Making a Difference

 It is a memory still etched in my mind. I was in high school. I had only been a Christian for less than a year. I was sitting in my youth pastor's office along with another minister in the church. They were talking about problems in our town. Zealously I offered the solution to the problems. Just win the town to Jesus. Both of those men laughed at me and ridiculed my idealism. They said I would learn over time. 

That event happened nearly 40 years ago. Nothing has changed in me. I still want to make a difference. To believe God to work in mighty fashion like He did in the book of Acts. The zeal has not worn off. Sadly, the results I prayed for, labored for, and sacrificed for did not happen. I'm no longer 17 but 58. Some would argue I am past my prime. My joints certainly reflect that. My soul, mind, and passion burn has hotly to make a difference as they ever have. 

I have to own up to my track record. We attempted two church plants and they both did not survive. Another church merged with a sister congregation. The first church I served as pastor barely hangs on. The church I served as youth pastor has declined from 45 students to an average of 6. At last count these blogs were only visited a dozen times in the past 24 hours. My last book sold less than 50 total copies. 

That does not mean the dream does not blaze in my soul as white hot as it ever has to make an impact. Don't get me wrong. I am not looking for fame. I prefer to live out my remaining days to minister in obscure places in the backwoods off the beaten path. I don't have to be in the spotlight. I prefer to invest my life and ministry into a local flock. To love them, pray for them, and feed them the word of God. It is my desire that God would reach lost souls and pack the pews with people who are being transformed by God. 

Some would argue that at 58 I am used up. That my best days are behind me. That I might just be looking to coast into retirement. They could not be more wrong. I believe my best days in ministry are still out in front of me. God is building greater faith in me and more wisdom. I have as much passion to serve as a shepherd today as I ever have in my ministry. I am not looking for retirement. I plan to serve God as long as I am physically and mentally able. There will come a day when it becomes prudent for me to operate on a year-to-year basis with the church as pastor. I want to stay long but not too long beyond my effectiveness. I desire to give the church an easy out when it comes time for me to step down. I have a date in my mind, but ultimately that is in God's hands. I think retirement is highly overrated. 

I understand I am entering the dusk years of my life. All that does for me is make me more focused to pray harder, work longer, preach louder, and write oftener hoping some or all of it will make some difference for God. With 2024 winding down I am winding up to hit the new year running. I don't know what making a difference really looks like. At the end of my life journey, I want my life to have counted. I want to do more than take up space and live an ordinary life. I want to tap into an extraordinary life through God. With that I am off to bed and will let the new year ring in without me. Perhaps the Lord will allow me to make a greater difference in 2025. 

15 Hours and Counting

 I sit down to write this with 15 hours left before 2024 fades forever into history. Earlier this morning I prayerfully reflected on this past year. I recalled high points as well as a few low points. There were joyous celebrations and a few heart wrenching situations that shook me to the core. There was one constant all year long. 

God was there. He met with me in the secret place over and over again. He encouraged me when I was discouraged. He strengthened me when I was weak. He filled me when I was empty. He nourished me when I was spiritually famished. He comforted me in sorrows. He inspired me with writing 199 of these posts. He anointed me to preach and teach His word. He gave wisdom to make difficult decisions. He gave endurance to persevere through grueling seasons when I overcommitted myself. He chastised me when I drifted into sin and needed adjustments in my behavior and attitude. He loved me through it all. 

There is no way I could ever recount all He did in the past year. For the past couple of months my times with the Lord have been some of the sweetest of my life. He wakes me at all hours and beckons me to the secret place to meet with Him. The hunger He creates in me is greater than my desire for sleep. I never know when He will awaken me. That is why I go to bed so early. The standing appointment I have with Him is more important than anything else going. 

I have not stayed up to ring in the new year in a very long time. It just seemed silly to stay up to midnight just to watch a ball drop in New York or to say I was awake when it officially became 2025. Those festivities go on fine without me. I hope to start 2025 just the way I started today. Alone soaking in His presence. Communing with Christ. Seated at His feet in the secret place. 

I am neither happy nor sad to see 2024 go. It was another year where God showed Himself faithful over and over again. I fully expect in 2025 He will do the same. One thing I am certain of is that 2025 will bring change. A new year always does. We will inaugurate a new President. There will be new catastrophic events. More people will die. New babies will be born. People will get married, and others will get divorced. The economy will rise and fall. Health crisis will happen for many. Through it all God will sit sovereignly on His throne ruling with an iron fist and a compassionate heart. Goodbye 2024 and welcome 2025 in 15 hours. 

Courage to Obey

 The mission was simple. Infiltrate opposition land and discern the threat level. Brave men stepped away from comfort and security to stealthily cross over into hostile territory. The mission took over a month to complete. Each soldier returned safely and gave their report. The consensus was not united. The majority thought the risks were too great and the enemy forces too formidable for occupational success. There were a small number of holdouts who thought the mission possible for success. 

The majority won the vote and the consequences were lethal. An opportunity was missed. An open door was shut for decades because of a bad report from a handful of soldiers. You can read about this story in Numbers 13:1-25. 

Caleb and Joshua were the only two hold outs in a nation of over one million people. Nobody sided with them. They had courage to obey God no matter the odds. They did not put their confidence in their own military might. They went all in on God's unlimited ability to do what He promised Abraham centuries before. It took courage to believe God and to follow. Sadly, the majority embraced cowardice instead of courage. They suffered for that decision forty years. A whole generation of faithless people had to die before God allowed them to possess the promised land. 

Do we have the courage to obey when God calls us to do something? It is easy to say yes in the comfortable confines of our cushioned sofa or in the plush pews of our church. Saying yes leads to a crisis of belief we learned from Henry Blackaby. There comes a moment when you have to go all in, sell out, surrender all, and courageously obey even though you cannot see the outcome. 

We operate just the opposite. We want guarantees in place. We want to minimize risk and maximize reward. We profess Yahweh is God, but we are at times reluctant to really radically obey. We come up with excuses because obeying is not a good option. The Bible and history are filled with the stories of people who ignored all that and courageously obeyed. These are the history makers, the Kingdom shakers, and the promised land takers. 

I for one have no intention of sitting around the rest of my days reading about the great stories of mighty exploits through God spectating from the sidelines. I intend to courageously obey even when I am frightened out of my mind and logic tells me how foolish obedience to God may be. I don't just want to be a preacher. I want to be a testifier of the great things Almighty God does. I want to live similar stories like the ones I read about in scripture. I do not want to be in the audience watching others do mighty things for God. I want to courageously follow God and see Him do mighty things in me, through me and around me. 

Just as sure as I write those sentences, I know exactly what I am doing. I am inviting God to call me to something impossible, improbable, illogical, and yet hopelessly irresistible to the adventurous thrill seeker faith walker like I dream to be. Something that the majority may not support. Something that forces me to trust God like I never have before. Even if all of that happens and God calls me out of comfort and security, I must courageously obey or forever shut my mouth about faith walking trusting God. Even if none go with me, I want the courage to follow and obey. I believe there are multitudes who have the same desire as I do. May we all surrender and courageously obey no matter what. What glorious thing will God do next because of our courageous obedience? 

My 58th Christmas

 Christmas has come and gone for the 58th time for this scribe. I certainly enjoyed sitting in a room surrounded by Brenda, our four sons, and our daughter in law and one dog named Buster. It was a treasured time. We laughed. We celebrated the birth of our Savior. We exchanged gifts and watched mouths gape open wide in astonishment. We ate our traditional breakfast of homemade biscuits, breakfast casserole and this year added sausage gravy. We capped off the evening by playing a board game. I lost again and was not happy about it. 

As a child I would go to bed so excited on Christmas Eve I could barely stand it. When I did finally fall asleep it did not last long.  I was ALWAYS the first to wake up. Most of the time it was around 2:00 a.m. I snuck out of bed and tiptoed to the living room where I saw bright shiny toys around the tree. Some were left unwrapped. I can still see them in my mind. The action figure BIG JIM with his jeep and action toys. There were all those footballs and football uniforms. Several times I got bicycles. One year I got a gift that still haunts my memories to this day. MR. QUARTERBACK. It had a mechanical arm and a timer that would launch a pass to you. I dreamed of that toy so I could play football by myself. I broke it in the living room one Christmas morning and it never worked. I never got a pass from MR. QUARTERBACK. 

Brenda has always done a great job at surprising me. One year it was golf clubs. Another it was several watches which I still wear. This year she did it again. She got me a MY PILLOW 2.0. Mike Lindell was right. In the two nights I have used it I have had the best sleep of my life. 

A few years ago I contemplated something on Christmas morning. After the last gift was opened and everyone was sitting around mountains of wrapping paper it dawned on me. We spend a whole year waiting for Christmas to come around. People repeatedly say it is their favorite time of the year. Radio stations blast Christmas classics. TV specials run spreading Christmas cheer. People hustle from parties to shopping. Retailers rejoice at profit margins. Kids make their Christmas lists. Decorations come out and bright lights twinkle everywhere. There is so much hype around Christmas. Candlelight services, egg nog,(which I have successfully avoided trying for 58 years), looking at Christmas lights, and Christmas trees. So much hype. 

All the anticipation building toward the big day. Some count down to how many more days are left until  Christmas. Children put on Christmas plays. Choirs sing Christmas carols. Then in a flash it is over. The last gift is exchanged. Family pack up and head back home. Tanner left on Thursday. Tucker will leave on Monday. Turner will head back for his last semester of college in about a week. 

If that is all that Christmas is; family, gifts, and decorations, then it does not live up to the hype. In a flash it is over. People hustle in stores returning gifts they did not want or in exchange for the right size. All the big build up and then it ends. The same thing will happen next year I suppose. 

When Jesus really is the focus of Christmas, it lasts all year long. I am no Scrooge. I enjoy all the festivities. I just do not buy into the hype. I see how fast and hollow all of that is in comparison to an ongoing relationship with Jesus all year long. Just a few reflections from my 58th Christmas. 

The Cloud and the Fire

 After God delivered Israel from bondage in Egypt, He led them through the wilderness by a cloud by day and fire by night. When the cloud or the fire settled Israel pitched camp. The cloud and fire might remain in place for days or months at a time. There were other times when they moved after just one day. Each time those moved Israel packed up camp and moved with them. 

God has never directed my steps with a cloud or fire. Discerning His path has been challenging at times. I was tempted to wish that God sent a cloud and fire so I would know which direction to go. He reminded me this morning that I have been given His word and the Holy Spirit to guide my steps. 

Ps 119:105 reminds us that His word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. This really hit home for me a couple of years ago when I got invited to preach a youth camp in the mountains of New Mexico. The path from where I preached back to my cabin followed a stream to a narrow bridge where I crossed a pond. Along the trail I had to navigate roots, holes, rocks, and of course the stream. Each night it was pitch black except for the stars overhead. The first night I forgot my flashlight. I stumbled trying to make my way back to our cabin. The following nights I had a little flashlight. It did not give off a great deal of light. It did illumine the path in front of me for a few steps. It was so much easier to navigate the trail back to my cabin with that light than without it. 

God directs our paths with the light of His word. He brings certain verses in timely fashion to get us from where we are to where He wants us to be. When I look back over my life of following Jesus I see repeatedly how He used His word to guide me. At critical junctures certain passages came to me from different sources repeatedly. His word is like a cloud telling us when to move forward and when to wait. This may not mean that God's word will reveal the future for months and years ahead. He will give enough light for today. That is all we need is light for our path for this day. 

We also have the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is interesting that one of the symbols of the Holy Spirit is fire. Many years ago a friend counseled me to let peace be my guide. What he meant is that when the path forward is unclear and you have decide which path to take at a fork, the Holy Spirit will give peace about one direction over another. His peace has helped Brenda and me make many critical choices over the past several decades. Some were seemingly inconsequential like giving to a need or choosing how to invest money. Other decisions had greater consequences like relocating to a new ministry. His peace has helped us in knowing how to counsel others in what we said or did not say. The Holy Spirit helped us navigate the trail of parenting one teenaged girl and four sons. 

The word of God and the Holy Spirit are our cloud and fire. When we remain focused on them I am confident God can get us from where we are to where He want us to be. That might mean emotionally, spiritually, and mentally. God still guides His people. When He moves we are supposed to follow. When He stops we are to stop. In this way we will always keep in step with God. 

Commanding the Ravens

 An interesting story is recorded in I Kings 17:1-7. A drought came upon Israel as judgment from God. God told Elijah to go and hide himself by a brook called Cherith. That is not so unusual. King Ahab was mad at Elijah for prophesying about the drought. Elijah was a wanted man so God hid him. 

God told Elijah that he would get water to drink from the brook. He next told Elijah that He commanded the ravens to bring the seer bread and meat. That is ludicrous. A raven's brain is about the size of a walnut. They do not have reasoning abilities. Yet they heard and were moved by God to provide for the prophet at his place of refuge. 

Ravens have a diverse diet. They eat rodents, fish, nesting eggs, berries, and decaying flesh. Taken all of this into account, it is even more amazing that they would bring Elijah bread and meat. The natural tendency for the raven would have been to eat the meat. They submitted to the command of God to bring Elijah food twice a day for a long time which is not their nature. They were door dash before there was door dash. 

God commanded the ravens. God can also command people and move them to do all sorts of things on mission for Him. They might uproot and relocate as Abraham did. [Heb 11:8] He might call people to suffer for Him. [Acts 9:15-16] They might be commanded to love unlovable people. [Matt 9:36-37]. God might direct them to lay down their lives as martyrs. [Acts 7:1-60]. He also might lead someone to give financially to God's cause. [Mark 12:42-44]. 

God's ability to communicate His desires is far reaching. His creativity in communicating those needs is vast. In a thousand years nobody would have come up with a plan to sustain Elijah with ravens delivery service. The more probable solution would have been that Elijah go hunting for his food by killing deer or catching fish and possibly forging plants to feed himself. He never considered God would command ravens to bring him for food. 

Don't miss this. God commanded the ravens to deliver the food to the Brook Cherith. Elijah had to be in relationship with God to hear such a word of direction. If Elijah did not walk with God and listen for His voice this story would have had a tragic ending. He would not have hidden at the brook. He would have missed out on what God planned. God is able to speak to people and in this case even ravens. Do we listen? It is imperative that we do. 

Elijah had to obey by faith. It made sense to go into hiding and be close to a water supply. Would you have believed God when told He would command the ravens to bring you food? That is illogical. Many things God calls us to believe Him for are illogical. They just don't make sense. They are not in the natural order of things. God can do anything He pleases, however He pleases, through whom He pleases and when He pleases. 

His supernatural activity happens after the faith steps. Like God telling Moses to hold up his staff over the waters and telling the people to walk across on dry ground when the waters parted. [Ex 14] Somebody had to be the first in line to walk between the two walls of water. Moses had to believe God would do something He never had done before. Elijah had to believe that God would provide for him in a way He never did before. It comes down to trust. Do we believe what God says?

I am praying and believing God for something I've never asked before. I am asking God for financial provision. I have done that hundreds of times, but not this way before. You see, I am asking God for a huge financial blessing because I feel prompted even commanded by the LORD  to GIVE AWAY $10,000! That's right. I believe God has called Brenda and I to give away $10,000 in total to five different families. It does not make sense because we do not have that money, but I trust God to command the ravens to bring His provision to us because He is commanding us to give it to others. Stay tuned. I will let you know how that goes soon. 

Appointment With My Father

 I looked forward with great anticipation to a recent appointment I had with my father. After years of being fatherless I had the opportunity to meet with my father. Something I looked forward to with great eagerly.

 I spent my whole childhood without a father. My grandfather served that role in my life until he died when I was sophomore in high school. I wept inconsolably at his loss. None of my siblings or cousins did. My Papaw meant everything to me. We both enjoyed a love for sports. I often curled up in bed with him to watch a Monday Night Football game. We also watched baseball, track and field, and other sporting events. He took me to my first high school football game. That stadium seemed like an NFL stadium and those Lufkin Panthers like heroes to this wide eyed little boy. My grandfather was a Lufkin Panther. I proudly wore the purple and gold of the Panthers in high school too just like him. I wanted him to be proud of me. He never saw me play one down of football in the purple and gold. He died of Leukemia. 

Papaw taught me how to throw and catch a football and baseball. He bought me my first baseball glove made by McGregor. I used that glove all the way into college until the padding wore out. He used to ask me to drive him places when I got my license. It was not because he could not drive. He just wanted to spend time with me. I never saw him do that with my siblings or cousins. We enjoyed a special bond. He was not my father though. 

Growing up without a father had far reaching implications. I grew up a very sullen angry child. I also struggled with insecurities. My only way of proving my worth was through sports. Football to be more specific. I did not excel in any sport except football. I drove myself to be successful in the hopes that people would like me. I was not comfortable in my own skin. I desperately wanted to be liked and to fit in, but remained aloof much of the time. I grew up not trusting people. I got wronged so many times that I didn't let many people get close to me. After my grandfather died, it felt like I was skating through life on thin ice. I had no foundation. No firm footing. 

Fast forward about thirty years. Brenda and I went to see a movie in the theaters. We knew it was a Christian film about fathers, but did not know any real details. Turns out the movie was a documentary about fatherhood and the impact of fathers. In one scene a fatherless athlete is going to meet his former coach who turned out to be his father. Neither knew. The athlete was conceived in a one night stand. The coach was happily married for decades and had other children. Providentially God stepped in and revealed that this coach was the biological father of the former athlete who was now a grown man and married. 

The son drives to the house to meet his father. They were already close. The two talked on the phone regularly as coach/mentor relationship. He had been to the coach's home before. Never as a son meeting his father though. He was reluctant to get out of the car and come to the door. When he finally summoned the courage he walked up the sidewalk and knock on the door he was unprepared for what happened. He waited nervously for the door to open. The father opened the door and joyfully said, "Welcome my son." 

I teared up and choked back a waterfall of tears. On the drive home after the movie I told Brenda I have never heard any man ever say to me, "My son." NEVER my entire life. That wounds a child and a man. You better believe I took fatherhood seriously when God started blessing us with those four little boys. I often put them to bed and after praying for them I told them, "I don't know why out of all the dads in the world God chose me blessed me to be your dad, but I am sure glad he did. Out of all the little boys in the world I would still choose you." 

In the past two days I talked to three of my four sons either in person or on the phone. I still hug them when I see them though they are all men and three of the four taller than me. There is a bond they have with their mother. They talk to her more than me. The bond between our sons and me is different. They contact me when they do something good and want my approval. I still cheer them on in their career paths. I've told each of them there is nothing they could ever do to make me love them more or to make me love them less. Getting to be their father is one of the greatest blessings and joys of my life. 

I never got any of that growing up. So making an appointment with my father was a long held dream. On the appointed day I got up early and dressed. I walked out the door headed for our rendevouz spot. What a joyous time we shared that day. Words could never describe what I experienced. 

You see the father I met that day was not an earthly father. It was my Heavenly Father who is a Father to the fatherless. [Ps 68:5] He is the Father I meet in our secret place. He waits me for there and communicates with me in profound ways. We have an early morning appointment everyday. We meet in our secret place. [Matt 6:7] In every conceivable way an earthly father can love and guide his children, my Heavenly Father has also done for me. He guides me. He counsels me. He provides for me. He rebukes and chastises me. He encourages me. Most of all He loves me. I cannot tell you what all of that means to a fatherless grown up boy like me. Indescribable. Transformational. 

I'm Not Making This Up

 God answers prayers. He answers in His way, according to His desires, and in His time. There are seasons when we do not align with any of those things. We want what we want and when we want it. We ask. We say we believe but I wonder if we do not wish more than believe. We offer prayers like random chances. Sometimes we hope God comes through and other times we half expect He won't help us. 

I've spent three decades practicing prayer. I certainly do not claim to be an expert. I have learned a few things along the way. Real praying must be fueled by real faith. [Heb 11:6] We must learn to pray God's will if we hope to get answers consistently. [I John 5:14-15] It just makes sense that when we pray what God wants to do our prayers will be much more effective. 

In recent posts, I talked about the ways God provided for Brenda and me during this season where she is recovering from surgery and unable to work. We watched God come through over and again. We were on our way to rehab yesterday when I asked how our finances were. She told me they were very tight and then she started crying. That is not unusual. I have kidded with her over the years that in the body of Christ she must be the tear duct. She was not crying because she was sad or stressed. She cried because God provided in another miraculous way that she had not told me about yet. Her boss gave her a $1,500 Christmas bonus. He has never given her anything remotely close to that in the past 13 years. God moved her boss through prayer to give to us during this time of need more than ever before. God did it again. I promise I am not making these things up. God hears our prayers. Her boss does not know how I've prayed. He does not read these blogs or watch our services. He has no idea. God did though. God used him to be the vessel of a miracle and he most likely is not even aware of it. 

Every day we lean into God and trust Him to do what otherwise would be impossible or at least improbable. We have used this money to pay bills like car insurance (our largest monthly expenditure with five vehicles), Turner's last tuition payment for the semester, groceries, gas to go back and forth to rehab an hour away from where we live (that is what her insurance set up and it has turned into a ministry), and helping our sons out with car repairs and their needs. God sees all of it. He knows and He is able to provide for all of it. We don't have to go around dropping hints. We pray to God in secret and He has rewarded us openly. 

I struggle at times to even write or speak about such testimonies not wanting anyone to misconstrue these as my attempt to play on people's sympathies and manipulate emotionally for money. I have to testify about what God has done and is doing. I am telling honest stories about what our Father does for us. He chooses to provide in the most creative ways. Cash in an envelope left in an abandoned office. Forgotten payment for a PE class where the mother was awakened in the middle of the night remembering she forgot to remit payment, and an extravagant Christmas bonus. I am humbled by His power and mighty ability. There is nothing that my or your family needs or will ever need that He does not already have in ample supply. 

I assure you I am not making these stories up. They are not fabricated out of my imagination. They are real. Just as real as the keys on this keyboard under my fingers. Just as real as this office chair I sit in. Just as real as the aroma of the delicious food cooking on the stove we will eat later today. God hears and answers prayer. 

He is able to do abundantly and exceedingly more than we ask or think according to [Eph 3:20] I for one am taking Him up on that offer. I have asked God for some really big things in the past. I have been asking for some really big things in the present. Some of them might shock you. It is our hope that with each answer our platform to testify about His faithfulness is enlarged. We pray others might be encouraged and inspired to keep believing God for greater things themselves. 

Prayer That Moves People

 I have long made prayer and faith a central focus in many of these posts. It is not something I write about from theory. I write out of conviction and first-hand experience. I believe part of the reason I even exist is to inspire people to pray and trust God. 

I was recently fascinated by a story related by Hudson Taylor in the biography written by his son Howard Taylor Hudson Taylor God's Man in China. Hudson felt called of God to go to China at an early age. He saw as part of his training that he needed to trust God for provision without the help of his family while he trained. He secured an apartment in the slums and worked as a medical assistant. 

Hudson Taylor adopted the attitude of not revealing his personal needs or the needs of his ministry except to God through prayer. He resolved to discover if he could really trust God to meet his needs by praying for God to move people to give supply what he was lacking. He was put to test. 

During one season the doctor he worked for neglected to pay him. He simply forgot in his busy schedule. Taylor never reminded him. He got down to his last coin in his pocket. God tested him further when Taylor met a man in severe need for his family. God prompted Taylor to give the coin away. It was a real struggle. He wrestled over the invitation to give and trust God. God won over his heart and he gave his last money away. 

Taylor prayed for God to move people to help him in his poverty and the following Monday he received a financial gift of greater value than what he gave away. Still the doctor did not remember to pay Taylor. Days turned into weeks. 

The Saturday came when Taylor had to pay his rent. He had nothing to pay it. He often retreated at the physician's office where he worked in the back pleading with the Lord to remind the doctor that he forgot to pay Hudson. God answered. The doctor suddenly asked him if it was time to pay his salary. Humbly Taylor replied that it was past time for several weeks. Taylor exalted that God heard his prayer and reminded the good doctor of his oversight. 

Just as fast as Taylor's faith soared it came crashing down. The doctor bemoaned that he wished he had remembered earlier. He sent all his cash to the bank for deposit. Being that it was a Saturday a check would not do Taylor any good until Monday. Hudson tried to hide his disappointment. 

The day ended and Taylor returned to his apartment doing all in his power to avoid his landlady. He busied himself with preparations for street ministry he engaged in on Saturday nights. He snuck out the door that evening again avoiding his landlady. At that moment he heard a voice laughing approaching. It was the doctor. The doctor related the story of how his most wealthy patient had just found him and paid his bill in cash at that late hour. It made no sense to the doctor, but amused he thought he ought to stop by and pay Hudson his wages. 

Not only did God move the doctor to remember. He moved the wealthy patient to pay his bill in cash on a Saturday evening when he could have waited until the following Monday and written a check. God moved the doctor again to seek Hudson out that very evening to pay his wages. Hudson learned that not only could he trust God with his personal needs, but in the future, he could trust God with his needs as a missionary. 

What God did for Hudson Taylor, Brenda and I have seen him do for our family repeatedly over the past 30 years. Like the time when we were planting a church and walked away from a $78,000 salary from the church we served previously. It was one of our largest steps of faith. One of the members of our previous church showed up on his travels and brought us love gifts from private people in the church totaling $8,000. Our previous church never gave us a dollar as a church organization. God moved people individually who gave us over $115,000 over the span of a decade. We did not mention our needs to anyone. Not to the people where we were planting or our previous church. 

The treasurer of the church we planted had recently contacted me telling me there was enough offerings to pay our salary. God knew and God more than paid it and helped us for months and years down the road. Over and over again for a decade God moved people. One person paid our mortgage for several years. It is the only way we were able to keep our home. We never told anyone and never asked. God revealed the need and called someone to meet it. 

He did it again yesterday. A mother of one of my P.E. students told me last week that she thought she had forgotten to pay me. I had no record of that and dismissed it and told her not to worry about it as the semester is nearly over. I found a check on my desk yesterday for $160. She said she woke up in the middle of the night and thought about that. I know God heard my silent prayers asking Him to move people through prayer to help in a time of need. She thought she neglected to pay. God had her delay so that the payment would show up at the right time. 

Why do we doubt that our loving Father knows our situations? He can be trusted. Sometimes you might be the vessel of blessing for someone us. At other times you might be the recipient of blessing. God is faithful to bless and use you as a channel of blessing. In all of it He gets the glory. Hallelujah to His name. 

Leaving a Legacy of Faith

 Legacy can be defined as the long-lasting impact of a person's life. This morning, I read about Noah in Genesis 6. Noah left a legacy of faith. One that saved his family from the flood when he built the ark. It is estimated it took Noah over a century to build that massive boat. 

Noah is a unique character. He lived in a very pagan world. There were no followers of God in his day. Noah stood alone. He did not cave into the cultural times. Everywhere he turned and whomever he came into contact with were pagans. They only thought about doing evil. Noah walked with God. That must have been difficult to stand firm in the faith when everyone else went along with popular opinions and attitudes of the day. 

God tasked Noah with building an ark. He had no power tools. He could not go to a hardware store for supplies. Everything about building that ark was hard physical labor. Everything about it was a step of faith. To believe God would send a flood in judgment of the world was faith. I am sure Noah was ridiculed and questioned many times over that span he built the ark. He just kept sawing, measuring and connecting boards to construct a boat that was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high in faith. It was his legacy of faith not just for his family but for the whole animal kingdom. 

The proof of Noah's faith was the ark. It was his crowning achievement. His life's work. His masterpiece. The ark was Noah's legacy of faith. I wonder about my legacy. What legacy of faith will I leave behind? Some financial miracles. A handful of souls saved. Three dead churches. Two others that barely keep the doors open. A couple of revivals. Not much. 

I am fueled by Noah's legacy to trust God more and pray harder to leave a legacy of faith after I am gone. Something that is tangible proof of what I believed God to do. I cannot say what that will be. Maybe it will be the church I shepherd. Maybe it will be a book or these blogs that I write. Maybe it will be something I've not even thought of yet. I want to leave a legacy of faith. Some monument of what I trusted God to do. I've got more praying and faith walking to do before that becomes reality. 

Anna's Ministry

 Anna was not a prominent character in the Bible. The total biblical account of her life only takes up two verses. There is a lot packed in those three verses. Her ministry was amazing. The story of her life is both tragic and triumphant. You can read it in [Luke 2:36-38]. 

Like most young girls she dreamed of marriage one day. We are not given her husband's name. For seven years we believe she lived in marital bliss. Suddenly everything changed. We are not given any details. All we know is that her husband died after seven years. Anna lived another 84 years without him. Think about that. She lived over eight decades as a widow. Over eight decades with crushing grief. Eight decades alone. The Bible does not report that she had any children. She plodded through life without human companions. 

She is identified as a prophetess. This is unusual. We are familiar with prophets. Not so much with prophetesses. We know prophets both heard and spoke for God. It seems reasonable to deduce that Anna also heard from God. She may not have had a large audience to share God's message with, but I am confident that she did hear from God and speak for Him as well. When possible and appropriate I believe she shared those messages with others. 

That is not what drew me to her story. It is what we read next. She did not leave the temple complex serving God night and day with fasting and prayer. [Luke 2:37]

She devoted herself to prayer. She served God night and day in prayer. The word serving means that she offered worship. It was her ministry. When we think about serving God, we think about doing a task for Him. We go on mission, we teach, we cook and serve food, we visit hospitals and many other things like these. We do not often think of prayer as serving God. Prayer as a ministry. She didn't just pray. She prayed and fasted night and day. She didn't leave the temple complex. 

While she was a widow who lost her husband, she wedded herself to God and devoted herself to prayer. The outside world was oblivious to her as she remained singularly focused on time shut up with God. She did this for 84 years. Can you imagine how close she was to Jehovah? All the things that He revealed to her in that span must have been wonderful. One of those things was the coming of Messiah. She thanked God and told others about the coming Messiah. 

What would our walk with the Lord be like if we were as devoted to seeking God as she was. I do not know how she made it financially. I am sure people supported her ministry with private donations. People have to go to work these days. There are bills to pay. There are family responsibilities. I am imagining what serving God more seriously in prayer would look like. Less entertainment. Less television. Less time with other people in lieu of more time in the prayer closet. A life of worship and communion that would enthrall and enrich the soul. Increasingly getting out of step with the culture but keeping in step with Yahweh. 

Anna's ministry was supernatural. Not just in the multitude of answered prayers she assuredly saw in those 84 years. It was supernatural in that she desired God so much. That she did not wallow in her grief and quit yearning for God. Supernatural in its length. Supernatural in focus and self- denial. While none of us can be Anna, I sure wish I could be like her. To devote myself to prayer and worship of God. From that service would flow preaching, teaching, writing, shepherding and leading. It is a service I'm asking God to help me perform. How about you? May we all strive to be more like Anna. 

It Only Took Three Weeks

 Peter got arrested and incarcerated in a Sudanese prison for 14 months. He was placed in solitary confinement. One of the hardest parts of his sentence was being without his Bible. Other than scriptures he had memorized, he did not have access to even one verse. 

After months Peter received a copy of the Bible. The only way he could see to read it was to stand up and get in the sunlight from the small window in his cell. He often stood more than eight hours a day reading scripture. He couldn't sit down to rest or the cell was too dark to read anything. For hours on end he devoured the Bible. In just three weeks he read it through entirely from beginning to end. He hungered for truth found in God's word. 

Do we hunger for God's word like that? Would we stand up for eight hours a day to catch the sunlight so we could feed our souls on the timeless truths in the Bible? Many Christians find it hard to make time to sit down anytime of day and read it with artificial light. 

This morning, I finished reading through the Bible again completing the book of Revelation. I assure you I read it in the comfort of climate controlled conditions, with adequate lighting and sitting in a recliner or an office chair. Would I plod through truth if it inconvenienced me?  I hope I would. I know I would not read through the whole Bible in just three weeks. 

It is easy to waste time and get distracted by things like television, surfing the internet, social media, and sporting events. Now with streaming people can binge watch their favorite programming cramming in whole seasons of sitcoms in days rather than weeks. All the while, Bibles sit on shelves collecting dust while our souls drift further from God. 

We need a ravenous hunger for spiritual food. An intense craving for spiritual meat. An insatiable appetite for the word of the Lord. We may not read it through in three weeks, but we can read it and find nourishment to strengthen our souls for the journey of life. 

Another Miracle Story

 One of my spiritual heroes is George Muller. A man of faith and prayer who housed thousands of orphans and provided for them. What inspires me most about him is the fact that as a young man he committed to God that he would never tell people what he and wife needed personally. They would only make their needs known to God. When he served as a pastor he refused to take a salary. He sat a simple wooden box in the back of the church and people gave free will offerings that he and his wife lived on. While that may sound noble, there were plenty of times when those offerings were extremely low. They never told anyone if they were in need. They took their needs to God in prayer alone and watched God provide in the most unusual ways. 

When Muller started the first orphanage, he operated it on the same principle. He trusted God for rent money in the first house they used. He trusted God for all the furnishings, the staff to help work, clothing for the children, and for all the food. When the orphans kept coming, he expanded to other rental properties. Eventually he believed God to build permanent orphan houses that could accommodate over a thousand children at a time. He still did not tell anyone when they needed large sums of money for provision or a single meal. He prayed and trusted God to send just what they needed each day. God did and his biography is one miracle story after another. 

Several decades ago, Brenda and I adopted that same philosophy in our marriage.  No matter how great the need, we prayed and trusted God. What ensued over the past three decades has been a series of miraculous answered prayers that many would find hard to believe. What we have learned over and over again has been that God provides. He not only provides, but He does so at the exact time we need it. 

Many times, over those years wealthy people have told me, "If you need anything just let me know." I respond the same way each time. "I never will. We tell God what we need and watch God answer those prayers." This is not out of pride. It is because God has called us to live by faith and to encourage others to trust God and to pray more. We do not always delight in the numerous trials we have face. We do rejoice in the multitude of answered prayers. I try to glorify God in writing in these blogs and in books as well as when I preach so there will be a record of what God has done. We live by faith to promote the glory of God and to show people that God answers prayer. 

Brenda has not worked since November 12. She had her right knee replaced on November 13 after having the left one replaced on July 10. This meant she did not work for close to two months the first time and has not worked in weeks this time. Both times we knew that our income would be cut in half. We did not tell anyone. We just prayed. How God provided back in the summer has already been recorded so I need not go into that again. 

We knew this time of year would be a challenge going into Thanksgiving and Christmas. It has been a regular topic of prayer starting on November 13th the day of the surgery until now. Even this morning I recorded this prayer in my journal. "I ask You to penetrate the thoughts of people with the abundance to give." Well, sit back and let me tell you another miracle story. 

For three weeks I have walked in faith to our P.O. Box hoping for a miracle. I have also walked to the mailbox at our home in faith waiting for God to answer those prayers. I live in expectation of God's help. He surprised me today. 

Someone from the school asked me to check the mail for them. They receive their mail in the church mailbox. I went for them but also in faith for Brenda and me. There was no miracle waiting. The school was missing an item that was reported as delivered. The delivery drivers often leave things outside the sanctuary door and sometimes those items get placed in my old office. I thought I would check there just in case. 

I entered the office but did not see any mail. I did see a hat on my old desk along with a few reference books I leave in there when I need a quiet place to study. I noticed a hat on the desk. The hat was not mine. Nobody uses that office except Turner during the summers when he interns with us at the church. Under the hat sat a white envelope. Curious I looked under the cap and turned the envelope. One word was handwritten on the envelope. "Matt." I picked it up thinking one of the members left me an article to read. When I peeked inside, I saw another miracle. Several crisp $100 bills. Ten to be exact for a total of $1,000. We told no one our need. How long that money sat in there I don't know. 

I had no plans to go into that office today or in the days to come. I spend more time these days working from home so I can be close to Brenda to help her with whatever she might need. I cannot even remember the last time I was in that office. God sent me on a mail mission to lead me to His provision. I am humbled once again by His power and provision. 

If you knew the specific things I pray and believe God for most of you would think I am crazy. I cannot tell you what those things are. I have laid those requests before God and wait eagerly to receive and to testify once He answers. They are big things. People have thought I was crazy before when I believed God for downpayment money for houses. They really thought I had lost my mind when I reported that I spent three years praying for vehicles and watched God answer that prayer in the form of five vehicles in thirty days back in 2019. That was not hard for God and fuels my faith to believe Him for future needs. 

Here is my honest conviction. There are no difficult things with God. There are just requests. Nothing is impossible with Him. I decided years ago I would take Him up on that. I do not ask flippantly or selfishly. The things I pray and believe Him for are legitimate needs. 

I may never understand why God called Brenda and I to walk this faith life step by step. I used to resent it. Now I embrace it. I get to see God do some amazing stuff. You haven't heard anything yet. He can and will do exceedingly and abundantly more than I can ask or imagine according to His power that is at work in me. [Eph 3:20] That power is working in me to grow more faith to believe Him for more and greater things in the future. In turn that will lead to other miracle stories where God will get more glory. 

Casting Cares

 In recent days I have visited with people carrying all kinds of cares. Some of the stories were painful. People are suffering all around. The devastation is far reaching. 

One lady was laid off just before Thanksgiving. Her previous employer even tried to shortchange her last paycheck. A grown daughter faced the deaths of her stepfather and mother within two weeks of each other. If that were not tragic enough, her relationship with her mother was estranged. The mother treated the daughter horribly her whole life. Even after death the mother found one more way to inflict pain on her daughter leaving a critical letter behind to be read after she deceased. One family was hit with an unexpected $7,000 bill they cannot possibly pay. A matriarch of a family was diagnosed with cancer. Another faces debilitating depression that renders her incapable of even getting out of bed on some days. Another lady lives with the dreadful remembrance of grief and the pain of losing a soul mate this time of year. The health crisis happened on Christmas morning as the family opened presents. One other had a heart attack requiring open heart surgery. 

I Pet 5:7 exhorts us casting all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. 

When the future is obscured by dark circumstances it may not feel like God cares. It may seem just the opposite. Just like the clouds can hide the sun so can our troubles overshadow our view of God for a season. That is why it is so imperative that we remain in our Bibles to discover truth that encourages us keep believing. The sun still shines behind the clouds and God remains in compassionate control behind frowning providences. God is faithful in nature. That means that He cannot be anything other than trustworthy and reliable. That is who He is. He will come through for His people if we trust long enough and wait long enough. I am not saying it will always work out the way we want. He will be faithful. 

From time to time each of us face problems too large for us to solve. We cannot fix them. We cannot solve them. We are forced to trust or worry. Anxiety destroys health.  Cast all your cares on Him. Every single one of them. One by one cast those cares onto God. We must let God do the heavy lifting. I assure you He is able to handle whatever His children are facing. He can handle all of it. Cast it on Him and leave it with Him. Seriously. Throw it off onto His broad shoulders and leave it with Him. It will lead to less stress and more peace.