We live in a doubting, questioning world that no longer accepts a statement without expressing reservations. And – the devil wants to keep the doubters doubting and lost without hope. There is hope – but only in Jesus, the Son of God.

In Matthew 7:7-8, Jesus said, "Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek,and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it shall be opened."

Pray for the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and the doubters in our city, our country and this world to come to know Jesus, the Son of God.

Revival begins with just one person – you!

Almost is a powerful adverb meaning slightly short of, not quite, or nearly. How many times have you almost had an accident, and how many times have you had an accident and almost escaped the experience?

Almost made the difference in having an accident or not. Likewise, multitudes (a very great number) will miss out on entering the kingdom of God because they almost gave their heart to Jesus but just didn't get around to it. They were too busy with so much to do and no time to do it.

In 2 Corinthians 6:2, we read, "At the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you; behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation." "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." (Hebrews 4:7)

God has given us this moment, this acceptable time, to trust Him completely. Remember, to procrastinate will leave you an "almost-er" and you will be left behind and left out.

Ever suffer from the Martha and Mary syndrome? You want to be in intimate fellowship with Jesus Christ; flowing in His Spirit; full of power and wisdom (oh, hear the angels sing!). But you end up cleaning the church, teaching the Sunday School, visiting the sick, delivering Meals on Wheels, volunteering at the Senior Citizens Center, painting the homes for the local “Restore the Neighborhood” project, etc. You lie down each night exhausted, saying, “Oh, no, I didn’t get in devotions again. I didn’t get in any scripture time again. I didn’t even say, ‘Good morning, Lord’”.

We all struggle to keep balance in our lives–duties vs. devotions, worship vs. works, what shall we do? For starters, follow Jesus. He was the most balanced person to ever come into the world. He served His Father AND served His fellow man. He taught, He rested, He prayed, He traveled, He worked. He did all that we do, but He did it with peace and deep satisfaction knowing that His obedience was pleasing to God. When once asked what someone had to do to inherit eternal life (Luke 10:25) Jesus’ answer was to have a balanced life, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27). See–worship and works, devotion and duties. It is not one or the other...it is both. It is a flow, one to and from the other. If you really, really love God, you will really, really love your neighbor (meaning “the one near you”). That way, you will worship freely and do His works freely. You will have devotions with Him and gladly serve Him by serving others. As Tim Hansel writes in his book, “Holy Sweat”, God provides the “holy” and we provide the “sweat”!

God intended for us to worship Him; we were made to do that and have fellowship with Him. But His love example is so great, that He also intended for us to share that love with our fellow man. Yes sir, that is our joyful life, serving God AND man, devotion AND duty.

I think it was Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of England (I think it was you, Mr. Blair, forgive me if it was someone else!) who said that in leadership it was easy to say “no” to something; the harder thing was to say, “yes” and then do it. Be quick to say yes to God but you don’t have to say yes to everything. When we fill our schedules with good works, it is so very easy to drift away from the well of the water of life. We have the voices of the needy screaming at us to help them and that can sometimes drown out that “still small voice” of the Lord. God is talking about service not slavery, folks. Find out what God wants you to do and do it with all your might! That way you are worshiping God AND serving His people. By hearing from God, you end up doing what is in His plan, not just every good work that crosses your path. And guess what, Sherlock, the same God who leads you to the service you gave your “yes” to will also bring along someone to cover the service you said “no” to—voila, it’s all good, and it’s all covered. So, we can put down our superhero capes and just listen to God. Stay in that worship and devotion to Him and you will then know what portion of “duty” or “works” that He has in His plan for you. He is much better at the God stuff anyways!

Now, how can we succeed in what was just discussed? Does that mean one hour of service for one hour of devotion? Tit for tat? No, the Adam nature tends to think of “balance” in that way...sort of like a balance scale. One pound on that side means one pound on the other side to keep things “balanced”. Hm-m, not exactly.

Balance in God’s realm really means more of a flow. The Greek word for “spirit” is rheo, meaning “flow”. (We get our English word rheostat from it). So, the balance we so eagerly desire is really a “flow”. And the flow we are talking about is from God. So it is not so much a stiff devotion vs. duty thing as it is finding a right rhythm...sort of like dancing. God wants us “flowing” through the day. Duty, devotion, duty, duty, devotion, devotion. In listening to the Lord, He will set the rhythm of your dance for that day. Boy, is that freedom or what? Don’t worry about how to serve Him, just seek Him and obey Him, the “service” will come as a wonderful flow through you. The key is to just be open to the Lord for both. Be ready for devotions OR duty, worship OR works at any point in time, according to His plan and timing. That way you won’t feel guilty if some of the works don’t get done while you bask in the devotion or some of the devotion doesn’t get included while you toil in the works. Yup, just like dancing—sometimes you are stomping and sometimes you are floating across the floor, and it’s all good. Work, worship, duty, devotion, it all flows together. In this total submission to God, He’ll show you how to tend to both priorities.

Now, let’s say that you have been leaning a bit too far in one direction—not only is there no balance, there is no flow. Here are a few signs that may give you a hint or two what to do.

You may need to do a bit more “service” and “works” if:

(These could also be signs of something more serious physically or emotionally, so don’t let faith throw away common sense...be wise in what these things are indicating)

• You are tending to be a bit unhappy and depressed
• You are resenting people being in your life
• You feel a bit lost and don’t have a sense of direction and purpose
• You are becoming too self-indulgent with foods, clothing, hobbies, etc.
• You find yourself not caring; you just don’t give a hoot!
• You have no or low energy levels

(So, get out there, bubba, and volunteer someplace—church, school, local hospital, etc.)

On the other side of the coin:

You may need to spend a bit more time in worship and prayer if:

• You are wrapped a bit too tight, so to speak, lashing out at people for the smallest things; REALLY frustrated at everything
• You have to have noise around you all the time because you are uncomfortable being quiet and still
• That “abundant joy” the Lord talks about is far from you
• You feel like you are on a desert island, all alone, “nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I’m going to eat some worms!”
• You keep doing more and more “works” – you suffer from an increased drive for more duty and service time
• You feel dry and empty (no kidding, you keep giving out and don’t stop to refill!)

(Best get out the devotionals, or keep a prayer journal, or go on a weekend retreat and you better do it fast if you want to have the fullness and joy of the Lord be yours and in abundance.)

Remember–a balanced life is really a dance before the Lord. Devotion and duty; worship and work. They go hand in hand, a flowing together. Say, that’s not a bad idea. Just dance every day with Jesus. Wow, why didn’t I think of that?

In the scheme of things, life is short, but what we do while we are here is immensely powerful and influential...for the good or for the bad. Attitudes, behaviors and behavioral patterns, body language, words used in communication, style of dress, thought patterns, sexual practices, family structure, decision making, every single aspect of our lives...have all been influenced by something and/or someone. Even in the womb, before we enter this world, we are affected for the good or for the bad.

Morality is the foundational set of core values that frame your thoughts, words, and deeds; they are the fabric or your being; the clothes in which you wrap yourself. The Latin saying, "Vestis virum reddit", "Clothes make the man" could not be any truer than today. I believe that the tumult in which our society finds itself today is a direct result of sending our children out into a cold world, for at least the last two generations, dressed only in moral rags.

Our legislative dilemmas, our educational morass, the insipid drain of poverty and ignorance, the entertainment community's ever inundating emphasis on sex, drugs and alcohol, the encouragement of a heady pursuit of "wine, women and song", the gender blending and dissolution of clear sexual roles and sexual identity, the violence, lying, bribery, cheating, poor planning, skyrocketing debt, out of wedlock pregnancies, high illiteracy rate, the increase of school drop outs and its resulting menace, rebellion, increasing prison populations topped off by an overall attitude of disrespect, dishonesty, and hedonism, accompanied by an unhealthy disdain for all that is structured or in any way requiring thoughtful consideration instead of knee jerk reaction; anything requiring behavioral modification and self-control instead of pure animal level cravings and their instant gratification; or anything that allows the ignorance of the moment to supercede the wisdom of the ages...all are the end result of the societal regression caused by what is touted as a "progressive" ideology. An ideology that sends each successive generation out clothed in thinner and thinner layers of core values and less and less family and community encouragement to travel the road to higher moral excellence instead of moral mediocrity. To espouse that our society should exist on a core of moral relativism and that the decider of wrongness or rightness is each individual is to espouse a recipe for moral anarchy and even eventual civil war.

Imagine a football game where each player decides where the foul line is; decides whether it was a touchdown or not; decides the length and number of time outs; the number of players on the team; the equipment to be used etc. That game would be in utter chaos in less than ten minutes. No play book, no rules, no fouls...and yet, that is exactly what we ask our youth, to do! If a mere football game needs standards, guidelines, rules, foul lines and punishments for non-compliance...and if moral excellence rather than decadence will obviously temper the above listing of cultural weaknesses and failures, how much more then do our youth need to be taught and shown the more morally excellent guidelines in order to play the most important game...the game of life?

Americans have the privilege to vote for their leaders. What standards, rules, and guidelines influence that vote? What do we desire to be made better, smoother, more efficient, more cost effective, and more successful? How will this be accomplished? Will the issues remain the economy, the Middle East, immigration, the Islamo-Fascist war against the world, border security, education, the cultural war, the war on poverty? In all of these areas, and in many more, there is an underlying factor, which if diminished, negated, ignored, or disregarded will cause the failure, chaos, and diminished capacity of them all. What could possibly be so important to actually influence the vote of the good and upstanding citizens of this country...take heed, oh sage ones who run for office...for many Americans...it's the morality, stupid!

This election has come and gone and it seems, unfortunately, the moral essence of the issues and the moral make up of those running, seemed to take a back seat for many voters...if that continues, what will future elections hold? What will the future of our nation hold? For me, it may not matter much because I have put in more time on the earth than I have left; but what will it be for those who come after us? What legacy will they receive? What kind of America will they inherit? If moral excellence is encouraged and incorporated into the fabric of our lives, then the American cloth will be weaved in fullness and strength, if not, we leave only rags for our children.

[Original publication: Pugsley, Linda. "It's the Morality, Stupid." Yahoo! Contributor Network. N.p., 19 Nov. 2008. http://voices.yahoo.com/its-morality-stupid-2188040.html?cat=4]

Midst all the political conflicts, extreme weather conditions, personal conflicts in families, relationships and businesses, remember one thing — "There is no one like our God, and He is the God of our nation!". "THIS" city is your city, my city, ANY city, EVERYWHERE! Have no doubt...greater things are yet to come.