​As you head to the polls to fulfill your duty and privilege as a citizen of the United States to vote on November 3rd, what will be your main criterion for marking the box of candidates running for public office?
Personally, I believe it should be morality. Moral issues are the most important, significant issues our nation faces.
America’s moral compass no longer points to true north. Without question, morality is at an all-time low while immorality is at an all- time high in our nation.
It is difficult to understand, but some people do not know what being moral is. Look up moral, morality in Webster’s Dictionary. Morality matters because it is about ethical, moral principles and conduct. Morality has to do with what is righteous, virtuous, and decent. 
Morality pertains to our belief and convictions regarding sanctity of life, sexuality, speech, conduct, marriage and family relationships, business dealings, treatment of others, law and order and our view of a culture that should be glorifying God and edifying its citizens. 
What is moral or immoral has been pre-determined, defined and decreed by God in the Bible.
Our sovereign Creator created a moral universe. His eternal Kingdom is based on truth and moral principles. Sorry folks. You and I do not get to pontificate, legislate, or pen an executive order as to what morality should or should not be. Bottom line: we are not God. He, and He alone, is. You and I are accountable to Him (Romans 14:12) for our moral life.
As one example of personal responsibility and accountability, you and I must answer whether or not we believe God created humans male and female (Genesis 1:27). The God of the Bible is a two-gender guy! There is no transgender. Boys are born boys; girls are born girls. Period. Surely God knows which bathroom males and females should use.
Our gender has been chosen by a loving, benevolent, gracious Creator who has an awesome plan for each of us who are unique and significant (Read Psalm 139). To think or act to change gender is perversion of what God calls pure. 
Take marriage as another moral principle. Marriage is between one male and one female. The first husband and wife, Adam and Eve, established the sacred bond of two becoming one flesh in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:24-25). Fornication, adultery, homosexuality, having sex with a member of the same gender, as well as same sex marriage is immoral, not moral. God’s word calls those man-instituted unions abominable. (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13, Romans 1:18-32).
The Supreme Court of the universe, made up of the God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit residing on the bench of justice, has ruled so. No exceptions. Not now. Not ever.  
Reasons Why Morality Matters

• Morality, established by God, is non-negotiable. Unchangeable.
• Moral boundaries are a blessing, not a curse.
• Morality provides holy, sacred guidelines for a wholesome, healthy, respectful lifestyle.
• Immorality erodes purity, decency, and cleanliness in a culture.
• Moral conduct provides a protective, safe cover over individuals, families, and a nation.
• Moral behavior sets people free. Immoral conduct enslaves people.
• Immoral societies implode, collapsing from the inside.  
• Immorality reaps a grim harvest of insecurity, instability, unrest, and chaos in society.
• Moral misconduct breaks the bond of trust between God and people.
• Biblical morality is the most important legacy parents can pass on to their children.
• Morality matters because God will judge our moral behavior.  May we not be deceived.

The Apostle Paul proclaimed the good news of Jesus Christ to a pagan, sex-obsessed, immoral culture. The city of Corinth was notoriously known for its perversion and impurity. Paul boldly and compassionately preached God’s standards for moral conduct to the Corinthians and to us.  In I Corinthians 6:18-20, inspired by the Holy Spirit, Paul wrote:
“Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body.”
Flee immorality. Flee means run! If you are being immoral, you are sinning against God, others, and   against yourself. Your body is not yours. It belongs to Christ if you choose to follow Him. Your body houses the Holy Spirit. Jesus bought your body with the price of His precious blood. So how can you be immoral? Why would you choose immoral behavior?  
Paul’s exhortation needs to be heard and heeded today in America and our world. 
Worth thinking about: How can a holy God bless an unholy nation that mockingly flaunts immorality in the face of the One who called us to be holy?
I do not believe He can or will until we as a people turn from immortality to morality.
God’s prophet called out to the Jewish nation “Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will you remain unclean? (impure). (Jeremiah 13:27). I wonder what Jeremiah would say to America today. 
This very day, Almighty God is looking for a few good moral men and women who will turn our immoral nation back to righteousness, purity, and holiness by standing up for and living a biblically moral life.
I am praying daily for a revival of righteousness and morality to sweep through the hearts of Americans. Will you pray for me as I pray for you and our fellow Americans?  
On November 3rd, moral decisions must carry the day if our nation is to be blessed by God.
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen for His own inheritance.” Psalm 33:12
Moral or immoral, which do you choose today?
A Word For Your Week: Be a biblically moral person because morality matters.

​America is under attack. The enemy: stress.
Granted, life is stressful. Stress can be positive or negative.  Currently, negative stress has intensified to a dangerously unhealthy, and in many ways, destructive level.
Multiple stressors  are stressing you and me out: Covid-19. Economic uncertainty. Financial insecurity. Pivotal national elections. Political corruption. Hateful rhetoric. Character assassination. Violence in the streets. Safety concerns. Church and school closures. Natural disasters. Threats from foreign enemies.  I am feeling some stress just writing this down!
The world’s negative noise is stressful.
Speaking for myself, I have noticed I am extra edgy, uptight, frustrated, impatient (more than usual!), prone to outbursts of anger at times, questioning, wondering, saddened and sorrowful over the state of affairs in the country I honor, respect, take pride in and love.  .  
Sounds like depression doesn’t it?  I am not depressed in the classical, clinical sense, but I am stressed out.
America society is extremely volatile, in grave danger of spiritual, moral, and civil implosion.  Disregard for the sanctity of life from the womb to the tomb, disrespect for lawful authority, disdainful prejudice toward people different than us, disgraceful, shameful, degrading perverse  immoral conduct, and rejection of and rebellion toward the God of the Bible fuels the fires of division and disunity that is manifesting itself in skyrocketing divorces, domestic violence, anxiety, fear, depression, addictions and suicide.
So, what can we do to reduce massive stress that has a stranglehold on our personal lives and nation?  I am glad you asked.
Jesus Christ knows how to help us with stress. God’s only Son personally dealt with stress while on earth. The moment He pronounced Himself as the Messiah, He was rejected by the very people He came to save. Jesus was mocked, blasphemed, ridiculed, denied, betrayed, abandoned, physically. tortured, and the Lord’s heart was broken over sheep without a shepherd.  His human stress levels were unimaginable.
How did Jesus manage stress and pressure?  He regularly stole away from everyone and everything to meet alone with the Father. He prayed. He sought the Father’s will. The Lord came away from those times when He cast His stress on the Father with peace in His heart for the next round of life.
Stress surrounded the Lord, yet He walked in rest in midst of the stress.
In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus invites you and me to find rest from stress in Him.
“Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you shall find rest for your soul. For My yoke is easy and My load is light.”
Please note three positive action steps Jesus invites us to take to receive rest for our weary (stressed out) souls.
COME. Simply come to Jesus. Why? Because He promises “rest” for all who are weary, worn out and burdened. “Come” is for everyone who seeks relief from life weariness that stress produces.   
TAKE. Receive from Jesus. Yoke, hook up with Him.  Stop trying to handle your stress by yourself. Christ’s yoke is easy, His load is light. Easy and light sounds good to me!  
LEARN. Jesus possesses a gentle and humble heart that cares sincerely and deeply about our stress and weariness. Being stressed out provides an opportunity to learn how to manage stress successfully from the Lord.
The result when we come to Jesus when stressed out:  less stress.
The Lord’s way of dealing with life is far less stressful than mine or yours. His way of managing stress is all about rest. Rest, peace, calm and joy for our stressed souls (mind, will and emotions) is ours when we come to Jesus to rest in Him.    
 Manage stress or it will mismanage you.
How To Manage Stress

• Cast your stress on the Lord. Give it up to Him and leave it there. I Peter 5:7
• Guard your personal peace. Erect a restful barrier between you and the world’s unrest.
• Avoid stressed out people when possible. Do not borrow someone else’s stress.
• Shut out, shut off things that stress you out. Begin with social media, negative news services and negative Ned’s and Nellies.  
• Saturate your spirit, mind and heart with God’s Word. Study scriptures that assure you of God’s peace and rest for you.
• If you need to release pent up stress, find a field, or go in your backyard and scream! It will do you a lot of good!
• Thank God that He knows how to help us handle stress in a positive, healthy way.

Rest in the Lord is the key to beating the stress of the world
Maybe you are stressed out like me. What if you and I committed ourselves to pray for one another to take our stress to Jesus and receive His rest? I certainly would like you to pray for me. I would be honored to pray for you.
“Rest in the lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.” Psalm 37:7  
A Word For Your Week: Rest in the Lord and stress will take a hike.

​Alerts.
You and I are well familiar with alerts.
Breaking News alerts. Weather alerts. Silver alerts. Medical alerts. Computer alerts.  Consumer alerts. Product alerts. Law enforcement alerts. Alerts, alerts, and more alerts! Some of us might need an alert to remind us of the rest of our alerts!
According to Webster, the word alert means to watch, look out for, pay attention to, be aware of, warn, a call to a state of readiness.
Back in 1973, when I was doing my best to survive boot camp at the United States Naval Station in San Diego, California, naive, raw recruits like me were put on watch, guard duty. What were we guarding? San Diego, of course.
 I remember vividly being diligent at my guard post, on alert, watching over San Diego in the middle of the night, carrying a fake rifle. Our drill sergeants put the fear of God and Satan in us so that some recruits (not this guy!) thought they were really watching out for the Russians,  Chinese or North Vietnamese to attack San Diego! Anchors away my boys!
Seriously, green-horn, wet behind the ears, wanna-be sailors were trained in boot camp to be on alert, on guard, at our post, watchful, looking out for the enemy in the event we would be engaged in combat in a war zone.
Christians are good soldiers of Christ (II Timothy 2:1-4) in a spiritual war zone (Ephesians 6:10-12) battling Satan and the powers of hell. (I Peter5:8-9). You and I must be on constant alert if we are to push back the gates of hell in Jesus’ name (Matthew 16:18-19).    
Jesus taught something significant about being watchful, on alert.
In Matthew 24, the Lord describes the signs of His glorious return. Read them to be refreshed, blessed, and encouraged. In verses 42-44 Jesus teaches about being on alert.
 “Therefore, (in light of His return) be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on alert, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.  For this reason, you be ready too; for the Son of Man is coming in an hour when you do not think He will.”
Three times Jesus exhorts His followers to be on alert, ready, watchful. For what? His return! He will come when it is time to return, and therefore, we should be looking for Him at any time. That means we must be watchful, ready, alert for His second coming.
Jesus also issues a word of warning to watch out for the thief. The devil is a thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy. ( John 10:10a). The homeowner is watchful so the thief cannot break into his home and steal his stuff.
 Christians must be watchful, on the alert for two things: our enemy Satan’s attacks and Jesus glorious return resulting in our homegoing to heaven!
Paul writes in I Thessalonians 5:5-6 “For you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night or darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do; but let us be on alert and sober.”
 Jesus made it clear: As you wait for My return, be on alert, watchful, looking for Me to split the eastern sky, coming triumphantly on a cloud in the air with the heavenly host! What a glorious day that will be for all who believe in Him!
How You Can Be On Alert

• Know your enemies and what they are after in your life. Do your do diligence. 
• Be discerning concerning the deception, distortion and twisting of truth that bombards our minds daily. Be alert regarding worldly news alerts!
• Do not sleep at the wheel as a follower of Jesus Christ. Wake up and stay awake.  
• Pray for the Holy Spirit to keep you spiritually alert and on guard.
• Fortify your faith with God’s Word from the Bible. Know and confess the Word.
• Put on every piece of your spiritual armor every single day. (Ephesians 6:10-20)
• Stay away from, do not associate or fellowship with careless folks who are not watchful in their Christian lives. You can “unfriend” hypocrites and pretenders.
• Praise the Lord that He helps you stay alert, on guard, watchful, looking expectantly for God to work on your behalf in mighty ways!  

Listen my friend, if you and I do not stay alert, who will be alert for us? Our anti-Christian, worldly system labors relentlessly to lull you and me to sleep spiritually. How can we resist the enemy of our souls and his evil minions if we are snoozing at our post?
Be aware. Look out for your faith. Pay careful attention to your spiritual life. Stay close to Jesus. Be filled with the Holy Spirit every day. With every step you take, walk courageously and confidently in the power of God.
If our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ exhorted His followers, including you and me, to be on alert, maybe, just maybe we should heed and obey His words.
Beloved believer in Christ, please, please be on alert, Watchful.  Looking out for anyone or anything that would try to discourage or derail your Christian faith.
People who you love and care about, as well as a spiritually lost world, are counting on you to be on alert.
Keep watching. Jesus is coming back! Hallelujah!  
“Be on the alert. Stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” I Corinthians 16:13
“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, know ng that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.” I Peter 5:8-9
A Word For Your Week: Stay alert as you walk by faith in Jesus Christ awaiting His return.  

​Enemies.
What should you and I do when enemies are trying to take us out?
Pandemic enemies. Political enemies. Spiritual enemies. Health enemies. Financial enemies. Natural/weather enemies. Emotional enemies. Relational enemies. Foreign enemies. Domestic enemies. Have I left any enemies out of the 2020 landscape?
Let us be honest:  It can be very perplexing, extremely discouraging, and even frightening when an “enemy” appears to be gaining ground in its attempt to alter or even end our life as we know it.
GOOD NEWS! Almighty God knows how to deal with the enemies of His people.
The book of Exodus records the miraculous “going out” of God’s people Israel from bondage as slaves in Egypt. The Lord delivered Israel with His strong powerful hand from the wicked, evil hands of Pharaoh. Read the Song of Moses in Exodus 15 describing the great victory at the Red Sea.
Back up the deliverance train. Israel is seemingly trapped between Pharaoh’s bloodthirsty army and the impassable Red Sea. Enter God. As the people were wondering what was going to happen, the word of the Lord came through Moses.
“Moses said to the people “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever; The Lord will fight for you while you remain silent. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward.” Exodus 14:13-15
Imagine you are one of the Israelis. Ticked off, vindictive Pharaoh and his bloodthirsty army is in hot pursuit of you, your family, friends, and nation. In the natural, looks like game over for Israel.
Moses tells you and your loved ones the following.

1. Do not fear! Stop being afraid. Fear paralyzes. Faith energizes. God has something really awesome in mind that you do not know about.
2. Stand by. Stand fast at your post. Be expectant. Something utterly amazing is on the way.
3. See the salvation of the Lord. You do not have to save yourself. Moses cannot save you either. God will and you will see your enemies disappear t0day!  
4. Keep silent. Resist the temptation to grumble, express anxiety, speck negatively and believe the worst.  
5. The Lord will fight for you. The battle is the Lord’s and victory belongs to Him. Almighty God is with you, for you and will work on your behalf.
6. Go forward. How? Trust God to open a way where there seems to be no way.
7. Set ready to praise the Lord for His conquest of your enemies.  

 I do not know about you, but for me, sometimes It is really, really hard to stand by, say nothing, do nothing when the enemy is getting closer and closer. Talk about rattling my cage! Everything within me wants to do something!
Sometimes Steve Roll and stand by do not see eye to eye!
Seven Simple Steps For Standing By And Watching God Work

• Do not panic over your enemy. Eject fear. Select faith. Trust in the Lord with courageous. confident, unshakable, immovable faith.   
• Keep your mouth from complaining, grumbling, whining and doubting.
• Remember and confess that God is bigger than any enemy you will ever face.
• Choose to refuse the negative comments of fearful Christians and unbelievers who think the enemy is bigger than God. Enemies want you and me to think our God is too small to defeat them.  
• Band together with like-minded believers who choose to stand by and see what God will do. Stand boldly together against the attacks of the enemy.
• When the Lord decisively whips your enemy, praise Him! Celebrate! Give Him glory for what He has done!  
• Joyfully share with others who are under duress from enemies what God did for you.

Enemies of everything that is holy, righteous, pure, moral, decent, uplifting, and positive seem to be everywhere these days. The enemy of our soul. Satan, is their father. The devil is relentless in attacking Christians in particular. Never forget my brother or sister in Christ “Greater is He (Christ) who is in you than he (Satan) who is in the world.” I John 4:4.
GOOD NEWS AGAIN! Christians are the greater ones because Jesus has defeated the devil. The Holy Spirit empowers Christ’s followers with supernatural courage, strength, and spiritual weapons to be more than conquerors through Him who loves us. (See Romans 8:31-39).  
My friend, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, and an enemy is harassing you, stand by, stand back, keep silent, go forward by faith…….then watch the King of Kings and Lord of Lords work on your behalf.
“Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You.” Jeremiah 32:17
“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.” I John 5:4
A Word For Your Week.  Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord.