The road to success...

The road to success is not straight. There is a curve called failure, a loop called confusion, speed bumps called friends, red lights called enemies, caution lights called family, and flats called jobs. But, if you have a spare called determination, an engine called perseverance, insurance called faith, and a driver called Jesus, you will make it to a place called success.-Unknown

Prayer For Preaching

God I am seeking to find my way into God's presence. No preaching can take place unless You the Divine Preacher comes. Speak to me oh God in a way that is life giving, powerful, clear & easy to understand. Comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. My trust is that you, oh God, might be glorified, your people edified and the devil terrified. Do a work, oh God, Do a work! In Jesus Name I pray, Amen!

The Power Of The Holy Spirit

"Our prevalence in prayer lies in the plea, "Lord, do as thou hast said." How greatly we ought to value the Holy Spirit, because when we are in the dark he gives us light, and when our perplexed spirit is so befogged and beclouded that it cannot see its own need, and cannot find out the appropriate promise in the Scriptures, the Spirit of God comes in and teaches us all things, and brings all things to our remembrance, whatsoever our Lord has told us. He guides us in prayer, and thus he helps our infirmity." ~ C.H. Spurgeon, The Holy Spirit's Intercession, April 11, 1880

A Word from Dr. Carolyn Ann Knight...

Believable...memorable...liveable...quotable! Persons who listen to our sermons should be able to believe what we say...remember what we say...do what we say...repeat what we say. This is how preaching transforms.
~Dr. Carolyn Ann Knight

One way to have a daily devotional...

This is great for devotional...not necessarily Bible Study.

Apply a reading methodology! One recommended method is SOAP. It's simple and doesn't require you to be a Bible buff or scholar:
• Scripture: start with just enough to give you a complete thought. Usually, less than a chapter. As you read, if the subject or topic seems to change, stop right there! Mediate on that! You can always add more as you get more out of reading. Be sure to read it silently and then out loud twice.
• Observation: As you read write down questions that come to mind, promises, instructions, commands, examples (good/bad), etc., you run across. Try to answer the questions you raise, ponder the instructions/commands, etc.
• Application: ask yourself what can you take away from what you just read, how you can apply it to your life or who God might want you to share it with if it doesn’t speak specifically to your life at that moment.
• Pray, close in prayer; thanking God for what He revealed

Evidence of an encounter...

A few days ago I read Genesis 32:22-32. Here we find the story of Jacob's wrestling with God. I began to wonder during the times in my life when I have wrestled with God what have I longed for. Part of my wrestling with God, like Jacob, is a desire to be blessed. If we are honest...all of us, at one time or another, have wanted something from God.

One of the blessings that Jacob finds is amazing. God changes his name from Jacob to Israel. It is as if he generates a brand new identity as a result of his encounter. We all hopefully become "new creaters in Christ"

Also, Jacob becomes closer to God by wrestling with him. Even beyond the actual wrestling, for Jacob to ask God His name is to try and learn more of him. We all come to know God better as a result of wrestling with Him through the ups and downs of life.

However, what I have overlooked time and time again in this passage seemed to stop me in my tracks the other day. When I wrestle with God, like Jacob,I long to have evidence of my encounter with Him. In vv. 24-25 God touches the socket of Jacobs hip and he is no longer the same. When I think about it, Jacob's walk begins to change. You see the change in his name was important, but you would have to talk to him in order to find out his name. How amazing would it be if people knew we had been touched by God by the way we walked? That there was something in the way we carried ourselves that set us apart. Something about the way we lived our lives.

They say our life should be a sermon. Not one that is preached through our words but lived out through our actions. What's your walk looking like today?