Dreams and Visions

"After this I will pour out My Spirit on all humanity; then your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will have dreams and your young men will see visions." [Joel 2:28]

 We live in a day when people love the supernatural, the mystical, and who throng to have an EXPERIENCE. They want to feel something. In my younger days I too ran down that trail. Over the years my hunger for an experience was replaced with the hunger for God. Pursuit of Him became enough.

Yet, I have been open to the different ways God desires to move in my life. That included having dreams or visions. As soon as I write that I know some people will want to take statement too far and others are not willing to believe God gives either or speaks through either. Be that as it may I can only seek God for myself and write and preach the things He reveals to me.

People who have "dreams" or "visions" are considered weird, mystical, and unbalanced. I guess we would have to put Joseph from Genesis and Daniel in that category too. God gave both men dreams and both men were used of God to interpret the dreams of others.

I do not dream often and when I do they certainly do not appear to have any significance. To my knowledge I have never had a vision. Well, that is until this past week. All three times I was in prayer. All three times I had a very vivid dream, a clear vision, or three distinct mental pictures. You can classify them like you want. So clear were these God has gotten my attention through each of them. I am still praying about what they all mean if anything. In some ways all three have a similar theme. In some ways they are different. At the risk of being labeled weird and unbalanced I am going to relate all three.

1. I walk into the warehouse where we meet as a church. There is an old wood burning pot belly fire place in the room. A man whom has his back to me and whom I never see his face is putting wood in the fire place. I am preaching from the pulpit. Fire is coming from my mouth and setting the hearts of the hearers on fire. The more wood put in the fire place by the man in the back the more fire comes from my mouth. I can see the fire in people's hearts spreading like a grass fire beyond the walls of the warehouse where we meet. The dream ends.

2. I walk into an old dusty dark abandoned church building. There is nobody there with me. I walk over to a light switch to turn on the lights but they do not work. I then notice a strange sight. Behind the pulpit a tunnel of fire is coming from the ceiling to the floor behind the pulpit. Somehow I know this fire is coming straight from heaven even though I cannot see outside the church building. I walk up to the pulpit and stand in the center of the fire. Suddenly the scene changes. I am still behind the pulpit in the fire but the room is filled with brilliant light. As far as my eyes can see I see row after row of pews filled with people all shining brightly so many in number I cannot count them. The dream ends there.

3. There is a river of fire coming straight from the throne room of God to a pulpit and from the pulpit out into the aisles of what appears to once again be the warehouse where we meet as a church. While there are people in the seats I do not know any of them. Those who get into the river are immediately transformed and revived with fire in their hearts. As they walk out of the warehouse the people they come in contact are revived and their hearts are in turn set on fire as well. In this way the fire spreads. The dream ends.

These are each very vivid in my mind. I keep wondering if God is showing me something. They have been too vivid to dismiss and the fact that they have come while seeking the Lord in prayer has my attention. I was not after some experience or anything mystical in those times of prayer. I was in pursuit of God for revival which has been an ever increasing burden.

If God gives you insight and you feel lead to share it with me please contact me. I continue to pray for God to reveal His heart and mind for me.

Thankful for People

Today I am thankful for people. People God put in my life. I am thankful for Eli Bernard for sharing Christ with me nearly 30 years ago. Your investment made all the difference. My whole life changed that night in October of 1983. God has given me a life I could have never deserved and never dreamed was possible. I am thankful for Charles Roberts for teaching me what ministry is all about and for always being there for me in the tough times. I am thankful for my great friends Eric Adcock, Jeff Robinson, and Jimmy Downe who make up most of my inner circle. You guys have seen me through the dark night of the soul and nights of weeping that eventually became mornings of joy. I am thankful for that soul mate Brenda Edwards who dared to marry me and has not flinched in following God's leadership these past twenty two years even down the roads less traveled and filled with the potholes of sacrifice and adversity. She has prayed with me and been my fervent prayer warrior. She has listened to my dreams, carried my sorrows and burdens, bravely endured times of poverty, and never walked out. You are my best friend, my soul mate, and my first choice for a lunch date. I am thankful for Taylor, Tanner, Tucker, Turner, and Jennifer who love me despite my many faults. Thank you for always being willing to forgive me when I get it wrong. I am proud of each of you and humbled God chose me to be your father. I am thankful for former flocks from Burke Baptist Church, CentrePointe Community Church, FBC Paradise, and FBC Seminole who loved my family and stood with us. I am thankful for their willingness to hunger for God and to follow His leadership. I am thankful for the people in Paradise God used to provide my truck and the people of Seminole who loved me enough to release me to God's new call on my life and then go beyond in financially partnering with us to the tune of $35,000 over the past two years all unsolicited and given freely in response to God's leadership. I am thankful for the flock at Faith Community Church who dream with me and who are learning to pray and have walked this adventure with us. I am thankful for those who started and stayed with us even when the going got really rough. I am thankful for those many people who pray for me consistently. I am humbled by God's great gift of people in my life. You know who you are.

Where would I be in life without the investment of countless faces from Denman Avenue Baptist Church, Southside Baptist Church, Carpenter's Way, and others who partnered with me with NO Compromise Ministries back in the late nineties and early 2000's?

Today I am thankful for each of you. If you are reading and this and wonder if I am thinking about you chances are yes. A sea of faces crosses my mind. Thank you for your investment of love, prayer, encouragement, friendship, partnership financially, taking your place in the body of Christ, and those who have believed God for crazy dreams with me like funding a hospital in Honduras. I am a blessed man. EXTREMELY BLESSED. Like George Bailey I am able to say this is A WONDERFUL LIFE and I am one of the richest men in town.

A Nation Adrift

We are drifting. Drifting as a nation further from God. We are drifting along with the masses in a current of immorality and indifference to the laws of God. We drift ever deeper into the sewage of sin without realizing what we are doing.

I saw something the other day where a lady was looking at a house to buy and walked into standing water throughout the house. She took her shoes to walk barefoot through the house so as not to ruin her new shoes. She was sickened to learn that she was actually wading in backed up sewage water. She actually stood in feces and urine. It sickened her as she ran out of the house looking for a water hose to rinse her feet off.

That is a clear picture of what is happening in the average American home. We have drifted so far from God we stand in the sewage of sin and welcome it to our homes never blinking an eye. We do it through the avenue of Satan's never ending assault on the mind through television. I challenge you take an hour or two hours and watch your programs through the lenses of God's eyes and God's word. Make a list of everything you see on television and commercials that offends God. Scrutinize all you see and then at the end of the that time take a look and ask yourself, "Have these things offended me like they offend God? Have I become increasingly comfortable with sin?" If you have the courage to do this it will change your viewing habits. If you have the courage to face this sobering truth. The path of least resistance is to resist this as the ramblings of a mad man.

I want to increasingly become comfortable being uncomfortable with life in America. I want the courage Noah had when he walked with God when his whole culture lived in wickedness continually. He swam upstream against the moral current of his generation. O how I plead with God for that kind of courage in fathers, mothers, teenagers, and children again.

Where bullying is no longer tolerated at any level of society. It happens by more church going kids to other kids than you want to know. Where bosses bully employees. Where some parents even bully their own prodigy.

Today we would label those who take serious the things of God as "holier than thou" types. Radicals. Troublemakers. Old fashioned. Out of step with the times. Well, I for one want to get comfortable with those labels for my God has been insulted and His laws assaulted. I cannot take it anymore.

I am increasingly becoming uncomfortable. I cannot enjoy going to a movie with my family. Sin abounds and my God is insulted. I am offended by most television programming because the behavior which reflects the behavior of our nation is offensive to God. I do find a little solace in the Andy Griffith show. I sat in a Christian concert in a church recently and wept because people stand in line to get into a concert but God and His word cannot draw a crowd in most churches on most Sunday mornings unless there is a dog and pony show.

When I hear things like how one father and mother recently spent $15,000 on their kids playing select sports in one year and did this for several years we are a nation drifting. These parents claim Christ as their Savior but think nothing of "not keeping the Sabbath holy" as they play ball. Sports has become an idol and it used to bring me such joy as I watched my boys. Now I sit in the stands more agonizing as I watch people drift further and further from God. Even my own children. I recently had to call one of my boys out during a game for "showboating" on a play. In this house we play for God's glory or we will not play.

I have seen and heard those who sit in church on Sundays singing God's praises cursing profusely at games when things do not go their way. I have witnessed the cut throat attitudes of parents jealous of one another's kids and all the backstabbing that takes place. I have witnessed when people acted like fools at games hollering, screaming, ranting, and defaming coaches. All for a game. It is no longer a game. It is an idol. We have bowed at the shrine of sports and few have the guts to destroy that idol and place God alone solely on the throne of our hearts, families, churches, and this country. How many tithes are being robbed and spent on select sports and travel expenses? How many children are living with inflated egos but are living offensive to God and are lost headed for damnation. Parents seem oblivious. When other "Christian" parents are compromising the same way with their children it makes it a lot easier to justify sin.

I do not see this same passion and devotion in training children to be righteous. In fact I wonder how many parents spend anytime in devotions and teaching children to follow God. Parents to do not blink at spending thousands of dollars on their kid for private sports lessons but get offended when church camp costs $300 and all the money is not raised. We are drifting.

Sex outside of marriage is no big deal in this society. Homosexuality no longer shocks or offends. What used to outrage Christians is now simply accepted as just being a sign of the times. The times insult a holy God and there will be a day of accounting at some point.

I was not shocked when a young woman came to tell me she was pregnant years ago when her and her boyfriend spent the night in a tent on her parents front yard. The parents gave consent to this but actually acted shocked when their daughter became pregnant. ARE YOU KIDDING? Sex is on television everywhere. Casual sex. Last night one couple said on a sitcom, "You do not have to be married to have sex." I was offended. When is enough going to be enough. These messages get in the hearts of impressionable men, women, teenagers and children. God is offended and insulted and yet we laugh it off as no big deal.

We are drifting when grown adolescents live in the fantasy world of video games locked away all hours of the night and day in a make believe world. The same can be said of pornography as sexual fantasies are played out on a video screen or television screen. We are drifting when young men and women do not know a work ethic and cannot understand responsibility. Parents are drifting when they enable their sons and daughters to continue to live this way by financing this lifestyle.

We are drifting when the church listens to sermon after sermon dry eyed, cold hearted, and never one time in the course of the year going to the altar to do business with God. When truth is expounded but not heeded the church drifts further from what God intended.

O God, please come rescue our souls, our families, our churches, our community and our country. How much longer will you tolerate the sin of a wicked and defiant nation? How long will you be patient as we drift further into the sewage of sin? Lord, I plead with you to start working in individual hearts as you call us all to genuine repentance. I ask you to call us back to the standard of your word, "holiness in all our behavior" and to "avoid every appearance of evil". I plead for you to break our hearts in conviction and contrition. Lord I beg you to open our eyes to see how far we have drifted from you personally and as families. I pray you breakthrough our rock hard hearts that have heard and rejected living out the truth of your word for decades.

Lord, I plead for you to do a work in pastors all over this nation. I pray they can no longer to be content to live and minister in prayerless lifestyles. I plead for you to call pastors back to the prayer closet to seek you in the secret place. I ask you to reward those pastors with revival in the public arena. I ask you to call your church to more than lip service about prayer. I pray for those pastors to have the courage to preach boldly under the power of your anointing not with persuasive words of human wisdom but in a demonstration of your spirit and power.

Please wake us up from our spiritual slumber. I beg of you to shake your smugly satisfied sleeping church. I plead with you to make us all uncomfortable again. Please stop the drifting now. In Jesus name.

We Need Revival

Do we truly want revival? It seems to me most churches are perfectly content to continue on with business as usual without it. If I have learned one thing about revival from reading history and experiencing small tastes of it personally, REVIVAL IS COSTLY. There are few who want to pay the price.

Revival inevitably leads to repentance and a return to holiness. Revival always means prayer. It takes prayer to give birth to revival and more prayer to sustain revival. The prayer meeting is just about extinct in the 21st Century church.

I read about men and women who were so hungry for God to move they would spend whole nights in prayer. Most churches seem perfectly content to do church as usual. The pews are filled and the offering plates are also full. Leaders are satisfied with these lesser blessings. 

Are altars full of people broken over sin in their lives and sin in our land? I was watching a news program the other day and heard that one of the anchors recently got married. I was sick to my stomach when Brenda revealed to me this man had married another man and recently returned from his honeymoon. Does anything sicken or shock the church anymore?

Are baptistries full and regularly in use with new converts following Christ in believer's baptism? Do those new converts stay the course or do they fall away like is the case so often these days?

Revival is costly but we must have it. I pray for God to call his church back to the prayer meeting and back to the altars at the church while we still have time. Lord, give us revival or may we die in pursuit of you for it.

FAMILY WORSHIP

What happened to the family altar? Where did the time of family devotions go? I received a text from a friend today who told me they got snowed in from church this morning. What did they do? They put together their own family worship service. The father brought the word along with the oldest son. The daughter sang. The grandmother testified along with the mother. The youngest son prayed and took the offering. The mother talked about what a memorable time they shared together.

Tonight the Edwards family enjoyed our normal Sunday night prayer meeting at home instead of with the rest of the Faith Community family because we thought the weather would be bad. We prayed for our church, our community, for sick friends, one going in for surgery tomorrow, for other people we dearly love, for our family, revival, and for miracles. Brenda thanked God for the "sweet music" in her ears getting to hear her four boys pray out loud.

There have been times in history when fathers and mothers did not just leave it to the church to train their children in righteousness. They sat down and taught the scriptures and taught their children how to pray. They invested in their children spiritually.

In our society how can young men and young women learn how to have a devotion if mom and dad not have quiet times with the Lord? How will young men ever learn to pray if they never learn to pray by following the example of their fathers? How will daughters learn to cast their cares on the Lord if they never see their mother do it in daily life? If they never see mom and dad turning to God in the day of trouble [Ps 50:15] they probably will not do it either.

For some of you it might seem it is too late. You squandered those precious opportunities and now your children are grown. You can still teach your grandchildren. We must pass on the legacy of our faith to the next generations. We must tell them of the goodness of our God. {Ps 78:5-8] This has never been easy. It will never be easy. IT IS NECESSARY!

The family altar must be resurrected in the home. When this happen families will be revived in their faith. As a result churches will be revived and entire communities can be transformed. If you are teaching your children how to throw, catch, shoot, or kick a ball but not teaching them how to meet with God you are failing them. If you are teaching them to shop for deals, to cook, and how to clean but not how to walk in holiness before the Lord you are doing them a great disservice. IT IS TIME TO RECLAIM THE FAMILY ALTAR AND REINSTATE FAMILY DEVOTIONS!

A Ministry For All

There is a vital ministry everyone can do. Every one is called to this ministry. It does not involve teaching or preaching for those who hate to be in front of crowds. You do not have to possess a gifted voice in singing for this ministry. You do have to go to some special training. It is a ministry of love that can play eternal dividends. What ministry am I referring to? Praying for others. Not just praying for them but send them those prayers in a card, email, facebook message, or a text. What a joy to stand in the gap for the body of Christ. We can all do that no matter how young or how old. I am so grateful this time of year for the many people who pray for me. I am also grateful when God brings needs to my attention to pray for others. Pray for one another. This is a gift that truly keeps on giving.

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Little Blessings

It is a rare Friday night. All six of the Edwards family members are at home. We have a fire in the fire place. We have a good wholesome movie playing. I am not asleep yet. This is one of God's new mercies and little blessings for me.

The blessing of having all four boys at home. No ball games. No late night on the road. No eating without the oldest two. All four boys enjoying pizza and a good old family movie night does my soul good. All six of us sitting in our blessing living room being warmed by our blessing fire place with the first fire in our blessing home. These little blessings are not lost on me.

Brenda has a dear friend dying of cancer. She has only weeks to live. Brenda and some of her high school friends made a trip to see her. The one thing that lady told Brenda and the others that stuck was, "We do have perfect days more than we think. Enjoy those perfect days."

This is one of those perfect days or perfect evenings. It has been a good day. No, a great day. After my time with the Lord I cooked breakfast for the boys. Later we shared in a family devotion together. After school  we all went to get hair cuts together after school. We came home to pizza, a fire place, and a movie. This is a perfect day. No complaints. I need to take notice of such days more often. Days when God's blessings and mercies are abounding. Days when I take snap shots in my heart to remember later on. The day will come when the fire will still burn and the movie may play but it will just be Brenda and I to share our time together as the boys grow up and move on with God's plans for their lives. I do not want to take these days for granted.

It won't be long and these days will come fewer and further in between. In nine months Taylor will be off to football two a days at some college. Tanner will be junior and Tucker will be starting high school. Tuner will be making the jump to middle school. Turner and I both had a little cry about Taylor graduating and moving from home recently. So tonight I am enjoying God's little blessings but in a major way.

Great is God's faithfulness and His mercies are new every morning. Lord, thank you for those mercies coming in the form of a great night at home with my family.

Old Sayings but a Fresh Truth

I was at a track meet in West Texas when I saw the back of this girl's t-shirt. It read, "Monahans Track - faster than small town gossip." I thought to myself that is fast!

I also heard a preacher say that the church is the only army that shoots its own wounded. Why is this? 

The other old saying that sticks and stones can break our bones but words can never hurt us is a downright lie. Over the years cruel things people have said about me and false rumors that were started, spread, and believed without anyone coming to me for the truth have hurt more deeply in my heart than any physical injury I have ever had. I have also found my heart heals much slower than the rest of my body. 

Good news on this cold dreary day is found in Ps 34:18. "The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

Many years ago I learned that if you are going to love and care about people you are going to get your heart broken. I wanted to hold my heart back and guard it when the Lord took me to this verse. He gently reminded me that every time my heart gets broken he would be the one to heal it and bind it back together. Therefore, I still have the courage to love people even though at times gossip may fly faster than the Monahans track team and God's own troops may shoot me when I am down. God will always be near in those times and He will gently take my battered, wounded, and bleeding heart to do the surgery necessary to heal it.

By the way. We have a good example in this. Jesus was betrayed by his own disciples but loved anyway. Jesus was betrayed by the very people he did miracles for and before. He loved and chose to forgive anyway. Keep your heart out there and love. Yes, even those who do not deserve it.

Condemned

She had every right to be condemned. She was guilty. She had no excuses. She had been caught and like the old saying goes, "if you do the crime you have to do the time." She knew she was guilty more than anybody in the room. Eyewitnesses had testified. No one refuted their claims and neither did she.

The law was pretty cut and dry on the matter. She knew she deserved the death sentence by execution. In that moment a flood of memories came flashing through her mind. Memories of happier days and better choices. Then the memories began to blur as the tears began to fall. They say hindsight is 20/20. In her case she could see how one choice to compromise right from wrong led to one bad decision after another leading her to stand before the judge, jury, and all those observers.

In her mind the question of, "Why," crossed her mind thousands of times. Why did she not stand her ground? Why did she give into negative peer pressure? Why did she choose to disobey the law? Why did she ever think she would get away with it and not face the consequences?

Then the judge spoke. With her head bowed she awaited her sentence condemning her to execution. Her head jerked up in bewilderment when she heard the judge say, "Woman where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you? Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more." [John 8:10-11]

With that the woman caught in adultery was pardoned. Though guilty she was forgiven and set free.

 I have been that guilty person deserving judgment but being bewildered by extravagant grace. I have known God's rich grace lavished on me undeserved. [Eph 1:7-8] Though deserving of condemnation I have been set free. So have you. Will we not too extend grace to others freely has we received from a gracious and patient Savior.

The Still Small Voice of God

I drove to east Texas this week to spend a few days at "the prayer cabin." I did not even take my computer. My desire was to spend extended time in prayer and to get a fresh word from God. I spent time with the Lord sitting on a back porch overlooking the lake. My great prayer was to ask Him to speak to me. I spent time prostrate with my face buried in the carpet asking God to speak to me. I went for a long slow walk through the pasture asking God to speak. I sat before Him in the living room with the same request.

Time became irrelevant. I did not mind lingering in His presence. Life there is unhurried. My only agenda at "the prayer cabin" is to seek God. That has always been the case for the past eighteen years, even though there have been times when I write while there. Writing was not on my mind this time around.

My time was spent in prayer, scripture reading, and reading one other religious book wanting to hear God speak. As my last night rolled around I had peace that I had sought the Lord but He had chosen not to speak anything fresh to me even though that morning I had read I Kings 19 and Elijah hearing the still small voice of God. I can do is hunger for God. He speaks on His timetable not mine.

I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open and went to bed around 8:00 p.m. I knew the Lord would awake me for early prayer. Sure enough I woke up at 1:00 a.m. I had a great season of prayer interceding for those God brought to mind and heart. After awhile I went back to bed but even with my head on the pillow I continued to ask God to speak. I continued in this state of prayer drifting in and out of sleep for the next forty minutes.

Suddenly I had two dreams back to back. There was no break in between them. They were vivid in detail and as soon as they ended that still small voice of God began to speak. It was so real I got up groggily and went into the living room where I could write down what the Lord spoke. I will spare  you the details other than to say God drew me to [Jer 1:5-10]. It felt like a personal message.

I do not know how long that time lasted. I only know the presence of the Lord was real to me and His still small voice penetrated my thoughts and feelings. I read those scriptures over and over again. I recorded the two dreams both involving ministry. One dream pointed me toward evangelism and the other dream toward Faith Community Church and revival.

Those moments with the Lord were worth the financial sacrifice to make the trip. It was worth the sacrifice of leaving Brenda and the boys. It was worth the hours spent in prayer with only silence in return. It was worth the lack of sleep. When the Lord finally did speak to me I had only two hours to spare before leaving to come back home. God is my witness I sought for Him with all my heart and He allowed me to find Him and to hear from Him.

I told Brenda it was one of the best prayer retreats I have even taken simply because I heard the still small voice of God.

Overcoming Drought

Some of you are living in a spiritual drought. It seems God has abandoned you when looking at your circumstances. In desperation you cry out for God to reveal Himself, to show Himself mighty on your behalf, to speak reminding you He is there and that He cares. You have prayed this for days, months, and for some even longer. What is hard is that for some of you the desired breakthrough has not come.

You continue in this spiritual drought. It is not because you do not spend time reading the Bible, praying earnestly, or going to church ravenously hungry for a fresh experience with God. You do all those things but you remain in a drought.

Take heart. In times of drought the roots go deeper searching for water. Your spiritual roots are going deeper and getting stronger.

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence indeed is the Lord. He will be like a tree planted by water; it sends its roots out toward a stream, it doesn't fear when the heat comes, and its foliage remains green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit." [Jer 17:7-8]

So in your drought God has not ceased working. Your roots are growing deeper in Him and though you may not be aware of it the foliage of your life remains green with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self control.

Your life is still standing and inspiring others because you still trust in God though you cannot make sense of your circumstances. You go to worship in a drought but you still sing from the depths of your soul even though there is pain in the praise offering. You still cry out to God in prayer though the answer has not come. You still get up and face the storms of the day without giving up or giving in.

You may be in a drought but your leaves can still be green. When the heat of your circumstances beat down on you and others wilt you can still produce fruit as your roots go deeper and deeper in God. Then no matter how long the drought lasts you can endure.

I know the frustration of living in a drought and knowing sovereign God holds the power to send rain of refreshing into your life and yet He withholds it. Satan can use this to plant seeds of anger, bitterness, and doubt in your mind. Faith wilts, your foliage begins to turn brown and your attitude sours.

Keep trusting. Keeping placing your confidence in God and the truth of His word no matter how long the drought lasts. The rains will come again. You will experience seasons of refreshing again, if not in this life then in eternity.

My heart is heavy this morning. Last night while out of town at a basketball game I talked with a man I met while preaching a revival in that town. In the course of our conversation he told me his doctor just found out he has inoperable cancer. My heart sunk. What amazed me is that he told me this horrific news with a smile on his face. His roots are deep. I have prayed for fervently today. He is in a drought. His leaves are still green and he is still bearing fruit. So can you. Sink those roots deeper into God and His word to find water.

Adopted

You walk into a room filled with children. On one side of the room the children are neatly dressed. Their hair is well groomed. Their clothes are neat and clean. They appear to be happy little boys and girls between the ages of four to nine. You can tell by their conversations they are bright kids.

You turn your attention to the other side of the room where you notice one little boy sitting alone. He appears angry with sullen eyes. The appearance of his skin is smudged from dirt. His hair has not been combed or appears to be washed in some time. His clothes are dirty and tattered. The kid is defiant and rebellious to authority as you observe his interaction with others.

As you observe this scene a man steps into the room. Not just any man. This man is looking to adopt a child for these children are all orphans. One by one the man inspects the children and visits with them.

Then he makes his choice. Your jaw drops open when he chooses the dirty sullen little boy to be his son. This little boy had nothing to offer but he was the one adopted.

That is exactly what happened to me when Jesus walked into the room and chose to adopt me as his son. My sin, my bad attitude, my anger, my rebellion, and my wounded heart offered nothing of value to Jesus but he chose to adopt and redeem me. [Eph 1:5]

This truth is staggering. I brought nothing to the table but my sin and neither did you. You were just as dirty and unattractive to Christ on the inside as me. You did not bring anything to Christ but your sin either.

Wonder of wonders he chose us for adoption to be his own. May we forever live to praise him and to please him. May we forever be reminded he adopted us simply out of his own good pleasure and love for us.

This truth humbled me as I shared it with the boys this morning in our devotion. My soul is overwhelmed with gratitude for God choosing to adopt me when I had nothing to offer in return. John Newton got it right when he wrote, "Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I was once was lost and now I am found was blind but now I see."

My Offering

Lord, I come to make my offering. I do not have riches to give. My talents are few. My possessions are of no great value to you. What I offer to you this day is all of me. I want you to have all my passions, all my dreams, all my soul, all my love, all my thoughts, all my hours as well as all my days. I am offering you my shambles of a life in exchange for your life lived in and through me.

I am offering you my desire for sleep in exchange for your desire to commune with me in prayer in the late watches and early mornings. I am offering you my future to do your bidding. It does not matter what that bidding is. I do not care if your bidding leaves me in obscurity or promotes me in more prominent ministry roles I offer you me. I offer you all my writing including this one to be used to minister to people without regard of recognition or financial compensation. I offer you my service willingly and joyfully laid down at your feet as a living sacrifice day after day. I offer you my mind to meditate and think upon you and your grand truths. I offer you my feet in willingness to go wherever you chose to send me for your purposes. I offer you my bed as I pack suitcases and preach where you open doors leaving the comforts of home and my loving and supportive wife. I offer you my family to do your work no matter the personal sacrifice involved. May we ever live with our lives laid on your altar as our reasonable service of worship.

I offer you my preaching. I ask you to crucify any desire to preach anywhere else other than where you ordain me to preach no matter the size of the crowd or their ability to pay me. I offer you each Sunday and Wednesday teaching or preaching and ask you to breathe your life on each message to work your purpose not only in my life but also the lives of the hearers. I offer you my remaining years to pastor and preach where you plant me. I pray my desire will be to be and want to be only where you ordain me to serve. I offer you my remaining years to love and to shepherd the flock you entrust to me. I offer you my heart to be given away in ministry no matter how others treat it or hurt it.

I offer you my retirement and die to that possibility as I follow you. I offer you my old age years to still be available to pray, write, and preach where you allow me. The day may come when nobody calls me to preach anymore. I ask you to crucify bitterness in me if that day should come. I ask you in those days for a greater passion to pray and a greater anointing to write. I offer you every day of the rest of my life down to my last breath. In those remaining days I ask you to squeeze every drop of service and usefulness from me in your kingdom work.

I offer you my weaknesses and ask you to exchange them for your grace and strength so that others would see how great and powerful you are through this weak vessel. I offer you my hands to serve the needy, elderly, poor, forgotten, neglected, lonely, as well as the rich, powerful, and influential. I offer you my ability to love and ask you to exchange it for capacity to love without being a respecter of persons. I offer you my love and ask you to enlarge it to love like you love Jesus. I ask you to love people through me.

I offer you my all. All I am today. All I ever hope to be. All I ever will be I offer to you Jesus. I ask you  to consume me with a fresh filling of your Spirit. I ask you to take up residence in my mind and heart and drive out the enemy. I ask you to fill every crevice of my being until I am utterly and completely yours. In Jesus name I believe for this. AMEN!

Relentless

I thank God for mountain top experiences when God reveals more of Himself and draws us closer to Him and reveals more of His presence. Those are special seasons. In my memory are special times at camps and revivals where God poured out His Spirit in fresh and exciting ways.

That does not mean that the enemy ever quits his relentless assault. He never stops opposing the work of God in us and in the world. The attacks are relentless. Eventually he can wear us down until those mountain top experiences are distant memories. Like hyenas surrounding a prey the attacks of the enemy come from every side. The attacks are persistent. Night and day those attacks are continual. Like I wrote earlier Satan is relentless.

The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. [Jn 10:10] His schemes are devious and just because we win a victory or have high experiences with the Lord does not mean he WILL EVER STOP! He is constantly on the prowl seeking whom he may devour. [I Pet 5:8] We are in  a war but far to few of us live with a war time mentality. We are told in [Ephesians 6:10-18] to put on our spiritual armor. You do not wear armor to the church picnic. You wear armor when you are heading into battle. Like it or not we are in a fight.

We have two weapons to fight back. The sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. We must saturate our minds with His word. Our other weapon is prayer. If you want to get stronger you lift weights. If you want to gain more endurance you run. If you want to have a stronger prayer life you pray.

When Jesus took Peter, James, and John up on the mountain and was transfigured before them, if he had wanted them to remain on that mountain top they could have stayed. Jesus led them up to that mountain and He also led them back down where they immediately encountered a demon possessed boy. The enemy is always at work constantly nipping, growling, attacking from our blind sides and wearing us down.

I thank God for mountain top experiences with God but I know that we are not going to live there perpetually. God continues to meet with us. He feeds our soul with His presence and strengthens us with His word from day to day. There are real needs in the real world. God fills us up so that we can pour ourselves out in ministry to others.

Yesterday morning at church the altar was covered with broken people crying out to God for help. I spent the whole invitation praying for one person after another. There are casualties in war. There are those wounded and worn down by the enemy. The rest of us must come to their defense in prayer, love, and support.

It is a sobering fact that Satan will never relent and surrender. He will fight even though his future is doomed and determined by God. He may win a few skirmishes and battles but in the end he loses. It is predetermined. The future is set. Until that day the battle rages on. We might as well get our minds wrapped around that fact. Satan is relentless. He will never quit. So each day we wake up and should get ready for war. When we poke our heads out of the fox hole each day we need to expect we will face opposition. We are in a fight. Greater is the God in us than the Satan who relentlessly opposes God and His work in us.

Satan is relentless but so is the Holy Spirit at work in us. Satan never stops attacking and the Spirit of God never stops interceding. Which will we submit to? May God give us the spirit to endure and relentless desire to stand firm against the wicked schemes of the devil.

Learning to Pray

You do not learn to ride a bike by just reading the owner's manual. Listening to a motivational talk will not help you ride a bike for the first time. You learn to ride a bike by sitting on the seat, putting your feet on the pedals, and your hands on the handle bars. You learn to ride a bike by riding a bike.

Yet in the church we have been content for years to teach on prayer. We have read the verses and maybe even underlined a few of them. We have heard inspiration messages and read books on prayer. Yet so many people confess to being weak in their prayer lives some pastors included. Why? We do not take the time to actually pray.

You learn to pray by praying. True praying begets more true praying. If we are going to be a people who learn to pray WE MUST PRAY! What will that mean in your personal life? What will it mean for your church?

If your church does not have a time set aside each week for prayer I challenge you to go to your pastor and ask that one be started. Be willing to organize and lead that time yourself if need be. If this is truly done and we include our students and children in these meetings, God will do a mighty work none of could have imagined. If we do not pray we will get the same mediorce results churches have been getting for ages. WE LEARN TO PRAY BY PRAYING! May we not shrink back from this glorious task.

God Knows

Are you running around feverishly trying to appear more holy and Christlike than you really are. Do you rush about frantically trying to cover your tracks of sin and disobedience. David did.

He lusted. He went further and acted on that lust. Then he tried to cover his tracks. He had Uriah, Bathsheeba's husband, return from battle hoping that he would return home and enjoy a night of pleasure with his wife. Uriah was more devoted to the cause of God and his fellow soldiers than to his fleshly appetites. He refused to go into his wife.

David went further to cover his tracks. He set Uriah up to be put in the fiercest part of the battle where he would most certainly die. Nobody would ever know about his one night stand with Bathsheeba and that she was pregnant with David's child.

Sure enough Uriah was killed. David let Bathsheeba mourn and then married her. When the child was born nobody thought the worst. NOBODY BUT GOD.

"When the time of mourning ended, David had her brought to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son. However, the Lord considered what David had done to be evil." [II Sam 11:27]

GOD KNOWS. HE SEES EVERYTHING. NO sin is hidden from His sight. We may sit in church and be filled with so much wickedness we hinder the move of God for the rest of the church. We may have become so comfortable and casual in our sin we no longer mourn or are broken over it. We no more than get a prayer of repentance out of our mouths and we are already making plans to sin again.

GOD KNOWS. HE SEES. HE WILL HOLD US ACCOUNTABLE. O dear God how we need a cleansing and a time of repentance. Where is repentance in our private devotions. I sinned last night. It breaks my heart this morning as God convicted me.

Turner played football at Tucker's game with some friends. He got mud on his school clothes and new shoes. When I walked up he nervously told me about it. I was not happy. Then I overheard him telling Brenda that it happened because we did not take him home before the game to change clothes. He tried to blame us. I grabbed him by the back of his neck and gave him a royal scolding.

Later that night at home I was convicted at the harshness of how I treated him for something that did not really matter in the big scheme of things. God never treats me that way when I sin. I repented. I sat Turner in my lap and apologized for my sin as tears rolled down his cheeks. My heart broke in that moment as I realized I had wounded my son. I pulled his head to my chest and held him close asking for his forgiveness. I hate the sin in my life that creeps up. Praise God he forgave me and worked this to his advantage asking me to bring him lunch today.

How much sin resides in us and in the church we try to cover up. We dress up the outside hoping nobody can truly see the inside. GOD SEES and that fact alone should bring fear and the sobering truth we must repent. O for a clean life and a clean church. O dear God for a cleansing in your church today as through repentance we flush sin down the toilet like refuse.

O God, You see and You know the truth. May we no longer try to hide our tracks but come clean before you. May all the evil in our hearts and minds be cleansed. May you make us holy vessels to be of use in Your hands. May we stand before you righteous and cleansed by the blood of Jesus with nothing to hide. In Jesus name, amen.