Numbers 13

Once upon a time, a group of people who had been a nation’s slaves cried out to their ancestors’ God for help. That God sort of surprised them by sending someone to them to lead them in a revolution. He successfully led them out of the nation that had owned them, and took them out to another place, where there […]

Learning From Jesus

We can learn much from Jesus about how to accomplish our ministries by looking at how He accomplished His. This is partly true because while He was doing ministry in the earth, He used the same resources that He has made available to us. We can’t do any supernatural ministry apart from the Holy Spirit gifting us with power to […]

Paying the Pain Price

Until my fingers have experienced the appropriate amount of pain, I will not become able to speak through my guitar. It will continue to hate me until I have sufficient callous on my fingertips to bear the weight of speaking through it. It is a wild horse that has not yet been broken and has not yet begun to trust […]

The Heavens Speak

The heavens declare the glory of God;And the firmament shows His handiwork.Day unto day utters speech,And night unto night reveals knowledge.There is no speech nor languageWhere their voice is not heard.Their line has gone out through all the earth,And their words to the end of the world.Psalm 19:1-4a NKJV The heavens are telling the glory of God…. Since the beginning, […]

How Firm a Foundation

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!What more can He say than to you He hath said—To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled? “Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed,For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and […]

Useful Pain

No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the fruit of peace and righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but healed instead. (Hebrews 12:11-13 Holman Christian Standard […]

Trust Your Father

I marvel when I think about how much torment fellow humans suffer at the hands of “health care providers” without complaint. While managing a health care facility for 6 years, I frequently tried to cheer patients who did have complaints, with the idea that physicians invented the term “patients” to describe the people who were patiently enduring their services. I […]

Be Filled!

Being filled with the Spirit of Jesus is important. Luke’s descriptions of being filled include the fact that some of the people who were filled with the Spirit in chapter 4 of Acts had already been filled in the event he had described in chapter 2. The idea that someone should be called “Spirit-filled” as if it were a condition […]

Bearing Much Fruit

One day, we will stand before Jesus, Who will be seated as a Judge. In Revelation 20:11-12, John saw that day in the spirit. Every dead person was judged according to records of their works, which were recorded in books. Based on Jesus’ story about a man who gave his servants measures of value while he was off in another […]

God First

The religious protocol that says God is first, family is second, and ministry is third doesn’t line up with Scripture and on days doesn’t line up with clear instructions from the King. A few verses that seem to teach a different idea: Luke 18:29-30     So He said to them, “I assure you: There is no one who has left a […]