He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noticed how they would choose the best places for themselves: “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, don’t recline at the best place, because a more distinguished person than you may have been invited by your host. The one who invited both of you may come […]
Around the planet, Jesus is paying special attention to people who have been enslaved by Islam. Introducing Himself to them in dreams, answering unbelievers’ prayers for miracles, using the Qur’an to draw them to Himself; He is creating congregations in places where it is illegal to evangelize. He seems to frequently show special love to people most people are hating […]
You have influence over someone. That influence may be great or small. It may be greater than anyone else’s over a certain person or group, and still be small. Whatever the size or the expectation of its strength, stay alert for any opportunity the Spirit of God gives you to invite someone to life in Jesus. You can prophesy even […]
I have, since being a teenager, had the perhaps arrogant idea that if something is popular there must be something wrong with it. It influenced my choices of music, of religion, clothing, art, and everything else, I suppose. Democracy is touted as the best government ever on the earth. Some have said of it, though, that if good people lead […]
One of my heroes, E. Stanley Jones, shared a story about some villagers in India who were going to be baptized. A visiting bishop, who was present to oversee the baptisms, was very pompous. He asked some of the villagers, “What is it to be a Christian?” He was expecting the correct theological answer. The answer he received was, “To […]
Abraham didn’t need to have Yahweh’s phone number – God usually called him. Much of our lives should be the same way – contact is made with Yahweh because we are answering Him. Our worship is rightly a response to Him. Our lives are rightly obedience to His call regarding our true identities and our true purposes. He is almost […]
When you get a blessing, make noise about it. Especially if it is particularly supernatural. When the woman who had the never-ending menstrual cycle got healed by touching Jesus’ clothes, it apparently made the local papers: when Jesus appeared in Gennesaret after Peter walked on water, everybody wanted to touch Jesus’ clothes. Anybody who did got healed! Make His praises […]
But thanks be to God, who always puts us on display in Christ, and spreads through us in every place the scent of knowing Him. (2 Corinthians 2:14-15 from Holman Christian Standard Bible ©®) The scent of an organic item can be good or bad. Bacteria stink. Some flowers even stink. Most fruit, when mature, smells sweet and invites us […]
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. (Galatians 4:6-7 from Holman Christian Standard Bible ©®) Anyone who is still captive to the laws Yahweh gave Israel, or the natural, […]
Every time I consider the life of Helen Keller, I am struck by the difficulties that had to be overcome by Anne Sullivan, her teacher. Helen became deaf and blind at the age of 19 months. When Anne was brought into her life to train her, Helen could not grasp for a while that every thing had a name, much […]