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The Roundabout Way
17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God didn’t lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, even though that was the shorter route. God thought, If the people have to fight and face war, they will run back to Egypt. 18 So God led the people by the roundabout way of the Reed Sea desert. The Israelites went up out of…
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When We’re Not Effective… We Argue
In Mark 9 Jesus comes down from the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John. He finds the rest of his disciples in an argument with the legal experts. 14 When Jesus, Peter, James, and John approached the other disciples, they saw a large crowd surrounding them and legal experts arguing with them. 15 Suddenly the whole crowd caught…
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Two Possible Responses to Jesus
In Mark 6 there are a couple of responses to Jesus. In vv. 1-6 the people familiar with Jesus didn’t think much of who he had become. They launched into stories of “I remember little Jesus when he was following his daddy around with a hammer…” In vv. 7-12 there is a different response. 7 He called for the Twelve…
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My Name is Legion
2 As soon as Jesus got out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit came out of the tombs. 3 This man lived among the tombs, and no one was ever strong enough to restrain him, even with a chain. 4 He had been secured many times with leg irons and chains, but he broke the chains…
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Ash Wednesday
1 Listen to my prayer, LORD! Because of your faithfulness, hear my requests for mercy! Because of your righteousness, answer me!2 Please don’t bring your servantto judgment, because no living thing is righteous before you. 3 The enemy is chasing me, crushing my life in the dirt, forcing me to live in the dark like those who’ve been dead forever.4…
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Fighting the Noon Day Demon
I have begun reading Thomas Merton’s The Waters of Siloe, which follows up his wonderful autobiography, Seven Storey Mountain. This book will give more detail to his life at the monastery in Kentucky. Early in the book he gives a reminder to monastic orders, or spiritual orders of any kind, really, that is a great reminder for me in ministry.…
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Walking in Kingdom Power is About Using What You Have
I am walking my way through the Old Testament narrative right now and currently find myself in the story of David and Goliath. I love these stories! When David volunteered to take on Goliath, Saul tried to lend David his armor. They were not fit for David. They had been fit for Saul. David simply said, “I cannot go in…
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The Place of Intercession
One of the great pictures in the Old Testament of intercession is the story in Numbers 16. Moses and Aaron spend much of that time period on their faces before God interceding for Israel. Everything has fallen apart. The spies have returned from Canaan, but they don’t want to take the land. The people are in rebellion and want to…
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Sudden Winds
I met with my spiritual mentor yesterday and we both found ourselves in awe of the Word of God yet again. It was one of those times where I think, “Good grief! How many times have I read that and NOT seen this?!” The text was the end of Mark 4 and the beginning of Mark 5. The chapter break…
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The Divine “Yes”
Yesterday I was at a day of fasting and prayer for pastors in our district (actually a section in our district). It was wonderful to get away for a day to spend time seeking the Lord in prayer, especially with other pastors and a few other church leaders as well. There was a point in the day that was an…
Category: spiritual warfare
