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
Bringing Cain’s Offering to the House of the Lord
Sleepily you open one eye. You could catch another half hour’s wink perhaps. However, this will mean you’re scrambling to get to church on time. Reluctantly, you get up, trying to decide whether it’s a greater priority to try to get in the scriptures or fry some bacon. Two hours later, you’re in the car. The kids are squabbling, you’re irritable with your spouse, and your hair smells faintly of bacon. You arrive just in time and cram into a seat. You turn your attention to the words displayed at the front of the sanctuary. This song again? You’re not even sure you agree with its...
Read MoreThe Ministry of Reconciliation and the Return of the King
I awoke in the middle of the night recently with a sense of the Lord wanting to speak with me. But each time I started to pray, my mind wandered. Finally I whispered to God, “Speak, Lord. I’m listening.” Immediately I heard Him say, “I am coming quickly. Preach the gospel to everyone.” “I’m not an evangelist” was the first thought that came to mind. I knew it was an excuse. The next morning, remembering His words, I was actively looking to carry out His commission. There was the staff member at the medical campus. The clerk at the supermarket. The guy helping me at the Verizon...
Read MoreChildren as human shields: benefiting them or benefiting from them?
Social media blew up recently with outraged protests over the possibility of taxpayers no longer being required to fund certain charitable organizations, among which was Special Olympics. An informed attorney wrote a brilliant piece on the justification of this action (an item of surprise in his article was that Betsy Devos actually donated her entire salary of $199,700 to charities, one-fourth of which went to Special Olympics) and the attorney expressed disappointment with Trump for walking back the proposal. The more troubling point is that, as the lava of this emotional volcano spewed,...
Read More“Prevailing Winds”
“Prevailing winds.” This jumped out at me and resonated in my spirit while reading a book on weather & climate with my daughter. Prevailing winds are the winds that blow consistently in a given direction over the earth and affect rainfall over regions. I believe the Spirit of God is prevailing over the earth in this hour as we travail in prayer, and that it is unstoppable, despite how the powers of darkness are digging in their heels. Specifically, I believe goodness, righteousness, and new government is coming swiftly to North Korea. More celebrities and stars worshiped by...
Read More“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...
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