The Wrong Way to Amaze Jesus

Mark 6:5-6a (NIV) He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village.

After all that Jesus has done and all the mercy and grace that He has shown to me, my desire is to not only worship Him, obey Him and do whatever He asks me to do, but I also want to get His attention by my level of faith and commitment to Him. I want to amaze Jesus by be

Where Jesus Belongs

Psalm 119:11 (NIV) I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

Psalm 119 is a psalm that doesn’t have an officially known author but that some scholars believe was written by King David. The psalm is all about God’s Word and in the verses above, the psalmist reveals where the Word is most effective and activated: in your heart. The proclamation is that if you have God’s Word in your heart, it will keep you from sin. I have found this to be absolute

Conquering Your Weak Flesh

Matthew 26:41 (NIV) “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

One of the things that will be with us until we leave this earth and see Jesus face to face is temptation. Temptation is a constant companion if you are alive and breathing on earth. Even the Apostle Paul struggled with overcoming his flesh and wrote about it in Romans 7:15-25. He spoke about doing the things that he didn’t want to do (Romans 7:16) a

Through the Watches of the Night

Psalm 63:6 (NIV) On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.

When I go to bed at night, the last thing I do is to sign off with my Lord Jesus. I have learned to stay connected with Him throughout the day (pray continually - 1 Thessalonians 5:17), but I love to end my day with one more time in prayer to cap off the day. I usually sleep for a couple of hours, wake up and then go back to sleep but sometimes, it doesn’t work out that way. Sometime

Immediate Help in Time of Trouble

Psalm 50:15 (NIV) “And call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

I had the opportunity to travel with a singing group to Taiwan where we were doing some evangelism meetings. In-between meetings we were able to go on a tour of some of the areas of Taiwan, which included a visit to a Buddhist temple. Buddhist temples feature a large number of deities. As we made our way around the temple, we witnessed people offering food items to very larg

What Endures

Ecclesiastes 3:14 (NIV) I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

Most things in life have a life span. There are not a lot of things that last for a long time and there is absolutely nothing that will last forever...except God and the things of God. That’s why it is so mind-boggling that so many people ignore God who is eternal, and focus on things that will pass away

How Could This Happen?

2 Kings 7:2 (NIV) The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?” “You will see it with your own eyes,” answered Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it!”

Back in the days of Elisha the prophet, there was a severe famine in the land due to the fact that the Arameans had laid siege to Samaria. It got so bad that the Bible says that 1/4 of a pound of dove’s dung sold f

Day 7 - Fasting for Power Over the Enemy

Matthew 4:2-4 (NIV) After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Today is the last day of our fast and I would like to conclude by taking another look at the well-known fast that the Lord Jesus made from another angle. It’s an amazing story and

Day 6 - Fasting for Power to Resist Temptation

Matthew 4:1-3a (NIV) Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him…

Jesus thought that it was a good idea to fast pray and in the verses above, we see that He was specifically led by God to go into the desert to be tempted. It’s curious to think that the Son of God would even need to fast and pray; after all, He was the Son of God, wasn’t He? If He was God in

Day 5 - Fasting for God's Rescue Plan

Esther 4:15-16 (NIV) Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” 

The Book of Esther is a remarkable story of how God took a simple Jewish girl and put her at the epicenter of a very crucial time in the history of the

Day 4 - Fasting for Restoration

Daniel 9:1-3 (NIV) In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom— in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

Daniel was a man of prayer who was k

Day 3 - Fasting for Rebuilding

Nehemiah 1:3-4 (NIV) They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.” When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

These are the words of Nehemiah, the man that was born in exile and that God used to rally the people of Jerusalem to rebuild the wall around tha

Day 2 - Fasting to be In on God's Plan

Luke 2:36-38 (NIV) There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

When Joseph and Mar

Day 1 - Fasting for God's Help

2 Chronicles 20:1-4 (NIV) After this, the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites came to wage war against Jehoshaphat. Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Dead Sea. It is already in Hazezon Tamar” (that is, En Gedi). Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came

Move On!

Exodus 14:15-16 (NIV) Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.”

When the Israelites were finally freed from captivity in Egypt, it wasn’t long before they faced great opposition. Pharaoh had a change of heart in letting the people go and decided to go after them to bring them back and ensl