Prayer Wall
Part of Emily’s calling is to be an intercessor. She has a passion to go before the throne of grace on behalf of others, and see God move in answer to prayer. If you have a specific prayer request that you would like her to pray for, simply fill out the form...
Read More"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty."
2 Corinthians 3:17
“But He Did Not Answer Her a Word”: Lessons from the Syrophoenician Woman
Had the Gentile woman with the demonized daughter (described in Matthew 15 and Mark 7) been raised in the American church, I picture her encounter with Jesus going much differently. She would return home heartbroken to her sick girl, disillusioned and under the impression that this was her cross in life to bear; a change in her awful situation was simply not God’s will. Matthew 15:21-28 records the story of the Syrophoenician woman and Jesus: 21 Then Jesus went out from there and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a Gentile [Greek] woman came from that region and...
Read More“Worse than a murderer”: lawlessness, mob rule, and the rise of Antichrist
The most frightening words in scripture come at the Final Judgment. Most heart-stopping of all is that those to whom Christ addresses these terrible words are those who thought they were Christians and did all kinds of deeds in His name. Christ tells those standing before Him, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:23) Could you be a professing Christian, doing what you supposed were acts of service for God, and actually be doomed? The Greek word in this passage for “lawlessness” is anomia, defined as the condition of being without law because of...
Read MoreLincoln, Slavery, and the Media…a history lesson for today
“My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy Slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.” So wrote Abraham Lincoln in an open letter to Horace Greeley, editor of the influential New York Tribune who had been critical of Lincoln and had backed his opponent. Lincoln sensed keenly that his prime appointment in the office of the presidency was to...
Read MoreDoes God want to make America great?
If you aren’t confident something is God’s will, you’ll strike out empty if you pray for it. Why? Because the Bible tells us “the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. That man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (James 1: 6-8). Ouch. Confusion has weakened intercession for our nation and the government in the USA. Christians are afraid to take a stand on policies, pastors are scared to preach on controversial issues that are killing a whole...
Read MoreDeath has been abolished!
“And now God has revealed this grace through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:10). The word “abolish” means “to formally do away with, to put an end to, to terminate, to render inactive, and to deprive of power or influence.” We think of the word abolish in terms of slavery. When slavery was abolished in 1865 it meant there was no legal right for it in our land. People had argued and legislated and fought and died and did everything they could either to get...
Read MoreContending for Climate Change: “Let justice roll down like waters”
I live in a region nicknamed the Garden Spot, and while one sees plenty of corn, wheat, and other crops flourishing in abundance, one rarely sees orange trees. Why? To grow oranges in this area would be a real challenge. Orange trees need warmer temperatures, a specific amount of rainfall, and sandy soil that drains away water in order to thrive. While tending my garden one day, the Lord spoke to me of this difficulty in getting certain things to grow because of an environment that is conducive to certain plants but hostile to others. “In the same way, I want the fruit of the kingdom of...
Read More“Lift up your heads, O gates, that the King of glory may come in!”
For the last twelve months the Lord has highlighted, impressed upon me, and essentially flooded my consciousness with the word “gates.” Everywhere in scripture I keep seeing it pop up. My prayer journal is peppered with the word. Fellow believers with whom I share this each have a different interpretation of the significance of the word “gates;” I’ve written each one down and pondered them because I believe all are potentially valid. One passage in particular God seemed to highlight is regarding Samson. “Now Samson [was with a prostitute] until midnight, and at midnight he arose...
Read MoreDon’t Block Your Blessings: honoring authority in a rebellious generation
Obeying authority is not something Americans generally do well. Our nation was birthed in revolution, and some time after the Second World War rebellion became fashionable. James Dean personified the troubled youth at odds with his parents in the 1955 cult classic “Rebel Without a Cause.” The 1960s and 1970s are remembered as an era of a new strain of music defined by its insubordination and nonconformity. Cynicism and skepticism of socio norms was the Zeitgeist. College campuses became protest grounds, and government and “the system” became the objects of their rejection. It is...
Read MoreWhat does the Bible say about pollution and the earth?
A scientist once said that, after years of study in his field, when he came to know Christ he felt as though he’d reached the summit of a great mountain and all the Christians were already there waiting, secure in a knowledge he’d been seeking all his life. The Bible has the answers not only to the condition of the human heart, but it contains revelation that modern science is only just now discovering – or, for which it has only speculation. Previously, I researched and wrote on the harmony of science and scripture and the Bible’s prolific mention of climate change; a friend and...
Read MoreThree Things You Hear When You’re Burdened to Pray for the Nation
If you’re passionate about the direction of the nation, and if you hunger and thirst for righteousness in your land, perhaps at some point you’ve been chided for your zeal. In my last post, I shared my own testimony of not knowing what to do with the burden I carried for my country, but how the Lord kept showing me He would not have given me such a heart to care if He did not intend to answer the desires of my heart, specifically as they pertained to the nation. Here are three things I’ve heard Christians say to fellow believers or even to themselves over the years, usually as a...
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