Our lives are lived in relatives. No, I don't mean family members. Have you noticed how the temperature you set the thermostat to during summer feels cool, but the same temperature in winter may feel warm? Or you may have noticed that the same temperature, in the same place, at the same time, will be sufficient to keep one person warm while the person right beside may be shivering, even with a sweater on. The response to the temperature is relative to what is going on inside each person -- one may have just been doing a lot of work and the other may have been still for awhile.

God is overturning all we are accustomed to. Upheaval, change, disruption, turbulence, disorder, pandemonium were all experienced by the Israelites when they were taken into captivity. At other times throughout history, similar conditions were pervasive, causing the existing structures of power to fall into chaos. Many of us have lived through identical conditions in our personal lives as circumstances have transformed around us, producing new and unexpected results.

Let's be passionate for the Lord. Not a lackadaisical "Jesus is just alright with me" acceptance, but the same strong, stirring, irresistible, unstoppable, passionate determination that a seed expresses when it germinates, pushing through dirt, clay, rocks, pavement, whatever is between it and the sunlight which will be its life and nourishment.

God has given us many promises. We can trust Him to keep those promises, and do all that is necessary to bring those promises to pass. He will move heaven and earth, He will raise up nations and depose rulers, He will use all the hosts of heaven to accomplish what He has determined and declared He will do.