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3)"The Harsh Version"- ok, it sounds harsh to me, but well, yeah. Harsh.

It is true that Americans are wealthier than any people, ever. That means you, you, you, and me, too. We are rich beyond our ability to comprehend poverty. Real poverty.

I’m afraid, however, that while we are rich financially, we have made ourselves poor spiritually. There is not a lot of room left in our hearts and minds for God when all of our needs are met, and met quite lavishly, as a matter of fact.

Many people have God in their lives, that is true, of course. But He is a supplement, an additional good-time guy we keep on hand for Christmas, the occasional tragedy, and a pat on the back when we feel like we need one. Christianity is a club for people with similar moral ideals and the same general belief structure. I am certainly over-generalizing here, but you know what I’m talking about, right?

We have been crippled. We are blind to our own desperate situation. The OT prophet Hosea wrote about Israel when she was acting quite similar to the United States. Check out chapter 13. He is talking about the people creating a religion to suit their tastes, their whim, whatever they fancied at the time. God’s response to this is not a pretty picture. He plans to show them just how desolate their souls are!

However, before God makes His move, He gives them a chance. “Come back to me!” He lays it all out for them, saying all they have to do is repent, come back, refocus and give their hearts, minds, bodies, souls back to the one who loves them more than they can possibly fathom!

What I am trying to tell you now is that God is calling us back in the same way. Telling us to put our trust in Him, not in our wealth, not in our government, not in our society, our technology, or anything that can be gone in the next gust of wind. God NEEDS to be our everything. Our first and only source of everything we could possibly need in this life. I mean this in all seriousness.

I do not know what our future holds, it could get very scary in this country because we are so used to our wealth, so crippled by our spoiled, lavish lifestyle. Things could unravel very quickly. God is telling us to be prepared. And the way to prepare is to seek Him, and seek Him with a passion and eagerness like never before.

God is our refuge, God is our supply. He fulfills our daily needs, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Nothing that you turn to in this world will provide for you in the way that God will. Seek Him FIRST, and seek Him NOW. Prepare.

God loves us, and I believe we are about to experience that love in an amazing way if we trust in Him. When the rough time starts- whatever that “rough time” entails, the ONLY way to make it through without despair, anguish, worry, fear- is to Trust in the Lord completely.

God did not promise us a cushy life with no trouble. He did promise us the strength to make it through any kind of trouble. We need to be counting on that and seeking Him at every moment. Starting now.