FirstUpdate | June 30, 2021

If asked most people would say, "I LOVE MY COUNTRY – the United States of America!" Many of my family members have served this nation and even given their lives for my freedom. I have stood over the caskets of fallen heroes that died defending our freedom. I have held the hands of wives, children, mothers, fathers, and family members of those that gave the ultimate sacrifice. For those reasons, I cannot keep silent. For over two decades, I have seen Islamic terrorism heading towards the shores of our great country. On September 11, 2001, I like many of you sat glued to our TV in total shock watching the devastating terrorist attack on American soil.

The United States is staring down the barrel of a loaded gun and the sound of a ticking bomb brought by terrorists who desire only the destruction of our country. And sooner or later, we will be expected to pay homage to Allah or face death. What is the key to escaping judgment and making God Lord of our lives? Part of our text for this Sunday's message shines some light on how to solve our country’s failing comes from Joshua 1:6-9: "Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Three times in this text God reiterates, “Be strong and courageous!” How are God’s people to do that? The key to God’s warning is found in verse 8: The Book of the Law, The Word of God. The people were to meditate on it, ruminate on it, deliberate on it, and contemplate it, until it became an integral part of their lives. The people were to study the words of God, memorize them, and as Deuteronomy 6:7 reminds us: “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.”

In Malachi 3:6, it says, “For I am the Lord—I do not change” (TLB). God has not changed! If the United States wishes to continue to enjoy success and prosperity and to experience the protection of God, we must return to the gold standard of His law. We will need to meet Him in His grace and mercy.

There are times in the Bible we read where God used a committed individual to make a decided transformation. Daniel, Joseph, David, Elijah and others – all were destined to make a difference through intercession and obedience. We need only to look back at Joshua and the Israelites as they entered the Promised Land. When they were faced with Jericho, God asked only for obedience to His precise instructions. March and be quiet, then blow the trumpet and shout. How that must have annoyed some who thought they had a better idea. As a result of doing exactly what God had instructed, the walls fell, and people prevailed. Apart from God, the victory could never have been won. Can we apply that to America, as did those patriots who desired freedom from King George III? The British were better trained, had more troops and certainly were better armed. As the British regulars faced off against the colonial soldiers, it must have looked for all the world like David slinging stones at Goliath – yet the revolutionary war was won by ill-equipped men with a mission.

In 1775 at the Virginia Convention, Patrick Henry, delivered this resounding speech as a clear call to stand up to the tyranny of the king: "There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave….Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

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