Mark 16:15  Go into all the world.

Although it is important to be a pastor, in its place, it is just important to be a layperson anyplace. For anyplace, as opposed to church, is where important decisions that affect our world are being made. In the layperson's world big things are happening: nuclear power has been discovered, lend-lease, computer chips, and Hula Hoops have been invented. Clergy ponder, dream, hope, pray, and have magnificent visions. Every last one of those is essential. But it is not in church where history's crucial acts are performed or the world's battles are joined. Even the invasion of Satan's kingdom by the army of Christ occurs in the lay world, not in the world of the clergy. Clergy train the troops, map the strategy, and equip the army. But the job is done by laypeople.

Among Christians it's almost a truism to remark that the need of the day is to get people into church. There is a need, too, to get Christian people out of the church. It is part of God's strategy that His people go into the world, invade it, and take possession of it in His name.

In the final analysis it's not a matter of getting Christians out of the church, exactly. It's a matter of getting the church out of its sanctuary, out of its preoccupation with its own machinery and interests, and into the battlefield. Interestingly the Bible does not say, "Whether you worship or pray or whatever chrchly thing you do, do it all for the glory of God." It says, "Whether you eat or drink or whatever (day to day, homely thing) you do, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).
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Luke 1:37 For nothing is impossible with God.

What an awesome God we serve! God formed the world by a word. God parted the Red Sea. God provided manna for the Israelites. God brought down the walls of Jericho. Jesus turned water into wine. Jesus healed the blind, the lame, and the sick. Jesus walked on the water.

The Holy Spirit empowered Peter and the disciples to speak up for God. The Holy Spirit brings comfort to those in pain. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin.

God is involved in all areas of our lives. Knowing this gives us the courage to come boldly to the throne of grace and to make our requests known. No matter how dark the night or how impossible the situation seems, we can have hope. Nothing is impossible with God!

Therefore, if God chooses to intervene in our lives, nothing will stop that intervention. So when you are faced with a difficult choice, pray for guidance. When you are hurt, pray for comfort. When you need wisdom, pray for it. When all odds are against you, pray.
 

We have limitations. God does not. Pray believingly.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Mark 11:24  Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

A preschooler was traveling with her family on Interstate 10 over the Atchafalaya basin from Baton Rouge to Houston. It was dark. The darkness was caused both by the time of day and even more by the fog. Because of the fog, one could only see a few feet in front. By the quietness in the car, it was apparent that all were afraid. This fear was heightened when the family met a car going the wrong way on the interstate. At that point, the preschooler inquired if it was all right to ask Jesus to take away the fog.

Trying to make sure that the proper theological answer was provided, the parents carefully explained that God could say yes, but He might say no, or He might say wait a while.

With the conclusion of the answer, the child prayed aloud that Jesus take the fog away. Within five minutes, the fog was completely gone. One could see the stars and, more important, the road very clearly.

Did God take the fog away as requested in the prayer? I don't know. I know that His Word says that He has the power to respond with a resounding yes. The God who created the heavens and earth, who raised the dead to life, and who forgives sins has the power to make and take away fog.

Have you prayed today?
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Mark 8:36  What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?

Many people are fooled into believing that things buy happiness. Parents promote such thinking by saturating their children with lots of things. It starts in the "nursery of plenty" and goes all the way into college where they're given full tuition and money on the side to buy the term papers they don't have time to write.

P.T. Barnum spent his life proving the statement he coined: "There's a sucker born every minute." Unfortunately, people who truly believe that money will buy happiness are suckers. They have been duped into believing something that isn't true. If it were true, why do so many people who have so much money seem so unhappy? Why do some end their own lives? Why do others jump from one self-help guru to another? The answer is simple: Because happiness is never found in things.

Happiness is found only in relationship - relationship with God and with one another. Such relationships are made possible only through Jesus Christ. Though we had separated ourselves from God because of sin, He reconnected us. He brought us back into relationship through the perfect life He lived for us, through the death He died for us, through the resurrection, which proclaimed victory over sin and death. In being connected back to God through faith in Jesus Christ, we are brought into relationship not only with God but also with one another.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,
 

Mark 7:34-35  He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means, "Be opened!"). At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.

Mark's astonishing account tells of our ever-caring Lord Jesus healing a man who was deaf and slow of speech. He did so away from the crowd, personally, privately, completely. He touched the man, fixed His eyes on heaven and said, "Be opened!" Note the word immediately. He could have done so here, too. The man's tongue was loosened, and he began to speak plainly.

"Ephphatha!" What a fitting watchword for Christians. God's care and concern are so totally focused on us. Touched by the personal healing of Christ in our souls, freed from eternal death, blessed according to our most detailed, intimate and specific needs, how can our response be anything other than praise, adoration, thanksgiving, and telling forth what great things God has done for us?

Look at the people's response. They were overwhelmed and, glorifying God, they explained, "He has done everything well." May the people's response also be our as our Lord opens us to worship, work, and witness in word and deed, so that others, seeing Christ through our lives, might also exclaim, "He has done everything well!"
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Mark 6:31  Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.

Compassion fatigue. Burnout. Church-worker stress. These are some of the most dreaded maladies today. And they're afflicting the best kinds of people - those who want to help others in Christian love. There's just too much to do and too little time in which to do it! Counseling, teen problems, food pantries, handouts on the street, clothing drives, money for every cause in the book - compassion is stretched until the passion is wrung out of it.

Have your inner fires cooled? Has stress wrenched compassion from your heart? Jesus knows what you are facing. He saw His own followers pressed on all sides, fast-forwarding their prayers for healing, unable to stop and eat. He saw and stated simply, "Come with Me...to a quiet place and get some rest." Stop, rest, find quiet, get away, refresh. These are the urgings of our Lord Himself. Remember, He regularly withdrew to be alone and pray.
 

However, remember as you face your fatigue that the mercies of your Lord endure forever. Remember that His compassion fails not. Indeed, the constant compassion of God for fallen humanity includes you. His refreshment for you is in the promise of His constant presence. And when you have been restored to full strength, it will be His hand lifting you up, His arm on your shoulder sending you back out into the world, and His love in your acts of energetic compassion.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Matthew 28:20 ...teaching them to obey everythingI have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

This conclusion to the Great Commission is a great challenge to us. We don't like to be commanded. We are independent, free-thinking, stand-up-on-our-own Americans. While we obey most civil laws, we do so not because they are commands from authority but because we decide that to do so is best for us or because the penalty is severe enough to discourage us. Our attitude towards civil authority and law reflects our inner perversity and sinfulness. We treat God's Law in the same "flip" way, often thinking of the Ten Commandments as the Ten Suggestions.

Our challenge here, however, is teaching not just for the acquisition of knowledge or skills so our students can make wise decisions. Our challenge is teaching God's Word so people desire to do no less than obey. Desire of the heart is a little hard to measure, but pastors, teachers, and parents work hard to nurture this.

The beauty of this challenge is the promise given in its conclusion. For we do not accept this responsibility alone. You notice, it does not say that "if you do these things, then I am with you always." No, the promise is, "Surely I am with you always." Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit is our teacher. He resides within us and is with us always, whether we succeed or whether we fail. And when we do fail, He is there to forgive and restore us. What a great comfort, and what a great teachers.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,