2023 February
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Time to Hear
“He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him and show Myself to him.” – John 14:21b We live in a day of 12-step programs for this, four points to success for that, and all forms of programmed means of becoming successful. Have you ever wondered how you
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Microsoft Mary
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Prov 3:5- 6). I travel a lot. One of the greatest modern-day inventions I’ve appreciated most is the GPS system for cars. GPS stands for Global Positioning
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They’re Always Watching and Listening
“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16:25-26). It didn’t take long for non-believers to realize I was different in the secular workplaces where I’ve worked. I didn’t participate in the jokes, the dirty language, or criticism of management. I didn’t
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Worthless Idols
“Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.” – Jonah 2:8 Have you ever exercised your will over the will of God? Have you ever been so willful that you were going to go your own way no matter what God said? If so, you have been at the same
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Listening to the Father’s Heart
Son, delays do not mean I am not listening or caring about your situation. There have been many situations that I did not respond to immediately because things had to develop before the time was right for me to move. I did not deliver my people from the impending Egyptians until I knew I could
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Becoming a Fool
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” – Proverbs 1:7 Marvin Wilson, author of Our Father Abraham, has written incisively about the various meanings for our word “fool”: In Biblical wisdom literature, the pupils of the sages and mentors are the unwise, often termed “fools” (Prov.
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Listening to the Father’s Heart
Son, I want to tell you the real lesson of the prodigal son today. Many people want to judge the wayward son for his failures. Yes, he did fail and squandered all that his father entrusted to him. However, the father expressed the same attitude I would have had. I rejoice more over his return
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Do You Know Who You Are?
“Continue your love to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart” (Ps 36:10). Someone once said, “Success is when those who know you the best are those who love you the most.” Years ago a self-assessment tool was developed by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingram called the Johari window. The Johari
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Listening to the Father’s Heart
Son, by now you realize that the way I train my sons and daughters is by placing them in the middle of the battle. You cannot learn to exercise faith, trust and perseverance merely through knowledge. You cannot learn spiritual warfare by simply knowing it exists. You have to be on the front lines. My
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Withholding Your Natural Gifting
“My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power” (1 Corinthians 2:3-5). In the work world, we are trained to press through obstacles, no matter the cost. However, perseverance that
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Precious Deaths
“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” – Psalm 116:15 The Bible often speaks of death as a requirement of living a life in Christ. This death is not a physical death, but a spiritual death. It is a death of the old so the new can be raised.
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Your Ministry to the Poor
“Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter? When you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” (Is 58:7). For many years, I have read this passage without responding to it personally. I read it
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Listening to the Father’s Heart
Son, sometimes I take my sons into a time of isolation like I have done with you. It is here I turn messes into messages and develop my greatest messengers. The cave is often a place to process your pain and a place to receive a message from me for your life and for others.
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Sowing In Tears
“Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.” – Psalm 126:5 Psalm 126 describes an interesting process that goes against our natural tendencies when we are taken into a difficult period in our lives. Whenever we are hurled into a crisis that brings tears, our tendency is to retreat or recoil in
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Listening to the Father’s Heart
Son, as a leader you will experience a level of adversity that is greater because of your role as a priest called to intercede and identify with those you are to serve. You will feel the weight of those you are to serve. You are to identify with their sin and their struggles. What would
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You Want Me to Do What?
…”Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” – John 21:6a The disciples were fishing. It was after Jesus had been crucified. Peter had gone through his most agonizing moment in which he had denied Jesus three times. He had lost a friend. No doubt he probably wondered
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Nothing Is Impossible
“For nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). I walked into the doctor’s office for my pre-opt visit. The doctor came in and told me all about my procedure of arthroscopic knee surgery. “So, doc. I have been told this is pretty routine. If that is the case, I have a golf outing I am
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Listening to the Father’s Heart
Son, no matter what evil comes against you, I will use it for my glory and my purposes. When Pharaoh attacked my children I used him to demonstrate my power and my glory. But one thing you must learn. There is a time to wait and a time to move. Things must come into alignment
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Decision Making
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” – Proverbs 3:5 This is one of the most quoted verses in the Bible related to gaining wisdom and direction from God. Yet I have never heard one teaching on this passage that teaches what I believe the psalmist is
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University of Adversity
“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed;perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned;struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body” (2 Cor. 4:8-10). It’s hard to find anyone in
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Listening to the Father’s Heart
Remember this my son. Just because you may have begun well does not assure you of finishing well. Asa was one of my dear sons. So was Solomon. They began well. But, they lost their focus and allowed other things to get in the way of our relationship. This should be a sobering thought. However,
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Jesus Could Not Heal the Sick
“Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know” (Acts 2:22). In his book, When Heaven Invades Earth, Pastor Bill Johnson makes an insightful observation about Jesus. “He could not heal
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The Black Hole
…”My grace is sufficient for you….” – 2 Corinthians 12:9 If you are older than 35, you may recall the early days of the space program. I remember the early spacecraft launch with John Glenn. One of the most exciting and tense moments of his return to earth was his reentry to the earth’s atmosphere.
