When I was a kid, my parents had a lot on Spring River, and we would go down there a couple of times per summer to camp out. Spring River is a beautiful "cold" river in North Arkansas, and I have fond memories of my time on that river. As I look back on those times, I can relive in my mind the times we "floated" the river in a canoe, and I remember if you wanted to get anywhere, you needed to stay in the current. If you didn't stay in the current, you might end up in eddy w

Presence (def) - the state of being in a specific place at a specific time, or the area immediately surrounding someone. Beyond physical location, it describes a person's commanding demeanor, poise, or a felt spiritual or intangible influence. There is a time when we will be in heaven and be in the presence of God, and we sing about it and think about it, and even dream about it! But what about here on earth in the middle? God's presence is here also. He was there for Mose

It seems we can get distracted from doing the better things by just "things" that don't have a lot of value. I am a chair straightener; in other words, when we have a group meeting, I want the chairs to be in lines that match up as perfectly as possible. Some may call themselves perfectionists when they do such things, but I call it getting distracted to satisfy what I think is "best." Martha was that way to the point she was complaining to Jesus about the lack of care her

Do you have a restless heart? If so, God is probably the cause of it, because He is directing you to follow Him into a new venture that needs the "drive" that only He can. A few years ago, God took me to a new place of clarity about what He wanted in my life, and He injected a restless attitude in my heart and mind that I have had trouble explaining to myself and to others. Another David, King David, had a restless heart, and He continued to fine-tune his relationship with

I have heard a lot of people say, "I want to follow Jesus," and with well-meaning intentions, their statements come from willing hearts, but can they totally immerse themselves in the mission at hand? Serving Jesus is not for the faint of heart! When thinking about my life to come as a young man, it was a dream, and yes, a coming reality, to write and sing songs, and my preparation for this coming dream was filled with hours and hours of preparation. A day in my life was f

Luke 9: 12 Now the day was ending, and the twelve came up and said to Him, “Dismiss the crowd, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging and get something to eat; because here, we are in a secluded place.” 13 But He said to them, “You give them something to eat!” But they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people.”14 (For there were about five thousand men.) But He said

Luke 9: 1 Now He called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all the demons, and the power to heal diseases. 2 And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing. 3 And He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, neither a staff, nor a bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have two tunics. 4 And whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that city. 5 And as for all who do not receive you, when you leave that ci

You may be in a season when you are really needing to be encouraged that Jesus notices what is going on with you. You can bet He is intricately involved in every need in your life, even when we seem to feel so far away from Him, working. One of the greatest examples of Jesus noticing everything is found in Luke 8: 43 And a woman who had suffered a chronic flow of blood for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone, 44 came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cl

Jesus traveled to a country called the Gerasenes, opposite Galilee, and when He stepped on the land, He was met by a demon-possessed man. Here is the way Luke writes about this confrontation in Luke 8. Luke 8: 26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 And when He stepped out onto the land, a man from the city met Him who was possessed with demons; and he had not put on clothing for a long time and was not living in a house, but among

Luke 8: 22 Now on one of those days Jesus and His disciples got into a boat, and He said to them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake.” So they launched out. 23 But as they were sailing along He fell asleep; and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger.24 They came up to Jesus and woke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and

Mystery (def) - A mystery is something that is unknown, unexplained, or a secret that baffles understanding. Jesus spoke in parables. A lot of parables. And in Luke 8 He explains the purpose of those parables and who was to hear them and who was to understand the deeper meaning in them. Luke 8: 9 Now His disciples began asking Him what this parable meant. 10 And He said, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest they are told

When we pray for someone, do we really want what we pray for them? The example of these friends of this lame man are willing to do anything to get him to Jesus and get to his healing. Here are the verses in Luke 5: 17 One day He was teaching, and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the Law sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. 18 And some men were carryi

Luke 6: 6 On another Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught; and a man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 Now the scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse Him. 8 But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” And he got up and came forward. 9 And Jesus said to them, “I ask you whether it is lawful to do good on

Jesus got away and prayed many times in the gospels, and the choosing of the apostles was a time He did just that. He got away and prayed. Luke 6: 12 It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles: 14 Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew; 15

I am reading A.W. Tozer's book entitled Jesus, Author of Our Faith, and he emphasizes the need to not just read about God like we are reading a school book or a novel. We should realize how real our God is, that we are reading about and experiencing Him at a real, deeper level, and that will come from the faith that many times will confuse others who see God in a different way. When Jesus was teaching and healing those following Him, He was standing by the lake of Gennesare

Jesus had just left Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness. He was being led around for 40 days, where He ate nothing, and He was hungry. Very important parts of this temptation were that He was led "around" by the Spirit in the wilderness. Scripture said He was "full" of the Holy Spirit, and then He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. The devil decided to tempt Jesus after those 40 days without food, possibly hoping to catch a weakness in Him, bu

God's truth from God's Word can be seen as a help and deterrent to sinning, but it can also be seen as an irritant if it hits a prideful, unwilling heart and life. When John the Baptist came out of the Judean wilderness and began preaching, his message was clear; repent and turn from your sins. This message hit ears, and hearts were stirred to be baptized as a sign of repenting of their sins, but not all were happy about the conviction that arose from his hard truth. John

When I go to a church "building," I am not going to some brick and mortar place to worship God, because I can worship God anywhere, and I should worship God everywhere! I am going to "my father's house," which in the context of a "church" should mean it is a place where God's people congregate or gather to worship Him together. Some people choose to worship the building. I do not. In my heart, I am going to worship in my father's house as Jesus did as a twelve-year-old boy

You may wonder, "Does God have a plan for my life?, and I believe scripture gives plenty of answers for what a calling God puts on the lives of His people. A calling with a purpose, and that purpose is to glorify Him. Luke records the parallel births of John the Baptist and Jesus, and both births were initiated and made to happen by God. Why? It was His plan. Prophecies foretold of this plan and every prophecy God gives to His people is fulfilled to a T. Our lives have gr

The Holy Spirit is at work, and God is active today in our world. Our realization of the need for the Spirit's leading and power is a step forward in our thinking about our faith walk. Many different people have tried to minimize the need for the Holy Spirit's power, but of course, we know that is a mistake, and we must repent from that irreverent thinking. When we begin to think about the Holy Spirit, some will get a little squimish, and even though they read about the Hol