Posts - February 2021
Sometimes we pray like pagans and barter with God. "God, if you will do this or that," we beg, "then I will stop what I've been doing and start doing something else!" Pagan prayer - and much that passes for Christian, I fear - is like a giant roulette wheel at a gambling casino. You want to get well. Or you are desperate to pay bills. Or you are scared you are going to die. So you wish hard, close your eyes, and spin the wheel. If you are lucky, you get what you want!Authentic prayers of faith are different. We go to the Lord and do what is normal and right. We ask his help. We throw ourselves on his mercy. But we do so with the caveat, "Not my will, but yours, be done!"That is terribly risky, for we sometimes discover that God doesn't want the things...
Let’s face it, if life was hard before 2020, it became harder in 2020 and we are not even out of the woods yet in 2021. One thing I love about the Bible is that it is not just a Book of instructions and commands, it is also a story of God’s love for man woven through the lives of men and women who who lived for God and taught us what it means to experience God’s faithfulness even in the midst of trouble and uncertainty. No doubt we live in uncertain times. The impact of COVID on the economy of nations as well as families and individuals will be felt for years to come. It is important that we in times like this, we keep the faith. In order to understand what it means to keep the faith, we need to understand what faith is in the Christian context. The scriptur...
