What I Learned in 2010

Matthew 21:21-22 (AMP)

21 And Jesus answered them, Truly I say to you, if you have faith (a firm relying trust) and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea, it will be done. 22 And whatever you ask for in prayer, having faith and [really] believing, you will receive.

Needless to say 2010 has been a very different year for me.  For the first time, really, I've had to deal with the frailty of the human body.  The parts sometimes wear out and need repair or replacement; like the frame on my 2001 Toyota.  Or the retina (repair) and lens (replacement) in my eye. 



In spite of it all, I don't think I'd ask for anything different or seek to change any of the events of the past year.  God has been good to me; I mean really, really good. I've had lots of quality quiet time to spend with Him.  I feel like I'm just learning to study God's Word and interact with it.  This blog has been part of that experience.  If it has been a blessing to you, the blessing is from God.  My blessing doesn't mean much in the scheme of things.

If there is one big lesson I've learned, it is the correlation between being a student of the Bible and confidence in prayer.  I've learned that often we don't know how to pray because we don't fully understand how God acts or what He wants for us and others.  I can easily fall into the trap of making the will of God into a huge mystery.  When we study scripture, we know that we are naturally separated from God and that it is His will to redeem us through the giving of His Son on the cross.  It is His will that we should love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and our neighbor as much as we love and care for ourselves.  It is God's will for us to meditate on His Word, and to pray about everything with thanksgiving in our hearts.  We are to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth and speak the truth in love. 

This is part of the revealed will of God.  There is no mystery here.  He wants us to know clearly His plan for us.  While God has some plans that are still hidden from us, like when He will return to earth, much of His will is made plain if we take the time to look for it.

E. M. Bounds said, "Unless the power of prayer is supplied by God's Word, prayer, though earnest, is empty."



That is what I've learned.  Knowing God's Word and prayer go hand in hand.  Knowledge of God through scripture breathes life into prayer.  Now the challenge for me is to know God so intimately that prayer becomes second nature to me.  To be at a place where I don't have to wrestle with how I should pray is what I really long for.  My desire for 2011 is to witness the power of God in answer to prayer.

I want to declare, "That's something only God can do.  No plan of mankind could produce that result."

Have a Merry Christmas.  God bless us, every one.

Quantity or Quality Membership

18 “Listen, you who are deaf! Look and see, you blind! 19 Who is as blind as my own people, my servant? Who is as deaf as my messenger? Who is as blind as my chosen people, the servant of the LORD? 20 You see and recognize what is right but refuse to act on it. You hear with your ears, but you don’t really listen.”

Isaiah 42:18-20 (NLT)

I was given a copy of a collection of writings by E.M. Bounds on prayer.  The entry for November 16 caught my attention.

"There is a blindness in the church with regard to members choosing a life of sin over God's way of life.

The truth is, there is such a lust for members in the church, that the officials have entirely lost sight of the members who are living in open disregard of God's Word.  The idea now of quantity in membership, not quality.

Prayer can change this.  Through prayer, members would either confess their sins, or leave the church."

"I pray, God, that you will open the eyes of Your people.  Especially those in leadership positions in Your church so they will focus more on quality than quantity of members.  Amen."

-- taken from The Power of Prayer by E.M. Bounds, compiled by Kobus Sandenbergh, published by Christian Arts Gifts

Speaking With Spiritual Authority - Is Your Message Veil Worthy?

Exodus 34:29-35 (NASB77)
²⁹ And it came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses' hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him. ³⁰ So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. ³¹ Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers in the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them. ³² And afterward all the sons of Israel came near, and he commanded them to do everything that the LORD had spoken to him on Mount Sinai. ³³ When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. ³⁴ But whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he would take off the veil until he came out; and whenever he came out and spoke to the sons of Israel what he had been commanded, ³⁵ the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone. So Moses would replace the veil over his face until he went in to speak with Him.


There are people in my life that I pay special attention to if they have something to say.  Especially if they have something to say about spiritual matters.  And even more especially if it has something to do with my spiritual health and well being.

What gives these people the right or authority to speak to me about these things?  Why do I stop and listen?  Is it the person, the message or both that catches my attention?  Why is it that these people earn my special respect?

Today's passage may give us some insight into these questions.  As we consider Moses, because of his stuttering problem, he would not be considered to be a great public speaker.  I don't think people would flock to hear the marvelous tone and eloquent vocabulary of Moses.  His past was even a bit sketchy.  Would we be impressed by his resume?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  What was it about Moses that made people stop and listen to him that day so many years ago?

The reason people stopped and listened was because Moses had been in the presence of God.  Scripture tells us that Moses' face glowed in Exodus 33:11.  We read that God spoke to Moses face to face just as a man speaks to his friend.  It was evident to all that Moses had been in God's presence. His life, in fact his face, reflected that fact.  He was changed, even in appearance, because he had been with God.

There is something about the important people in my spiritual life that I recognize as God's spirit upon them, too.  How they live their life, and the things they say reflect the fact that they have spent time with God.  They too, shine for the Lord.  If they have been in God's presence, they speak with spiritual authority.  I know their words will be kind and constructive.  They will be redemptive to my soul.  They will not be harsh and destructive.  They will not promote themselves at my expense.  Rather, they will build me up.  They will invite me to join them in the awesome presence of God.  The power of God speaking through their words will heal my soul.

I have to return to A.W. Tozer who said in The Pursuit of God, "Men of the breaking hearts had a quality about them not known or understood by common men.  They habitually spoke with spiritual authority.  They had been in the presence of God and they reported what they saw there."


Pastors, elders, deacons, parents, teachers, government officials have authority due to their position.  Their power is in their position.  They may earn our respect or not.  Their lives may reflect God or not. They may or may not have spiritual authority as well as positional authority.   But there are also people who have no special position, who possess spiritual authority by the powerful presence of God in their lives.


I need people like the ones Tozer described to be involved in my life,  "[people] of breaking hearts who have a quality about them not known or understood by common men."  


I want to be a person who has been in the presence of God, who can report what was seen there.  My friends, this can only happen through diligent prayer and the study of God's Word.   Please join me.