Save America Ministries

Guest (Male): This is Viewpoint with attorney and author Chuck Crismier. Viewpoint is a one-hour talk show confronting the issues of America's heart and home. And now with today's edition of Viewpoint, here is Chuck Crismier.

Chuck Crismier: What happens if you don't have courage? Well, everybody has courage until they need it. They have courage until they need it, and then what happens? Well, it just seems to fly away on the wings of a not-so-snow-white dove. Courage lost, all lost. That's what the ancient German philosopher Goethe once said. Wealth lost, something lost. Honor lost, much lost. But courage lost, all lost.

Today on Viewpoint, we're going to talk about this matter of courage because if there was ever a time we need courage, it's now. I know that the Sight & Sound Theatre up in Lancaster, Virginia, very famous for the amazing plays that it puts on, is getting ready to produce their play on Joshua. When I think of Joshua, and when you think of Joshua, you probably think of the words that Moses instructed him with before he handed the baton to Joshua to take the children of Israel into the Promised Land.

The Promised Land was going to require courage. In fact, it was going to require immense courage. So Moses instructed with the voice of the Lord to Joshua saying, "Be strong and courageous. Do not tremble, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." The problem with us is sometimes we say we're with God, but we're not confident He's with us. And so our courage wanes.

But why does our courage wane? Well, it's been said that courage is the backbone of moral character. When courage weakens, our back slumps. When courage leaves, our back seems like it's broken. And we know if we are honest, we look at our nation today, the moral backbone of America is slumping seriously. Yet the moral backbone of a nation is built upon the moral fiber of its people, like you and like me.

We say we don't like the morality around us, but no national morality exists without personal morality. And no national courage exists without personal courage. Unfortunately, much of what passes as courage these days is poured from a bottle. Well, today on Viewpoint, we're going to be talking about this matter of courage. Courage lost, all lost. And you may be in a situation where you desperately need courage.

One woman said that she was halfway around the world when she realized her marriage was in deep, deep trouble. In fact, she had just been in the Valley of Armageddon, literally in the Valley of Armageddon in Israel under Mount Carmel where Elijah the prophet had confronted the 400 prophets of Baal and had acted courageously in such a way that it took Israel by storm and actually the 400 prophets of Baal by storm.

He stood courageously above all in a unique moment in time right there above the Valley of Armageddon. Well, you may be feeling like you're in the Valley of Armageddon. One woman felt that her marriage was in Armageddon and that the battle was raging. The battle was raging in her own mind and heart. What can I do? What am I going to do? She was a Christian. She and her husband were both Christians, but she felt that all was lost.

The battle is raging. What can I do? And it was in that context that God began to speak to her heart concerning the matter of courage. In fact, she came up, or she would say that the Lord actually gave her seven steps to courage, which she presented in her book called Courage for Life. We'll talk about that here on the program today. And again, I'm so glad that you've joined us. It's conversation, as always, with ever-increasing conviction talk that transforms.

And we need, we desperately need conviction. Without conviction in our hearts, we have no ability to walk in courage. And courage is inextricably linked to all aspects of character and moral behavior. It really is. And we want to expect courage and character in our leaders, our Congressmen, our Senators, our President, and yes, our pastors. But then how about us? How about us?

Consider fidelity, for instance, in these days and ages. Courage is required these days to resist the rising tide of infidelity in all areas of life. And the simple truth is that courage links all of character and morality into a single operative body that enables a man or woman to take a stand at a unique moment in time. So what's the condition of your moral backbone? Are you strong and courageous? Are you able to stand? Or are you in a situation like the woman that I referred to who did not feel that she was courageous at all?

In fact, she felt that all was lost. And here she was, literally having been in the Valley of Armageddon in Israel, the long Jezreel Valley about 180 miles long. It seems sometimes like marital problems are 180 miles long, maybe longer than that. Is it even possible to find the courage necessary to walk the road of faith to see God work and accomplish His purposes in our lives?

So that's the question before us here on the program today. And again, it's always good to have you here on the program. We confront the deepest issues of America's heart and home from God's eternal perspective. And one of the deepest issues is the loss of courage. In fact, you may recall a fellow by the name of Alexander Solzhenitsyn. He had been in the gulags in Russia and had been delivered after years from those gulags.

He spoke, I believe it was at Harvard University back in the 1970s, and he said the one thing that he noticed in Western culture is the dramatic non-existent, virtually, of courage. The dramatic non-existence of courage. How could that possibly be? Someone coming from Russia, someone coming from the gulags there in Russia, having gone through the worst of the worst of the worst, and then he comes to the United States of America and he finds no courage.

Wow, what a diagnosis. So what would God find in your life today? What does He find today as by His spirit He speaks into your life and He's probing and He's diagnosing and He's hearing your plaintive cry? But does He find courage? If He doesn't find courage, then how is He going, how are you going to respond to what He has to say? Because faith requires courage. Faith is acting out the Word of God. Courage is stepping out on the word of faith, on the Word of God, to do what God requires regardless of our fears and feelings. We'll be right back.

Guest (Male): Once upon a time, children could pray and read their Bibles in school. Divorces were practically unknown, as was child abuse. In our once great America, virginity and chastity were popular virtues, and homosexuality was an abomination. So what happened in just one generation? Hi, I'm Chuck Crismier, and I urge you to join me daily on Viewpoint where we discuss the most challenging issues touching our hearts and homes. Could America's moral slide relate to the Fourth Commandment? Listen to Viewpoint on this radio station or anytime at saveus.org.

So good to have you here on the program today as we confront the deepest issues of America's heart and home. One of the greatest problems that we face is the lack of courage. Now, we like to see people over there in harm's way, in war zones and so on, and we revel in the courage that many of them show. And we're so blessed to have men and women who will stand courageously in those circumstances.

But how about the kinds of circumstances that you and I live in every day? How about the marital turmoils that are taking place all over the country and have been since the mid-1960s when the divorce rate, starting in 1968, took off as if it were entering in the world's Olympics to see how quickly we could divorce our spouses? From 1968 in Southern California, when then-Governor Ronald Reagan inaugurated the No-Fault Divorce Act, divorces began to become the norm, not only in the country as a whole but even in the church.

Once the divorces became a norm in the church, then well, we began to rationalize that God wanted us and approved of us remarrying while our spouses were still living, even though scripture clearly said that whoever would do so would be committing adultery. And so the problem consisted of our failure to live courageously and faithfully amid the changing circumstances and the pressures of the culture. The culture does provide pressure.

Now, it was actually the expectation today that we would be joined by a very lovely woman by the name of Anne White, who had written a book called Courage for Life. Courage for Life. And indeed, for some reason, we have not been able to connect with her, and she has not connected with us. And so we're pressing on to try to translate the message that she would have for you today here through the mouth of yours truly, anointed hopefully, expectantly, by the Holy Spirit.

She asks the question why so many believers know the truth but are afraid to live it. You know, the scripture says, and Jesus said, "If you will continue in My Word, you will know the truth and the truth will make you free." But the real fulcrum of that statement was the word "if." If you will continue in My Word, then you will know the truth and then the truth will make you free. So what if we continue in the Word, or at least say we are, say we believe the Bible from cover to cover and the cover too, but then refuse to do what it says?

Well, Jesus' brother had something to say about that. You remember he said, "Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." But what if I don't feel like it? What if the circumstances in my situation, for instance, in my marriage, are such that well, it just doesn't seem possible? And so we're living according to our feelings. We have a set of windows coming out of our lives. We look through the window of our feelings rather than through the window of faith. In other words, not really trusting God but trusting our feelings.

And when the feelings don't correspond, then all of a sudden we're afraid. And when we're afraid, we lack courage to walk by faith. And that's kind of how it works. And that's how Anne White translated it in her book. So I want to make her book available to you because I think it's going to be so helpful to many people here today. Maybe one person, one person today is going to say, "You know what, that's where I am. I'm desperate. I feel like my marriage is in Armageddon right now. I don't want it to be that way, but that's where I feel we are, and I don't know what to do about it. I feel lost, and I don't seem to have the strength to do anything about it."

This is your day. $17 will put this book in your hands, Courage for Life. It's on our website, saveus.org. saveus.org. You can give us a call at 1-800-SAVE-USA, that's 1-800-SAVE-USA, or write to us at Save America Ministries, PO Box 70879, Richmond, Virginia 23255. Writing a check, add $6 for postage and handling. Courage for Life. So what does that look like?

Well, as I wrote in the book *Renewing the Soul of America* years ago, courage is the backbone of moral character. The backbone of moral character. It's directly linked to all aspects of our character and moral behavior. Where no conscience exists, the moral and spiritual fabric of our life becomes threadbare. Yes, in our marriages. So courage is forged in the crucible of our conscience. Where there's no conscience, our courage languishes. Where the conscience is seared by violation or twisted by political correctness, courage has a hollow and uncertain ring.

So where do we get our conscience? As Christians, we get our conscience from God and from His Word. But if we don't continue in His Word faithfully and agree with it wholeheartedly regardless of how it seems or how it feels, we have seared our conscience and therefore made courage, well, it's like it took wings and flew away. Now, what do I do?

Here's what Anne White said. After years of presenting a put-together Christian life, I reached a breaking point when my marriage and inner world were unraveling beneath the surface. In a moment of deep depression halfway around the world, having just left the Valley of Armageddon in Israel, I chose to step into the light, tell the truth, and trust God with what I feared the most. She said that decision became the turning point, a new understanding of biblical courage.

Who would have ever thought that biblical courage would arise in the context of a marriage on the rocks where all the feelings seemed to be gone? You know that song, "I've lost that loving feeling and now it's gone, gone, gone." So that's where we want to start here as we move forward in the program today. She says, Anne White says, that there are seven steps to courage, at least in this kind of situation. And her entire book is about presenting these seven steps.

She says these seven steps to courage will help if any of these things describe you: you have trouble saying yes or no with firmness and love; you feel like no one understands what you're going through; you have things in your past you're afraid to tell anyone about; you've been betrayed by a close friend or someone you love; you struggle with unforgiveness; you've developed unhealthy coping mechanisms, bad habits; you've experienced verbal, emotional, sexual, and physical abuse; you're unable and unhappy with your body image; you struggle to accept that you're forgiven; you feel confused about your identity or purpose in life; you look for love in all the wrong places.

Well, that's just kind of a little list that she put together in order to present what she calls the seven steps to courage. So you might want to just jot these down, and if you don't jot them down, get a copy of the book because the book will help to unfold this as Anne, Anne White, presented it. And I'm so sorry that she wasn't able to be here today. These things happen with live broadcast, and as a good trial attorney, you have to be willing to step into the gap because you never know when your witnesses are going to show up. It's just that way when you go to court.

People don't realize that, but let me tell you, you can set up and make months of planning and programming of your witnesses and all the evidence, and then for some reason, somebody doesn't show up. The critical witness doesn't show up. Well, here we are today. And here are the seven steps to courage that she says concerning the marital relationship: Commit to change. In other words, you've got to be willing to change. Overcome obstacles. Uncover your true self. Replace worldly lies with scriptural truth. Accept the things you cannot change. Grasp God's love for you. And embrace a life of grace. That creates the acrostic: Courage. Commit, overcome, uncover, replace, accept, grasp, and embrace.

So for the balance of the program here today, we want to apply these as best we can. I can't do it entirely through the life of Anne White because she's the one that experienced this and she's the one that had the revelation specifically to her that enabled her to write the book. But she says we've got to step into courage. And the first thing is commit to change. Commit to change.

I remember back a few presidential elections ago, one of the men who eventually became president said he was presenting "change that we could believe in." "Change you can believe in." It became a phrase, a thing. Change you can believe in. The problem is there was a lot of change, but when everything was rolled out, to this very day we find out it was not believable. It wasn't change that was helpful or believable for the country at all. In fact, it was quite the contrary. Quite the contrary.

So change can be good or bad. It depends on whether we're changing according to God's Word, will, and ways. If we're changing according to our feelings, we're bound to be frustrated and not see our hopes fulfilled. We cannot allow feelings to become our Lord. Just can't do it. Because they're too fickle. We need faith, not the lordship of our feelings. But committing to change, what does that mean? What has to change? Well, obviously we can't continue on in our marriage the way that we've been doing because that's not producing what is necessary. That's what's producing the frustration. That's what's producing the, shall we say, Armageddon situation that we're facing in the marriage.

So here are the kinds of things that need to change. Number one: attitudes. Why would attitudes be the number one thing? Because behavior always flows from attitudes. That's why Jesus, you remember in the Sermon on the Mount, gave us the beatitudes, the attitudes of being. When we read those and then when we allow the Holy Spirit to apply those attitudes on our own life, things begin to change.

I remember back in the late 1970s, we ourselves were struggling after we were married in 1966. So we had been married for 10 or 12 years at this point. And there had been many pressures that had arisen in our lives and our marriages. We were both Christians. We were both going to church two or three times a week. Didn't eat, drink, or chew, didn't go with women that did, so to speak. In other words, our lives were true blue.

But things were not going well from our perception and particularly from my wife's perception. And so what was going on? Why was there going to be a need for change? One day Kathy came to me and she says, "Chuck, I don't have any more feelings for you and it scares me." Now, she didn't do that in an angry fashion. She came in a very mild fashion and just said, "You know, I don't have any more feelings for you and it scares me." Well, what would you do? In the flesh, I could lash out and say, "Oh, well, hang it in your ear," in other words, "All right, well, whatever." Whatever. But I didn't do that. The Holy Spirit prevented me from doing that. And I realized change was necessary. Here we go.

Guest (Male): There is so much more about Chuck Crismier and Save America Ministries on our website, saveus.org. For example, under the marriage section, God has marriage on His mind. Chuck has some great resources to strengthen your marriage. First off, a fact sheet on the state of the marital union, a fact sheet on the state of ministry, marriage, and morals. saveus.org. Marriage, divorce, and remarriage. What does the Bible really teach about this? Find all of this at saveus.org. Also, a letter to pastors, the Hosea Project. saveus.org. And many more resources to strengthen your marriage. It's all on Chuck's website, saveus.org. Again, you can listen to Chuck's Viewpoint broadcast live and archived at Save America Ministries' website at saveus.org.

Chuck Crismier: Everything must change and it requires courage to bring about change because we fear change. Most people fear change. They just don't like change, especially the kind of change that you could really believe in that would produce the kinds of things that we really desire in our lives.

So our special guest today, Anne White, who for whatever reason was not able to or forgot—it's possible forgetting, we do forget, you know—she says that there are six things that really six key areas needing change. And number one on the list is attitudes. And I agree with her. If our attitudes do not change, our behavior will not change. Everything else flows from our attitude. And that's why Jesus wrote about the beatitudes.

So where did I go when my wife came to me and said, "Chuck, I don't have any more feelings and it scares me"? Well, at that time we had been going through four years of law school at night for me while I was working full-time and putting my wife through college all at the same time. And then we had our first child and all of that at the same time. There was no time, no time for either one of us. Well, that affects attitudes.

So the Lord led me to the beatitudes, believe it or not, Matthew chapter 5. And every morning I began to get up at 5 in the morning because I had to get up at 5 in the morning to be able to do these things and then be able to get to my teaching assignment. I was a teacher at that time before I began the practice of law. And I had to get there by 7:30. So I had to get up at 5 o'clock to do this. That's after I had been studying for the bar exam hours on end.

The pressure was on. But something had to change. So I went to Matthew chapter 5, the beatitudes, and began to read and to memorize them. Yes, you heard that correctly. If you're going to change, there has to be action. And I realized this was serious. My wife wasn't messing around. She wasn't threatening divorce. We have never used the word divorce in our conversation together ever in 60 years. Ever. You don't do that because it reflects an attitude, and that attitude will sow all kinds of dangerous thoughts and behaviors.

So as I began to memorize the Sermon on the Mount, not just the beatitudes, but then the whole Matthew 5, 6, and 7, the whole Sermon on the Mount, God began to do in my own mind and heart what I had been unable to do and did not see. He began to dramatically change my attitude. Well, as a result of that, guess what happened? Attitudes are reflected in behaviors. And so Anne says the very next thing is behaviors, actions. You can't start with the behavior, you have to start with the attitude because it's the attitude that defines the behavior, that determines it.

How we act, how we behave, how we respond, and so on. And how we speak. Within a month, my wife came to me and she realized something had dramatically changed. It was change she could believe in, and she began to see, "Wow, my husband's attitude has changed and his behavior is changing. I like this." So that was the beginning. Within 30 days, she saw change she could believe in. It wasn't the end all to change, it was the beginning of change that would change everything, that would enable us at 50 years of marriage to write a book called *Lasting Love: Enduring Secrets for Marital Success*.

Wow, change you can believe in. It requires courage, and courage lost is all is lost. So if we lack the courage to begin to confront our attitudes and allow the Holy Spirit to confront our attitudes, what we're basically saying is there's no hope. And if you think the only change that needs to take place is in the other guy, husband, wife, or whoever, you're wrong. You can't change the other person. That's for them to do before God. But we have to have change ourselves, and it takes courage.

So then behavior, action. First you have attitudes and then you have actions. Well, actions involve what you say, how you say it, what you don't say, why you don't say it. And you begin to see the other person differently. Why do you begin to see the other person differently? Because your attitude changed. And when the attitude changes, then you begin to be able to say things that previously were hurtful and now you're saying things that are not hurtful but actually encouraging.

So to be real honest, God by His Spirit broke the sound barrier in my own life. It was very difficult for me early on to praise my wife and to say things openly that she felt were encouraging and uplifting and so on. God broke that barrier big time. And ever since then, that barrier having been broken, I was able to speak, not in anger, not in vitriol or whatever, but in encouragement, in strengthening, in approval, in all of the kinds of things that are uplifting and can be received by one's wife or husband, as the case may be. Am I perfect? No. You're not perfect either. God deals with imperfect people, and that's why we have to be strong and courageous. Joshua wasn't a perfect guy either. Moses certainly wasn't a perfect guy, but he had to be strong and courageous.

We have to be strong and courageous, and now is the time. Now, after the attitudes change and the behaviors or actions begin to change, then there are some other things that are lurking about in our life space called beliefs. What we believe about this, that, or the other thing. Sometimes those beliefs are consistent with the Word, will, and ways of God. Sometimes they are not. And when they're not, they get us in trouble. It may have something to do with our belief concerning children.

For that reason, there are some people who get married and they don't want to have children. Why? Well, one of the main reasons in today's culture is they're selfish. They don't understand the purpose for marriage. It was to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. That was God's number one purpose for marriage. They don't understand that. Sometimes that faulty belief has to be rectified in the light of God's Word between a husband and a wife. And they can only bring that courageously before the Lord to bring about change you can believe in.

There are many other kinds of beliefs. Belief about the food we eat, the kind of food we eat, how we should take care of the house, and so on. All kinds of beliefs that we have. And then in addition to the attitudes that drive everything and the behaviors or actions that flow from it, you have not only the beliefs that we're dealing with but also circumstances. Oh my, circumstances are very powerful.

Now, isn't it interesting in the practice of law that circumstantial evidence, while it's admissible, is not the most persuasive kind of evidence? Circumstantial evidence is admissible but not necessarily persuadable or persuasive. We have lots of circumstances that happen in our marriages. Different seasons, for instance, of our marriages that bring a variety of different circumstances. I remember an associate pastor in the church in which we were volunteer pastors, backed his car up and drove over their son, young son. Killed him.

What a circumstance. Agonizing. You think that kind of thing doesn't affect a marriage? Absolutely. And it affects each person differently. And it has to be overcome. It has to be dealt with. There are various things that can happen in the life of a husband or a life of a wife. Medical situations that were totally unexpected. How about a wife who ends up with breast cancer and has to have a mastectomy? How is that going to affect the marriage? How is that going to affect the wife's view of herself or the husband's view of her, or what they each think about how they each view one another? All of these things have to be confronted with courage.

Circumstances. I remember a family that lost a son in a swimming pool. They never could, they never could deal with the situation for years. And finally, as I recall, they divorced. Why? They would not allow themselves courageously to deal with the circumstances. Their attitudes, their behaviors, their beliefs were wrong, and so the circumstances destroyed them. Didn't have to, but they didn't have the courage to deal with it. How about you? Get a copy of the book Courage for Life. $17 on our website saveus.org. Call us 1-800-SAVE-USA. Write to us at Save America Ministries. We'll be right back.

Guest (Male): Have you ever considered what the early church was like? Many people are developing a hard longing for a greater fulfillment in our practices as Christians. A recent study showed 53,000 people a week are leaving the back door of America's churches in frustration. What is going on? Why has there not been even a 1% gain among followers of Christ in the last 25 years? Could it be that God is seeking to restore first-century Christianity for the 21st century? Jesus said, "I'll build My church." Is Christ by His Spirit stirring to prepare the church for the 21st century? The early church prayed together and broke bread from house to house. They were family, and it was said by all who observed, "Behold how they love one another." Incredible, but the same can be found right now. Go to saveus.org and click Cell Church. We can revive first-century Christianity for the 21st century. It's about people, not programs. It's about a body, not a building. That's saveus.org. Click Cell Church.

Chuck Crismier: How do you accept the things you can't change? Right now in this broadcast studio, I maintain a very, very beautiful and unusual plaque: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." Let me repeat that. You know it. "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

What if your husband was in the military and he was called overseas and in the course of whatever circumstances he was called to, he suffered a severe injury? Maybe he had been called to Iraq. Maybe he lost a leg. Maybe he lost an eye. Maybe he got involved in a fire fight and actually his skin was burned badly on his face. Now what are you going to do?

You see, those kinds of circumstances we don't expect. We certainly hope that nothing like that will happen to us, but it happens to other people. But when it happens to us, then all of a sudden the circumstances are such that they require, in fact, they demand our ability to cope with our feelings, our attitudes, and therefore the behaviors that flow, the beliefs that we have. And if you have a belief, for instance, that now because everything that you expected to happen has not happened and you're now entitled or free to divorce, you have actually pulled the rug right out from under your faith. You're not living by faith anymore. You're living by feelings totally.

Because when you stood before the pastor and all of those witnesses at your wedding, you said that you were going to remain faithful until death do us part. And the scripture says better it is that you not vow than that you vow and not pay. And don't say before the angel it was an error or I didn't know. No, you're held to what you said. You're held to what you committed to. So now what are you going to do?

How are you going to live that out courageously? One of the things that really encourages me is oftentimes to see on television, and it usually comes in the form of different ads concerning Tunnel to Towers or some of those things, Wounded Warriors and so on, where people step up to the plate and are preparing a circumstance to help remedy a situation in a family's life where there's been total destruction. Just horrible things happen to affect that person's life as a result of war.

Just imagine how the wife is dealing with those things though before that ever happens. That Tunnel to Towers blessing of building a new house may never happen. Now what is that wife going to do? Or what's the husband going to do when his wife was in the military and that happened? You see, we have to be able to cope with circumstances that arise and it requires courage. The courage that only can arise through a life dedicated in faithfulness to the Lord and His Word.

If our life is dedicated to our feelings, then our feelings will be our Lord and we will not have courage. You cannot fight with the Word of God and His will and be courageous. Courage is that which enables us to do His will, not run from it. It was courage that enabled Jesus to go to the cross. You say, well was His love? Yes, it was His love but it was not just His love, it was His courage. Courage to do what? To obey the will of the Father.

Remember in Gethsemane, He sweat great drops as of blood? He was in His physical being, the circumstances were such that it was overwhelming. He knew what God had called for Him to do and to endure, and He knew what the reason was. But before the reason could be fulfilled, He was going to have to go through the most excruciating circumstances a human being could ever have to go through. Not only to be crucified with all that that meant, but to take upon Himself the sin of the world and to be separated from His Father because of it.

Try to get your arms and mind around that. Jesus begged the Father. He said, "If it be possible, Father, deliver Me from this death. But nevertheless, Your will be done." You see, that's what we need to come to. If we're really men and women of Christian faith, really dedicated to the Lord in our marriages, in other circumstances of life, we're going to say, "Nevertheless, not My will but Yours be done."

So a woman may say, or a man may say, "Well my spouse divorced me." And Jesus said, "Whoever divorces their spouse causes them to commit adultery, and whoever marries the one so divorced commits adultery." Well, I don't want to commit adultery, but I need a partner. I want to be married. I want to have a partner. Those are your feelings, friends, and there's nothing wrong with your feelings. But now you have to make a decision. Am I going to go along with my feelings or with the faith as declared by Jesus Himself and the Apostle Paul? What am I going to do? How am I going to cope with that circumstance?

The only way we can cope with that circumstance is to trust God and say, "Okay Lord, You're going to have to be my husband," or "You're going to have to be my wife." I'm going to trust You. Because it isn't just about you. It isn't just about your feelings. It's about the Kingdom of God, you see. It's about the Kingdom of God. It's a much bigger picture than the one we feel so intensely in our own mind and heart. You say it's very easy for you to say those things. No it's not easy, because I'm a real person just like you are. I'm flesh and blood just like you are.

Anne White, who was to be our special guest, she had to go through a lot of things, struggle through a lot of things because she was kind of walking through the Armageddon of her marriage. Now what? It required courage. It required an attitude change, required behavioral change, actions, required a change in belief, circumstances, coping with circumstances, and then a change of desires. Wow, this is a biggie.

Do I really desire what God wants, or have I superseded God's desires with my own? Have I put my desires above God's desires and say, "Yeah, but this is how I feel. But this is what I want." You see, that was Satan's problem. Satan had it all together in the heavenlies. He did, he was the anointed cherub that covereth. He was the greatest, most beautiful created being ever in universal history. But it wasn't enough for him. He desired to be equal with God.

I cannot tell you how many people, professing Christians, would not say they desire to be equal with God, but in effect they make decisions that must be concluded that way. In other words, they disagree with what God has said and superimpose their own viewpoint in their marriage with regard to issues regarding marriage, with regard to issues of divorce, remarriage and all of that, they superimpose their own viewpoints over what God has said. And by doing that, they're doing the same thing that Satan got Eve to do in the garden.

He asked the question, "Hath God said?" and she responded, "Yes, but." And the rest is history. She didn't have the courage to stick with what God had said. And Adam certainly didn't have the courage to stick with what God had said, and he went along with his wife's change of attitude toward what God had said. And the result was their behaviors and actions changed, their belief changed, their circumstances changed to me immediately, and they hid from God. Now what was their coping skill? Oh, they had to create fig leaves to hide themselves.

That's what a lot of Christians do. They create fig leaves of fig leaves to hide from the fact that they are not living courageously, that they're not living faithfully. Things aren't good, but we're going to pretend. Desires. You know the scripture says if we will do the word, the will, and the ways of the Lord, that He will give us the desires of our heart. But it's not that He's going to give the desires that we already think we have. It's that He's going to put His desires in our heart. That's what we need.

And when we have His desires in our heart, then we can act courageously. If we only have our desires in our heart, it doesn't take any courage to go with the flow of our feelings. What takes courage is to live faithfully according to God's Word, will, and ways, whether it's in our marriage, whether it's in a job situation. It doesn't matter. Has God spoken? Has God spoken in His Word? If He has, you have no right to speak otherwise. Now your choice is to conform your attitudes, your actions, your beliefs, your circumstances, your coping skills and desires to His.

I hope that's somewhat helpful to you. Probably I didn't do the same kind of a job that our special guest would have done, but I did take the very heartthrob of her book, *Courage for Life*, and attempted to translate it in a way that would be applicational to each one of us. You see, theory isn't what God is about. That's information. We're not about information here on this program. Information that does not lead to transformation is futile. It's deceptive. It leads to frustration, stagnation, and then ultimately termination even of marriages.

Get a copy of the book *Courage for Life*. Be encouraged. $17 will put it in your hands. It's on our website saveus.org. saveus.org. Give us a call 1-800-SAVE-USA. Write to us at Save America Ministries, PO Box 70879, Richmond, Virginia 23255. Writing a check, add $6 for postage and handling. Now again, with regard to my own books, as I indicated, we still have that special offer for all 11 of my books up on the website saveus.org for $150. It is an amazing value. Just it's amazing. And when you do it that way, the postage and handling is so lessened as to make it even more amazing.

I hope you'll take advantage of it. Many people have. All 11 of my books right there. Go to the website saveus.org and make sure you grab a hold of that option. And become a partner friends. Become a partner. Send your gifts by faith to Save America Ministries, PO Box 70879, Richmond, Virginia 23255. Do it today and tomorrow we're going to be visited by a woman who left the Democrat Party because she said, "I'm a Christian and I can't continue with this party."

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Viewpoint with Chuck Crismier. Viewpoint is supported by the faithful gifts of our listeners. Let me urge you to become a partner with Chuck as a voice to the church, declaring vision for the nation. Join us again next time on Viewpoint as we confront the issues of America's heart and home.