Isaiah 60:17-18 I will make peace your governor
and righteousness your ruler.
No longer will violence be heard in your land,
nor ruin or destruction within your borders,
but you will call your walls Salvation
and your gates Praise.

I must say the current situation of Israel comes to mind as I read this. With rockets raining down on them, devout citizens must be longing for the fulfillment of this prophecy! However, most of them haven’t yet opened their hearts to the Prince of Peace who will bring all of this to pass. Many years ago I learned that a good tool in evaluating people was to examine who their enemies were. Looking at the current situation, that makes me all the more an avid supporter of Israel! That said, we need to consider the spiritual implications for believers of all sorts, wherever they live. When you are secure in your salvation through an intimate fellowship with your Savior, that is a secure fortress indeed. There is no better! Even if our physical bodies are martyred, we have peace and joy through our Lord. The entry into that relationship, that fortress, is indeed praise: recognizing and acknowledging God for who He is and what He has done for us in Christ. You may not be a singer, but you can’t have a right relationship with God without a heart, at least, that sings His praise. Music is a wonderful gift, but this goes deeper than that to heart attitude. You won’t worship and praise correctly without gratitude.

I grew up in a family that loved to sing hymns, and my parents certainly loved the Lord, but even so I moved into a fresh element of that when I became involved in the music of the Charismatic movement. There is fluff and there is trash in that, as there are in any human endeavor, but there are songs that have brought me so close to heaven that I thought my body would give up and let me stay there! Such experiences have caused me to focus on my relationship to my Lord far more than on any system of theology. I have friends who will debate systems of theology for hours, and I respect them for it. However, to me that all fades in importance when I consider the Person of my Lord, and His love for me. As I told people when I first came to Omura, I don’t want to teach them a religion, I want to introduce them to a Savior. Knowledge of God is good, but it is best gained through His Word and fellowship with Him, rather than through what others have said about Him.

Father, You have put me in the position of teaching others about You, about Christ, and about the Holy Spirit. Help me not draw back from that, but keep me focused on relationship with You and with Jesus my Lord by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. May I draw others to seek and receive that relationship for themselves, not through me but directly, so that we may be disciples and witnesses of Christ indeed, drawing many more into Your kingdom, Your family, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!