Jesus was on the verge of building a megachurch. The multitudes—thousands, perhaps more than ten thousand—were ready to make Him their king. But just when it looked like Jesus was about to fill the pews with hungry bellies, Jesus hit the brakes and said, “I’m not looking for consumer Christians; I’m looking for committed Christians. I’m not looking for bellies to fill; I’m looking for hungry hearts who want more than the world has to offer.”
We need to stand up and speak up for what is right. We need the Holy Spirit to empower us as witnesses of Jesus in a world where a small segment of society, which has been given the megaphone of the media, will try to shout us down. When we come out of an upper room experience after a powerful Sunday morning worship service, we need to go out speaking the wonderful works of God. We need to take it to the streets without fear or intimidation because we have not been given “a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).
In response to the cries of the people, God did indeed raise up another judge, and again this was an unlikely candidate. God chose Deborah, who was “a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth.” She “was judging Israel at that time” (v. 4). She is the only judge in the Bible who was also a prophet, and she is the only judge who was a woman. Indeed, in the entire Bible, she is the only woman described as being in a leadership role in Israel.
The world, whose hearts are only on evil continually, can shout, spit, swear, and even commit murder and mayhem on the streets, but they cannot win. Jesus already won the victory two thousand years ago when He crushed the serpent’s head and gave His Church the power to tread on serpents, scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.
We serve God with our hands by what we do. James warned us not to be hearers of the Word only but to be doers of the Word (1:22). With our hands, we feed the hungry and clothe the naked. With our hands, we touch the people that are sick and need prayer. James said, “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord” (5:14). With our hands, we serve God by ministering to others who need to know that God cares. We are the body of Christ, and as His body, we need to be His hands touching, helping, healing, and holding the wounded souls of this world.
The Holy Spirit, through Paul, is telling us not to dwell on those negative things. Instead, Paul said to let God’s peace guard your hearts and minds. Trust that God is in control. Let the peace that passeth understanding cover your mind and heart. Then, we can use our brain cells for more productive things, like thinking about or dwelling on honest, just, pure, lovely, good, virtuous, and praiseworthy things that will lift our spirits and give us a better outlook on life.
The Bible is not a magical book of powers that anyone can recite or chant and expect to see results. The Word of God is powerful in the lives of those who abide in Jesus and live by His words. Jesus said in John 15:7, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”
HOLY GOD By Mark E. Hardgrove, PhD Isaiah 6:1-8, NKJV 1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two...
These people could not control Jesus, and they could not corrupt Jesus, so they decided that they had to kill Jesus. They were suffering from JDS, commonly known as Jesus Derangement Syndrome, and they were triggered by His presence and His speech. To carry out their nefarious plan of murder they bribed Judas with thirty pieces of silver to betray Jesus. They would do whatever was necessary to end the ministry and even the life of Jesus.
WILL THE STONES CRY OUT? By Mark E. Hardgrove, PhD Luke 19:29-44, NKJV 29 And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied,...
