Unbelief, indifference, busyness, and laziness are some of the excuses people give for not reading the Bible. Gamaliel Bradford, a renowned American biographer who explored the lives and motives of famous individuals, candidly admitted, “I do not read the New Testament for fear of its awakening a storm of anxiety and self-reproach and doubt and dread of having taken the wrong path, of having been traitor to the plain and simple God.”
How do you think that excuse will hold up in the High Court of heaven when he will surely stand before God? Its about as irrational as refusing to see a doctor because there’s a suspicion that cancer has started to develop in your body.
As I reread his statement above I thought it was a remarkably accurate record of what happened to me when I encountered God back in 1972 and was awakened to all the things he described. Thank God I listened and repented.
Tags: awakening, Bible, Excuses, repentence
Today marks the four week period since my surgery and I’m doing well enough to report back to work tomorrow. My first speaking engagement is this Wednesday night when I’m preaching a Thanksgiving message. I hope you’ll make a special effort to make this one-hour time a part of your Thanksgiving holiday plans. I will be sharing some things to be thankful for that the economy cannot take from us.
This is my final entry in the Casting Out Cancer category of my blog. But, I can see that this blog has connected us in the body in a new way, and I think I may continue it. I might continue to develop a daily blog devotional idea to keep us connected.
I am claiming Isaiah 50:4: “The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue,
to know the Lord that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.”
I will ask God to give me a word for the body of Christ every day. Would that be a waste of time? What do you think?
Tags: awakening, connections, devotions, weary, word
I attended a minister’s conference this past week where Dr. Kent Hunter, better known as The Church Doctor, spoke to the pastors. He taught an inspiring session outlining the downward trend in moral indicators from 1960 to the 1990s. Just when it appeared there was no hope left for America, tracking of these same indicators began to reverse. Best Selling books took a Christian (or at least moral) turn, ‘R’ rated movies began to give way to films with a spiritual message, the disintegration of the family began to stabilize. etc.
Christians have been praying for revival in America. Could this be the beginning of a turn around? Either the church will take advantage of the positive momentum, or it will return to its hibernation, and the awakening will disintegrate. Yes, that is in God’s hands, but He delegated the task of revival to us. What will the church do with this open door?
Tags: awakening, open door, pray, revival