The Fate of America Hangs in the Balance

 America is on a straight line course to collide into God and His righteous judgment. I could spend this whole time writing about the evils in America. You know them as well as I. One thing has weighed on my heart in recent days. It revolves around a case before the Supreme Court. What a joke. The Supreme Court in the throne room of God. He is the only One who will supremely judge all of us. 

Nevertheless, the Supreme Court is considering a case better known as the Texas Heartbeat Law about abortion. If they uphold the Texas law against abortion once a heartbeat is detected in the womb, it would go a long way to righting the wrong of the decision to legalize abortion decades and tens of millions of baby killing ago. How will God react if we once again see the highest ruling court in the land, with a supposed conservative slant, side to strike down this Texas law. To choose murder over life. Common sense dictates that if you can detect a heart beat that indicates life. Not a blob of tissue. 

God has America in His crosshairs. We cannot survive long if we continue to defy Him at every turn. No nation can. God has given America much. Abundance of resources. Freedom, specifically religious freedom, financial increase, protection and people who have defended all these things in our military. Even the military prowess is powerless to defend us against the blatant offense and rebellion against God. When God determines to pour out His hot displeasure against a nation, none can stop it. None are powerful enough to oppose God. It is a fate we want to avoid at all costs. 

Killing millions of helpless babies is a sin that covers our streets and manicured lawns with the blood of murder. One day God will say enough. I wonder if it will be with this case. What will be tipping point? What will be point of no return, no more chances, no more withholding of His fury and righteous indignation. 

I plead with you who read this to start praying for the Supreme Court justices as they consider this case. It feels to me the fate of America hangs in the balance in proportion to what they decide. To decide against life is to decide to our peril. We are not immune from God's wrath. Some wonder why we have been spared this long. 

I have often wondered if the pandemic is a form of God's judgement and a wake up call. If so, it does not appear that the nation is listening. I have pleaded with God for His divine intervention on these justices to do the right thing. Please join me in praying for this most dire situation. The very fate of our nation may be at stake. Who knows if God will not relent from doing evil and forgive us in His mercy if they choose life. 

Read the Instructions

 Taylor and I busied ourselves with a project of putting together something that came in multiple pieces in three different boxes this past week. For most people the project could have been completed in a couple of hours at most. Taylor and I are not normal. We labored intensively and cranked that project out not in two hours but in....wait for it. Six hours!

We had metal pieces strewn all over the room. Different sized bolts, washers and nuts. In the beginning the whole thing looked overwhelming. Then we took out the instruction manual and followed it step by step. Some of the instructions were confusing causing us to have backtrack on a few occasions undoing something we had already done. 

Six hours later, through much effort, perseverance, a few exclamations of frustrations we finished. The finished product not so much a testament to our labor but rather to our ability to follow instructions. 

I look around at people in society who never read a Bible, which is God's instruction manual. They flounder through life making mistake after mistake. They bring heartache, pain, sorrow, and destruction on themselves because they refuse to do life God's way. 

It only stands to reason that if God is the Creator of life, and I believe He is. If God is the sustainer of life, and I believe He is. Then God knows how He designed life to be lived at its fullest. To ignore His instruction manual is to invite misery on us. We may masquerade behind bravado, wealth, possessions and the prestige of power. Without God life is only an empty shell of what He intended it to be. He offers a full and abundant life. A purpose filled life created with intentional design. 

Reading the instruction manual helps us know how to handle depression, marriage, raising children, death, managing money, dealing with betrayal when wronged by people, forgiveness, and overcoming adversity. All of that and so much more is contained in the pages of that holy book. I heard a long time ago a little saying that has stuck with me. 

Show me a Bible that is worn out and I will show you a life that is not worn out. 

I see that weekly in the faces of the people of Spring Creek. Well weathered faces from aging and hard labor carrying well worn Bibles with tattered pages. I have even seen one person carrying one that doesn't even have a cover anymore. This person has endured every imaginable season of life and is still going strong. Reading the instructions navigated this one through decades of commuting to work, marriage, raising three children and serving Jesus faithfully. 

I just read that psychologists report that it takes two months, or 66 days to be exact, to engrain a habit into one's life. If a person spent 66 days reading God's instruction manual how much better off they would be. They could avoid many mistakes and find God's path and preferred way of living. Blessed will be the ones who do that. Read the instructions. 

Down in the Dust

 This past week I read the story about Jesus healing ten lepers. 9 went on their way rejoicing never to return. One came back to thank Jesus. That is when I read the biblical account of this one bowing his face to the dust in a sign of humility and gratitude. 

When is the last time we bowed down in the dust in humility before our Great King? I readily admit that there are some who cannot do so because of health issues. That certainly does not describe most of us. We are physically able but spiritually unwilling. There are more Sundays with empty altars after the sermon than there are with people on their knees. We will stand in worship. We will sit to sing. How many times do we bow before Him? 

We are a proud people. Proud people do not like to bow. Bowing means admitting that you are subservient and inferior before a superior Master. In our case Jesus. We are proud of our successes, our accomplishments, our abilities, our knowledge and our skill. All of that comes from God. Without air in lungs, blood pumping through our heart, and strength to strive forward none of these things would happen. God is opposed to proud people. That means God is opposed to many of us. Too proud to bow our knees and lower our faces in the dust. May we repent and correct this immediately. 

Are we truly a grateful people? I know we say all the right things this time of year. Are we truly thankful for the things God does? I pray with a group of men each Sunday morning before Bible study classes and worship begin. One man in particular starts his every prayer with thanks. It is easy to take things for granted. To take God's blessing for granted. For instance, when is the last time we thanked Him for sight, the ability to breathe, the ability to be mobile, the ability to think clearly. For each of those things I listed I can think of people who do not have any of those things. Things we often take for granted. 

Things like abundance of food, water, shelter, clothing, transportation, education, and the gift to wake up each day. Any of these should make us want to bow down in the dust in gratitude. What about our salvation. You may have been saved for decades or merely a few days. Are you still humbly grateful?

We should strive to be like the one thankful leper and not the other nine. I was taught it is polite to say thank you. How rude that at times we do not thank God properly. It is time to get down in the dust. 

God Hates You

 I could not believe my ears. I sat talking to a person I just met. I wanted to turn the conversation to spiritual matters. God graciously orchestrated that, but I was not prepared for what my new found friend said. After visiting numerous churches over the years and not fitting in, my friend has just about given up on church. 

This person is far from perfect. There have been moral blunders. Crossing the boundaries of God's laws. Transgressions. Who has not failed God? Who can say they have lived a perfect life? Only One and He died on the cross for the sins of the world. His name is Jesus. 

My friend walked into a store and came across someone from a church that recognized my friend. This self righteous, pious, hypocrite, ignorant, church person told my new friend, "God hates you. He hates you as long as you live the way you do." 

When I heard this my blood boiled. That proud Pharisee is not on the streets meeting people where they are and sharing the love of Jesus with actions and words. He or she most likely sit in the secret society of saints who look down their judgmental noses on the lost right beneath the shadows of their steeples. They preach and proclaim a Bible and Jesus they do not really know if they espouse the God hates you point of view. 

They misrepresent God to those who most need Him. God's word is filled with passages about His love for people. Even love for sinners. John 3:16. Romans 5:8-9. Ephesians chapters one and two. Zephaniah 3:17. Study the gospels. These blind religious people totally ignore the examples of Jesus eating with sinners, being called a friend of sinners, and attracting sinful people to Him. He never accepted or ignored their sin. He did love them anyway. Look at the way He dealt with Levi, the woman caught in adultery and the prostitute who anointed His feet with perfume. Does that seem like hate?

I guess the self righteous and self appointed spokesman for God missed all those passages. Will there be a day when God's love and grace will be turned to righteous anger and wrath against those who have spurned His love and mercy. Yes! Absolutely! Before that there is love, grace, the offer of forgiveness and salvation. Jesus loves the people on the fringes of society and margins of life. He loves sinners and does not hate them. 

Even writing this my blood is still boiling toward this hate monger disguised as a follower of Jesus. Such people do not represent the God and Jesus I do. I do not want to associate with such mean spirited and Biblically illiterate church folks. That is not Christlike. I pity such hateful people. I bet people are not beating down the doors to attend that church. 

God loves the sinner and hates the sin. Never get those two things mixed up. 

Rapid Rise of Evil

 I read a quote written over seven decades ago that grabbed my attention this morning. The author commented about the rise of evil and wondered how much longer God could hold back His judgment against such evil. "Surely the Lord's anger against man's rebellion cannot hold out much longer." Leonard Ravenhill, A Treasury of Prayer, pp. 70. I paused for a moment and then wrote in the margin of that book how much more true that statement is seven decades later. 

Everywhere I look I see the rapid rise of evil. Just yesterday I guy drives through the middle of a Christmas parade killing several and injuring dozens more. I hear about senseless murders. I see people attacking others for the most minor offenses. I see fraud, corruption by the societal elite. I hear about the worst kind of abuses, the most vile  and disgusting behaviors, and the hypocrisy of many in the church. 

The rapid rise of evil is alarming. It feels like everything has been accelerated. Is this all the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, the love of many will grow cold, they will long to have their ears tickled, there will be a one world government, a one world currency, Christians will be persecuted and martyred. All of these things are falling into place. We are fast forwarding toward a prophetic future predicted thousands of years ago. 

People call wrong right and right wrong. Evil is celebrated and flaunted publicly while righteousness is condemned as prudish and outdated. Christians are mocked and Jesus is blasphemed. The commands of God are cast out of the government and schools. The wicked have risen to power while the church sleeps. The enemy advances while the army of God retreats in powerless cowardice. 

I have never been burdened for this country. I seldom sleep through a whole night anymore. God awakens me to stand on the walls to intercede. To plead for repentance and the spiritual awakening of the masses. Ez 22:30 and Is 62:6-7 grip my soul. I cannot do nothing. I can do nothing greater than to intercede and tell sinners about my Savior. I feel like I am striving against the current of this evil culture. Going against the grain. Swimming upstream against a the rapid rise of evil. 

We can turn the tide. If the church of God really takes our admonition from Ez 22:30 and Is 62:6-7 seriously. While evil rises rapidly, may the intercessions of the saints rise more rapidly. America is too young to die! 

Ravenhill wrote in his book about a famous intercessor named Rees Howells. Howell's widow told Ravenhill about her husband spending eleven straight months praying 12 hours a day for a burden God gave him. Ravenhill's widow testified in a biography about the late Ravenhill that he would get up around midnight and pray four hours and then return to bed. He slept for awhile and then got up and prayed another four hours daily during the day. If the tide is going to turn it is going to take more devoted intercessors. Will you take your post on the watches of your community and country. Will you offer prayerful resistance to the rapid rise of evil?

Brevity of Life

 I just talked with a retired pastor friend of mine. He told me his recent schedule of doing six funerals in the past few weeks plus one yesterday and two lined up for the next week. He made the comment doing all these funerals has made him consider the brevity of life. 

I believe the average age of life span for an American male is somewhere around the mid seventies while women tend to live longer. No matter how careful a person is with their health, people still die. Let me be even more emphatic. 100% of people die. Young. Old. Rich. Poor. Powerful. Weak. Popular. Obscure. Power and wealth cannot save a person from death. It's the fate of all mankind. 

What we must consider with the brevity of life is two issues. One deals with where people will spend eternity. I recently talked to a person who wanted to take their life. Our conversation turned to matters of eternity. This must be considered by every individual. There is no just hoping it all turns out alright in the end. 

Like a middle aged woman I talked to years ago told me when I asked where she would spend eternity, "I guess I will end up where I am supposed to be." She had no understanding of salvation through the grace of Jesus. Truth be told most people don't either. She did not grow up attending church. She was raised by pagan parents and had little to no spiritual influence. 

We don't just end up where we are supposed to. To ignore the matter of our eternal destination is to for sure sentence our soul to damnation. All the while, Jesus offers people the free forgiveness of sins and salvation to all who would believe in His death and resurrection to pay the penalty for our sin. That is what John 3:16 and Romans 5:8 are all about. 

A second thing to consider about the brevity of life is how quickly life goes by and how we will invest our days. What will we trade our time and talent in exchange for reward? What will give our allotted days to doing. 

Life is brief. The older I get the faster life spins. Holidays and birthdays seem to come around faster than they did when I was a child. Days go by more swiftly. Weekends fly by in a blur of activity. I am looking at a picture of three of my sons taken before Turner (the youngest was born.) Taylor is laying in my arms with me prostrate on the floor. Tanner is on my right shoulder and Tucker is sitting on my back. Now Taylor is 27, Tanner is 24, Tucker 22, and Turner nearly 19. Where did the time go watching them grow up playing superheroes in the backyard, teaching them to ride bicycles, playing catch and going to their first day of school. Filed trips, class parties, coaching their ball teams, sitting in the stands praying for them and cheering them on, teaching them life lessons, sharing special time with dad with each of them. They are men now and no longer little boys. Life is brief. 

Tucker and I went to breakfast today. A treasured father and son time I do not get to enjoy frequently anymore. Life is brief. I will not be here for them forever. One day, Lord willing in the not too distant future, each of them will discover the loves of their lives and begin their own families. I will embrace that season too, but also realize how brief life is. 

Life is brief. I want to make most of the days I have left. To realize that eternity is just around the corner. 

I am reminded of this each day when I walk into my office with a quote from C.T. Study on my wall. 

Only one life to live - twill soon be past

Only what is done for Christ will last.

At 55 I already have a lifetime of regrets. I know I am closer to the end of life than the beginning. It's past time for dreaming but for doing. Each day is a gift. What we do with that day is a gift back to God. To cherish His blessings of family and friends. To learn as a life long student. To enjoy His creation. To relentlessly pursue knowing God. To read. To write. To labor while it is day. To preach and proclaim His truth. To talk to sinners about their salvation before it is too late. 

One day my time will come if Jesus' return tarries. The cold dew of death will settle on me. I will leave behind this body, but my soul will depart. Maybe my boys will have some kind of memorial service. Perhaps a few church members and friends will attend to remember me. Some will hear the news, Matt Edwards died. Do not believe it. Like D.L. Moody told friends on his deathbed, "I will be more alive then than I have ever been." 

To sum it all up, I go to the Apostle Paul to echo his words to the Philippians Church. "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain." [Phil 1:21] Life is brief. So therefore we must choose to make the most of it. That means living a life pleasing to Jesus and then graduating to Heaven at the end. The brevity of life need to cause devoted followers of Jesus to fear. 

Take Time to Think

 We live in such a fast-paced society people are always in a rush. Rush to work, school, practice, and even church. A gentleman recently told me, "My family cannot be on time to anything." While we live life in the fast lane, we are also surrounded by noise. Music, notifications on our phones, streaming some movie or sitcom, or even children. We just ate at a restaurant where two young parents were powerless to stop the incessant crying of their infant. Eventually they left. I thought to myself, "Brenda and I have been there." The piercing screams of that little one could not be ignored. 

We often do not take time to think. To really thirst for knowledge and grow in mastery of any given subject. There is always more to learn. No surgeon is skilled in every form of surgery. The oncologist and neurologist have a different skill set than the orthopedic and or pediatrician. No teacher is equally skilled at teaching every subject. They specialize in one field. 

The subject I have given the bulk of my life to thinking about is God. Serious reflection on His character. Careful consideration of His ways. Mindful meditation on His teachings and instructions. How many in the church really give considerable thought to the topic of God or Jesus? I know many of us have heard the Bible stories over and over again. Have we reflected on God with intensely focused thought? 

The topic of God is inexhaustible. He is worthy of our highest contemplations. A worthy candidate for our loftiest thinking. He is up to our greatest quest and thirst for knowledge. 

Sometimes it appears the people of God are bored with Him. This is evidenced by the fact they check out mentally in worship. It is further proved by the lack of pressing in to know Him. You can even make a case for how few actually crack open their Bibles for serious study during the week. 

I encourage all of us to slow down and to think. Think about Him. Resume the quest to draw nearer to Him. Revive the passionate hunger to know Him. Stop the noise and think. Rediscover His greatness and then climb to new mountain tops of His grandeur. Refuse to settle for just learning about Him but never experiencing Him. 

C.S. Lewis was a thinker. He also worked as a professor, tutor, and author. He died in 1963 but his books still live on. He resisted the idea of God and Christianity. He vigorously opposed these ideas for decades. He thought endlessly, made his arguments, defended them every chance he got and wrote books. All the while he kept thinking. He kept reading. He kept learning. Guess what God did? He not only convinced him but saved Lewis. God also used him to speak and write truths that helped millions and still help people today. 

God is not afraid of serious thought, hard to answer questions nor atheistic theories. None of these are a challenge for Him. He does not prove His existence. He does not have to. He left us with a record of His revelation in the Bible. Many millions have been drawn to salvation just by giving serious thought to the topic of God and study of the Bible. God has used C.S. Lewis to make other people think about His existence. 

Many lukewarm apathetic church members have been spiritually set ablaze by serious thought and study of the scriptures. I know people are busy. Surely, we can carve out time to really think. To slow down long enough consider the greatest reality of all and the greatest truth of all. Take some time to think and discover who God really is and what He is capable of doing. He is worthy of our timeless thinking. 

That Does Not Concern Me

 The story is hard to believe. A seasoned saint is drifting down a road of compromise. She is the matriarch of her church. Dearly loved. An once stalwart of the faith. She has been a widow for 15 years and recently got involved with another man and is considering marrying him. He is putting on the pressure. He appears to be successful. 

The problem is that everyone has counseled her not to do it. Her children. Her church family. Friends. I have never met this lady but am familiar with the situation because of a mutual friend who is a member of the same house of worship she is. She recently came to my friend's house to plead her case for support in continuing down this same road toward marrying this individual. 

What is the problem. Most everyone doubts this guy's salvation. A believer is never supposed to marry an unbeliever. There are other issues. His reputation is not one of integrity in the community by some where he resides. My friends shared some scripture with this woman. Her reply to them was, "That does not concern me."

Hold your horses. Followers of Jesus are supposed to hold their view of the scriptures as sacred. As having authority to guide and direct our way of living. This woman dismissed those scriptures as if they were nothing more than a story from the morning newspaper. She is headed for a trainwreck of massive proportions because she refuses to listen to counsel or the word of God. 

Do not be too quick to judge, the logs in our eyes may prevent us from seeing the splinter in her eyes. We most likely have areas where we are not concerned what the scriptures command us to do or not to do. I could make a long list like just this one. Avoid every appearance of evil in I Thessalonians. That would certainly curtail our movie and television watching if we took that seriously. 

How easily we can be deceived. Walking the straight and narrow at one point and compromising our convictions the next. Sometimes we even try to justify our wayward behavior and attitude. How easily we are dismissive of Bible instructions. We like to paint the lines grey instead of black and white or right or wrong. We don't mind fudging if it's something we really want to do. 

This lady will not be persuaded she is heading for a trainwreck. She drank the coolade and is convinced this guy will change. She even admits that he might not be a believer but then quickly says he will get there. When we dismiss the Bible, we are headed for heartache and misery. 

What the Bible instructs should concern every follower of Jesus even if it is countercultural. Obeying and pleasing God should be of highest priority. May God open our eyes so that His word is one of our highest concerns. 

Press In

 Since I attended HPU and really got introduced to the ministry of prayer, it has been my passion to study about it, to learn more of it, to voraciously read about it, to practice it, and preach it for others. The more I study and practice the more I've realized I have so much more to learn. 

One of the things God is teaching me now is to press in. Let me see if I can explain. Every one of us knows what it means to pray. To present our petitions to the Lord. We know how to unload our cares and concerns before the Lord. This is common basic entry level Christianity. 

How many know how to press in? What I mean is to lay our own requests aside for the greater and more glorious desire of pressing in to seek God and to know Him more. To yearn for Him more than anything else. To linger longer with Him. To learn the contentedness of sitting before and enjoying Him. Pressing in means saying no to the flesh that wants to bail out with lesser effort. It means shutting out every other distraction in favor of basking in His presence. It means preferring to keep company with God more than the company of any other person. 

You do not always press in quickly. It takes time. It requires focus. It necessitates a hunger for God and eternal things more than temporal things. Pressing in is lacking in the church today by so many. We expect people to worship a God they do not really know. To enthusiastically engage in worship gatherings when they do not know how to press in beyond the distractions other people, the lights, the instruments, the style of the music and the message. Pressing in means going beyond all of that to the very heart of God. To giving Him your undivided attention and love. 

This goes so much deeper than a devotion time in the morning or evening. It goes much much deeper than that. This is a passionate pursuit of pressing in. It is taking prayer to a whole new level. Pressing into His presence means fresh encounters with Him, hearing clear communication from Him and receiving energizing enabling power to serve Him. We need all of that. 

I conclude with these simple questions. Do you take time to press in? Do you even have the desire to do so? O how I pray we all will. 

Christless Christmas

 I am not a fan of rushing into the Christmas season before we even celebrate and enjoy Thanksgiving. It seems Christmas decorations start earlier and earlier every year in retail stores and on homes. 

I got an astonishing phone call from one of our members this past week. He was driving around the Weatherford, TX courthouse when he noticed the nativity scene on the square. He looked and then took a second look. He could not believe what he saw. No manger. No baby Jesus. Everything else was there. Mary and Joseph. The shepherds. The animals. The stable. Yet the main attraction, the star of the story, the centerpiece of the whole event was absent. 

There is no CHRISTmas without Christ. Jesus born in the flesh of a virgin mother is the start of God's ultimate gift to planet Earth. A Savior. A promised Messiah. A Redeemer. A Deliverer. Without all of that Christmas is just another pagan holiday. A chance for greedy people to get more stuff they do not need and for generous people to participate in acts of philanthropy. Let me say it again. There is no CHRISTmas without the Christ. 

In this culture people now want to cancel Jesus. I have news for every pagan who has thought, still thinks, and will try to silence Jesus. It will never happen. One day these same pagans, atheists, agnostics, skeptics, and scoffers will openly confess Jesus. One day every single knee will bow down before Him and voluntarily or involuntarily will confess with their mouth that Jessus is Lord. 

Philippians 2:9-11 (NASB)

⁹  For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
¹⁰  so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

¹¹  and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father

Politically correct governments may refuse to put Christ in the nativity scene but that does no.t take Him out of the hearts of all His followers, out of the course of human events, and our prophetic future. He will have the last say. He is the Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end. He was present at creation and will be present at the last coming on a horse of white as a Righteous Judge. 

I will have no part of a CHRISTless CHRISTmas. One small thing you can do during this season is every time you write or say Merry Christmas intentionally write or say Merry CHRISTmas. Keep Christ in CHRISTmas. 

To Me Love is Abuse

 Those were the tragically sad words spoken by a troubled young man who grew up abused by his father. He has not experienced love. Love is foreign to him. Out of reach. Beyond his grasp. A fairy tale to read about but to never enjoy. 

This troubled man confessed to attempting to take his own life 33 times. One time the gun jammed. God brought him across the path of some followers of Jesus who loved him this past week. They listened. they cared. They prayed. They invited into their circle. They spoke gospel truth with him. They were the hands, feet, heart, and mouth of Jesus to one who desperately needed love. He walked in darkness but God is drawing him to marvelous light. 

I am brokenhearted. So many people have experienced abuse by those who were supposed to love them. I can identify because I also suffered physical and sexual abuse as a child. Even as I write this migrants are crossing the borders having bought young children to be sold as sex slaves once they get to the land of freedom. Others live in backwood houses secluded from society where the most deplorable acts are committed against them. They are slapped, hit, beaten, molested, violated, mistreated, and neglected. There are others who live in beautiful houses that look like a fairy take but live in a nightmare behind the closed doors. What is worse, is some experience all this with people in spiritual leadership positions. I cannot fathom how anyone could abuse a child or teenager. I feel a mixture of emotions. Anger. Righteous indignation. I also feel intense sadness and grief for the little ones who endure this horror day after day. It is the only normal life they have ever known. 

I picture them crying themselves to sleep at night. Living in fear without any healthy self esteem. I picture them mentally checking out during moments of abuse so they can maintain some sense of sanity. I think of them wondering why God does not help them. Why He does not stop of the cycle of abuse. Why God does not come to their rescue. 

Their little bodies are broken and battered. Their minds are twisted with psychological pain. Their hearts are hardened by years of inflicted incest. They hate the nights and to hear the squeaking of footsteps outside their door. They hate to hear the creaking of the door opening for they know what will come next. 

It rips my heart out to think about them going through that. Statistics say they will grow to be abusers themselves. Wounded people wound other people. 

Christians sit under our shiny steeples safe and secure. We are insulated from the most vulnerable and forgotten suffering. I am an advocate of being the church outside the walls. Like at skateboard parks. To be Jesus with skin on to those who think love is abuse. O, that they could feel the loving tender embrace of Jesus and experience His healing grace. May God give us the courage to care. The faith to believe God to rescue these abused ones. To offer a way out and hope. How I plead that God would not let us grow callused worshipping with petrified hearts to those who need Jesus the most. When we have done it to the least of these we have done it unto Him. Like Steve Camp sang, "Don't tell them Jesus loves them until you are willing to love them too." 

May we love people. Hurting people. Helpless people. Homeless people. Abused people. Angry people. Suffering people. Sinful people. After all, Jesus came to see and to save those who were lost. He came to befriend and love those that never experienced love. May we be His tangible love to those who need Him most. 

Faith Unleashed

 My heart is ablaze with truth this day after reading more in Leonard Ravenhill's book, Revival Praying. Several sentences set off a firestorm in my spirit. So much so I had to quit reading and jot down my thoughts hoping the fire might spread to some other soul. 

Faith is the trust and belief in God that He can do what He said He would and could do. Faith is confidence in God. Faith is assurance God will come through. Faith is like a muscle that does the heavy lifting through prayer. Prayer is the currency by which we access all the resources of God to be applied to our needs. Faith is the sight to see the unseen spiritual realities God purposes in our generation. Faith is the fire and wings of our prayers. Without it we might as well be voicing wishes in a wishing well. 

Think what could happen if all of us truly believed God for more? What if the church of God, meaning all the true Christians, unleashed their faith. Contemplate the wonders that would follow. The lives transformed. The powerful moves of God that would sweep through communities. 

Ravenhill wrote, "All the heroes of the faith have not been listed. The greatest exploits of faith have yet to be done." I love that. What if God called us to be faith heroes to pray great exploits of faith into existence? I want to be such a man of prayer and faith. I am betting some of you do as well. There are so many things that God wants accomplished through the avenue of faith filled prayer. I sit here thinking of testimony services where person after person brags on God for what He did and is still doing. It ignites my heart. I yearn to pray greater prayers with larger faith to give God more glory. 

Ravenhill went on to write, "Spiritual faith cannot be kept in a watertight compartment of the mind. Faith gets into the will and into the heart. Faith sets the affections on fire. Spiritual faith can and must ignite ambition - spiritual ambition." God is awakening a stronger belief in Him. A greater spiritual ambition to see His kingdom established. To see souls saved, spiritual awakening spread, revival rule, and darkness to be dominated by the Light of the World - Jesus. God is working to set ablaze a greater passion and devotion for Him. He is stirring a compelling spiritual ambition to believe Him more. Gloriously more. 

Oh that God would not only grow the muscle of our faith, but that He would unleash our faith on this dark, doomed, and dangerous world. May God unleash the faith of the saints to every corner of our society, to touch the most wayward hearts, to reclaim the backslidden and to draw the most rejected and marginalized in our world. 

Faith unleashed by one person can make a difference. So the question comes to me. Are we really praying in faith? I know there have been times when I have and other times when I went through the motions of the exercise of prayer, but did not have the faith to make those prayers live. May God help our unbelief and increase our confidence in Him and His promises. May we pray in a way that we are assured that God hears and longs to answer. 

May God take Spring Creek and unleash our faith on Weatherford and Parker County. May He do the same with your congregation. May we live to see God working as in the days of Acts. I agree with Ravenhill. The greatest exploits of faith are yet to come. May it be so Lord. May it be so. 

The Tender Plant and Sturdy Oak of Faith

 Faith is defined by Hebrews 11:1 as, The assurance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Faith can be fragile like a tender plant. Faith can also be sturdy like a mighty oak tree. 

The tender plant side of faith comes often when we face daunting challenges that overwhelm us. Many times when we most need faith, that faith withers and shrivels. We doubt when we should believe. We stare paralyzed at our circumstances when we should prayer fervently. We sink into depression when we should fight for our faith. 

I recall a preacher many years ago saying something in a sermon I have not been able to forget all these years later. It is really two questions more than a statement. What do we see? What do we believe? Tender plant faith gives in to what we see instead of what and who we believe. This tender plant faith has no assurance. The best place to gain assurance is by knowing what God promises in His word. That takes that tender seedling of faith and grows it into a mighty oak tree. This does not happen overnight. The tougher the storms the deeper the roots grow. 

Some people have oak like faith in God and their salvation. They are firmly convinced. They have no doubts. They are anchored in God and have grown strong roots in His word. They are able to endure trials, adversity, sorrows, and mountain like challenges. These people are steady. They are able to take things in stride. They are consistent in their devotion and their service to God. 

How would we characterize our faith individually? Like a tender plant or like a mighty oak? How would we define our faith as local assemblies of believers? May God help each of us to grow mighty oak faith in these turbulent times. May we press onto a maturity in faith beyond anything we have ever known before.

Spread the Fire

 I stumbled across a prayer that I wrote back in 2015 today written in the margins of a book. One line in that prayer captured my attention. I asked God to help me, "spread the fire." To be aflame for Jesus and that the Spirit of God would let that flame be contagious to others who cross my path. Of course, that necessitates that I have a heart on fire before I can ever hope to spread any fire. 

This reminds me of something I read this morning in my Bible reading. It is a little phrase at the end of Matthew 3:11. "...He Himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." I know this phrase has caused many theological divisions among scholars. I hope to be much more basic and practical in my interpretation. 

The word baptize means to "immerse, submerge, or overwhelm." John the Baptist prophesied that the Messiah would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. Take all the preconceived arguments down and I ask this one simple question. Have we been immersed, submerged and overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit? I am not referring to some second experience with God. I am more interested in the day to day living. Do we live submerged and overwhelmed in the Spirit of God just like a person gets completely covered by water in water baptism. 

Before we get hung on that, what about being baptized with fire. Can we say that our hearts are ablaze with the fire of God raging in them because God submerged us in His holy fire? I think it would be more common for people to characterize their lives as being lukewarm. 

For the life of me I cannot understand why all of us do not live in state of fire in our hearts. We have all we need. For those truly saved we have the Holy Spirit, we have the Bible, we have access to God through prayer and we have His church. We do not need anything more than those things. So let me pry? Is your heart on fire? If so what is the level of the fire? Is is a smoldering fire offering more smoke than heat? It is a mere shadow of what it once was just leaving burning embers behind of a fire that was burned brightly? Is it on fire but fading needing more fuel? Is is like a bonfire in your soul? 

May God raise people to burn for Him so brightly that others will be drawn to the flame to watch it at first, but to catch it also. 

Throughout history there have been many fiery souls who spread the flame. Martin Luther. John Wesley. George Whitfield. William and Katherine Booth. Billy and Ruth Graham. Jackie Pullinger. So many people. 

Are we the kind of people that pour cold water on the flames of other people or do we spread the fire. I want to be one to spread the fire through passionate praying, zealous preaching, enthusiastic witness and remaining close to the source of the flame. 

Time spent with God is the source of the flame. Encounters with Him in the secret place and in the pages of the Bible serve as fuel for the flame. If a person does not practice these disciplines it is doubtful they will maintain any fire or spread that fire to others. May we burn for God to our last breath and spread the flame all along the way. 

Holding a Dream

 Due to some doctor appointments today I am sitting in a public library trying to be productive between appointments. I am surrounded by thousands of books which makes me feel at home. Off across the room there is a blue quote pasted on the wall. "A book is a dream that you hold in your hands." - Neil Gaiman. Neil Gaiman is an English short story novelist and a comic book author. 

I just put down a power packed book by one of my favorite authors, Leonard Ravenhill. His books are hard hitting. He pulls no punches and goes straight for the gut. In his forthright prophet style he wrote about the dream of God's church embracing their role in prayer to usher in revival. You either love Ravenhill or you hate him. I fall in line with those who love him. I have read his works multiple times apiece. 

The book is 50  years old now titled Revival Praying. Some of the illustrations are outdated but the dream lives on. I held that dream in my hand in the well weathered, underlined and hand written notes on the pages of this classic book. In the time I have been here in the library more people have run to the computers than perused the bookshelves. That shows a lot about modern society. Surfing the internet is preferred to turning pages. 

I think one of my greatest regrets in life is that I cannot read all the books I want to read. I read too slow.  I cannot even read all the books I have back in my office. Each book containing a dream and a wealth of knowledge. Getting caught up in a good book can cause you to lose touch with reality. 

I got so engrossed in a book in second grade that the bell rang for me to go to another class and I did not even hear it. My teacher snapped me to attention out of the pages of that book to scurry me along to where I was supposed to be. God can whisk us away to other times and other realities through written words on a printed page bound together in books. 

When is the last time you thanked God for the gift of learning to read and the gift of books? I confess it has been a long while for me. Way too long. 

Though Ravenhill died nearly twenty years ago, his ministry lives on through the printed page. Today I held his dream in my hands. O that we would be a well read people and that we would be enabled to live out the very truths we read about. 

God

 Define God. Go ahead and give it a try. You can explain that He is Creator. That is not all that He is. You can further explain that He is Yahweh, I Am. He is so much more. You can point to His mighty acts in the Bible. He did and does so much more than is captured in the pages of the Bible. Defining God is impossible. He is greater than our minds can conceive. He is more powerful than we can fathom. He is more intelligent than we can imagine. 

You can pick out one attribute of God. We could focus on that one aspect. Sooner or later that would lead to another attribute. On and on it would go. He is infinite. We are finite. He is eternal. We are temporal. He is omniscient. We are ignorant. We do not know what will happen the next hour much less the next day, week, month, or year. God knows and sees it all like it is present tense. We age. God is ageless. He is faithful while we are unfaithful. He is compassionate while we find limits to our compassion. He is slow to anger while we are quick to lose our temper. He is gracious where we can be judgmental. He is loving when we are slow to love people who are different than us. He is everywhere while we can only be at one place at a time. On top of all that He is so much more. 

It is difficult to define God to people who do not know Him. Maybe that is why the Psalmist wrote in Ps 34:8, O taste and see that the LORD is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. He is someone to be experienced as much as He is soneonen to be explained. Taste and see. Try Him. Experience Him for yourself. 

I saw movies with mountains in the scenes for decades. I even read about some mountains in geography. None of that could compare to the first time I saw mountains in person. I got invited to preach a ski retreat in Aspen, Colorado. I was not good at skiing. I failed at it miserably. Right across from our hotel room was a long winding dirt road traversing up a mountain. I determined one day that while the others skied I was going up to the top of that mountain. 

I packed a backpack with water, a few snacks and dressed for the adventure. I crossed the two lane highway and started my trek upward. It did not take long for me to get winded. Up and up I walked. Going around one curve after another. Inching higher all the time. I walked up higher than all the houses. Eventually I got as high as I could go. What I discovered took my break away. I did not get to the top. What I saw was endless mountain ranges higher and more expansive as far as I could see. I felt so minuscule in the sight of such magnificence.  I just stood there soaking in the moment. Recalling the power of God to create such mountains with just a spoken word. It blew me away. I had to experience those mountains for myself. 

A person could study God in books written by the most brilliant theologians. It will not compare to really experiencing God for themselves. Like I did back in October of 1983 when I met Jesus as my Savior. He changed my life. I did not become perfect after that. I have sinned plenty and needed much forgiveness. I did find a real Savior who loved me and created me for His mission. A mission I delight to fulfill. 

God is more expansive than the mountains or the oceans. He is undefinable in all His essence. What a thrilling journey to walk with Him through this journey of life. What a great adventure He is. The exploration of Him will take more than a lifetime. It will take all of eternity. 

Early I Will Seek Him

 I have not slept with an alarm clock for decades. I awaken when God wakes me. He is often creative in the ways He does it. Sometimes it's through just waking up and not being able to go back to sleep. Many times it happens after getting up to go to the restroom. The most painful way is when I get leg cramps. 

I am not joking when I write of the many times I have awakened only to turn over and tell God no. Not that early. More times than I can recount that no was followed by a severe leg cramp that did not subside until I got up and went to my secret place to meet with God. You think I would learn but from time to time I still have to be alarmed awake by another cramp. 

Those wake up calls can vary anywhere between 1:30-5:00 am. My desire to seek God is greater than my desire to sleep. Sometimes this has meant using lunch for a nap more than food, but my desire is seek God. Even when it means doing so early. 

We learn in Mark 1:35 it was the habit of Jesus to seek the Father early before the sun rose. I try to follow His example. There is nothing I do on any given day that is more important than those early morning seeking hours. I cannot even begin to describe the special God encounters I have enjoyed in those secret times. They do not happen every time but they do enough that it motivates me to keep getting up. To read His word. To pray. To listen. To intercede for others. 

I can barely stay awake past 9:00 pm. I fall asleep in my recliner and have learned that going to bed early is a small price to pay in order to seek Him early. It is an addictive hunger. The more I encounter Him the more I long for additional experiences with Him. That is my agenda. To seek Him. To learn from Him. To grow closer to Him. To know Him. To pursue Him. To follow hard after Him. I hope it is yours as well. 

Ps 42:1-2.

The Old Sacred Desk

 Last week some ladies were cleaning out the flower room and came across an old piece of furniture. Not just any piece of furniture. It was the old pulpit from the old sanctuary that has been torn down for a long time. An old wooden pulpit stood behind by faithful men of God between 1949 and 1983. Those ladies were going to put it in some back room when I walked up. Immediately I claimed it for my office. There it sits nestled in a crook next to the bookshelves. A dark stained wooden pulpit small in stature but massive in legacy. 

It is 72 years old. 18 pastors stood behind that pulpit pumping out gospel truth during those 72 years. I make the 64th pastor in the 139 year history of Spring Creek Baptist Church. The rich history is not lost on me. This church was founded all the way back in 1882. We have come so far since then. Those early settlers would not believe all the changes and growth in the community as well as the facilities we enjoy. Those pastors would loved to have preached in this spacious sanctuary. Many of them would never have fathomed an indoor baptistry. They might even be envious of this office surrounded by all these books. That is all of them except Brother Bob Harper who had nearly 10,000 books of his own. He passed hundreds of them down to me. 

Brenda and I have been back here for two years and three months. We just recently became full time residents of Weatherford. Something that brought immense delight. It is still hard to believe God graciously allowed us to come back here. Those other pastors passed the pastoral baton onto me. I am humbled and honored to run with it. Only God knows how long my leg of the race will last. I want to run with all my might as long as God will let me. I love these people. I love this place. It is home. 

I think of all the Bibles and sermon notes laid on that old sacred desk. It sits in my office as a reminder of my solemn charge. Preach the word: be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. [II Tim 4:2]

That old sacred desk reminds me of another biblical admonition. Shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain but with eagerness. [I Pet 5:2]

It is my great privilege, honor, and sacred trust to preach the word and shepherd this Spring Creek flock. That old sacred desk reminds me of my solemn responsibility. One I embrace wholeheartedly with God's help. I am blessed to serve here. What a glorious treat. God has indeed allowed His lines to fall for Brenda and I in pleasant places.

Not Too Far Gone

 So many people have made a mess of their lives. They gave into temptation and got trapped. Imprisoned in lives they could not imagine. Enslaved to the very sin that was supposed to enhance their lives. Sins that destroy them. Sins that take them further down the road of misery and shame. Misery and shame lead to severe bouts of depression. Sometimes it leads to incarceration. 

These people seem incapable of making good decisions to keep them on the straight and narrow. The lure of addiction and the snare of sin are irresistible. Even when they declare they are done with it all and turning over a new leaf they are powerless to stand firm and resist. Many times these people are surrounded by the kind of people who do the same things and drag them down into the worst degrading behaviors. 

They wake up with remorse. Many times they cry out to a God they are not even sure really exists. They have felt the sting of judgment from self righteous church goers. They have been ignored like they did not even exist. Not treated like a fellow human being. Labeled as hopeless causes that will never change. They are considered too far gone. Too deeply entrenched in destructive behaviors leading to more hardships and harsh consequences. 

Many of these people have grown hard hearted. They are hardened against other people. They seek to manipulate them and use them to advance their sinful habits. They have been hurt and wounded by the very people who were supposed to love and protect them. They are untrusting, cynical, and bitter. They have no self worth and are callused to what others think about them. They feel like trash and believe they are viewed by others as trash to be discarded. They float through life like a piece of driftwood washing ashore unnoticed and unwanted. 

These people have value in the eyes of God. Their intrinsic value comes from the truth that He made them. He designed them with purpose. He fashioned them with intelligent design. He grieves over the mess of their lives but stands ready to rescue. Nobody is too far gone. God can rescue and redeem any life He chooses. He can totally transform the prodigals and prostitutes. He can reclaim the addicts and the abused. He can save the slutty and the sleazy. He can deliver the delinquent and the deceiver. He can pull into His fold black sheep as well as the blemished. If you are reading this and your life is a mess you are not too far gone. If nothing else go to myspringcreek.org and click on the "How can we pray for you ?" tab for the first steps of help. Read John 3:16 and know He did that for you. Read Romans 5:8 and know He had you on His mind. Believe Romans 10:13 includes you. You are not too far gone. 

Renovation

 Brenda and I enjoy watching some of those home improvement shows. It is amazing how the builders can take run down, dilapidated and shambles of houses and restore them better than you can imagine. Their renovation work from design to construction often leave me in awe at the transformation. I love watching the reactions of the new home owners. They are often speechless and moved to tears. 

Let me tell you about one renovation project that has blown me away. It is a renovation that defies imagination. It is not about a property. It is how God renovated a life. His name is Juan and he lives in Corpus Christi, TX. I met him at a preaching engagement. When he told me his story I was held spell bound. 

Juan grew up in poverty. To this day he loves to eat fried potatoes and beans because he so seldom ever ate meat as a child. He grew up on potatoes and beans. He drifted with the wrong kinds of people as a child. As a young adult he went into the military and served his country. He had a hard time reorienting into society once he came home. Soon he started drinking, doing drugs and committing fornication. He couldn't keep a job. He lived off government assistance and what he could get people to give him. He sunk deeper into addiction and developed a reputation as a man to be feared in the neighborhood. A really bad guy. Cut throat. Mean. Dangerous. 

He started living with a woman. They were so poor they started going to a food ministry twice a month at a nearby church. He refused to go help his live in girl friend get the food because of his pride. He made sure she went though so they would have food to eat. They lived in run down apartments where fights often broke out over drugs deals and other things. Juan was no stranger to fighting. Only one night he got jumped and knifed in his stomach. He was left to die out on the sidewalk in front of the church where his girlfriend had gone so many times to get food. It was while he laid on the concrete thinking he was about to die that he considered matters of eternity. The paramedics got there in time and saved his life. Jesus got there too and saved him in another way. He renovated Juan. Transformed him from the inside out. 

After getting baptized, Juan married the woman he had lived with for so many years. He began attending the church where he sent his wife went to get the free food for so many years. Over the years he earned a reputation as a servant. He took it up on himself to volunteer as the church janitor. He also served as a sort of body guard for the pastor. The church and his apartment are located in a very bad part of town. One where homeless people frequent, where homicides occur and every other form of wickedness you can imagine. 

God delivered Juan out of all of it. To complete the renovation Juan eventually became the leader in charge of the food ministry that had fed him for so many years. He organizes securing the food and heads of the distribution twice a month on Saturday mornings. 

God is the renovator of lives. Atheist, agnostics, angry, abused, abandoned, abducted, and addicts make no difference to God. He is more than able to change any life, to heal any wound, to deliver from any addiction, to renovate any broken, battered and bruised life. That is the greatest renovation project I have ever seen and I see Jesus do it over and over again. Please Lord do it again. Right here and right now. 

The Skilled Surgeon's Scalpel

I came home from school in seventh grade with a severe stomach ache. I have never experienced anything else like it. I had to lay down in the fetal position clutching my stomach in pain. Nauseating pain. I could not quit vomiting. My mother, who worked as a nurse, feared when nothing she tried worked. She loaded me up and took me to the hospital where she worked as a surgical nurse. Upon the physician's examination the diagnosis was clear. My appendix was about to rupture. He demanded emergency surgery without delay. 

That surgeon skillfully took his surgical knife and sliced open my abdomen to remove the damaged appendix. He told my mother later it would have ruptured if she had delayed in bringing me in. Why would my mother let a man take a sharp knife and slice open my stomach? I was already in pain. That incision only caused more pain. Through his skillful work he removed the damaged and diseased appendix that was the source of all my pain. His inflicted pain was only meant to ultimately offer healing to my sick body. 

God takes the same approach to His people as He wounds us to remove sin but then bandages us to bring healing. He does this so we will return to Him. His wounds are only meant to heal not to harm. He wants us to come back to Him. Individually. Even as a nation. 

Hosea 6:1-3 points these truths out for us. Sometimes God wounds and tears us. He does not leave us in that condition. These acts are meant to lead us to repentance. It does not seem the contemporary church puts much of a premium on urging people to repent. To return to the Lord. When we do we are offered the assurance that He will refresh us and heal us. How much do we need His skilled surgical work. It may not be what we always want. It is what we need. After the painful wounds of God's surgical work, He has more in mind for us. 

Then Hosea urges us to know the Lord. Not just know about Him. More than that, He exhorts us to press on to know the Lord. To push forward. To pursue knowing God with greater intensity. As sure as the dawning of the new day, God wants to be known. God desires to be followed. He yearns to revive us in Him. To do that, He has to first remove the things from our lives that separate us from Him and are harmful. 

God is a wise surgeon. He is extremely skilled at cutting away the things from us that kill us spiritually. I am glad my mother took me to the surgeon back in seventh grade. I am more glad God continually does spiritual surgery on me periodically to take out the things that are harming me and brings healing and refreshing from Him in return. He is both wise and skilled with His scalpel. May we all be wise enough to submit to His skilled surgeon's scalpel when it is necessary. 

She Does Not Love Herself

I have carried a burden for this certain lady for some time. I recently asked her friend how I could pray for this troubled young woman. Her friend's answer surprised me when she replied, "She does not love herself."

She acts out. Through acts of rebellion and defiance I think she is screaming out in pain for help. She is hard. Callused. She has a distain for the church and religious people who have judged her, mistreated her and wounded her. What is even more surprising is her father is in the ministry. 

Because she does not love and respect herself, it does not seem to matter what trouble she gets into. She has no self worth. She is living out the labels that has been placed on her.  I do not get to see her often. When I do I am kind to her and tell her of my continued prayers. I care what she does. The only label I put on her is another hurting person looking for love. Looking for the love of anyone. Satan deceives her into thinking she has to stray down sinful paths to find such love. I know that is a dead end path to more misery. 

I wonder how many other people continually wreck their lives because they do not love themselves. They have been labeled as losers, failures, worthless, scum, immoral, addicts, homeless, troubled, criminal, and wicked. Society has disdain for such people. Truth be told many churches do as well. It easy for a person to hate themselves when the very people who are supposed to love them reject them and label them. 

Jesus loves people. All kinds of people. People with all kinds of messy pasts. People with sin, blunders, filled with hate and pain. He specializes in loving the very people society marginalizes. He is an expert at loving and healing people who do not love themselves. Do you know such a person? Then love them to Jesus. Be the hands, feet, heart, and lips of Jesus to such people. Let Him work through you to redeem and transform people much of society and many churches have given up on. He is able to fill the most empty life with His steadfast love and amazing grace. May He do it through you and me this week. 

Invisible Wounds

I am so burdened for the many veterans suffering with invisible wounds. The pain and horrific images they saw in combat that have forever deeply etched painful scars in the mind. Scenes that repeat over and over again in the reels of the memory. The private pain of watching comrades die and get injured in close proximity. The guilt of wondering why they survived and others died or were wounded and yet the lingering questions of why they were spared to suffer silently trying to readjust in society. 

How can such veterans come back and reintegrate into mainstream society with the emotional trauma they live with moment by moment. To be triggered by a sound, a sudden movement, or a shady situation when their senses are always on high alert. They cannot just turn it off. They were trained to be on alert and combat ready at all times. 

These soldiers may look whole on the outside. If you could see the pain and trauma of the damage done on the inside it might look like a severed limb. The gaping wounds in the mind gush the poison of bad memories that causes insomnia, lack of peace, and the despair of never finding sanity again. 

I recently asked an expert in ministry what programs are offered for those suffering from these invisible wounds in the church and he had nothing to offer. 

I talked to a man after church today and thanked him for his service. I thought I detected a tear in his eyes by my just saying thank you for your service and for the work he does with veterans to this day. He is a true patriot. A forgotten hero. 

I owe a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid. These soldiers suffered and sacrificed so I could live free and preach freely. All I get to enjoy in this once proud and great country can never be forgotten was purchased with a high price. The blood of fellow citizens many who volunteered. They signed up to fight so I could live freely. Saying thank you is not enough. Not nearly enough for those suffering from invisible wounds. 

We as the church need to do more. I am sitting here contemplating what we can do. I know we can offer the hope that only Jesus can give. The healing that only He can bring even to invisible wounds. We can offer His love. His compassion. His listening ear. May the Lord direct us to do more. To help those who suffer silently from invisible wounds. 

Holding a Hurricane

 We are at the end of hurricane season. Imagine the foolishness of some person thinking they can singlehandedly hold the hurricane and control its destructive force. That would be foolish and dangerous. It is equivalent to any person or group of people thinking they can hold and control real moves of God. 

We have grown accustomed to controlling religion. We have it down pat. We can organize, synchronize, and strategize worship, evangelism, discipleship and fellowship to the most minute detail. That does not mean we have held the move of God. In fact, all of that might just be indication there has not been a move of God. 

I have spent much of my adult life reading about moves of God in history. We call them revivals. When they come as seldom as they have in the past one thing I have noted. Nobody can control it. The wind of God's spirit blows where He wants and as long as He wants. He blows with such force the masses are caught up in it. The most hardened hearts are melted. 

I am reading now about such a move on the Asbury College campus one cold February morning. What started out as a typical organized chapel service turned into a hurricane of God's movement in Hughes Auditorium that lasted for several straight days without a break. Students lined up to confess sin, testify, pray, sing, and God swept through the campus, in a nearby seminary, and eventually all across the United States. Many repented. Many were saved. Many hearts were set afire by the blazing spirit of God. 

Classes had to be canceled. The cafeteria did not get frequented as often. Exams had to be postponed. Schedules had to be rearranged. Hughes Auditorium lights were left on continuously for days. 

I ache for the Spirit of God to come blow across this land in hurricane force that no preacher, no church, or no denomination can control and manipulate. I yearn for days of repentance, spiritual awakening and cultural transformation. If American will ever be great again, it will take a hurricane move of God to return us back to Him. Please Lord send it before it is too late. 

Days of Sorrow

 I stood outside a few days ago on what looked like a beautiful blue sky afternoon. I busied myself in activities and lost track of what else was happening around me. When I looked up later it surprised me to discover ominous dark clouds blowing in from the north indicating inclement weather approaching. 

That scene perfectly describes what people face on a daily basis. Their worlds may be blessed, content, and even joy filled then the storm clouds blow in. They are blindsided. Days of sorrow overtake and cloud out days of peace and happiness. When hands used to be held high in prayers of praise are now pulled down clutching their sorrowed souls. 

I experienced such a day yesterday. A day filled with sorrows. None of the sorrows were mine to experience but what I experienced through others. 

The first came with a request for prayer for a friend yesterday in a meeting. I did not know the circumstances. The news shared drove deep into my heart like a jackhammer. I felt the pain deeply and prayed with a sorrowful heart. The sting of that sad news still lingers. 

Later that same day another friend confided in me something so private and gut wrenchingly sad I could not believe it. I sat stunned. I did not know how to react. The sorrow pierced my tough exterior all the way to the core. The confession hurt. I still carry it today as I write this. Another sorrow added to the other sorrow. 

A third sorrow followed that day that I am not at liberty to capture in print. Suffice it to say it hurt as badly as the first two. I hurt for others affected. People are struggling under the weight of heavy sorrows. Death. Poverty. Failure. Stress. Inflation. Unemployment. Sin. Despair. Sorrows surround us. They swirl around like savage storms sweeping up everyone in its path. 

Our hope and help are found in God through His word. I love the truth found in Ps 42:5. We see despair. We see disturbed minds and hearts. We also find the hope and help that God offers. To put that another way, we find hope by waiting expectantly for Him. 

Let's be honest. How many like waiting? Especially when enduring sorrows? If we wait we are assured we will find help. Help means we will find deliverance and be saved. My friends need deliverance from grief, pain, disappointment, sadness, and despair. God is more than able to deliver from all of them. 

I have personally experienced God turn days of sorrow into days of praise and thanksgiving. He has even taught me to rejoice in the middle of it all. He is faithful. More than faithful. I have learned I can trust Him and depend on Him. So can you even in days of sorrow.