According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now, also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. Philippians 1:20
Richard Paul Evans is becoming one of my favorite writers. This book is a modern version of the
old Testament story of Joseph and the coat of many colors. I only have two quotes from the book but they should give you a good taste of what to expect. To learn more about the author check out his web page or his Facebook page. Enjoy the two quotes below:
Life is the soil, our choices and actions the sun and rain, but our dreams are the seeds.
The greatest falls of towers and hearts happen when beliefs are built upon assumptions.
If you have not read a Randall Arthur novel you are missing an excellent read. The first novel I read of his was "Wisdom Hunter". The author was on the mission field for over 20 years. He is such a wonderful writer. It is hard to put his book down once you start reading it. This book, "Forgotten Road," is no exception. The story is about a transformed life. A man that is deceived into believing in a prosperity gospel. At first his life is great and then everything falls apart and we find him in prison. This is where God starts working in his life. There is no way I can tell you this beautiful story, you will need to read it yourself. I trust the quotes below will challenge and motivate you!
I will say this – God’s character … is predictable. He’s predictably holy. Predictably full of love. Always. But nowhere in the Bible are we ever told that God’s … actions … are predictable. Unless, of course, He has promised a particular outcome to a particular person to help advance a particular plan. Otherwise I challenge you – pick up the Bible in your cell. You’ll find that God never asked us in general to place our faith in His predictability. Rather, He asked us to place our faith in His ability. And there is a difference. For example, God will not predictably keep us from developing cancer. He does have the ability to keep us from getting cancer. But He also has the ability to walk with us, teach us, console us, and use us as a positive influence while we are dying with cancer. And we need to trust His ability to choose what is best for us. So, is there a God? Is He a tyrant? No. Was your pastor misleading you? Perhaps not intentionally, but in my opinion, yes. ~Randall Arthur
To make us rich and comfortable is not God’s number-one priority, probably not even a priority at all. Actually, God’s standard according to Matthew chapter seven, verses twenty-four and twenty-five, is this: “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.” Those verses imply that the rain and the winds will generally beat down on everyone’s life … even those who hear and obey His words. So, for a prosperity theologian to look at a group of Americans, who are in the top three percent of the most privileged people on the planet, and say “It’s God’s priority for you to have more and to never be uncomfortable,” and for that group of people to honestly believe they deserve more and that God is somehow unfair with them and not blessing them if they are not promoted to the top one percent … is the epitome of ingratitude. In my opinion, it’s the most extreme form of sacrilege. ~Randall Arthur
Western Christians have become so addicted … to comfort, prosperity, and selfish living that we’ve now built our Christian beliefs around these addictions. We truly expect God to care more about our … selfish dreams, whims, and desires than He cares about truth, justice, and rightness. It’s nothing more than an ‘American Dream’ theology. And I’m convinced that it is a wrong perspective. ~Randall Arthur
This life I have is a gift, and although it’s also a responsibility and yes, sometimes a burden, this gift has been given to me. ~Randall Arthur
The greatest ongoing battle in the universe is not between crime and law enforcement, not between democracies and dictatorships, not between the rich and the poor, not between nations, and not between races. Rather, the greatest ongoing battle in the universe is between the lies of Satan and the truth of God. The lies of the enemy, when believed, will trap and destroy every victim, without exception. On the other hand, the truths of God, when believed, will set a person free. John’s Gospel, chapter eight, verses thirty-one and thirty-two, say, “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Set you free from what? From spiritual condemnation, from spiritual confusion, from hopelessness, from fear, from unforgiveness, from anger, from depression, from bitterness, from emptiness. And the list goes on and on. ~Randall Arthur
Help me, God. I never, never, never want to be guilty of taking a single step without completely depending on you. ~Randall Arthur
Matt. 8:23-26 says, “And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.” The passage made it very clear that fear was the exact opposite of faith. And the one thing that God wanted most from His followers was faith. Yet, in spite of a grand pantheon of Christian words and ideas, most westerners, it seemed, lived by fear, not by faith. ~Randall Arthur
Pain, like no other tool, it seemed, had the power to chisel one’s heart into radical shapes. ~Randall Arthur
I’m a servant in God’s household, so I don’t have to worry. He takes care of His servants, even if it’s with meager provisions. I’ll be okay. “True religion with contentment is great gain.” ~Randall Arthur
… the life-changing education of the heart and soul is not in the already knowing, but rather in the strain of learning. ~Randall Arthur
I recommend this book to everyone who enjoys a great novel!
This book is about a lesbian tenured English Professor at a large research university (Syracuse University) who came to know Christ in her mid thirties. This is her story of that conversion. A fantastic book that will inspire and challenge you in your Christian faith. She is now the wife of a Reformed Presbyterian pastor. After her conversion to Christianity in 1999, she developed a ministry to college students. She has taught and ministered at Geneva College and is a full-time mother and pastor’s wife, part-time author, and occasional speaker. Here is her website. Here is a link to the church her husband, Kent, pastors. I trust you will enjoy the quotes below:
I’ve discovered that the Lord doesn’t change my feelings until I obey Him. ~Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
Obedience comes before understanding. I wanted to understand. But did I actually will to do His will? God promised to reveal this understanding to me if I “willed to do His will.” The Bible doesn’t just say do his will, but “will to do His will.” Wanting to understand is a theoretical statement; willing to do His will takes action. ~Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
I learned that we must obey in faith before we feel better or different. At this time, though, obeying in faith, to me, felt like throwing myself off a cliff. ~ Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
How did the Lord heal me? The way that He always heals: the Word of God got to bigger inside me than I. My natural inclination was to resist, so like a reflex, I did this. God’s people surrounded me. Not to manipulate. Not to badger. But to love and to listen and to watch and to pray. And eventually instead of resisting I surrendered. ~ Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
If people in my church really believed that gay people could be transformed by Christ, they wouldn’t talk about us or pray about us in the hateful way they do. Christian reader, is this what people say about you when they hear you talk and pray? Do your prayers rise no higher than your prejudice? ~ Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
Although grateful, I did not perceive conversion to be “a blessing.” It was a train wreck. After we profess faith in Christ the next morning, the alarm still rings and we cannot lose our salvation, if we are not growing in spiritual maturity we can lose everything else. What I faced at work following my conversion was the rubbish of my sin, forgiven by God, but still there to be cleared away. This required a newer and even more intense understanding and application of Scripture.
When I became a Christian, I had to change everything – my life, my friends, my writing, my teaching, my advising, my clothes, my speech, my thoughts. I was tenured to a field that I could no longer work in. I was the faculty advisor to all of the gay and lesbian and feminist groups on campus. I was writing a book that I no longer believed in. And, I was scheduled in a few months to give the incoming address to all Syracuse University’s graduate students. What in the world would I say to them? The lecture that I had written and planned to deliver – on Queer Theory – I threw in the trash. Thousands of new students would hear my first, fledgling attempts to speak about Christian hermeneutics at a postmodern university. I was flooded with doubt about my new life in Christ. Was I willing to suffer like Christ? Was I willing to be considered stupid by those who didn’t know Jesus? ~ Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
Importantly, God does not say that this sin of Sodom is the worst of all sins. Instead, God uses the sin of Sodom to reveal the greater sin committed by His own people: “As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good” (Ez. 16:48-50).
Conversion didn’t “fit” my life. Conversion overhauled my soul and personality. It was arduous and intense. I experienced with great depth the power and authority of God in my life. In it I learned – and am still learning – how to love God with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind. When you die to yourself, you have nothing from your past to use as clay out of which to shape your future. ~ Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
Sin is not a mistake. A mistake is taking the wrong exit on the highway. A sin is treason against a Holy God. A mistake is a logical misstep. Sin lurks in our heart and grabs us by the throat to do its bidding. Remember what God said to Cain about his sin? It’s true for us too. In the fourth chapter of Genesis, God warns Cain like this: “sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him” (Gen. 4:7). ~ Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
After conversion, every day and every part of the routine of my life was a faith test. I had formerly been a very popular teacher in gay and lesbian studies. I was already scheduled to teach for the fall semester 1999 Introduction to Women’s Studies (a class that routinely enrolled over 200 students) and Feminist Pedagogy (a graduate seminar for graduate students who taught under me). I would have to follow through and teach these classes, but would have to find a way to teach them as a Christian. I still needed to make course descriptions for the classes in Christian hermeneutics that I would teach for the spring semester 2000. I had liberty to teach new courses – as long as the classes drew students. I had formerly used my classroom to advocate for gay and lesbian rights and ideas. I now used my classroom to abandon the discipline in which I was hired to create instead courses in a field of study – Christian hermeneutics – unheard of in my liberal postmodern department. Who would take such courses? What if no one signed up? ~ Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
On August 17, 1999, I returned to my office after delivering a lecture to all incoming graduate students. The topic was to be of my choosing. When the graduate school invited me, I was a lesbian postmodernist. When I delivered the lecture six months later, I was a fledgling follower of Jesus Christ. The lecture was entitled: “The Solomon Problem.” I felt awkward and uncomfortable as I took the podium and adjusted the clip-on microphone to the neckline of my dress. I was in process of growing out my butch haircut, so every day was a bad hair day. And the lecture was going to be a bomb. In it, I would become a traitor and a turncoat. To the lesbian community, I would become the example of what not to be. I could no have gotten through that lecture had R not been there. In the six months since my conversion, he had become my watchdog, big brother, champion, simultaneous translator, and best friend. He came to my lectures, to my classes, to my Thursday night dinners. He talked to my students and my colleagues. He embraced my drag queen friends. He translated my concerns to the session of our church with a deftness and sensitivity that I still marvel at. As I fingered my pages on the podium, R gave me a firm thumbs up from his spot, the nosebleed section of the balcony, and left of stage. He was the only person who understood this spiritual and professional schizophrenia that had quickly become my new normal after conversion. ~ Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
Unbelief puts circumstances between itself and Christ, so as not to see Him …. Faith puts Christ between itself and circumstances, so that it cannot see them. ~F.B. Meyer
But, I wondered, could I write an honest testimony? Could I, in the Apostle Paul’s words and tradition, write and deliver a testimony that reveals repentance as fruit of the Christian life? In English studies we have a mantra: A culture is comprised of its stories. “We are the stories we tell,” I’ve said to my students year after year. I was critical of the stories I heard from my churchy friends and my evangelical culture. But could I be more than just critical of the stories that encompassed me? Could I start a new conversation? What would happen if I just told the truth? Was anybody else out there ambivalent about conversion? Did anyone else see it as bittersweet? Did anyone else get lost in fear when counting the costs of discipleship? Did anyone else feel like giving up? Did anyone else tire of taking up the Cross daily? Did anyone else grieve for death to one life that anticipates the experience of being “born again”? Did anyone else want to take just one day off from the command that we die to ourselves? ~ Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
Hermeneutics is the study of how we make meaning out of text. Another word that often interchanges with hermeneutics is worldview. Hermeneutics focuses on the details; worldview takes the point of view of the frame. These two terms need to be understood in relationship. A stained-glass window relies on the right relationship between the details that make up each frame and the big picture that emerges when you lift your eyes off the minute detail. It is exceedingly dangerous to build a Christian life on just one or the other. You must hold both in tension and balance. Taken together, hermeneutics and worldview make up a critical perspective. Is there such a thing as a Christian critical perspective on worship? I wondered. ~ Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
Borrowing from J. Gresham Machen’s book, The Virgin Birth of Christ, Moore says this: “if Joseph is not ‘really’ the father of Jesus, you and I are going to hell.” He goes on to explain: “Jesus identity as the Christ … is tied to his identity as the descendant of David, the legitimate heir to David’s throne. Jesus saves us as David’s son, the offspring of Abraham, the Christ. That human identity came to Jesus through adoption. Matthew and Luke trace’ Jesus’ roots in Abraham and David through the line of Joseph.” ~ Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
It would make a much bigger impression on our children’s future, I suggest, to be calling off most of their persistent sports idolatry to enjoy family dinner at home and to practice the “love of strangers” with such guests. Today’s children know little or nothing of such an approach to community. And our churches wonder how to reach the lost. Reach them for what? ~ Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
Yes, homosexuality is a sin, but so is homophobia. Homophobia is the irrational fear of a whole people group, failing to see in that group God’s image diminished but not extinguished by sin, and that God’s elect people linger there, snared by their own sin and awaiting gospel grace. ~ Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
Thai book was written after the movie, "War Room!" The author played an important part in the movie and she is also a well known Christian speaker, and daughter of the Pastor Tony Evans. Even though this book is written for women, I think it is an encouragement and challenge to all who read it. Many wonderful principles taught in this book! I trust the quotes below will be a blessing to you:
Not everything good thing is a God thing. ~Priscilla Shirer
Satan’s ploy is to make you believe your core value as a person is tied to how much work you do, how much activity you can accomplish, how much stuff you can accumulate, how much business you can generate. ~Priscilla Shirer
God doesn’t want something from you. He wants something for you. Your value is not in what you do (as if you could ever do enough) but in who you are (as if you could ever be more loved and accepted by Him than you already are). ~Priscilla Shirer
Easy not to notice how every time Moses approached Pharaoh throughout the early part of Exodus, declaring God’s Words to the Egyptian ruler, he didn’t just say, “Let My people go,” like the lyrics to the old spiritual says. He said, “Let My people do, so that they may serve Me (Ex. 9:1). Said it about a dozen times. Look it up. There was a specific reason for their release. ~Priscilla Shirer
This one life is all we’ve got. This one pass through the gauntlet of life’s pressures and demands is our one chance to choose: Will we let them dominate and define us? Steal our hearts and devotion? Or will our service and adoration of the Father determine how we operate – determine what fills our plate? ~Priscilla Shirer
Unforgiveness is a strategic “design,” craftily implemented by your enemy to “outwit” you, to cripple your effectiveness in prayer and your power to stand against him victoriously. ~Priscilla Shirer
Yes: “All of God’s promises,” the Bible says, “have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding ‘YES!’” (2 Cor. 1:20)
My wife and I had an opportunity to see a screening of this movie. Excellent movie, but please make sure you take tissues with you. It is very emotional. Check out the trailer below:
Here are the words of one of the songs in the movie. The song is song by Third Day:
"Your Words"
Let me hear Your words
Above all other voices
Above all the distractions in this world
Let me hear Your words
Above all of the voices
Above all the distractions in this world
For Your words bring life
And Your voice speaks promises
Lord, Your love offers more
Than anything else in this world
Your words give us life that’s never ending
Your words bring us love that never fails
Everything else will fade away
But what will remain
Are Your words
Let us speak Your words
More than ours, more than ever
Let us share Your love with all the world
The grass will wither and the flowers will fall
But the word of our God will last forever
The grass will wither and the flowers will fall
But the word of our God will last forever
Excellent movie! This book is taken from the movie. The only thing different is most of the deleted scenes are in the book. If you enjoyed the movie you will enjoy this book. Every believer ought to see the movie, then if you enjoy reading read the book. I have listed many quotes from this book (movie) below. The words encouraged and challenged me and I trust they will do the same for you!
A prayer strategy. Yes. I used to do what you and your husband are doing, but it got me nowhere. Then I started really studying what the Scriptures say, and God showed me that it wasn’t my job to do the heavy lifting. No. That was something that only He could do. It was my job to seek Him to trust Him, and to stand on His Word.
Elizabeth said, “Miss Clara, I’ve never seen anything like this (her prayer closet). And I admire it, I really do. It’s just that I don’t have time to pray that mush every day. Miss Clara’s response, “But you apparently have time to fight losing battles with your husband.”
The other truth she believed, from a life experiencing it, was that for real change to happen deep in the soul, God tended to make people miserable rather than happy. He brought them to the end of themselves and showed them how powerless they were in order to show them how powerful He was. The children of Israel didn’t push back the Red Sea. They didn’t knock down the walls of Jericho. It was only when they were at the end of their rope and had to depend on someone bigger that they saw God work mightily. It was the same with each follower of Jesus.
She wanted to pray that God would restore Elizabeth’s marriage and turn her husband’s heart around and that everything would be fixed overnight. Immediate healing was easier to pray for than a transplant because a transplant takes time and someone else has to die. But the more Clara spoke with the Lord about the situation, the more she understood Elizabeth’s life was probably going to get worse before it got better. And the issue wasn’t just Elizabeth’s husband. It was Elizabeth herself.
“When I fought against my husband,” Clara continued, “I was fighting against my own marriage and my family. I tried for years to fix Leo, but I couldn’t do it.”
“Well, I’ve gotten nowhere with Tony.”
“Cause it’s not your job! Who said it was your responsibility to fix Tony? It’s your job to love him, respect him, and to pray for the man. God knows he needs it.” She raised her voice to a falsetto. “And men don’t like it when their woman’s always trying to fix them.”
“Elizabeth, you got to plead with God so that He can do what only He can do, and then you got to get out of the way and let Him do it.”
“God does hear what we pray. You don’t need a megaphone or a million people to get His attention. But the point of prayer is not to get what we want. Prayer changes the person who prays.”
“The goal of prayer is not to change God’s mind about what you want. The goal of prayer is to change your own heart, to want what He wants, to the glory of God.”
And you need to do your fightin’ in prayer. You need to kick the real enemy out of your home with the Word of God.
Now here Elizabeth stood, fully awake to the battle. “I don’t know where you are, devil,” she said loudly, “but I know you can hear me.” She looked at the stone fireplace and the furniture in the room. “You have played with my mind. And had your way long enough. No more! You are done!” She walked into the kitchen, lights reflecting on the granite countertop. She glanced back from where she had just come. “Jesus is Lord of this house, and that means there’s no place for you here anymore! So take your lies, your schemes and accusations, and get out! In Jesus’ name!” Elizabeth could hear Clara’s voice echoing in her head – the way she would say those words. She opened the back door and walked onto the deck. “You can’t have my marriage, you can’t have my daughter, and you sure can’t have my man! This house is under new management, and that means you are out!” She walked inside and slammed the door behind her. Then something clicked in her mind and she opened the door again and stepped outside. “And another thing! I am so sick of you stealing my joy. But that’s changing too. My joy doesn’t come from my friends, it doesn’t come from my job, it doesn’t even come from my husband. My joy is found in Jesus, and just in case you forgot, He has already defeated you. So go back to hell where you belong and leave my family alone!” Elizabeth slammed the door again and it felt like the exclamation point to her proclamation. She was finally taking control. No, that wasn’t the truth. She was getting out of the way and letting God take control. She was going with Him, agreeing with Him instead of her enemy. No longer would she be ruled by fear or by the actions of anyone else.
She wanted to tell Elizabeth that if you come to God with a good plan, you’ll probably leave frustrated. The believer’s job was to come to God with a surrendered heart. To come empty-handed every morning not to get what you wanted but to receive all of who He was and what He wanted for you.
“Sometimes the best gifts God gives us are not the easy times when everything goes our way. The best gifts are the hard times when your life is reduced to a couple of good questions: What is this all about? Why are we here? Sometimes it’s a diagnosis. Sometimes it’s a slamming door when someone you love walks out. Might be a bill you can’t pay. And at first you think the answer will be healing or that loved one returning or a pile of money that drops right out of heaven. Now I’m not against healing. I’m for it. And I’m for reconciliation. If God opens up the storehouses of heaven and rains down hundred-dollar bills, I’ll get out a basket and gather them like manna.” Elizabeth laughed, though Clara figured tears were running down her cheeks at the same time. “But here’s the thing I’ve discovered after walking with the Lord a long time, Elizabeth. God is not interested in making me comfortable or happy. His goal is to make me holy, like His Son. And I’ve never met a follower of Jesus who hasn’t encountered some suffering pain. God doesn’t tell us to pick up a memory foam cross. It’s rugged and it’s heavy. You can run and try to find some easier way, but eventually He leads you through the thorns and briars and that valley of the shadow. But I promise you, if you trust Him, He will lead you to green pastures and peaceful waters. Not just when you get to heaven, but right now. Peace and contentment in the middle of the storm. In the middle of the disappointment and fear and anger.
The bad times are really the good times in disguise.
“All I know is, you can fight against your wife, and probably hold your own, but if God is fighting for her, you can hit the gym all you want to, but it’s not looking too good for you.”
Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God.
But I’ve learned that my contentment can’t come from you. Tony, I love you. But I am His before I’m yours. And because I love Jesus, I’m staying right here.
“Ha-haaaa! Devil, you just got your butt kicked!” she screamed. “My God is faithful! He’s powerful! He’s merciful! He’s in charge! You can’t fire Him, and He’ll never retire! Glory! Praise the Lord!”
“Really, what I’m talking about here is the difference between you working hard to change things and revival. I hear people talking a lot about revival and what they want God to do to change society and the culture and how much sin there is in Hollywood and everywhere else. I pray for revival. But I’ve lived long enough to know that it doesn’t start with anybody but me. Right here.” Clara pointed a bony finger toward her own heart. “If you find yourself getting anxious, nervous, questioning whether Tony can change, you’re not really questioning him, you’re questioning whether God has the power to do what He said He could do.”
C.S. Lewis Quote:
To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.
“Lord Jesus, You know the struggle that Tony has. You know the indecision, the shame, the pain of his choices. I pray You would remind him right now of whose child he is. And that when You look at him, You see the perfection of Your Son, Jesus. Thank You that You have conquered sin. Thank You that the evil one is not in control. Give Tony the courage to do what You’re asking him to do, in Your timing.”
“Once the power of God is unleashed in a life, things don’t stay the same. And that’s what prayer does, it unleashes the power of God. You see, prayer is not about getting things right. You don’t get your prayers answered because you kneel in just the right spot or say just the right words.”
Why pray at all? “If God knows everything and if He’s working out His will in the world, what’s the point?” “Mm-hmm,” Clara said. “The answer to that question is simple, but not easy. We pray because God tells us to. He commands us to. So we obey. And John says whenever we ask anything according to God’s will, He hears us. So why would God ask us to do something that makes no difference? That’s really your question.” “I do or I wouldn’t waste my time or the cartilage in my knees.” “Prayer brings us closer to the heart of God. It opens your heart to those around you and makes you long for what He longs for. And it’s clear from the first page to the last that God does respond to the requests of His people. I don’t pretend to understand it, but it’s true.”
Pray and wait. That’s what she had done in the past few weeks. And in the waiting came the strengthening of the muscles of faith. It was a whole-faith workout to wait and allow God to do what He wanted to do. As Clara said, it was time to just get out of His way.
“God is working here. He’s done a big thing in your husband’s heart. And it doesn’t matter what that company decides.”
“The circumstance doesn’t matter. It’s your reaction to it that matters.”
“Most people think ‘God helps those who help themselves’ is in the Bible. Listen, God helps those who have come to the end of themselves. And that’s where Tony is. I know it feels terrible, but it’s a very good thing.”
No matter what happened to her and Tony, no matter how choppy the waters became because of the evil one’s influence, she had a choice. She could choose to be tossed about and blown off course, or she could be controlled by the love of God. She could choose to look at how far God had gone to show her love – the death of His only Son. She could choose to see the rescue plan God put in place for her soul, how much He cared, how much He wanted to bless her. She could either look at the circumstances she was in, which were pretty dire, or she could see the big picture, that God was ultimately in control and would walk with her no matter what happen.
I hear people say, “Well all we can do now is pray.” That’s the best thing we can do.
A lot of people want to do great things for God. A lot of people want to change the world. I just shake my head when I hear that. God is the only one who can change the world because He’s the only one who can change hearts and minds.
My whole source of joy is in You.
I would rather have a man chasing Jesus than a house full of stuff.
If … My people who are called by My name humble themselves, pray and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
“You’ve done it again, Lord. You’ve done it again. You are good and You are mighty and You are merciful. And You keep taking care of me when I don’t deserve it. Praise You, Jesus. You are Lord.”
“Give me another one, Lord. Guide me to who You want me to help. Raise up more that will call on Your name. Raise up those that love You and seek You and trust You. Raise them up, Lord, raise them up!”
In her mind, she saw a family clasping hands at the dinner table to pray. A man on a tractor in the middle of his field. Two men with bowed heads praying in front of a world map.
“Lord, we need a generation of believers who are not ashamed of the gospel. We need an army of believers who hate to be lukewarm and will stand on Your Word above all else. Raise’em up Lord. Raise them up.”
Clara saw streams of young people moving toward a flagpole, encircling the area with eyes closed. Others were heading for a church in the distance, carrying young children.
“I pray for unity among those that love You. I pray that You’d open their eyes so that they can see Your truth. I pray for Your hand of protection and guidance.”
Clara thought of the police officers in her town and across the nation. Of the division between races and the struggles she had witnessed over the years.
“Raise up a generation, Lord that will take light into this world. That will not compromise under pressure that will not cower when others fall away. Raise them up, Lord; that they will proclaim that there is salvation in the name of Jesus Christ. Raise up warriors who will fight on their knees, who will worship You with their whole hearts. Lord, call us to battle, that we may proclaim You King of kings and Lord of lords!”
Clara pictured fathers praying over their newborn children. She pictured men and women in places of high power kneeling and praying for guidance. She thought of schoolteachers and business leaders and gas station attendants and mothers at PTA meetings. She thought of pastors and youth workers and missionaries and the faces all came together in her final words of petition.
“I pray these things with all my heart. … Raise them up, Lord, raise them up!”
The author of this book is a friend of mine. He sent me this book. When I saw the title and read the back cover to be honest I did not think I would enjoy the book. Boy, was I wrong. This short book is an excellent read. The story is a fictional account of what happen to the 10 lepers that were healed (The Biblical account recorded in Luke 17:11-19). The main character in the book is the one leper that returned to Jesus to give thanks. The story is very interesting and it also is inspirational.I share just a few quotes below:
His years of ministry had prepared him well to deal with my youthful zeal ... impatience. "We must trust the solid examples we find in God's Word, my son. Consider how Noah spent 120 years building a mammoth ark before the great flood. Or, how Moses had to spend all those years in Pharaoh's court and in the desert before he was ready to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. God is in control and He is not hurried. He wants you to be properly prepared before you go. You must also seek His wisdom for the best plan. You need a God directed mission strategy."
The wise:
1. They listen to sound advice
2. They obey it
3. They are declared righteous
4. They ultimately prosper
5. They receive life The foolish:
1. They ignore sound advice
2. They rebel
3. They remain evil - wicked
4. They ultimately fail
5. They end in hopeless death The key to Proverbs:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
My List - We must:
1. Live a godly life first
2. Have a working knowledge of God's Word
3. Be somewhat familiar with those we are called to reach
4. Pray for guidance to find them and wisdom to deal with them
5. Trust God for the results
6. Meet weekly to encourage each other and share God's progress
As you can see the book is very practical. I especially enjoyed the author listing the hymns and words to the hymns that he enjoyed. These were listed at the end of the book.
All believers will enjoy this book. To order a copy of this book email George at georgebrainard@reagan.com
A Winter Dream by Richard Paul Evans
