Ecclesiastes 12:10

    A running joke in our family is when the wife will be trying to identify a person and she will give the clue, “He was in that movie with the person who did the thing that made the news”. Of course, the kids will be clueless, but I can often guess correctly. When you've been around someone that long, you can guess what they are saying even when they can’t really say what they mean.    In Romans 8:26, we read, “ In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words ”. Here we are told that even when we don’t know what to pray for or even how to pray, the Spirit of God is there for us, saying what we can’t say.  Yet that can only work when we have a relationship with the Spirit.    If we think our prayers are not what they should be, a great way to correct that is to draw close to God. When we get spiritually minded, the Spirit can hel...

    Several times in the Gospels we see Jesus go out to the mountains to pray. (Matt 14: 23, Luke 6:12, 9:28). In fact Luke 5:16 says “ Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray” . Why?     Jesus taught us that one of the best places to go and pray is somewhere by yourself (Matthew 6:6-10). It is not that Jesus doesn’t think we should pray in public but rather before we do, we should pray in private. Our world today often laments the restriction on public prayer without taking advantage of private prayer     In Mark 1:35  we read, “ In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there .” I believe Jesus here is setting for us a great example. That before we go about our day we need to go before our Lord. Away from manmade distractions into God-given glory. If you think you have nothing to tell God place yourself in his glorious beauty and you...

    It was a time of crisis for the church. Peter had been arrested and jailed. Coming off the heels of James's arrest and execution, the situation looked dire. So, the church turned to the prayer So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.   Acts 12:5    And God answered their prayer. Peter walks out of prison with the guards none the wiser. He then goes to the house the church was meeting in and knocks at the door.  But the church wasn’t ready for that… And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. When he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer. When she recognized Peter's voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. They said to her, "You are out of your mind!" But s...

  I remember many moons ago, my young daughter leaned over in the pew and asked me, “Was He praying or preaching?”  It was a rather good question. The fellow had been leading a prayer in service but it wasn’t really one. His statements were more indictments, his lines were more telling than asking, and his attitude was more ‘let me tell you how it is’ than “let me ask of you”.   It wasn’t the first or last time I’ve been involved in a prayer like that. I say involved because some I pray like that. More focused on the me and less on the Him. Much like the Pharisee in Luke 18:9-10, I can tell you all about me and all about them, show you all my goodness and why they are all wrong.  I pray for my enemies, how God should smite them, and how unfair it is in how they treat me.   That however is praying about them, not for them. Now don’t get me wrong, prayer is a place where we can lay our hurt, our fear, our frustration before God. Yet we never need to th...

   Leo Marks would eventually become the head of ciphers and codes at Britain’s Special Operations Executive branch, the entity that was vital in World War Two in breaking and creating codes. However, he almost never got the chance to work there since his interview seemingly went terribly.   When Marks took a codebreaking test that was supposed to take him no more than twenty minutes, it took him all day. Not very good work for a man wanting to be a codebreaker.   There was however one issue. When they gave him the code, it was supposed to include the key for translating the message. They never gave it to him. Without the key, the cipher was supposed to be uncrackable. Marks had proved it wasn’t. It wasn’t that he had failed the test, it was that he had broken it.   I wonder if we sometimes don’t treat God that way. We give him our problems yet forget to do our part that comes with correcting them. We then get frustrated with God when things don’t turn ...

    In the world, if you are trying to broker a deal you always want to do so from a position of power. You want them to know you will walk away, they need you more than you need them, you are in control so it is in their best interest to do what you say. It is a good way to get all you want.  But it is a terrible way to approach God.   First of all, we will never be able to match the power of God. He will always be in more control than we are. Yet we try it nonetheless. We bargain. Offer to stop doing something we shouldn’t be doing or start doing something we should. We bully. If you really loved me, if you are really there God you will do what I ask. We deal. If you will just give this to me, I give you something of value.  But does God need what we have? No, all things are already his. Should our love and obedience be terms? No, they are things we already owe him. Trying to leverage this way is an exercise in futility   We must consider t...

  You might already know that all numbers in television shows start with the same prefix, 555. The reason; this prefix doesn’t go anywhere. There isn’t anybody with a number that is a 555 number. If they used real numbers poor folks would be inundated with calls (like those poor folks at 867-5309 who keep getting calls for Jenny). Even the fake numbers get used again and again. For example, 555-2368 will get you the Ghostbusters, the hotel room from Memento, Jim Rockford of The Rockford Files, and Jaime Sommers from The Bionic Woman, among others.   You might not have a famous number but still get way too many calls. So, we screen calls and block numbers and put ourselves on no-call lists. But You know who doesn’t do that? God   No, God isn’t listed in the yellow pages but he does provide us with means to contact him twenty-four seven. His ear is ever ready to listen, his heart open to our words, his thoughts attune to our needs Be anxious for nothing, but in everything...

  The British wanted a death ray. In 1924. An inventor named H. Grindell Mathews claimed to have invented one and he said Germany had everything to make it as well. He never could prove it, however, but the idea started a panic. Soon newspapers were full of claims from scientists, such as Nico Tesla, that devices could use invisible waves to crash planes and stun people from great distances.   So British officials turn to Robert Watson-Watt to see about the feasibility of using radio waves as a weapon. In his report, he said it was an unworkable fantasy but he said it did have a less promising possibility. The waves could be used to pinpoint the location of enemy airplanes. This possibility might just have saved the British Empire.     This possibility, called R adio D etection A nd R anging (RADAR), allowed the British to know the location of Nazi bombers during the “Battle of Britain” and gave them a critical advantage. This changed the course of the ...

  If there is one aspect that Jesus seems to emphasize in his teaching about prayer, it is that it is not a one and done thing. (Luke 18:1-8, Luke 11:5-13)   Prayer takes constancy to work. If I ask and don’t receive, it shouldn’t be taken as a reason to not pray anymore. Take the example of Elijah: Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.  Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit. James 5:17-18   Here James gives him as an example of the effective nature of prayer. He changed the weather! But exactly how did that work?   In 1 Kings 18:42-45, we see Elijah praying for the rain to come back. In verse 42, He is confident that it will rain by his proclamation to King Ahab. That’s important (James 1:16). But notice how many times it took.   Not after the first prayer or the second at...

 A classic scene amongst many classic scenes in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, involves King Arthur asking a question to a peasant. “Old women”, He cries! The man then turns and replies, “I’m not a woman”. Arthur rebounds, “Man, sorry. Old Man..”. The peasant interrupts, “I’m thirty-seven, I’m not old! The king frustrated clamors, “Well I can't just call you man". The peasant then wonders why he doesn’t call him Dennis since that is his name. Arthur explains, “I didn't know you were called Dennis.” Then Dennis the peasant point out, “Well you didn't bother to find out, did you?”   I wonder if this scene is something akin to how many approach God. We cry out to God thinking him something he isn’t or thinking he will do something he doesn’t. Yet God tries to reveal his nature and his will to us but we are too hung up on our own desire to give it much attention. So we grow frustrated with God wondering why He isn’t responding ‘correctly’ to us. All the while G...

 There has been a backlash in recent times against those that offer prayers during a tragedy. To some, the phrase has come to be an empty gesture, which acknowledges an issue but refuses to do anything about it. I’m sure that some of this is because of a growing atheistic mindset in our culture, but I also think some of it comes from the mistaken idea that prayer and action don’t go hand in hand.   There is no greater example of this one who meshed prayer and action than that of Nehemiah. When he heard of the tragedy that had befallen his hometown, he prayed and looked for an opportunity to use his position to help. When he turned the negative into a positive when we had confronted by the king of his sadness, before he spoke of his request to the king, he prayed (Nehemiah 2:2-5). When threatened by the naysayers of his work, he “ prayed to our God and… set up a guard” (Nehemiah 4:9). He did not act without praying and did not pray without acting.   What made ...

  You may remember the saga of the Morbo 4000 from a few years ago.  It was a garbage barge that was set to take it load of 3000 pounds of refuse from New York City to North Carolina.  The problem was they didn’t want to take. So the boat tried to sail back to New York but it wasn’t allowed there either and thus it‘s saga began.  The longer it roamed the worse it got.  Rumors that the barge was carrying all sorts of hazardous materials made the situation more difficult to resolve. The barge would be rejected by over a dozen places, even being chased away with warplanes on two occasions, and traveled over 6000 miles looking for a place to unload.  Eventually, the company owning the boat went bankrupt and the boat was destroyed with it's cargo.  Nobody wanted all that garbage.   Places are getting stingier about accepting garbage. I know my folks have had a time getting rid of bigger trash items since the live in the country and the area lan...

    Abraham Lincoln was once quoted about prayer by saying: “ I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day”    I often have remind myself when I am faced with the confusion of choice about the old hymn, Did You Think To Pray ?   Foolishly, I’ll wait till I have made up my mind to then go and ask for it from God. In all my debate and decision, I don’t factor in the Lord till the end.  But why wait?  The best decisions come when we let God make them.     Consider what Jesus did when he had a big decision to make. In Luke 6:12-13, we read: “ It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.  And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles ”   ...

     On December 2 nd 1804, Napoleon was to be crowned the emperor of France.  The ceremony was held in the famous Notre Dame Cathedral and the official crowning was to be done by Pope Pious the 7 th .  In a blending the French traditions with ancient Rome pageantry, the Pope was to place the crown on Napoleon’s head and by his authority declare Napoleon the emperor, but at the moment of the crowning, Napoleon unexpectedly turned and, forestalling the Pope, crowned himself.  His message was a subtle but direct statement.  He was the greater authority; no one was giving him the crown. He was taking it.        This event came to my mind as I happened passed a religious program on the television.  The host of the show was leading a prayer for people that were suffering illness.  As he listed each malady one at a time, he said, “and it will be gone now!”  His prayer sounded less like a request and more li...

   Recently in Bible class, we were discussing the power of prayer.  We looked at the example of King Hezekiah when he was informed by God to get his affairs in order because he would soon die.  He prayed to God to spare him and in 2 nd Kings 20:5-6 we see God response,  " I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD.  I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake and for My servant David's sake."    Not only would he survive his illness but God would give him 15 more years of life and protect his kingdom.  All in all an amazing example of the power of God and how he answers prayer.    But what did King Hezekiah do with those 15 years?    The Bible tells us that after his recovery he is visited by representati...

Monday Morning Scattershooting while wondering,  If violence is never the answer,what if the question is,“what is never the answer”. Then it is violence even though violence is never the answer    A sports radio station I listen to is known for having hot sports opinions. They like the host to have controversial thoughts on everything. “Jerry Jones the owner needs to fire Jerry Jones the general manager!”  “The Rangers need to get some pitching right now!” “The designated hitter is ruining baseball!”  While this may make for good talk radio, I don’t think it is the best way for a preacher to operate.  I see some preachers spending a lot of time trying to stir up controversy and conflict.  They are quick to throw in their two cents on every issue.  This may stir up the comment sections and boost their fame but I don’t think it much helps the cause of Christ.  Recently I ran across a fellow that was setting some bear traps [1]...

Crazy Hypothetical*: What it you knew the next thing you prayed for would be answered exactly as you prayed for it, what you ask for? How would you pray? Would you think more about what you are praying for? Could your prayer go horribly wrong in some sort of Monkey’s Paw way? (Think about generic prayer statements, I.E. be with the sick, keep us faithful, guard, guide and direct us) Would you be selfish? What if this only worked on the last thing you prayed for? What does this say about how we think God is going to answer our prayer? * Crazy Hypothetical is a mental game that gives you a conditional choice that gets you thinking about a subject. I used these for several years as discussion starters in Bible class. The best ones can’t be answered “correctly”. They require you to think beyond an immediate reaction. You have to choose one of the options, it's no fun if you don’t

Last month, I happened to catch a very touching scene at the church building. Several of the area young people met in the parking lot to caravan, along their parents, to Harding University for the upcoming fall semester. It was a mix of emotion for everyone. Excitement at the new opportunity, fear about what would await them, apprehension at the young ones leaving the nest, relief that they had made it this far.   College is one of the most pivotal times in the faith of young people.  Studies show us that that age is when most people’s faith is most greatly tested and that those trials can either make or break their faith. For many, it is the first time they must decide completely for themselves how their faith affects their lives. No one is there to get them awake for Sunday service, Mom and Dad won’t know everything they are doing so choices of morality must now be made on right and wrong more than will I get in trouble at home. Now, they face many major issues on thei...

  If you ever find yourself in position of a $10,000 dollar bill you may not recognize the person depicted. His name is Salmon Chase. He was an American politician and jurist who served as U.S. Senator, the 23 rd Governor of Ohio, as the U.S. Treasury Secretary under President Abraham Lincoln and as the sixth Chief Justice of the United States.   Before all those accomplishment, Chase had seen his share of tragedy.   His father died when he was only nine years old, forcing him to live with his uncle. He suffered the loss of his first wife during the birth of their daughter. Tragedy struck again only five years later when that daughter died from scarlet fever.   He described the experience as ” one of the heaviest calamities which human experiences can know ”.   He told friends that, “ no language can describe the desolation of my heart ”.   Grief can certainly feel that way. But the Bible tells us that God still can understand us even when we can’t exp...

This week for the third strait year our home has been select to participate in the Nielsen TV ratings. We are sent a diary to fill out of all the programs we watch in a given week and these are used to help determine which shows have high enough ratings to continue on to the next season. Each year we have written down all our favorite shows, given them high praise and then they in turn get canceled. It makes us wonder why we even spend the time fill in the diary! Often times it feels like no one listens to you even when they claim to. But God is always willing to listen. I Peter 5:7 says, “casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. ” God listen, cares, and acts. Even though we may not see or know how, God shows his care for his people.