OUT OF THE BOX

“..Do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patient endurance inherit the promises.” Hebrews 10:12. “Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them; for the Lord your God is He who goes before you, to fight for you.” Deuteronomy 20:3. We must resist the many forces that press us to quit or give up. Jesus said by patient endurance we possess our souls. Jacob wrestled with the angel and refused to let him go until he received the blessing. The Canaanite woman persisted in her request for Jesus to heal her daughter, even when it appeared Jesus was resisting her. Jesus marveled at her faith which was demonstrated in her perseverance, and He gave her the request for which she asked. By contrast, Esau lost his birthright because he traded it for a mess of stew when he was faint, hungry, and tired. He was willing to trade his birthright for quick, temporary relie...

Dear Friends, I posted this article last Christmas. I think it's worth reading again. Blessings to you all, Billy Long Some of the most amazing glimpses into the spiritual realm and manifestations of God’s intimate involvement with His people are seen in the Christmas story. The angel Gabriel appeared to Zacharias (father of John the Baptist), to Joseph, and to Mary. The heavens opened causing shepherds to tremble as they saw and heard a multitude of angels praising God with a roar equivalent to Niagara Falls. John the Baptist’s mother Elizabeth conceived him in her old age. Jesus was supernaturally placed in Mary’s womb by the Holy Spirit. Joseph and Mary were led by angelic visitations and by the Holy Spirit to go to Egypt and were told when to return to Nazareth. These and other amazing and marvelous things happened around the birth of Jesus. But the yearly and routine presentation of those experiences in church Christmas plays and manger scenes has tended to inoculate Christian...

  SUBSTANCE VS STYLE Leadership should actually feed the sheep, equip the saints, and strengthen the church, and see actual growth and progress in the Lord's people. My cry is that the real church, the true church would emerge, rather than the typical routine, fluff, and imitation. Too often the church is like "processed Christianity," Nothing like the original, designed for buyer appeal, and lacking the nutrition it is meant to have. Religious people often substitute ritual and ceremony for real relationship with the Lord Himself. People who are short on intimacy with Jesus seem to find security in the outward forms. An organization can do the same thing. It is interesting that God gave Israel a portable tabernacle long before He gave them a stone temple. In Israel’s journey across the wilderness, they had to follow the cloud of God’s presence that rested above the tabernacle. When the cloud moved, they moved; when the cloud rested, they remained still. The cloud did ...

Samaritans Purse set up a tent hospital in Central Park in New York City to help with the overflow of patients from the hospitals there during the corona virus pandemic. I read an article at that time stating that New York’s mayor De Blasio expressed concern that Samaritan’s purse is operated by Franklin Graham who is accused of having a “virulent hatred of homosexuals and is Islamophobic” and that Samaritan’s Purse will discriminate against  homosexuals and anyone who “disagrees with their fundamentalist beliefs.” Some had even expressed concern that the Christian organization would deliberately refuse to aid those who disagree with the organization’s beliefs, or that they would intentionally spread the disease. How foolish and erroneous are such charges! You and I know the sincerity and love that motivates this organization. But we are living in a culture where this type of false accusation and unwarranted hate and prejudice will be directed at those who have the testimony of Jes...

No matter what your religion or spiritual belief system is, it logically must bring you to the intellectual and philosophical conclusion that there has to be a creator and a Sovereign manager over it all. For instance, reincarnation is a complicated process, if it were true. If you believe in reincarnation, I would have to ask you, “Who manages and directs it? Where did the spirits come from that keep reincarnating upward or downward? Who does the evaluating regarding good and bad and which ones move upward and which ones move downward?” You always come back to the necessity of a creator and manager. Even the dynamics of pantheism that pervades eastern religions and the New Age movement require the existence of an all-powerful, higher power to create and manage the processes.   Therefore, all religions bring you back to the need for a personal God who created and manages His creation. However, all  “roads” and philosophies do not lead to God, but all “roads” point to the fact ...

What blessing, strength, encouragement, and life we receive from those who serve the Lord faithfully and without complaint! How our hearts are touched by those whose lives demonstrate such surrender to God’s will, and whose love for the Lord is revealed in their willingness to lay down self, take up their cross, and follow Him. OUR LOAD MIGHT REPRESENT GOD'S CONFIDENCE IN US. In our limited knowledge we often misunderstand the deeper mysteries of God in the way He works in our lives? God disciplines those He loves and He requires more from those He favors. He asks more from those upon whom He has placed a high calling and from those who have been given more. It is an honor for God to ask of you more than He asks of others. The early Christians did not complain and say, “Why me?” when they were persecuted and beaten for Christ’s sake, but rather they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for His sake. They knew they were being honored as “worthy to drink the cup” (Mark 10...