Aug 14, 2011
Giants in Our Land
8-15-11
By Cheryl Hults Meakins
Recently it was reported that an online pedophile pornography community was shut down by the federal government, which also confiscated 123 terabytes of video, roughly equivalent to 16,000 DVDs of atrocities against children. The cancer of pornography has grown for decades and this giant seems much more powerful than Goliath ever was.
1 Samuel 17:4 “A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall.”
I have a hard time watching the news every day. There are so many choices we have made in America that grieve my heart, even overwhelm me and paralyze me with fear.
It seems while I was growing up, so was sin on the increase in our culture. I stopped at 5’5” but our sins have grown like a cancer and loom before us like Goliath, mocking us, until we tend to live in fear. Will our children be swiped from our streets? Will a picture snapped on a passing cell phone be plastered on the internet? Must I help my children lose their innocence when warning them of the real “stranger danger?” Is this living in freedom?
Hollywood used to condemn movies with bare bottoms and curse words with R ratings. Now those are rewarded with PG-13 ratings. I remember in the ‘80s being disgusted at the mainline magazines that were boys’ rites of passage to manhood. Even worse is the rise of human trafficking in our own nation that is swiftly becoming more lucrative than drug sales for organized crime.
The giants that seemed so big in the ‘80s are dwarfs compared to the monsters confronting us today. The battles we once had to fight we now see were just the opening skirmishes in wars much bigger, and more deadly.
I look in the face of the giants that believers must fight… and I struggle to keep standing. I am overwhelmed with thoughts, even of children who survive sexual assaults, who grow up with pain their souls have recorded and their minds can barely contain.
I confess: often I become paralyzed; by the size of this giant but even more at the depth of healing needed for those who were forced to become victims.
You see, as long as I look at the face of the giant, I will fear, I will give up fighting, I will lay aside my weapons so my hands can cover my ears and dampen the noise of the helpless souls being ravaged by sin. I grieve that the sin we tolerated in the ‘60s, enjoyed in the ‘70s, humored in the ‘80s, and applauded in the ‘90s, has taken up residence in our midst; and now we know its full dangers.
The Church in America needs to know that there are giants in our land! And facing these giants builds a conflict in our focus. We need to attend to our personal godliness and obedience, but we must also tend to those who cannot fight for themselves.
Lift up your eyes, Church! Look to the hills! Where does our help and hope come from? He is our hope and our help (Psalm 121). His arms outreach the growth of any cancer in our nation. His blood will heal any wound and cover any sin.
Louie Giglio found himself afraid to go to sleep. Night after night he suffered as a cloud of panic or anxiety moved in to his mind. He spent months undergoing medical testing to diagnose his struggle but the turning point towards healing began with a decision he made in the face of his attacking giant. One night, as he was awakened again by this cloud he decided to praise the Lord.
Then he remembered Psalm 63:4 NIV – “I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.” And in verse 8 “My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”
Out of this desperate meditation came these words:
“Be still, there is a healer
His love is deeper than the sea
His mercy, it is unfailing
His arms a fortress for the weak”
Louie later shared these words with Chris Tomlin and a song of healing was born out of desperate obedience. Meditate on “I lift my hands.” And after you have found your peace, let your faith arise, pick up your swords and find a battleground to fight.
I have found mine!
Today’s Guest Writer:
Cheryl Meakins is an author and speaker who is passionate about women stepping into their callings as healers and warriors. More of her thoughts can be found at: www.MeakinsSpeak.wordpress.com.
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Click: I Lift My Hands
Love this story. Lately it seems every song I hear that I like intensely and want to buy is coming from the work and albums of Chris Tomlin. I empathize with living in a day of increasing evil, Rick. We all feel it I think. Time for those with wisdom to shine like stars in the darkness (the prophet Daniel’s words). And giants?
“I have a GIANT GOD inside of me.”
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Rick, this resonates with me. Even this morning as I sipped my coffee and meditated on the Lord’s goodness, I thought of how blessed we are to have an abundance of God’s Word available to us in the USA. Bibles, teaching DVD’s, anointed ministers free to preach in pulpits, etc. And conveniences that free up our time so we can use what God has blessed us with.
Yet so often we let the seed of His Word remain in the seed pouch. It can only bear fruit when we plant it in good soil.
If His Word abides in us, we will bear fruit. And this morning I could see that He strategically places us where He wants us to fill a gap in this battle. I’m serving in Swaziland, Hope in her area (too dangerous to mention here), MK in the Himalayas, etc. And Rick Marschall here in his beloved country. Keep reminding us that we must–we simply must–do as you’ve stirred us, and pick up our swords where He would have us fight.
“…pick up our swords where He would have us fight.” Did anyone ever tell you that you are a fighter? Well, you know you are, and you are an inspiration.with words like these — and your whole life and ministry. All belivers must be fighters. It is not our option to enter the battle. Satan has brought the war to us, and God has equipped us. The only choice is whether we fight for Him effectively or weakly.
Leanne Payne has written a powerful book “Restoring the Christian Soul.” Her last few chapters deal with battling in spiritual warfare – uprightly. In her simple explanation; we praise, we give thanks and we lift up the battle to the Lord. He has already bound Satan, we must simply keep walking in His presence.
Amazing how that just affirms the prayer of “I lift my hands.” I believe it is in the quiet, after the praise and thanks, that I can hear the next step to take in our physical world… I am encouraged by others engaged in battle!
Be strong and courageous!