Serve by Design

It’s been a long while since I have participated in a revival service, let alone three consecutive nights long! Our Methodist church had such a renewal experience this week. Personally, it was spiritually refreshing. We had altar calls at the end of the services where there was soul searching and confession of sin. There were also prayers of recommitment to Christ, intercession for healing (physically, spiritually, and relationally!), and genuine prayers for revival both in our church and throughout our city, country, and the world. Image: stock.adobe.com On the first night, we heard Bishop Jonathan Franklin, founding pastor of the Mt. Zion Apostolic Church, and president of the Springfield Ministerial Alliance. He brought a stirring message from the Great Commission in Acts 1:8 and Jesus’ teaching to the disciples at the scene of the pagan temple of Pan in Matthew 16:13-19. Bishop Franklin spoke like a prophet when he said, “Our nation needs prayer! We have evicted God from our nation...

For several days this week, gridlock has prevented the United States House of Representatives from electing a Speaker for this august body of legislators. Fourteen ballots had been cast in the effort to move forward, but to no avail. It would be on the fifteenth round that a breakthrough would occur. All week long, strong differences of opinion dominated the discussions. Every effort had failed to get a majority consensus. Finally, in the very early morning hours of Saturday morning,   a Speaker of the House was elected . This level of disagreement is unusual, but not without historic precedence. The longest vote for a Speaker occurred in 1856 when it took two months and 133 rounds of balloting to elect Rep. Nathaniel Banks of Massachusetts as Speaker of the House. The Gavel: Symbol of Authority During this present and epic Speaker election of the modern era, many have tuned in to their televisions to watch the actions on C-SPAN live stream. Each round of voting has been proce...

I recently had another scheduled procedure where they have to put you out and into a twilight sleep condition. I have been in similar states throughout the years for an appendectomy and joint replacement surgery as well as during treatments for cancer. There is always a risk in putting you in such a condition, but I have learned that I must trust my doctor, anesthesiologist, and others who assist them if I am to receive the necessary health procedures. Image Credit: unsplash.com I learned years ago as an eleven-year-old boy how to trust God for salvation and to deal with my sin condition. Trust is one of the most essential exercises of a believer. In the Bible, faith is spoken of repeatedly as the key in our relationship with the Lord, "Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him, must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." (Hebrews 11:6 NIV ). We are living in a day of skepticism, doubt and fear. We are s...