Pastor J. Mark Martin
Calvary Community Church
Halloween is a big holiday! Here are some of the stats:
• Everywhere you go, you see Halloween decorations going up in
the mall and all around town near the end of September.
• Halloween has become big business.
• More than fifty million Americans celebrate Halloween each
year.
• An estimated $400,000,000 is spent on Halloween, and most of that
is spent on candy and costumes, but they say about $60,000,000 is
spent on Halloween decorations.
• Every year Halloween becomes more popular with adults. It is
the third most popular holiday, especially for Americans in their
twenties and thirties.
• Halloween is second only to Christmas for decorating. An estimated
fifty percent of Americans decorate for Halloween. (Keep in mind
that eighty percent of Americans decorate for Christmas.)
• An estimated ninety percent of all families with children ages
twelve and younger will participate in ‘trick-or-treating’ or some
kind of costume party.
• People are sending each other more ‘ghostly’ greetings. One year,
over 35 million Halloween cards were sent, and that was up 3
million from the year before.
Halloween has been haunting North America for hundreds of years. It
goes way back to the time of our founding fathers, the time of the colonies
and the colonists, but it really didn’t become popular until Irish settlers
came over in the 1840’s when they brought their Halloween customs and
traditions with them. They were the real serious ‘Halloweeners.’
Halloween is a holiday that all of us Christians need to think about. Its
history is a little spookier than you might think. On or near Halloween,
we will see people dressed up as spooks, goblins, witches, little Dracula’s,
Snow Whites, miniature princes and fairies, clowns and even cows.
How did it all start? Why do people knock on doors and shout, ‘trick
or treat?’ Halloween’s history is spooky. It has spiritual roots that may
surprise you. Maybe you’ve even been ‘tricked by treats’ yourself.
Let me put it this way. When you think about the Passover celebration,
at the beginning of the Passover, the little son will ask his father, “Daddy,
why is this night different from all other nights?” Then, the father tells
him of the mighty works of God surrounding the exodus of Israel from
Egypt. There is history behind that celebration! There is a reason for what
they do.
But what would you say if your child were to ask about Halloween? What
if they were to say, ‘Why is this night different from all other nights?’ ‘Why
do we dress up?’ ‘Why do we go door-to-door?’ ‘Why do we put out these
decorations?’ How would you honestly explain the ghosts, witches, the
jack-o-lanterns, the black cats, broomsticks, and devilish faces that are
features of Halloween? A lot of Christians don’t have the answers because
they have been tricked by treats.
Halloween’s dark history goes way back to the ancient Druids, an order
of Celtic priests who held the festival in honor of Samhain, the Lord of
the Dead. These ancient occultists and sorcerers believed that Samhain
(pronounced Saw-ween) called together the wicked souls that had died
that year and had been condemned to inhabit the bodies of animals. On
this night, called Samhain, or Saween (and hence, Halloween), they were
released to haunt the world in the form of ghosts, spirits and witches or
elves.
Black cats, which were also worshipped by the ancient Egyptians, were
considered sacred because they believed that the cats once had been human
beings, and then were changed into cats as a punishment for evil deeds.
(The way I feel about cats -- that might be true!) They were considered to
be familiar spirits.
It was the Celts who chose the date of October 31 as their New Year’s Eve.
On that night, they basically celebrated everything wicked, evil or dead.
It was believed that on their New Year’s Eve (October 31st), the gates of
Hell that separated the worlds of the living and the dead were opened. The
souls of the dead were allowed to come back to the earth, to visit the very
homes that they had departed and to terrorize the living.
These ancient people believed that the only way to satisfy these evil spirits
was to set out food and provide shelter for them during that night. If you
didn’t, they would ‘trick’ you by casting a spell on you or by somehow
hurting you. Some say they lit bonfires to keep the spirits away, and others
say the bonfires were to help guide the spirits. We’re not sure, but the fires
were lit at night and that became part of the Halloween custom.
Also, during their observance, they would gather around the campfire and
offer their animals, some of their crops, and sometimes they would even
offer human beings as sacrifices.
This ancient black Sabbath continued even after the Romans conquered
the Celts around 43 A.D. The Romans, however, added a ceremony
honoring their goddess of fruit and trees, and that is how the custom of
apple bobbing came into existence. It was part of the way they tried to
discern the future. It was a way of fortune telling.
The lighted pumpkin face (or jack-o-lantern) is an ancient symbol of a
damned soul. They were named for a man named Jack who could not
enter heaven or hell. As a result, he was doomed to wander in darkness
with his lantern until Judgment Day. Because they were fearful of evil
spirits, people began to hollow out turnips, pumpkins, or some other kind
of gourd, and they would fill them with candles that were lit inside of them
to scare away evil spirits from their houses.
Occultists today still seriously observe Halloween as a black Sabbath. It
is one of the most important nights of their year.
Now, here is the spooky thing: All of this pagan occultism became
associated with Christianity. After Christian missionaries preached the
gospel to the Celtic peoples around 300-400 A.D., the converts didn’t put
away their pagan practices and the church sat by and didn’t do anything
about it. It seems that the church began to redefine or ‘baptize’ these
pagan customs and just rename them.
November 1st began to be celebrated as All Saints Day by Pope Gregory IV
in 835 A.D. He thought that the church could at least observe the holiday
in honor of those saints that didn’t have a feast day named for them during
their regular liturgical year. Later, November 2nd was designated as All
Souls Day because the church realized that people were still observing
the pagan holiday in honor of damned souls, and so they thought, Well,
the church needs to step in and we need to have something to replace the
damned souls day. That was how All Souls Day came to be observed.
Both of these celebrations began on the evening before November 1st:
October 31st.
Over time, the church has been ‘tricked by treats.’ History verifies that.
Today millions of Christians will allow and even encourage their children
to participate in a holiday with purely pagan and occult origins. Their
Halloween decorations will feature witches, brooms, cats, and jack-olanterns, and they may even bob for some apples. Some churches will
fully sanction the event with parties held on their premises, and others will
hold Harvest parties to provide entertainment as an alternative for parents
and children.
You know what I think? I think we’ve been tricked by Satan’s treats! He’s
a master at making evil look good. When you think about it, he is the
original ‘trick-or-treater,’ isn’t he? What did he do in the Garden of Eden?
He put on a costume, didn’t he! Then, what did he do? He said, ‘Hey!
You want a treat, Eve? Then, just open the door to me. Just do what I tell
you to do, and you can have both! You’ll become like God!’ Then, Eve
opened the door, and she shouldn’t have. Adam opened the door, and he
shouldn’t have. Satan entered this world by masquerading, looking like
something good, and pretending to be something he wasn’t.
How should a thoughtful Christian respond to this?
I think we need to see what God’s Word has to say. If there is any clear
counsel, we want to follow it. Look at Ephesians chapter five with me.
Let’s look at verse one:
Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children and
walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave
Himself up for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God
as a fragrant aroma. But do not let immorality or any
impurity or greed even be named among you as is proper
among saints.
So now, what’s he doing? He’s giving us counsel for whom? The saints
or the church, right? We’re the saints; we’re the church, and he’s telling
us how we ought to live.
There must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting,
which are not fitting, but rather giving thanks. For this
you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person
or covetous man who is an idolater has an inheritance in
the kingdom of Christ and God.
Look at verse six:
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because
of these saints the wrath of God comes upon the sons of
disobedience. Therefore, do not be partakers with them;
for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in
the Lord.
What does he counsel us to do next? Read!
Walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists
in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to
learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
That is our journey right now. If you are reading this, and you are saying,
‘Now, where is this guy coming from? I have never heard anything like
where I think he’s going to take me. What is this?’
Let’s just say this: We’re all on a journey to try to learn what is pleasing to
the Lord. I wouldn’t be surprised if sometimes we discover that something
that we’ve been doing and taking for granted as okay isn’t okay. We might
learn that there are some things that don’t please the Lord. You know
what? I think that the Lord isn’t as concerned about the fact that in the past
you’ve done something that didn’t please Him as much as He is with how
you respond when you discover that you are doing something that doesn’t
please him. ‘What are you going to do when you find out that I don’t want
you to do something? Will you honor Me and place Me first, and love Me
more than anything? Or, will you hang onto the thing that I don’t like?’
Going on, it says in Ephesians 5:10-16:
…trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not
participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness but instead,
even expose them for it is disgraceful even to speak of the
things which are done by them in secret. But all things
become visible when they are exposed by the light; for
everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason,
it says “Awake sleeper, and arise from the dead, and
Christ will shine on you.” Therefore, be careful how you
walk, not as unwise men but as wise making the most of
your time because the days are evil.
Basically, he’s saying, ‘Look! You don’t want to keep participating in evil
deeds! It doesn’t please the Lord.’ He clearly says in verse eleven, ‘Do
not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness.’ The word ‘participate’
means ‘don’t have fellowship with.’ When I think of having fellowship,
I think of ‘hanging out’ with, don’t you? If I have fellowship with
someone, it would be hard to say that I had fellowship with them if I was
five hundred miles away from them. It would also be hard to say that I
have had fellowship with them in the seclusion of my own home if there
weren’t even around. You have to be there!
The Lord is saying, ‘I don’t want you to be there; I don’t want you to be
participating in…; I don’t want you to be fellowshipping with the unfruitful
deeds of darkness.’
Now, let’s look at Deuteronomy 18:9-14: (Here God forbids His people
from participating in anything occult. The Lord says, ‘I don’t want you to
participate in this.’ He says, ‘I don’t want you to participate in anything
that has anything to do with witchcraft!’)
When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives
you, you shall not to learn to imitate the detestable things
of those nations. There shall not be found among you
anyone that makes his son or his daughter pass through
the fire.
They used to offer their children, their little babies as living sacrifices to
the fire god Molech. It was a horrible thing that they did!
There shall not be found among you anyone that makes
his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who
uses divination…
That is someone who tried to discern the future through things like apple
bobbing or the reading of tea leaves, or palm reading, or looking at the
stars; all of which was divination.
..one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets
omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a
medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For
whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD; and
because of these detestable things the LORD your God
will drive them out before you. You shall be blameless
before the LORD your God. For those nations, which you
shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft
and to diviners, but as for you, the LORD your God has
not allowed you to do so.
The Lord is saying, ‘Look! I don’t want you guys to have anything to do
with witches, with sorcerers, or with people who practice this of the occult.
I want you to stay far away from them because; My judgment is coming
upon these nations because of those things.’
I have to just ask the question that I think is a no-brainer: What about a
holiday that is based around occult practices? What do you think God
thinks about it? Do you think God thinks it is nothing? Or, do you think
maybe it would fall under the category of DETESTABLE TO GOD?
In the Old Testament, there was a king named Manasseh who was, to put it
simply, chronically bad – okay? He was just a bad guy. The way his life
ended up was a miracle of God’s grace, but I’m really not here to get into
that. I want to tell you that he ended up with a hook in his nose, being led
captive and put into prison because God finally said, ‘This is it! I’ve had it
up to here with your wickedness!’ What sort of pushed this king over the
edge? II Chronicles 33:6 says:
He made his sons pass through the fire in the valley of
Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination,
practiced sorcery and dealt with mediums and spiritists.
He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him
to anger.
It was not just at the point when he was murdering his children, but at the
point where he would not stop his occult activity that, finally, God said,
‘I’m sorry, but I am angry now!’ At that point, the Lord’s judgment came
upon Manasseh.
In the New Testament church, God’s people were not to have any
involvement in the occult or false religion. When they were saved, they
walked away from paganism, and they began to walk in a new life in
the Lord Jesus Christ. You see the Apostle Paul’s writings in the New
Testament when he lists the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians, chapter five.
Before that, he lists the work of the flesh. Listen to what he says about the
works or the deeds of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21:
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident which are immorality,
impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery.
Notice that, along with the works of the flesh, he includes sorcery. There
is something about our flesh that is totally enthralled with the supernatural.
What we have to do is keep that reined in so that we understand that
the supernatural things are not all right. There are some things that are
supernatural that are supernaturally wrong! There is a real Devil who
has real power who is really evil and his evil power is something that we
don’t want to know about. We don’t want to have the knowledge of good
and evil. All we want to have is the knowledge of good – right? As a
new creature in Christ, I don’t want to know any more about evil. I had
my PhD in ‘Wrong.’ Now, I want to get a doctorate in ‘Right’ in the Lord
Jesus Christ.
After listing sorcery and other deeds of the flesh, the Apostle Paul goes on
to say:
…and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I
have forewarned you, that those who practice such things
will not inherit the kingdom of God.
He’s saying, ‘Look! There’s got to be a difference between you and the
world.’ The difference between you and the world is your practice. That’s
what shows that something happened when you got saved. The practice
doesn’t save you. It just shows that you ARE saved. The fruit on a tree
doesn’t make it an apple tree (or a pear tree), but it designates that that tree
IS an apple tree (or a pear tree). I can tell what it is by its fruit.
Look at Revelation 21. Things are concluding. Lots of things are drawing
to a close. God is saying some very final things about life, about eternal
life, about sin, and about how people ought to live. Look at what the Lord
says beginning in verse six:
[Revelation 21:6-8]
Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the
Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one
who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without
cost.
“He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be
his God and he will be My son.
“But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable
and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and
idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake
that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second
death.”
The point is this: You don’t want to be on the side of these guys! You
say, ‘Yes, but I’ve lied! Does that mean that I’m going to hell? I’ve been
immoral. Am I going to hell?’ You know, the whole salvation issue is not
based on what you’ve done, but it is based upon Whom you have believed
in. You believe in Christ! If, however, you continue to do all those things
as your lifestyle, then that would be an indication that you haven’t really
been saved.
What we are looking at is God’s attitude, especially His attitude towards
those things that are of the occult. GOD HATES IT! Now, why do you
think God hates it? He hates it because He knows the origin of it. Where
do they originate? SATAN. What does God think of Satan? He hates him.
God hates him with a perfect hatred, an ‘okay’ hatred. It is okay for God to
hate Satan, and I’m very glad He does. It is a perfect, godly hatred.
In 1 Corinthians 10:21-22, the Apostle Paul warned the Corinthians:
I do not want you to share with demons. You cannot drink
the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons as well; you
cannot have a share at the Lord’s Table and the demons
table as well.
Do we really want to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we
stronger than He is?
This scripture is saying, ‘Listen! God loves you, but He is also jealous for
you, and He doesn’t want you to have a little sip of Satan’s wine now and
then. He doesn’t want you saying, ‘Well, you know! It’s not all that bad!
I know what this is.’
The issue referred to in 1 Corinthians had to do with meat offered to idols,
and whether or not you should eat meat that had been offered to a pagan
god. Paul’s point is that it was offered to a demon. You don’t want to
participate in that! It’s part of a demonic sacrifice. They are wrong. They
are of the occult. He says that you don’t want to provoke the Lord to
jealousy.
Isaiah 2:5 says:
Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the
Lord.
I think that there is a decision that we need to make as Christians. We
need to decide whether we are going to walk in the light of the Lord, or
we are going to walk in our own path. The Bible says that we need to
reason together. We need to come together with the Lord, and we need to
see what He says, and then realize that our hearts are evil and desperately
wicked. We can’t always trust our heart.
I love the story in Acts of when the Apostle Paul came to the city of
Ephesus. It was a city that was steeped in occult activity. Halloween
would have been small business for the city of Ephesus because the people
of Ephesus were very strongly into magic, sorcery, and witchcraft. When
Paul arrived, there was a lot of demonic activity going on.
Acts 19:11 talks about how God was performing extraordinary miracles
by the hands of the Apostle Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that
were carried from his body to the sick cured people and evil spirits would
leave them. Verse 13 tells a little story about how some of the Jewish
exorcists who went from one place to another attempted to name the name
of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying:
But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from
place to place, attempted to name over those who had the
evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure
you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.”
Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing
this.
And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize
Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”
And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them
and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that
they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
How embarrassing!
This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus;
and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being
magnified.
Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and
disclosing their practices.
And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together
and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up
the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.
I think that is about $4,110,000 (maybe a little bit more). Four million,
one hundred ten thousand dollars went up in smoke because as soon as
they learned, they burned! As soon as they learned what the Lord wanted,
they gave it to Him. As soon as they learned what the Lord didn’t like,
they got rid of it.
What causes people to live like that? They had a brand new love, a brand
new heart, and a loyalty to God. It cost them to follow the Lord. It cost
them a lot of money! Do you have any idea how expensive books were in
those days? One of the most expensive things a city could have would be a
book! Libraries weren’t in every city, but were more like one to a country.
They took their magic books and burned them. It cost them to follow the
Lord, and it may cost you.
But, what about our children? When we talk about Halloween, you think
about what we should do with our children.
I’ve already bought the costume! I found the cutest little rabbit outfit! I
had all this planned… What do I do as a parent? First of all, you would
want to pray about what the Lord has shown you. The Lord is speaking
to your heart, and you are a Christian. His Word speaks to you. The Holy
Spirit tells you what to do.
What about the kids? They’ll miss out! I don’t think so. I think they will
love following Jesus. I don’t think there is anything wrong with teaching
our children that there are some things that the world does that we don’t
do.
Don’t we need an alternative? I can ‘hear’ that one!
How about just a little ‘Harvest Party’ on the 31st? Wouldn’t that be
okay? Well, the only problem is, the kids aren’t always going to have
an alternative to sin. When you think about it, why should we stoop to
the place where we provide an alternative to an occult celebration? Our
children need to learn to stand alone. They need to learn to take a stand
and say ‘No’ without an alternative in sight. They have to be able to say,
‘No! That’s wrong! Get your hands off of me!’ ‘No! That’s wrong! I
won’t take the drugs from you.’ ‘No! That’s wrong! I don’t do that!’
Maybe they will have a friend or two walk away from them. Maybe they
will lose a boyfriend or a girlfriend. You know, you’ve got to start teaching
them while they are young. They don’t learn that when they turn sixteen.
It just doesn’t go ‘Boom!’ and they say, ‘Oh! That’s what I do!’
You’ve got to start programming now to follow Jesus. Do you know what
programs your kids the best? They watch you! The Lord says something
very important in Deuteronomy 6:5-7. He says:
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your might.
These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be
on your heart.
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.
Do you understanding what He is saying? You can’t teach it until it is on
your heart first! You go by what you are convinced of, Mom and Dad.
You go by what you know is right and wrong, and then you just teach that.
The kids will follow. They’re not going to be destroyed by missing a bag
of candy. In fact, if October 31st is the only time your kids get candy, I
feel sorry for your kids! They’re not coming to Calvary enough. My kids
were given so much candy that after a while I (don’t tell them!)… I threw
it away! It was just too much.
God will reward you and God will reward your children for taking a
righteous stand.
What about my family? They’re going to think I am a nut! No. You’re not
a nut, and you are not a cultist. You are a Christian, and you are saying that
this is a pagan, occult holiday. Look at the trappings! If you don’t want
to look at the history, then look at the trappings. What does it say about
Jesus? What does it say about God? What does it say about right? What
does it say about truth? What does it say about love? NOTHING!
[Well, I don’t want my kids participating in that! I’m
sorry! It’s wrong! It’s evil. We’re saying, ‘No!’ But you
know what? If you want to have the kids over for a good
time any other time, let us know. If you want to have the
kids over so Mom and Dad can go someplace, have the
kids over Grandma and Grandpa!]
They’re not going to be slighted. We love our kids. After you’ve gotten
over the first year or two, then your relatives will begin to understand that
you’re not a kook, you’re not a fanatic, you’re not going to stop celebrating
their birthdays, you’re not going to stop celebrating Christmas, and you’re
not going to stop…..! We’re not talking about that, but we are talking
about a very dark and evil time. We don’t want our kids to participate
in that because God said, “Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of
darkness.”
We really don’t need more than that. That is what God has said, and so
that is what we do.
You know, it is important for us to know our enemy’s tactics. He is a
master of disguise. He loves to costume his evil intentions in something
that looks good. He stands at the door and says, ‘Trick or Treat?’ An
ignorance of our enemy’s position, his power and his plans is not bliss; it’s
stupidity. Satan and his work thrive on the fact that the saint is ignorant
of Satan and his works. He tricks people into stepping into his traps by
baiting them with his ‘treats.’
If you think about it, that’s just the way Satan works! He takes something
evil and he makes it look good and then he gets you – he grabs you!
You say, ‘Well, aren’t you over-dramatizing Halloween?’ What I am
saying is that is how he works. He says, ‘Ah, this is good! Look man, this
is good man… There are candy and costumes involved. Let’s go ahead!’
All the while, God is saying, ‘I don’t like this.’
But it looks so good! You see, he ‘tricks by treats.’ He does it with
immorality. He does it with other sins. He just tries to put the ‘treat’ in
there to ‘trick’ you, and he really wants you to fall into hurt. He is the
prince of darkness, and he must have darkness in order to work.
The light of the truth exposes and ruins him and his evil work. We need to
get a spiritual perspective. We need to realize where the real battle is, and
keep our eyes focused there.
The REAL battle is between Truth and Error; between the Devil and the
Lord. Sometimes we get all confused in this in-between stuff. Try to
keep it clear: God likes some things and He doesn’t like other things. As
believers, we stand with the Lord.
You know, I did Halloween as a kid. I participated and didn’t understand
what I was doing. The church I was part of had Halloween parties. I can
only remember one person in my entire time of growing up that thought
we shouldn’t do it, and I thought they were a ‘nut.’ What’s the matter with
them?
A long time ago, I repented of that. I said, ‘Lord, you know about all that
stuff I was doing then, and I was really stupid. It didn’t please You. Now
that I know better Lord, I won’t ‘trick-or-treat’ anymore.’
(That’s probably just as well, because it might really spook somebody if I
came to their door.)
You have a decision to make. What are you going to do? What is your
family going to do? What am I going to do as a parent? What am I going
to do as a child? What am I going to do now that I’ve heard what God says
about this kind of activity?
You will never make a mistake by standing with the Lord. I promise
you that! You have someone knocking at the door of your life. Satan is
knocking, and he is saying, ‘Tricked by my treats?’ And, you have Jesus
who is knocking, according to Revelation 2:20. Jesus is knocking and He
says:
Behold I stand at the door and knock.
He’s standing at the door of Christians’ lives and saying, ‘Let Me in!’
Who are you going to let in? The masquerader, the original ‘trick-ortreater’, the one who disguises evil and makes it look good? Or… are
you going to say, “Come in Lord! You are so welcome here. I want all
Goodness, all Rightness, all Purity, and all Love to dwell in my life. I want
to walk in Light! I don’t want to walk in darkness.”
The prophet Isaiah said:
Come house of Jacob and let us walk in the light of the
Lord.
Christians! Let us walk in the light of the Lord.
[Prayer]
Lord Jesus, tonight we ask that You would give us hearts to follow
after You. Perhaps there are some of us who have never had to
make a decision as a Christian that is contrary to custom and
contrary to trend. Maybe we really have never had to make a
decision that is unpopular or that might be something that places
us in an uncomfortable position.
For us, Lord, we pray that you give us strength and courage and
grace. These are decisions that are so important because they
represent course corrections in our lives, and things like this
matter to You. We pray that You will give to us and to our families
(our children and grandchildren) grace and strength, and that we
would walk in the light of the Lord; we will walk in Truth. I know,
Lord, that you will always bless those and honor those who honor
You. We’ve got Your word on that!
Thank You.
In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen.