Don’t Pray for Patience — Do This Instead
You’ve probably heard the line about the guy who cried out to God in desperation, praying, “Lord, give me patience—and give it to me NOW!” Joseph could well have been driven to pray like that during many times in his life. He was sold into slavery by his brothers—only after Reuben, the eldest, persuaded the others not to kill him! Read More…
In the Midst of it All, Praise!
It is my habit to daily read and confess Psalm 91 for myself and my family. This morning I just kept going and read Psalm 92. There I found such a gift! Read more…
Who Do You Work For?
I want to introduce you to my friend, Al Cagle. I’ve known Al and his wife, Jeane, for a number of years through our church, Gateway Community. I’ve served with them on the drama team and come to love them both as two of God’s special people. Jeane sent this example of Al’s writing to share with me and gave me permission to share it with you. It is from an email he sent to the members of his Life Group. Read more…
My Big Break, Part Four: All It Was Cracked Up To Be–And More!
My grandkids did not know exactly what to make of this new version of “Papa”, as they call me. He walked around with a strange contraption-made even stranger due to the extension for my broken wrist. He was not like the guy who had chased them around the house during games of “Duck, duck, goose.” When I first began to gingerly test being “walker-less”, my granddaughter exclaimed, “Papa’s back!” Read more…
He is Here — Always!
Do you know what it feels like to feel utterly alone–to attempt to live your life with nothing to fall back on; with no one to help? If you’ve ever gone through desperate times you know exactly what it feels like. The wonderful promise made through the Christ child-Immanuel–is that God pledges to be with us in our troubles. He will not leave us to your own resources. All of His resources are now available to us. Read more…
My Big Break, Part Three: I Didn’t Know Churches Made Deliveries!
From the moment He prompted me to pray from Romans 8:28, the Lord began to prove Himself to me time and again. In the Emergency Room there were those dear friends-those brothers and sisters in Christ–who knew to keep things “light” because they know me. In the middle of x-rays and examinations there was levity. And there was music. Read more…
My Big Break, Part Two: I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up!
I don’t remember who the second one was to find out I had fallen off the stage. Of course, I was the first (speaking of human beings only and not the Lord)! But then, in an instant, it seemed as if I were surrounded. There was concern by the body of Christ, there was attention by friends who had some medical background. Looking back, I’m certain there were prayers being voiced. Read more…
My Big Break, Part One: Please Help Me, I’m Falling!
It was November 25th—just two days before Thanksgiving–when I persuaded her to go with me to see what still needed to be done. We arrived that night after a 45-minute drive through a combination of regular Houston traffic mixed with a slew of early holiday shoppers—the kind of delay that can often make me want to turn around and go home. But not this time; I was determined to get there and help and nothing could stand in my way. Read more…
Jehovah-Nissi: The Lord Our Banner!
However majestic the pageantry of an Olympic opening ceremony, the most thrilling part to me is the parade of athletes. As the athletes of each nation parade into the stadium, the proud citizens stand, applaud, and cheer for those who represent them. And each group is preceded by the flag of their country. Their banner goes before them as a rallying point for the nation they represent. The banner I write about today, however, precedes this event in history and in importance. Read more…
Nothing But The Blood: A Better Word
I wrote recently about those Bible verses that contain words and phrases that seem to “jump out” at us when we read them because they’re contained in familiar songs of praise and worship. Well, I had that experience just the other day when Hebrews 12:24 grabbed my attention. All at once I heard this song in my mind. Are you familiar with it? Read more…
Blessed Assurance: This is My Story and I’m Sticking to It!
I was listening to the Avalon’s Faith – A Hymns Collection CD recently and came to their new arrangement of this great old song. Hearing old hymns in a new way can cause us to hear them with “new ears.” This fresh perspective can help us realize the powerful messages they often contain. Read more…
Awesome!
Those who have spent much time around me know what I think about the overuse of the word awesome. Rather than write once again with my own opinions, here’s something written by Dennis De Haan. I found it in the Our Daily Bread devotional some time ago. Read more…
Singing Scripture: I Have A Hope
Have you heard or sung any of these lyrics before?
“…Your lovingkindness is better than life…”
“Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.”
“O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
“Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere…”
“…not to us but to your name be the glory…”
Okay, while they are song lyrics, they’re actually from various verses from Psalms: 63:3, 36:5-6, 8:9, 84:10, and 115:1 respectively. These are just a few examples. I’m sure you can think of more. What better praise and worship can we offer than to speak–and sing-His Word back to Him! Read more…
Everybody Ought To Love Jesus….and that means EVERYBODY!
Browsing through a copy of The Cokesbury Worship Hymnal (copyright 1938) I came across a hymn that is short and sweet and gets straight to the point in only three lines. Its title is “Everybody Ought to Love Jesus”, written by H.D. Loes. It was written in 1917 when, apparently, everything was simpler, including the presentation of the Gospel. Read more…
What Does It Mean To Pray “In Jesus’ Name?”
Do you ever say, “In Jesus’ Name, Amen!” very quickly at end of a prayer as if they were either magic words to ensure your prayer would be answered, or have you ever treated them as if they were just the standard thing to say to indicate the prayer was done sort of like “over and out”, “so long”, or “later, God?” I must admit that I have done so. Read more…
My Ebenezer – My Stone of Help
I remained sitting there, thinking about what I had just heard. Then, still captured in the moment, I asked God a question. “Father, do you really love me that much?” Immediately, almost as an audible voice but, yet, deep inside me, I felt the Holy Spirit say, “This is how much.” If I had not been sitting I would have dropped on my back to the floor. Read more…
Shh! Listen…God is Speaking to You!
I’m sure that, like me, if you’ve been a Christian for any length of time you’ve had moments when the hair stood up on the back of your neck; when you’ve gotten “goose bumps”; when the arrangement of events have led you unmistakably to the conclusion that HE HAS SPOKEN. But I realize that what I really want is not these encounters which may come only once in a lifetime if at all but, instead, the regular, intimate relationship with God that Adam and Eve had with Him in the Garden. Read more…
Got Unanswered Prayers? God Definitely Answered This One!
Probably each of us is subject to the feeling that, at times, God does not hear us when we pray. I would like to remind you, and myself, of just one of those instances recorded for us in God’s Word where we can KNOW that a prayer for us was definitely answered. Read more…
How Much Does God Love You? If You Only Knew…
There is a song that causes both my wife and me to think about her late mother every time we hear it. It reminds her of childhood memories of Christmas. Her father was a shift worker and would be on “graveyard” on Christmas Day arriving home about 7:30 am. My wife and her brother could not open their presents until their father came home. Their mother would “ooh” and “aah” about their presents generating great excitement. If she could come back, we can see her doing the same thing about heaven. Read more…
Looking for God’s Power? Pray This Prayer for Yourself
For some time, I have made it a practice to reword the prayers of Paul included in his letters. Changing the pronouns to refer to myself (i.e., “at home in my heart as I trust in him”). I was delighted to find a book about the prayers of Paul that contained all of them already reworded for my use and for use in praying for someone specific. No, these are not “vain repetitions.” I do not pray them as “rote recitations” but as heartfelt, mind-involved prayers of my own. Read more…
God’s Supply: What He’s Got, You’ve Got!
And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19 NKJV I’m thinking today about the phrase according to. Strong’s Greek Lexicon defines this phrase as used in this verse: by, after the manner of, by any means, beyond measure. We can see that the phrase according to does not mean only that God supplies our need from His riches in glory but beyond measure and in the manner of God! Read more…
New Bible Reader? Read This Book Next
After a study of Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, here’s my recommendation for your next study. Oh, and by the way, by “study”, I don’t mean some theological exercise but, instead, just reading with an open mind and heart. Read more…
New Testament Summarized in Two Words
Depending on the translation you read, over 130 times in the New Testament we find the words “in Christ”, “in Him”, or “in Whom”. If you look at the book of Ephesians you will find all of these phrases 11 times in the 1st chapter alone! The concept of “in Christ” is not only the foundation of Paul’s epistles, it wraps up the whole of Christian life. Read more…
New Bible Reader? Here’s Where To Start!
Are you a new Christian? Are you eager to begin reading the Bible but don’t know where to start? Or maybe you’ve been a Christian for some years and still can’t seem to make “heads or tails” of the Bible. I’ve got a suggestion for you: start reading in the books which best describe who you are now that you have chosen to be a follower of Christ Jesus. Read more…
I thought I knew but, really, I had no idea…Really!
Wonder…a sense of wonder. Isn’t that where we all end up when we consider our God, His creation, the works of His mighty hand? I once had an office mate at work with whom I did this wondering out loud. One day I was talking about one thing in particular that I wondered about when she suddenly burst out with, “Bill, you just wonder TOO MUCH!” Too much? Such a thought had never crossed my mind before! Am I not supposed to wonder, or had I crossed some maximum threshold and boldly gone where no man had gone before? Read more…
Living the Life
Lately, I’ve given the Lord reason for Him to bring the words of John 15:5 to my mind and to read John 15:1-17. In the Christian community we talk about things like “spiritual growth” or “maturity” and the Bible seems to be filled with “DOs and DON’Ts” regarding how we are to live our new lives. Read more…
Be Festooned
How amazingly quick and efficient is the God we worship and serve! When He speaks to me I hear no audible voice and He usually speaks His mind in an instant. Yet, to relate what He says takes me many words and much time. It’s as if He gave me an mp3 file which took only a moment to download but which took hours to play. He spoke to me that way this morning and I am still considering the weight and substance of His thoughts. Read more…
Let’s Synchronize Watches
Recently I was given an opportunity through which the Lord reminded me about aspects of intercessory prayer which I had forgotten. Perhaps you have been in the place I was and can identify. I admit I am a slow learner when it comes to spiritual matters and need repeated instruction to get it to “sink in.” Read more…
Love Lifted Me
“I was sinking deep in sin far from the peaceful shore very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more…” That’s the way I felt last night. Oh, I know the subject of the song is really the salvation experience that moment when God reaches down in His grace and pulls us up into His arms, just as we are, from the depths of sin. Still, this old song came to mind. Read more…
Enjoy Yourself!
Why I thought of this old song I’ll never know, but it took me on another journey with the Lord into the history of this language which He gave us. It illustrated for me again the richness of our vocabulary and, most important, gave me new insight into how I can use my words in praise and worship of Him; of how I can enjoy myself as I enjoy Him. Read more…
The Christian Life: Don’t Just Do Something; Stand There!
Surprise, surprise! Another song has led me down the path of discovery in the Lord. As before, even though this “lesson” was intended for me, I want to share it with you. Perhaps you will find some application in your life as well. Read more…
God’s Dreams For You
Have you given up on your dreams? Or do you feel your dreams have given up on you? If so, then give those dreams to God. Surrender the things you dream about to our Heavenly Father. Look to Him and listen to Him. He dreams more than enough for you. Read more…
Let God Love On You Today
As believers, we often do not experience that love to its fullest because we do not take the time to sit with Jesus. Sit with Him today. Read this passage and allow the Holy Spirit to “amplify” in His own way the love God feels for you. Read more…
Here I Am (GULP!), Lord
A number of years ago my dear friend, Robbie, gave me new insight into the significance of this song. We must have been singing it in a service and I told her how much I liked it. She said something like, “But have you ever thought of the seriousness of the words-about what you’re saying when you sing this song?” And, therein, lies the beginning of another journey with the Lord… Read more…
Jesus Loves Me: This I Know
“When you get this concept into your mind and heart it will totally revolutionize your life.” That’s just the way the Lord said it to me. And just what is this revolutionary concept? His all-consuming, unconditional love for me. And each of you can say the same of yourself. Read more…
Everyday Christianity: Pharisee, Pharido?
Do Pharisees still exist? Well, certainly some of the attitudes do. What’s more, sometime these attitudes are in us-I can speak for myself specifically. We call it “holier than thou”, usually. Read more…
Encouragement: That’s My Calling!
For some time I have been led to send notes and cards to the people around me at church and at work with the intent of encouraging them in the faith and expressing gratitude for what they do. This calling, if you will, led to the creation of this website. Read more…
Are You Ready To Have Your Wood Set On Fire?
Do you want to get excited right now? If so, just read these words from the book of Ephesians. Now, if you didn’t read that passage out loud, then go back and read it again so you can hear yourself saying the words. And if you really want your fire lit, read it until you actually internalize it, feel it, and believe it! Read more…
For Professionals Only: DO Try This At Home!
Gatekeepers. That’s what we are called to be. We stay close to Jesus, the Gate to God, and place the hands of the lost on the latch-the latch that each person must open for himself, but to which we can direct them. It’s part of the great commission Jesus gave us when He went back to be with our Heavenly Father. Read more…
Tarry With Me
God was accustomed to communing with Adam in the garden in the cool of the day. After Adam had eaten of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he was not so eager to take an afternoon stroll with God. You and I can return to the “garden”. We can pause during the day, draw apart, and have fellowship with the Lord. Read more…
Captivate Me, Lord!
There’s a song which has dominated my attention some time now. From the first time I heard it, I began to play it so many times I’ve lost count. I think it’s a beautiful song, of course, but there’s so much more to it than that. Read more…
