The next four years are going to be rough for most Americans as President Biden has already stopped the deportation of illegals, halted new leases on fracking and drilling on federal lands, stopped construction on the Keystone Pipeline, stopped the slashing of prescription drug prices to Americans, stopped the ban on taxpayer money funding abortions in foreign countries and many more things. His nominee for transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, has proposed a user gas tax that would require government intrusion into the privacy of Americans in order to determine how many miles they drive and then accessing a tax based upon the number of miles. While this is not a problem for the mostly Democrat city dwellers who own no cars or seldom use cars, it would be a great financial drain on those living in rural communities (which includes the majority of Republicans) who may need to drive as much as 10 miles or more to reach a grocery store and as much as 30 or more to go to their doctors or get supplies that their local store doesn’t carry. In all, the economic strain on the average family is going to only increase as jobs are lost to illegals, as thousands of workers become unemployed as fracking and the pipeline are stopped, as gasoline prices and food prices skyrocket, and as taxes of all kinds increase as the government struggles to pay for all of the left’s wish list of freebies.
For Christians especially, the freedom to practice their religion which is guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States will be ignored until lawsuits are filed and wend their to the Supreme Court. And if Democrats pack the Supreme Court, as many of them wish to do, there will be nothing to protect Christians from government persecution. What then should Christians do? How do we survive the coming years?
- “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
Pray frequently. Prayer does not have to be down on your knees. Some of us can’t get on our knees anymore! Nor does prayer have to be at a set time and place each day, although having a regular prayer time is a good idea. But praying without ceasing means to simply talk to God throughout your day, while you are doing the dishes, shoveling snow off the walk, or driving in the car. Include Him in every facet of your life. Thank Him for his protection and for His blessings. Tell Him how you feel about things. Remind Him of those who need His healing. Just talk to Him. Silently or out loud, it makes no difference. He will hear you either way.
- “But He (Jesus) answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’ ” (Matthew 4:4).
Read the Bible each day. If you haven’t actually started at Genesis 1:1 before and read all the way through to the end of Revelation, then perhaps this year is the year to start. You can make it through in a year by reading two to four chapters a day, depending upon your schedule and upon their length. If you dread slogging through all of the begats, try reading those first few books, perhaps even all the way through 2 Chronicles in the Living Bible. It becomes far more readable, more like history or stories than in the King James Version. If you struggle with the early modern English of the King James Version, try the New King James Version which retains much of the poetic sense but is more readable. Or go to one of the other more modern translations such as the New Living Translation.
If you don’t feel up to tackling the Bible from cover to cover, start with Psalms, perhaps my favorite book. These praise verses are uplifting and remind you of the power and greatness of the Almighty. Psalm 51, written by King David, is a wonderful and moving prayer for forgiveness whose words we each could borrow in our prayers to God. Joshua and 1 and 2 Kings as well as 1 and 2 Chronicles are interesting histories of God’s people, especially when read in a modern translation. And the experiences of Old Testament characters as well as the books of the New Testament encourage and teach us how to meet adversity.
- “. . . not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).
Attend church regularly. Find a church where you feel comfortable and where every sermon is based upon scripture. Then attend every Sunday that you are physically able to and the church doors are open. Attend Sunday school if you can and small group Bible studies to gain more knowledge of the Bible following Paul’s admonition to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
Now more than ever, we need to know God’s Word, His will for us, and His plan for the world.
- “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” ( Matthew 22:37-40).
Love God and love others, all others. This double edged sword is perhaps the most difficult of all. We may say that we love God, but do we love Him with all of our hearts, with all of our souls, and with all of our minds? Or have we let the busyness of modern life and the lure of social media captured our hearts and our minds so that there is little time left for God? How will we explain that to Him at the final !judgement? We must remember that all of the things that seem so important in this world are ephemeral. They will all pass away. Eight track players gave way to cassettes which gave way to CDs and ipods. Nothing on earth lasts forever, but God does.
But the second commandment is even tougher. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves. And our neighbors may well include those who are our enemies politically, who hate us, who persecute us. But God give us no choice. If we do not love the lost, who will ever care enough to win the lost to Christ? Thus we must love them, all of them, and pray for them, especially for the leaders of our country, whether we believe they should be in power or not. Let us remember that one day we will stand before God to be judged. Just being a church member in good standing is not enough. Doing good works is not enough. We must love God and love others, even if they do not love us.
Jesus warned, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:21-23).
The years ahead will not be easy ones for us, but by drawing closer to God we can survive whatever may come. You should try this survival guide for Christians. I intend to!