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The Place of Intimacy in Prayer
The first few days of this week I get the privilege of being away at a prayer retreat. Three days of coming aside and hearing from God. I am so incredibly excited! This week as a church we are reflecting on prayer and intimacy. We are reading Psalms 23-32. All of these are psalms by David and give us insight…
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Blame, Blame, Blame
The Islamic world is in upheaval again. Once again, Americans look for blame. We look to something we can quantify. Something over which we can wring our hands. Even after it has become fairly clear the horrific attack on the embassy in Libya were a coordinated effort that led to deaths of four Americans, we are still wringing our hands…
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The Pain of Intercession
Moses offers us a picture of intercession. It is probably a picture we would rather look at and observe than imitate. Intercession is hard work. Israel stayed at the base of the mountain and let Moses do the climbing to God. Intercession calls us out. To be much for God, we must be much with God. Jesus, that lone figure…
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Moses Knew the Ways of God
One of Dallas Willard’s mantra is this: The nature of the Kingdom is to ASK. Moses is a picture of asking. He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel (Ps. 103:7, NIV) Israel knew what God did. Moses knew why God did it. We have that choice. Moses did. How did he know the ways of God? He asked. If you are pleased…
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Changing the Mind of God
11 But Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, “Lord, why does your fury burn against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and amazing force? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He had an evil plan to take the people out and kill them in the mountains and so wipe them off the earth’? Calm down…
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Our Impatience in Prayer
The people saw that Moses was taking a long time to come down from the mountain. They gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come on! Make us gods who can lead us. As for this man Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t have a clue what has happened to him.” (Ex. 32:1, CEB)…
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Remembering and Mourning
Today is the 11th anniversary of 9/11. It was actually a Tuesday when the attacks happened. I was reflecting with one of my classes last week about things like 9/11. One thought struck me during that discussion is built on a conviction I’ve had for quite some time about 9/11. We haven’t properly mourned 9/11. In personal tragedy, if someone…
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Lousy Leadership and Powerful Intercession
Next Sunday I am preaching on Moses and intercession. The main text I am starting from is Exodus 32-33. Moses has taken too long on the mountain, in the opinion of the Israelites. (They were in slavery 400 years and Moses is taking a few days. Go figure.) They quickly turn to worshiping a golden calf they forged out of…
