Powerful Prayers

I've been reading 2 Kings in my daily devotions, and I recently read about Hezekiah, one of the last kings of Judah.  Unlike many of the kings that came before him, and all of the kings of the northern kingdom of Israel, Hezekiah was regarded as a good king.  Actually, he was not just a good king.  Second Kings 18 says that he was righteous as David was righteous.  And, by Bible standards, that is quite the compliment.


As I read through this chapter, I was particularly struck by verses 5 and 6, quoted here from The Message:


Hezekiah put his whole trust in the God of Israel. There was no king quite like him, either before or after. He held fast to God—never loosened his grip—and obeyed to the letter everything God had commanded Moses. And God, for his part, held fast to him through all his adventures.


The New American Standard version says that Hezekiah "clung to the Lord".  He clung to God, never loosening his grip.  His faith guided him, even when the Assyrian army came knocking on his door, threatening to destroy the kingdom.


Perhaps the part of the story that impresses me most comes two chapters later.  In 2 Kings 20, Hezekiah is said to be lying on his death bed.  When Isaiah (yes, the same one after whom the book is named) tells the king that his life is almost over, Hezekiah does what he knows to do... he turns to God in prayer.


When faced with death, he prayed.


And God answered.


Before Isaiah had even left the grounds of the palace, God told him to turn around and tell the king that God would restore him to health and give him another 15 years.


The Bible says that God hears the prayers of those who trust in Him (see, for example, James 5:16).  Prayers are indeed a powerful gift from God.  By speaking with God, battles are won, souls are saved, and lives are changed.  By the power of prayer, the impossible can be accomplished.


As the end of the year quickly approaches, we are praying that God will work in a mighty way.  We have recently plateaued in raising our support, but we are praying that God will bring us to 25% of our monthly pledges.  That would be approximately another 5 individuals pledging to give $50 per month each.  We believe that, though this amount may seem big to us, it is not outside of God's ability (really, He could raise it all!).

Will you join us in this?  Will you pray with us that this goal may be reached, and even surpassed, by the beginning of the new year?  We hope you will!

Are We Only Talking to Ourselves?

As I told a co-worker about mid-week Bible studies at our church, she asked, "what do you do there?" So I began to explain that the church members come and we all eat and then the pastor or someone leads us in Bible study.

"But what is a Bible study? I hear people talk about it, but what do you do in Bible study?"

Wow. How ignorant and exclusive are we as Christians? How often do we assume that someone knows what "Bible study" or "praise music" or "mission work" or even .... "FAITH" means? How many times have we let opportunities to share the simple message of God's goodness slip away because we boast and speak in these terms that may mean nothing to someone who wasn't brought up in a protestant church-going family?

I mean seriously, for someone who has never heard that Jesus died on the cross to pay for all the bad things we've done and thought, how terribly boring would "Bible study" sound? "Sorry, can't hang out tonight, I have Bible study." Just the word "study" has such a dry and obligatory connotation. Why not instead say something more like, "a group of us are getting together to discover the treasures God has in store for us in Heaven;" or, "We're going to get to know an awesome God who has forgiven us for all the wretched things we've done;" or, "Some friends are getting together to celebrate eternal life and plan ways to show our gratitude to the Giver of such an awesome gift."

Basically, as someone put it in church recently, we need to go beyond "talking to ourselves." Invite your friend to church and tell her what to expect. Don't decline certain activities because you're a "Christian" or it goes against what you believe. Explain that you want to bring glory to a Great and Wonderful God and Why in the world you would want to do that. Tell people what "small group" or "Bible study" or "Sunday School" or "mission work" means. Who is going to want a relationship with an awesome loving God if they never know who He is and why He is so awesome? Let's stop talking just to each other when it pertains to our faith and start talking to everyone else. Let's get out of our "Christian world" and open oursleves up to the world around us.

Jesus' Superpower

Ever had someone ask, "if you could have any superpower what would it be?" Well, as much as I want to fly or be able to go invisible go back in time, I think the ultimate superpower would be that of Jesus.

No, I'm not talking about "being God," as cool as that would be. I'm talking about his ability to be fully human and yet completely sinless - and completely able to follow the will of the Father. Seriously, who does that? Our sermon this morning (thank you Isaac!) was about humility, looking at Philippians 2: 1-11 about Jesus humbling himself to death on a cross and how we should humble ourselves and put others first because we have shared in the joy and love of God. Yep. Heard it. Read it. But then he goes on to talk about how Jesus left all the prestige and power he had in Heaven - by choice - to come save our sorry selves from eternity in Hell.

Jesus didn't have to leave Heaven. He could have rebelled against the Father and said, "Nope, they don't deserve it. I'm going to stay on my comfy throne and let 'em suffer." But instead, he came here and suffered the excrutiating* pain of death on the cross, for us. Again, who does that? Seriously. And once he got here and was surrounded by prideful, terrible sinners who were all out for their own good (as we all are), he still didn't sin.

(*sidenote: apparently "excrutiating" is actually "of the cross" - as in - the word came to describe the worst pain ever suffered! )

So here's my theory: Jesus came here from Heaven, which means he was with God (being God of course), in God's presence, which means he got to fully experience how incredible God must truly be and therefore want to do nothing more than live in complete obedience to God's will - even if that meant death on a cross. In other words, God is way bigger, way cooler, and way more worthy of glory, honor and praise than any of us could ever fathom - because that's the only way Jesus could have lived so perfectly in His Father's will.

Which begs the question... how would we live if we had truly experienced God's awesome wonder and been with Him face-to face? Jesus didn't have a superpower (except the whole "being God" thing, but here on Earth, he was just a human like the rest of us) - he just knew God's amazingness. We can only begin to grasp that amazingness... and I don't know about you, but knowing how Jesus experienced God and thus had the will to obey Him, it makes me want to experience and know God more through His Word... and dream of truly being in His presence in His kingdom.

The Fox and the White House

I apologize beforehand for this political nature of this post... it is not typical of what I write here, but I was really disturbed by what I was reading online.

I was about to turn off my computer when I looked at my Yahoo! headlines and was struck by one in particular.  Apparently White House officials - indeed, the whole Obama administration - seem to be rather upset with Fox News.

Actually, "upset" is an understatement.  According to the White House, Fox News shouldn't even be considered a news station at all.  The reason?  It seems that Fox News is the only station that is consistently critical of this administration, questioning many of its policies and attempts at change.  And the President and his people don't like that.  So what do they do?  They go on the other networks that bow to their every whim and blast Fox News for not being unbiased (i.e., for not also bowing before them).

So what does this mean?  I guess it means that those who question the President and this administration should be censored.  After all, that's what freedom of speech and freedom of the press is really all about, isn't it?  Being under the control of those in power?  I guess questioning the President is equivalent to blasphemy...

Granted, children in New Jersey were recently seen singing praises to Obama to the tune of "Jesus Loves the Little Children" (you can find the video if you look for it... I decided against posting it here), but does this make him divine?  I say no.  And I hope you do, too.  I reserve divinity for the One Who made Obama, and all of us for that matter.  Only He deserves our praise.

And I think now I'm going to go pray for our country...

October Prayer Letter

Methinks we need to update more, since our August prayer letter was the last post on the front page of our blog, and here I am posting our October prayer letter.  Sorry for the lack of updates.

Anyway, here is our latest prayer letter.  Enjoy.  And if you did not receive it either in the mail or in your email, please let us know and we will add your information to our list to make sure you receive our future letters.