Thoughts and Other Things

One of the most popular battle verses has got to be 2 Chronicles 20:15. Or it’s cousin Exodus 14:14. Both these stories speak of God being the one who would fight the battle on behalf of his children. The two scenarios are often so referred to you might think we don’t really get to fight any battles. “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.” 2 Chronicles 20:15 But some battles are ours and we have to do the fighting ourselves. Just three chapters afters watching God fight the Egyptians for them, the Israelites had to do their own fighting. God was still part of the battle, he made them win so long as they sought and praised him through the lifting of Moses’ hands. “As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.” Exodus 17:11 Sometimes, our fighting only comes in after God has fought first. Like with Gideon and his men who ...

Jesse Duplantis once explained the ‘double edged sword’ nature of the Word this way: it strikes the receiver in equal proportion to it piercing the messenger. A double-edged sword has both of its edges cut and can therefore be used with thrusts and swipes in any direction with equal effectiveness (e.g. Ehud’s sword in Judges 3). Now God’s word is sharper than such a double edged sword and in the hand of the Holy Spirit it swipes in the direction of the crowd and the speaker with equal effect. “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12   You have no idea how many times I catch God speaking directly to me through my own voice. Those times when he leads me beyond my sermon notes which are a transcription of what I heard him say a few hours earlier. When he uses the words flowing out of my mouth to convic...

Y esterday God pointed out my hypocrisy. Now I imagine no Christian leader would like to identify as a hypocrite, but I was humbled as I came to the realization and was left in awe of God and his high ways. If I were to pinpoint my greatest moment in the first half of this year, it wouldn’t be the night I graduated for the second time (which was nothing short of amazing), but it would be the exact moment I stood in the kitchen, on one end of the table, my father on the other end, praying for me. My dad prays often so it wasn’t him praying that distinguished this moment, but the significance of it was linked to my past. It was a full circle moment, because more than ten years ago, we stood around the very same table arguing over my desire and decision to follow God’s call. It was one of the most difficult conversations of my life because I had no answers to the many questions I was asked, no logical explanations, only a certainty that I couldn’t even put into words. This...