My Prayer, By His Power

“Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.” ~ Zechariah 4:6

I have no might or power, only my Lord's Holy Spirit can manifest a good work, indeed bring a miracle to pass.  … … I can never again pray for help that focuses on God to empower me. Never can pray that He help accomplish Christ’s work. My Lord has placed His Spirit in me and upon me to be a witness of Christ, to disciple, to love … what he has told me, a follower, to do.

  

I can only pray with a surrendered will and life to my Lord, in hope that He will use me as an open conduit, through which His Holy Spirit’s power accomplishes the will of the Father.

So, I pray, “Not I, not for what my will desires, but in the will and by the power of the Lord God Almighty’s Spirit that God’s will be manifest. In the Name above all names, Jesus Christ, so be it, Amen and Amen.” 

In Christ alone, a conduit of His Spirit,

Owen <><

“Father, … yet not my will, but yours be done.” ~ Luke 22:42

Death and Taxes or Choose Life

“Jesus … saw a man named Matthew

sitting at the tax collector's booth.

‘Follow me,’ he told him,

and Matthew got up and followed him.”

~Matthew 9:9

When Jesus told Matthew, “Follow Me,” Matthew did not leave his lucrative tax table to

die a young pauper.

No, he obeyed Christ’s call and chose eternal life found only in the riches of God's mercy and grace.

That was not an act of an opportunist being strong, it was an act of a humble man knowing his own weakness and that he needed what only God could provide.

God bless,

Owen

Morality Is Not Relative

Whatever is evil,

… such as hate, pride, or anything that ... 

  

is unrighteous,

and it can never

be good.

Morality - good and bad –

are not relative.

Morality is not relative.

Remembering that God is good and Jesus was without sin: 

God bless,

Owen <><

Silent About the Lamb

We live and speak in social caution — correctness — in a way that nullifies Christ.

We need to realize, as Apostle Paul did, to "eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death” (Philippians 1:20).

Read his story of an encounter with Christ. Paul was practicing – living and speaking – within the correctness of Pharisaism. He carried out the persecution of all who were followers of Christ. In Acts 9 we see a transformation of Paul. That change begins with his being thrown down off his horse and by hearing Jesus' challenge. Then, with physical blindness he realized his blindness of God and the Son of Man, Jesus. 

By experiencing blindness, the restoration of sight was not merely of the sun’s light, mere human vision, but he gained vision by the Light, seen only in his Messiah – Jesus Christ, of whom he spoke boldly through the remainder of his life.  

Pray and Witness,

Owen

Long, long ago a word opened …

One little word ignited a passion within me to read and consider what the Bible had to say. It has been some forty years and that word continues as a comforting fireplace that warms my heart. Long, long ago the word that opened my mind was “study.” I do confess, in times that I poured water on the fire, nonetheless, it smoldered within my soul until I threw the water bucket away. He is like that.   

That word study first touched me when I read 2 Timothy 2:15. In the KJV translation we read, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” The word study jumped out at me. That word took me to a place to help me better understand our Lord Creator and Savior.  

Today, new translations are more literal, in example, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (ESV). The ESV, NIV, and other newer versions do not include study. This is not wrong, but accurate. “Study” isn’t in the original Greek text, the 1611 KJV translation added “study” as an inferred understanding of “dividing the word of truth.” That was a tidbit of what one learns when they study.

We must “rightly handle,” or study the Bible if we are to understand the meaning of a word, a verse, or short passage. If we don’t, then we can misunderstand or confuse the true meaning being given us. God has given people His truth, read it, study it – as you read be ready for the Spirit’s whisper, stop reading and listen.

I pray that I have encouraged you to study the Bible, you will discover that Christ is there in humility and love from beginning to end.

Studying his Word,

Owen <><

A Personal Question

Jesus asked his followers a simple question, “Who do you say I am?”  Peter gave a quick and short answer, “The Christ of God.” Peter’s time with Jesus had assured him that he was with the promised Christ or Messiah. The question by Jesus came as they had finished with feeding five thousand by one of Jesus’ miracles. Peter had been with Jesus for a while and observed a man who was humble, gentle, and possessed power over the elements, the illnesses and afflictions people suffered; and spiritual beings.

Now, it is important to recognize that there were two questions asked beforehand, first, “Who do the crowds say I am?” and then, “But what about you?” Good questions then and today. The disciples heard questions and answers ripple through the crowed as to who Jesus was as they were being fed by a miracle. I am sure Peter and other followers listened to the chatter and in amazement, turned to look back at Jesus many times. Similarly, you hear what a pastor, friend, neighbor, nonbeliever, or person of another religious faith has said about Jesus. What Christ asked his followers is still valid today. It is a question to you personally and the answer is yours, not someone else’s opinion.

Who do you say Jesus Christ is?

That simple question determines your life today and what tomorrow will bring.

Answering the question,

Owen

Luke 9:20

“But what about you?” he asked. 

“Who do you say I am?”

Confidence at Table

I have observed our grandchildren at the dinner table for many years. We have grandchildren from four to twenty years old. Over time I’ve watched a pattern of wanting to pray and being too shy to say a prayer through their lives:

there is a time of eagerness to pray due to the newness of understanding or sometimes an older one will pray to thank our Lord for the provision of food. 

It is a mixture of age that reflects newness to have the opportunity to pray, the opportunity to have the responsible privilege to pray, and shyness to pray as others listen.

Adults seem to be similar, they often hold back from or forget about prayer. Doing so is how the opportunity to deepen our relationship with God slips away.  More often, than not, we pray out of necessity, when things go wrong – health, finances, personal issues, disaster, etc. – we remember to pray. We live in a faith of response to need, not in a relationship where needs are met. We miss out on a lot of goodness of God’s presence and helping us in life before our issues occur. Prayer is much more enriching when not exercised as an afterthought.

It is good to peek, observe prayer.

A child will have a simple prayer at meal time, “God is great, God is good, we thank you for the food, amen” and we as adults hesitate to be that simple, that humble. Do we prefer to miss out? We hesitate to pray and to invite others to our table and pray with us.  I’m reminded of Jesus’ invitation for all who have a chair at the table for him, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20). I wonder, would you, me, anyone answer the door and enjoy a meal together with Jesus? Yes, of course.  Now, who is going to say the meal's thanksgiving blessing? The guest or host? Be a gracious host and thankfully pray. When you pray you may be surprised at simple little things that change in your life … those little things, my friend, are miracles.  

I need to pray,

Owen

“Devotion to God and devotion to prayer are one and the same thing.” ~ E. M. Bounds

Ask the Obvious

We, as a local community of believers, often want many things. Sometimes those wants and what God wants seems to be a weird mystery to solve. This reminds me of a story when Jesus was in the middle of a crowd in a town called Jericho. A blind man kept calling out loud to Jesus, “have mercy on me!” But, the crowd wanted him to shut-up. Then God intervened. Jesus stopped walking and told the believers with him, “Call him.” When Jesus’ followers went bring the blind man to Jesus, he became excited and “jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.”

Then Jesus asked the obvious question, “What do you want me to do for you?” 

At no surprise the obvious answer was given by the blind man, “Rabbi, I want to see.” 

Jesus, in his usual easy-going way, replied, “Go, your faith has healed you.” In an instant the “man” was no longer the “blind man.” 

The miracle gave him sight and he “followed Jesus along the road.” When he gained his “sight” he saw Jesus’ face and he saw Christ his Savior – by faith he believed, then followed the Lord.   

Faith In The Unseen: 2 Corinthians 4:18

When Christ is obvious in our life, then, who we are becomes transparent. All humanity is looking for an answer, a miracle that will fill their emptiness. That is what brings validity to who God is, all because the obvious answer to the deepest question within our being has one answer, Christ. 

In the same way a community of believers reveal the obvious answer as to who the Healer is, who the lover of our being is, and who the God of eternity is.

To understand the answer of people’s want is to understand the question, “What do you want me to do for you?”

Being obvious,

Owen <><

See: Mark 10:46-52

Following the Crowd

From last Sunday, Palm Sunday, until next Sunday, Easter, is Holy Week.  The week began when Jesus entered Jerusalem on a borrowed donkey.  A crowd gathered along the roadway and symbolically waved palm branches as a king entered Jerusalem.  That crowd “went out to meet him, shouting, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!’” (John 12:13).  A crowd also gathered early Friday morning, without a doubt most of the same people from last Sunday were in this crowd, but they exhibited a demeanor with a radical change.  The Friday crowd gathered and shouted, over-and-over again, “Crucify him!  Crucify him!” (Luke 23:21). 

How can a crowd welcome the King of kings one day and a few days later want to free the rebellion criminal named Barabbas and have Jesus executed in his place?  To which the Roman governor, Pilate asked, “Why? What crime has he committed?” (Matt. 27:23). 

But, “the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas” (Mark 15:11) and the crowd shouted back at Pilate, “Give us Barabbas!” (John 18:40).  Pilate, in political correctness, followed the crowd’s desire.  Such is the craziness of following a crowd, a deceived crowd.  But, isn’t that the point?  Jesus had “been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15) and the “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor 15:3).  Similarly, we are under the judgment of eternal death, but Christ Jesus took our sins on himself and took them to the grave and left them there when He rose from the grave, in turn, all who follow Christ are freed from death to eternal life with our Lord.

The clamor of deceivers stirs us up, we follow the crowd, and become deaf to truth in midst of all the noise.  We have always questioned what the truth is throughout our human history (see Gen. 3:1-10), and with deaf ears follow the crowd that is deceived by the lie of satan and chant the lie together.  Truth can be hard to accept, but following the crowd is easy.  There is an emptiness in us that we desire to be filled, mistakenly we think that comes by recognition in the crowd.  We’re all that way to some extent – we just follow the crowd, which is why Jesus warns us to “watch out that no one deceives you” (Mark 13:5).

Following Jesus, not the crowd,

Owen <><

Spit

We are a people who are often concerned with where we came from and desire the answer to “Who am I.”  Today there are companies that will ask you to spit in a tube, in turn, they can analyze what percentage, if any, Neanderthal you are.  

They can also let you know what your family’s genetic roots are.  Sometimes verifying granny’s stories, sometimes bringing a shock to who you are.  The genetic tests can even tell you what your potential is for disease or heart failure.  But, science can’t tell you spit about being healed, and a lot more.  

Then, there is Jesus.  Who was asked by his followers if sin had had caused a beggar to become blind.  I guess the man hadn’t spit in one of the little tubes and mailed it in.  But, Jesus, stopped and nonchalantly “spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent).”  The blind beggar, went to the pool he had been Sent and after he had obediently washed, he “came back seeing.”  (John 9:6-7) 

I guess a little spit can do a lot.  Some spit can only tell you that you’ve a “potential” for an ailment.  A miraculous spit brings healing, restoration, and joy.  If all Jesus has for me is spit, then please, spit on me Lord – may a wave sweep me away ….

Where my heritage has come from is interesting.  But, to be overwhelmed by God’s Spirit, and swept away in a wave that manifests salvation, healing, and a fire of God’s Spirit (which is beyond what I can comprehend) is what will fill my inner emptiness – my spit in a tube cannot do all that.

Wash me in the pool you have Sent,

Owen <><

Life Goes On

Life goes on, and on, day in, day out. 

In the momentum of life, we experience little more than hiccups that are times of great joy and mourning.  That is the big picture of life’s simplicity and where busyness offsets everything not fulfilling instant tangible needs.

There is more for our being to transcend than our obvious physical, emotional, and intellectual view of life.  Our life as spiritual beings does allow us to see and hear and feel what is not tangible—but of our spirit and of God’s Spirit.  Our mind can ignore, disregard what our spirit hears and yearns for.  This is how we ignore Jesus’ explanation of the future and His example of a previous event in humankind’s history. 

Jesus, warns us, that just as it was, “in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.

That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. 

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”  ~ Matthew 24:38-42

“Therefore” … we are warned by Jesus, it seems his words of kindness and love are ignored, He had to be blunt.   So, in our ho-hum day to day life, keep watch, listen in your spirit, listen to God’s Spirit calling you to him and he will be sending angles when He sounds the trumpet for the end of time as we know it.   

Life goes on, in a routine world. 

Life goes on, do you pause and listen for a trumpet and angles (messengers) of God?

If, if, you are attentive to God you will hear the trumpet and the wings of angels.

That is, unless your spiritual ears are only attentive to this world’s noise.

Listening for the trumpet’s everlasting song of joy,

Owen <><