No Bricks

It doesn’t make sense at all. I am five feet seven inches tall on a good day. I weigh over two hundred and fifty pounds. I have been known for bench- pressing rather than my jump shot. My vertical is short enough you could barely slide a credit card underneath my feet when I jump. I never started on a basketball team in junior high and never even tried out for my high school basketball team because I knew I would not make the team. Yet I found myself invited to give a motivational talk to our state ranked and district champion basketball team on the eve of their beginning a playoff run.

As has happened thousands of times in my life the Lord gave me the message suited for the occasion. I called it “No Bricks.” He always gives me the right word for the right occasion. Make no mistake about it. I am not a motivational speaker. I am a preacher and that is how I started tonight. I shared Biblical truth but in a way that those young men could relate. I took a brick in with me and held it up. I told them there would be no bricks in the way of fear or attitude. I reminded them that the basketball hoop is actually large enough for two basketballs to go through at the same time. I had them repeat to phrase “no bricks” as symbolic of there not being any fear. [II Tim 1:7] reminds us that “For God has not given us a spirit of fear (or some translations use the word timidity) but of power and love and displine.”

I then talked about invisible walls of brick impossibilities being made of tissue paper. I reminded them of what Jesus said in [Matt 19:26] where He stated, “With God all things are possible.” I told them the story of the mile. One of the first recorded times for a person running the mile was way back in 1915 when the time was 4:12.75 seconds. Over the next hundred years that mark would decrease significantly. In 1942 the mark was lowered to a staggering 4:04. People actually begin to contemplate running the mile in less than four minutes.

Though the time was lowered several times over the next thirteen years to 4:01.3 no one could break that four-minute barrier. Experts said it was impossible. Runners began to give up on the thought of ever doing it; that is with the exception of a young man named Roger Bannister. He believed, trained, and on an eventful day on May 6, 1954 Roger Bannister proved to everyone that the brick wall of the four minute barrier was indeed made of tissue paper crossing the finish line at 3:59.4 That was amazing feat but only forty six days later a man named John Landy broke Bannister’s mark with a time of 3:57.9 For over a hundred years nobody could accomplish that feat and in little over a month two men did it in the same year. Today the world record set in 1999 for the mile is an astonishing 3:43.13. Brick walls of impossibilities are made of tissue paper. With God anything is possible.

I challenged those young men to repeat the phrase “no bricks” over and over again but the Lord had something else for me to share. I asked them why they played. Finally somebody said it was fun. Next, I wanted to know for whom did they play for. In no uncertain terms I laid out the truth that they should play for God. I challenged the Seminole Basketball team to play for the glory of God and not to arrogantly play for themselves. I quoted part of [James 4:6] which states, “… God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble.” The biggest opponent those boys will face tomorrow will not be the opposing team but God himself if they play arrogantly and prideful. I reminded them that it was God who watched over them as they traveled to all those out of town games. It has been God who has kept their team free from injury. It is God who has given those boys talent. It is God who has given those boys a support system in families, friends, coaches, and an entire community. I chanted “no bricks” of pride getting in the way.

Now if those teenage young men can get hold of that truth what about us as adults. How many live frozen in raw terror about the future? How many look at impossible circumstances and wilt before them losing heart? How many arrogantly live their lives without ever acknowledging God and His goodness? My simple message to you is “no bricks.” No bricks of fear. We live with courage. [Joshua 1:9] “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not tremble or be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” There will also be no bricks of impossibilities for [Luke 1:37] states, “For nothing is impossible with God.” Finally, we will not live in pride but humble ourselves in His presence and receive His grace and His blessing. [James 4:6] NO BRICKS!

Funeral on the Plains

Later on today I will be attending the funeral for a pastor who died serving Christ he loved among a flock he had loved and guided for two decades. His last days were not easy as he did hand to hand combat with that dreaded opponent cancer. He fought valiantly and honored his Lord and his flock to the very end.

Many thoughts tramp through my mind. I met this pastor early in my ministry here in Seminole. He was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer only weeks after my arriving. One of the thoughts that linger with me is that my days are numbered just as his were. I am not guaranteed a long life. There are many days that I do not get around to do all I want to get done and I justify it by thinking that there is always tomorrow but this is not true. One day there will not be another tomorrow. The death dew will fall on my brow freezing my fingers and ideas that float in my mind. That means the many writing projects I continually put off must be put on the front burner and completed because the day is coming when it will be too late. There are also numerous books I want to read but do not always discipline myself to read them thinking I will get around to it one day. One day may never come. I am looking in my Bible at a passage I have highlighted in orange. It reads, “So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” [Ps 90:12] I must live and labor while I have the chance offering the Lord my best efforts.

As I contemplate this funeral later today I am struck by another thought. This pastor gave two decades of his life to one flock. That has long been my desire and I never dreamed there would be a day I would be packing my family and belongings and leaving the flock at FBC Paradise. I love them as I did when I was there but I know God called me to move and to have stayed with those I love so dearly would have been flat out rebellion on my part. So I find myself serving a new church, just getting to know a new flock having been here six months, and longing for God to give me that lengthy ministry. Charles Simeon ministered at his church for around six decades. Jonathan Edwards preached at Northampton for a little over twenty years. Charles Spurgeon stayed at the Metropolitan Tabernacle for thirty-eight years. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was pastor at Westminster Chapel in London for thirty years and A.W. Tozer preached at The Southside Alliance Church in Chicago for more than three decades. The long desire of my heart has been to give myself to one congregation for the remainder of my ministry. I thought that would take place in Paradise but I was painfully wrong. Now I ask the Lord to plant our roots deep in West Texas. I grow weary of starting over. Many have told me I would not stay here long. They have said we would move on to bigger and better things. That certainly is not my desire. One person prophesied before I left Paradise that God would never let me stay in one place long. That sure is not the desire of my heart. But as always I have to lay myself on God’s altar and be willing to do what He calls me to do. [Rom 12:1] At the same time the true desire of my heart is to have a long ministry in one church. [Ps 37:4] I prayerfully and hopefully did not uproot Brenda and the boys for a short stop over. Many people do not want to live, minster, and pastor in West Texas. There is a lot of driving. I want to be willing to serve these people and this community for the long haul. Ultimately that is God’s call so I submit to Him.

One final thought about the funeral today. Though this brother in the Lord battled cancer there was every indication that he finished well. He continued to preach and to lead right up until the final couple of weeks when he was no longer physically able to do either. Many people start out well. Many pastors start out well and after a year or so are busy looking for a new place to serve or have been caught in Satan’s seductive lair of sin and sorrow. My heart has been broken of late of the number of ministers who started out well but who did not finish well. I want to finish strong in the Lord and in the ministry however long that will be. [Heb 12:1-3]

Funerals are a good time to stop and take stock of our own lives and bring that stark reminder that our lives on this earth are temporary and all of us are just passing through. I want to live and labor while I have the opportunity. I want to give my heart, life, gifts, and passions to one flock for a long ministry. I pray it will be here in Seminole. I also want to complete the course and finish my race with no blunders. I do not want give up and quit when the going gets tough or be enticed by the passing pleasures of sin to stray off the course and to abandon the race. These are my thoughts about the funeral I will be attending later today. What are yours?

Sleepless Night

It is 2:46 a.m. and I cannot sleep. For the past hour I have been tossing and turning with different people on my heart and mind praying for them. There are some who are sick who need a miracle. There are those who carry burdens that only God can lift. There are also those who need a fresh touch from God to bring them back to their senses and out of rebellion.

Jesus often withdrew in the night hours to pray and intercede. I felt a clear call from the Lord at the beginning of this year to give myself to prayer like I never have before. I did not realize that would mean some sleepless nights. The burdens the Lord has been putting on my heart are at times painful. Giving myself to a ministry of intercession has proven to be taxing emotionally and physically. All of this not to mention the continual spiritual battle for the soul of this community while dealing with the distractions of sick children and a wife who has been in more pain the past two weeks from her arthritis than I can remember over the past four years. It all takes a toll. But I am honored to be one of those chosen to stand in the gap for others during this night watch.

It is now while most of the world is sleeping that fervent prayer needs to be made on behalf of those who are in need. So I pray and lift them one by one to the Lord. I pray for Seminole and ask the Lord to give me His heart for this community. I ask the Lord to plow up the fallow ground of hearts who so desperately need the Lord but who do not turn to Him for salvation. I pray for FBC Seminole and ask the Lord to give us His heart to really pray. I ask the Lord to unite us as a church body around His throne and around His voice. I plead with the Lord to develop our faith and give us a willingness to follow Him.

Father, ruler of this universe, I come in these late night hours pleading with you for this community. I ask you to give me your heart for this community. I want to feel the burdens that grieve you. I want to have compassion for the lost like you have compassion for them. I ask you to send your Holy Spirit to plow the fallow ground of this west Texas town. I ask you to send a spiritual awakening here. This is the field you have given me to sow, work, and harvest in. I ask you to move beyond what any one church or one denomination can do. I ask you to move powerfully to draw the masses to a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank you for waking me in the night watches to pray for people. I come lifting up those whom need your healing touch. I ask to speak life into their bodies and perform miracles. I ask you to bring glory to your name through your healing work. We never deserve your healing and I do not ask for it based on our merit but come pleading for mercy and for your glory to be furthered through your healing.

I lift up those whom I love and I know you love who have turned their backs on you to pursue a life of wanton pleasure. I ask you to pursue them with relentless intensity. I ask to torment their dreams even now as they try to sleep. I ask you to pursue them in their thoughts, in their conversations, while they eat, and even in those private moments when they forget you see, hear, and know everything. I ask you to bring them to their senses like the prodigal son and awaken them to the schemes of the enemy who is a liar and a deceiver. I ask you to pursue them until they awaken spiritually and return to you. Until that hour I plead with you to release the hounds of Heaven to dog their every step, thought, action, and desire through constant conviction of the Holy Spirit.

I lift up this great church in Seminole but who needs to grow in faith. I ask you to do more than teach us about your ability but allow us to see your power first hand. I ask you to remove the sin of prayerlessness from our lives individually and corporately. I ask you to instill a desire for us to pray and believe you for all you intend to do in us and through us. I seek your face on behalf of this body for direction. Do you want us to go to two morning worship services to accommodate the crowds? I plead with you to speak to your people and to give us your heart on this matter. I come asking you to unite us around your voice. We must learn to hear from you clearly and then obey what you direct us to do.

I ask you to infuse our worship services with a fresh power we have not known in the past. Whether we are singing an ancient hymn or a modern worship song I ask you to breathe life into each one and give us a true heart to worship. I ask you to let the weightiness of your presence settle among us week after week. I long for services where you move and touch lives. I abhor the formality and ritual of worship services that do not honor you or even require your presence. I ask you to spark a spiritual hunger in FBC that defies explanation. I ask you to awaken your sleeping church and to revive those who sit in the pews. I ask you to come to renew your church and to revive us according to your word.

I pray for greater insight into your word and for more anointing to preach it and teach it. I ask you to inspire messages that really do minister to your flock. You alone know how I feel like a dismal failure so many times after preaching. Please give me words of life and the boldness of a lion to preach your truth without compromise or fear. I ask you to use me. I ask you to use me as a spokesman for you. Please lead me in what to preach. I get so frustrated at my lack of ability to always to discern your direction. I do not want to preach to people’s heads but pray you would allow me to minister to their hearts. I ask you to raise a mighty church, mature in their faith, and courageously willing to believe you for anything and to follow you anywhere. Thank you for the work you have been doing. I ask you to do even more. Please do not let me waste my life and the cherished time you give me in the pulpit. I cannot feed these sheep apart from your supernatural enabling. Lord, I trust you. I trust you for fresh words and for the stamina to preach your glorious truth until my dying breath.

Please help us to put away dead and fruitless activity and to turn our attention to doing things that have impact. I ask you to allow this church to leave deep footprints in the sands of this community. I ask you to open our eyes to those around us who need you. Please open our eyes to see where you are working and to what you are doing so we can join you in that work. I ask you to raise workers to do the work you have called us to do, people who will organize, labor, teach, and give their lives for you. I ask you to give our people the ability to build wealth and the heart to give generously and sacrificially to the advancement of your kingdom. I ask you to supply generously for our mission work in Spokane and Humboldt.

I come to lift up my friends in Humboldt. The work is grueling and the results have been painfully barren. I do not know why you will not release me from that work. In faith I have said yes and in faith our missions committee is willing to follow. I come now asking you to call someone in this world to be the pastor of that church. How many times have I asked you if it was me? Repeatedly you have assured me my work is right here but I am to be one who sends others. I do not know whom that pastor is for Humboldt. I do not know where they live or what you are doing in their lives. For five years this church in Humboldt has kept the doors open even though they have never known the joy of having a shepherd. They keep meeting in faith believing that you will intervene and send them a pastor. I ask you even now as I pray to put that call on someone’s life. I ask you to speak in their dreams and to hand pick someone to follow you to that town and to those people. You know I would go. I know the work there is brutally hard, the winters are fierce, and the hearts of the people of rock hard. There is a reason why you have not let that little flock fold up. There is reason why you will not release me from helping. If you are not calling me please help me to pray more fervently for the one you are calling even as I lift this before you. You are the only one who can help those people. I plead with you to call someone to forsake the American dream to follow you to a place that has become so dear to my heart. If I am the one, I say yes. If it is not me then I plead with you to settle me deeper into Seminole and at long last to bless me with that lengthy ministry I have yearned for.

I ask you to give me a supernatural love for my flock. Please unite our hearts as a shepherd and a flock. I ask you to deepen my love and the bond we share together. I ask you to grant me your wisdom to lead this congregation forward. I want no other agenda other than yours. I ask you to lead us like you led Israel with the pillar of fire and the cloud. I so yearn to follow you and see you do things that defy imagination. I thank you for these people who have opened their arms and their hearts to us. Thank you for these people who are hungry for your word and who flock to listen week after week.

My heart aches for marriages. Please forgive us for not taking the marriage covenant more seriously and for the many preachers who rush people to the altar without expressing your heart for the permanence of marriage. I know there are many wounded who suffer every day from the painful reality of divorce. They hurt and never wanted it but now deal with the wounds and continual pains of being abandoned, abused, and betrayed. I ask you to help them. I ask you to be more real and present than a spouse could ever be. I ask you to bring healing to their hearts and healing to their shattered faith. I ask you to do the miracle of restoring marriages. I ask you to rekindle affection and the flames of romance. I ask you to change hearts and not allow us to take one another for granted.

I lift up the community prayer room ministry and ask you to start calling people to give themselves to set aside that time to pray. Thank you for meeting with me and moving my heart during those times. Thank you for opening my heart to feel for this community. I ask you to call your people in this community to unite in prayer and to summon you to come and help us. Forgive us for our arrogance as churches thinking we can do your work without your power. I plead with you to raise a whole community of intercessors. I am willing to do what you want me to do. Right now I ask you to call your church to prayer. I ask you to unite us as a people in this community who continually cry out to you for the souls of Seminole and beyond.

Lord, I ask you to give this community favor. You have blessed us with farm land, with oil and gas, and with great schools but I feel the burden the farmers carry for the need for water. I ask you to turn the hearts of the farmers to you and in turn you would bless our county and region with the sound of the abundance of rain. I ask you to give these farmers a great harvest but I ask you to lead them to honor you with their wealth. I am so grateful for your blessing us with moisture so far this year. Now, I ask you to keep nourishing and refreshing the land all year long with steady and soaking rains.

I lift up that wonderful flock back in Paradise. I ask you to hand pick a shepherd for them. I never thought I would ever leave them but you called me here. I know there are many who still do not believe that or do not understand. I ask you to bring them an anointed pastor and shepherd to lead them forward to the great vision you have set in place. I ask you to unite the people there in prayer to follow you and to know your voice. I trust you to protect them from wolves in sheep clothing whom would devour and destroy the church.

I lift up those friends whom you have set apart in ministry. I ask you to renew them as they sleep tonight. When they awake I ask you to give them a heart to seek you and a hunger to meet with you. I ask you to protect them from evil and to purify their hearts with a love for you and a hatred for sin. Please do not let them get enticed by the passing pleasures of sin but to be satisfied with abounding joy in you. I ask you to open your word so that they may behold wondrous things and to anoint them to be able to preach and teach that word effectively. As they seek your direction for their lives I ask you to remove all confusion and to give them your heart and will. I ask you to meet profoundly with each one today and renew their passion and devotion for you and for the ministry you have called them to. I ask you to step in and to be provider. I trust your word that you will meet every need they have. I know some are tired and face huge challenges while others are just beginning new ministries. Please help them to cultivate faithfulness. For those who are just starting their ministries I ask you protect them from ego and pride and for those who are finishing a life time of ministry I ask you to empower them to finish strong.

I lift up the two search committees at Paradise and ask you to guide their every step. May they give themselves more to prayer and listening to you rather than operating like the world does. I know they are a hurting flock and confused. I hurt with them but know you are trustworthy. I plead with you to protect them from division and from the wicked schemes of the enemy. I ask you to restore their hope. I love those people and miss them dearly but your call on my life is in Seminole. I want your absolute best for FBC Paradise and for FBC Seminole. I ask you to bless them with a pastor and a youth minister who surpass everything I ever saw you do there. I ask you for ones who will plant deep roots and ones who will love the community more than we did and still do.

Lord, I lift up my family. I ask you to touch my wife and to rebuke every cell of arthritis that has wreaked so much havoc on her joints. I ask to heal every joint and to restore her health. I ask you to bless her with a refreshing night of sleep and give her energy for tomorrow. I ask you to bless us on our date later today with a time of enjoyment and deep bonding. I thank you for what you are teaching Taylor and Tanner in Experiencing God. I ask you to build into their young lives and help them grasp these truths. I do not know what plans you have for them but I ask you to give them a love for you that is strong enough to resist peer pressure and more passionate than the lure of sin. I ask you to use them among their peers to bring glory to you and people to salvation. I ask you to give them a heart to serve you and follow you anywhere to do anything for the rest of their lives. I thank you for Tucker and the special gifts you have given him. I ask you to use him musically to do great things for you. I ask you to put songs in his heart and let him write music for you. I thank you for his influence over his friends and pray you would use him to point people to you. I thank you for Turner and his vivacious personality. I ask you to deepen his love and his understanding of who you are. I ask you to become more real for all my boys. Please heal Tanner and Turner and restore their health. I ask you to protect my family from sickness and disease. I ask you to put a hedge around my house to guard us. Thank you for home you have blessed us with, for the new flock and friends you have entrusted to us in Seminole. Please help us to treasure them and not take this for granted. I ask you empower my boys to play sports for you and for you alone. I ask you to give them a platform through sports to testify of your greatness.

Father, I love you. This has been a sweet season of prayer and intercession. The night is over and the new day is beginning to dawn. I trust you to give me the stamina to go through this day. I ask you to renew my strength and my mental energies as I seek you in prayer and as I preach at the Care Center. Please minister to us at Men’s Fraternity in about an hour. Thank you for allowing me the privilege of standing in the gap for your church and for the advancement of your kingdom tonight. I ask you to be glorified through these prayers and may they outlive me and my ministry on this earth. In Jesus name. Amen.

Silent But Not Absent

We have been studying the life of Joseph on Wednesday nights for the past month. He was forced to endure a good deal of suffering. He grew up the favorite son of his father Israel (formerly known as Jacob). His brothers hated him so much they sold him into slavery. He was taken to Egypt where he was bought by Potiphar. He excelled in his labors so much that Potiphar put Joseph in charge of everything.

Potiphar had a wife with a roving eye and a wicked heart. Joseph became the object of her lusts and began making sexual advancements on a daily basis. Joseph remained firm and then one day she pressed her desires a little too much and Joseph fled leaving his coat in her hand. She concocted a story about Joseph and Potiphar had him thrown into prison.

I just finished reading [Gen 40:1-23]. Joseph was given favor by God again in prison and put in charge of the other prisoners. Two people from Pharaoh’s court were thrown into prison; the baker and the cupbearer. Both had dreams and God gave Joseph the interpretation of both dreams. The cupbearer was to be restored to his position but the baker was to be hanged.

Joseph begged the cupbearer to remember him before Pharaoh and how he had been unjustly sold into slavery and thrown into prison. Sure enough both dreams came true and you can only imagine the hope that grew in Joseph’s heart thinking the cupbearer was going to speak on his behalf to Pharaoh who held the keys to Joseph’s long held desire for freedom.

Verse twenty-three sums it up. “Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.” If you proceed on to chapter forty one and verse one, here is what you read, “Now it happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream and behold he was standing by the Nile.”

Did you catch that phrase “At the end of two full years.” Picture Joseph in those immediate days after the cupbearer left the cell hoping that any day he would hear footsteps and the prison door would open and his freedom would be won again. One day turned into a week, a week into a month, and a month into a year and a year into two years. That is 730 days of waiting. That is 17,520 hours of waiting, praying, hoping, and then in turn losing hope.

You know Joseph continued to plead for God to release Him. Joseph most assuredly prayed for the cupbearer to remember him. You know Joseph at times must have felt forgotten by the Lord and wondered why God delayed in answering his prayers. You think about two full years being in a stinking prison surrounded by some of the worst people from society and knowing the whole time you were innocent and did not deserve to be in that place would be hard to live with.

I know there are some of you reading this who are that frustrated. You might even be beyond frustration. You are in circumstances that make you feel God has forgotten you. Some of you feel abandoned and you feel like the promises in scripture have been broken and the Lord is no longer trustworthy and reliable. You feel betrayed, forsaken, deceived, and disillusioned with God. Let me assure you that you are not the first person to feel that way.

I went through a season like that from the years of 2003-2005. It did not matter what I prayed our circumstances did not change for the better. In fact, in some ways they grew worse. During that time I wondered why the Lord did not step in and open the doors to our cell but all the prison doors remained firmly shut. There were days when I felt I was on the verge of mental breakdown because I could not make sense out of the truth of scripture in the context of my circumstances. It was a hard spiritual and mental battle but God pulled me through. I never doubted God loved me I just could not understand why He did not step in fix things. What I thought then was He had forgotten me but what I have learned since then is that He was refining me for greater purposes.

God used that time to teach me things I am not sure I would have learned in other easier circumstances. My faith was strengthened. My love for God was deepened. My leadership ability was expanded. I learned to love people and especially those who suffer. I learned to have compassion. I was able to develop a deeper understanding of the scriptures and I learned perseverance. God did not forsake me. He might have been silent but He was not absent.

In the middle of what you are going through, you may not be able to discern the work of God or even feel His presence but I assure you He is there working out His plans. He is there, though sometimes silent, but never absent. He is present with you in your own private prison. Though you feel forgotten, I assure you that you are not. “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.” [Ps 139:17-18] God has not forgotten you. He has promised never to abandon you. [Heb 13:5]

You will have to read the rest of Joseph’s story to find out how God shows up. I don’t have time to get into that right now. What I do have time for is to remind you that you might be in the middle of “two full years” as you wait on God to step in and intervene. I remind you that His mercies are new every morning. Even today they are new right where you sit. I say again He might be silent but He is not absent. Press on in enduring faith. He will not fail you

Date Night

Brenda and I did not get to celebrate Valentine’s Day this past Saturday due to Taylor having a basketball tournament nor on Sunday because Sundays are always busy. We decided in advance we would wait until the Tuesday after Valentine’s to celebrate. It was our date night.

We found ourselves talking about our date over the weekend. I began to get giddy about spending time with the love of my life. Our plans included going to her favorite steak restaurant out here in west Texas followed by a night at the movies. I had a little surprise for her. For days I had been thinking about writing her a poem. My plans were to include the poem in a card and then while eating and getting our salads I would slip the card onto her place setting and then sit back and joyfully watch her response at my declaration of love for her.

All went according to plan. When she got up to get her salad I reached into my coat pocket while lingering at the table and slipped the card on the table in front of where she was sitting. Like an excited school boy I rushed off behind her to get my salad. I went on the opposite side of her so I could I could beat her back to the table.

She was surprised by the card. I knew she would be more surprised by the contents inside. I had handwritten some mushy stuff inside the card and folded the typed poem on top of that. She opened the card and read less than half way down before water faucets opened in her eyes and she began to wipe the tears away. At this point it dawned on me that if she broke down crying people would not see me as the loving and doting husband but as the jerk that made his wife cry. I was greatly relieved when the closed the card and told me, “I can’t read that in here.”

Through the rest of the meal I would look deep into her eyes and reminisce over the past eighteen and half years we have been married. We laughed and joked with one another. It was a great meal but my favorite part was eating with her. The only thing that mattered to me in those moments was being with her and enjoying her.

When we got back in the car to leave she opened the card and read it as well as the poem. I nearly wrecked glancing over at her to see her reaction. More tears. More love expressed and received. For once I knew I had done it right. I added value and appreciation to my wife who has loved me and stood with me in some of the hardest times imaginable.

Turns out the movie she wanted to see was not showing. We ended up at a furniture store looking at dining tables and then opted to go home early. She watched a movie and I fell asleep (see my blog a “Sleepless Night” to see why.)

I am a blessed man. Brenda is indeed my soul mate, my best friend, my closest companion, my partner in ministry, and of course my wife. I love spending time with her though we often catch ourselves coming and going. Date nights are important. They revive the romance, rejuvenate the passion, and rekindle the flames of love that do not allow the marriage to grow stale.

Your style may not be poetry or handwritten cards. What ever your style is I exhort you to work at rekindling the romance. Find a date night like one husband I know who turned date night into date weekend. He is madly in love with his wife and she knows it. She is the envy of other wives and he is the shame of other husbands. Way to go! Keep to fires of love and marriage sizzling.

Below you can read my poem to Brenda The Love of My Life

Brenda, you are the love of my life and captor of my heart,

It seems like yesterday our romance began to upstart,

There you were sitting at the park across the table,

Both of us talking about Him who is more than able,

I had never met a girl who loved Christ quite like you,

You had never met one so unrefined and uncouth,

It was the classic tale of beauty matched to the beast,

When I laid eyes on you it was a scrumptious feast,

I knew you were the one – my truest soul mate,

What a joy going out with you on those first dates,

We laughed, dreamed, and together we prayed,

We grew together as God’s grace was displayed,

We parted for a time – a difficult and lonely season,

You had yours but God had other sovereign reasons,

God reunited us when His work was finally done,

Though I dated others my heart you had already won,

We were engaged and married eighteen short years ago,

The journey has been steep and the way hard to follow,

You stood firm when momma died back in May of ’98,

You stayed when the love at Burke church turned to hate,

You did not break when financial woes fiercely pummeled,

Only love and support toward me you always funneled,

You endured the hot humid days of sultry east Texas heat,

Giving birth to eight pairs of pitter pattering baby boy feet,

You uprooted and moved by faith time and time once again,

You gave up a career much more successful and profitable than I,

You followed out west tearfully telling Paradise sadly goodbye,

Now you live out west where wind and dust continually abound,

Faithfully standing by my side when life constantly came unwound,

I loved you when we stood before the Lord back at First Baptist Hurst,

My love has grown with all the good and been deeper rooted in worst,

Of times when life and ministry did not make any logical sense,

When I felt betrayed by our God and faithful Sovereign Prince,

You loved me through it all and never wavered in devotion or love,

For me or for Jesus who divinely planned our union from above,

Today, I celebrate my love for you as strong - immovable as a mountain,

I delight in drinking of your love which is a never-ending fountain,

You are my love, my best friend and my truest and trusted confidante,

Two hearts no longer separate but two that beat and love as one,

Held together in the covenant we made before the family and Son,

I love you with a love that defies words and descriptive explanation,

Being your husband is a cause for continual delight and celebration

Prayer Huddles

It is exciting to see the number of people the Lord is gathering together to pray on Saturday nights. We started three weeks ago with a total of nineteen ranging from four years old to some in their eighties. The crowd was divided into smaller groups where prayer requests were shared and a season of focused prayer was shared. God gripped our hearts that night.

These power bands are the life-blood of our church. This past Saturday night we tried something different. We dropped off the younger children at a different location so they could share in a shorter prayer time and then have the time to play together freeing parents up to pray at a different location without distraction. We had thirty teenagers and adults gather last night to seek the face of God and cry out for His power to be displayed in Seminole. There were six children at my house who enjoyed a prayer time on their level.

Each Saturday night we are scheduled to gather at a host home. We usually share in some light snacks afterwards but the real reason we congregate is to pray. Sometimes we sing a song before dividing into groups and I share a scripture. It is a wonderful sound to hear people interceding for Seminole in different rooms in these host homes. I am assured we are on the threshold of seeing the Lord do some things that will leave us awed by His powerful working in this community and beyond.

What if little power bands started all over this city meeting at times most convenient for them? What if little bands of people purposely grouped together to stand in the gap for this community and for the lost? What if local churches and ministers were continually lifted before the throne week after week? What if fervent intercessions were lifted up that could not be voiced but fell into puddles of tears all over the city? I cannot say I have the answer to those questions but I can say I want to pursue finding out.

Do you want to know one of the first power bands? It was with three guys, Moses, Aaron, and Hur. A battle was raging and it was discovered that as long as Moses kept his hands lifted Israel would start winning the war. When his arms dropped from weariness the enemy would start winning. Aaron and Hur helped to support Moses’ arms until the battle was won. [Ex 17:8-16] In the same way as we gather in prayer huddles or power bands, we support one another and can see the battle for the soul of Seminole turned for the glory of the Lord.

I hope you will join our power band prayer meetings or make your own power bands and cry out for the soul of this city. May God do more than we could think or ask according to His power working through us. [Eph 3:20]

Moving with the Cloud

I’m writing this sitting in a booth at a local restaurant where I enjoyed breakfast with the Lord. I left the office to get away from the hustle and bustle for a few moments of sanctuary with the Lord. I used this time to complete my Experiencing God work, write in my journal, and to read some scriptures.

I was dutifully but not delightfully making my way through the book of Numbers. If you have read that book it can be very dry with all the genealogies. I was not enjoying it but trying to take George Mueller’s advice about seeking the will of God through the pages of scripture and the interpretation of the Holy Spirit.

I read verse after verse trying to stay focused and to keep my mind from drifting. That is when I came to Numbers 9:18-23. The essence of this passage is simple but was very profound for me. God would come to the tabernacle and camp out there in the form of a cloud. When the cloud remained over the tent of meeting the nation of Israel remained camped. When the cloud moved they packed up and followed the Lord in the form of the cloud.

At times the cloud would remained settled for a month or longer and at other times it would remain settled for a day or less. Each time the nation of Israel witnessed the cloud moving they would move also. When the cloud remained they learned to patiently wait on the Lord.

This was the exact word I needed from the Lord today. As a pastor I face countless decisions many about the future. I face decisions about different missions endeavors the Lord is leading us to join Him in. I face different decisions about the church and different ministries to start or to revamp. I have to make choices about the best way to spend my time and about the best way to use the church’s resources.

What I need most is to wait when God wants me to wait and to move forward when God wants me to move. I admit it would it would be so much easier if I had a cloud around me telling me when to wait and when to move. I do not have that. What I do have is the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures. When I wait on the Lord and seek to know His will I can trust that He will lead me through His Spirit as I dig in the word like I did this morning.

I needed a fresh reminder that this does not have to be complicated. The church at large has made following God very difficult. We establish committees many of whom do not pray, do not wait, and do not desire to let God set the agenda. We have leaders who use manipulation and business methods to work people to get the desired result. Others use intimidation methods to push their agenda. What about people waiting on the Lord, looking to Him for when to move and when to wait? When we do this we can proceed with confidence in the will of the Lord and with His hand blessing and empowering what He is leading us to do.

I want to move with the cloud and when the cloud is not moving I want to remain put. For years I dreamed my dreams and spent precious energy and resources pursuing them in vain. I must wait on the cloud. I urge you to do the same in our own life, in your family, and in your church.

Lord, forgive us for being so impatient and for headstrong. I ask you to give us a heart to seek you, to wait on you when we need to wait and to move forward when we need to move forward. Let us move with the cloud.

Going to War

I have just returned from a ministry appointment. This is a situation that needs more than just prayer. Prayer warriors need to unite and go to war over this one. I don’t have to go into details. God already knows. It is a desperate situation where only God can make a difference.

As I was driving back to the office over and over again I kept thinking that we must go to war on behalf of people in prayer sometimes. This is not a time to lift up half-hearted mamby-pamby prayers. This is the time to pray with force and fervency trusting [James 5:16] and ask God to step in and to intervene. [Ps 50:15]

The circumstances do not matter. It could be any number of situations You and I face on a daily basis. People are in trouble. Some are facing hardships financially. Some are in rebellion and fleeing from the Lord into a head on collision with heartache and sorrow. There are those who battle medical conditions medicine, doctors, and technology cannot overcome. Only God can help these sick and diseased. There are marriages on the brink of ruin unless God steps in and saves the day. Multitudes perish without a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Only God can help.

This is where intercessors must strap on the armor of God and do war in the heavenlies. We are in a battle and the enemy will oppose the work of God every step of the way. [I Pet 5:8] You do not strap on armor to go to the next church pot-luck fellowship. [Eph 6:10-18] When I say going to war we must get that war mentality as we plead for God to help and to rescue people who are in need.

I cannot be content to lift up some token prayers tonight. I cannot be content to sit by idly while people who are so needy are losing their battles. If the church was the house of prayer we are called to be there would be an army of intercessors. There would be constant knocking on the doors of Heaven and God would step into time and space to help time and time again. He already does that but He is able and willing to do so much more. [Eph 3:20]

I spent my lunch going to war for three situations. Each case was different but the need for God to help is equally great. I feel engaged in battle with a smart , savvy, and strong enemy. Only God can defeat this enemy. It is a weary battle. It would be easier to take the path of least resistance but that path does not honor God when so much is at stake, namely life and death, Heaven and Hell, and everlasting life or everlasting wrath and destruction.

Would you stop reading this long enough to engage in the battle for those in need? There will always be needs and therefore there will always be a need for people to go to war in prayer. Please stop what you are doing and fight on your needs for those the Lord brings to your mind.

Community Prayer Room

When I first moved to Seminole I heard about a community prayer room. This is a time when people from different churches come together to intercede for the community during lunch once a week. In the beginning I intended to go but something always came up. As I was seeking the Lord for vision at the beginning of this year I sensed Him telling me to, “give myself to prayer more than ever.” Part of that command meant to make attending the CPR prayer meetings a high priority.

Since committing to go to those prayer meetings I have been moved to tears in every single prayer time. I pray alone and let the Lord direct my prayers in addition to lifting up the prayer requests made available. I have cried out to the Lord to give me His heart for the city of Seminole and for Gaines County. I feel God’s heart and the ache of those in desperate need all over the community.

I do not know how long CPR has been going on. I do know this. Very few people attend. It is a come and go prayer meeting. It starts around 11:30 and concludes around 1:30. The leader always says, “Come when you can and leave when you must.” I find myself wanting, longing, and craving to go to those meetings. My heart aches for the prayerlessness of the church today. I am new to CPR but I am pleading for the Lord to give His people the desire to pray. I am pleading for the Lord to move our hearts to cry out to Him on behalf of the city.

I cannot even begin to put into words what the Lord has been doing in my heart this year and in those CPR meetings. Often I barely pray words but sit or kneel with a stream of tears. I want God to move in this city. I feel the burdens that people have to carry and feel that I am never closer to the heart of God than when I am standing in the gap for people, many of whom I may not know.

I feel one of my missions as a pastor and author is to call people back to a life of prayer. We need God to intervene and invade space and time to help us. If I could point people back to prayer and trusting God in every circumstance of life I feel my life will not have been wasted. If through my own prayer life I can point people to God’s miracles then I will have accomplished my purpose in this generation.

I feel the weight of this community on my soul. I feel the depth of God’s heart wanting to move and longing to bring the so long needed revival to our community and nation. I sure do not feel like a person of great influence but with what little I do have I urge those of you who are reading this to join community prayer room. For those who live in Seminole we meet each Thursday from 11:30-1:30 around lunch at a different church each week. You come and go as you please. I am saddened by the pathetic few people I see from FBC Seminole and the other churches at those meetings. I long for the day when the churches will be filled with praying and warring saints who give God no rest until He establishes His kingdom on the earth. If you do not live in Seminole why not start a community prayer room in your area. It just takes one person with a heart who has tenacious faith.

Let me tell you an old story. Over a hundred and fifty years ago on my birthday one man started a prayer meeting in an old church building in New York on Fulton Street. It was a prayer meeting to be held at 12:00 noon. When Jeremiah walked up the stairs to the designated place to pray he walked into an empty room. He read the fliers he had passed out which read, “Prayer Meeting from 12 to 1 o’clock – Stop 5, 10, or 20 minutes, or the whole hour, as your time admits.” Nobody came for ten then twenty minutes.

Jeremiah Lanphier had been a businessman who at forty-nine surrendered his life to the ministry of visitation. He had felt impressed by the Lord to start these prayer meetings but it seemed people were too busy to take time out to pray.

At 12:30 that September day back in 1857 he began hearing a few footsteps coming up to pray. When the 1:00 hour arrived a total of six had turned out to pray on that initial day. The meeting was small and nothing out of the ordinary happened.

The following prayer meeting the crowd swelled to twenty. The following week they had forty in attendance. At this point Lanphier decided to go for a daily prayer meeting in a larger room.

That same week October 14, 1857 the nation encountered the worst financial panic in its history. People lost jobs, banks began to go belly up, and families were destitute for food.

In a very short time these prayer meetings began attracting crowds of 3,000 people taking over the entire church building. Within six months there were 10,000 people gathering for prayer everyday at noon. By this time other prayer meetings began to arise in the city. Revivals began break out all over the city and the country. People began to be converted to Christ by the hundreds of thousands. Just think, it started with one man yielded and obedient to Christ to start a noonday prayer meeting. Lanphier later said, “The subject was laid upon my heart, and was a matter of constant consideration for some time. At last I resolved to give myself to the work.” [1]

It was written about Lanphier, “Out of that solitary consecration to the service of Christ, who can tell what results have come?”[2] Here in Seminole a lady named Joyce Dow heard God’s call to start some lunchtime prayer meetings. Though the crowds are small she perseveres in faith. Now, I ask you who read this, will you give yourself to that work. Only God knows what impact that might have on a community and eventually a whole word. By the way, those prayer meetings are still going on to this day at Fulton Street because one man was faithful to obey God.

Jesus, thank you for Jeremiah Lanphier. Please come bless us with such an outpouring of your Spirit once again and give your people the desire and the heart to give themselves to the work of prayer. Amen.

---

[1] America’s Great Revivals, Bethany House Publishers, Minneapolis, pp.71-72

[2] Ibid., pp. 71

Is God Enough?

Is God enough? This is a question posed to me by a friend in east Texas. When everything is going wrong, when your heart is breaking, when you have lost hope, is God enough? Is what you have in a relationship with Him enough to sustain you in the tough times in life?

When cancer grows, the tumor is inoperable, when you are behind on your house payment, when the business deal falls through, when the rain doesn’t come when you need it or when too much rain comes when you do not need it, is God still enough?

That’s where the Lord wants us to be. He wants our relationship with Him to be so profound and of such substance that like Job even in the hardest times we could say, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” [Job 1:21] Or we might say to the Lord, “Though You slay me,I will hope in You, nevertheless I will argue my ways before You.” [Job 13:15]

When the tears will not dry, when the emotional darkness will not lift, when heartache will not heal, when the marriage is not restored, when the fog of confusion will not burn away, and when the grief does not depart, is God still enough? Can He really be counted on to help us through such misery?

Each of us will most likely stand face to face with this question at some point in our life journey. Many have built their faith on a house of cards of Sunday School answers, clichés, and busyness. When walls crumble in on top of us like they did for many in Haiti during the recent earthquake, if all you have are pat answers learned from rote but you do not have the substance of a vibrant and close relationship with the Lord, your life will crumble. In myriad ways your life will shout out to a watching world that God is not enough.

I have watched many people suffer over the couple of decades I have been in ministry. Some do so kicking and screaming mad. Others endure suffering with joy like Christ endured the cross. When all the crutches of life get kicked out from under us like our health, our loved ones, our financial well being, and our emotional equilibrium if we have not found a firm foundation in the Lord will collapse in a colossal manner. [Matt 7:24-27]

I have witnessed those battling cancer knowing their days were limited stand firm in Christ and use their last days to point people to Him. On the other hand, I have seen others with lesser trials abandon the faith and turn to sin and the pursuit of wicked pleasure as a way to cope. Few people who have ever lived suffered more than Paul and what did he think? “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.” [Phil 3:7-8]

Until we learn that God is enough, period and end of story, our faith will be shallow and our passion will most likely ebb and flow with the challenges we are facing. I want to be like Paul when he said knowing Christ was surpassing value. That means lucrative and profitable. Not financially but something of infinite more value. No matter what happens if Christ is our foundation and we know He is enough, we can endure. Right now, no matter where you are and what you are up against, is Christ enough for you? I pray so for all of us.

Experiencing God

We are in the middle of the first session of our Experiencing God study tonight. We have run out of books twice and have well over one hundred people participating in this study. We have teenagers as well as adults studying together seated around round tables in the fellowship hall. It is an amazing sight watching the Lord work in our midst. There are sounds of laughter mixed with honest and frank conversation.

I just asked the single most impacting question of the study for me this far. “What are you attempting in your personal life and in the life of your church that cannot be accomplished unless God intervenes?” This is where God wants us to live. He wants us to listen to Him and hear Him clearly calling us to do the impossible. He wants us to simply be available to Him. Now, here is another question, do you and I believe that God can work through us no matter how ordinary we feel? The truth is absolutely yes.

I have been through studies and I know studies do not change your life but God does. God uses ordinary people like you and me to do extraordinary things. [I Cor 1:26-28]. O how the world needs to see that. They need to see God working through us doing impossible things and see churches who are not daunted by the challenges of a post modern culture and closed countries to missions endeavors. God can do anything. He can open any door, use any person, move any mountain, and most of all glorify His name. If we trust and obey we could experience God doing what only God can do. This is where our faith meets the reality of our circumstances.

God delights in using ordinary people to do amazing things for Him. Let me tell you about Christi. She is the wife of a football coach and the mother of two blond headed boys filled with vigor for life. A few years ago, despite being painfully shy, she said yes to God and went on her first mission trip. I will never forget seeing her in the middle of the street witnessing to an intoxicated man named Walter. She has maintained contact with Walter and continued to point him toward Jesus.

This past year the Lord began putting a new call on her life. He began calling her to Africa. She has already made plans for the trip but she is facing the reality of the dangers she could potentially face there. As she seeks the Lord for direction and counsel the Lord continues to move her to step out of her comfort zone and to follow Him to Africa. Christi does not know how powerfully the Lord is using her in the lives of others. Each time she gives God her “yes” she inspires others to follow God as well.

Christi is attempting to take the gospel to the other side of the world and she knows apart from God providing and apart from God enabling her this cannot be done. What impossible thing is God asking you to believe Him for and to attempt for Him? When you obey in faith you too will experience Him and come to know Him in exciting and new ways.