The day is here. Holy His:
Hope for a Life and a Nation Wholly His is complete and available for immediate
purchase at www.bbotw.com
($12.95). I want to laugh, cry, and run! Never did I think I would write a
book, nor did I set out to do so. It has been a walk of obedience, simply doing
the next thing the Lord put before me. It started out as merely writing down
truths God revealed to me in Nehemiah during the turmoil of our last
presidential election. Birthed in one election cycle, it is a challenge to
believers for this election cycle. While our nation looks to a particular
political leader to bring much-needed change and recovery to our nation, we as
believers must look to God. And to our relationship and walk with Him. And to
the true battle before us: the battle for souls.
I don’t know what God has in
store for this book. I trust His timing to be perfect, and I trust His plan.
The prospect of another four
years with the same administration is unsettling. While those in power don’t
come right out and say they seek a socialist state, everything they’re doing is
bringing about that very thing. A dragon lurks in the cave. Whiffs of smoke
escape its mouth. We don’t see the dragon, but the evidence is there. It’s
fiery breath scorching the very principles and freedoms that have made this
nation great, laying waste our constitution and much of the principles of
liberty and prosperity our founding fathers built into this great nation. Life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (which doesn’t translate into a
government guarantee of happiness). Freedom of speech. Balance of power. Right
to arms and personal protection. And so on. It’s all under attack.
Like Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s time,
"The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there
in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and
its gates are burned with fire" (Nehemiah 1:3). God’s people are
increasingly under attack as the U.S. Constitution – the wall that once protected
our great nation – is broken down and its gates – the principles established to
protect us – are burned with fire. Not literally, of course, but figuratively. Holy
His: Hope for a Life and a Nation Wholly His sets forth scripture’s answer
for restoring our nation, and it has nothing to do with presidential elections.
It is to become holy as He is holy. To depend entirely on God, take His word
seriously, and do what He says. It’s how Nehemiah and the Jews rebuilt the wall
in fifty-two days, and it’s the only way we’ll ever rebuild this great nation.
Here’s why.
In the sense that false teachers
lie and deceive through the things they impart and instruct, 2 Peter 2:12-19
could easily be an alarmingly accurate portrait of a saddening majority of
politicians today:
But these, like natural brute beasts made to
be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and
will utterly perish in their own corruption, and will receive the wages of
unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They
are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast
with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing
unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are
accursed children. They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following
the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but
he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man's voice
restrained the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water, clouds
carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the
lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from
those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are
slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is
brought into bondage.
Regardless of their party affiliation,
I believe it’s accurate to say too many politicians are wells without water who
speak great swelling words of emptiness. They entice unstable souls through the
lusts of the flesh, promising a form of liberty that only leads to slavery. Is
that what we want?
And masses believe. This completely
baffles me even more so than the people and events cajoling the dragon. It
perplexes and alarms me that so many can’t see the deceit. It’s a common topic
of conversation in our home. We keep trying to figure out why so many people
continue to fall at our president’s feet as if he truly holds the answer to a
hopeful future when he’s the one unleashing the deadly beast. It’s more than
just laziness or wanting someone to do for you what you’d rather not do for
yourself. It’s more than a palm extended and eager for the next handout. It’s
more than entitlements and bailouts and debt-laden stimulus plans. It’s more
than the lie of tolerance that elevates the unnatural over every other opinion
or belief. It’s more than the smokescreen war on women aimed at disguising yet
another socialist encroachment. We would debate and discuss to no avail. No
explanation seemed an adequate answer.
Until we read 1 Corinthians 2:11-16
with new understanding:
For what man knows the things of a man except
the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God
except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world,
but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been
freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's
wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things
with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he
himself is rightly judged by no one. For "who has known the mind of the LORD
that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
Without Christ, no man or woman can
receive the things of the Spirit of God, including His truth about what’s
happening in our world today. The masses can’t see what’s really going on
because they don’t have eyes of understanding. That is why it is critical for
God’s people get serious about doing what God says, staying focused and
dedicated to fighting the true fight: the one for souls. As more people come to
a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, the more they will be able to
spiritually discern what is said and happening around them. Any initiative
aside from speaking God’s truth and sharing the gospel is really just applying
a bandage. It’s not healing the infection. It will ooze and fester and spread.
Yes, we follow current events. Yes, we
stay informed of political and cultural events. YES, WE VOTE AND TAKE A STAND
FOR FREEDOM. But the only true and permanent answer for our nation is the
saving of souls. No political candidate or party or legislation or
constitutional amendment has the power to bring hope to this nation. None will
solve our moral problems and cultural decline. THE ONLY WAY WE WILL HAVE HOPE
FOR A FUTURE is in the saving name of Jesus Christ. The very name this world
increasingly rejects, which means believers must trust the Holy Spirit for the
courage to speak the Name. To boldly live in obedience. To be a beacon of truth
as the Lord directs, empowers, and shows Himself mighty in and through us. To
be more attractive in the way we talk and LIVE than the alternative. It’s time,
believers. It’s time to be holy as He is holy.
That is what Holy His: Hope for a
Life and a Nation Wholly His is all about. If the Lord leads, I pray you
will read it and pass it along to others. It is a book first, but each chapter
is divided into five days of reading with questions for reflection and
application at the end of each section. Work though it individually, or gather
a group and use it as a Bible study book. Regardless of the results of this
election, our nation needs the truth of God’s word. The truth of His answer for
hope and healing.
Lord, I pray that this book, a walk of
obedience, would bring You much glory. I have no agenda for it, only that it
would be what You want it to be. That those You desire to read it would read
it. That it would continue to be a walk of obedience for me, and that it would
bring You much glory.
Shauna Wallace
Holy His
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