Dear Friends,
As we reflect on the attack of our country on September 11, 2001 we give thanks
for the men and women who at the risk of their own lives took action to save
the lives of others. Todd Beamer’s last words “Let’s Roll!”,
rallied other men on United Airlines Flight 93 to abort the terrorists from
destroying more lives. Lisa Beamer’s book, Let’s Roll,
gives all the glory to our Lord, Jesus Christ for Todd’s courage and sacrifice
and now for her courage as a young widow with three small children to live with
forgiveness and hope. “I have chosen to live with hope because although
I know I’m not in control, I know the One who is – my loving and
sovereign God and Father.” She grieves but not as the rest of men (unbelievers)
who have no hope as she knows God will ultimately destroy all evil and reunite
her to Todd who is with Him now. (1 Thessalonians 4:13)
Todd and Lisa Beamer are national heroes and as Christians we are blessed that
Jesus Christ is being acknowledged as the Heroes of Heroes. We pray many will
be drawn to the Savior through their testimonies. But we must realize that the
Lord calls each of us to be heroes to His glory in hundreds of small ways in
our every day lives and often He is the only One who sees these acts of kindness
or courage to do the right thing. “We can do no great thing for God but
only small things done with great love,” said Mother Teresa. So there
is much to learn from September 11 that applies to our daily walk with our Lord
in our little sphere of influence.
First of all we must be careful not to just focus on the evil of Islam and
terrorists “out there”. Alexander Solzhenitsyn thanked God for his
prison experience for in this time of extremity he learned that “the line
separating good and evil passes, not through states, nor between classes, not
between political parties either, but right through every human heart –
and through all human hearts.” Jesus ripped the mask off the lie that
people are basically good and that evil is always out there somewhere –
Islam, Communism, Enron, WorldCom, my neighbor, boss, spouse, etc. “From
within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft,
murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, arrogance and folly. All these evils
come from inside and make a man unclean.” (Mark 7:21-23) The same day
3000 died from the murderous attacks of terrorists, 4,400 babies “died”
in the wombs of their mothers totaling 42 million since 1971. Mothers, fathers,
legislators, and even you and I can try to justify this by saying, “it’s
my right, my body, my choice” to abort a “fetus”. But God
calls these little ones “persons” before they were born or even
conceived. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you”, God said
to Jeremiah (also see Psalm 139:13-16), and He calls it infanticide or murder.
Scripture says evil is like yeast and spreads as it touches others. (1 Corinthians
5:6-8) Of course, it is amplified by the evil one, Satan and his minions, and
the world system that hates God (John 15:18-19). But the blame game, “who
me, wrong?” started in the garden of Eden as Adam blamed God and Eve blamed
the serpent and then in the first family as Cain blamed and murdered Abel. (Genesis
3:12-12; 4:1-10) But Jesus says evil begins with me, with you, in our own hearts,
the log in our eye, and only after seeing our sin, confessing it and turning
from it can we see clearly enough to help get the speck out of “their”
eye. (Matthew 7:1-5)
Secondly, as we must first allow God to deal with the sin in our heart, we
must first of all pray fervently for personal revival if we want revival in
our churches, homes and country. “It’s me, it’s me, it’s
me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer” not, it’s them, it’s
them, it’s them. The great saints in the Bible always confessed their
sins saying “we have sinned” and then interceded for others. (Nehemiah
1:6-7; Isaiah 6:5-8; Daniel 9:4-6; Paul – Romans 7:14-25) When Paul said he
was not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for salvation (Romans
1:16), he was not simply speaking of saving faith but how he and all of us need
God’s power through faith in Jesus to change us at the heart level. Only
God’s power can change us from being self-focused and hurtful people to
ones who can humbly love and serve others and actually forgive our enemies.
Jesus’ longest sermon starts with the shocking statement that the entrance
to living the Christian life is the regular confession of being a spiritual
beggar – “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven.” And as we realize our sins we mourn over them and the sin
of others and plead for God’s righteousness and then extend the goodness
and mercy of the Lord we have received from Him to others even when people insult
us for living God’s way. (Matthew 5:3-12)
Since September of 1998 a small group of businessmen have joined me each Monday
morning for a time of worship, confession and intercessory prayer for our communities
and nation. As we have prayed for revival the Lord is reviving us. I have come
to see my own sin ever more clearly and have come to so appreciate the Lord’s
sweet but painful conviction in my walk with Him and my relationship to others.
This is the starting point for revival – brokenness and repentance before our
holy, loving and merciful God. “For this is what the high and lofty One
says – whose name is holy: ‘I live in a high and holy place, but
also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the
lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.’” (Isaiah 57:15)
Is the Lord going to revive our country, our churches, our families and communities?
We hope and pray so for His glory. But ultimately that question can only be
answered by each one of us person by person. Will I allow the Lord to break
my heart over my sin against Him and therefore others? I pray He will for me,
for you and for all of us. And if so, whatever He does in this brief span of
life in our country or world will be insignificant to how he has changed our
hearts for all eternity for His glory and our highest good and joy, forever
and ever and ever…………..
Let’s Roll! “Go ye therefore and make disciples” (Matthew
28:18-20) by first of all being one and then lovingly teaching others to follow
and obey Jesus and God’s good way of life.
Yours in Christ,
Len and Kristen