“Always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy.” (Philippians 1:4, NKJV) In many places, a new school year will begin soon. As the children stream back into the classrooms, have you ever wondered how many have a mom or dad at home praying for them? Or are they walking through those classroom doors without a covering of prayer? While I don’t personally have a child starting classes, I do know things are much different today than when I attended school. Growing up in a small town in a kinder, gentler era, I felt safe and…
“Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?” (Psalm 85:6, NKJV) As a child, when my church announced a revival, I knew this meant our family would be attending services every night. My parents were faithful and would not miss a night. Revival usually meant a full week of services, or perhaps even longer as God moved with power and conviction. If it was warm weather, our pastor might announce a “tent revival.” This was a different kind of church, and even as a child I felt the excitement. The lively singing and anointed preaching would fill the night air, the sound reaching well beyond the canvas tent. Even if the curious would not join us inside, some would often lingered outside just to observe. WHERE REVIVAL BEGINS Revival is defined as: (1) a period of renewed religious interest, or (2) an often highly emotional evangelistic meeting or series of meetings (Merriam Webster Dictionary). Yet, revival is more than just a series of meetings. True revival always begins within our hearts. Some describe revival as a time of “getting serious about God” or as “being renewed in the Spirit.” We feel a new awareness of…
“While Ezra prayed and made this confession, weeping and lying face down on the ground in front of the Temple of God, a very large crowd of people from Israel—men, women, and children—gathered and wept bitterly with him.” (Ezra 10:1, NLT) After years of exile in Babylon, Artaxerxes, king of Persia, decreed that any of the people of Israel who desired were free to return their homeland. Ezra, a priest and scribe, led a group of fellow Jews back to Jerusalem. Their journey took four months, but they were finally in the land God had given them long ago. What Ezra soon discovered grieved him deeply. Many of those living in the land, including priests and leaders, had grown careless. They had disobeyed the Lord’s commandments by marrying women of the idol-worshiping nations around them. The Israelites were no longer a people separated unto God; their distinction was gone. All this greatly troubled Ezra. EZRA’S CALL TO PRAYER Ezra did the one thing he knew how to do. In humility and repentance, he fell on his face and cried out to God for his nation. He didn’t pray in a quiet corner somewhere. He lay on the ground in front…
I’ve talked to several people in the last few months that are in tough situations. Problems with their finances, their children, their marriages, addictions, you name it. What has shocked me in every instance is their lack of desperation. They’re complaining, crying, and even asking for help…but they really don’t want to make a change. So much so that I wonder if they’ve grown attached to their pain. It has tagged along for so long that it’s become their pet. They feed it, water it, and complain because it’s not house-trained yet, but they’ve come to see it as their…
“Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.” Psalm 139:13-16, MSG He knows everything about us…and still loves us. He knew everything about us before we were born. He saw all of our sin and all of the times that we would fail Him, and He still came down to redeem our imperfect, flailing souls. Our society demands perfection, but God just demands honesty and openness. He can work with our failures, as long as we continually bring them to the foot of the Cross. The only way we ruin our chances is to stop coming to Him. King David was awestruck by this concept: “I…
“A talebearer revealeth secrets; but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter” (Proverbs 11:13). In the information age that we live in, it seems as if there are no secrets anymore—especially when it comes to the personal lives of those in the public eye. In the past, the magazines or other news media that exposed private (and often humiliating or embarrassing) details of people’s lives were considered tabloids and frowned upon by other respectable news outlets. But not anymore. The boundary lines of decency have been erased, and it is a race between all the news media to see who can be the first to publish or broadcast the “scoop.” At the first sign of a bulge in a female celebrity’s stomach, the news media begin to publish questions about whether she is pregnant. Perhaps she has simply gained a little weight, but the rumor mill is already in full swing. If she actually is pregnant, just wait a few weeks and you will know the sex of the baby, the due date, where it will be born, and a myriad of other details, usually reserved for family and close friends. We are also privy to information…