That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

~Genesis 2:24

I had the privilege recently to listen to a broadcast on the Intersection of Faith & Reason in regards to traditional marriage.  

The following is a testimony of a 11 year old young lady named Grace Evans who testified before the Minnesota State Legislature about  the importance of having a mom and a dad as well as her question that left the legislature speechless.

I would like to say to the parents of Grace Evans "God Bless You," good job and know that this young lady will be a powerful force for the Lord.  Thank you.

We Christians should be a voice of truth in the ears of this world, even if it renders them silent; our voice should be heard speaking the truth, we should rise up even if it cost us.  

More of us need to be like young Grace Evans who so powerfully and boldly told  how we need Mothers & Fathers to mold us into the people who God intended us to be that they have unique qualities that God ordained and that no other substitute will do.

The Triumphal Entry

21 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage,^[a] at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. ³ And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”

⁴ All^[b] this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:

⁶ So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him^[d] on them. ⁸ And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

¹⁰ And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?”

¹¹ So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”

^{14 Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant 16 and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes. Have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise'?"[i] 17 Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.} 

 ~Matthew 21: 1-17

HO SAN' NA  which literly means "SAVE US WE PRAY"

This Palm Sunday I was reminded how our faith in Christ is our first and most pefect act of praise to our King Jesus.

See on that great day they shouted with un-containable praise, shouting Hosanna in the Highest declaring  the promissed Messiah had come, Hosanna in the Highest, Hosanna to the Son of David.  

When they saw Jesus they saw the fullfillment of the promissed messiah (savior,) salvation was at hand and the shouted with great praise; a praise that had been perfected in their faith, they were so close to God in this very moment.  He even tells the Pharisees "Haven't you heard! from the lips of the FAITHFUL (little children) He has ordained perfect praise."    

It is our pefect faith that pleases God. It's when we invest like little children, when our faith becomes simple and we just believe that it becomes perfect.

And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  ~Matthew 18:3

He bosted on their great faith, my hope today you would boast of the Lord in your faith, that you like those in that day would shout "Hosanna "Hosanna" in the hightest, that you would praise Him for your salvation, for coming to save you.

He deserves the highest praise!

Let us proclaim it: Hosanna in the Highest Hossana to the King of Kings, Lord of Lord's..

Just as the Lord had cut off the waters of the Jordan to keep Israel from harm, the Lord has cut off our enemies.

We must remember the victories we have seen, the miracles that the Lord has performed in our presence and take our stones of remembrance into the next battle.

The Lord is great and His arm is mighty to save us, to save us from any circumstance.   Israel had a battle ahead of them, but again the Lord wanted them to know that His mighty hand was with them, that they would overcome their enemies.     God is bigger than any trouble or circumstance we may face, and our victories, our stones of remembrance assure us that we are not alone in this battle, that the Lord goes ahead of us in it.

Lord when we get overwhelmed “Remind Us O Lord.”

⁴ So Joshua called together the twelve men he had chosen—one from each of the tribes of Israel. ⁵ He told them, “Go into the middle of the Jordan, in front of the Ark of the Lord your God. Each of you must pick up one stone and carry it out on your shoulder—twelve stones in all, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁶ We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ ⁷ Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant went across.’ These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.”  ~Joshua 4:4-7

⁹ But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests,^[a] a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.  ~1 Peter 2:9

Peter is saying to us: "Because of you are in Christ, you have become a new creation.   You have been set apart, a transformed person uniquely reserved for Christ and His Kingdom.   You are no longer of this world "set apart" for God by Christ to be a unique people, royal priest, a holy nation, God's own possession.   You and I when we become faith filled believers walking in Christ we become a chosen people like Israel, God puts His name on us.

I love Matthew Henery's commentary on this verse:

"All true Christians are a chosen generation; they all make one family, a sort and species of people distinct from the common world, of another spirit, principle, and practice, which they could never be if they were not chosen in Christ to be such, and sanctified by his Spirit."

Matthew Henry says we are a disticnt species of people different from those of this world "SET APART."

It's time that many of us operate as citizens of the Kingdom of God, be the people who God set apart through Christ.   Our world will change when the Kingdom is operating in its full power through the people in which Christ "SET APART."

All of us are hit with trials in these two categories of our lives:

1.         Internal Storms

2.         External Storms

• Sally is crying because she is struggling with addiction.  ~Internal storm
• Joe found out a good friend has cancer.   ~External storm
• Jane is struggling with loneliness ~Internal storm
• Adam's home was destroyed by a fire last spring. ~External storm

Three Problems Storms

1.      They have a tendency to  Isolate Us

Storms make us feel as though we are alone in our situation, that no one else understands the trouble we are going through, that no one will be able to help us. .   

David felt isolated when he was being pursued by Saul, when he had to leave everything and flee to a cave.   He penned Psalm 13:1

How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?   ~Psalm 13:1

Even the strongest of men in the midst of storms feel isolated.

How do we destroy isolation in our storms?    

Like all storms when you get in trouble you need to send out a distress signal: S. O. S.

When you feel isolated you need to Seek the Lord, keep your eyes fixed on Him.

²⁸ “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹ “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”  ~Matthew 14:28-30

You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you   ~Isaiah 26:3

The second problem with storms is:

2.         They Can Discourage Us

We get discouraged when we reduce God to man’s restraints, it’s always in the midst of my problems, my storms that I lean or have a tendency to limit God based on my human understanding of possibility.

Our strength fails, when stop allowing God to fill us up, we stop allowing Him to be the source of our strength in our storm.  When things, places and conditions become our refuge we get discouraged. 

S. eek the Lord

O. perate in His Power

We will overcome discouragement when we plugin in to the power of the Lord, when we allow the Lord to be our refuge, our strength, when we plug in to the Lord rather than trying to face the storm on our own.

David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam.

~1 Samuel 22:1 

Adullam translates to "Refuge"

God is our refuge, a strong tower, our hding place.   

Find your strength in Him, Operate in His Power.

Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

~Isaiah 41:10

Listen to what He says: 

• Don’t be afraid
• I am with you (God of the Universe, Alpha, Omega, Beginning, End)
• Don’t be discouraged
• I will strengthen you
• I will help you

The third problem with storms is they have tendency to:

3.         Overwhelm Us

We become overwhelmed when the weight of our trial becomes too big to carry.  And as result of trying to “shoulder” the problems ourselves, rather than letting God be God, we try to take the weight and then we get discouraged when nothing changes.    

 “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” ~Matthew 19:26b

S. eek the Lord

O. perate in His Power

S. urrender the Circumstance

If I am going to overcome being overwheelmed in my storms, I will have to surrender the storm to the Lord, give it to the one who can shoulder the problem, who has the strength sufficient to overcome any storm.  

Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken. ~Psalm 55:22