I started my day by reading the paper and various news websites.  Have you noticed just how much influence the media can have in the atmosphere of your day?  They can paint the most horrific pictures of situations.  They can make any person look foolish, any nation look wrong, and any group appear to be insane.  They pollute much of the atmosphere with such depressing news which results in the same effect in our daily life.  Though some of the news is truthful, it is reported and read in such a way that it appears that our world is spinning out of control...and it very well could be.  If you were not a believer, the only headlines you would read today would include the following statements with no explaination:

"Corpses were recovered Tuesday from beaches, homes and hotels ravaged by Indonesia’s second tsunami in as many years, pushing the death toll to at least 341. Nearly 230 people were missing."

 "I'm just like everyone else, I get completely plastered, I've done my fair share of drugs and I've been caught places with my pants down; it's just I make sure there are no cameras around."

"...There's nobody in the world like me," --- trumpets to the London Times. "I think every decade has an iconic blonde -- like Marylin Monroe or Princess Diana -- and right now, I'm that icon."

"A proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage was defeated Tuesday in the House of Representatives."

 "A suicide car bomber struck amid a crowd of laborers across from a major Shiite shrine in southern Iraq Tuesday, killing at least 53 people and wounding 105..."

"Drawn into what now appears to be a two-front war, Israel sent its forces into Lebanon on Wednesday in a major military offensive. The move came after Hezbollah terrorists launched a coordinated attack on communities."

"You're dealing with a population of unemployed teenage boys, raised in a death cult, and encouraged to think that Jew killing is the highest fulfillment of life."

"...massive security breaches resulting from the recent thefts of government laptops, errant information posted on public Web sites and hacks of government computer security systems..."

"Cell phones appear to be the new addiction as Americans suffer from 'the talkies'"

"Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is comparing Israel's military response to those three kidnapped soldiers to the aggression of the Third Reich, saying, "The Zionists think that they are victims of Hitler, but they act like Hitler and behave worse than Genghis Khan."

"A Dutch court rejected an attempt by anti-paedophile campaigners to ban the Brotherly Love, Freedom and Diversity party (PNVD), which wants to cut the age of consent from 16 to 12 and to legalise child pornography."


"Americans are more concerned than ever about the North Korean threat after multiple missile tests last week, but they're unsure how to deal with the rogue nation."

"A peace activist from New Zealand is being charged with assault in London — after he put a budding rock star in a coma in a fight over his victim's girlfriend."

"A Spanish lawmaker has proposed a resolution that would make Spain the first country to grant human rights to apes."

"I can not believe in a God who wants to be praised all the time."

"The attacker drove a minivan to where Shiite laborers gather daily to look for work in Kufa, 100 miles south of Baghdad. He offered them jobs, loaded the minivan with volunteers and then detonated the vehicle..."

-What a convoluted world we have, don’t we?  There is so much hurt, gossip, and death that it can make you sick!  I can remember when I had yet come to Christ and asking myself, “If this is the world the Lord has made, I don’t want it!”  But, when I came into a relationship with Jesus Christ, I finally saw that our Father is above our world, not bound to it.  He is more powerful than our problems, not subject to them.  And He is eternally and perpetually ruling here and now in our daily life!  Now, the headlines of a believer can be different.  We are living in this world, but we have found a way out, through Jesus Christ.  And I have found that even when I read these headlines, there are headlines in scripture that the Lord has set out for us….to remind us of His sovereignty in the earth and His triumphs over our circumstances.  Psalm 68 has many of today’s headlines in our walk with Jesus Christ.  It is an entirely different feeling to read these “headlines” out loud as if you were reading the paper.  There is nothing like the Word of God proclaimed over situations in your life and world:

“Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered, and let those who hate Him flee before Him.”

“But let the righteous be glad; let them exult before God; Yes, let them rejoice with gladness.”

“Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Lift up a song for Him who rides through the deserts, whose name is the LORD, and exult before Him. Father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, is God in His holy habitation. God makes a home for the lonely; He leads out the prisoners into prosperity…”

“The Lord announced the word, and great was the company of those who proclaimed it…”

“The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands;”

“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.”

“Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death. Surely God will crush the heads of his enemies…”

“Your procession has come into view, O God, the procession of my God and King into the sanctuary. In front are the singers, after them the musicians; with them are the maidens playing tambourines. Praise God in the great congregation; praise the LORD in the assembly of Israel.”

“Summon your power, O God; show us your strength, O God, as you have done before.”

“Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth, sing praise to the Lord, to him who rides the ancient skies above, who thunders with mighty voice. Proclaim the power of God, whose majesty is over Israel, whose power is in the skies. You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!”