In The Presence of My Enemies

“Thou dost prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies”. Psalm 23: 5 I have wondered what good food would do for me in the presence of my enemies. Am I going to pelt my enemies with spaghetti and meatballs?  Do I poke their eyes out with bread sticks? This part of Psalm 23 didn’t really make sense to me and I would ordinarily skim right past. But recently, I saw this verse differently. The table He has prepared is laden with everything I have inherited through Christ – every spiritual blessing, every physical blessing, every weapon I … Continue reading In The Presence of My Enemies

Sorry Not Today

You know that God anointed Jesus from Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Jesus went everywhere and did good things, such as healing everyone who was under the devil’s power. Jesus did these things because God was with him. Acts 10:38 I’ve looked. I can’t find it. Nowhere in the Bible, to my knowledge, does Jesus tell someone, “Sorry, not today.”  Nowhere do I see Him turning away someone who needed healing and saying sorry, I can’t help you today. What I do read is that He went everywhere healing and doing good things and setting people free … Continue reading Sorry Not Today

Let Them Rule

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:26 We were made to rule over the earth. I don’t know about you but ruling over anything right now seems way beyond my grasp. Powerless is a word that more effectively describes my present state of mind. So when this verse says I was made to rule over … Continue reading Let Them Rule

God’s Prescription for Healing

…and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. II Chronicles 7:14 I realize in this passage that God is talking to an entire people group and not an individual.  However, I believe there are some things we can take from this and apply personally.  I see this as God’s prescription for healing and it has four steps. First, recognize that we are called by His name, we are His. Second, … Continue reading God’s Prescription for Healing

Parting Words

And He (Jesus) said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation…  And these signs shall accompany those who believed; in My name they will … lay hands on the sick and they will recover.”  Matthew 16:18 These were Jesus’ parting words to His disciples.  Some have called this the Believer’s Bill of Rights.  I recently left my son in Montana to stay with his sister for two weeks.  Even though I would see him soon and we had phones, I still wanted to have good, loving, wise parting words.  I didn’t really have any, but I thought … Continue reading Parting Words

Do What You Can Captain

Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. Ephesians 6:13  Message Bible Years ago, we had a family reunion at a beach house on Galveston Island.  My nephew and niece were about 6 years old and they were standing looking out over the Gulf of Mexico … Continue reading Do What You Can Captain

How’s Your Appetite?

 O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. Psalm 119:97 I planned what I thought would be a wonderful summer project for the kids I work with – composting with worms.  My great idea was that they could recycle leftovers from their lunches by feeding it to the worms and by summer’s end they would see the beautiful compost the worms made of it. I made two assumptions that proved to be wrong. 1.     Not all kids like to handle worms.  In fact, out of 25 kids, I could only get two or three to … Continue reading How’s Your Appetite?

No Healing Too Difficult for God

“I am the Lord. I am the God of all people. Is anything too difficult for me?” Jeremiah 32:27 Some years back in our homeschool journey, we studied Mohs Hardness Scale. This scale is used to identify mineral specimens by comparing their hardness to the ten minerals on the scale. Talc is the least hard with diamonds being the hardest and knife-blades and fingernails and copper pennies and other minerals falling somewhere in between. A scale like this apparently works for mineral identification but it made me realize that I have a tendency to put God’s ability to perform a … Continue reading No Healing Too Difficult for God

Speak to Your Mountains: Faith in Action

…”Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea.’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it shall be granted him.  Mark 11:23 Jesus is speaking here. Peter had just pointed out to Him that the fig tree which Jesus cursed the day before had withered. This, perhaps, left Peter a bit confused but Jesus knew it would wither the moment He cursed it.  The evidence wasn’t clear to all until the next morning. Jesus responded to … Continue reading Speak to Your Mountains: Faith in Action

Fall Season

There is a time for everything,    and a season for every activity under the heavens: Ecclesiastes 31:1 Fall has arrived here in the PNW. Oh, it’s not quite as colorful right now as that picture, but the leaves are changing colors and some have started to fall from the trees. In due time, the beauty of fall will be evidenced all around us. Fall is a time of shedding off the old, not just leaves from the trees but those things in our personal life: thoughts, feelings, behaviours that may have served us well in a previous season but may hinder our … Continue reading Fall Season