April 6, 2024
Jesus disciples storm wind waves

Slammed by contrary winds

We all did what the Lord sent us out to do. We got on board the ship - our individual calling - because Jesus told us to.But here we are on the sea, and the storm is bigger than us. The wind is contrary - in opposition to us. And we're battered.And in the midst of the wind-lashing and skin-soaking tumult that threatens to sink us, a steady pelting of solemn rebukes issues forth from well-meaning fellow Christians for boarding the ship in the first place. There are other pursuits Christ sanctions. Why step into the vessel that draws the tempest of controversy?
March 28, 2024
praying in tongues, praying in the Spirit, Holy Spirit prayer, travail

How praying in the Spirit changed a tense situation

Please pray!" came the quick whisper through the phone. "Pray in the Spirit, would you? And I'll be praying here." A friend of mine is staff for a political representative. I was just wrapping up morning devotions with my children when she called to tell me that the meet-and-greet the rep was hosting had been overwhelmed by constituents from the opposing party, and that they'd come loaded for bear.
February 19, 2024
foundations destroyed, what shall righteous do

“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

Few may argue the West's destructive course, but what does the final outworking of a disintegrated culture look like? Can even widespread revival pull a culture back from the precipice? As a Christian, I see the world simultaneously through two lenses. The one is observing the horrors of life in post-modern America, with its fearful velocity in recent years of lawlessness - infanticide, polygamy, pedophilia, trafficking, misogyny, suicide, crime, institutional corruption, and child mutilation; at the same time, I'm scrutinizing these trends against the backdrop of history, from ancient to present, and the fate of parallel civilizations. The other lens sees the influence of the praying church on history, from Peter's supernatural deliverance from Herod's imprisonment, all the way up to the fall of the Soviet Union and pivotal World War Two victories such as Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain. The latter lens keeps me from despair. The former begs the question, "At what cost will we see Divine Liberation?"
February 15, 2024
Industrial Revolution, prophecy, prophetic word

“Pull the plug”

Juxtaposed against today, Hawthorne's Celestial Railroad is a mirror held up to culture, and how much more might we see ourselves the pampered passengers rather than the scorned pilgrims - particularly in the face of the exponentially increasing power of technology and Artificial Intelligence to distract, dissuade, and dismember us from our Creator and that which is most important in life. There's a phrase in my spirit these last several months that I've been praying aloud to the Lord. "Pull the plug."
February 10, 2024

The frightening truth about failing to pray

"Inattention to prayer actually gives place to the devil to advance his cause and evil." -Todd Smith, Unless We Pray An incident happened a couple years ago of which I only grasped its implications this week. It was July 2021. I had gone to a Wednesday night prayer meeting. There were only a few of us gathered, although our pastor was often reminding us as a congregation not to fall into "vacation mode" and lose spiritual focus, just because it was summer.
October 27, 2021
worthy of worship

All the attention because He’s worth it

I'd like to share a personal story of how the testimonies out of the Shantung Revival convicted me that I'm too easily distracted and spiritually lazy. I am the heiress to a fortune described at the beginning, preoccupied with a mindless toy. Under conviction of this I decided to get away and seek the Lord. Leaving the responsibilities of work, chores, and family, I booked a room out of town (the Lord sent help so that all three of these obligations were well cared for). Departing in the morning, I spent time in the woods and by water, reading my Bible and just quiet.