Daily Prayer 10/27/07

1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and {also} its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

Father- Thank You for this warning from John. We have seen in this book the contrast between a heart set on this life to be lived selfishly and sinfully and a heart set on giving this life to You. How could satan take Jesus up to a high place and show Him all the world and say in Matthew 4:9 "All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me." Can satan give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their glory? Satan has been called the "prince of the power of the air". Adam and Eve handed this world over to satan for a while.... This world is not our friend now Father, but we wait and even creation waits and groans (Romans 8:22) for the return of Christ as the Lord and King of the heavens and the earth. So why should we love a world full of wickedness and sinfulness. What can this life offer that we should cling to? The verses above describe the "American Dream". In the USA the "lust of the flesh" (our desires for comfort and happiness along with sinful lusts) and the "lust of the eyes" (we all know what "keeping up with the Jones' " means....our eyes feed our need to consume more and more...we are never satisfied...we are a very materialistic nation. Finally the verse says "and the boastful pride of life" Oh, listen to our speech! I did this and I did that, we are power hungry in the workplace, we desire to put people in their place, we think of ourselves as better than others.... We pursue, status, wealth, positions... Lord today's "American Dream" is why the world calls us the "Great Satan" This is truly a wicked nation and we love to drink it all in! Indeed the whole world is filled with wickedness....so subtle is our hunger for this world that we take it in fully each day with no thought that we have made ourselves enemies of God. Again the verse says "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Lord make us people who love You and love to do You will. The more we read our Bibles and get to know the REAL Yahweh, the more we will see the sin of the world. May we not worship the "dear grandfather" type false god of this country, but the True Father, Son and Holy Spirit of the Scriptures that have always existed, always will exist and will judge each individuals heart, whether they did the will of God or if they did the will of self.

Thank You for our health, our lives, and all the good things You give us in this life, so that it can be enjoyed in a holy manner. Show us that we can hate the sin of this world, yet still live a very joyous lives in the world that was created with Christ and will be made new by Christ our Lord. In His name we pray, amen.