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Showing posts from June, 2019

Even If

"The officer assisting the king said to the man of God,'That couldn't happen even if the Lord opened the windows of heaven!' But Elijah replied,'You will see it happen, but you won't be able to eat any of it!'" II Kings 7:2 "You'll never be able to do that even if you tried all day." Those words, in my younger years, would almost always elicit the "You wanna bet!" response from me. This moment was no different. A front flip off a long rope swing, starting from a high platform into a lake. No problem! I was going to do it even if it killed me, which it nearly did. After several painful near misses, I pulled it off much to everyone's surprise including mine. Our verse for the day is from a scene of a city in crisis. Under siege, they were slowly starving. The king of Israel was inattentive  to the word of God. His nation suffered as a result. As a powerful expression of grace, God's prophet Elisha was there to br

The Church Prayed

"But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed earnestly for him. ... So Peter left the cell, following the angel. ... " Acts 12:1-19 It was truly a crossroad moment in my life. Business or ministry? Graduation left me no more time to ponder. My conversations with God were intense, long and passionate. What Lord? Where Lord? When Lord? My heart's tuner was dialed in. One day as I walked through the business school hallway, I stood in the intersection of two hallways. Time stood still. My heart reverberated with the Lord's words, "You don't belong here." Peter's jail cell was secure. Four groups of guards were on duty. They were, however, no match for the group that was crying out to God on his behalf. An angel showed up. Chains fell off. Guards stayed asleep. Locked doors were opened. Peter went to his more than surprised prayer support team. Shortly after this event, the king who put him in prison came under God's judgment. Why

Just As

"So I am planning to build a Temple to honor the name of the Lord my God, just as he had instructed my father David. For the Lord told him, 'Your son, whom I will place on your throne, will build the Temple to honor my name.' ... When Hiram received Solomon's message, he was very pleased and said, 'Praise the Lord today for giving David a wise son to be king of the great nation of Israel.' ... So the Lord gave wisdom to Solomon, just as he had promised. And Hiram and Solomon made a formal alliance of peace." I Kings 5:5,7,12 Recently, I had a day where on three occasions I stopped to reconsider doing what I had told others that I would do that day. The activities I had planned grew to be what felt like big distractions to that which was now the pressing need. Over and over and over again the words of Jesus ran through my mind. Specifically, "Let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no' be 'no'." I had to keep tellin

We Hear Them

"And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers. They were completely amazed. 'How can this be?' they exclaimed. 'These people are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our native languages!' ... They stood there amazed and perplexed. 'What can this mean?' they asked each other." Acts 2:4-12 On a handful occasions now, I've found myself in a country where I was completely unable to speak their language. As one who so enjoys hearing other peoples' stories, I found it supremely frustrating. I was suffering from verbal claustrophobia. I started praying begging God for the ability to speak their language, but he chose not to give it t