Pressing On

by Rich Farm

“Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”     ~Matthew 26:41

“A river cuts through rock, not because of its power but because of its persistence” ~ Jim Watkins

He was exhausted. He knows the time is near. Any moment now the betrayer will bring the authorities to arrest Him. All the while the weight of the world is upon His shoulders. He has asked three of His closest students to continue on in prayer with Him and all they can do is fall asleep. He thinks about the past. He can see how far He has come with His students. I’m sure in His humanity He worried, will they continue on or will they fall away like the son of the perdition. Then He remembered His Father and His promise to not let one be snatched from His hand.

As He continues in prayer His pain and agony grow. All the mental and emotional weight of sin being poured out on Him takes its toll. The stress was great. It was so great that He began to sweat drops of blood. The very weight of the sin of all mankind crushes Him to the point of near death. In a moment, of humanity, He cried out for relief, if there were any other way but He knows He still needs to make it to the end. He then remembers the joy set before Him. The very reason He began, to find and prepare His bride. He musters all the strength He could and prayed one more time and His strength was renewed just as the guards came to arrest Him.

It was time to continue. Now He stands before the leaders, questioning Him with many false witnesses and yet He does nothing to attempt to clean His name. they proceed to mock and spit on Him. They beat Him with their fists and plucked out His beard. The next morning, He stands before another man who may have the power to release this innocent man. Yet because He would rather appease the crowds rather than deal justly, he sentences this man to death.

He has been betrayed by one of His own and abandoned by the rest. He has been beaten, mocked, and ridiculed. He’s been unjustly sentenced to death, yet in all this He knew it had to be done. There was an end game and He knows it is not finished yet. Finally at the end of His sentencing, one final blow occurred. His Father turned His face on Him and allowed Him to breathe His last breath. Darkness covered the land and there was great mourning in the land.

His followers thought this was the end and some even returned to their professions. One day passed, then two, and on the third the earth shook and the stone rolled. There was no body in the tomb. For a period of time, He revealed Himself to His followers and others until He took His rightful place on the throne of heaven.

This story speaks of how knowing your destiny and purpose in life can carry you through much heartache and sorrow.  Knowing this man is one that sits far above all and is willing to sustain us is very encouraging.  It doesn’t matter what you have been through, are going through or will go through, He is with you every step of the way.  The example we are given by the journey of Jesus to the cross is one of complete surrender.  He gave his all to the mission assigned to him and in that he found joy.  The joy of knowing the end was coming and the purpose would be fulfilled.

Do you feel you are overwhelmed and drowning? Remember God can sustain you.  If we surrender to Him and give him our all He will guide us and refresh us no matter what comes against us.  All we have to do is keep on going.  Remember the only time we truly fail at anything in life is when we stop trying and give up.  If you’re still fighting and still rise when you get knocked down there is always hope.  Just like Jesus’ journey, things have a way of seeming like they are done and final; death is pretty final.  However, with our God all things are possible and we have access to that resurrection power to flow through our daily life

A Lawless One: When a President Breaks Faith with God and the People

by Susan Snelling

The President has an important role in American governance and beyond. In a way he is a father figure to the masses, an almost apostolic type calling on his life. He can bring great good to the nation but he can also bring great harm. This harm happens when he breaks faith with God and the people. First, I want to begin by laying out what the Constitution has to say about the Presidency.

Article II, Section I, Clause 8 of the Constitution states: Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation: — “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Noah Webster, in his work “American History,” sums up the “powers and duties” of the president as presented in Article II, Sections 2 and 3 of the Constitution:The president is commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States and of the militia of the states when called into actual service of the United States. With the advice and consent of the Senate he has power to make treaties; he nominates and with the advice and consent of the Senate appoints ambassadors and other public ministers, judges of the Supreme Court and all other officers whose appointments are not otherwise provided for by law. He fills vacancies in offices which happen during the recess of the Senate, but their commissions expire at the end of the next session. He has power to convene Congress on extraordinary occasions, and it is his duty to give information to Congress on the state of the Union, to recommend measures to Congress on the state of the Union, to recommend measures to their consideration, and in general to take care that the laws are faithfully executed.

The President is first and foremost the Commander-in-Chief of the US military. This is not a duty that he shares with the other branches of the government. The security and safety of the American people is basically his number one priority. Another responsibility, as Webster already summed up for us, is to make certain the laws passed by Congress are faithfully executed. I want to mention this one in particular because what happens when a president tries to make laws himself or fails to see that laws, generated by those legislatures who represent the people, are not faithfully executed, leads to lawlessness. A lawless president sets a tone and standard of lawlessness throughout America. This will be reflected in the corporate boardrooms and streets of America’s cities. It is reflected in a nation without borders. It’s a rot that corrodes completely every aspect of a nation and that eventually takes more than a righteous president to overcome.

This leads to another important responsibility of the president. He sets the moral tone in America. This tone filters down to the people, it can affect all levels of government, and the culture itself. A president is expected to take seriously his oath of office, to be faithful in his duties and responsibilities.The president has a serious role to uphold the Constitution and the law in his governance and personal life. Joseph Story, a former Supreme Court Justice, wrote in “Commentaries on the Constitution” in 1883: There is little need of commentary upon this clause. No man can well doubt the propriety of placing a president of the United States under the most solemn obligations to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution. It is a suitable pledge of his fidelity and responsibility to his country; and creates upon his conscience a deep sense of duty, by an appeal, at once in the presence of God and man, to the most sacred and solemn sanctions, which can operate upon the human mind.

The president has a solemn obligation to “preserve, protect, and defend” the Constitution. His oath, his duty and responsibility to the American people, is pledged before God and the people, and creates a “deep sense of duty” on his conscience. What if a president displays no moral character or a conscience? What becomes of that “deep sense of duty?” Where does it go when there is no conscience to speak of where it can penetrate?

What happens when a president is one of such low character that their entire political career and life is based on lies, plagiarism, corruption, and thinks nothing of personal gain over risk to National Security, the number one job of the President? It is expected that a president will be faithful to the pledge he takes when being sworn into office and to his duties as outlined in the Constitution. To do otherwise, is to break faith with God and the people.To do otherwise is to be a lawless one.

Look around. What we see in America today is at least in part due to a president, and other elected or appointed leaders, who break faith with God and the people. And to a people who refuse to hold them accountable. Vote wisely. Be careful who you select to sit in seats of authority. Educate your fellow citizens on the matter, on our Founding principles. This is the job of every citizen. It is your job, it is my job. We are accountable to God and to our brethren, our fellow citizens, for how we vote, how we hold leaders accountable. Remember, the people are the king. The power is ultimately with the people.