Jesus Loves the Little Children

I'm reminded of the song I learned as a young child:

               Jesus loves the little chil-dren,
               All the children of the world.
               Red and yellow, black and white,
               They are precious in His sight.
               Jesus loves the little children of the world.

As I drove my youngest son to school today, I felt impressed to pray for him before he left the vehicle. I know that many of you probably do this on a regular basis with your children. And even though I pray for kids, most of the time it is without them knowing or being involved in the prayer itself. But immediately, after I had committed in my mind to do so, I was flooded with thoughts of holding up the car line, I would be running late for work and so on. The enemy did not want me to pray for my son and was using all of the tactics possible to keep me from doing it. So before any more thoughts could formulate I pulled over before coming up to the school and turned to Ethan, who by now had a very puzzled look on his face. I announced to him that I wanted to pray for him before he left the car to enter the school building.

I took his hand in mine and begin to pray. I prayed over him things I didn't even think I would mention, but they simply came from a place inside me that knew better about what I should pray than I did myself. When finished we were both crying, but we were both at peace and felt better for doing it.

Now I don't know what might have happened if I didn't pray, but that's not important to me. The important thing is that I obeyed instead of giving in to the excuses not to pray.

It never ceases to amaze me how the Spirit of God works in and through us. The urgings we receive and shake them off so easily. I am glad to know that the Holy Spirit in me knows what and how to pray for things that I don't.

Sometimes I don't feel like praying, but know that I need to. And after I have forced myself to pray, I find that I pray longer, harder and for things that I had not considered to pray for at the onset of prayer.

Let me leave you with this one question, "How much time do you give to earnest prayer"?

Draw The Circle

Gypsy Smith was born on the outskirts of London in 1860. He never received a formal education, yet he lectured at Harvard. Despite his humble origins, two sitting United States presidents invited him to the White House. Gypsy crisscrossed the Atlantic Ocean 45 times, preaching the gospel to millions of people. Everywhere he went, it seemed like revival was right on his heels. But it wasn't his preaching that brought revival. It never is. Preaching may move the hearts of men, but praying moves the heart of God. And that's where revival comes from.

Gypsy revealed his secret to a delegation of revival seekers who sought an audience with him. They wanted to know how they could make a difference with their lives the way he had with his. His answer was simple yet profound — as timely and timeless now as it was a hundred years ago. He gave them this advice: “Go home. Lock yourself in your room. Kneel down in the middle of the floor, and with a piece of chalk draw a circle around yourself. There, on your knees, pray fervently and brokenly that God would start a revival within that chalk circle.”       
                                   
                                  ~Mark Batterson - Senior Pastor - National Community Church

Hill of Terror

This past weekend, while traveling on Interstate 65, I noticed a bazaar scene on a country hillside. I drew the attention of my best friend, Freddie Norris who was riding with me, in the direction of the scene and commented that someone wasn't thinking too clearly as to how that would look to the secular world.

The scene was three crosses on a hillside, obviously representing Calvary, where our Savior was crucified between two thieves. About 40 yards away was a van type vehicle that was painted up with various Halloween depictions of ghosts, ghouls, goblins and other meant to be scary scenes, advertising a popular haunted woods establishment in the area, called The Hill of Terror.

As I shook my head, in contemplation of the obvious goof, that someone would put such an advertisement close enough to the previous scene, that you would see them both in the same view, I began to chuckle. But it didn't end there...

The further down the road I drove, the more I was impressed with another variation of the same scene. My focus had been on why someone had put something so inappropriate next to a representation that was meant to be a reminder of an act of love by Jesus Christ. The more I rolled this variation around in my head, asking pertinent questions to myself, suddenly it was as if a fog lifted from my mind. And like a thunderbolt through my inner being, the message came loud and clear!! For the Devil and his horde, it WAS The Hill of Terror. 

On that glorious day when they lifted up our Lord on the cross, and as he hung in the balance between Heaven and earth and cried out, "It Is Finished!!!!", the Devil's grip on mankind would slip away as Jesus gave His life for you and me.

May we remind the enemy of that Hill of Terror everyday as we greet the morning with a renewed sense of God's love in our heart and carry the message of Hope, the message of Grace. We do not have to be afraid because the enemy has already been defeated and it's our job to keep reminding him of that with every breath. May God's praises be continually on our lips. 

"For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks" Luke 6:45b

Witness and Evangelism

A practicing Christian is someone who is so skilled and widely competent in being Christian, and so committed to continuous outpouring, that whatever the situation, he or she speaks fluently and ardently to it. This kind of Christian possesses a comprehensive readiness into which the Lord can pour His leading as to when, where and how. This kind of Christian is always at rest, not anxious (should I witness here and now?) but peacefully prepared.

Here's an analogy for what I am trying to say. Accomplished pianists practice continuously. This does not mean that they practice all the time, but they practice so fully and wisely that they can enjoy not practicing and be at rest about their readiness to perform. A witnessing Christian should be like this. He or she cannot witness twenty-four hours a day any more than a pianist can practice that long. But there should be such thoroughness to practicing the faith that at a moment's notice it can be turned to specific witness. This readiness is not particularly about a set witness time any more than wise piano practice is about an isolated performing event. Rather, it is about being comprehensively Christian and practicing Christianity in such a way that at any moment its completeness can be shaped to fit the circumstance.

Are you ready to witness if the need arises???