final days forum

Noisy politics and the voice of wisdom

Daylight Moon, originally uploaded by Sammis Co.

The din of this election season is a perfect recipe for us to get it wrong. A multitude of messages are hurtled daily at us to believe and they may not be what God is saying at all.

Admittedly, it's hard to reach the transcendent place where God rules because his royal diadem is neither owned by Democrats nor Republicans and his heavenly decrees are just, while humans mangle authority with biased, unfair, short-sighted, and calamitous leadership.

Hungry for discernment, one congregation in the Dallas-Fort Worth area has asked its church members to fast 40 days about the upcoming presidential vote. I know of other people who are weary of the election noise and are fasting in another way -- by changing the channel.

The fact is, this election will require wisdom like no other. We must pray that we do not call evil good or good evil. We must refuse to judge by appearances, but request God's perspective of what is righteously meaningful to him. We must look at circumstances with the vision of the Spirit.

And that's not easy. It is a battle to heed the voice of wisdom when the boisterous cry of deception hounds us day and night. If we want God's word on a matter, we must lay down our own opinion. The mighty current of God's way of thinking about things, doing things, and accomplishing things -- requires more than bumper stickers, political baiting , fire-breathing sermons or a CNN, MSNBC, and Fox media moment.

It's been my experience that God often tunnels through the dark with the light of his power to upend things to his satisfaction and our fulfillment. The process may not be pretty, and chaos may seem to reign, but the outcome is always marvelous in our eyes.

Always.

Judy Howard Ellis

Old-school faith and fasting

My spirit soared when I read in The Denver Post today about how volunteer security guard, Jeanne Assam, said she had just come off a three-day fast when the shootings occurred Sunday at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo. She had been fasting and praying to God about whether she should return to her career in law enforcement.

"I was weak," The Post reported Assam saying. "And where I was weak, God made me strong. He filled me and he guided me and he protected me and many other people. And I'm honored that God chose me. I'm very honored."

When she confronted the 24-year-old shooter, Matthew Murray, Assam fired, bravely walking toward him, a witness told The Post in another story. A coroner's report said today her shots did not kill him, that the shooter ended his own life, but I wonder about the spiritual meaning behind that finding as well.

All day, the story has been about a security guard who relied on God and gained the courage to stop an attack in a church while other security personnel held back. The coroner's report could easily overshadow Assam's prayerful bravery, but in my mind, I won't let it.

Fasting is a high spiritual time for the believer and Assam no doubt had enjoyed the blessings of fellowship with the Father, so He had prepared her for what she would face on Sunday.

And that is mind-boggling deep to me.