In Jesus' Name

Prayer 911

It was the middle of the night when my phone rang. Someone was calling with a “Prayer 911.” Their family was in crisis; their situation was dire. If God didn’t move, life as they’d known it would be dramatically changed forever. Prayer was the only solution to their emergency, and they needed someone to stand with them. They asked for wisdom, strength, encouragement and a renewed faith to believe God’s Word for their situation. We prayed together, and the next day they began to experience a miraculous breakthrough. The Enemy’s hindrances were thwarted, and God broke through with favor and provision! Prayer had made a difference!

 It’s not uncommon for us to arrive at a place of “Prayer 911”—a moment of crisis when the Enemy has done all he knows to do to discourage, disappoint and distance us from the plans and purposes God has for our lives. We’ve become weary from the battle and we need to know His will and clearly hear what He’s saying in the midst of the assaulting fear and confusion. All we can do is stop what we’re doing and pray immediately. It’s at times like this that we need to stand on His Word and apply Ephesians 6:13 (AMP): “Therefore put on God’s complete armor that you may be able to resist and stand your ground on the evil day [of danger], and, having done all [the crisis demands], to stand [firmly in your place].”

 “Prayer 911” situations often leave us in weak, vulnerable places. The Enemy will try to take advantage of our vulnerability by doing everything he can to get our thoughts focused on the impossibility of the situation rather than on the One who can change the impossible. Satan doesn’t want us to remember that “No weapon formed against [us] shall prosper” (Isaiah 54:17) or that “nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37, NLT). Yet it’s during times like these that the Word of God (the sword of the Spirit) sustains us and gives us the ability to say, “In the face of all trials, tests, temptations and tribulation, I cut to pieces the snare of the Enemy by speaking the Word of God.”* We must consciously capture every thought that goes against who the Word tells us God is, and replace it with the Truth. The Bible says to take “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). When we do that, He is able to replace those lies from the Enemy with His empowered truth.

As you take your thoughts captive, you need to delve into the Word of God. These teachings have been preserved for us as a road map through life. All 66 books of the Bible are God-breathed and are there to guide you, to bring answers and to bring comfort. Maybe everything has been taken from you—look up the story of Job. Maybe you’re being forced to sacrifice something precious—read the stories of Abraham and Moses. Maybe you need to get out of a bad situation—turn to the Psalms and read David’s cries to the Lord. In His wisdom and love, God included stories in His Word about real people who experienced real crises, so we could see how He answered in every situation when His children cried out to Him in prayer.


If you’ve been standing strong but have become weary or need encouragement or support, ask friends to join you in seeking confirmation on how to pray about your situation. Then pray, fast and stand firm. Your persistence in prayer and exploration in the Word will not only yield the move of God in your situation, it will craft you to be more like Him. And the more like Him you are, the easier it will be for you to have peace in your time of needing “Prayer 911.” His thoughts will be your thoughts, and His Word, your answer.

The more you pray, the less you’ll panic. The more you worship, the less you worry. You’ll feel more patient and less pressured.

~ Rick Warren

Prayer

Father, forgive me when I get upset when answers don’t come immediately. Replace the lies the Enemy has used against me with the truth of Your Word. Help me to understand that through the process of persistence in prayer and studying Your Word, the Enemy will be defeated, and I will become more like You. Have Your way in me, Lord, and reshape me to look just like You. In Jesus name, Amen.

Source: YouVersion

The Overcoming Life With Jimmy Evans

Devotional

Thomas may be viewed as one of the most unfortunate disciples because every time we hear his name, we think of the word “doubt.” Even though Jesus spoke about his resurrection to the disciples many times prior to His death, and even though the other disciples tried to convince him, Thomas needed hard proof.

Here is the good news: Thomas overcame his doubts. He eventually went to India and preached the gospel there. Today, there are many believers in India as well as a shrine to this disciple. Thomas was ultimately martyred by spears for his faith there. Though he doubted at first, he did not remain a doubter. On the contrary, Thomas was a great man of faith who changed nations through his ministry.

Doubting is a part of our human condition. We all doubt, but we need to overcome our doubts as people of faith. If you are dealing with doubt, God is not your enemy. He is actually your very best friend. Jesus never expressed hostility toward those who doubted Him. He was not hostile toward Nicodemus, the Pharisee who came late at night with sincere questions. He was not hostile toward Mary and Martha, who questioned why He did not come in time to heal their brother Lazarus.

Jesus did not reject Thomas for having doubts. You may have doubts today, but God is not offended by questions or struggles of faith. He knows they exist, and He wants to be a part of the process of our doubts becoming faith. However, this will not happen if we try to hide our struggles from Him. Some people feel as though God is going to punish or reject them for their doubts, so they pretend everything is fine. Please understand this: if you are doubting but you are sincerely seeking God, you have a friend in Jesus.

Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Turn your doubt toward God and trust His Word—not skeptics or unbelievers—to resolve it. When you are sincere and honest about what causes you to doubt, God will guide you in assurance to the truth of His Word.

Do your doubts about God keep you from taking your questions to Him? In prayer, tell God what doubts you are struggling with. He already knows but desires you to acknowledge them to yourself and confess them to Him.

 

 

The Compassion of Christ

The saying is proverbial: “People do not care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” There is a measure of truth in that.

Consider the case of Jesus Christ. He was the most forceful, demanding teacher who has ever lived. He was the one who taught that even one’s closest family members must give way to loyalty to him, and that the true disciple must be willing to “bear his cross” for the Master (Matthew 10:34-39). In view of the rigorous nature of the Savior’s requirements, how does one account for his amazing popularity?

For one thing, the evidence supporting his claims was staggering. No honest person could deny it. Beyond that, a strong case can be made that Jesus’ compassion for the lost, as a reflection of his incredible love, made him a most attractive character.

Our Sympathetic High Priest

There are several words in the Greek New Testament that reveal insights into the marvelous compassion of the Lord with reference to sinful, suffering humanity. Let us think about this for a moment.

The book of Hebrews has this exciting passage.

For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one who has been tempted like as we are, yet without sin (4:15).

Of special interest is the term “touched.” It translates the Greek sympatheo, from sun (with), and patheo (to feel). Hence, the meaning is to feel with. Our English “sympathy” is derived from this word.

Michaelis notes that the term “does not signify a sympathetic understanding that is ready to condone, but a fellow feeling that derives from full acquaintance with the seriousness of the situation as a result of successfully withstanding the temptation” (Bromiley, 802-803).

Continued, here

A Violent Conversion.

Whisper: How To Hear The Voice Of God By Mark Batterson

What God Wants Us to Hear the Most

You aren’t the mistakes you’ve made. You aren’t the labels that have been put on you. And you aren’t the lies the Enemy has tried to sell you. You are who God says you are.

You are a child of God.

You are the apple of God’s eye. 

You are sought after.

You are more than a conqueror.

You are a new creation in Christ.

You are the righteousness of Christ.

All our identity issues are fundamental misunderstandings of who God is. Guilt issues are a misunderstanding of God’s grace. Control issues are a misunderstanding of God’s sovereignty. Anger issues are a misunderstanding of God’s mercy. Pride issues are a misunderstanding of God’s greatness. Trust issues are a misunderstanding of God’s goodness. If you struggle with any of those issues, it’s time to let God be the loudest voice in your life! 

God doesn’t love us because of who we are. God loves us because of who He is. 

When we succeed, God says, “I love you.”

When we fail, God says, “I love you.”

When we have faith, God says, “I love you.”

When we doubt, God says, “I love you.”

Love is His answer to everything. Why? Because He is love. There is nothing you can do to make Him love you any more or any less. God loves you perfectly. He loves you eternally.

God wants us to hear what He’s saying, and we must heed His voice. But much more than that, He wants us to hear His heart. So He whispers softer and softer so that we have to get closer and closer. And when we finally get close enough, He envelops us in His arms and tells us that He loves us. 

We’ve been deafened by the voice of conformity, the voice of criticism, and the voice of condemnation, and the side effects include loneliness, shame, and anxiety. 

The good news? You not only bear God’s image but you know His voice. It’s His voice that knit you together in your mother’s womb. It’s His voice that ordained all your days before one of them came to be. It’s His voice that began a good work and His voice that will carry it to completion.

Excerpt from  Whisper: How to Hear the Voice of God

Science Affirms Genesis 6:3 and Human Life Span Limit

Just a year ago, I had a regular attendee in my Paradoxes Sunday school class1 who was 101 years old. He was mentally sharp and, for his age, physically fit. He lived alone and drove himself to class. He claimed that the secret to his longevity was a disciplined diet and daily physical and mental exercise. However, a few months ago, he caught a flu bug that within a week took his life.

Our class centenarian was an example to all of us that a disciplined lifestyle will extend our lives but also that there seems to be a limit beyond which none of us can go. Now, a recent exchange of papers in the journal Science establishes that there is indeed a hard limit to how long we humans can live—a limit that is in perfect accord with what was written in Genesis nearly 3,500 years ago.......

Science Affirms Genesis 6:3 and Human Life Span Limit

PUTIN JUST EXPOSED THE PLOT TO DESTROY AMERICA

Submit to One Another

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:21)

Think about the far-reaching implications of that one statement. Imagine growing up in a family that embraced that one guideline. How many rules would we need if everybody just did that? Can you think of a marriage conflict that couldn’t be resolved if both parties decided to submit to each other freely out of reverence for Christ? This was Paul’s way of saying: “Put others first, just as Christ put you first.”

I call this the principle of mutual submission. I’m convinced this is the most powerful, transformational, relational dynamic on the planet. In a relationship characterized by mutual submission, both parties choose to submit themselves to the other. Mutual submission doesn’t work unless it’s mutual. It only works when both parties work it. But, like Jesus, Paul didn’t stop there.

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

New covenant participants are to submit to one another in light of what Christ has done for them. Paul doesn’t instruct believers to submit to one another out of reverence for one another. Let’s face it—most “one anothers” don’t deserve to be submitted to. Paul takes us back to the dynamic Jesus introduced in the upper room. The phrase “out of reverence for Christ” suggests we are to submit to one another out of reverence for the fact that Christ submitted himself to each of us on the cross to pay our sin debt. His sacrifice is to serve as the inspiration and standard for our submission to one another. It’s that just as thing again.

“Submit to one another” wasn’t Paul’s only one-another. He left the church with some other one-anothers. According to Paul, the primary duty of Jesus followers is to one-another one another. Here’s his list:

Submit to one another.

Forgive one another.

Encourage one another.

Restore one another.

Accept one another.

Care for one another.

Bear with one another.

Carry one another’s burdens.

If we were to ask Paul what faith expressing itself through love looks like, he might rattle off this list. This is the short list of what God through Christ has done for each of us. 

So, what if we just did that?

What if we one-anothered one another better?

Source: Andy Stanley Irresistible

Protests in Pakistan delay release of Christian woman acquitted after being sentenced to death for blasphemy In a landmark decision, the top court overturned Asia Bibi's 2010 conviction of insulting Islam's Prophet Muhammad

ISLAMABAD — The release of a Christian woman in Pakistan who was acquitted eight years after being sentenced to death for blasphemy was apparently delayed Friday, after talks failed between the government and radical Islamists who want her publicly hanged.

Also, a lawyer representing a local cleric who had raised the initial blasphemy charges against Asia Bibi petitioned the Supreme Court on Thursday to reverse its acquittal.

The top court in a landmark decision on Wednesday overturned Bibi’s 2010 conviction of insulting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.

Since then, Islamists have blocked highways and damaged or set-fire to dozens of vehicles to pressure the government to stop her release from an undisclosed detention facility.

This undated handout photo released to AFP on November 1, 2018 via the UK charity British Pakistani Christian Association shows a portrait of Asia Bibi, who had been on death row in Pakistan since 2010. HANDOUT/AFP/Getty Images

Islamists were to hold nationwide rallies after Friday’s prayers, stoking fears violence. Pakistan shut down schools and colleges after radical cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, the leader of Tehreek-e-Labbaik party, announced that “talks” between his deputies and the government about Bibi’s fate had failed.

Before dawn Friday, Rizvi told an emotionally-charged rally in the eastern city of Lahore that one of the government negotiators threatened his deputies during the talks that security forces will ruthlessly kill them if they did not disperse peacefully. He asked his supporters to continue sit-ins as authorities summoned paramilitary troops to restore order.

“We are ready to die to show our love for the prophet,” he said.

For a second day, protesters rally to condemn a Supreme Court decision that acquitted Asia Bibi, a Christian woman, who spent eight years on death row accused of blasphemy, in Karachi, Pakistan, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018. Shakil Adil/AP

Rizvi’s envoys had demanded that Bibi be barred from leaving the country but Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry rejected the demand, saying the government will not accept any dictates.

Ghulam Mustafa, a lawyer representing a provincial cleric in Punjab who had filed the initial blasphemy charges against Bibi, petitioned the Supreme Court, requesting the judges review her acquittal. The court has set not dates to take up the petition, but Bibi’s release could be further delayed by the process. Pakistan’s Supreme Court has not been known to reverse its decisions but court reviews typically take years.

Authorities say they have stepped up security near an undisclosed detention facility where Bibi is being held for her safety. On Thursday, prison officials said two inmates were arrested last month for planning to kill Bibi by strangling her. They said the men were still being questioned.

Bibi’s family had expected her release by Thursday night. Her husband, Ashiq Masih, returned from Britain with their children in mid-October and was waiting for her release so that they can fly out of Pakistan. Though the family has not disclosed the country of her destination, France and Spain have offered asylum.

• Pakistani Christian woman who faced the death penalty for blasphemy is acquitted by high court after 8 years on death row
• Pakistan suspends sentences in blasphemy case pending appeal
• Jakarta’s Christian governor sentenced to two years in prison for blasphemy against Islam

Bibi’s acquittal has posed a challenge to the government of Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Imran Khan, who came to power this summer partly by pursuing the Islamist agenda.

Khan condemned the Islamists on Wednesday after cleric Afzal Qadri urged supporters to kill the three judges who acquitted Bibi, revolt against army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa and overthrow Khan’s government.

Military’s spokesman Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor said Friday the army was exercising restraint, to give a chance for a peaceful resolution. He asked demonstrators to refrain from violence and await the outcome of the review petition to the Supreme Court.

“Let this legal process be completed first,” he told state-run Pakistan Television.

However, over 2,000 Islamists continued blocking a key road linking the capital, Islamabad, with the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Friday, causing traffic jams. Hundreds also blocked another key motorway, linking Islamabad with other major cities.

Pakistani protesters burn a poster image of Christian woman Asia Bibi, who has spent eight-years on death row accused of blasphemy and acquitted by a Supreme Court, in Hyderabad, Pakistan, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018. Pervez Masih/AP / AP

Bibi was arrested in 2009 after she was accused of blasphemy following a quarrel with two fellow female farm workers who refused to drink from a water container used by a Christian. A few days later, a mob accused her of insulting Islam’s prophet, leading to her 2010 conviction.

Bibi’s family has always maintained her innocence and says she never insulted the prophet.

Bibi’s case has drawn international attention and also put Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws into focus again. The charge of blasphemy carried the death penalty in this majority Muslim nation and critics say it is often used to settle feuds and arguments.

Continued, here.

University Professor Sues over Being Forced to Use Students’ Preferred Gender Pronouns

A professor in Ohio has filed suit against his university on the grounds that they violated his freedom of speech and tried to force him to violate his sincerely held religious beliefs. 

Nicholas Meriwether, a full professor of political philosophy at Shawnee State University, found himself with hot water with the administration when he refused to call a transgender student by the student’s preferred pronoun.

Meriwether teaches his classes using the Socratic Method, often calling on students to participate in the discussion. When he addresses students, he usually calls them “Mr., Miss, or Mrs.” and responds to questions with “sir” and “ma’am.” He says that he uses “this formal manner of addressing helps them view the academic enterprise as a serious, weighty endeavor.” 

On January 9, 2018, Alena Bruening asked Meriwether a question and he responded, “Yes, sir.” Meriwether’s complaint said he responded to Bruening “in this fashion because Bruening is male.” After the class, Bruening, who identifies as a female, approached Meriwether and demanded that he use feminine pronouns and titles in the future.

Meriwether responded that he did not believe he could accommodate the request and did not believe students could dictate a professor’s speech. Bruening responded in anger, using a derogatory term to refer to Meriwether and promising to get him fired.

Meriwether is an evangelical Christian and a member of a congregation affiliated with the Presbyterian Church of America. He holds traditional, evangelical views on gender, believing that God created people male and female and that gender is determined by biology, not identity.

Acting Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, Roberta Milliken, spoke with Meriwether and told him that he should refer to students by their last names only and cease using gender references when calling on students. Meriwether said this violated the serious academic environment he wanted to foster, but would make an accommodation for Bruening, who continued to attend classes, take part in discussions, and received a high grade for the course. Milliken initially agreed with this arrangement before changing her mind.

Milliken later met with Meriwether again and told him he could stop using titles and pronouns altogether or refer to students by their preferred pronouns and titles. She said he would choose one of the two options or face charges of violating the University’s non-discrimination policy. 

Meriwether filed a grievance request with the union, believing the university violated his freedom of expression. When he met with a school administrator and representative from the union, the “openly laughed” at his religious beliefs and refused to follow through on his request for a grievance.

He claims another administrator, humanities department chair Jennifer Pauley, mocked him during a 2016 meeting in which they discussed how the Obama administration’s Title IX guidance on transgender students applied to someone with his convictions. Meriwether claims Pauley told him that, “adherents to the Christian religion are primarily motivated out of fear” and that “Christian doctrines regarding hell are harmful and should not be taught and that anyone who believes hell exists should not be allowed to teach these doctrines.” He further claimed that education existed to “liberate students,” but “religion oppresses students".

Continued, here.