July 27, 2007 by His Kingdom Herald.

God’s been talking to me about pearls over the past few months.

In January of 2007, I shared a thought-provoking email that I had received from a friend. It was entitled “The Pearl of Great Price” (click on these highlighted letters if you’d like to read that story for yourself).

I’ve found myself re-reading that story frequently since January, and I find myself asking the same question. . .

Is every THING and every ONE I cherish still totally surrendered to God?

It’s so easy to slip back into my selfish and self-centered ways and begin to see the “stuff” and the people within my sphere of influence as belonging to me.

The reality is, that I willingly “surrendered all” when I surrendered to Christ’s lordship. Now I am merely a steward, a caretaker of the things and the people within my sphere of influence.

That reality puts everything into a totally different perspective doesn’t it?

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July 18, 2007 by His Kingdom Herald.

I think everyone has probably heard this saying:

THE BEST DEFENSE IS A GOOD OFFENSE.

When I think of defense; the picture that comes to mind is that of a soldier dug down into a fox hole or a castle on a high mountain with a draw bridge and a moat filled with alligators. The goal and aim of setting up a defensive position is to protect from danger and to maintain a position.

Here’s my question:

Have we as Christians gotten so comfortable playing defense that we’ve neglected or forgotten how to play offense?

DEFENSE is designed primarily for MAINTENANCE, not growth.

It’s designed more to keep you from falling behind than it is for helping you to get ahead.

THE GREAT COMMISSION is the ultimate OFFENSIVE play.

It’s a play that was called over 2,000 years ago by Jesus Christ, the greatest coach of all time. The problem is that many of the players on His team have either ripped out that section of the play book, or have simply refused to execute the play because they’re afraid of being offensive!

BUT !

You can’t be effective on the field if you are UNABLE to hear the coach’s voice or UNWILLING to execute the plays when the coach calls them.

TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON. . .A TIME TO PLAY DEFENSE. . . A TIME TO PLAY OFFENSE. . .

The key to success is responding the plays as the coach calls them !

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July 9, 2007 by His Kingdom Herald.

Did you ever notice that mosquitoes love to hang out around the river?

I took some time off from work on Friday for an impromptu meeting at a near by park.

Now I’m usually the one that’s preaching the sermon about “don’t forget to use bug spray!” but I had other things on my mind at the time and I forgot. . .

I have CLUSTERS of mosquito bites around both ankles, all over my arms, and some of those long-nosed nasties even managed to bite through my t-shirt !

As I was spreading calamine lotion everywhere verses from Ephesians Chapter 6 began popping into my mind. (You know, scriptures that talk about putting on the whole armor of God?). I had to chuckle because I had just shared that scripture in staff devotions on Tuesday. . .

I had asked everyone to roll their desk chairs into a little space we have just dedicated as a prayer room. Rolling our chairs into that room was a prophetic act of sorts. We were there to tell God that we meant business.

We’ve had so many of our key people profoundly affected by the flooding, several marriages are struggling, health issues seem to be popping up everywhere and more than a few people are having problems at work.

We’ve decided that enough is enough. We’re tired of being on the DEFENSIVE. . . we want to start being OFFENSIVE. (And believe me, nothing is more offensive to the enemy of our souls than the smell of a red-hot prayer.)

When I was in New York a few years back, I had the opportunity to listen to a journalist from Israel who was giving us some insight into what it’s like living in Jerusalem right now. Parents take each child to school in separate trips in case there is a bombing or a sniper on the way to school. At least this way they won’t loose their entire family.

They know what it means to be citizens of a country engaged in a war. They are constantly watching for signs of trouble and taking special precautions to make sure that everyone they care about is kept safe.

The problem is that many times we as Christians don’t seem to realize that we’ve been adopted into a kingdom that is engaged in a war! We slap at the mosquitoes when we feel them biting us, but often times we don’t take the time to do a little preventive maintenance. After all, it’s just a little mosquito bite.

You’re right, it is just a little mosquito bite. But an inflamed mosquito bite will irritate the daylights out of you for days on end; and it only takes one little bite for you to contract The West Nile Virus, an illness that can haunt you for the rest of your life.

Let me encourage you to study the principles found in Ephesians 6, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal !

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July 4, 2007 by His Kingdom Herald.

Today is July 4th; and as our nation celebrates its INDEPENDENCE, I sense God asking me to once again declare my dependence on Him.

The world often sees dependence as a sign of weakness and immaturity; and yet for the Christian, dependence on God should be seen as a sign of maturity and strength.

Adam and Eve declared their independence when they chose to eat the fruit from The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

You’re able to declare you’re “in-dependence” on God and in a right relationship with Him when you accept Christ’s death on the cross as the payment for all of “the forbidden fruit” you’ve eaten over the years.

If you’ve not yet surrendered your life Jesus, I invite you to do it now. He’s the only one who is able to pay the price of that expensive fruit called disobedience. He wants you to be in right relationship with His Father and experience the power of The Holy Spirit in your life.

Won’t you take a moment to declare “you’re in-dependence”?

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July 4, 2007 by His Kingdom Herald.

I had a friend pull me off to the side yesterday. . .

He had read my blog and was hoping that I didn’t have him in mind when I was writing the section about picking up your gear and walking around the rapids.

I explained to him that THE NAME OF THE RIVER IS OBEDIENCE.

This morning as I was thinking back on our conversation; I began to realize that when you’re attempting to navigate your way down the River of Obedience you will occasionally be faced with a fork in the river.

You may begin sensing that God is asking you to make some significant changes in your life.

Transition is hard. (watch carefully now. . . I’m transitioning from a river parable to a gardening parable!).

It’s not much fun when God starts to till the hard soil in your life.

He flings fertilizer everywhere (remember those trials and testings?) and starts pruning your dead branches so that you can bear even more fruit. You’re faced with the prospects of giving up bad habits, prized possessions and your independence.

(OH NO! HERE COMES ANOTHER TRANSITION!)

When you’re in the delivery room and the labor pains are intense, the last thing you need is a room full of people telling you what to do.

A small circle of qualified people should be there to help you; but there comes a point in time where you don’t even listen to the nurse or your spouse. The only voice you’re listening to is the voice of your doctor (yep, I mean God).

There are times when WHAT HE’S ASKING YOU TO DO and WHAT HE’S DOING TO YOU are EXTREMELY PAINFUL ! And yet you have to trust him and follow His directions carefully if you want to cradle that little blessing in your arms.

It all boils down to that one word. . .OBEDIENCE.

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