil War). It is from the diary of 1st Lieutenant Albert Goodloe.

“While here at Morton we received a good supply of Bibles, Testaments, hymn books, and tracts, which had heretofore been ordered. The need of these we had felt very keenly for some time in carrying forward our religious undertakings…they came to a multitude of new converts to the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to many more who were earnest inquirers after the truth…. To be sure there were never many of us who were never without our pocket Bibles, but there were many others who had none, having lost theirs or worn them out…and especially did we have an urgent need for a good supply of hymn books. What a mighty chorus of voices there was raised in songs of praises to our God by the soldiers when the hymn books were given out in the congregation.”

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
–Matthew 5:6 (NIV)