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Win or loose, it’s over! \u00a0If you are like me, you are glad the election is over!!! \u00a0If your candidate won, congratulations, if she lost, the sun will still rise tomorrow. \u00a0I can’t beleive I’m quoting our current president, (you know I’m not a fan of his), but he was right when he said we are now all on the same team, we’re all Americans and the future of our country depends on what we do now.<\/p>\n
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I personally believe that our country has been moving in the wrong direction for a long time and I truly believe God is giving us a second chance to turn our nation around! \u00a0So as a Chrisitan what is our responsibility to make that happen? \u00a0I have been praying and thinking about this for a long time and I have a Five Part Plan<\/strong><\/span> for us that serve Him! \u00a0I would invite you to join me on this new journey.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1. \u00a0PRAY FOR AMERICA<\/span>.<\/strong><\/span> \u00a0 The single most powerful tool we have as believers is to submit our cares and concerns to Him. \u00a0We need to pray for the new leaders of our country, the newly elected members of the House and Senate. \u00a0We need to pray for those that lost their races, this can be a powerful time for them to reevaluate their lives and if they do not know Him a wonderful time to start fresh as children of \u00a0God. \u00a0Never forget that our first and foremost duty as believers is to lead others to Christ. \u00a0We must never let our differences to keep us from doing that. \u00a0Remember He said, “Pray for those that curse you.” \u00a0After all Jesus forgave those that crucified Him as he hung on the cross, He set the bar very high for us! \u00a0Which leads to:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2. \u00a0FORGIVE THOSE THAT HAVE HURT YOU<\/span><\/strong>.<\/span> \u00a0It’s very easy to make a long list of how those on the other side of the political isle from us have supported and pushed for things we abhor and detest. \u00a0We must seperate the policies from the people. \u00a0Jesus died for all those political folks we detest, He DIED<\/strong><\/span> for them, can we not forgive and pray for them?! \u00a0Sorry, you have no choice, if you truly have given your life and heart to Him, He demands this as obedience to Him. \u00a0Tough yes, but it’s what is required. \u00a0You probably know this already, but forgiveness is the most powerful force we have at our disposal, loving others starts with forgiving them! \u00a0You can’t love others with Christ’s love until you are able to forgive them!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3. \u00a0GET INVOLVED<\/span>!<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 I have a confession, I’ve been too busy to take part as a patriot for my country. \u00a0I’ve been preoccupied with too many, less important, things. \u00a0 I will find ways to get involved in my local, state and national politics, I will stay in touch with my representatives, and local officials. \u00a0I will speak out on issues that concern me and will find ways to stay better informed. \u00a0 I’ve been lazy, and all of us that have followed that path have almost lost our country, I won’t make that mistake again! \u00a0It is called a “Representative Government” \u00a0for a reason! \u00a0I’m a representative of Jesus Christ, I will be involved as He would be invovled. \u00a0I will support the military, our police and first responders, I will show them the respect they so richly deserve!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4. \u00a0I WILL WALK AWAY FROM WHAT I DETEST<\/span>.<\/span><\/strong> \u00a0If liars make me angry, I will not lie! \u00a0If cheaters make me angry I will not cheat. \u00a0If I find people with bad motives detstable, \u00a0I will get rid of my less than pure motives! \u00a0Reform and change starts with the man in the mirror, \u00a0I’m going to make sure that I can look myself straight in the eye and know I’m not part of the problem!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 5. \u00a0LOVE,\u00a0FAITH AND CHARITY, BUT \u00a0THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE<\/span>!<\/strong><\/span> \u00a0Christ proved that the greatest force in existence is LOVE. \u00a0We can’t hate those we love, we can’t pray for those until we can forgive and love them. \u00a0We must ask God to help us have real love, His Love in our hearts for others, and start all our converstions with the acknowledgement that we truy care for those we disagree with. \u00a0We can come together, when we are commited to love one another. Trust starts with love.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let me give you a practical example of what I’ve just shared, and how this all came to me. \u00a0Watching TV last night I saw the large crowds of protestors in several major cities, protesting the election of Trump. \u00a0My first reaction was anger. \u00a0Then I watched more closely and saw most of these were young people, and when questioned about why they were marching most didn’t really know or repeated pre-determined talking points. \u00a0When I was that age, I did stupid things to, and then went home and was straightened out by my father. \u00a0I started to pray for them, to ask God to open their eyes to what a wonderful country we have, how compassionate our country is, and to learn to love it and work within the system. \u00a0I found my anger begin to settle and my compassion rise, I think that is what God wants from me! \u00a0I’m tired of being angry, hurt and distrustful, I want to try a better way!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Blessings & God Bless America,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n the pilgrim<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Win or loose, it’s over! \u00a0If you are like me, you are glad the election is over!!! \u00a0If your candidate won, congratulations, if she lost, the sun will still rise tomorrow. \u00a0I can’t beleive I’m quoting our current president, (you know I’m not a fan of his), but he was right when he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18442"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18445,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18442\/revisions\/18445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}