Are You Ready ?

2008 A look Back - A look Forward

2008
A look back - A look forward

Well December is quickly coming to a close as will another year. As I look back on 2008 I remember it was filled with many issues facing the American people. Record high gas prices, a historic Presidential election, a year of recession, and general unrest.

Although I do not agree with the politics that Obama stands for I do feel that he is in power by the hand of God. God is still in control and a plan is in motion. At times we may not understand it all but we must remember that God will raise up and tear down whom he wills.

People have asked me why then would God raise up a man with such anti Christian values as Obama to lead what is supposed to be a Christian nation. The answer is twofold and fairly simple. First, America is a long way from being a Christian nation, and second, God will raise up the men in power that will full fill the prophesy of Revelations. One last comment on this topic, yes God is in control. However, he gives men and women free will to choose their values, remember that Obama won by a majority vote of the people. So that means that a majority of Americans are not voting Christian values, thus America is no longer a Christian nation..
Now as you look back over 2008 in your own life ask yourself if you have done all you could have for God, your family, your relationships, etc. If you have regrets then look forward to 2009 and make the decision now to improve in those areas.

Put God first in your life followed by your spouse (if you have one), then your family and thirdly your job. Getting these three out of order, as I have done at times in my life, will cause great turmoil and chaos. If you find that you have done that, stop and revaluate the situation and make the proper changes.

Set new goals for 2009 and have a written plan for achieving them and reward yourself for achieving the steps on your plan. As an old saying goes “ If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. This is so true in life.

Most of all remember that God loves you, and share that Love with others. As the Bible says, the greats among these is Love.

It is my prayer to all who reads this that you enjoy a prosperous and joy filled 2009. May God bless you richly in all that you do…

Live a Full Filled Christian Life

Living a Full Filling Christian Life
A plan for success

Have you ever wondered why others in your church seem to be happier and have a closer relationship with God. Do you ever wonder why you just can’t seem to reach God or think that he is not paying any attention to you. I think that we all have been at that point some time in our Christian walk, well I’m going to share with you the formula to get the most out of life and the most out of God.

Everything I tell you is from experience and not just repeating what I’ve heard or re-spouting a sermon from somewhere, I have lived the mistakes that have proven to me what God wants for our lives.

What does God want for our lives ?

First and foremost God wants us to except the salvation of Jesus Christ. God does not desire that anyone should die and go to Hell. If He had wanted that He would not have created a plan of salvation for us..

God wants each of us to be happy and have joy in our lives. He expects that we prosper in everything we do. He also desires that we be worshippers and live by the teachings of Jesus Christ.

How do we achieve a victorious and full filling Christian life ?

I’m going to give you the formula for success in living a full filled life in Christ. It is a proven fact that if you follow this formula you will indeed succeed. A warning though, going into this formula half heartedly will not be successful, in fact you may very well fail altogether by altering or leaving out any part of the formula. However, by following this success plan you will have a very full filled life in Christ and be a joy filled Christian….

The Plan

Step One:

Control the Battle for your mind:

Satan uses three weapons for the control of your mind, if you can recognize and control these three areas then you are ahead of Satan. The weapons he uses are thoughts, ideas, and suggestions. Satan uses any of these three tools to control your actions. Understand and recognize this strategy and you can regain the control of your mind. Not understanding and recognizing what Satan is doing will lead to sin and failure. Not understanding this is why good Christians fail…

Prepare the ground for the battle and victory.

You must prepare the ground for the seed to be planted and a harvest to come. The ground that must be prepared is in your heart.. Hosea 10:12 says Sow yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the lord till he comes and rain righteousness upon you (KJV)
God will provide the seed, God will provide the water through the Holy Spirit. You must prepare your heart, God will not do that for you. He will not trespass upon you.
We are going the explore a few ways to prepare your heart.

Submit your Life to God

I don’t mean just a little bit here, I mean all and totally. Submission to God means a total life transformation. You can’t serve two masters and you can’t serve two God’s. Meaning the world and God. An old Indian saying talks about the fact that man has two dogs living within him, and are fighting to the death. The winner is the one you feed the most.
Feed your Godly spiritual life and you will be successful, neglect it and it will die.

Study the Word of God.

I can not express how important this area is. We have to read and study God’s word to understand what we believe and what God wants for our lives. It astounds me sometimes when I consider that the Bible is a divine collection of 66 books written by 40 authors over a period of 1500 years. It has the same thread message of salvation from cover to cover and all attempts to destroy it has failed, all attempts to prove it wrong has proved it right; and we can’t spend 30 minutes a day to read it…

Find a good daily Bible or a daily devotional. Read the Bible with a purpose. Before you start reading find a time and place that will be quite and you most likely will not be disturbed for at least 30 minutes. Then set aside this time every day to read and study your Bible.
Start with prayer and ask that God will open your mind and heart to receive the Word that you are about to read. Pray that the Word will be planted in your heart and will speak to you. Then read the portion for the day and then spend a few minutes meditating on God’s word and asking how that word applies to your life. End in prayer. Thank God for His word and ask for spiritual guidance throughout your day…

Tithing

Tithing is a subject that always brings up deep emotions and some preachers want to stay away from the subject. But let me tell you this truth. If you’re looking for a successful and fulfilled life in Christ you must be tithing.

How can you be filled with real joy and have a great relationship with God when you are stealing from him. Yes, I said stealing. The Bible is very clear, you are to give the first 10% of your increase back to God. It is all His to begin with, He sees that you get some but you are only allowed to keep 90%.

Tithing must also be done from a willing heart. Simply adding it to the list of bills to pay for the month and paying tithes out of pure obligation is not what God intended. I believe that you will receive some blessing for being obedient. But the greatest blessing’s come when you tithe your 10% and more because you want to and find real joy in doing so and giving back to God, that’s when real blessing’s will be poured out upon you…
Remember, I said that you cannot skip any step in the formula for success. Doing so will cause you to fail.

Become involved in Church and Church Activities

After submitting totally to God, studying and reading your Bible, and paying your tithes you still must be involved in a Church and Church activities. Being involved in your local Church is imperative in your Christian walk.

I Corinthians 15:33 says; Do not be mislead: “Bad company corrupts good character” NIV
Now this of course doesn’t mean that you have to seclude yourself from all non-Christian people. You should be a witness to the unsaved and un-churched. However, as stated in Romans 12:2 ; Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind…NIV

So the sum of it is this. Yes you will be involved with non Christian people in your life but you should be involved in church and church activities as much or more than you are other activities.

Being involved in Christian work keeps your mind focused on doing God’s work and will help you battle the control for your mind that I talked about earlier.
Another area of being involved in church is being in church. Do you attend church regular or sometimes. Do you go more than just on Sunday morning, do you attend Sunday School or just service? If church is second or third on your list of things to do on Sunday then you are already losing your victory.

Church attendance is crucial in developing your Christian life. People ask me, is going to church really that important, I can serve God without going to church? My answer is; can you? I don’t think that you can. Now this of course does not apply to those people that cannot physically be in church due to health or logistics. I’m referring to the people that choose not to attend church. What’s the difference ? Well, mainly it is the desire of your heart. If you chose to put God second on your list you will not live a very success life. How important is church, well take this example. A large set of red hot coals in your BBQ grill stay hot a very long time. Now take one coal out and lay it outside the grill. It will stay hot for a while, but very soon it will start to cool and the heat will die out. But take that coal and place it back in with the others and it will heat back up very quickly. Being in church keeps you on fire and keeps you in a state of worship.
A closing thought on church attendance. God does not want to be served and worshipped at your convenience. You have a choice, submit to serving God or not, there is no such thing as treading water when it comes to serving God. Treading water will lead to sinking..

In Closing

Although I went through each of these areas quickly I think that you can see the formula for success here. It is now your responsibility to follow this formula and develop it further in your own life. My prayer and hope for you is that God puts a conviction in your life to desire serving Him to your fullest. It is then that you will truly find what living a victorious Christian life is all about.

Doing my Best to Serve

Darren Dake

Should Christians Vote

Should Christians Vote ?
09-02-2008



Before anyone thinks that this is the ramblings of a delusional Republican , I will tell you now that this is not an opinion of any political party or social issue. I have researched both sides of this debate extensively and have sought counsel through prayer and the word of God. I have been very careful to give credit due any other researcher that I have used. However, as the old saying goes “ I milk a lot of cows, but I churn my own butter”. So to the best to my ability these are my own words and opinions inspired by God…..

I am going to explore two excuses Christians use not to vote and why both lack Biblical truth…

My vote won’t matter anyway so why bother..

Christians do not need to get involved in such worldly matters, God has it all worked out anyway…


My vote won’t matter anyway so why bother …..

This seems to be the most popular of the two excuses that I have been hearing. It simply is not true. Your vote does matter. In fact your vote holds a voice, and if you are voting based upon Christian values then you are sending a message to the politicians that you demand these values be upheld. All good politicians base their election promises and debates on the topics that are the most talked about in the current age.

Knowing that, then we should be sure that the topics they are basing their campaigns on will further the kingdom of God and not tear it down. If they do not do what they promised, then vote one in that will. Politicians like their jobs and want to keep them, that’s why they try to cater to the biggest and loudest voices, and currently in America they are…..

The following is quoted from www.evangelsociety.org. Christian Political Analysis

Many Christians feel that they cannot affect America in today’s secular society. They see themselves surrounded by a culture that embraces sin and rejects God, and wonder how they can possibly do anything about it.

Enhancing the opportunity for Christians, America’s political system provides them with the ability to disproportionately influence the outcome of election. While nearly all adult Americans have the right to vote in every elections, many decide not to. In Presidential elections, only about half eligible Americans vote. That number drops to around one third in midterm elections. Every voter who turns out in a Presidential election effectively has two votes, and three in a mid term election.

As such, a motivated minority that votes in large numbers can greatly affect the results of an election. With low voter turnout in America, getting supportive voters to the polls can have a greater effect than trying to sway the small minority of undecided voters. This is why senior citizens and NRA members have such political clout. They vote in disproportionately high numbers, and so politicians pay disproportionately high attention to their concerns. Christians could do the same, but in recent years have chosen not to exercise this power

End of Quote….

In our day many people want to drive the name and message of Christ completely out of public view. Voting is an opportunity to promote, protect, and preserve Godly government. Passing up the opportunity to vote means letting those wishing to degrade Christian values to have their way.

Because of some of the people that were elected , or not un-elected, is the reason why we have no prayer in schools, abortion, and moral decline. Conversely, because of Christian values our country has seen civil liberties, abolition of slavery, modern science, the elevation of woman, education, free enterprise, freedom to worship and much, much more… So Christian involvement in politics is paramount..

So when we see the good things that come from Christian involvement and the horror that results without it, it seems that it would be cruel and very irresponsible to let Jesus and Biblical teachings about truth, love, compassion not be voiced through our vote. At the very least we should vote to keep out those who oppose Christian values.

This reminds me of a sign I read recently:

Dear God,

Why do you allow so much violence in our schools?

Concerned Parent

Dear concerned parent;

I’m not allowed in schools..

God……………………..



I think we have summed up that your vote really does matter. It is up to you to decide if you care enough to exercise your right to vote. Now lets explore the next statement. This one really is a lot bigger in scope than the fist and will require a bit more detailing …


Christians do not need to get involved in such worldly matters, God has it all worked out anyway..

Some Christians say that it is wrong for Christians to vote because God is in control and we are attempting to direct his will by voting. Further, that the moral decline of the world is Biblical prophesy so we should not be involved in trying to speed it up or slow it down, just let the world get worse since Christ is soon coming..

With that way of thinking then we should do nothing to stop a child molester or child killer or help a woman that’s being raped, or fight the drug war that America is seeing. Its all part of moral decline right, so don’t get involved in God’s will…..

I think that any of us can see that way of thinking is wrong. If you are one of those that believe we should not help in these brutal situations then you might as well stop reading now because nothing I say will ever make any sense to you….


Okay, I agree that God is in control of the universe and all that is in it. But, Satan is the ruler of the present day earth, it says so in the Bible; Luke 4: 5-6 .. So by us not getting involved by casting our vote we are allowing Satan to degrade Christian values even further..

Lets explore how Satan is using politics and Christian apathy to degrade Christian values. When we do not vote we are not voicing our opinions and beliefs into the situation so the only real voice that is being heard are the non Christian groups. Why do you think that Homosexuality is such a hot topic in politics today? Its really simple, they have a louder voice than us because we won’t stand up and voice our opinion by voting for those who oppose those issues. Abortion is another Christian hot topic. However, with an estimated 159 million people in America (76.5%) claiming to be Christian, I wonder why it’s a topic of discussion at all. I have the answer of course, because a lot of those people don’t live the Christian life and the rest don’t vote.


Why don’t we use our vote to remove the judges from the bench that oppose the Ten Commandments. You do know that the President of the United States (an elected official) appoints the Supreme Court Judges. And the Senate ( all elected officials) confirms the nomination. These men and woman have more power over our laws and values than anyone. The two scariest things about them is that one, they are appointed for life and two, they decide laws based on their opinions of the law… Hope they have Christian opinions.. But we know that many times they do not….

I know that I have bordered on social issues and I will try to pull from that a bit, back to the God’s will argument. I will never believe that it is God’s will for America and the World to be in the moral decline that we are in. We are in this decline because of sin. Sin is not God’s will its human will. God never intended for America to be in this shape.

In his book, What if America was a Christian nation again, Dr. D. James Kennedy explains how America was founded by the British as a part of God’s will. He explains through history how


other groups had tried and failed and how the new Americans came here from England to worship freely. The Bill of Rights, The Constitution, Money, and all other original government documents were all based on God and Biblical principals. Yes even voting…..

So where then did we go from basing our Country on Biblical values to allowing it to be in the shape that its in. Simple, we quit voting and taking part in the Government process. We allowed the voice of the Devil to sound louder than God’s… God granted all of us free will. Its a wonderful blessing, but has gotten us in a lot of trouble…

Some say that there is no example or direction of voting in the Bible so we should not be involved in it. Well I have read the Bible cover to cover and have never found any example of driving cars either, but I’m not walking and neither are you. I don’t mean to make light of Biblical teachings but come on, that’s a ridiculous argument.

Lets take a look at a few Biblical teachings to see what evidence we can find about government involvement and voicing our opinion, which is what voting is.

So much of the suffering on earth is due to Godless leadership, Proverbs 28:12. Any candidate or proposal that violates Biblical teachings for life, marriage, family, or faith should never be supported, Proverbs 14:34. Not voting at all is a support for someone. If we as citizens of the world were not to be involved in the governmental process then surely Paul would have gave us some examples of this.. But instead he exercised his earthly rights as a Roman citizen.

Acts 16:35-38 Paul stood up to the magistrates who had done him wrong. He used his Roman citizenship to influence their next move. In Acts 22: 22-29 Paul rebuked the centurion for his actions stating that he was a Roman citizen and by such had certain rights granted to him by Rome..In Acts 25:11, Paul is being accused of breaking Jewish law which he denies doing, he however does appeal the court that his appeal be heard by Caesar.

In each of these examples Paul uses his Roman citizenship for the work and advancement of Jesus and the Christian message. Romans 13:1-5 commands that we be subject to the higher powers and rulers, and 1 Timothy 2:1-2 tells us to pray for our rulers. I have no doubt that if Paul would have been given the chance to vote he very much would have exercised that right. However, it was not for many, many years later that God used Christians to provide that right to us.

No where in the Bible does God command Christians to stick their head in the sand and to have no part in the affairs of the world. In voting as in other activity, Christians should pray and seek the word of God and the guidance of the Holy Sprit in the matters of voting, then do their best. The right to a free election has been bought by the blood of many saints. Christians should be careful not to take this right lightly and not to loose it through apathy and unconcern.


Doing my best to serve,

Darren Dake