The Sketch Vision

 I am in the prayer room praying alone with my eyes closed. I see in a vision a single hand appear with a yellow pencil. There is also an easel with a white canvas on it. The hand starts sketching a picture. I cannot see what the drawing is until it was completed. 

The picture is of the inside the Spring Creek sanctuary. There are many scenes going on in the drawing. There are dozens of people at the altar. Some pray alone. Others are praying with someone. Some are in tears. People are on their knees three layers deep from the stage. Tears flow freely. Over this scene is written the word REPENTANCE. 

Behind the people at the altar are multitudes sitting in the pews. Many have their hands raised singing loudly. Others sit with their heads bowed resting on the pew in front of them. Children are standing next to their parents with eyes opened wide in wonder over what is happening in font of them. Over this scene is written the word WORSHIP.

Next I notice people walking out the door of the sanctuary to meet with counselors. Some walk in alone. Some walk in together as families. There is a long line of people going into this room. Over this scene is written the words NEW LIFE. 

The next scene is a single file line leading through the door and up the steps to the baptistry. Over this scene is written the word CELEBRATION. 

In the last scene I see several people in the prayer room. Some sit on the love seats. Others kneel at the benches. Some are prostrate on the floor. All are fervently praying. I see the word INTERCESSION written over it. 

Bend Me

 It has been a painful week in my journey with the Lord. A week of conviction, grief and repentance. Like a person bending a piece of wood or some hot metal to make it conform to the desired purpose, so has God bent me to shape me for His divine design. 

The bending process is painful. No doubt about it. I hate seeing my horrid sin before my eyes. No more did I confess and repent of one offence than the Lord pin pointed others. Like peeling the outer layers of an onion God peeled back layer after layer of blind spots, flaws, and unholy ways. Careless words. Pride. Unbelief. Impatience. The plow of His Spirit dug deep turning up the fallow ground of my soul. 

Bending is painful. The Master has purpose in the pain. Like a potter pushing, shaving, molding, sculpting and applying pressure for his purpose, so God does for us as well. His work in us is not in vain. He takes off some here and shaves off a little there. Unfortunately for people like me He takes the hammer and chisel to knock huge chunks off to make us vessels of honor. 

The pressure of bending is related to the resistance to what is being bent. O church, we need to be bendable. Submissive. Yielding to the pressure of His bending in our lives. That does not come naturally. The flesh likes to bow up in defiance. That just means God will apply more pressure bringing more pain. If we desire to get out from under the pain we need to be willing to bend. To submit to God. O Lord make us bendable for your purpose. 

Highway to Holiness

 Isaiah 35:8 (NASB)

⁸  A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for him who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it.

God travels the highway of holiness. It is a sacred road, an uncommon thoroughfare, and a clean path. God is a holy God. He is declared holy three times in [Isaiah 6:3] and also in [Rev 4:8]. God is set apart. He is not like us. He is uncommon. If we really desire to draw near to Him we must do so down the highway of holiness. There are no short cuts. No toll roads of convenience and compromise. 

The path to God is down a highway of holiness. I am not sure how seriously the church takes holiness these days. There is not much call for repentance of sin and to be holy as the Lord our God is holy. There are many attenders but are there true travelers down the highway of holiness. Of that I am not as certain. [I Pet 1:15-16] Church people blend in with the culture instead being set apart. Many Christians dress like the world, talk like the world, spend time like the Lord and prioritize things like the world. It would be easy to conclude just by observation that they are people of the world and not holiness. 

We are called to be uncommon people. Not weird. Just out of step with the world as we keep pace with God down the highway of holiness. The further we travel down this road the more we will increasingly feel a longing for eternity. We will also increasingly grow dissatisfied with the things of this world. We will see how fleeting and empty they are. God satisfies and we travel after Him in hot pursuit. 

The highway of holiness will lead us to our ultimate desire. God Himself. The unclean want nothing to do with this journey. They have polluted and defiled their lives with many things. They shun holiness. Holiness reminds people there is a standard of right and wrong. Holiness reminds people there is a God. It is far easier to ignore both and pursue paths of our own choosing making up our own rules. 

The unclean will face a day of reckoning. A day when an account must be made for their life called the Great White Throne Judgment.  The redeemed will face the Judgment Seat of Christ where our deeds will judged with fire. A holy God will deal with both in righteous judgment. The saved will escape the wrath of God by the blood of Jesus and amazing grace. There will be no such grace for the unsaved and unclean. I urge you with all my might, find the entrance ramp of Jesus to get onto the highway of holiness before you have to exit into eternity. You will find it a dead end to condemnation and wrath without Jesus. 

Waiting on the Fire

 In 1904 God began working deeply in a young man named Evan Roberts. Evan had enrolled in school for training for ministry. He often missed classes and assignments due to God calling him to pray. Professors did not understand and reacted with consternation. 

Evans replied, that he was waiting on the fire. He stated, "I have built the altar and laid the wood in order and prepared the offering. I have only to wait for the fire." For months God awakened Roberts at 1:00 a.m. to pray until 5:00 a.m. God gave Roberts dreams and visions of a great revival. God prepared His servant for the great move to follow. Roberts waited for the fire of God to fall. 

It did fall. God swept over all of Wales in a great awakening. It was reported that 100,000 people were saved in just six months. A great and powerful move of almighty God. 

I am no Evan Roberts. Having said that, I have felt the deep stirrings of God that He is going to send a great revival to Spring Creek and beyond. I have carried that for two years. I have no time frame. I thought it was going to be in late June of 2020. We held the meetings but revival did not come. To add insult to injury I got the Corona virus the day after the revival meetings ended. The virus swept through our church in weeks following impacting dozens of people. 

I could not understand and still do not understand. That does not alter the fact that God keeps stirring me that a great revival is coming. I really do not know a date. I am increasingly convinced it will not be a  scheduled event. It will come at the time of God's choosing. We are waiting for the fire. The fire of God that falls through the Holy Spirit flowing freely through hearts and collectively through congregations. 

In that time God will do more in days than all our human effort has accomplished in decades. So I urge you to keep waiting on the fire of God to fall. 

Last Words

 I did a brief study some famous last words spoken by people in preparation for the message tonight. They easily divided into two groups. Those with a saving relationship with Jesus and those without. I would like to share a few of them with you. 

Martin Luther said, "Our God is the God from who cometh salvation. God is the Lord by whom we escape death." 

The theologian Richard Baxter exclaimed, "I have pain but I have peace. I have peace."

John Knox triumphantly proclaimed, "Live in Christ, die in Christ and the flesh need not fear death." 

Sadly there are others who on their death beds seemed to have no hope. There godless ways caught up with them. Some seemed even hostile at those giving care offering to pray for them. 

Winston Churchill sadly stated, "I am so bored with it all. I am convinced there is no hope."

When a servant for Joan Crawford started to pray for her, Crawford exclaimed, "---- it. Don't you dare ask God to help me." 

A Jewish novelist named Italo Svevo sadly spoke when he heard a nurse offering him last rites, "When you haven't prayed all your life, it's no use at the last moment." 

By far the worst one I read that really sums up matters concerning the afterlife came from James Brown. Horridly he shouted, "I'm burning up! I'm burning up!" 

One day the end will come for us all. I hope that in that moment we will have words of hope and faith of our lips declaring with the apostle Paul, "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain." [Phil 1:21]

Intellectual Verses Emotional

 Several things I have read in the past couple of days have really rooted deep in my soul. They have caused me much thought. The thought today is the difference between intellectualism and emotionalism when it comes to matter or theology and faith. 

The church I attended after getting saved would definitely fall more on the intellectual side than the emotional side of the spectrum. We did not clap. You rarely heard anyone "amen" the pastor delivering a sermon. You certainly never witnessed anyone with a raised hand. They were a conservative group. We certainly were fed the scriptures. Charles M. Roberts preached expository messages through books of the Bible. That is exactly what I needed as a young convert to build a solid Bible base underneath me before going off to college to study to be a preacher. Three times a week Brother Charles expounded the word of God to eager congregants. We did not get caught up in the flash and dash of more emotional churches. We made fun of such congregations supposing ourselves to be superior. 

Once I started preaching God opened doors to preach in many different kind of churches. Doors really opened when I entered a full time traveling ministry. I got to preach in some very exciting and emotional churches. I even preached in churches outside my denomination. I saw people very exuberant in their expressions of worship. Some of those church were very loud, like African American churches who know how to help the preacher preach with their feedback. The more I preached in these emotional churches the more I liked it. I felt at home there. Yet, often the word of God is not as highly valued and watered down by some in those churches preferring the emotional hype over Biblical substance. 

I wandered for a long while feeling like a man without a true spiritual home. I loved the Biblical preaching from my roots with Brother Charles but often found stifled in my worship in Baptist churches. In my early ministry I even prayerfully considered leaving the Baptist denomination altogether in favor of a Bible church or non-denominational church. 

One day when contemplating this move God met with me. I felt the strong impression that I was supposed to stay and show life in the Baptist church. That is what I have tried to do since then. That is also when I started my own denomination. I call it Baptecostal. As far as I know, I am the only member. 

There is cause for concern on both the intellectual and emotional fronts. Those who prefer the intellectual mode of faith must be careful that they do not become cold hearted. We have people who can offer a defense of their faith but have lost all zeal and power for service. God gave us minds. I believe we are supposed to think. There is no greater subjects to tax the mind than God and the Bible. We should not shy away from thinking the deep thoughts of God. We should embrace them. Through careful, focused, strenuous, and arduous systematic study we need to learn more of God and His word. 

We can't stop there. We might be able to intellectually argue doctrine but are our hearts on fire. Do we have passion for knowing and serving God. Is there any zeal in our worship, any passion in our praying. Jesus said the lukewarm church made Him nauseated to the point of vomiting. 

On the other hand, the emotional church gets caught up in fire, passion, zeal, freedom of expression, shouting, clapping, raised hands and the rest of it. They are not nearly as concerned in some cases with Biblical truth. You may never hear an expository message in such churches. You will certainly have your ears tickled. They want a feeling. 

What does God want? An intellectual minded church set on fire by the Holy Spirit!. The Puritans put it a different way. They called it logic on fire. Logic meaning using their minds in study and fire meaning passion. 

I fear we have lost the fire. I also fear that we are quickly losing logic in the pulpits as shallow messages are preached devoid of doctrinal substance. A revived church is both intellectual and emotional at the same time. That is the church I want to pastor. I cannot say Spring Creek is fully there yet, but we are making huge strides. May God stir all His churches with logic on fire. May we be serious minded students with a tremendous zeal and passion for knowing Him and making Him known. 

Paying the Price

 A statement I read this morning is biting deep into my soul. It has been hard to chew and digest but something I really need to hear. Here is the statement. "My own view is that many are wishing for a revival but do not want it deeply enough to pay the price in fervent believing intercessions and prayer." - Selwyn Hughes

If you listen in church circles long enough somebody will inevitably start talking about revival. I have a whole shelf in my office lined with books on the subject of revival. I have other shelves of autobiographies and biographies, many of which are about those used by God in revivals in history. 

When I read Hughes' statement this morning I felt the sting of conviction. I am guilty. For decades I have longed for revival. I have even been blessed to preach three genuine revivals. Over time I have gotten busy with all sorts of things. God used that statement to convict me that I may wish for revival but I have been unwilling to pay the price for revival. 

I have seen real revival. One thing I have taken from them is that revival is costly. It is costly on the front end. It costs hours, weeks, months, and sometimes years and even decades of praying. One of my spiritual heroes is Leonard Ravenhill. He pursued God for revival his whole ministry. He prayed eight hours a day. He preached into his eighties. He wrote powerful impactful books. He did not see revival come. Ravenhill was one willing to pay the price. 

Look at the average church. How many can you identify who are willing to pay the price for revival? Does your pastor? I sure have not been. How many come to mind? Can you identify a dozen? Half a dozen? Less? We do not have revival because we are content to live without it. 

Selwyn Hughes went on to write, "And generally speaking we are far too intoxicated with our own successes and thus less dependent upon the Holy Spirit as we ought to be."

Some churches do not feel they need revival as they count attenders and large offerings. Their programs generate fine upstanding church members. There is little dependence on the Holy Spirit for life transformation. Organization, programs, and technology are cheap substitutes for the Holy Spirit. 

Make no mistake about it. There is also a price to pay when you are in the middle of real revival. It costs you dearly when you attend revival services night after night for days and weeks on end. It is costly to sustain revival through continuous praying. It is costly as God deals with His church and cleans house bringing people to repentance. 

I have seen the altar covered with dozens of people on their faces in agonizing repentance of sin. Some of those altar calls lasted for an hour or more. No manipulation. No saying, "We are just going to sing one more verse." Those altar calls in real revival were Holy Spirit initiated. Those services lasted sometimes up to three hours. Genuine revival is costly. 

Few people are willing to pay the price for revival. I had to do a great deal of repenting today. A repentance that leads to a new focus. I had to look in the mirror today and deal with my sin. How about you. Are you willing to pay the price for revival in believing intercession? Time will tell. 

Create In Me A Clean Heart

 Create in me a clean heart O God, and create a steadfast spirit in me. [Ps 51:10]

I prayed this morning on the commute to the office from Runaway Bay. Little did I know what God had in store. The first conviction came just about the time I reached Weatherford,. Heart wrenching conviction. I felt sick at my stomach because of the sin. That was only the beginning. 

Conviction continued once I arrived at the office. Wave after wave of conviction. Painful remorse and repentance followed. Most of the sins brought to my mind by the Holy Spirit were unnoticed by me. When I wrote each of them in my journal, just seeing them on the printed page made it even more sobering. 

David knew about conviction of sin. That is the whole context of the Psalm 51. He prayed for a clean heart. That means He asked God to forgive him and make his heart bright, unadulterated, and uncontaminated. How many walk day after day just like I did with sin crouching at the door. Worshipers with contaminated hearts. Followers with adulterated hearts. How often do any of us slow down long enough to allow the Lord to shine His light on our hearts.  God desires clean hearts. Do we desire that for ourselves. 

David went on to ask God to renew a steadfast spirit in him. To renew means to repair. Each of us need some repairs made. We need to clean house. To dig deep in our souls. In those repairs God may have to remove some things. He also might have to add some things as well. The removal of things is both messy and painful. The pain is the pain of a skilled surgeon who is removing cancer from a diseased body. 

We all need a steadfast spirit in us. We need a firm spirit. A strong secure standing. Once our hearts are cleansed we must trust God to help us stand firm in holiness. God can help us do that. He can help us live with a clean heart. He desires it. Just read [I Peter 1:15-16]. 

He Did It Again

 Some of you will remember a couple of weeks ago I wrote in faith about trusting God for $4,000. I included some stories about past experiences of God's provision. It might have sounded presumptuous. Some might even argue it was manipulative. 

Let me tell you the rest of the story. God provided the $4,000. From a source I would never have expected. Here is the most amazing thing. That individual God used for His provision never read the blog. They still do not know anything about it. God made a way where there seemed to be no way. He answers prayer. He did it again. 

That is the only reason I wrote that previous blog about trusting God for $4,000. I want people to know God answers prayer and honors faith. I want him to be glorified. 

God did it again. This is one more story in a multitude of testimonies of several decades of what God has done. To be honest I am not surprised. He has done similar things over and over again for my family. This was never about me. Brenda and I did not create the need. It was thrust on us unexpectedly. We prayed for weeks before the answer came. With three sons in college and one working on a masters degree. 

What He has done for me He can also do for any of you. He is able. More than able to handle what concerns you today. I urge you to trust Him. He knows your name. He knows your address. He also knows your need. He hears your prayers. Trust Him. Watch Him do it again for you. 

Satisfied

 We live in a time when it seems fewer people are really satisfied. By satisfied I mean in every area of life. Marriage. Finances. Economic status. Even in religion. People are on a futile chase to find satisfaction in areas that cannot deliver what people seek.

To be satisfied means to be satiated, and to have thirst quenched abundantly. Married people are not satisfied so they seek the thrill of adultery. Families are not satiated with what they have so they go deeper in debt to buy things they do not need and that never fill the void in their souls. The business man cannot be content with making one deal. There is always another deal to make, another dollar to earn, and more power to grab. The rich and famous cannot be satisfied being rich and famous. They seek the comfort of drugs and alcohol to mask the pain. 

I contrast all of that with a truth from God's word. 

Psalm 107:9 (NASB)
⁹  For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, And the hungry soul He has filled with what is good.

God does the satisfying as we seek Him. Many people seek Him like a genie in a lamp. They make their requests and expect that their wishes will be God's command. NOTHING ON THIS PLANET WILL EVER SATISFY US PERMANENTLY. Not food. Not drink. Nor sex, shopping, making money, social media, video games, entertainment, travel, relationships, or even family. Each can provide temporary fulfillment but in the end all will disappoint at some time or another. No matter how good the meal you digest it, eliminate it and must eat again. No drink no matter how long, cool or refreshing will satisfy your thirst forever. Sex may be enjoyable for a season but the pleasure is temporary. Relationships will fail us. People die. The dead leave loved ones behind. Even love at its very best in human form will be severed by the cruel cold hand of death. Pictures contain the images of the departed and memories linger, but love cherished so deeply cannot be reciprocated by the deceased. 

God alone satisfies. He is what we need. In Him all the deepest thirsts of our souls can be quenched. In Him we find the fountain of living water. Drinking from that fount leads to contentment. He is what is best for our souls. He knows the best thing for us, the thing that will ultimately satisfy us, is Himself. 

Millions ignore this. They vainly chase after the wind as Solomon put in the book of Ecclesiastes. Marketers play on this by advertising the next latest and greatest things to enhance our lives from cell phones to hi tech wrist watches. We can talk to our cars to open garage doors and turn on the lights in the house. We can push a button and remotely start our vehicles, either heating or cooling them, before we ever step inside. None of this makes anymore content. 

I would contend pioneer settlers were more content with less. They worked harder for everything. To survive the elements, protect themselves from savage beasts and fight against hostile enemies. They labored hours on end for one simple meal which they ate with more gratitude than most of us with all our gourmet dishes. Many had simpler lives and a simpler but stronger faith in God. 

God is what we thirst for. He put that thirst in our souls that He alone can satisfy. Many people have wasted their whole lives searching for satisfaction in all the wrong places. 

God fills the hungry. Those who are famished from lack of food can discover God is a faithful provider. More importantly, He satisfies the deepest cravings of our soul. He is our peace of mind. He is our self worth. He is our identity. He is our Deliverer. He is our Savior. He is our Redeemer. He is a strong and mighty tower. He is our refuge. He is everything we need. He alone can fill the crevices of our soul. Not only fill each crack but abundantly overflow and replenish our inward longings. 

He fills us with good. What is more good than Himself. He is both pleasant and beneficial to thirsty hearts and hungry souls. I hope we can learn this lesson and not waste our days in endless pursuits of lesser things. C.S. Lewis once wrote, "We are far too easily pleased." He is right. We give our days in the pursuit of lesser things instead of the pursuit of the one great and all satisfying thing. God. 

Tozer's Passionate Desire

 A.W. Tozer was quite a fellow. A beloved pastor. A highly sought out conference speaker. A prolific author. As impressive as each of his accomplishments in those areas, they do not define him. Tozer would define himself as a worshipper. 

He made a statement once that captured his passionate desire. He said, "I want to love God more than anyone in my generation." He meant that. He devoted countless hours to prayer and private worship. One person commented upon praying with Tozer that it felt like God was right at his elbow. Tozer's passionate desire was to love God and pursue Him. He wrote a book titled, The Pursuit of God. He talked about cultivating the interior journey of the soul. 

He once wrote that God is a personality and wants to be known. To read a Tozer book is a far different experience than reading a modern book. You will not read pop psychology nor 12 steps to a better life. Tozer pursued God. He preached God. He worshipped God. He loved God. He wrote about God. He called others to do the same. 

Tozer's passionate desire to love God more than anyone in his generation is biting into my soul right now. Tozer has been dead for decades now. Yet his desire still echoes in the caverns of my mind. It begs the question in my personal life. Do I love God more than anyone in my family? More than anyone in our church? More than others in this community? More than all in this county? 

Like Tozer, I have been on a thirty year quest to know God. Many decades ago I was on a flight to a preaching assignment when I read the statement Tozer made about loving God more than anyone in his generation. Flying near 30,000 feet I nestled my head back against the headrest and prayed, "God I want to love you more than anyone in my hometown." At that time, Lufkin was close to 30,000 people. God did not wait long to respond. I sensed His gentle whisper in my mind, "Then you will have to be willing to do things others are unwilling to do if you are going to love me more than those."

This odyssey to know and love God has consumed me. The quest has been fueled by further encounters with Jehovah. Profound encounters too rich to capture into words. The zeal to love and know God has prompted me to spend hours in my Bible reading to worship more than to get another sermon. At times He has lead me through the tattered pages of His word at a torrid pace. Other times He has caused me to linger long in certain sections as He revealed Himself to me. 

Tozer prayed. He often prayed prostrate on the ground for hours on end. He did not rush through these times to get onto more important things. Time in God's presence was the most important thing. In fact, he said he preferred the company of God to any other. Can that be said of any of us. 

God has lead me to the prayer closet frequently. Many of those times just to listen for His still small voice. Basking in His presence. Lost in the wonder of close encounters with Him. 

Do we have a desire to know and love God? Will we devote ourselves to following hard after Him? Do we desire to love Him more? More than anyone else in our generation? May Tozer's passionate desire become ours as well. 

Psalm 42:1-2 (NASB)
¹ As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God.

²  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?

78 Seconds

 World class athletes can run one lap around a track in less than 45 seconds. A drag race only lasts for less than five seconds in the quarter mile. The 100 meter dash is over in less than ten seconds. A stop light remains red for less than 78 seconds. 

78 seconds is not really a long time. Just one minute and eighteen seconds. That was long enough for one criminal to steal $6,500. It was a quick job. 

In the big scheme of things 78 seconds is not very long. I can type pretty efficiently at 60 words a minute. None of those things is what I have on my mind. Truth is I have something far more sobering weighing heavily on me today. 

Turner and I were at a Father/Son retreat last week. I heard the speaker give a statistic about 78 seconds. It so shocked me I sought him out afterward to verify I heard correctly. I did. He said that every 78 seconds a teenager attempts suicide. Let that sink in. 

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents. The facts are more students die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, pneumonia, influenza and lung disease combined. Every single day there are over 3,700 suicide attempts by young people grades 9-12. 

These young people are losing hope. They are growing up in a very cruel world. They experience so much pain, disillusionment, rejection, temptation, and religion is not cutting it. Eventually some of these students get to a point where all they want is relief. Death seems a better option than life. They seek a permanent solution to a temporary problem. It is tragic. 

Every 78 seconds another young person tries to take their own life. Many succeed. That means in the fifteen minutes I have been writing this 11 teenagers have tried to kill themselves. This is a wake up call to parents, teaches, coaches, pastors and youth pastors. Many teens are in trouble. They look for ways to escape the pain of sexual, physical and emotional abuse. They look for ways to cope in drugs, sex and even the occult. Those roads do not lead them to hope, but further down into the pit of despair. 

Satan tempts and deceives these broken ones into bondages they cannot break. He imprisons them in caverns of darkness and gloom. Despair falls like a heavy blanket. Soon they are engulfed and cannot get free. They weight of despair drains the life and hope for better days. Longing for any kind of relief, they follow deeper down the path of addiction and lawlessness hoping to find something worth living for. When these vices only lead to more problems and pain, death looks like a viable option. 

God allows me to be around students every week. I asked myself, "Do I know anyone trapped in despair and a prime candidate for suicide?" Who really knows the private thoughts of teens?  In the time I have been writing now the number who have attempted suicide is up to 25. 

What can we do? There are usually warning signs among youngsters contemplating suicide. One of those things is talking about or writing about suicide. Another warning sign is withdrawing from social contact and isolating themselves. They are at risk when they feel trapped, hopeless, and helpless about their circumstances. These are just a few. We need to wake up from our busy lives as parents and church leaders and pay attention to such signs. 

What can we do? We can love unconditionally. We can just be there, not lecturing but listening more. We can pray for deliverance from demonic oppression. We can  point them and lead them to Jesus who is their Deliverer as well as their Savior. What we cannot do is ignore them. Nor the fact that every 78 seconds another students tries to take their own life. That means 55 have tried do so in the time it has taken me to write this. Lord Jesus please help us help these troubled teens. 

Blue Days

 This is a blue season in the Edwards household. Tucker went back  to college this past Sunday. It is sad. Brenda and I stood at the door after hugging and watched him drive away. We really enjoyed our time together this summer. There have been many memories made. Much laughter. There have been some God moments in all of our sons this summer. Very powerful profound encounters with God for each of them. 

We love our sons. We made them a priority from the moment they were born. Except for working, I gave them my time. I took each of them with me on preaching trips. I enjoyed one on one time with them. Brenda nurtured them and did all the extra things to make birthdays special when we were financially destitute. I stand amazed at her creativity over the years to make special memories. Even to this day she still makes them game day treats. She is a wonderful mother. 

They are all grown now. Tanner does not hardly get to come home anymore because of work. We saw him in May. Before that it was Christmas. Turner is headed off to college in 7 days. Our home will never be the same. Quieter. Emptier. That is part of the parenting journey. 

It is hard to watch God work in their lives under our guidance and then to send them out in the world where we cannot protect them. Temptations abound. God is more capable of protecting them than we ever could be. They have been dedicated to Him all the days of their lives by their mom and dad.

Brenda and I have not been perfect parents. I lost my temper many times. We were strict. We also taught and required a strong work ethic. We did not always do family devotions. Many times we just did not have the money to keep up with all the things their friends got. We have loved them. 

We have loved unconditionally. We have both extended grace and let our sons face the harsh consequences of bad decisions. We have also witnessed them have profound God encounters that transformed their lives. This excites us. Their were times when they seemed apathetic to spiritual things. We loved them them  through it all. 

Turner is now only one week away from leaving the nest also. Our baby boy is grown up. Going off to pursue God's call on his life. These are blue days indeed. 

This is why God gave us four sons. To love. Train in righteousness. To release into the hands of God to fulfill His calling on their lives. This has always been part of the plan. They were meant to leave home. That does not mean it is not sad. 

I recall something my youth minister told me right before I left for football camp at Howard Payne University my freshman year. He told me from that point on, every time I returned home I would do so with a suitcase in my hand. He said it would never be the same. He was right. I only returned home one summer after that freshman year. From then on I only came home for short visits. 

My boys are no longer boys. They are men. I cherish the time Brenda and I had with them. So many memories. So much laughter. The long awaited dreaded day of the empty nest is upon us. Others have endured this season. So will Brenda and I. There will be some blue days to follow. God will faithfully comfort and be near to us in those days. Ps 34:18 is our hope and comfort during these blue days. 

Miracle in the Making

 The need is out of our hands. We did not create it. We inherited it. Like a looming mountain, the need has been the subject of much prayer. The need is the sum of $4,000. A mountain to be moved. A miracle in the making. 

Brenda and I have faced greater needs. We have watched God do some amazing things. His provision has been timely. His ways have been creative and come from sources we never suspected. Nothing is impossible with Him. We have walked the tightrope of faith for decades now. Trusting God to meet needs is familiar. 

That is not a large sum of money to God. His storehouse is full. That is mere pocket change to Him. Brenda and I have seen God do much more than that. I want to tell four stories to bolster your faith and to remind me of God's great power. 

In 1998 I stepped out in a huge step of faith to leave the pastoral ministry for a full time traveling ministry. I had no preaching dates secured. I had no financial backing. We had no place to live. I did have a call from God. Brenda and I stepped into, what we would learn to be training ground in faith walking. Immediately God showed His hand in response to our faith. 

First, he provided us a place to live for free for one year. We had lived in a parsonage for the previous five years, but had to leave there when we left that church. My home church had a mission church with a mission house they made available to us for free for one year. Praise the Lord. 

God was not through. He divinely orchestrated for me to stay in the home of a wealthy business man while preaching one weekend. That wealthy businessman gave me $6,000 to start that traveling ministry to be distributed $1,000 a month for six months. 

So began the birth of No Compromise Ministries. Slowly doors opened for me to go and preach all over east Texas. Soon I started traveling all over the state. The finances were always tight. Praying for provision dominated our petitions during those days. One day a lawyer God brought into my life walked into my office. After some small talk, he handed me a check for $10,000. It stunned me. Even writing about it reminds me of the excitement and encouragement in my faith. 

Fast forward several years. I felt God leading me back into the pastoral ministry. I sat at my desk in a very prestigious church in a small west Texas town. A farmer walked into my office to visit. We talked for a little while. He reached into his shirt pocket and took out a check. That check was written in the amount of $10,000! Wow! God did it again. 

Years later we left that prestigious church to start a church. In another step of faith, I walked away from the most money I have ever made in ministry taking a 50% cut in pay. We did not even have a place to live. The school classified as homeless as we lived with a church member for the first three months. 

Tanner wanted a vehicle once he got to driving age. God provided a truck for his older brother a couple of years earlier. We did not have the money to buy him something. It is something Brenda and I prayed about. One night Tanner and I sat on the couch and talked about his desire again. I pressed, "Let's pray about it." We were the only ones in the living room. He prayed and then I prayed. I know what I am about to write will be hard for some to believe. It actually happened. 

The next day I got a call from one of my best friends. He reported that he had come into some unexpected money and felt God leading him to bless us with it. He told me he would send me a check for.....you guessed it, $10,000. He had no idea we had prayed for God's provision for Tanner a vehicle. God came through again. 

Several years later things were incredibly tight financially. So much so that Brenda and I continually prayed for God's provision. I asked God to lay our need on the heart of one particular person. It just so happened a few weeks into prayer that a preaching assignment took me to that person's town. We had dinner together and I just knew a miracle was in the making. I prayed and waited in faith. 

At the end of the evening, the person left the home I stayed in without a miracle unfolding. Disappointed I retired to my room and prayed. I remember praying, "God you have some other way you plan to do this and I trust you." 

My schedule called for me to get up early the next morning to return home. God had other plans. My host and I got into a deep theological discussion that lasted longer than I anticipated. The person whom I prayed God would use to meet a need in our lives showed up saying, "Oh good. You are still here. You are about to see a miracle." I interpreted that statement to mean that a testimony would soon be told. Little did I know that I would be the one telling it. 

This person had risen early to pray and felt very convicted by God to take a certain action. To make sure they had heard God clearly, this person had asked God if that is really what they were supposed to do that I would still be in town. Providentially delayed by the hand of God. I was handed an envelope after hearing that God prayer encounter. I did not open the envelope until I left for home. Even writing this is hard to believe what happened. A check for $15,000 enclosed! $15,000. 

God heard my prayers. God orchestrated the divine appointment. God impressed the need. God providentially delayed my return home. It was a miracle in the making. 

The same God who did that is the same God whom I believe will meet this $4,000 need. There is a timeline attached. We need that money before Monday. That does not present any problem for Jehovah Jireh. 

I write this to demonstrate faith. I believe God is already working before any of you read this. In fact, I would ask that none who read this responds to our need. That would be like I manipulated something to happen. God will get much more glory if He laid that need on someone's heart who never saw this and sent His provision in obedience and faith. That is what I believe God to do. That is what Brenda and Turner believe God to do also. 

Somewhere in this world, God has chosen a person with the financial means to help us and impressed our need on their heart without our ever telling them. I write this in advance so that when God comes through, you will be inspired that God hears and responds to prayer. I want your faith to be built and strengthened. When God comes through, I will testify. I believe in the miracle in the making.  [Hebrews 11:1] Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

Writing Into Silence

 My love for writing began at an early age. Other than playing in the NFL, the only other thing I ever wanted to do as a child was to write. Long before the days of computers, I actually asked for a typewriter one Christmas. I guess I was around twelve back then. I am sure that seems odd to most people. It has always felt as natural to me as breathing. I long ago traded in that typewriter for computers. 

When other classmates used to groan and complain under creative writing assignments, I thrived and scratched the thoughts in my head ferociously onto paper. I cannot tell you where it originated other than to point to God. Even before He ever saved me, He placed a passion in me to write. 

Writing is unlike other art forms. A person can sing on a stage and they are met with applause if the performance warrants such a response. An orator can receive a standing ovation after a great speech. A chef may receive compliments from patrons. That is not so with writing. I write into silence. It's just me and this computer in my office. I can hear the noise of the fan blowing to my left. Occasionally I can hear traffic passing on the highway behind my office. It is silent here. There are no other voices. No music blaring. No one calling. Just the faint clicks of my fingers striking the key board. 

It is in the bliss of silence that the creative juices start flowing. I actually read the title for this blog in the introduction of a new book I am reading. I immediately underlined it and thought I had to write on this topic. I understand what it means to write in silence. I will finish this blog, go back and proof it and then click one button that will make it accessible all over the world. I will never know the full impact, if any as it leaves this little office traveling the cyber highways. 

Very seldom do I get any feedback. I do not know if God uses those blogs, or books, to help anyone. The material is sent out and I remain veiled behind the computer screen. I do not know the impact or effectiveness. Many times it appears the impact is negligible. 

Some topics are more toxic than others. It is predictable. I can write a hard piece about revival and repentance and few will ever read it much less comment about it. I can write a sentimental post that is uplifting and will see more read those. 

God allows me to get inspiration from all over the place. It could be a passing thought. Something I read or experience. Inspiration comes from conversations with others. It might be something I see like a cardinal hitting my office window 418 times over the course of this summer.  Of course, my greatest source of writing comes from the Bible and the God of the Bible. Those topics are inexhaustible. 

Sometimes I feel inspired to write multiple posts in a single day. At other times, I am not inspired to write anything for weeks and at times months. I have written thousands of blogs. My current site is not the first one. I wrote over 1,500 posts on my original blog. The last time I checked it was still up and running. I wrote on that site from 2008-2014. I wrote in good times as well as bad ones. Finally I decided I needed a fresh start. I created this current blog. 

This is not an attempt to get pats on the back. I do not write for accolades. I write because God has called me to do so and gives me messages I have to get out. These writings will last much longer than my life. Therefore, I hope and pray my influence for Jesus will remain. I am not a best selling author or even a popular blogger. I write into the silence never knowing who or where people might read my musings. 

I write into the silence hoping that God will use them to travel far beyond what I can imagine to help people. I write in silence to fulfill my calling and point people to God. I write in silence hoping and praying somebody will be touched as profoundly as I have been by things I have read over the years. May the Lord do with these writings that pleases Him. 

So what is the point? God never called me to be famous in writing. He never promised me riches untold. He called me to be faithful. Faithful in obscurity hammering out posts that might be a little extra fuel to help someone through their day. To nourish a loving flock I love with my whole heart. To trust that He will get His message into the right hands all over the world. For all those reasons, I continue to write in silence. 

I challenge to be faithful to do whatever He has called you to do. Even if it is done in silence. Do it for Him. Be a diligent worker trusting Him with the results. Be faithful in the silence. 

Covenant Priest

 The nation strayed. One corrupt monarch after another lead the people further from God. Royal families became royal pains for the people. God spoke. Fearless preacher prophet types boldly thundered messages from God to little avail. The people of God drifted further and further into a sinful abyss. 

God judged one king after another. In many cases, the offspring sinned greater than their fathers. One king God judged and executed was Ahaziah. When the queen mother, Athalia heard her son was dead, she had all the royal offspring destroyed. One son survived because Ahaziah's sister hid him. Time passed and eventually Joash was anointed king. 

When Athalia heard it, she cried out it was treasonous. The priest Jehoida had her executed. 

All of that is background found in II Kings 11:1-16. What Jehoida did next is what really caught my attention. He made a covenant between the LORD, the king, and the people to be the people of God. He then had the people tear down the pagan temple of Baal including the altars and images. The priest of Baal was executed. In essence he cleaned house. He drained the swamp. 

There are parallels with the conditions of Israel and the current United States. The ruling powers are leading the nation off course further and further from God. Preachers prophesy but few seem to listen. We need faithful men and women of God to clean house. To make a covenant between politicians, preachers and the people of the nation to follow God. 

We need bold prophets to thunder messages of repentance to this sin soaked society. Fearless preachers who cannot be bought off and silenced. Men set ablaze with God's holy fire and tireless in their zeal to call a nation to repentance. Uncompromising men who are called to a higher calling than building a large following. Courageous clergy who will not give up and be intimidated by threats. 

Such preachers may not profit financially. Such convicting preaching can thin out a crowd. It can get you arrested and sentenced to death like many prophets of old. While preacher boys fill us seminary class rooms with their fanciful dreams of changing the world, they usually come out watered down and politically correct so as to impress pulpit committees. They sell their souls to climbing to bigger and bigger churches so they can make more and more money. They preach pop psychology messages with little spiritual biblical truth to tickle the ears and win the favor of people. They become obsessed with popularity and power instead of prayer and the power of God. The pulpit becomes their shop window to display their talents which pollutes the pulpit into powerless podiums. 

We need some Jehoidas again. We need preachers who will stare this evil generation right in the eye and call them to turn from their wicked ways in repentance. We need pastors to proclaim, "Thus says the Lord," in demonstrations of power and the Holy Spirit. 

If God doesn't raise such preachers and anoint them powerfully to bring the nation back, America is doomed. There is no hope for this sodomized, sadistic, and satanic age apart from another Spiritual Awakening. Will covenant priests arise for this appointed time and do the hard work of leading a nation back to God? The remnant pray and await such messengers of God. 

Longing to be Loved

 Sometimes it feels like this world is a powder keg about to blow. People are so angry. Much of it stems from the breakdown in the family unit. Children routinely grow up in split homes. They learn to cope and make the best of it, but there is collateral damage. Little boys without fathers grow up angry. They grow up to fight to prove their worth and to earn respect. They hide their insecurities and fears behind the masks of anger and toughness. I know because I grew up as one of those young men. 

Little girls who do not have their fathers grow up longing for love. They often seek such love in boyfriends and husbands. Many times they are poor judges of character and hook up with people who are abusive. Longing to be loved they stay in the cycle of violence. 

Everybody longs to be loved by someone. Many are alone. It appears nobody cares for them. They live in isolation. They live secluded in a society where everyone is connected except them. Many try to fill this void with fantasies which is a cheap substitute for substantial relationships. 

Nobody loves like Jesus. Nobody cares like He does. His love is perfect. It is enduring and eternal. Truth is sometimes we need Jesus to love us with skin on. What I mean is that we need Jesus to love us through another person. Not necessarily a romantic relationship. A friendship. A brother or sister in Christ. Somebody who can be the heart, hands, feet, and speak the words of love of Jesus. 

Jesus loves the deplorables. He loves the outcasts. He loves the impoverished as well as the down and out. He also loves the elite and those who move in powerful circles of influence. He loves the rich and famous and the upwardly  successful. Jesus loves people. All kinds of people.  He loves sinners and prodigals. 

Our world could use more of His love. Instead of using people to get ahead in climbing the corporate ladder, what if the people of God loved people right where they are. What if we spoke the truth in love. What if we refused to judge and cast stones but rather caringly walked with people to Jesus and His love. 

Everybody longs to be loved. I do. You do. So do those around us. That means the little boy and girl in the hood surrounded by gang violence and immorality. So does the farm boy and girl growing up far out in the country. So do the immigrants crossing into our country fearfully, some desperate for a better life for them and their families. Jesus even loves those who come with more sinister intentions. Jesus loves the hillbilly in the backwoods as well as the Hollywood A listers. 

I am beyond grateful Jesus made His love known and available to me. His loved changed my life. I was on a destructive path. He changed the whole trajectory of my life with the revelation of His love and grace. It makes me want to extend that to others. I hope it does you too. Everybody longs to be loved. 

Born to Climb

 Life can be steep. An uphill climb. Trudging upward like a mountain. Long made plans can get rearranged by harsh circumstances that throw us off track. The grade uphill slows us down. We have to catch a lower gear and put our head down to forge forward. 

In all my years of cycling, the hills were my least favorite. Right off our driveway in Runaway Bay is a very steep hill. One day I was climbing up it barely turning the pedals over when I heard a golf cart coming up behind me. I expected him to pass. He seemed to find sadistic enjoyment in watching my struggle. I started huffing and puffing straining for every foot of ground gained. When I finally reached the top, I pulled over and stopped to let him pass and to catch my breath. He commented what a good climb that had been. He was also a cyclist. Hills for a cyclist are obstacles to conquer and overcome. 

When hills come on my bike, it is just a matter of gritting it out. I have to get my mind right, grip the handlebars and pedal harder.  It is the same in battling the hills of life. We get it through those times one prayer, one devotion, one scripture, one day, one worship service, and one cry for help after another. We must get our mind right taking every thought captive in obedience to Christ to pedal forward. Just when we think we cannot do it any longer, God comes and gives us a strength through Him we did not know we could access. God made us with the capacity to endure through the hills of life with His help. His power pulls us through one step after another. 

I think of the many people who work at jobs they abhor. They continue to climb year after year with God's help to provide for their family. Some climb up the hills of being caregivers. I heard about a young man who has never gotten to play sports because his mother has battled stage 4 cancer for a decade and all the family had to help pitch in to take care of her. 

Some people get blindsided by steep grades they never saw coming like divorce and death. You may have been cruising through life smoothly when you got hit by one of those. They can sure take the wind out of your sails and bring your momentum to a stop. Giving up seems like a more viable option than climbing. Climbing is not taking the path of least resistance. You were born not to give up but to climb.

God put in us the ability to climb through the hardest hills of life with His help. He can help you persevere through chronic pain, climb over cancer, scale the heights of sorrows, and push up and over problems like pandemics. 

The Bible is filled with examples of people who had to climb over adversity. Joseph. Moses. Joshua. David. Elijah. Jeremiah. Job. Even Jesus joyfully endured the cross up on the hill of Golgotha. I am not saying following their example is easy. What I am saying is that it is possible. All things are possible with God. We can do all things through Him who strengthens us. 

No matter what you are going through, I exhort you to muster all the faith you have in Jesus to pull you up and over your mountain. Please do not lose heart or grow weary in well doing. I urge you to press on and persevere one day after the next. Surely better days will come. One day you might just look behind you and discover that you made it all the way to the top. If not in this lifetime, all followers of Jesus will do so in eternity. Keep pedaling. You were born to climb. 

Aging and Useful

 People age. Some are blessed to live eighty and ninety years. I recently heard about a former parishioner celebrating her 92nd birthday. I have never met anyone who read the Bible more than that lady. The competitive side of me tried to keep up with her. I could not, getting bogged down by other demands. Doris has been a faithful follower of Jesus for many years. So is Jeanette and Roberta who both still taught well into their eighties and nineties. I think of several senior adult men, most in their eighties, still mowing the lawn of their church weekly. 

I think of the deacon from another community celebration his 82nd year on horseback working cattle during his retirement. There is also the faithful pastor who still serves his flock after 50 years in his late seventies going strong. He is an icon in that community. 

No matter how a person tries to fight it, nobody can fight aging. It happens to rich, poor, black, white and all others. It is part of the human journey. We make additional trips around the sun. With each trip we add another year to our life journey. The hair line recedes and or turns grey. Muscles atrophy. The skin wrinkles. The eyes dim and the hearing fades. The joints ache. All while the world changes and seems so foreign they grew up in. 

I am not interested in the fact that we age. I am interested in how we age. Do we continue to grow? Are committed to following Jesus fully in our old age? Do we desire to be useful to the very end? Are we still eager to learn new truths? Do we still yearn to know more of God? Are we burdened to make Him known to the lost around us? Do we still peruse the tattered pages of Bibles worn out from years of use? I know one man who carries a Bible with no front or back cover. He wore it out and does not want to buy another one. 

Just because we age does not mean we cease being useful in the hands of God. Age is not an excuse for not growing and serving. Read this carefully. THERE IS NO RETIREMENT IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD! We may retire from our vocations, but that only means we are freed to devote all our time to serving God in some way. There is no retirement from growing and building a strong faith. There is absolutely no retiring from prayerfully covering our families in prayer and passing the baton of our faith to the next generations. I know a man in his mid sixties who has been teaching children for over 40 years and loves it. He has no intention of stopping. 

When the preacher George Muller reached retirement age and started handing over more of the day to day operations at the church and orphanages he served, he spent the next years of his life making several world preaching tours. He used the latter years of his life to continue his life long habit of Bible reading. He read through it a hundred times while reading on his knees. Before that, he read it through 100 times. He read through the Bible over 200 times in 90 plus years on planet earth. What an inspiration. 

Leonard Ravenhill prayed eight hours a day in the last decades of his life, wrote ferociously, lead a Friday night prayer meeting and Bible study that lasted until the wee hours of the morning, as well as preached in revival conferences. In addition, he met and mentored young pastors. He did not cease until a stroke took his voice and mobility away just before he died at 87. 

Vance Havner preached well into his eighties and wrote dozens of books in the twilight years of his life. He wrote a powerful one about grief after his wife died titled, Though I Walk Through The Valley. He did not use old age as an excuse to not grow and serve God with a whole heart. One person commented about him, "He is the preacher who will not quit." He started preaching at 12 and never learned to drive. He remained faithful to the end. 

Fanny Crosby wrote hymns. She lived to be 95 and used her time well. She is credited with writing over 8,000 songs. There are 100 million in print today. She did not stop there. She taught. She did mission work. And by the way, she was blind. She also wrote over 1,000 secular poems. She never quit growing and serving. 

Amy Carmichael lived to the ripe age of 84. She served as a missionary in India for 55 years without ever taking furlough. During that time she founded an orphanage and took in numerous orphans. She also wrote numerous books. She did much for the Lord even in her old age with failing health. 

Lottie Moon lived to be 82. She lived and served in China for close to 40 years loving, serving and sharing Jesus with the Chinese people. Her letters sent back home promoting the mission work led to the starting of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering taken up each Christmas season. Her legacy lives on. 

Bertha Smith also served as a missionary to China. At 70 she was forced to retire, but still worked 15 hours days. She had been on the field for 42 years. What did she do in retirement? She traveled the world and spoke in churches promoting Jesus and missions for another 29 years. She was 99 when she died. 

I could go on. There is no excuse. We all age. Our desire to know and serve God should never wane. Many churches and pastors have little regard for senior adults, other than the money they can get out of them to finance new fangled ministries or facilities expansion. I am not one of those. I treasure senior adults. I recognize they were once young, active, beautiful or handsome. They still have value. They are tough. They have weathered some of the hardest things life could throw at them. Some grew up in the Great Depression years. Many fought for this country on foreign soil. Some survived tragic days of a presidential assassination, the energy crisis, Pearl Harbor, World War II, Vietnam and The Persian Gulf War. They also watched people travel in space, two space shuttle disasters, the 911 Terror Attack and multiple violent school and church mass shootings. During all of that, they walked with God, learned of His faithfulness, and grew in their faith. Some survived the death of children and spouses. They still have value. They have much wisdom to share. They may be aging, like the rest of us and slowing down a little, but they are still useful! May we follow their example to the very end of our lives!

Great is the Lord

My King, it is only You that I extol, 

Surrendering to Your sovereign control, 

I desire to worship You alone forever, 

There is no greater worthwhile endeavor, 

Your greatness is beyond comprehension, 

Taking me ever deeper in dimensions, 

Greatly to be praised to each generation, 

Prompting gospel centered presentations, 

It is You I gladly rejoice to declare, 

To glorify and promote all fanfare, 

On You I'll be still and meditate, 

To You I surrender and rededicate, 

Awesome are You Almighty Yahweh, 

Your power and glory forever displayed. 

Based on Psalm 145:1-7.