A MIGHTY PRAYER WARRIOR

I wonder if there is a Prayer Warrior like Mosses out there???

11 And it came to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.

12 “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly; they have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made themselves a molded image.’

13 “Furthermore the Lord spoke to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed they are a stiff-necked people. 14 Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’

15 “So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire; and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God—had made for yourselves a molded calf! You had turned aside quickly from the way which the Lord had commanded you. 17 Then I took the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. 18 And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you committed in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. 19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the Lord was angry with you, to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me at that time also. 20 And the Lord was very angry with Aaron and would have destroyed him; so I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. 21 Then I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it and ground it very small, until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that descended from the mountain.

22 “Also at Taberah and Massah and Kibroth Hattaavah you provoked the Lord to wrath. 23 Likewise, when the Lord sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, ‘Go up and possess the land which I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and you did not believe Him nor obey His voice. 24 You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.

25 “Thus I prostrated myself before the Lord; forty days and forty nights I kept prostrating myself, because the Lord had said He would destroy you. 26 Therefore I prayed to the Lord, and said: ‘O Lord God, do not destroy Your people and Your inheritance whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 27 Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look on the stubbornness of this people, or on their wickedness or their sin, 28 lest the land from which You brought us should say, “Because the Lord was not able to bring them to the land which He promised them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.” 29 Yet they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your mighty power and by Your outstretched arm.’ Deuteronomy 9:11-29 (NKJV)

Moses interceded for his people even after God promised him in verse 14 "Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’" Moses pleaded with God to preserve his people time and time again. After they sinned, Moses was there begging God for another chance. We know that God did grant Moses' request and his people did take the promised land and out of this lineage came a Savior called Jesus Christ. My plea with you today is that you will NOT give up on your loved ones and friends who have gone astray. Moses was a MIGHTY PRAYER WARRIOR who refused to stop praying for his people, and his request was granted. Will you be a MIGHTY PRAYER WARRIOR for this perverse and corrupt generation?

A Physician For The Sick

Well, here we are in 2012 and so far removed from the US Civil Rights Era, however racial and ethnic discrimination still exists. When we think about discrimination, prejudice and bigotry we may contain our thoughts to modern times. However, this was a Biblical issue as well. Read with me a passage in Matthew.

As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.

Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees sawit, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." Matthew 9:9-13 (NKJV)

We see that Jesus did not only NOT discriminate against the "different people" he would fellowship with them. I hear of churches across the country rejecting people as "Members" because... well a number of excuses... I mean reasons. The truth is when people aren't just like us that makes us uncomfortable and we choose one of three options.

 1) Get over ourselves and show the love that God showed us, because when were still sinners He allowed His Son to die so we could be perfect in Him. This option, simply put, is to love the people where they are. 

2) Ignore them and they will go away. 

3) Tell them that they are not welcomed or not welcomed until they conform to your ideology. 

The shame is that many churches have selected one of the latter two. We want the Cookie Cutter Christians, the slicked down, three piece suit wearing, King Jame Version Bible holding Christian. The "RELIGIOUS LEADERS" of that day could not understand why Jesus would associate with the "SCUM OF THE EARTH" Well, here is my question to the Pharisees of today... Do you send a six year old child to a college classroom or do you start them in Kindergarten so they can grow in wisdom and knowledge gradually to the desired level? We need to love people where they are without prejudice while at the same time, in love, teaching them what is acceptable for your church.

 Every church has different expectations, doctrines and traditions, but someone who is unfamiliar should not be made to feel uncomfortable on their first visit. The church should openly receive everyone regardless of who they are, what they wear, or who they used to be. Christianity is a constant process of growing in Christ. I'm not what I was, nor what I'm going to be in Christ. I hope that your church and you as an individual will embrace this openness to THE WORLD and not condemn. To rephrase Jesus' question, Is it not the homeless, the home owner, the employed and unemployed, the Muslim, the Atheist, the Christian, & the Terrorist, the white, the black, the Hispanic, the Chinese, and even the CHIEF OF SINNERS, who Jesus came to save. FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD is the answer to that. We may call them sick, but that is exactly who the Great Physician came for. I want to challenge you that if someone stumbles into your worship service this week that doesn't look like they belong there, shake their hand and invite them to sit next to you. God surely loves and accepts that person after he even accepts you... doesn't he?

Beyond Meeting The Needs

Have you ever been in a place where you needed something and every thing you tried seemed not to work? I think it is safe to say that we've all been there at one time or another... perhaps we're even there now. We can worry over a situation, stress out over examining options, and even get to a place where we have decided for ourselves what the right thing to do is and tell God the solutions that we've come up with. But look at what today's passage has to say about this.

When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.” But He said to them, “You give them something to eat.”And they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people.” For there were about five thousand men. Then He said to His disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of fifty.” ¹⁵ And they did so, and made them all sit down.Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude. So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them. Luke 9:12-17 (NKJV)

It was getting late in the day and the disciples showed good intentions by wanting to see that needs were met however their problem was they were trying to solve the problem on their own and in their own understanding. They first approached Jesus with the idea just to release the people to fend for themselves but Jesus charged them to feed the multitude. Again using their own solutions they explained to Jesus that they had a limited supply and they told Jesus that they must go buy meat. As the story continues Jesus blesses what they already had and there were leftovers.

 I don't know what type of food you need... physical food, financial food, relational food, of even spiritual food, but what I do know is that if we would stop trying to tell God what to do we might just find ourselves with more than we need!  

I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread.               Psalms 37:25 (NKJV). 

For the sake of argument let's say that I need $200 for a bill, and I pray for that $200... if it's God's will I will receive the $200. All my life I have been told that God already knows what I need. Let's imagine now that rather than praying for the $200 I simply say, "God I am in need. Will you bless what I have so it will be sufficient?" I believe as small as the fish and bread may appear to man, if God blesses it, then the very thing that we had to begin with will be more than enough. That $200 that I needed might turn into $500. We tend to limit God by asking for a limited amount or by trying to solve the problem ourselves. You may be praying for just enough while God wants to give you what you need plus leftovers. I want to encourage you first, not to limit God and second & most importantly, rather than worrying over a situation, stressing out over it, examining options, and even getting to that place where we have decided what is right, allow God to bless what you have and go BEYOND MEETING THE NEEDS in your life.

Look Back With Praise & Forward With Boldness

Today's passage is Nehamiah 9:6-15.

You alone are the Lord; You have made heaven, The heaven of heavens, with all their host, The earth and everything on it, The seas and all that is in them, And You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You. “You are the Lord God, Who chose Abram, And brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, And gave him the name Abraham; You found his heart faithful before You, And made a covenant with him To give the land of the Canaanites, The Hittites, the Amorites, The Perizzites, the Jebusites, And the Girgashites To give it to his descendants. You have performed Your words, For You are righteous. “You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, And heard their cry by the Red Sea. You showed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, Against all his servants, And against all the people of his land. For You knew that they acted proudly against them. So You made a name for Yourself, as it is this day. And You divided the sea before them, So that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; And their persecutors You threw into the deep, As a stone into the mighty waters. Moreover You led them by day with a cloudy pillar, And by night with a pillar of fire, To give them light on the road Which they should travel. “You came down also on Mount Sinai, And spoke with them from heaven, And gave them just ordinances and true laws, Good statutes and commandments. You made known to them Your holy Sabbath, And commanded them precepts, statutes and laws, By the hand of Moses Your servant. You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, And brought them water out of the rock for their thirst, And told them to go in to possess the land Which You had sworn to give them. Nehemiah 9:6-15 (NKJV)

It seems like we just go from one problem to another as we travel through life. As we look forward it can be real easy to be discouraged and depressed over life situations. Life can be so overwhelming many times that it leaves us hopeless. Tomorrow is uncertain, that much we know, but at the same time we know yesterday is history. This passage in Nehemiah recounts times where God had provided and protected His people. The people were about to sign a document that symbolized a new covenant with God. As they were looking forward to this covenant they looked back with praise. They were reminded where God had brought them from and I believe that this must have brought comfort and boldness for the future. Look back in your life at those time where you have to acknowledge that God showed up for you... If he was there then, our unchanging God will be there tomorrow. I would like to warn you that looking at the past gives us an opportunity to keep things the way they used to be in the "good old days". This is NOT what I am encouraging. We need to look back with praise so we can look forward with boldness. Remembering what God has done for us in uncertain times will give us strength and boldness for the uncertain times to come. God has instructed us not to worry, but this is a hard concept to follow through on. I want to encourage you to make this phrase your statement of faith... I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I do know who holds tomorrow.

Uncomfortable Worship

In a day and age when the average adult attention span is twenty minutes, air condition is a requirement, and media, TV and internet give us instant access to entertainment, church can be boring and uncomfortable. I don't believe it is because God is asking too much of us, but I think it is the fact that we have become a soft generation. Our great grandparents can tell us of church meetings that lasted for hours without air conditioning, media presentations and the only instrument was a piano... So why do we complain for one Sunday that the air conditioning is broken? Why do we tell the visiting preacher that we must be out by noon? Why do we tell the worship leader that the music must conform to our idea of worship? Today's passage will give us a glimpse of what I believe is uncomfortable worship.

"Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dust on their heads. Then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for one–fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God. Then Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the stairs of the Levites and cried out with a loud voice to the Lord their God. And the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said: “Stand up and bless the Lord your God Forever and ever! “Blessed be Your glorious name, Which is exalted above all blessing and praise! You alone are the Lord; You have made heaven, The heaven of heavens, with all their host, The earth and everything on it, The seas and all that is in them, And You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You."                   Nehemiah 9:1-6 (NKJV)

To think that they would endure around 3 hours of scripture reading and another 3 hours in prayer, confession and worship... If you continue reading in the ninth chapter of Nehemiah, they begin reminding the people each thing that God had done for them. Worship was not something that they had to do it was a choice that they made. Time and time again they were caught in sin and God's grace was there. They realized that God had delivered them and they wanted to make a covenant with God. This passage is leading up to the signing of this document or covenant. Today in our "soft generation" we cannot conceive a 6 hour worship service... But here is the question... Why do we think that worship should be comfortable? Jesus said, "if any man should follow me he must pick up his cross." The cross in the most horrifying and gruesome death ever recorded in history... far from comfortable. If God can allow His only Son to die, if Jesus can accept that death for us why can't we be uncomfortable in worship for an hour and a half.


My little nephew gets bored with a toy very easily. He will play with one for a few minutes then move on to another toy, but he will sit down for hours to draw one picture. He will discipline himself to complete the picture because he enjoys drawing. OK, lets bring it to an adult level. The ball game is still not over and they are in their second overtime... do you leave??? I sure wouldn't. Then when it comes to the pastor going over ten minutes, well that is the entire conversation over lunch. If it is something that we enjoy, man the time flies, but when it come to church we watch the clock. God has done so much for us and I hope that I will grow out of this "soft generation" and become a "Hard Core Christian" ready to read scriptures for three hours then begin to worship for three more hours regardless of the air conditioning. Let us be true worshipers this week and if the worship leader say lets sing it one more time... let us say praise God and if the preacher apologizes for going over... let us say preach on!!!


God give us a hunger for your word and a desire to worship in a manner worthy of your glory.

Trusting In The Lord’s Defense

One of the statements I remember made by my Old Testament professor in college was made on the first day of class. He said,“You young people think you are going to come here and learn the Bible so you can defend the Bible… well let me tell you that God’s word was here long before you and will remain long after you and God does not need you to defend him." 

 Now please don’t take this out of his context. He went on to instruct us on how to argue the case for Christ and defend our beliefs, but his point was not to have an attitude that God needs me to defend him. Today's passage supports that very claim.

Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.  As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”  And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Acts 8:1-9 (NKJV)

  Saul was notorious for his persecution of Christ followers . He consented to the stoning of Stephen, and as this passage points out, he was threatening and murdering those who would follow Christ. Rather than sending a man to deal with this God-sized problem, God revealed himself to Saul. The rest of Saul’s story has him changing his name to Paul and becoming one of the greatest church leaders in history. God defended himself and the Christians of the day by having a personal encounter with Saul. I think that when we face opposition we focus WAY TOO MUCH on how “WE” can fix or fight the issues. The truth is that if we step aside and allow God to move rather than trying to figure it out ourselves we may find that today’s strongest adversary will become tomorrow’s mightiest ally. There is just one thing we have to do... it's a simple concept with a hard follow through… pray for our enemies. 

God used David to fight Goliath, but he dealt with Saul personally. So we see that there are seasons where we are called to fight, but we are to jump in with our holy battle gear. I want to encourage you to pray about each situation and allow God to direct you in your actions. God is smarter, stronger, and better equipped for the victory, so step aside and allow him to defend his people. I will close with a quote from JAG a TV series from the 90’s, “Why should I fight a battle that a two star Admiral is willing to fight for me.” This Hollywood concept is better illustrated in 2 Chronicles 20:17 (NKJV):

“You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.” 

In this account God set one enemy of Israel against two other enemies of Israel. They fought each other and there were no survivors nor anyone left to fight. God delivered His people and can deliver you. “If God be for us who can be against us.” Romans 8:31 (NKJV)

The Cause of a Trial

Today’s devotion is from John 9:1-9.

Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing. Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?” Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.” He said, “I am he.”

The part of this story that grabs my attention the most isn’t the miracle itself, but rather the assumption that the disciples made. “Who sinned?” they asked. The assumption was that sin was the cause of affliction. Now, I will acknowledge that if we operate out of the will of God he will correct us, and just as the actions of discipline our parents took when we were children, it will not always feel good. But as we lay this truth of God’s wrath, judgment, and correction aside let us look as the other side of the coin, according to Job 1:1 speaking of Job, “and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.” If he was blameless why did he suffer? What about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego? They were faithful yet still had to walk in the flames. Just because we are facing a difficult time does not mean the God is mad at us. Job was tested and received a multitude of blessings in return. After the fire, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego witnessed a decree issued by Nebuchadnezzar.

 “Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God! Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this.” Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the province of Babylon.”

   Look back at verse John 9:3 “Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” If you asked the blind man a week before he met Jesus if he felt being blind was a blessing he might have said, “I can hardly feed myself or get my clothes out each day, and I can’t work. No, this is not a blessing!!!" If you asked him a week after meeting Jesus he might say, "Being blind was a blessing for I was allowed to see the power of God through His Son." In the book of James, we find that we are to count it a joy when trials come… I believe part of this joy is simply realizing that God can be revealed to others through our lives. I pray that we as Christian would have the spiritual discipline to accept being blind, hungry, hurt, or in pain for a season so that God can reveal himself not only to us and for our benefit, but also to the Nebuchadnezzars in our lives. Be encouraged with this thought… The trial I am facing may be so God can do a miracle in or through my life. OH, TO BE USED BY GOD FOR HIS GLORY WHAT A TESTIMONY THAT WOULD BE!!!