Take A Stand

What Would Jesus Do Today?

Ask yourself,
what would Jesus do today?

Ask yourself by Genevieve Gerard

This is a question to ask yourself if you consider yourself a Christian.

When I started this article, I was directed to address it to the American Evangelical Church, because of the moral and political crisis that is facing that group in this moment of history.

The more I meditated and prayed on this time in the world; I realized that the problems being faced by the world today are being experienced around the world, in every geopolitical environment because they are the spiritual challenge facing humanity right now.

It Is A Time Of Crisis

Spiritual Cross Words by Genevieve Gerard

Across the planet, throughout the Country, throughout the church, people are being called to make decisions about what is wrong, and what is right, what is not moral and what is moral.

It is a time of crisis, indeed in the United States of America, yet, when I take a more realistic and global look at this moment in the evolution of human life and consciousness, the decisions and choices are being played out on a world stage and apply to all nations.

When I was first directed in my meditation to write this message, I must admit I resisted it.  I suggested the spiritual insights and guidance would reach the evangelical community better through ministers who focus on serving this group.  They are well known and would undoubtedly be listened to better than I, and although a Christian I am not of the evangelical tribe.

As I argued and resisted with myself internally, I was then reminded that I often pray “here I am Lord, use me.”  I was being asked to honor my word.  The Lord was asking to use me.  Would I turn my back in disobedience, or was I a woman of my word?

So, prayerfully and meditatively I opened my mind, my heart, and my Soul to listen to the message I was being called to share.  My argument that I was not worthy was countered by the reminder that those called to deliver a message from God often felt unworthy.  My Biblical knowledge flashed through a myriad of stories of the dire and disastrous consequences of those called to deliver a message from God, and the results when they tried to flee or disobey God’s call.

Chastised and committed to obedience in my meditation, I picked up my proverbial pen (although, it is a computer) re-entered a prayerful and receptive meditative state and began to record the thoughts and impressions being sent through me to this community.

What Would Jesus Do?

I was reminded that among Evangelical Christians many strive to live their faith by asking themselves the question, “What would Jesus do?”  This was the question I was guided to ask in this letter.

It is abundantly clear that asking that question is an excellent way to consider the many life choices we are called upon to make.

As I continued to ponder and consider the direction, I realized that the value and import of this question were broader than just one country or only one church.

However, the need for this article to be sent to and directed to Evangelical Christians is clear.

If you are an Evangelical Christian, or if you know Evangelical Christians I ask your help in sending this article to that group, for that was my initial instruction and purpose for writing this article.

As I continued to pray and meditate on this question “What would Jesus Do?” my thoughts expanded.  In the history of humanity, the choices Jesus made were so powerful and profound that over two thousand years later we are in awe of what he taught and demonstrated in His life and more amazingly in His death and sacrifice.

To make your life and moral choices by the guidance of the question “What would Jesus Do” can be a tough moral standard to follow.  His path was not an easy path, and choosing what is right over what is wrong may never be the easy way.

Human nature and being human is vulnerable to pride.  Self-righteousness and assurance of moral superiority are sins we must all consider when we make a moral choice.

To take a stand for right action in life, especially if you consider “what Jesus would do” requires that you answer how Love is served, how harmlessness and compassion are demonstrated.

With that in mind, I am reminded of the parable Jesus told as guidance for following Him.

The parable in Matthew 25:40 Jesus said:

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (New International Bible Version)

Now I believe that of all the lessons that Jesus taught and all of the ways he guided those who say they follow Him, there is no better guide for our moral decision to determine what you should do, than those words.  So, I ask you to consider the moral and political choices of today’s world and challenges by examining the question of “what would Jesus do?”

What would Jesus do about . . . immigration?  Would he close the borders to refugees?  Would he deport the DACA young people and deprive them the opportunity to live their lives and fulfill their Soul purpose because they are of a different culture?

Would Jesus deprive children of Health Care because their parents are poor?  Would he deprive the disabled of Medicare?  Would He defund Health insurance supplements for working families in need?

What would Jesus do about the Homeless, especially Homeless and Disabled Veterans?

Would Jesus eliminate funding for breakfast for school-age children or meals for seniors?

Would he punish addiction by profitable prisons, or might he support treatment and rehabilitation?

“What would Jesus do?” is a question I invite all of you to consider in light of the many issues and challenges coming before the American people and Evangelical Christians in these troubling times.

There is in our world and in our society a battle for the Soul of America.  If America is to be a Christian nation as I believe the Evangelical Christian Church desires, then we must behave in a way that is congruent with the teachings of Matthew 25:40, or risk being rejected by the King as the parable teaches.

Asking the question “What would Jesus do today?” is a call of conscience to not only the Evangelical Church but to the Catholic Church and every denomination that identifies as Christian.

Many countries have made these decisions, yet I write especially to the United States of America today because she is in a battle for the Soul of American over the forces of greed.

Make A Choice & Take A Stand

If you want America to be a Christian Nation, then you must in your political life take a stand.

The forces of greed and selfishness are strong.  Asking yourself “what would Jesus do?” will help you consider what you can do to solve many of these social and societal issues.  What are you funding to support and help in the world?  Does it reflect what Jesus would do, or does it support the forces of selfishness and greed?

These are the questions every citizen who identifies themselves as a Christian are being called to consider.  It is not easy to follow Christ.  Jesus was an example that we all fall short of achieving.  As I pen these words, I remember that in every Christian variation is the creed and affirmation that Christ will come again.

Jesus Knocking

The promise, the hope and the belief of the reappearance of the Christ cross all the divisions in the Christian faith.  We are told of His coming, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” Matthew 24:36.

We, as Christians are charged to live every day prepared for His coming.  Certainly, looking at the choices and changes in the world today, the world may well be preparing for that moment.  Are you?

Are the causes you are supporting today compatible with you being more than a Sunday morning Christian? Are you living your life and making your political decisions based on the guidance of the question, “What would Jesus Do?”

Are you making the choices as if your Lord himself were one of the disenfranchised, needy and poor?  Do you see Jesus in the face of every person?  Are you following His commandment, indeed His only commandment to Love, but to your neighbor as yourself?

These are the questions I was guided to place before you as a member of the Christian movement.  This is the message I was directed to offer to you from my morning prayers and meditations.

There are significant decisions before you in our modern world, in our country, America and indeed in every country across the planet.

We need to decide who and what defines us as a culture, as a society.  I invite you and encourage you to take direction and guidance of your faith as you ask yourself and then answer, “What would Jesus Do Today?”

The Christ in me greets the Christ in you with the ancient greeting “The Peace of the Lord be with you.” 
                           – Genevieve Gerard

Before I close this article and my own prayerful meditations I am guided to offer you a prayer to support you in your desire to follow the teachings of Jesus.  This is a prayer to support you as you strive to walk your talk, to demonstrate to the world what Jesus would do.

 

Lord, I Want To Be Like Jesus Prayer

 

Let Us Pray

Beloved Lord,

I humbly ask that you come to me and guide me in the choices I make today.  Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart and in my life.

I open my heart to the power of the Holy Spirit that I may find the strength to Love my neighbor as myself.

As I invite the Love of the Christ into my heart compassion fills me.  In the face of every stranger let me see the face of Jesus.  Let every act of kindness be of service to you my beloved Lord.  So, you instructed us, and so I strive to be more like you today.

I know I may fall short of being able to accomplish this, so I surrender to the Love of the Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to fill me and infuse me so that I may be an active demonstration of what Jesus would do.

As I offer myself to this work and service, I ask that not my will but thine be done, through me.

Help me to consider harmlessness as I consider the plight of others.  Please guide my thoughts and words.  Grant me the strength to stand up for what my heart and Love tell me are right action in this world of sorrow and need.

Lord empower me to see your face in everyone I see that I may express my gratitude to you for your sacrifice by my own service to those you called “the least of these my brethren.”

Help me remember that my service to the hungry and sick, the refugees and prisoners, the addicts and alcoholics is my service to You.

Let me be a living example of Your life, Your Love and Your Grace.  Let me be a source of good in the world.

In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray.

Amen

 

The Blessing of Love on all that you do! 

   Genevieve

 

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You Are Not Powerless

You Are Not Powerless

Read You Are Not Helpless by Genevieve Gerard

In the next hundred days there will be a time of choosing and a time of committing to where we stand.

Here, in the United States of America events and circumstances have come together that require that Americans and citizens of all nations must take the time to consider who they are as a country, who we are as a people, and most significantly where we stand.

Right now, in the next hundred days of a new administration in our government, we the people have some important decisions to make.

Decisions will determine whether this grand experiment in people living with the dynamic concept that all are endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is a truth that will as it has so often in the past allowed the United States of America to be a light out to the world, or whether we will slip into the annals of history as a failed experiment in right human relations.

The founding of our great country was not a casual or happenstance thing.  Our founding fathers knew that human nature was often flawed.  They carefully and consciously built in structures in their emerging experiment in consciousness, here in a new land on a new continent as they carefully constructed checks and balances to protect the people from the failures of government, which most of the founding fathers were very suspicious of.

They knew well that to live in a country that has these freedoms requires a level of consciousness and responsibility of the citizens to continuously protect and defend not only the constitution but the principles upon which it was founded.  Perhaps, they foresaw that this moment would someday come to the people and country they could only dare to dream of over 200 years ago as they structured this great republic into being.

They well knew that to maintain and nurture this new form of government would take vigilance and could require that the people take a stand for what they believe.  For this, they incorporated the rights of peaceful assembly.  However, in that right is not the right for violenceWe do not have the right for anarchy or wanton destruction.  But an integral part of the American experience, a right of free speech and assembly were consciously built into the American experiment of a republic.

Peaceful Resistance and Non-Violence

Those who have taken a stand against tyranny in our country and even in the world, have passed to us a legacy of what works, and a clear message of what does not work.

Peaceful resistance and non-violence are the only tools that work.  The very moment you stray from those standards and use violence and civil disobedience you have handed the power over to the forces of tyranny and evil.

As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached in the 1960s in a previous time that our country had a call of conscious of what we choose to be as a culture and a people in this great American experiment in human relationships, “only love can conquer hate.”  Hate and anger are the portals to, as Star Wars guru Yoda said, “the dark side.”

Ponder on this affirmation:

THE LAW OF ONE

 

We are all one.

 

When one is harmed, all are harmed. When one is helped, all are healed.

 

Therefore, in the name of who I AM, and I AM ONE with all; I ask that ONLY THAT WHICH IS THE HIGHEST GOOD OF ALL CONCERNED happen here and now and through all time and space.

 

I give thanks that this is done. SO BE IT!
         – Unknown

So, as I consider the actions of the recent American events and find the news of the people taking to the streets to take a stand for the kind of America we choose to be, I call upon the leaders of all of these movements and I call upon each person who is moved to take a stand, to remember the life and the teachings of India’s protest leader Mahatma Gandhi.  He reminded all of us that we must, “be the change we want to see in the world.”

The course of human events has converged upon “we the people” for us to once again decide what we believe, who we wish to be as a peopleMuch has happened in the 240+ years since the U.S. founding fathers migrated to America and made their stand against tyranny and inequality.  Their intent was to form a more perfect union.  To that, they pledged their lives, fortunes, and their sacred honor.

Much that is wonderful, great and good has happened and been created in the intervening years of human history. Much that is wonderful has been set up on the structure of freedom and liberty that they created.  Greed, separateness, and selfishness remain as parts of human nature against which we must stand vigilant.

That vigilance has slipped in the recent past.  The cry for change that this recent election spoke to is a sign that people do not wish to be governed by a swamp of selfishness and greed.  The only way this great republic can work and has ever worked is by vigilance and taking a stand for right action and right human relationships.

Hold Our Leaders, Legislators,
and News Media Accountable

We the people have let our complacency slip.  We have failed to use those precious freedoms and rights our forefathers built into our system to hold our elected officials accountable.  We have not stood firm for the abuses of power that have raised their ugly head when the laws of abuse were passed.  We have failed to hold those elected officials to those long-ago pledges of life, fortunes, and sacred honor that the American founding fathers pledged.  Rather, we have stood by and permitted personal fortunes to be often enhanced shamelessly at the behest of special interests.

Now it is important to hold our leaders and legislators accountable. This is important as we re-examine the principles that are essential to truth and justice. Liberty and freedom are compromised when lies and illusion invade the body politics. Dangerous and destructive elements entered our society when news media failed to require truth. The problem became compounded by the regurgitating of what was promoted as alternative facts which were often fantasies that promoted conspiracy theories. These are tools that have long been used by tyranny to rob citizens of liberty, justice, and equality.

The American way was once defined as truth and justice. We need to find our way back to that for those are qualities upon which our American Constitution relies.

Most egregiously, we have permitted our representatives to place into law a privilege of certain benefits for them as legislators that are not shared with the people they represent.  I can with confidence say that I am sure that was never even a consideration of a possibility of those men of honor that envisioned a represented republic.

We Are Not Powerless

It is that sense of powerlessness that I would like to touch on in this missive to you, my fellow human beings, my brothers and sisters in the quest for right human relationship.

You are not powerless.  You are endowed by your creator with inalienable rights.  No one can take that from you.  However, you and you alone can claim that power.
       – Genevieve Gerard

You must decide who you are as a human being, what you believe, what is right and what is wrong.

Living as a free people involves responsibility, a responsibility well understood by those who crafted the United States Constitution as a living document that requires the participation and vigilance of the governed.

I am reminded that right after the Constitutional Congress Benjamin Franklin said, “we have given you a republic if you can keep it.”

Now, in this next hundred days I call upon all of you, to take this opportunity in the course of human events to consider what you stand for, what you believe, what you feel deep in your heart and deep in the promptings of your Soul to consider what is right and then commit to taking a standWe have certain rights.  We must use them.

Thankfully many of us have been given the power of the ballot box.  We must continue to use it or we will loose it.

Some nations have given us the right of free speech.  We must make our voices heard.

In the United States, we have been given the power of an unfettered pressWe must call upon the men and women of that pillar of our democracy to also take a stand for truth and honor.

We are not powerless. Now is the time for each of us to consider and then stand up for what has long been the vision of America, truth, honor and justiceIt is the time for us to consider and then stand for what we truly believe. There is power in unity with your fellow man.

God (however you believe and conceive God to be), please bless the United States of America at this time of transition and awakening.

 

Namaste,

   Genevieve

 

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Last Updated 1-19-2021

 

Genevieve - Soulful

 

About the author:
Genevieve Gerard teaches Transformational Consciousness – from first awakening to enlightened Soul awareness. She helps you experience the joy that results from the spontaneous “touch of your soul.”

Read more details…

Genevieve has a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy and Theology and a Master of Arts Degree in Counseling and for over thirty years has worked one-on-one with people who were recovering from devastating disabilities and chronic pain. Teaching the mastery of the mind-body relationship she was one of the early professionals trained in biofeedback, visualization, imagery, and meditation as essential techniques to help people heal their bodies, heal their emotions, heal their minds, and heal their lives.

Genevieve’s work demonstrates what she knows so well, “It is spiritual connectedness that triggers physical healing and emotional and mental well-being.”  Helping people, like you, tap into your higher-self is the power she wields to guide you to heal and transform your life.

Now, with this understanding, she combines the effective techniques she developed over decades teaching mind-body mastery along with her extensive experience in meditation and spiritual development to create a synthesis of mind-body-spirit that delivers complete healing and opens the door to unlimited personal growth and an encounter with your Soul.

In addition to her current life guidance coaching sessions, and workshops performed around the world, Genevieve has produced more than 20+ guided meditations in the last eight years that are available on iTunes, Amazon, CDBaby, and her website.

It is her vision that through your experience with the techniques of awareness, visualization, and meditation, the love of your Soul will touch and transform your life through her writings and products. It is her sincere desire that the potential of a life of joy and celebration that seems to elude so many people can become a reality for you, now and forever.

Browse her life story and read the Touch of the Soul that changed her world. To contact Genevieve, visit her keep in touch page.

 

Copyright (c) 2016-2021 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC. All Rights Reserved

 

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