Heal My Muteness
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me and heal my muteness. May I speak clearly the good news of the Kingdom. May I speak up for the oppressed, the enslaved, the neglected, the lonely and the outcast. May the alien and stranger hear love and kindness in my words. May I
Heal My Deafness
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me and heal my deafness. Help me to hear the cries of the hurting. Help me to hear what is behind the cries of the needy. Help me to hear what is happening when spiritual manipulators ply their trade. May I hear words that others
Heal My Blindness
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me and heal my blindness. Help me to see what is really going on around me that I do not see because of the way my eyes filter. Help me to see human need. Help me to see my own faults. Help me to see
Your Unique Road
No one has ever really walked your road. Our unique nature and our unique nurture are part of the road we walk. We bring this to circumstances in our lives that are never exactly like what others have faced; you are a pioneer. If this be the case, you will need to be thoughtful,
Vilify None
In religious debates, we are much too quick to attack those who disagree with us. Just because a person has come to conclusions other than yours does not mean that they are somehow evil. Besides, if you cannot bring them along in your processes by persuasion, don’t think you will if you vilify them
Bible Experts
There are those who can cite chapter and verse for most any subject. They pride themselves in knowing their Bibles. Yet, they may not know the Spirit of truth; they may know only the letter. Their knowledge of the Bible has given them self-satisfaction but no real joy. They hurl scriptures like stones and
Living Gratitude
It is one thing to say an occasional “Thank you” and it is quite another to live a life of gratitude. I find myself asking, “Did I remember to say, ‘Thank you’?” We train our children to do that so that as adults it will become a natural response. Most of all, we need
Home of the Heart
We sometimes look back to places we have lived and may even long to return to them. When we do, we find that they have changed and it just does not feel like it used to feel. The place has changed, people have gone, so we go on with a memory that may nurse
Eternal Life
Eternal life is much more than unending life. It is literally the quality of the life of the eternal God that is shared with us. Eternal life is not something we possess apart from an interlocked solidarity with the One who is life (Romans 6:23b). It is the life of abiding in Him and
Intentional Time
We make choices everyday about how we spend our lives. In our humanity, we often lie about what we claim we want to do while we are actively choosing something else. We live intentionally! Everyone does! The real question is what are you intentional about? What your heart is most moved toward is what
The Mind Garden
The heart and mind is a garden. Some minds cultivate the very things that the commandments forbid. Some minds cultivate the good commands of Messiah. Out of one life comes deceit, lust, hatred, strife, rage, and discord with a whole weed bed of iniquity. Out of another life comes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
God Loves Us
We are so prone to erect barriers to the belief that God loves us individually and personally. We know He loves others, and we tell them so. But for us, we magnify our sins, faults and short comings to the point that we think He has taken us off the list, or at least
The Ministry of Listening
Being totally present for another is a gift of ourselves to that person. So called multitasking and the nature of media itself makes us attention deficit. People want to be heard and they want to feel that you have heard them. It takes focus to hear what a person is really saying. It takes
Changed by Grace
Never forget where the Lord has brought you from. Remember the sins He washed you from and the guilt He took away. Think of the sadness of what you could be, had you not allowed God to enter your story and change it. Better yet, when you enter God’s story, your story is forever
Living Sacrifice as Worship (4)
Living sacrifice is about our sanctification. “Present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God....For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification...and
Living Sacrifice as Worship (3)
If I understand that I am a living sacrifice, it will greatly affect what I think and do in the middle of human suffering. Life can be so hard sometimes; it can come at us with wave after wave of troubles. As painful as life can become, if I understand that my life is
Living Sacrifice as Worship (2)
To be a living sacrifice is that we live counter culturally. When we present ourselves as a living sacrifice, it transforms us and we begin to change our thinking. The thinking of the surrounding culture is based on another worldview with entirely different assumptions. This is that to which we do not and cannot
Living Sacrifice as Worship (1)
The ancient people worshiped God by animal sacrifices. Some of Israel’s prophets said that these sacrifices were not really what God was wanting after all (Micah 6:6-8; Isaiah 1:1-20; Jeremiah 7:22-23; Amos 5:20-24; Psalm 40:6-8); the prophets said that He was wanting His people to practice mercy, justice, and obedience instead. Jesus did away
Do You Believe?
If someone told you that your house was about to explode because of a gas leak and you believed it, you would get out immediately. We have reduced belief to head knowledge that does not require any real actionable response. That is not the NT word for believe. “Belief” in the NT Greek is
Exclusivity
Moses tended sheep for his father-in-law, Jethro, who was known as the priest of Midian (Exodus 3:1). Jethro gave Moses advice that saved him from overwork and burnout. Abraham worshiped with Melchizedek and paid tithe to this king and priest of the “Most High God” (Genesis 14:18–20). Israel being chosen for a specific mission
Destructive Ego
Ego is self-destructive. Narcissism sees only itself. It cannot face anything that denies its greatness. Failure is someone else’s fault. It will lie and steal to preserve its standing. It will lie while calling the truth a lie. It will rob while calling the robbed one a thief. Ego loves grandiosity; it creates its
Rejected Love
In the story of the Prodigal Son we see the love of the father when his son returns. Let’s step back earlier in the story to see the love of the father when the son parted. The son’s request for an early inheritance was the equivalent of wishing the father dead. The father loved
Energy Supply
Everywhere we look there are power cords and charge cords for this or that device. Everywhere we look in our lives there are charges of new energy that come to us from multiple sources. We get energy from friends and relationships. We get energy from learning and doing. We get energy by giving energy.
Dealing With Anxiety
“When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul” Psalm 94:19 (NASB). When we are confronted with stressful times and situations, the natural tendency is to feel anxious. Sometimes anxiety can be overwhelming. We must not allow anxiety to have the final word. In the midst of the stressful, we pray
The Faith Of Demons
Belief that does not express itself in works is not belief. Belief is also incompatible with resistance to the divine will. John Wesley said, “The devils believe and tremble, and are devils still.” To claim belief while resisting the teachings of Jesus is unbelief. Resistance to Jesus’ teaching puts us in the company of