Here is a dangerous prayer: “Contend, Lord, with those who contend with me. Fight against those who fight against me.” That prayer is biblical. David prayed it. But we must remember, we do not fight against flesh and blood but against principalities and wickedness in high places. And you may find the very thing contending with you are your own strongholds and mindsets. You may find what is fighting against...
Pray Big
I’m noticing a theme lately in my quiet time with God: “Pray and believe for the impossible.” Now that may sound amazing but to be honest, it’s a little bit daunting. Believing for the impossible requires us to risk disappointment and discouragement. Here is the funny thing. Yesterday, I was ranting to my fellow teachers how frustrating it is that parents want to protect their children from all forms of...
Pray for Our Schools
Today is the first day of my twentieth year of teaching. As some of you know, teaching is a second profession for me. I never dreamed as a child I would teach. I never wanted to teach but now I can’t see myself doing anything else. It’s funny how God directs our paths. So many things have changed in the last twenty years. Some good. Some bad. But this year...
Busy, Busy, Busy, Pray, Pray, Pray
I awoke this morning with the list. You know, the mental list of all the things I need to accomplish. Starting in mid-May lots of good things are happening, lots of opportunities to minister the Gospel, lots of traveling. I’m both thrilled and terrified or as my pastor so aptly put it, “I’m thrillified.” As I’m reading my daily scripture, I see a prayer King David prayed. David was the...
Taste and See
God is good! As I meditate on God’s goodness, I thought about God’s convenant with Abraham. The Bible tells us that Abraham worshipped other God’s. (Joshua 24:2) There is no mention that Abraham did anything to earn God’s favor before God spoke to him. God established his covenant with Abraham not because Abraham was good but because God is good. This should give us hope and encouragement. We don’t enter...
Nothing is Too Hard For God
Ninety years old. Past childbearing age. Sara was content to see the promise fulfilled via her husband and her maidservant. Dreams of bearing her own were long past. She had accepted infertility. After hope had gone. After disappointment turned to acceptance, after resigning to a life of barrenness, a promise is given. This time, not just to her husband but to Sara. Sara’s response: A mocking, “Yeah, right.” But God’s...
This Same God
And this same God who spoke and the world came into existence… This same God who parted a sea… This same God who sustained a people for forty years so that their shoes were not worn nor were any sick among them… This same God who permitted a man and woman past childbearing age to become the Parents of a multitude… This same God who sustained a widow and a...
To-Do List
For the last two weeks, I have been traveling or preparing to travel. As a result, many things have been put on the back burner. But now that I’m back, all of those things are front and center and I am overwhelmed. My to-do list is quite frightening. But as I lie awake at 4:00 in the morning, thinking about (okay, worrying about) all I need to do, I open...
Open Eyes, Open Minds, Power
Open eyes, open mind and clothed with power. That’s my prayer this morning. Jesus appeared to the disciples after his crucifixion. He walked and talked with them for miles, yet they did not recognize Him. Before many of us were saved, Jesus walked with us. He was pursuing us, protecting us, yet we did not recognize Him. My prayer this morning is for my Pre-Christian friends and family. May their...
Slave or Child
Child or slave? Who are you? Most of us would correctly answer, I’m a son or I’m a daughter. But is that just head knowledge or has it become heart knowledge? The test is, how do we pray?” Do we pray as if we are children or do we pray like slaves? Do we timidly approach God, as if He is a hardened taskmaster who is looking for perfection? Do...