There is a popular saying incorporating a well-known Bible verse: I can do all things through Scripture out of context. Though this is comical, there is a seriousness to the issue of misusing Scripture for personal purposes and for creating aberrant doctrine. One of the things I can personally relate to is my former way of decreeing and declaring in prayer. Have you ever heard any of these phrases: Call those things that aren’t as though they were? Decree a…
For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14 Esther 4:14 is a well-known verse, quoted by many and viewed as even personal encouragement today. Many people have a desire to be part of something bigger than themselves, and the thought that we…
And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for you Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name. Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts,…
Most of the trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important. T.S. Eliot Imagine you attend a corporate gathering at a church where you believe you will learn spiritual things that are said to deepen your walk with God and how to have all your prayers answered. The speaker teaches from a book he wrote about praying from the heavenly realm, and he goes on to talk for the next hour and a half about himself…
What would be your first reaction to hearing a teaching centered around a couple of verses in Scripture allegedly showing how Jesus time traveled, and we could access the eternal realm as well with the aid of time traveling angels? No, my blog has not been hacked by a New Age teacher, and I have not binge watched Back to the Future or Quantum Leap. To my dismay, there are actual teachings out there telling professing believers they can time…
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me. Psalm 13:1-2,5-6 ESV When David wrote this psalm to the Lord, he was in despair and…
While reflecting on personal growth this year and things that have taken place in life, I am coming away with joy in the Lord while being challenged in the midst of my weaknesses to press on and to set my eyes on Jesus Christ. This year has held unexpected moments, many of those were trying, difficult, and full of uncertainty. The uncertainty was not in the Lord, but in what lay ahead. I do not want to paint a grim…
Within the past year, a great change has taken place in my personal life and in my walk with Jesus Christ. It has come with a price, but having counted the cost, it was well worth any perceived loss to truly know Christ. During that time, I grew restless in the realization that I had been spiritually starving. The hype and the sensationalism were tiresome. Hype sells but it doesn’t save. Oh, I longed for the Word of God to…