Living on Mission

 There is no question that my favorite room in this church is the prayer room. I frequent it regularly. I learned from researching church history that a group of ladies started a prayer ministry in this church back in 1993 with a room they designated as the prayer chapel. I'm not suggesting that is the first time this church prayed together in the past seven and a half decades. They started on April 15, 1993 with two ladies. They kept records of the numbers of intercessors, the regular prayer requests answered, and the number of hours people prayed during that year for a decade. So much of what I get to enjoy at FSBC Fritch is because God answered the prayers of those faithful intercessors.

We have a newer prayer room now. Isolated. Quiet. A sacred spot to seek the Lord. I was in the prayer room last Tuesday praying over various things. I felt a strong compulsion from the Lord that I needed to share my faith at Refuel with some athletes. Refuel is our ministry to high school students where we serve a free lunch to them once a week on Tuesdays. I waited for the students to show up later, but only one athlete came and he sat by himself. I recognized him because I served as the team chaplain during football and basketball seasons. I approached and struck up a friendly conversation with him with the mission of sharing Jesus. 

I asked if he knew where he would spend eternity at the end of his life. He contemplated and commented, "That is an interesting question." He had no idea. I asked if I could tell him something very important that someone told me when I was 17 years old. He seemed eager to listen. I told him an abbreviated version of my testimony. Sharing how Jesus took my sin away and saved me. His time was abbreviated before needing to get back to school, so I did not have time to press the issue. He did get to hear a clear gospel presentation. 

Today, we fed students again. God orchestrated three athletes showing up about 25 minutes before anyone else came. I had the chance to do the same thing with those students. I pulled up a chair and sat down with them. I told them up front that I cared about them. I shared my testimony and assured them that I would not pressure them. I just wanted to make sure they heard that message especially since two of them are seniors and my time with them is growing short. 

It is an intentional choice to live on mission for Jesus. Over the years God has opened doors to share the good news of Jesus with my children,  waiters and waitresses, doctors, nurses, coaches, students, drug addicts, alcoholics, law enforcement officers (when pulled over for speeding), and people dying. The man who led me to Christ and discipled me, Eli Bernard, led me to Christ because he lived and still lives on mission. He came to a junior varsity football game not to watch the game but with the mission of sharing Jesus with whomever he could. God sent him to me. God prepared my heart to receive that message. Nobody had ever sat me down and clearly explained the gospel to me before that night in October of 1983. I had a great uncle and a distant cousin who were preachers. They never explained the gospel to me even once. I used to play football with friends in the yard next to where a pastor lived. He never told me about Jesus. Eli lived on mission. God used his bold witness to introduce me to Jesus. God used that conversation in a football stadium during a football game to convert me. He can save anyone anywhere no matter who they are or what they have done. Hallelujah!

Eli continued living on mission by teaching me and others in our youth group to actively share our faith. I did so with my brother, cousins, sister, mother, aunts, best friends, and guys I played with on my football team. I just thought that was what every Christian did. I learned much later few people in churches actively share their faith. I'm not saying it has always been easy to follow in Eli's footsteps. I can say over the past four decades, God stirs me, gives the boldness and the ability to tell others the greatest news in the world.  God has enabled me to share my faith thousands of times both behind a pulpit preaching and in one on one conversations. It fires me up to get to be present when Jesus brings someone to faith and saves them. Baptisms ignite my soul. We are supposed to baptize two more this Sunday. Hallelujah twice. 

Imagine if we all chose to live on mission for Jesus. It is not our job to convert people. Only the Lord can do that. Our job is just to tell the good news. The Lord does the rest. Imagine if what Eli did for me by sharing the gospel, investing in me to teach how to do the same thing, and then releasing me to do it on my own, we did the same. He made a disciple [Matt 28:19] who has gone and made other disciples. That simple truth if acted upon could have profound impact on the community we live in and the church we call home. May God propel us to live on mission for Him. 

Lost and Found

 I typically put my wallet and vehicle keys in the same spot each evening. In my way of thinking, this saves time and mental energy of trying to find them. It is a habit I've tried to pass onto our sons unsuccessfully. Each morning I get ready without even considering where my wallet and keys are located. I grab them as Brenda and I walk out the door early in the morning. 

I noticed yesterday morning that I could not find my wallet. It was not in the usual location. Since we live less than one minute from the church I did not concern myself greatly. I forgot all about it until this morning. I remembered that I did not locate the wallet the day before. I dedicated myself to a more thorough search. I checked my jeans, checked on the floor of the closet, the shelf in the closet, and even emptied my dirty clothes hamper. I recalled the last time I used it was at a basketball game on Thursday night. I drove to the school to the exact parking space I parked in with no success. 

I shared this concern with our financial secretary and she prayed right on the spot that God would reveal it and that we would find it. Several hours later a thought popped into my head. I vaguely remembered putting my wallet in a dresser drawer to keep it hidden in case of a break in. I totally forgot that until after Leesa prayed. Sure enough, that is where that wallet sat safely and snugly in my tee shirt drawer. 

I learned two valuable lessons from this incident. First, I got anxious for nothing. My mind entertained thoughts that I lost it somewhere in public and whoever found it was using my cards to purchase who knows what. I started to panic thinking I needed to call the bank and cancel my cards and get hold of the Department of Public Safety to get a new driver's license, though I just did this back in June. All of that anxiety for nothing. 

Sometimes we can let our thoughts get away from us. We entertain worst case scenarios when in the end it turns out we had nothing to be concerned about. Much of what we worry about never happens. The little bit that does happen is not nearly as bad as we thought it would be. [Phil 4:6-7] is good medicine to help cope with anxious thoughts. To summarize those verses, let us pray about everything and not worry about anything. 

The second thing that incident reminded me of, is that God is concerned about the details of our everyday lives. In the big scheme of things going on in the world, a lost wallet is not that big a deal. It could have been inconvenient to have to cancel cards and get a new driver's license. It was not life or death. It was not the threat of nuclear war. It was not cancer. It was just a wallet. Yet, God heard Leesa's prayer and answered by bringing back to my memory putting the wallet in the dresser drawer. I racked my brain for hours contemplating where I misplaced it. Not one time did I remember putting it in the drawer until after Leesa prayed. God is concerned about us. He is interested in large and little things we encounter daily. Why didn't I pray about that matter? I relied on my memory and reasoning skills. Leesa trusted God and He answered. I wish you could have seen her face when I walked in the office holding that little black leather wallet. She had a praise session on the spot squirming in her chair. I hope to long remember the lessors learned from a lost wallet. 

Obedience That Defies Logic

 God gave Moses a HUGE assignment. Moses doubted his own ability to fulfill the mission just like we do. Henry Blackaby wrote in his study Experiencing God when we think things like that, we are really saying more about what we believe about God than what we believe about ourselves. God is powerful enough to work through anyone He chooses. That includes you and me. 

Moses doubted and asked God what if the Israelites would not even believe God appeared to Moses in the first place. God responded with three signs in Exodus 4:1-13. I am only going to address the first one. Moses' profession for forty years was a shepherd. One of the most important tools for a shepherd was his staff. It could be used to prod sheep along, rescue a fallen sheep from a ledge, or fight off prey attacking the sheep. 

God told Moses to throw his staff down on the ground. I find this symbolic. It is like God was saying, "Throw down your identity as a shepherd. Throw down your old way of life. Throw down the familiar and comfortable life you have known for forty years. Throw down living beneath your destiny.  

When Moses threw the staff down it turned into a serpent causing Moses to flee. God told Moses to do something very strange. He told Moses to pick up the serpent by the tail. Everybody knows the business end of a snake is the head. Especially venomous ones. Watch snake handlers catch snakes by the head so they cannot be bit. To pick up a venomous snake by the tail is to invite trouble. It defies logic. Does not make sense. Is irrational. 

I find God often asks us to do things that don't make sense. He tests our faith repeatedly. He constantly pushes us beyond our comfort zones. He nudes us toward things that look illogical. It comes down to obedience by faith. Will we trust what God says or what our eyes see? 

Incredulously Moses stretched out his hand putting himself at risk. When he grabbed the tail it immediately turned back into his staff. I am sure he was greatly relieved. He learned a valuable lesson. God can be trusted.  Even when obedience defies logic. That was to be the first of many tests Moses would face leading the Israelites. Small tests build our faith for the larger assignments down the road. We have a choice to obey or give into logic. 

Best Laid Plans

 I just got off the phone with a distraught friend. She told me how devastated her daughter is because she had to change her scheduled wedding on Saturday to a scaled down version on Friday due to a major ice storm coming to Dallas this weekend. She has dreamed of her wedding day since she was 3. She kept herself pure and waited until she was 29 for God to bring the right man into her life. Now her dream fairy tale wedding will be scaled back to family a few close friends. I can feel her pain. We were scheduled to celebrate our 75th anniversary as a church on Sunday. We are pushing it back a week to February 1 now due to forecasted heavy snows. We had that scheduled since back in the summer. 

We can make our plans, but God alone knows the future. He sees past, present, and future in their entirety. He was in the past. He is in the present. He is waiting for us in the future. God has a plan that He set in motion before this planet existed. He is working that plan to its conclusion. 

Truth is not once did I ever consider the weather could be an issue when we put that date on the calendar to celebrate our 75th anniversary. It has been a very mild winter here this year. We have been lulled to sleep, even though I woke up last Saturday to snow falling. It melted quickly. Forecasters are predicting multiple inches of snow for us and ice further south past Dallas. Everything we ever plan should have the word tentative next to it. We never know what could happen. 

[Is 25:1] starts off with Isaiah exalting and thanking God. Why? Because God has worked wonders. Just consider creation. The varied landscapes, foliage, introduced and concluded with sunrises and sunsets that are stunning each day. His wonders are not limited to creation. Periodically He steps into our worlds doing something stupendous that leaves us awed. He moves mysteriously and masterfully. He weaves a tapestry of His design connecting people and circumstances to a masterplan of His design. 

We plan and program with limited knowledge and confined control of our climate. He sends rain, hail, tornadoes, snow, sunshine, hurricanes, and tsunamis when we least expect them. Such weather events do not fit into our schedules. It is just one more opportunity to be reminded we are not God. We are not in control. Even weather forecasters do not always predict correctly. 

God is precise in His plans. No detail is left to chance. From the beginning of creation God knew He would send snow and ice across a great swath of Texas January 23-25 2026. He knew temperatures would plummet. He knew all this and more in advance. I did not. My friend and her daughter did not either. God works plans formed long ago with perfect faithfulness. 

At the end of the day, we are left to trust. I talked to a preacher who had two preaching events this weekend. Both are now canceled. A training event several in our church were supposed to attend is now canceled. God's plans are moving along according to schedule. While many of our plans are turned upside down, and we scramble to amend the situations, God is at peace. He is not scrambling but firmly in control. I need His peace to get transferred into my heart and mind. No matter what unexpected things might come my way I want to rest in His peace. To take setbacks in stride. To rest easy. To walk and sleep in perfect peace. AAAAHHHHH. Much better when it is turned over into His hands. Wish I had done it in the first place. 

In The Hard Stuff

 One of the questions people ask in hard times is where was God? Where was God in the holocaust in Nazi Germany? Where was God at Pearl Harbor? Where was God on 911? These questions persist on a personal level as well. Where was God during the abuse? Where was God during the tragedy of a baby drowning, a horrific car accident, during natural disasters, and the diagnosis and tragic suffering of cancer patients?

Sometimes the answers to those questions are not what we want to hear. God was there in tragic times of history. God is here is the most difficult times of life now. We may question why He didn't prevent the suffering. We may ponder reasons He did not intervene to stop the painful outcomes. Millions have in the past and I suppose millions more will do so in the future. 

It is one thing for me to sit down to type this in the safe confines of my office when things are mostly going right in my life. The suffering is held at bay,  at least for this current season. I am on the outside of hard times looking in on others coping with immense pain. I am sort of insulated from it to some extent. I may feel others pain vicariously, but it is not like going through that pain personally. That doesn't mean I haven't gone through hard stuff in the past. Physical abuse and sexual abuse are a part of my story. I had a father murdered. My four-year old sister drowned. My mother died at 54 on Mother's Day weekend. I've lived below the government standard for poverty on occasion. Where was God? He was there. In every bit of it He was present. 

It is easy to live life as a victim. You can blame God, your family, your teachers, coaches, or even your boss. It can always be somebody else's fault for your misery. Here is my approach. God did not cause people to sin. Adam and Even chose that in [Genesis 3:1-10]. Ever since that day people keep choosing sin. People choose to do sinful and hurtful things to other people. God did not choose that. It is the consequence of the curse of sin on this planet. God planned a perfect peaceful environment for the first two people to walk this planet. It was not enough. They had sumptuous and bountiful food to enjoy. They were forbidden from eating from just one tree. That is the tree the devil tempted them to take fruit. They willfully chose to disobey their Creator. Consequences followed and have continued to follow to this day. Hard stuff has been happening since then. 

We choose sin. We and our ancestors as well as those who will come after us. This truth is forgotten in all of our blaming God for the ills of society along with the tragedies. This is the path mankind chose and chooses over and over again. We think we know better than God. Now suffering is a part of the plight of the whole human race. Because of this we have hard stuff to go through. 

We can choose to live like victims when the hard stuff comes. We can also make the willful decision to live in victory over our circumstances. We can trust God in the hard stuff. Abraham did. Joseph did. Moses did. David did. Elijah did. Jeremiah did. Both Peter and Paul did. So can we. It is in the tough stuff we can learn that God is real. That He is trustworthy. That He does not abandon us in the tough stuff. He helps us through it. He may not answer our why questions, but He will be there in the tough times. He will listen as we vent. He will support us when our emotional reserves are depleted. 

God is still gracious. Tragedies do happen. People suffer and die. He still offers people a chance at redemption. [Rom 5:8] He is still there to comfort and strengthen suffering people. [Ps 34:18] He does not always stop terrible things from happening, but He is still available for those who cry out to Him. [Ps 50:15] He still gives peace that surpasses all understanding to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. [Phil 4:7] He still unloads burdens that are cast on Him. [Ps 55:22] He is there in the hard stuff. [John 16:33] He still offers eternal life that extends forever for those who put their faith in Him in the hope of eternal life. [John 3:16] God is with us in the hard stuff. 

I Still Do

 It is hard for me to believe that Brenda and I have been married for nearly 35 years. Time flies when you are having fun. Like raising four sons and one sister in law, traveling to numerous ball games all over the state, serving churches, preaching and teaching the Bible, and enjoying date nights and date days. The eight months I had with her when we moved to the Texas Panhandle and she did not have a job are some of the greatest days in our relationship. We did everything together. She came to the church office to work on various projects. She made hospital visits with me. We planned events together. Ate every meal together. It was a wonderful time in our marriage. 

Marriage is sacred and to be held in honor. [Gen 2:24] [Heb 13:4] That is not a view everyone holds. Living together is popular in our culture. To make that sound better society classifies it as common law marriage. Even couples may refer to one another as husband and wife though they have not covenanted together in actual marriage. The statistics say living together before actually getting married does not strengthen martial bonds. It actually weakens them and people who lived together before marriage are statistically at higher risk for divorce. 

Marriage is about so much more than looks. Marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman and God. He invented marriage. While He is left out of the equation for many, marriage was His idea in the first place. Brenda and I are both products of divorced homes raised by single mothers. When our relationship got serious and we contemplated marriage, we wanted to do it right and for keeps. We spent a lot of time seeking counsel from spiritual leaders, took personality tests, and did premarital counseling. That proved a wise choice. We learned in those sessions, and from our personality tests, that I am in the 99% of the most insensitive people on the planet and Brenda is in the 99% of the most sensitive people on the planet. That has been very valuable for us to keep in mind over the years in the way we relate to each other. 

I found Brenda gorgeous as a college student. After nearly 35 years of marriage, she still takes my breath away. Whether her hair is pulled up in a pony tail cooking delicious food or she is dolled up to go somewhere, she is still beautiful to me. When we exchanged wedding vows and we both said, "I do," I am still saying today, "I still do." I would take her all over again. I would choose her over every other girl on the planet. She completes me. She is my soul mate. My help mate. My best friend. She is still the love of my life. That is how I greeted her this morning. I said to her, "Good morning love of my life." She broke out in her classic Brenda smile. 

Neither of us looks like we did when we met at Howard Payne University. I was a football jock. She was a shy business major. I had hair. She had brown hair and milk chocolate eyes. Now, my hair has fallen out on top. Her hair is not as brown as it used to be. We still love each other. Our love goes much deeper than outward appearance. It is a spiritual bond through our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the center of our relationship. He brought us together and is the bond that keeps us together. 

We have disagreed over the years. We have worked through health issues, financial struggles, raising some strong independent sons, and multiple moves serving different churches. There have been some ups and downs, but through it all we still stayed in love. I still do. I still choose her. I still want her. What God has brought together let nobody tear apart. 

The Fire and the Glory

 There is a wonderful passage of scripture in II Chronicles 7:1-7 where Solomon dedicated the Temple. The fire of God fell on that day consuming all the sacrificial offerings. The glory of God also filled the Temple that historic day. It was such a powerful experience the priests could not even enter the temple and and perform their priestly duties. When the people saw the fire and the glory, they fell on their faces declaring God was good and His lovingkindness endures forever. 

The real question to be considered is why did God send the fire and the glory? Solomon and the priests did not plan it. They did not sit around and strategize how they could manufacture the fire and glory of God to fall on them. They did not carefully craft a worship service to create the mood of fire and glory. That is what some do today. They use manmade gimmicks to imitate fire and glory. Neither did they program it. They did not have a well thought out step by step systematic plan to generate fire and glory. No prolonged studies. No sermon series. No conferences. No how to formulas or shortcuts. 

God sent the fire and glory in response to one thing. Solomon's prayer. You can read that prayer which takes up the majority of II Chronicles 6. The fire and glory came after fervent prayer. Solomon poured his heart out to God in petitioning God to have open eyes and open ears to the acts of worship in the Temple. It moved God to such action as sending the fire and the glory. 

When the people saw the fire and the glory, they bowed down on their faces in worship. In modern times we rarely see people bend their knees in public worship much less get on their faces before God. It makes me wonder if we really experience God's presence as profoundly as Solomon and his loyal subjects did that day. For all of our modern methods we cannot substitute or reproduce the power of God. From what I have discerned over the years, fire and glory come in response to prayer. Never forget that God can do more in days than we can accomplish in decades in our own abilities. 

Prayerless churches and people of God abound. Prayer meetings are old fashioned. Not in step with modern new fangled ways of worship. It is the prerequisite for fire and glory. There is something about the people humbling themselves together in passionate prayer that moves God to do extraordinary things like sending fire and glory. God moves mightily in response to importunate pleadings. 

I often pray for people in our church to get a growing hunger for God and His power. I long for that in every church in our community and around the world. We need the fire and the glory. We need the presence and power of God when we gather. May God raise His people to pray fervently and perseveringly for the fire and the glory to come. Maybe a simpler way to say that would just be to say may we prayerfully seek God to send revival. 

Craving His Presence

 The office was a busy and noisy place yesterday. People in and out. Multiple conversations. The custodial staff busy at work sprucing up the place. Everywhere I tried to escape to find some secluded solace with God eluded me. There was activity in all our facilities. I craved to be in the presence in God. I've learned sometimes you have to forsake the company of people to keep company with God. 

I finally found a quiet spot in our prayer room. I yearned for God more than food. I craved Him. It was a busy night preceding yesterday. Yesterday started early in the morning with a hospital visit interrupting my normal morning routine. By the time I got back to town and in the office, I craved time alone with my Father. Only I found our office space like Grand Central Station. 

In that prayer room, I found what I craved so longingly. Solitude. Silence. I sat before the Lord pouring out my heart and listening. I lost track of time before Him. Before I was even aware an hour passed. It felt like a much shorter time. God saturated my soul with renewed passion and strength. He granted me peace in my mind. He slowed me down to enjoy Him and not rush through a meaningless devotion done out of duty rather than delight. 

I craved His presence again today. I got to the office before anyone else. I went to my prayer closet where I feasted on the presence of God. He satisfied my deepest cravings. I came with no agenda other than seeking Him. Not merely seeking what He could do for me. It was Him my heart yearned for in those quiet pre-dawn hours. Time to sit and soak in Him like a person might sit outside and soak in the sun. 

I find the more I crave God the more He satisfies the deepest places and desires of my soul. Truly in His presence is fullness of joy. [Ps 16:11] The more I crave Him the more I seek Him. The more I seek Him the more I crave Him. It is the highlight of my everyday. Time along with God in the secret place is most precious time. A high priority. Other things might go neglected on busy days. I dare not rush through prayer time or neglect it all together. I need this time. I need God. Therefore, I keep craving His presence. Nothing else can substitute. Nothing else satisfies the soul like He does. 

More

I attended revival services decades ago where God moved powerfully. I am not exaggerating when I write that thousands were saved in those extended services. The atmosphere was charged with excitement. People overflowed the sanctuary and had to be seated in other buildings on the church campus. Those people hungered for God. The presence and power of God permeated those revival meetings. 

One of the impressions I received on my visits there was seeing a large banner stretched across the front wall. It simply had two words on it.  They were a two word prayer. "More Lord." Having sat in those services I think I can interpret what more meant. It meant more of the glory of God coming down night after night in worship, preaching, and the response during the altar calls. It meant more salvations followed by more baptisms. It meant more of the power of God being poured out during those nightly services. It meant more transformation of lives. It meant more deliverance from addictions. It meant marriages healed. It meant God performing Ephesians 3:20 right in their  midst night after night. 

More Lord right here in Fritch, TX. I did a little math today. Since our building was dedicated and opened, there have been somewhere around 2,700 Sunday gatherings. I think back on those years. That is 53 years worth of worship services. I'm not even counting revival services or special conferences. How many were saved during that span? How many God encounters happened in those services? How many surrendered to preach? How many covenanted in marriage in that sacred space? How many were baptized? I would be so audacious as to ask God for more. More Lord. 

I think back on the first Sunday in  this building. All the excitement escalating up to that day. All the people gathered with wide eyed wonder to walk in here that first Sunday. I am sure the room was packed. Time passed. Good and bad times were endured. Pastors came and went. Most of those people who were instrumental in the building of this house of God are no longer with us. A few remain. All the excitement of that day is long gone. We show up routinely to a five decade old building. There is little excitement anymore. Why not? God is still here. He still longs to pour out His Spirit among us. He waits to be wanted. He longs to be longed for again. He is just as exciting as He has ever been. It is our attitudes that changed. We do not expect great moves of God like they did on that first Sunday. I cry out from my heart, "More Lord."

There is more work to be done. More souls to be won to Christ. More sinners to repent. More people bound in sin to be delivered. More troubled marriages to be rescued. More times to gather for worship and hearing the word of the Lord proclaimed. More opportunities to encounter God. More dedication of our lives in service and sacrifice. More that God can and wants to do. I want all of it. I don't want us to miss out on anything God has in store for us. 

Nor do I want this community to miss out. Nor our state, nation, or the word. More Lord all over the world. More deliverance from evil persecutors. More passionate preachers. More moves of God in large cities and close knit communities. More of His presence and power. May we all audaciously ask God for more. More Lord. 

Hand or Face

 Every day we encounter people. We see many faces and shake many hands. If you were to put several hands together, and that was all you could see of a person, it would probably be very difficult to distinguish one person from another. On the other hand, if you looked at people's faces you could tell the difference immediately. Our faces differentiate us from other people. There is a reason they take pictures of our faces on our driver licenses and passports instead of our hands. 

When it comes to seeking God, most people are content to seek His hand. They just want what He can do for them. How can He help? What can He do for you? He delights to do those things, but wants so much more for us. He invites us to know Him. Knowing Him means seeking His face. That cannot mean in the most literal sense. The Bible tells us nobody can see God and live. What does seeking His face mean?

It means getting to know Him and not just about Him. Our churches are filled with people who spent decades learning about God. They listened to Bible stories and theological discourses about God. That does not mean they know God. They are not close to Him. They often do not recognize when He is speaking. Their private devotions are probably lackluster if they happen at all. 

Seeking the face of God means longing for closer communion with Him. It means discovering His character and attributes and relating to Him accordingly. It means longing to be with Him instead of feeling you are forced to be with Him. It means listening to Him and following through on His commands. 

I met Brenda on the campus of Howard Payne University nearly four decades ago. I saw her from a distance and noticed that brown haired and brown eyed beauty. I found her very attractive but did not know one thing about her. I assumed she was a party girl. I don't know why I assumed that. She seemed far too pretty to be a follower of Jesus. My roommate had a class with her. I got him to ask a few questions. I learned she was from the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex area. I also learned she was not dating anyone at the time. That did not mean I knew her. I was learning about her. 

It took the two of us going to the park on a study date to get better acquainted. I've told this story many times and related how she brought books to study, but I only came to study her. Early in our conversation I asked if she had trusted Jesus as her Savior. Not only was she a Christian, she also was a serious follower of Jesus who had taught a Bible class and enjoyed what she called basking in the presence of God. I did not know what that meant at the time. It meant she spent quality time in the presence of God enjoying Him. I tell you the truth, I was hooked that day. I spent the next couple of years getting to know her. She did many wonderful things for me over that span. She often gave me gifts. She made me a photo album filled with photos of us together we still have. When we had to be a part for the summer, I did not stare at her hands in those photos when I was lonely. I stared at her face. Everyday and night I gazed at that gorgeous face captured in those photographs longing to be with her again. 

When she said yes to marrying me, I only looked at her hand long enough to place the ring on it. It was her face that captivated me. 34 years later nothing has changed. I know her well because we have spent so much time with one another. I appreciate her cooking for me with her hands, or rubbing my back on nights when I have trouble sleeping, and holding my  hand when we are driving some times. I get excited when I see her face after a ministry trip or a long day at work. She will be walking into my office door any moment now and it is her face that will light up my heart. 

God wants to be known more than we want to know Him. He longs to be longed for by His people. We can get so preoccupied with lesser things that we settle for seeking His hand and what He can do for us rather than seeking His face. He is not a genie in a bottle or the jolly fat man dressed in a red suit who gets so much attention at Christmas. He knows everything about us good and bad. He loves us beyond our comprehension. He is greater than we can fathom. He wants us to seek His face and not settle for seeking His hand. II Chronicles 7:14

Cast Your Burdens

 Are you weighed down by life? Is the load you are bearing too heavy? Does it feel like life is caving in on you? If any of those are true, you are not alone. Life is overwhelming for a lot of people right now. There are health concerns, financial pressures, addictions to overcome, wayward children and grandchildren to reign in, and mental health issues that can be crippling. Sometimes it feels like too much. 

If you are there I want to remind you of Psalms 55:22, "Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken." NASU The word cast in that verse means to throw off. That does not mean that we just shirk responsibility. It means that we throw off these burdens that oppress us. We lay them at the feet of God and ask Him to help us manage them. We ask God to lighten our load. We trust Him for strength to endure the trials. We rely on His peace that surpasses all understanding to guard our mental health so we do not sink into debilitating depression. 

Casting burdens is a full time job. The burdens keep piling up. The load gets heavier. The pressure intensifies. The stress increases. If we do not keep casting those burdens on the Lord it becomes more difficult to cope. This is when people start looking for an escape. In some scenarios, people turn to substance abuse only to find, instead of things getting better, it only gets worse. Others try sexual immorality through affairs, pornography, or sexual misconduct. This only makes things get worse also. Some as a last resort turn to suicide. Unable to cope with the burdens and trials they just want a way out. Suicide is permanent solution to temporary problems. The best solution is to cast those burdens, pressures, and stresses on God. 

It is like a stronger person carrying a heavy object for a weaker person. The weight of the object does not change. The stronger person gives aid and relief for the weaker person. God is the stronger person. Strong enough to carry all our burdens collectively. We let God do the heavy lifting we can't do. Imagine how much lighter life can become when you do this. 

When Brenda and I first moved here, we actually stayed in Claude for two months in a one room efficiency apartment. We commuted the 45-minute drive normally seven days a week. She could not find a job as we looked for a place to live. We cast that burden on God. We chose to let God work out the details so we did not have to worry. We prayed a lot. That did not mean that we did not contact a realtor or that Brenda quit applying for jobs. We cast our burden so we did not live under the stress of worry. After two months, everything fell into place. We qualified for a loan based on our single income, we found a house we loved, and closed on the home and moved in it last June. One of the many great features is that we live one minute driving time from the church we serve. We still have a mortgage, had to move furniture, unpack boxes, and make the house a home. The whole process did not stress us or overwhelm us. We laid all of it at the feet of God daily and watched Him work out the details.

Cast your many burdens on the Lord. Keep casting them on Him daily. You will keep peace of mind in doing this. You just might sleep better and rediscover hope. With hope comes peace. All from casting our burdens on the Lord.  

Days of Preparation

 Many people want to see God move. They want to experience a powerful transformative move of God that changes lives, churches, and communities. They may want this, but are they preparing for such a move. A farmer may want to see a bumper crop come harvest time. He will want in vain if he has not plowed his field, sown the seed, trusted God to send rain to irrigate the crop, and only afterward can he expect to reap a harvest. 

Moves of God are mysterious. He sends then where and when He wants. The odds go way up if people are actively preparing for such moves of God. Whether you call it revival, spiritual awakening, or times of refreshing, they require some preparation on our part. God will always be faithful to do His part. What needs to happen in preparation you may ask?

First, it starts with a hungering for God to do more. More than the normal mundane religious rituals in which so many churches and believers get trapped. Private devotions are on the decline in many churches. I read a statistic this week that 80% of church members only encounter God once weekly during a worship service. The vast majority are indicating they do not encounter God on a regular basis in their private devotions. Is this true of you? Do you regularly spend time alone with God in worship? Are those times filled with passionate seeking and persistent encounters with the living God? Are they dry and dutifully done? 

Part of preparation is a longing, a hungering, a thirsting for more of God. See Ps 42:1-2 and Ps 63:1-3. We know there is more than reading a devotion thought, offering up a hurried five to ten minute prayer before rushing out the door or falling fast asleep. The hungering soul will wake up early to carve out meaningful time with God. 

This same hungering must pervade our worship services. People habitually show up, but is there hunger for fresh God encounters. If members are satisfied with the status quo humdrum going through the motions perfunctory acts of worship, there will be no great move of God. We must yearn for more. Prayerfully long for God to show up in fresh ways each time we gather. 

The second step of preparation is we must repent. I spent a considerable time in repentance earlier this morning. I wrote about that in a previous post. If we harbor unconfessed and unrepented sin in our lives and congregations, we should not expect God to work powerfully. He finds our sin offensive. II Chron 7:14 states that we must turn from our wicked ways before God comes and heals the land. When is the last time you spent serious time in repentance in your personal life? Furthermore, when were you in a worship service most recently where the church was called to repentance? I'm betting not very recently for most. 

Compromise fills the comfy seats in our churches. We should examine ourselves regularly, but it is so much easier to compare ourselves to those other worshippers in the room. God doesn't compare us to one another. He holds us accountable to the standard of His word. It is so hypocritical that we gather in His name to hear the very word we violate and we think nothing of it. God struck down Ananias and his wife just because they lied. If He did the same thing today we would have some very empty pews. 

Another step of preparation for God to move is to pray. We hear this often. We need to pray more. When does your church gather to pray for more than just a prayer list for sick people? Does your church regularly pray for the salvation of lost souls, for the breaking of strongholds in your community, for breaking of addiction, and for revival? Some churches do not gather for prayer. They gather for fellowship, worship, and study. They do not set aside time for serious prayer. Our priorities in churches are soon discovered by what we budget and what we schedule on the calendar. We would all say prayer is important, but by the time we spend in it our actions indicate otherwise. 

Combine all of that and it is easy to see why great moves of God seem scarce. Therefore, we must dedicate ourselves to preparation. The world is not getting any better. Jesus is the only hope and His church is the change agent needed. May we commit ourselves to purposed preparation that God might come and move in the land once again. 

Create in Me a Clean Heart

 It was long overdue. A time of personal reflection and repentance. What I thought would be a list of a few sins turned into a much longer saga. You cannot really ask God to search you and to create a clean heart in you without Him  turning over every inch of your heart to reveal sins of all shapes and sizes. These sins can be offensive things we do as well as things we don't do that need doing. 

My list of sins included attitudes, toxic thoughts, bitterness, anger, doubts, bouts with depression when I did not take my thoughts captive in obedience to Christ, unforgiveness, impatience, grumpiness, harsh words, going through the motions in prayer, undiscipline in multiple areas, and more. Not a fun time. 

Most of us do not take repentance of sin seriously. We often offer blanket prayers like, "Forgive me of my many sins. Pardon my many trespasses." The problem with that kind of prayer is that we did not commit those sins in bulk. We sinned individual sins. It hurts a lot more when you take the time to repent of those sins individually. When I confessed the sins of impatience, anger, and grumpiness, I could recall the instances when I fell short in those areas. I felt genuine sorrow for my failures. I wanted to be in right standing with God. 

Like many of you, I don't want anything to get in the way of a right relationship with God. The temptation to sin abounds. We can choose to act or react in shameful ways. We can harbor ill will toward certain people who wronged us or we perceive wronged us. We can dwell on toxic thoughts that war against our faith and hope. We can choose to rebel against God and His commands. 

It is beneficial to take time periodically for personal house cleaning of the heart. I am not saying such times are pleasant. They may prove painful. They are necessary. 

When I played high school and college football, we watched game film of our performance. Coaches would play, rewind, and play again our performance on the field one play after another. Every success and failure were captured on film. Coaches either praised a job well done or critiqued areas where we did not perform well. Consider times of repentance like watching game film. A rewind of how we live and behave. There are days when we live well and please God. There are other days when we choose rebellion over compliance, hypocrisy over holiness, and disobedience over obedience. Some days we have a mixture of good and bad moments. 

Aren't you glad that God is loving, gracious, and merciful. Scriptures like Psalm 103:12, Romans 8:1 and I John 1:9 comfort our hearts. God is willing to forgive. He offers to create in us a clean heart. Psalm 51:10 Maybe you could use a little time in the prayer closet to do some reflecting and repentance as we journey early into 2026. 

Prelude

 Have you watched an old movie that began with a prelude before the movie started? The preludes I've seen were musical anthems building the anticipation of the start of the main feature. The word prelude can be defined as an action or event that serves as the introduction to something more important. 

There is something on the horizon, something coming in the near future, something to anticipate, something very important. I cannot point to the exact starting date. Nor can I even report who the main characters in this upcoming drama will be. I'm not referring to a new movie with a hundred million dollar budget. This is far more significant than a movie. 

I would say it is not so much an event as it is a movement. What I have on my mind, and more importantly deep in my spirit, is the prelude to revival. When I use the word revival, many recall church meetings in days gone by where a guest evangelist and music people came to town to hold a series of evangelistic services. Those meetings are rare today. That is not what I have rumbling deep inside me. 

Revival comes from the root word revive. It means to bring back to life or restore to life. Genuine revival really is not about evangelism initially. Revival is when God moves in such a profound way that the people of God repent of sin and get in right relationship with God. When the people of God are in right standing with Him, it clears the way for Him to work in profound ways. 

Imagine holding a water hose with a kink in it restricting the waterflow. In the same way, sin in the hearts of Christians restricts the power of God from flowing fully in our communities of faith and local community. God uses revival to unkink or unclog the hoses of our hearts, attitudes, and behaviors. 

For some time I have been burdened and convinced that God will send such a revival move to Fritch. I don't know when. I do not know whom He will use to be the catalyst. I believe by faith that a strong move of God is on the horizon. We are in the prelude to revival. What is our role right now you might ask? It is to pray and repent of sin. It is to unclog and unkink the hose. It is to pray and prepare for what God is about to do. We are only in the prelude. The main attraction is coming soon. May we eagerly anticipate what's to come.