WHERE HAS OUR PASSION GONE? 9/20/15

RECENTLY I received an email from a Pastor friend of mine.  The following is from his Sunday morning ‘sermon starter’ (9/13/15)
“FRIDAY we remembered our National Disaster of 9/11.  We played on national television our clips of remembrance of when the twin towers fell.  We gave our memorial homilies, prayed our prayers, did our memory rituals and gave our tearful eulogies and tributes to the fallen on Friday.  A week from now most of our routine rituals will be forgotten as we press on in the business of daily living.”
“I REMEMBER with longing the time when we felt the passion associated with being an American.  What about the night of September 12th, 2001 when both houses of the U.S. congress stood together on the steps of the Capitol and sang, “God Bless America?”  What about a time when you couldn’t find an American flag in any store in the U.S.?  They were sold out and it took weeks to get one on back order.  What about the weeks following 9/11 when our churches were filled with people who were frightened about the future?”
  “I WAS NEVER more proud to be an American than September 17, 2001, when CBS news correspondent, Dan Rather was being interviewed on David Letterman’s show.  He was reflecting about how this is the first time mainland American soil has been stained with the blood of the innocent.  He began to quote the fourth verse of the patriotic hymn; “O Beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years.  Thine alabaster cities’ gleam, undimmed by human tears!”  The venerable, ordinarily stoic newsman stopped, his voice broken with grief.  He couldn’t go on.  He was speaking from the heart of a grieving nation.  Letterman broke for a commercial so he could compose himself.  I shall never forget the newsman’s prophetic words when he returned.  “America can never again sing the fourth verse; “Thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears!”   His voice was still breaking as he struggled to retain composure;  “We will never be the same again!”
“WHAT ABOUT our spiritual passion?  What happened to you and I spiritually after 9/11?  Did we have a great desire to return to the complacency of pre-9/11?   Since then a spiritual change has happened to America.  We have lost that initial post-9/11 hunger and thirst for God.  Now, we are like the desensitized frog-in-the-beaker.   We are back to watching our mind-numbing satellite and cable network shows and have let these fourteen years slip by without answering God’s call to Battle with the spiritual forces of darkness.”  (Phil Roland)
BUT WHAT ABOUT our passion?   Are we still on fire for God and His mercies?   After 9/11 our Churches were filling up faster than a gas tank at a local gas pump.   Today we are being threatened by incident after incident as the cloud of darkness is circling their camps on American soil once again.   It has a different name, the cause is somewhat suspect but the outcomes are cruelly the same.   Today,  Christians are the focus and the perpetrators are blatant in their assault.    The enemy has drawn the line in the sand throughout Europe and it is trying to break down the doors of the American borders.   Are we going to let them in?
THE CHRISTIAN is called to repent and to PRAY!  God says; “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”  
2nd Chronicles 7:14   God is calling on all of His people to pray!   God wants us to remember; “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places..  Ephesians 6:12   As the song says; “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face; and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”   Jane Ann Crenshaw 9/14/1