Grains of Sand

Reading: Acts 3, 4 You have to admire these people. They went from a huddle of scared rabbits “…with the doors locked for fear of the Jews ” (John 20:19, NIV) to the “Bring it on!”, “Is that all you got?”, “Come on, hit me again!” in the days and weeks after Pentecost. From scared to scary–at least for the local authorities. The magistrates and religious leaders couldn’t shut them up. They just HAD to talk about Jesus. They just HAD to meet daily and worship, pray, learn, and fellowship. These believers in Jesus, followers of the Way, created such a buzz that many joined their ranks. It was a “God-thing,” the power of His Spirit unleashed in people who wanted God’s kingdom to come to earth more than anything else in the world. They put everything on the line, including their lives, to fulfill the mission that Jesus had sent them on before His ascension. They took “ Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation ” (Mark 16:15, NIV) very seriously. That commitme...

I sent Vicky the pictures I took at the wedding of a mutual friend. When she replied to thank me I asked her how she was doing. It had been a long time since we'd "conversed." We used to live within shouting distance of each other in Caracas. She now lives in Mumbai and I am back in Canada. She left Caracas as a child about to burst into her teen years. Now she is a mature young woman about to finish off a post-graduate degree. When she emailed me back to bring me up-to-date with her life, I was reminded once more of God's faithfulness. Vicky is a trophy of God's grace and how she has gone on with the Lord through some difficult times is an encouragement to the fainthearted. In her email, Vicky was lamenting her failure to accomplish something that was at the top of her priority list when she left Spain to go to India. She desperately wanted to be a witness for Jesus. And while she's had many opportunities to do that, she feels badly about the times when she...

When I fall before temptation, where should I look to to find the weakness that Satan took advantage of? Check the armor. God has equipped us to be victorious no matter what means Satan uses to attack us. If we fall, there must be a chink in that armor somewhere. Look for the hole. That's where work needs to be done to prevent the failure from happening again. " …put on the whole armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and ...