Posted on

Does God Speak?

Here I am at the YWAM International Workshop in Brazil and many things have been happening here. One of the craziest things has been that there have been a number of different people praying for me… and even though they are from different parts of the world (USA, Chile, Argentina) each one has prayed almost the same thing for me.

Now most of them also had no idea who I was or what was going on. Well, that is not completely true. I told them about my situation, but then they prayed for me in this and came up with the same crazy things. I would love to tell you more details about this, but right now I am feeling a little shy in sharing it with the whole world… so you may have to wait a little while for now.

But the thing I want to talk about here, is that if there are these different people from different parts of the world and hence with very different ideas and mindsets… how is it that they are all saying the same thing? God is speaking to me, of that I am sure. How else would you explain it? After all, they are all asking the same God for inspiration and the things that they should pray for me.

So does God speak? I would say: most definitely.

Posted on

It Takes Courage

Recently a friend sent me an email containing an actual prayer delivered before the Kansas House of Representatives by Central Christian Church Pastor Joe Wright on January 23, 1996. It was not word-for-word accurate but was a fair representation. I tracked down the original (now apparently missing) and have reproduced it below:

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and seek your direction and guidance.

We know your Word says, “Woe to those who call evil good,” but that’s exactly what we’ve done.

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.

We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of your Word and called it moral pluralism.

We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism.

We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building esteem.

We have abused power and called it political savvy.

We have coveted our neighbors’ possessions and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us O God and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.

Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas, and who have been ordained by you, to govern this great state.

Grant them your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of your will. I ask it in the name of your son, the living savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Posted on

A VISION of the LOST

“A VISION of the LOST”

-by William Booth.
[Founder of the Salvation Army]

On one of my recent journeys, as I gazed from the coach window,
I was led into a train of thought concerning the condition of the
multitudes around me. They were living carelessly in the most
open and shameless rebellion against God, without a thought for
their eternal welfare. As I looked out of the window, I seemed to
see them all… millions of people all around me given up to their
drink and their pleasure, their dancing and their music, their
business and their anxieties, their politics and their troubles.
Ignorant- willfully ignorant in many cases- and in other instances
knowing all about the truth and not caring at all. But all of them, the
whole mass of them, sweeping on and up in their blasphemies and
devilries to the Throne of God. While my mind was thus engaged,
I had a vision.

I saw a dark and stormy ocean. Over it the black clouds hung
heavily; through them every now and then vivid lightening flashed
and loud thunder rolled, while the winds moaned, and the waves
rose and foamed, towered and broke, only to rise and foam, tower
and break again.

In that ocean I thought I saw myriads of poor human beings
plunging and floating, shouting and shrieking, cursing and
struggling and drowning; and as they cursed and screamed
they rose and shrieked again, and then some sank to rise no more.

Continue reading “A VISION of the LOST”

Posted on

Why Aren’t We Persecuted?

Something has been bothering me lately. The more I read in the Bible, and the more that I read about amazing revolutions of God where countries were turned around, the more the theme of persecution appears on a recurring basis. This has prompted me to ask the question: Why are we not being persecuted?

The Bible says quite clearly that if we follow Jesus then we should expect to be persecuted like He was. It seems that only those people that become “radical” experience this. People that break with the traditions and go out and start telling people about Christ and God and who do not pull any punches are also experiencing a lot of resistance. So where does that leave the rest of us?

Continue reading “Why Aren’t We Persecuted?”

Posted on

Control

I learned something about myself today. It was when I was crossing from one country to another. Argentina to Brazil actually. Even though I have done this literally dozens of times now and know that there is nothing to fear, I still do. It is like some sort of unknown that rises up inside of me.

My Fear
Today, I discovered that my fear is actually based on control… and losing it. During that moment that I am between borders, I have no control at all over my circumstances. Anything may and could well happen, and I have no say at all. That scares me.

Continue reading “Control”

Posted on

The Unfounded Fear of a Sinner’s Response

Lately I have been wanting to seek God out more, to pray more, and to get out there and evangelize more. Actually, talking on evangelizing, I have been lamenting my weakness in declaring my faith to others when I talk with them. When they have asked me things, I often simply say that I am working to instill values in kids and help orphans and other bits and pieces like that… skirting around the core and principle fact that I am a Christian who believes in God and am working here because He has called me here. This changed completely last night.

Continue reading “The Unfounded Fear of a Sinner’s Response”

Posted on

Old Bill

Stomach full, wallet padded,
finely dressed, well accepted.
Greeting others, smiling profusely,
feeling good, doing my thing.

Pastor preaching, tells what I should do,
I am nodding, but doesn’t get through.
Service over, greet my friends,
organise supper, smile again.

Church. Club. Friends.

Continue reading “Old Bill”

Posted on

What Are They Looking For?

In church today I was not too involved with the whole proceedings. Sometimes I am but other times I am not. Today was one of those times. The thing that was bothering me tonight was a young 10 year old girl. I knew her. She sat not too far from me.

It was obvious that she was not enjoying being there. Her actions spoke loudly that she was just passing time until this service thing was all over. Nothing about it caught her attention. A church kid since very young, she had seen it all before. She was not impressed.

What is it that really will catch the attention of these kids? Why are we trying to ritualise them? Force them into the same square boxes that we were forced into? What will it serve to do this? What should we really be doing?

Continue reading “What Are They Looking For?”

Posted on

A Foot From Hell

Some people like to live
under the bells
and steeples
of a church.

I want to run
a rescue shop
within a foot
from the gates
of hell.

Posted on

Why Don’t We Do What We Know We Should Do?

I guess this sort of affects everybody. It certainly affects me.

How is it that even though I know the right things to do, I seem to head off onto whatever tangent that ends up being easier. It is not that I cannot do the hard things. On the contrary, I have done them many times before… but it never seems to be consistently. Why is this?

Why is it that I can start a new habit, but never see it turn into one? That I can want to do something really badly, but never seem to find time for it? That I can know what I should do, but never actually get around to doing it?

I can provide many answers for it, ranging from super-spiritual nonsense to ridiculously pragmatic. The issue really is not WHY I do these things, but actually HOW do I start doing the right things. After all, even if I don’t know how a car works, if it goes then I can drive it. I don’t even want to know why… I just want to do it. The right thing that is.