OUT OF THE BOX

  “Changes and war are with me.” Job 10:17 CHANGES When you're young, the moments and the time you're in seem to last long, and you subconsciously think "this is the way life will always be." But one of the salient features of growing older is you become more aware of change. You see more and more of the old folks leaving, while you see the "babies" and children becoming adults. The culture and landscape that you thought were permanent segue into new and often surprising territory. You young folk should look up two words in the dictionary: "change" and "surprise." For you will not be a stranger to these. One other concept that will become real to you is the term "Short." You will realize more and more how short life is and that it goes by fast. In a flash, we all will face eternity. For myself I might add the words of Solomon, "Remember now your creator in the days of your youth." Take hold of something that will not c...

“..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...

   Roy Rogers   Billy Long   1967.   It was September 1967, my freshman year at ORU. There was a prayer chapel on the ground floor of the men’s dorm. It was a small room with an altar and a few short benches. I would often enter it at night to pray. The only light I needed was coming from the lobby and shining through the stain glass windows of the door. The first time I went in there to pray, I discovered there was another student, Roy Rogers, lying on the floor at the altar. He was wrestling with God much like Jacob in Genesis 32 and was in deep intercession and literally groaning before the Lord. I don’t think he realized I was there. He was passionate but not emotional. His spirit was in travail and crying out to the Lord regarding some serious issue. His intensity reminded me of the agony Jesus went through in the Garden of Gethsemane. His prayers were deeper than simple intellect or the shallowness of typical prayers we often hear. We became good friends. ...

  Dear Friends I don't normally write articles that are mainly political, but because of current issues being discussed in our country  today , I decided to post an article I wrote on Free Enterprise vs Socialism.  Our universities are teaching Marxism and socialism, and are producing a generation of young people who are being "taken in" by it. I think you'll find this article informative. Pass it on to your college friends. Billy Long WHY I BELIEVE IN FREE ENTERPRISE RATHER THAN SOCIALISM Jimmy Carter made this statement: “If you don’t want your tax dollars to help the poor, then stop saying that you want a country based on Christian values, because you don’t.” Let me begin by saying I know that there are people with genuine needs and there is a place for government action and help. But Jimmy Carter’s statement is not true because it is too simplistic and does not accurately reflect conservative philosophy. It fails to acknowledge the various aspects of the issue.  ...

  Have you ever had to deal with relational conflict? Here are some Biblical principles that will help you come through the fire without becoming spiritually derailed and disabled. The principles discussed are basic to our success in all areas of our spiritual walk. I am re-posting this for my newer readers who may have missed it the first time.   -Billy Long DON'T ARGUE WITH THE DONKEY! ENGAGE THE LORD FIRST We encounter various trials in our Christian walk. Some we can't explain and some are indicative of the “roaring lion” seeking to devour the righteous. But there are also times when adversities are the result of our own foolishness, disobedience, or sin, times when our adversaries are instruments of God designed to get our attention, teach a lesson, interrupt our wrong path, or to discipline us. God raised up adversaries against Solomon because of his idolatry (1 Kings 11). Balaam’s donkey balked and fell underneath him because his way was co...