Dual Message

If I asked you to preach an Easter message, what would your theme be?  I’m not a betting man but if I were I would bet you two double cheeseburgers that your theme would be resurrection!  Right?

Ever paid close attention to the theme of both the angel andJesus when they met the two Mary’s at the tomb? Why not check it out for yourself (Matt. 28:5, 10; Mark 16:6).

Their message was NOT He is Risen but “fear not.”  Both the angel and Jesus address the humanityof the women and later the disciples all of which evidenced in fear.

When we aren’t sure of something we will cross our fingersin a sign of hopefulness that it will occur. I’m sure Mary and Mary didn’t have their fingers cross but there musthave been enough doubt and outward anxiety on their countenance that wouldwarrant both messengers to offer supportive words of hope in a most anxiousmoment.

Fear, according to John, has to do with punishment (1 Jn.4:18).  Resurrection reality in our souldrives out any fear that has set up resistance to divine plans and order.  Fear can and will keep us from prayer.  Fearing God unwillingness to answer will sooften causes prayerlessness. 

Many are so afraid of failure that they will not evenattempt to achieve anything for God. It’s as if they believe to failure is to be fatal.  What failure is to us is an opportunity forGod.  Easter in the eyes of a pagan worldwas failure but Mary and Mary Magdalene found out the duel message of Easter: Our fears are forever destroyed becauseof our Lord’s Resurrection!

Thanks for praying your way to Easter with me.  I have enjoyed sharing my insights and soulwith you.  I want to thank Mark Battersonfor writing The Circle Maker and allthe revealing truths it has taught me. Please join me in pledging to not stop here but continue to draw yourprayer circle and step in daily. 

May you see RAIN like Honi! 

May your faith flourish like Honi!

May your heart be forever changed like Honi!

I’ll continue to meet you at the throne,

Pastor George    

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Easter Eve

This is our next to last day on our 40 day journey to Easter.  We’re just hours from the stroke of midnight and the Easter sunrise…the day we’ve been anticipating.

This day, the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday gets a bum rap for there is little we can do on this day but wait.  In the words of an old preacher; “It’s Friday but Sunday’s Coming,” Saturday is left out as if it doesn’t even exist.

I’m not trying to sound silly or ridiculous but there is something here I want to excavate for you.  Even though we don’t know what was really happening in divine order on that historic Saturday we do know God was at work.  It wasn’t a dead space for God, there is no such thing.

This day, the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, must have felt like the forty years between Moses exodus the first time and his return.  Did Moses know God was at work paring him for ministry? 

This day just may be the darkest day in human history for the crucifixion had occurred and the resurrection was yet to happen, yet there was no hope in sight for those who loved the Messiah.

I have spent many a dark day, spiritual Saturday’s, waiting for something to resurrect.  My hopes in the natural were dashed and the darkness of my night was blacker than any moonless night. 

Mary Magdalene didn’t allow that dark day to rob her, she rose before dawn to travel to the grave.  She anticipated something in the dark.  I would be different than she would find and sometimes our wait will do the same for us.  Trust me it was worth the wait for the darkness of night would never again be as dark as it was That Day. 

You and I do not have to wait for sunrise tomorrow to celebrate Easter, on this side of the cross every day is Easter!  So enjoy your Saturday prayer time…we’ve already seen Jesus and He’s Alive!

I’ll meet you at the throne,

Pastor George

Sacred or Significant?

If you’ve ever been to Jerusalem or the Holy Land you can’t help but notice that around every site where something happened during Jesus’ life and ministry has been turned into a sacred spot.  Many come to muse over the place rather than embracing the meaning.

I would agree that geography and spirituality are not unrelated when it comes to divine acts which have impacted individuals.  Israel was famous for building memorials at significant places but sacred?  I really doubt it. 

The picture of the church at the top of the page is a significant place in my life.  It was in this building on May 15, 1960 I gave my life to Jesus Christ and became His follower.  I was nine years old and it’s a day I will never forget.

The building is no longer a church but a community center, that congregation would a few years later see the building to the city of Mobile, AL and move out into the suburbs.  But that building still stands as the most significant place in my life, for there, my sins were forgiven.

Why this trip down memory lane you ask?  Simple!  There is nothing magical about the place but there is something significant about it for God met us there and we will never forget His love, acceptance, forgiveness or miracle power.  Do you think Peter forgot the Mt. of Transfiguration?  Or Saul the spot on the Damascus Road where he was struck from his horse by the bright light of our Savior’s presence?  Every time Zacchaeus walked by that Sycamore tree don’t you think there was a flashback to that special day when Jesus stopped and called him down?

Your prayer spot, that place which you’ve deemed your prayer circle for these 40 days should become a significant place you will visit many times to come and as your prayers are answered, just remember, the God who did it back then will do it again today!

I’ll meet you at the throne,

Pastor George

Walking in Circles

It’s been a few days since I’ve mentioned our spiritual guide and historical friend Honi the Circle Maker.  For those just joining me on this journey to Easter I have based my observations on Mark Batterson’s book The Circle Maker. 

Mark introduced us to a man who understood spiritual value of a circle.  Drawing one in the dirt he turned it into his prayer closet.  A cylinder shaped shaft that reached into heaven and from it God saw remarkable faith and granted Honi’s request for rain.

We’re preparing ourselves for Easter through praying and fasting realizing this to be more than just a season but a soul searching which brings revelation only in the privacy of personal prayer.

One day in 1997, in the middle of the Sunday morning service, while sharing my heart I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to challenge those listening to take a journey with me around our building.  We needed a miracle and there was no way I could muster up the money or the motivation of our church.  They had been burned by a building program that had taken their heart, soul and pocketbooks.  You can be as “broke as a church mouse” but if you’ve got feet you can walk and walk we did. 

I’m sure people driving by that morning wondered what a single file line of people were doing marching around the church when they should have been sitting in their comfortably padded pews.  Some, more than likely, thought we were crazy Pentecostals. 

For me, I didn’t care what they thought!  I needed a miracle and the Spirit prompted this by faith and we walked a circle.  When I reentered the sanctuary there was no one in the room, I was the first one back and they had all followed. 

Let’s cut to the chase, what happened you ask?  A book’s worth but in short God honored us walking in a circle and $400,000 was given in faith in 90 days by 115 people.

A.W. Tozer was right when he said; “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”  So let me remind you as you might be preparing to pray, our biggest problem is our small view of God.  It is not what we’re facing that should be our concern but who we’re trusting for our deliverance.

God is so much bigger than our biggest problem!  Pray that way.

I’ll meet you at the throne,

Pastor George  

Senior Moments

Memory is a remarkable thing.  Our brain is wired to extract concepts, truths, decisions, and observations from our surroundings and then it plug it into a memory bank for later reference.

When that memory begins to wane, and it will, we have “senior moments” affectionately taken from those advanced in years.  Before I’m scolded by readers older than me (I’m 61), let me be perfectly clear, people my age and younger can have “senior moments” too!

Memory alone should not be valued, rather we should value what we do with the wisdom and understanding we’ve gained through the years and stored in our mind and memory.  Many older than me have forgotten more than I will ever know, but what they know and live are what I’m impressed with.

Abraham was seventy-five when he heard God and left his home.  Moses was eighty when he knelt barefoot in front of a burning bush where his heart and soul was warmed.  Anna was in her eighties when she saw the Messiah and remembered what God had promised through the prophets.

We must not fall into the trap of believing that somehow Abraham, Moses, Anna and any other biblical character were more spiritual and thus different from us.  They were NOT!  Age has nothing to do with it, neither does IQ or memory.  Faith is activated when we believe God will do for us what He did for them.

When you step into your circle today, don’t let a senior moment keep you from believing “Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb. 13:8).  Pray expecting…God will do the rest.

I’ll meet you at the throne,

Pastor George 

Leverage

Archimedes of Syracuse said; “Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the earth.”

A pretty ambitious statement without explanation isn’t it?  He was referring to the use of one of what Renaissance scientists identified as six simple machines that would change industry for the future.

A simple lever does what it would take several men to accomplish.  It amplifies the force which makes it able to lift or move objects by one person.  The principle gets even better, the longer the lever, the greater the leverage.

Oswald Chambers said, “It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional things for God; but we have not.  We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things.”  His words remind me of the lever, ordinary people, like you and me, can move greater obstacles when using leverage. 

Prayer is our lever!  It’s the difference between human ingenuity and divine outcomes.  No one is greater than their prayer life.  In the book Circle Maker, Mark Batterson says:

“Our potential is directly proportional to our prayer life.  It is the single greatest indicator of our success in any endeavor.”

He goes on to change Archimedes words giving them spiritual import.  Instead of saying give me a place to stand, exchange that to read, “Give me a place to kneel on, and I will move the earth.”

Let us never forget that in God’s Kingdom humility equates authority!  This is where our leverage comes from, our knees.  On our knees God will leverage us in ways we could have never humanly accomplished.

I’ll meet you at the throne,

Pastor George

Remnant

Remnant is a word seldom used these days.  It’s a numerical word without any digits.  No one can tell you how many make a remnant but a remnant can cause a revolution.   Just ask the Moravians!

The Pentecostal church today owes a magnanimous debt of gratitude to this group and their commitment to prayer.  On August 27, 1727, twenty-four men and twenty-four women began a twenty-four hour prayer movement that lasted one hundred years.

The result…the birth of the greatest missionary movement the church has ever known.  Thousands were set apart by the Holy Spirit to be missionaries.  Some even sold themselves into slavery in order to reach their mission filed.

I can’t prove it but there must have been an ancestor to Honi in that group.  They were serious circle makers willing to pray for a century day and night.  That’s how revolutions begin! 

Remnants are normally responsible for revolutions.  It’s not the numbers that matter but the purpose.  We know them in our modern era in political and military matters but the Bible is filled with small groups whose purpose was much bigger than flesh and blood, gold and silver, politics and governments. 

The day of Pentecost is now in our windshield of time.  Pentecost is 56 days from today, the day when 120 (a remnant) of 500 who witnessed Jesus ascend back into heaven and waited ten days for the power from heaven to motivate them outward to the awaiting world.  Fast-forward 2,000 years and here we are!

I’m sorry to say, but if you are looking for a remnant, the best place to find one is at a church prayer meeting.  Few understand the power of waiting in God’s presence for power and provision for the awaiting task.

Please, make a vow today to become a member of God’s praying remnant!  Stay at the throne for more than a few moments and you will discover what the Moravians discovered…God answers with POWER!

I’ll meet you at the throne,

Pastor George        

Spiritual Umbrella

Florida is soon to re-enter our rainy season.  Daily showers will come and go with the heating of the atmosphere and sea breezes colliding.  You never know when one will pop up but one thing is sure, someone’s going to get wet somewhere.  We regain a good friend in this time, our umbrella.

Do you know the origins of the Umbrella?  The word "umbrella" comes from the Latin word "umbra", meaning shade or shadow.  It wasn’t until the start of the 16th century that the umbrella would become popular to the western world, especially in the rainy weather of northern Europe.  At first it was considered only an accessory suitable for women.  Then the Persian traveler and writer, Jonas Hanway (1712-86), carried and used an umbrella publicly in England for thirty years and popularized umbrella use among men. English gentleman often referred to their umbrellas as a "Hanway."

Not a very spiritual thought but informative none the less.  Now what’s that got to do with prayer?  

There is a term used by some to describe their desire to be under the spiritual umbrella of others.  They call this a spiritual “covering.”  This occurs when people want the prayers of others to become a force-field of protection (to use a science-fiction motif.)

Moses had it with Aaron and Hur.  They supported Moses who interceded for Israel’s army by supporting his arms heavenward (Ex. 17).  The enemy could not be defeated any other way.  So these three teach us our prayer lesson for today, no battle, no victory of any kind spiritually can be won apart from prayer and praise.

You can count on this:  there will be times when you will not have what it takes; ability, strength, will power, faith, or steadfastness to pray for ourselves and there needs to be an Aaron and Hur in your life to pray with you!

Who’s in your life that holds up your arms in dangerous times?  Don’t pray alone, have others standing with you.  My mother Irene gets up with me every morning and we pray together.  No phone is needed but just our spirits colliding before God’s throne.  She’s part of my covering and I’m part of hers…who’s apart of yours?

This 40 day prayer journey to Easter isn’t a piece of cake.  Its serious warfare and you and I must take it seriously.   Keep yourself before God and He will keep you covered.

I’ll meet you at the throne,

Pastor George

Armed and Dangerous

If you’re like me, all media entertainment has become deluded by sex and violence.  It’s hard to find anything that will just make you laugh or think without have either lewd or lethal language.

As the old country boy once said of himself; “I wasn’t born on a turnip truck” so our God has or won’t be outdone by the very tools our enemy the devil uses.  God has given us a voice, tongue, vocabulary and the ability to think and each one of these are spiritual weapons for warfare in our daily lives.

The book of Revelation is an overcoming book!  We are given front row seats to the stage of life where our Lord and Savior will return and put on display a crime drama like the world has never witnessed on TV.  This show will not use guns and bombs for God’s bullets are ‘words’ (Rev. 2:16).

But that’s ‘then’ and we’re ‘now’ so what’s that got to do with us?  Everything!

What God has armed himself with He has also armed you with and you are just as dangerous with this weapon as Jesus was and will be.  Let’s remind ourselves what Revelation 12:11 says; 

“They triumphed over him (the devil and their foes) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.”

If we are not willing to allow the Holy Spirit to use our testimony of how God has worked and is working in our lives, then those in our world will never know that He has and can work at all.

When you receive answers to your prayers then share that with others.  Life is our courtroom and we are first-person credible witnesses of His saving, healing, delivering, providing, amazing power!

You are spiritually armed and dangerous.  Your life is better than Law & Order, NCIS, Elementary, and any other program today’s media can script.  

Speak!

I’ll meet you at the throne,

Pastor George

    

Dumb Question?

 

A common question heard in a learning environment is; “anyone go a question?”  The teacher asks it to be sure the students are clear on the subject.

I on the other hand struggled when that question was asked for fear that I would ask a dumb question, or what I thought would be evaluated by others a dumb and ultimately show how much I didn’t know.

I was reading the other day and read one of Jesus’ miracles which made me think even Jesus asked a dumb question.  One of Jesus’ disciples could have thought it was a dumb question and that’s why he remembered it and would leave it for generations to ponder spiritually.

Jesus is walking through Jericho one day and two blind guys shout out to him; “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us!”  (Matt. 20:32)  Intrigued, Jesus engages them with what I think was a dumb quest, “what do you want me to do for you?”

Daaaaaaaaa…their blind!  Jesus heals!  Why ask them what they want?  Jesus should have known the answer shouldn’t he?

How many times do we pray and not have a specific request.  I started thinking about my prayer life and realized how often I’ve prayed vaguely not getting specific enough with God.  The blind guys could have been hungry and wanted food, or naked and needed clothes.  They may have been content to be blind and so Jesus wanted clarity so He could give them what they wanted.

Then the Holy Spirit quickened my thinking and I realize that I often don’t get specific because my faith doesn’t really believe Jesus will answer.  Our spiritual guide Mark Batterson says it like this; 

“The more faith we have, the more specific our prayers will be.  And the more specific our prayers are, the more glory God receives.”

Jesus didn’t ask a dumb question, He just wanted to see if the two blind guys knew what they wanted!

Pray with specificity!  Don’t be vague!  Yes, God is all knowing but He wants you and me to know what we really need and ask.

Keep praying!

I’ll meet you at the throne,

Pastor George

Breakfast of Champions

I love the taste of honey especially in the morning.  It’s sweet and gooey, a texture my tongue loves.  King David must have loved honey too.  When speaking of his love for God’s word he saw it as tasty: 

“How sweet are Your words to my taste!  Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth.”  (Ps. 119:103)

If you were a six year old boy during Jesus’ day, you were introduced to formal education.  No ordinary building would be good enough, you went to the synagogue and your class was entitled “house of the book.”

Tradition says the very first assignment was eating honey!  The rabbi would take their writing slate tablet and cover it with honey and it became a sort of lollipop they licked until the honey was all gone.

Inquiring minds want to know why?  Honey in ancient times was a symbol of God’s favor.  So their first lesson would become their most memorable one for the rabbi wanted his students to know there was nothing sweeter than the Words of God.     

Clearly, one of the surest ways to get into the presence of God is to get into the Word of God!  There is a simple deduction here, if we get into God’s Word, God’s Word will get into us.

I begin every day this way.  I don’t even drink my coffee first, I read a Psalm, the chapter in Proverbs that corresponds with the date, two chapters in the Old Testament and two in the New Testament.  You talk about a breakfast of champions, that’s it! 

The Words of our God have more spiritual protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals than any substance known to man.  So eat heartily and I can assure you that no sinful fat will form.

I’ll meet you at the throne,

Pastor George

Lip-Synch-Gate

Beyoncé’s singing of the National Anthem sparked a national debate!  It wasn’t the rendition of the sacred melody, but the fact she faked it.  Her lip-synching of our anthem was unacceptable to most Americans. This surprises me since we accept and even endorse fake lifestyles.

What’s that got to do with prayer and our journey to Easter?  A very valid question!

A fascinating study came out some years ago that discovered that people stop thinking about the lyrics of songs after they have sung them thirty times.  That probably varies depending on the person, but the tendency is universal and has implications when it comes to our regular worship.

Every time you and I sing a song we’ve song more than thirty times, it begs the question, are we lip-synching to God or genuinely expressing our true heart and feelings to Him?

For so many, worship requires someone else’s words be spoken or sung rather than finding our own.  To sing only the songs we know removes the possibility the Holy Spirit wants to give us a new one as was promised by both the Palmist and the Apostle Paul.  Both suggest we sing a new song or songs of the Spirit (Ps. 96:1, Eph. 5:19).

David went so far as to tell us to sing a new song six times; why?  God gets tired of old songs!  Our worship should not just be worship from memory, but we must learn to allow it to flow from our imagination as well. . 

It has been said; “love isn’t repetitive; love is creative.”  How creative is your love to our God?  Do you need a spiritual Hallmark card, i.e.a hymnal or chorus on the screen to worship?  Is your worship created only by others who have written moving expressions of their soul that you’ve learned to sing? 

If I expressed my love to Cheryl the same way over and over, she just might stop believing me at some point.  She doesn’t want my mindless expressions, she wants passion from my soul.

Don’t give God anything less!

I’ll meet you at the throne,

Pastor George     

When the Light Goes Out

Jesus wanted us, His disciples, to know our value, so he defined our presence in this world with the words, “you are the light of the world (Matt. 5:14).”  When you think about it, Jesus was saying as our world would be dark without the sun so is our culture dark without followers of the Son.

When Christianity turns into a noun, it turns off the SON.  Our faith has always been contextualized in terms of being a verb or active.  Take the book of Acts for example.  The very name (Acts: a verb) declares its purpose.  It’s not a book of stories or ideas or just words, but a book of Acts.

If your prayers, at some point, do not lead to action then you’re just being religious.  James says that  faith without works is really dark and thus dead in God’s sight (James 2:18).

For many, talking to God has become a cop-out from the responsibility to do something about our prayers.  When was the last time you prayed, “Jesus, send people out to share your Good News with the nations?”  Sorry, but if you’ve ever prayed that and not been willing to be sent, you are being hypocritical!

Praying and not being willing to go is just like our universe without the sun.  What if everyone took the position, “Holy Spirit move on others hearts” but were not willing to let Him move on theirs?

So don’t just pray about it; do something about it…that’s when you know the light is on!

I’ll meet you at the throne,

Pastor George

Being Full on an Empty Stomach

My blog title is an oxymoron; how can you be full on an empty stomach?  No, it’s no riddle to ruffle your mind, I believe it to be a valid spiritual question.

The basis of my thought is found in the most challenging of spiritual disciplines, fasting.  Giving up food for the purpose of prayer attacks our most basic need, daily nourishment, which is required for the energy needed to function in life.  But Jesus taught that there will be issues and circumstances that we cannot handle without prayer and fasting.

In his book The Circle Maker, Mark Batterson calls this the ‘double circle.’  Honi’s circle of prayer is now surrounded with another circle of fasting for emphasis. 

Man’s problem with fasting isn’t lack of desire but willpower.  When you fast you are saying in essence, “if I can say no to food then I can say no to other forms of temptations too!”

Because of my love for food I tend to think about what I can’t have or don’t have rather than what fasting feeds me.  It feeds my spiritual inner-man, it breaks down my pride, my will, and even my strongholds.  But at the same time it feeds my soul by regaining the longing for sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.

As we pray our way to Easter, may we remember that prayer alone is not enough . There will be times we need to empty our stomach so we can be full of the Spirit.  Choosing seasons of brokenness will allow God to fill and build you back up in the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus knew what being full on an empty stomach was like.  After 40 days of prayer and fasting, Jesus emerged from the wilderness in a weakened state physically, but in the power of the Holy Spirit.

I’ll meet you at the throne,

Pastor George

Worrywart or Hold the Fort?

Worry is just as addictive as any substance!  People with this addiction are called worrywarts.

If you are one, then the logical question would be how do you break the habit?  What power can release these chains that bind the heart and soul?  How can you go from being a worrywart to one who holds the fort?

Simple!  Follow Paul’s advice and learn to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17).  I know what you’re thinking; when we don’t know what to do we throw a Bible verse at the situation.  

Trust me that’s not my answer nor should it be the soul answer to any question.  Paul’s three word counsel to “pray without ceasing” froths with wise wisdom.  He is suggesting that when worry comes, and it does and will, we turn our worries into prayers.

There must be a progression into learning how to pray about everything all the time.  So how do we do it? 

You are already praying about the big stuff keep doing it.

But don’t stop there; add to your prayers the smaller things of life like anything you are doing in the daily routine.

When you find yourself praying about all the things you’ve arrived and you’re praying without ceasing!

No, I’m not naive!  Simple steps require, at times, complex decisions.  Praying all the time will NOT stop the temptation to worry so here’s my counsel.  Next time you find yourself tempted to worry or actually doing it learn to make that your spiritual fire alarm system.  When you hear the horn, start praying!

Why not stop wasting your worries and choose to recycle them into prayers. 

I’ll meet you at the throne,

Pastor George