We may rail against the homosexuals. But one of the most anointed of today's composers of Christian music is a converted homosexual. Who knows what Christ will do with someone who today is trapped in wickedness? We are not to curse those who are bound but to pray for deliverance for them. We know this is the right thing to do, but Satan causes us to rage against his work in other people—so utterly perverse is evil!

I keep repeating the following. This is because none of these can be omitted without jeopardizing our spiritual well-being during the spiritual oppression of the future.

We absolutely must set aside a place and time for prayer each day.

We absolutely must meditate in the Scriptures continually, if we are fortunate enough to own a Bible. In some places in the world it is against the law to own a Bible.

We absolutely must place everything on the altar of God.

We absolutely must live in and by Christ at all times.

We absolutely must put on the whole armor of God.

We absolutely must learn to live in the heavenlies as well as on the earth.

We absolutely must confess and renounce our sins promptly.

We absolutely must stop fretting. We have many wonderful things to contemplate and we must force ourselves to think about them. The evil in the world is going to come to maturity. If we have not made a practice of refusing to dwell on the evil, and forcing ourselves to consider the marvels of God, we may lose out with God altogether because of our cursing the darkness.

I know of a good Christian man, a truck driver, who became so angry over the cheating and self-seeking of his dispatcher that he would go down at night and slash tires. I guess I heard the dispatcher's name a thousand times, because my friend, the driver, would bitterly complain about how so-and-so was cheating the drivers.

I know when I was in public-school work I came into conflict with people who were of a liberal persuasion, to say the least. The perversity of their reasoning and actions would result in my complaining to my wife when I got home.

Audrey would say, "They're getting to you, Bob."

Then I would pray until I could let go of the evil and think about the Lord. It wasn't easy, but I survived.

Had I not learned to ignore the perversity I might have done something that would have brought harm to others or myself.

Truly, we must gain the victory over fretting, because fretting leads only to sin.

Look Only to Jesus

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2—NIV)

It would seem that keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus would be the easiest thing in the world. But it isn't. There are many things each day that call for our attention.

To be continued.