Many people are familiar with the story of David and Goliath. A young, puny boy that defeats a nine feet tall giant with nothing more than a sling and a single stone.
What you many not know is David later went on to be the appointed King of Israel. As the king of Israel David had his successes and his failures. The most notable failure was his affair with a lady by the name of Bathsheba. Continue reading
Billy Graham is probably the most recognizable name in the Christian faith. He has lead numerous crusades all around the world and seen tens of thousands come to faith in Christ as a result of his work. He has also been a spiritual advisor to multiple Presidents and has long been one of the most trusted men in America.
The following prayer was written by Billy Graham during the National Day of Prayer Observance in 2001. Continue reading
28 WAYS TO EXPERIENCE GOD|#28: MISSION
One of the best ways to Experience God is to find your unique way of serving him.
We use terms like Mission, Passion and Calling to describe the way God inspires you to do what only you can do. Some people struggle for years with what God has for them to do; others seem to know very early on.
For over a decade my wife and I were Youth Leaders/Pastors.
I’ve been in a church van on Pike’s Peak, hiding in a tree at a campground at 2 am, up all night laughing so hard I could barely breathe, praying in a hospital waiting room, crying at a funeral, speaking at a school, in the middle of a creek looking for a cell phone and many other crazy places with teenagers.
Not to mention so many graduations I have lost track.
Thousands of lessons, thousands of hours of prayer, hard work and fun.
Hundreds and hundreds of young lives.
Some nights we had more teenagers in our meeting than the church had in the main service.
Other nights we had just a handful and it never mattered to us how big the group was.
Some mornings I will wake up thinking about one of the teenagers we were blessed to know.
I always remember something unique about them and take it as a cue to pray for them.
If over the years we hear that one of them is doing well, we celebrate. If we hear one is hurting, we hurt.
Some of them are now in ministry; some are strung out on drugs at this very moment.
Some are mothers or fathers and some are just now reaching adulthood.
We are thankful that God allowed us to be a part of their lives; each one was created in His image.
It was frustrating, exhilarating, exhausting and rewarding.
And we loved each one of them. We still do.
What if God thinks about me and you, like I think about them?
I still love young people; I try to find a way to help them as much as possible. My wife spends most of her time with young people throughout the week.
For us, it is a way of life. A calling, a mission, a passion.
There is something out there for you to do, a way God wants to work through you. I want to encourage you to find what it is that you were created to do.
Here are some ways to help you find out.
1. Ask God to prepare you for the mission he has for you.
2. Ask yourself, what am I passionate about? (Teaching, music, helping, etc.)
3. Ask yourself, what is it that makes me upset when I see it? (Injustice, broken families, etc.)
4. Ask yourself, what gifts do I possess? (Speaking, teaching, compassion, etc.)
5. Ask yourself, what experiences, good or bad; have I been through that shaped who I am?
These are just a few ways to get you going in the right direction.
I have many friends who are confronting domestic violence, serving the poor, speaking all over the world, making blankets, encouraging others, teaching children, providing transportation for the elderly, counseling drug addicts, teaching others how to read and so much more.
The most effective are always the ones that serve because the love of God compels them. They don’t need applause or rewards. They are content knowing that God is able to work through them.
Find God’s mission for you, there are people who need you to be all that God wants you to be.
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Written by Tom Wise. Copyright © Finding Wonder 2014.
Prayer or communicating with God is a subject that comes up often in the pages of scripture.
Paul often begins many of his letters with the affirmation that he is praying for and has been praying for those that are receiving the letter.
We see Jesus getting away often in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to pray.
If you read through the old Testament you see that many of the great patriarchs of the bible were men of prayer. Continue reading
One of the things I have noticed about most people is that they pray for average every day things. Now there isn’t anything wrong with that because God cares about the smallest details in our lives. However, many people wonder why there doesn’t seem to be anything extraordinary in their prayer life.
Let me make the following suggestion as a hypothesis. I believe many people have a hum drum prayer life because they don’t pray for anything that requires a supernatural response from God. Many of the prayers we pray will come to pass if we put in enough time and effort or simply just wait long enough for it to come to pass. Continue reading