Are you feeling sad? Worn down? Are you feeling a lack of hope and/or searching for purpose? Are you seeking insight on strength and courage in the coming storm? Are you seeking peace and understanding? On this episode of the Innocence Redeemed podcast I will be talking about the promises of Jesus and how as the world is falling apart and joy is lacking, that our true joy, purpose and strength is in Jesus alone, NOT the world.
Thank you brother Ray! This is such a needed message for the current times!
Thank you sis. I agree. I believe that’s what the Lord was putting on my heart because it all came together in a matter of hours! From what I am seeing it seems to be timely!
You are such a blessing Ray. I can so relate to everything you said in this podcast. I can be in a room full of people and feel so alone. I’ve always felt like “the odd one out” and like I never fit in anywhere. And now I understand why…I long to go home and am just dead to this world. I do what I can for the kingdom but it is so hard to work a job when you feel it is pointless. I am just so tired and I know many of us feel this way. I am just so tired of this completely wicked world. I appreciate all that you do. Thank you for keeping it real.
Amen. I hear you. Many are so tired right now of all the wickedness. I am grateful to the Lord for putting it on my heart to talk about and am so thankful that is has been such a blessing to many. God Bless you Regina.
Ray, when that song came out in 1983, I was 19 years old and in college. Back then, I didn’t like that song because I was holding down 17 credit hours, working part-time for tips and putting up with nonsense in a shoe store, and knocking myself out to write and perform my way around some crazy liberal professors who had no choice but to give me high marks for my efforts. And because I didn’t know my Savior (I only knew of Him), my spirit refused to give in to depression and resignation. I was too afraid to slow down and get off the track. I was like a salmon making my way upstream by leaps and bounds!! Plus, I had the strength of youth, which helped greatly! I was even attending a church I had grown up in that I had already decided wasn’t speaking to my spirit anymore. I didn’t party either, because I had only acquaintances but no real friends. And because I was so ambitious in school, I also had no time for after-party hangovers! LoL. I didn’t even have time for a girlfriend, although I longed for one. I knew back then that the world was psychotic, and even though I went on to get my degree with high honors and to work 34 years in a lucrative career I never really liked, I guess I just decided to pick a swimming lane in this world so as not to join the foolishness at an olympic pace, hoping mostly that others would stay at arm’s length and leave me alone and respect me for being there and doing my job. Except for a couple of bullies who ended up quickly leaving the arena, most people were more than decent, and let me be me. Yet all I ever wanted was peace and internal joy. And many times, I was able to achieve that.
But did I really know my Redeemer during that long, long 38 year stretch of time that included school and career? No, not really. Looking back now, it truly was a wilderness in its own right. I still did nice things and was a “nice” person (unless somebody REALLY pushed my buttons, and then I would engage in brief, well-justified battles of self-defense). Yet now that I’m retired, I see that the psychotic world (which I always knew was seriously ill) seems to be morphing into a senseless, dissipated monster that ought to be locked up in chains. But I’m not afraid. When I see imbalance, I can have some influence. I can seek my society of choice both in worship and in other social circles. Some family members are there, others relegated to the sidelines in time-out for bad behavior. LoL. I can volunteer, lift up others, and make small but noteworthy glimmers of difference in the darkness. But more than any of this, I increasingly do and can and will put my Savior first. I endeavor to do this each morning, by giving thanks, before my bare feet even swing off that bed and onto the floor.
Brother, you’re such a blessing, I can even tell you how much. I love you very much, have gained so much from your ministry. Don’t you EVER doubt that you’re on the right track. At this time you’re both a powerful teacher and a student with a challenging workload. I had initially wanted in earnest to teach grade school English and History. I didn’t follow my heart. I took a “hot offer” instead that ended up being a 34 year run. I was still rewarded handsomely for choosing an alternate path. Yet you’re doing your life’s work that I didn’t have the courage or personal discernment or conviction to do. Kudos to you, Brother, and may God richly bless you and guide you in everything you do for all of us through your anointed ministry. YbiC – Your Brother in Christ – Tom