In Mark 10:17-30, the story is related of Jesus encountering a ruler who was young and rich. He approached Jesus with a question. He knelt before Jesus when he asked it. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus responded to his request by first loving him, and then answering him. “Go, sell all of your possessions, give the […]
In chapter 5 of Mark‘s stories, he related the events of the day trip to the Gadarenes area. There, they met the demoniac and pig herders. After destroying the herd of pigs, they met the townspeople who came out to check on the reports of the herdsmen. The demons knew Jesus already, and prayed to Him that He would let […]
Matthew described in chapter 10 of his testimony a Kingdom mission that Jesus sent him on with the rest of the apostles. Included was a bit of information about blessing or condemning people along the way. Jesus sent out these 12 after giving them instructions: “Don’t take the road leading to other nations, and don’t enter any Samaritan town. Instead, […]
I expect to soon be called on to pray with a 5 year old child regarding some trauma its family has subjected it to. While praying about what to pray, I started to also wonder how to include the child in the prayer. How can I communicate to the child that we are going to talk to Yahweh? How to […]
One of the most likely methods of overcoming depression or selfishness or unforgiveness or sadness or hopelessness is to search for someone to serve. Seeing others gain comfort or provision or safety or happiness can be a valuable source of the same things to us. The more I am focused on others’ needs, the more I am stepping into a […]
“Was John’s baptism from heaven or from men? Answer Me.” (Mark 11:30 Holman Christian Standard Bible® ©) One of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, has died. You know that your servant feared the Lord. Now the creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves.” Elisha asked […]
I feel as though I am about 40 years late doing the things that I believe I am in the earth to accomplish. Among other reasons, this sense that I have not really entered into my destiny here yet makes me pretty annoyed when the church around me is singing songs like “Precious Lord” – asking for permission to leave […]
Proverbs 22:9 has an interesting phrase in it. In the Holman Christian Standard Bible, it reads: A generous person will be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor. Young’s Literal Translation left a picture untouched in it, though: The good of eye — he is blessed, For he hath given of his bread to the poor. The person […]
If we knew we only had one day to live, that knowledge would likely affect the choices we made about how to spend that most valuable day. Wisdom would demand that we seek the Spirit of the Lord for advice about how to spend that day, and we would count it off in hours first, but soon in minutes. Any […]
Naaman, commander of the army for the king of Aram, was a great man in his master’s sight and highly regarded because through him, the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man was a brave warrior, but he had a skin disease. Aram had gone on raids and brought back from the land of Israel a young girl who […]