Category: Deliverance

7/7/2021 0 Comments

God's Gracious Hand

Meditation
Ezra 8:21-23--I proclaimed a fast by the Ahava River, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask Him for a safe journey for us, our children, and all our possessions. I did this because I was ashamed to ask the king for infantry and cavalry to protect us from enemies during the journey, since we had told him, “The hand of our God is gracious to all who seek Him, but His great anger is against all who abandon Him.” So we fasted and pleaded with our God about this, and He granted our request.

5/31/2021 0 Comments

Wilderness Lessons

If one were to find a synonym for wilderness in the Bible it would be fairly safe to substitute hardship. The Holman Christian Standard Bible uses the term wilderness 150 times.[1] The majority of references applied to Israel wandering through deserts that resulted in all but two adults over 40 dying and a whole lot of complaining and suffering. The fascinating thing is that God has a penchant for leading His people through wildernesses, to include His own Son (Matthew 4:1). Why does He do this?

4/7/2021 1 Comment

Leaving

Meditation
Exodus 13:4—Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving.

The month of Abib, (called Nisan in the post-exilic period), extends from March to April. Moses in the passage above was addressing his countrymen at a most historic time. God rescued them from their Egyptian oppressors and now they were headed into what would become a 40-year desert ordeal. They of course did not know that—they were expecting a fairly quick move to Canaan, the Promised Land. Their leaving was done in haste with little preparation and no doubt great anxiety mixed with the joy of liberation.

2/26/2021 1 Comment

Read Only

Monday, I received a message from my antivirus program telling me that a Microsoft Word App was trying to access my protected files. I checked the block to prevent that access. The next day all my Word documents were Read Only which meant I could not edit them and anything I copied and pasted also reverted to a Read Only status. In essence I was shut down from working. Microsoft user support spent half the day trying to help me without success. The next day, the antivirus company sent me a fix and I was able to get my documents running again. Until the following day when suddenly everything was again Read Only! Talk about being frustrated—this was just not right! Once again, I contacted Microsoft and again a technician worked with me after I gave her permission to access my computer remotely. This time she was successful in solving the problem. What a relief to be able to type in new additions and to make needed changes.

1/29/2021 0 Comments

Standing on the Rock

Meditation
Exodus 17:6—“I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

12/31/2020 1 Comment

Unity Survives Tragedy

There are some years that stand out for their severity in a manner that effects the entire world and most assuredly, 2020 will be one of those signature years. But tragedies do not destroy the body of Christ when followers of Jesus stand together in unity.

9/30/2020 0 Comments

The Return

Abraham Lincoln proclaimed, “It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.” On April 30, 1863, Lincoln's National Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer was observed. Two days later, Lt. General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson was mortally wounded in a freak accident where he was shot by his own troops. The loss of this powerful Confederate leader changed the course of the war.[1]

7/9/2020 1 Comment

Crushed!

While working on getting a book published I still lacked the artwork and so I called Bruce,* my project manager, to find out the status. When he answered the phone, it was obvious by the tone in his voice that he was stressed. Instead of diving into my request, I asked him how he was doing. Bruce sighed and then shared. “I’m going through a divorce . . . my house flooded and I’m having to replace the flooring in several rooms and it is not covered by insurance. I’m not sure if I can get a loan. I have an ulcer . . . my mother died and left me her house in a trust but one of the trustees was dishonest and it turned out that there is a lien on the home for unpaid debt . . .

7/3/2020 1 Comment

Sharing Hope

Yesterday I had the privilege of leading a former Navy veteran, Wanda* to Christ. Her journey was pitted with pain, betrayal and enough hurt to stain a landfill. But what was equally troublesome to me was when she shared that she had met many Christian counselors and self-described Christians in her pursuit for help and their singular advice was to read her Bible. Certainly it is important to read God’s Word. But when one is wallowing in confusion what is needed most is not a homework assignment—one needs the clarion gospel message.

3/31/2020 0 Comments

Numbers

The fourth book of the Bible is Numbers which is a translation of Arithmoi, from the Septuagint. It is titled as such because the book contains two census counts, numerous statistics, tribal and priestly figures, and other numerical data. The Hebrew name is included in the first sentence of the book and means “in the desert of ”; an accurate description of the book’s content, which follows the Israelites through almost forty years of desert wandering.[1]
The story began in the second year of the Israelites escape from Egypt, as they camped in the Wilderness of Sinai around 1444 BC. It ends 38 years later “in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho” (36:13) in 1406 BC.[2]

3/25/2020 1 Comment

Scared and Sustained

Have you ever been so afraid that you dropped everything you were doing and left everyone you knew to run and hide? Elijah did that and his petrified escape is an amazing story.

3/16/2020 2 Comments

Corona Virus

The numbers worldwide continue to rise: 181,377 cases, 7119 deaths, 78,085 recoveries.[1] Worldwide reactions are dramatic: airline flights cancelled, large numbers of quarantined populations, countries with closed borders, bans on gatherings over 250 people, schools closed, colleges reverting to online classes, sports leagues cancelled, plummeting stock markets etc. Behold a pandemic! The cause of this chaos is a virus named “SARS-CoV-2” and the disease it causes is called “coronavirus disease 2019” (abbreviated “COVID-19”).

2/18/2020 0 Comments

Exodus

Rabbi Irving Greenberg in his article “Why The Exodus Was So Significant” wrote, “The Exodus transformed the Jewish people and their ethic . . . Christianity and Islam adopted the Exodus at their core, almost half the world is profoundly shaped by the aftereffects of the Exodus event.”

12/24/2019 1 Comment

Johnny's Christmas

Silently a small figure sat shivering on the soft pine-covered earth tucked away from the wind in a grove of blue spruce. His tear-filled eyes gazed out across a small meadow where remnants of snow from the last storm lingered. He opened his knapsack and took out the curved white candle and remembered the last words of his frail mother. “Johnny, I love you so much. I’m proud of you. I want you to take this candle and keep it and remember—you are to be a light. No matter what happens, you keep shining? Promise?”

12/5/2019 0 Comments

Oscar's Vision

Oscar and Queta

Oscar, in September of 2003, had a vision where he was on the beach in a messed up condition when someone approached him, took him to the ocean, and began to cleanse him with ocean water. In the vision he stopped crying and felt an incredible peace. He asked the person helping him, “Who are you?” The person replied, “I’m God.” Oscar was a 3rd generation atheist on his mother’s side and 4th generation atheist on his father’s side. His vision began a religious quest in which he sampled Buddhism, Jehovah’s Witnesses and other religions while maintaining his heavy lifestyle of partying and heavy alcohol consumption.

11/23/2019 2 Comments

How to Overcome Challenges to Faith

George McDonald once wrote, “A man’s real belief is that which he lives by.” One of the best measurements of a person’s faith is to observe how that person responds to adversity. Here are twelve steps that I believe make all the difference in overcoming challenges to our faith.

11/16/2019 0 Comments

Live Securely!

Meditation
Proverbs 1:32,33—For the turning away of the inexperienced will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them. But whoever listens to me will live securely and be free from the fear of danger.

7/25/2019 0 Comments

The Green Light

Harry Generaux was 18 years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The U.S. Air Corps was suffering from a shortage of bomber pilots and Harry wanted to fly. He signed up for service and underwent an intensive nine-month program to fly the B-17 Flying Fortress. On November 10, 1944, Harry was assigned to fly with a new crew. His 19thmission was the first test of this band of young flyers and it would prove to be perhaps the most memorable of their military career. Their main objective was to attack and destroy key German targets. Harry navigated the plane into the 36-ship formation. Finally arriving at their destination, the attack commenced in earnest as clusters of bombs tumbled from B-17 bellies.

6/29/2019 1 Comment

I Have What I Need

Meditation
Psalm 23:1—The LORD is my shepherd; I have what I need. (CSB)

As I read Psalm 23 for my devotions I was struck in a new way by verse one. What David declares is very powerful for several reasons.

4/26/2018 0 Comments

Hold Your Peace

I heard an excellent message from a pastor recently about not defending ourselves when we are betrayed or attacked. His point was that no matter what we say in defense we cannot undo the damage and we may actually make things worse. If we have done what is right and are slandered, lied about, or smeared unfairly, the best course of action is to continue to live our lives righteously and trust God for the results. If close friends ask what is happening, we may share with them . . . The point is: don’t retaliate, defend, or excuse ourselves.

This is not easy. To hold our peace when warred against is like watching mosquitoes take blood and not swatting them. Why would we do that?

Photo used under Creative Commons from Rachel Maxey Miles